April's showers had me thinking purely of flowers, which meant I hightailed it to HomeGoods to pick up several pots for our deck and began planting basil, rosemary, mint (anyone want a watermelon mojito?!), dill, parsley, lavender, red lantana, pink and white petunias, and a bunch of other flowers with names I'll never know.

A couple months ago, I went on another green bender. I bought a handful of house plants, and peppered them around the living room and kitchen. It wasn't long after until the leaves started to shrivel because yours truly used pots that didn't have a drain hole (d'oh!!!) and we experienced a Biblical plague of flies that infested the soil and, consequently, our house. It was then that my sweet and patient husband banned me from bringing in live plants from the house.

Since the great bug fiasco, I've mostly kept to my promise to keep the greenery in the casa artificial. However, our surviving snake plant was looking super lonely so I decided to sneak some cacti friends into the house to keep it company. I mean, it's pretty dang tough to kill a cactus, they are watered so infrequently that bugs are few and far between, and they are just so stinkin' adorable in their little DIY pots. Wouldn't these make a cute little housewarming gift set?

Here's how to make your own painted terracotta pots:

1. Pick up a variety of terracotta pots and spray paint them with a primer. Let thoroughly dry.
2. Spray on 1 - 2 layers of your base coat of color. Let thoroughly dry.
3. If you want to add designs like I did, use painters tape to form the design and tape off the rest of the space you don't want painted. Add your contrasting color, and let thoroughly dry. Note: the blue painter's tape is total crap, don't ever buy that junk....green Frog Tape is where it's at.
4. Spray on a layer of protective clear coat to make sure it won't chip off when you go to plant and water your plants.
5. Plant your succulents and cacti, and set them on tables or bookshelves. 

Tip: For doing the color block pots, you can pretty much only get a straight line going across the wider portion of the pot, so you'll have to apply the contrasting color to the top portion only. Just something to keep in mind when painting your base and contrast colors.

Never one to not appreciate a good pun or a funny new perspective, I just had to share these witty observations of tree leaves from Cristoph Niemann and The New York Times...

Oh, faceted geo planter by Kelly Lamb, how I would love to see you stuffed full of succulents and sitting on the table in my apartment. Particularly one of these succulents...the kind I bought right after John and I got engaged. And then accidentally killed. I promise I won't let my black thumb of death destroy your cacti tenants. But, really, it's time for attempt #2 to keep a potted plant alive for more than 6 months.

{photos I took at a flower shop in harvard square}

I have been doing a massive reorganization of all the photos on my computer (it's a hot mess, I tell ya), and it's been so much fun rediscovering all these memories. The naming and filing of these memories? Not so much fun. Anyways, my point in telling you this is because I need to beckon the wisdom of the blogosphere my way...I have retitled a lot of folders by date and month (2011.7_title or 2007.2_title, for example), and it's getting a little hard to find the photos (I always forget what year things happened in!) but it's great to see what I did each month. I am not 100% sure I am digging this filing system yet. How do you organize your photos???

{Image Credits: Floral and styling – Studio Fleurette \ Photography – Kristina Lynn Photography \ Location – Mystical Rose Gardens \ Candle holders – CB2 \ Containers – Ikea}

{Image}

I love having live plants around the house, but it's official: I have the black thumb of death. I just  tossed my fave zebra succulent that I bought in San Juan Capistrano, CA after getting engaged. I thought of that super rad green and white zig zag plant as my non-psycho version of the love fern from How To Loose A Guy In 10 Days...and I let it dieeee. I kept it (barely) alive for 7 months, and that is a feat in itself for me, but really....the bottom line is that I just managed to kill a cactus. That takes serious talent and neglect. Anyways, spring is near, little plants are starting to sprout outside our window, and I am in the mood to get my garden on. You can't blame me for trying.

There is a definite chill in the air here in Boston which means one thing - my first autumn in New England!!!Too bad it has been mostly gray and gross outside for the past few weeks. No more lingering summer sunshine peeping through our tree-lined street, and definitely no more flip flops. But on the flipside, the leaves are beginning to change to vibrant hues of yellow, red and orange. While not everyone can enjoy the changing seasons of New England, you can enjoy the AMAZING arrangements by Bornay, a wonderfully talented floral artist based out of Barcelona. Enjoy!