I love this vase from Crate & Barrel (a gift from John’s older sister for my birthday a few years back) and it looks especially good with floppy flowers sort of splayed out around the wiggly perimeter.

And I love the two-tone tulip action going on. The prettiest color combinations are always found in nature, huh? Buttery yellow + poppy reddish pink + fresh green = yes please.

I like how they’re leaning out like they’re growing towards the sun in our natural-light-less kitchen. Oh the irony. These guys have actually been alive a few days now, so I guess they only need water but not too much sun (since they have yet to fall to pieces). Whew.

Oh and just for fun, I played around with them in another vase. Well, I guess it’s not really a vase (it’s a seeded glass hurricane meant for a candle that I grabbed at HomeGoods a few years back). Just as pretty, huh? Oh and I got us a kitchen radio on clearance from Joss and Main about a month ago (and we finally plugged it in after staring at it on the counter for a while). Let me tell you, it’s novel. We’ve actually never had a radio in the kitchen but since we log so much hangout time at the peninsula these days (doing blog stuff/book stuff/projects/eating) we thought it would be nice. And it is. Especially with pretty tulips next to it.

The hilarity of this photo is that if I were allowed to share behind-the-scenes book pics, the next photo would be what you see if you swing the camera about six inches to the right. A shot of our monstrous dining table that sits just beyond this half-wall and is completely full of lamps/ceramic things/paint cans/fabric/baskets/bottles/books/frames/etc. Seriously, you can’t even see the tabletop anymore. So when I say there’s a sliver of beauty in our completely trashed house, I really do mean it. And the juxtaposition is hysterically funny to us. So just know that the over-sharer in me is dying to slather chaos pics all over this end of this post to balance the sweet charming “moments” in the kitchen. Oh well, when the book is out we’re allowed to share it all, so we’re counting down the months.

Anyway, back to the kitchen and our little budget blooms. I now firmly believe that every kitchen is made better by three things: flowers, a radio, and a white ceramic tea kettle (of course). Closely followed by a giant ceramic rooster. And a wall full of penny tile doesn’t hurt either. Have you guys been buying flowers or other greenery lately? Have you played around with a few different vases just for fun? Do you have a kitchen radio? Do you even listen to the radio anymore? Oh and what are three things that you think makes any kitchen better?

Psst- Check out a whole mess of Budget Bloom posts from over the last few years here.

…to this in August…

…to this in October:

Wop- woppppp.

The petunias were annuals so they weren’t gonna last forever. And between rain washing out a lot of the mulch and the flowers thinning to a scraggly looking vine mess… yeah, it was ugly. But wait, we’ll get to the “good” in a minute.

Fortunately I was able to pull them out with virtually no effort. Note: Some of these pics were taken before we removed/transplanted a bunch of bushes here – you’ll see why we waited to post about this a few photos down)

We had actually just received a Home Depot coupon in the mail for “Buy 2 Mums, Get 1 Free” (we signed up for some free garden club a few years back so we get random coupons every once in a while). Sadly we didn’t get that coupon before purchasing our porch mums a few weeks back, but oh well – we decided to put it to good use in another place. The mailbox o’ tumbleweeds. So $14 later we had three sunny yellow mums out front. And yes, Sir Squirrel is chilling out right in the middle of them (more on him here).

Even though the mums are perennials, we’re so happy with how the petunias filled in the space over the summer that we’ll probably plop some of those back in come springtime (and just transplant these guys so we can enjoy them somewhere else). But we’re loving the autumn look for now.

What weren’t we loving? The washing out problem that we’d been battling after every big rain. See the weed blocking fabric that’s completely exposed next to the drainage grate on the right? In the words of my wife: reeeeal claaaassy.

The drain worked well most of the time, but heavy rains overload it and, well, you get the idea. So I borrowed some stones leftover from the patio project (they used to line those rows of liriope that we removed here) to build a little stacked stone wall beside the mum-bed. Things are looking up, right?

We have since had two big rains (we waited to post about it to be sure it wasn’t an epic fail) and we’re happy to report that it kept the water from whisking away the dirt with it. So… victory!

It doesn’t look half bad if you ask me. Although of course those mums could use some filling in, sort of like our petunias back when we planted those. Heck, now that we have the little stacked stone wall, maybe we’ll add more plants to really fill it up come spring. And hopefully we’ll straighten and paint the wooden mailbox post then too.

Did anyone else do any quick outdoor updates for fall? Were they mum related? Or stone related? Or ceramic squirrel related?

Oh and Sherry promised more pics of the feather wreath that some of you noticed from afar on the door in this post, so here we go. It’s just an old black feather wreath from JoAnn (picked up after last Halloween on super clearance- maybe it was $8?). Sherry lazily placed it over the door knocker (didn’t even bother hanging it) and called it a day. That’s my girl.

