Bleeding Hearts and Birdfeeders.

And a bunch of other really cool stuff.

I'm having a really lovely weekend.

Yesterday was a "crop" day with my mom and sister.  We started these years ago when sis was a consultant for Creative Memories.  She rented a room in a local center and we (and up to a dozen other scrapbookers) would spread out and put together pages of our favorite photos.  The historian in me loves these projects.  When she stopped being an active consultant we continued our days together - every other Saturday - at my Mom's house.  I wish I could say that a lot of photos get put into albums, but lately I can't seem to manage to get all my stuff there at one time so I get little done.  And I REALLY need to get stuff done.  The supplies are taking up too much valuable storage space.  I'd really love to have all the supplies artfully arranged into scrapbooks.

Leaving behind room to sew.

Today was another terrific day.  I drove my terrific sister-in-law a couple of hours to Corona del Mar for some serious nursery shopping.

A couple of years ago she turned me on to a fabulous nursery (that does mail order) called Annie's Annuals in Richmond, CA. 

Annie's seems like such a fun place.  We've both ordered plants from her and they are perfect when they arrive.  But we live so far away, we miss out on the fun (and serendipity) of shopping for flowers.  One day I saw a picture of a second nursery that had a whole table of Annie's Annuals plants.  I set out to find a nursery that carried her plants within reasonable driving distance.

That is a long story.  I found a nursery in the town of Westminster, CA.  I made repeated attempts to call the nursery to confirm they were still in business before my SIL and I made the trek down, but they did not return my calls.  So I followed the hours and directions in their website, only to have a woman shut the gate - literally in our faces - as she announced that she was leaving on vacation.

Royally perturbed but anxious to create some fun out of the day (did I mention it had been a two-hour drive?) I took us to a nearby scrapbook store.  Hearing our sad story, the owner told us about a wonderful nursery just a few miles down the 405.  Armed with her directions (and after stocking up on scrapbook supplies in gratitude) we made a pilgrimage to Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar.  

 

  And were delighted to discover, as we made our way into this spectacular nursery, table after table from Annie's Annuals!

Since spring is definitely peeking her nose out here in sunny SoCA, we decided to hit the road again today to see if Roger's had any of the posies in Annie's most recent catalog.  We hit the jackpot!  Again, several tables of Annie's annuals, including a whole table of poppies (a major target plant.)  I didn't take this picture (it's from the Roger's website) but see those pictures above the plant table on the left?  Yep, Annie's.

After stocking up with as many plants as my Explorer would hold, we headed to our favorite restaurant for lunch.

We chanced upon Dr. Andrew Weil's True Food Kitchen in the Newport Fashion Island on last summer's expedition.  Apparently we hit it in its opening week.  The food was then - and was again today - fabulous.  But the quiet atmosphere we had enjoyed so much in the summer had evolved with the restaurant's increasing popularity and it was extremely noisy this time.  Still managed to jabber through lunch, though.

A great therapy weekend.

So grateful for family that will let me express what I'm feeling and encourage me to grow from the experience.

And so now I'm plugged into Straight No Chaser's version of "Fix You" coming through my awesome headset Christmas present from my nephew.  This may be the first time I listen to this piece without crying 'cause I'm just in too good a mood to let it shake me.  (The bass voices do still kick start my heart, however.)