Sherry also meant to toss the three remaining black spiders that we had (from this post) into the yellow mums for more black-on-yellow action before snapping these pics but completely forgot. But she was sure to do that before those cute little trick or treaters came a-knocking yesterday evening. The ones who noticed seemed to love spiders as much as Clara (more on that here). So yeah. Good times going on at the mailbox and the front door. Although we could definitely use a new doormat (or at least a new stenciled paint job over our current one). How about you?

Psst- You can check out how we painted our front door yellow here and ORBed the handle & doorknocker here.

Allow me to put on my best Australian nature-show voice to set the scene for you: The air is still. Not a predator in sight. Something moves in the brush. A buzzard circles overhead. Somewhere in the distance a lion roars. No wait, that’s a baby crying. And just like that I’m out of character.

I don’t know the real name for them (flower whisperer, I’m not), but I like the sound of Purple Ring Pops. So that’s how I’ve been referring to them. At first I just admired them on our way up and down the driveway. Then I thought a little snip snip was in order so I could take some of the stems inside to be ogled more regularly. Here are a few cuttings living it up on the back of the living room console table.

Sidenote: Everything looks better with a white cardboard rhino in the background (from here a while back, bee tee dubs).

I think this vase gets used more often than any other in the house (it’s from Crate & Barrel three years ago or so). Pink and purple sounds like it could sway into the unicorn/fairy princess realm… but somehow it works.

Anyone know the real name of these blooms? Have you found any fun mystery flowers – either in a field, at the farmer’s market, at the grocery store or in your yard? Do you ever have that internal debate about whether you should leave flowers outside to enjoy when you’re out there, or snip ‘em and bring them inside, where you spend more time? I usually leave things outside for a few days and then can’t help myself and bring in a few cuttings. Oh and did anyone notice I snapped these pics before our frame switcheroo (mention this morning) but it just took me longer to write this post than it took John to get his done? Maybe we should add Overachiever to his roster of middle names. John Overachiever Danger Soda Petersik. I like it.

Psst- Wanna see our first cheap-o bouquet from January of 2009? And February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September’s too? How about our 2010 blooms from January, February, March, April, May, June, and July along with one from a few months back? Can you even handle all of that glorious nature in one sitting?

Well, sadly some of those blooms are no longer among the living:

But there are a few that are still going strong, so I decided to drop them into three of my favorite vases (from Ikea a while back) for this happy little effect:

And yes, they’re on the windowsill in our bathroom. Just because I realized that we have never had any flowers in that room (there are all sorts of “firsts” in this house for me – including flowers in the bathroom) so I had to revel in the first-bathroom-blooms occurrence. It feels good to get back to the whole budget blooms thing (since we shared them on a monthly basis for almost two years and somehow forgot all about them since moving). I guess getting back to it symbolizes some sort of feeling-settled-enough-to-stop-and-smell-the-flowers thing. What blooms are you guys bringing home these days? How do you feel about super bright flowers like these (when I dumped the water out of the original vase it was neon pink). I think I usually prefer less or no dye, but for the bean’s big birthday bash, they were kind of perfect. And her daddy picked them out for her – how sweet.

Bonus post extension (because it’s Fridaaaaay baby):

To pick up where I left off yesterday with my end-of-Oprah denial at the bottom of this post, someone recommended that I Oprah-fy myself here on Oprah.com. So I did.

And then I Oprah-fied John.

It’s really helping me cope. Sadly it didn’t work too well with Burger or Clara. But the John one kills me. Especially those earrings. Feel free to Oprah-fy yourself (and post them on our Facebook page if you wanna share the hilarity). I’d love to see what you guys look like with big Oprah hair. I can’t wait. Literally, I’m on the edge of my seat.

This actually started with a blueberry Izze soda (technically it’s “sparkling juice”) that we purchased at Whole Foods a few weeks ago. Sherry and I have both been fond of the graphic flower on their bottles for a while, so the empty Izze bottle managed to save itself from the recycling bin day after day while we enjoyed its quirky beauty on the counter. Then we realized that paired with a few other colorful Izze bottles it could easily become a sweet repurposed vase. So on a recent trip near Starbucks, I dropped in and picked up two more Izze bottles (each with a different colored flower just for fun) and then we grabbed three spider mums from a local florist to the tune of $2.47. So I guess if you want to get technical, although the flowers were under $3, this arrangement was around $9 if you include the Izze. But we did get to enjoy a bunch of fizzy drinks for that price too.

We liked the all-white flowers paired with the trio of hues on the Izze labels. Plus we realized there’s something nice about the blooms blending in with the dominant crisp white color of our kitchen, making their containers stand out that much more.

We’ve always been fans of adapting cups, votive holders, and of course bottles into makeshift vases – this is just our first time using Izzes. They’d also look great in a monochromatic grouping (all clementime flavored bottles with orange or yellow gerbera daisies, for instance) or you can come up with your own mix-and-match color scheme (there are 8 flavors in total). Oh and some classic Coke bottles could add a cute retro feel while some worn green glass bottles at a thrift store or flea market would bring a nice cottage vibe to any arrangement.

So there you have our monthly blossoms. They’ve actually been lasting quite a while, thanks to the fact that they hail form a local florist (which really does seem to make a difference). We also change the water and re-cut their stems every 5 days or so- just to give them the best chance at long term survival (so far we’re over two weeks into things and they’re still going strong).

But enough about our mums, do you guys have any other bottle or vase stand-ins that you’ve particularly loved using instead of the more tried and true meant-for-flower vessels? Are there any other flowers that you’ve been enjoying lately? Oh yeah, and we’ve got more plans for those Izze bottles too (you know we love squeezing as many projects out of our cheap little purchases as we can) so don’t be shocked if you see ‘em again soon. Stay tuned…

Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September too? How about this year’s January, February, March, April, May, June, and July bouquets? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.

What do gladiolus stems have to do with our anniversary? Well, three years ago we whipped up garden themed favors for our backyard wedding. We just picked up simple brown mini paper bags at Target and dropped a single gladiolus bulb into each one for our guests’ garden. We even added easy handwritten planting instructions on the back of each bag (they were one of the only bulbs that could be planted that late in the season). Clipped to the front of the bag was a photostrip (tying in with our photostrip save-the-date and the actual photobooth that we rented for the event) and the strip on the favor featured John’s face covered in lipstick kisses while we held signs that read: Plant one… on us! *smooooch*

Believe it or not, many of our friends and family members planted their gladiolus bulbs and actually get to enjoy their own little backyard blooms every summer when they sprout (my mom sends us pictures of hers every year without fail). But since ours never bloom (they shoot up leaves but don’t get enough sun to flower) we opted to pick up this under $3 bouquet to fill the void.

We love the sweet pink color and the tall sculptural stalks. Especially paired with my fun curvy green vase (a birthday gift from John’s sister from Crate & Barrel).

So although we didn’t get a chance to share our July bouquet in July, we figured it was better late than never. And before you know it we’ll be back with our August blooms so we’re sure not to miss those this time. But enough about us. What about you guys? Did you recently snag any greenery on the cheap from your backyard, your local grocery store, or even the farmer’s market? Tell us all about what flowers and other outdoor finds you’re loving this month.

Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September too? How about this year’s January, February, March, April, May, and June bouquets? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.

They look great on the console table by the front door (especially since people have been stopping by to see Ms. Clara, so we love the little pop of color that hopefully says yes-we-have-a-newborn-but-our-house-hasn’t-imploded-in-the-meantime). Even if a few other rooms aren’t nearly as neat these days…

We love alstroemerias because they’re one of the best bang-for-your-buck grocery store bouquets that we’ve found. They easily last three or even four weeks – all we do is change the water every few days and recut the stems on an angle about every eight days or so. And these yellow guys are so happy and sweet (we’ve always gone with soft pink ones in the past).

And instead of opting for a super bright vase, this time we went with a simple square glass one that we had laying around. It creates a nice balance to the glass greenhouse on the other side of the console and it really lets the yellow blooms and those fresh looking green leaves be the stars.

So that’s our bloom o’ the month breakdown. Have you guys been enjoying alstroemerias or any other cheap but oh so charming flowers these days? What’s the state of affairs in your backyard? Any free blossoms to clip and pop into a vase for a quick little dose of happy in your kitchen or living room? Tell us all about your latest floral related endeavors.

Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September too? How about this year’s January, February, March, April and May bouquets? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.

And what did that ever-amazing prop stylist do? She offered all the floral outcasts to us as she left. Did I mention said prop stylist happens to be my best friend who actually worked with us on our last photo shoot with Do It Yourself magazine as well? Anyway, we tried to send the bouquets home with her and she said she would just throw them away if we didn’t keep them because she had a long hot drive home and they’d be a bit worse for wear. Convincing argument. So we kept them. And our house has never felt more fresh and spring-like. Here’s what we ended up with.

We inherited a few errant cream colored carnations…

… that we stuck in three cheap-o Ikea vases on the windowsill with a bit of greenery to beef them up.

And you may have noticed that bottle with three roses in the first shot of the kitchen. Well, we were also left with these beauties, so a glass milk bottle that we had laying around became quite a charming (and kitchen appropriate) vase.

Aren’t the scarlet tips so pretty with the creamy yellow coloring on the rest of each bud? We’re not usually rose people, but we’ve both stopped to admire these guys for the last week on a daily basis.

The half bathroom also inherited a nice little cluster of cream carnations. And this time the vase was actually one of our new drinking glasses from World Market.

We love how the green glass and the green stems work so well to offset the pure white and cream blooms. And we’re confident that these guys will last clear through May and well into June. Of all the flowers that we’ve brought home over the past year+ of this whole monthly floral arrangement adventure, carnations never fail to last the longest and charm us to no end the whole time.

But now for the piece de resistance. Check out these luscious tulips with gorgeous varied coloring in my new green vase from Crate & Barrel (it was actually a sweet birthday gift from my sister-in-law, does she know me and my love of green glass or what?). These guys are definitely our favorite bouquet of the month- the entire house feels more vibrant and alive with them happily sitting on the dining room table.

So yeah, we’re feeling pretty spoiled by all the bouquets. Heck we almost feel guilty for having such an abundance. Have you guys ever found yourself with a plethora of petals throughout your home? Maybe from an overly enthusiastic backyard rose bush, a secret admirer, or a flower sale at Trader Joe’s? Do tell. And while we’re on the subject of a bounty of bouquets, what do you prefer when it comes to bringing the outdoors in? Do you like all-the-same-flower arrangements? Clear glass vases only? Low packed-tight bouquets? Wild meadow-like bunches? Brightly colored blossoms? Spill the bloom beans.

Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September too? How about this year’s January, February, March, and April bouquets? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.

So far so good though. He’s a low light house plant (which is nice for the right side of my desk that gets only partial sunlight) and I especially love how he looks next to my shiny pink Crate & Barrel vase (who is no stranger to our monthly bouquets so you guys may even recognize her). And yes I did get a bit sexist there by calling the blue potted plant “him” and the pink vase “her”- sorry for that. We of all people know that blue can totally work for the ladies (since it’s one of the main colors in our daughter-to-be’s room) and John has even been known to sport something pink from time to time.

Anyway, that’s our monthly dose of greenery. We definitely recommend keeping an eye out for cheap potted plants these days, especially those that come in charming little ceramic pots as opposed to those cheap-o plastic ones. Heck, even those aren’t too bad if you grab a crisp white $1 ceramic planter from Ikea. So there’s more than one way to get your fill of lovely leafy goodness.

What are you guys gravitating towards in the floral arrangement or potted plant department these days? Any deals out there to be found? Anyone snipping things from their own backyard? We had some lovely cherry blossoms on a tree out front but decided to leave them outside just in case they tried to kill me once they were invited indoors (silly allergies, although this year they’re much much better than usual). Anyone toting home those super affordable daffodil bouquets from Trader Joe’s? Let’s talk about the flowers and plants that you’ve been inviting inside.

But that didn’t stop my favorite/only hubby from walking in the door after work on my birthday last Friday with a big smile and this pretty surprise birthday bouquet full of lilies, alstroemeria, and a few sprigs of plum colored heather in honor of March (and me I guess).

I’m not used to having a big professional arrangement around the house (especially since we usually clip things from our yard or spend, at most, $5 at the grocery store for our monthly bouquets) so maybe that’s why it feels so special. Seriously I’m still permasmiling a week later. But perhaps I should elaborate in John’s defense. It’s not that he never comes home with flowers, it’s just that he does it just rarely enough to totally catch me off guard and make me giddy. As an example, he had a bouquet delivered when we moved into our house so I would answer the door and see something pretty to bring inside in hopes of making this old ranch feel more like home. And he usually heeds my I’m-a-cheapo-so-just-buy-me-a-single-white-rose advice since I don’t want him to break the bank every month on giant special occasion bouquets.

Possibly the cutest thing is that John excitedly explained that he specifically directed the guy at the flower shop when it came to my bouquet (saying things like “she likes similar tones that are sort of layered so nothing is too high contrast” and “nope, not too much filler” and “yeah, I think she likes lilies” and “no tulips because they remind her of a certain annoying ex”). In short: the whole thing was adorable and I was a very happy birthday girl indeed.

I also love that John picked them up over lunch, which meant that when he brought them back to the office everyone was curious about the giant bounty of blooms so he started telling people that he won a pageant over lunch. He cracks me up. And he even sat them in a cup of water on his desk until it was time to bring them home to me, just to keep them happy. I’m telling you, he’s the man.

So although this month’s bouquet is less of the free-or-five-dollar-variety, it’s truly special to me and I just wanted to share the birthday eye candy. And did I mention I also awoke to find this cute homemade birthday banner (complete with little love notes on each letter/number) hanging in the doorway between the kitchen and the den?

I love birthdays. But enough about my big turning-two-eight adventures. Have you guys ever been surprised with flowers? And what do you like when it comes to big pro bouquets? It was so interesting to hear John directing the guy at the flower shop because he was better at articulating my preferences than I could ever be. Does anyone know you better than you know yourself in the flower department? What would you say if you were asked to describe the perfect bouquet for you?

Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September too? How about this year’s January and February bouquets? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.