Garden Archives - Page 3 of 7 - A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living

Cocktail: Grapefruit Collins + kid version

If you follow me on Instagram, you are not a stranger to one of my favorite drinks of late (cheers to you, Lizzy and Hannah!). I love citrus because it makes me happy and relaxed. It doesn’t hurt that the colors are just lovely. I started making this drink because I saw my friend post a picture of one whilst at Craft & Commerce, one of my favorite restaurants here in San Diego. At the time, I was alone at home while my husband was traveling for his business.

I saw it.

I wanted it.

I made it.

In California, citrus grows year-round, but winter is when the stores are overflowing with it. I’ve still been seeing tons of grapefruits around so I’ve been buying about 2 large bags a week. That’s a crazy amount of these guys, but I’ve been searching for the super red centered ones, with no success. I’ve tried 6 different varieties from a few different places. Although, I’ve only been trying the organics…maybe the red ones are floating around in the non-organic produce section. Either way, these pink ones I found at our local farmer’s market are begging for a Spring afternoon drink!

Gin is one of my favorite drink additions because it has such a great herb-y characteristic that suits so many juices and syrups.

This vintage shaker is one of my favorite estate sale finds of all time!

Grapefruit Collins

2 oz grapefruit juice, strained

1/2 oz lemon juice, strained

1 oz simple syrup

2 oz Gin

club soda

Mix all but the club soda in a shaker with ice. Pour over ice into a highball (or a glass of your choice) and top with the club soda.

Straws can be found here at this lovely shop.

Kid or alcohol-free version:

double everything and remove the gin :)

My kids get a thrill out of these special drinks and the bonus for their little bodies is the fresh-squeezed fruit-juice.

This is my favorite place to enjoy this kind of drink with friends or even just with my favorite person in the world that I happen to share a room and blessed life with :)

Found

One of my very favorite things to see in creation are plants growing from little tiny seeds. I love the way the little seedlings grow and stretch their little “arms” toward the sky, as if they have just awakened from the best nap EVER.

Jesus uses the example of a mustard seed here in Mark 4:30…

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

I LOVE that something so small can eventually be used for a much greater purpose.

How awesome is that?

My garden is such an incredible place to spend time in because it’s a reminder to me that God uses me the same way as the seeds I am planting (eating the fabulously fresh produce doesn’t hurt, though).

It reminds me: He has great plans for you, Bon.

Plans that are even bigger than you can see right now.

We always say we want to know what’s going to happen, but if He told us now, His plan would probably blow our minds or we would just not believe it.

When you feel like you are ONLY alive to work, eat, and sleep, remember His promises.

When I first heard that there was going to be a place like Beautifully Rooted, I was sooo excited. The people who have reached out to me with their words every day for the last few years have now joined with other awesome people I am getting to know, in one space. I have followed Heather for so long her blog even had a different name and she had only a few followers. She’s come so far in inspiring us all! Now Heather and Rachel have brought this glorious new space for Jesus followers to gather.

Check it out:

Linking with Heather’s “Found” photo challenge.

A great way to capture God in our everyday life:

#InstaFood

Easy Meals.

I get asked A LOT about some easy and quick meal ideas. Those two words mean something different to each person because there is no way I could cook you the dinner you might be picturing in the time it takes you to go through a drive-thru. However, clearly if you read my blog you probably cook some, right? So, I thought I’d show you a snapshot of some of my “quickie” meals and snacks over the last couple weeks.

All of the above pictures were taken on instagram…just a quick snap before we ate of the deliciousness.

If you’d like to keep up with these little food snippets:

… … … … …

follow me on Instagram

(I’m agoldenafternoon)

and

follow me on facebook

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(from top right row across)

local grapefruit for breakfast
snickerdoodles from Martha Stewart
organic tomato soup with caramelized fennel
orange liqueur
chicken sausage and spinach orecchiette pasta
cheese plate with pears and honey
toasted pecans
brown butter pasta with mizithra cheese (spaghetti factory style)
meatless tacos with all the fixings
Suzie’s farm awesome broccoli
sausage calzones
strawberries are here!
chinese vegetable fried rice
monkey bread
pea risotto with sautéed garlic mushrooms (From Harvest to Heat)
pre-dice pickles for tuna

(linking late but hopefully it’s ok :))

It’s my Blogiversary! Woot! Woot!

Craziness! It’s already been a year!

The official time I started my blog was actually back in August of 2010, but I wanted to get things just right on the design end before posting. It’s kind-of a joke when I think of it now because it was FAR from nice and my posts were pretty sad-looking. I knew they were not awesome, but you have to start somewhere, right? I did like my first real banner above, though. I kind-of miss it.

Speaking of design, how do you like my new comfy space? I wanted to go back to my roots with a wood background (my very first wordpress website had a dark wood background) and just step it up a bit. I think it’s pretty cozy. Special thanks to Jay Woolwine for installing the parts I couldn’t and to Erik Weston Homestead for listening to my blubbering about colors, banners, and whether there should be lines separating other lines and other very important details.

1. Be sure to check out the categories to our right which will link you to pages with visual links to all my posts. —————>>>>

It’s SO much easier to use. Yes, it took me a LOOOONG time. If you like it, please let me know. If you don’t like it, keep it to yourself :).

2. <<<<————–I also have a cute new scrabble social bar which you can use to share my page after you read this :).

3. ^^^^Above is my new banner which is hopefully reflecting my handmade style. ^^^^

It’s been a great year for this little space. I started my first month of viewers with just a few of my closest buddies and some obliging family members. Now, I am astonished at grateful at having over 15,000 people visiting in just a single month!! Wow, people! There must be something just a teeny tiny bit likeable goin’ on here.

*blush*

My second year will hopefully bring even better things. A few cool things to come are some useful printables in the name of Valentine’s Day, some embroidery hoop projects and a hoop swap, cool thrifted products remade, some exciting kid’s room redecorating with help from here, a revamped garden with new techniques, things I’ve never canned before are going in those cans, working on a dress for myself, and I’m dragging my friends here to do some of this stuff with me! Sound good?

In honor of this special day, I am sharing a cupcake with you all. Yeah, I kinda thought you would like it too. My sister actually made these back in April for my Miss F’s birthday I just totally forgot to post them. I guess it was meant to be. I saw them on Pinterest and asked my sister to make them and since she’s awesome, she said yes.

Cuties.

I used my neighbor’s freshly cut olive wood firewood for their little perching area.

Thanks for your support and for hanging out with me in this little space.

The community here means a LOT to me.

Thank You, friends!

Third Day: Christmas Chalkboard Pots with succulents

Chalkboard paint is not a recent original idea, but getting/making the paint, taking the supplies out, and deciding ~~what not to paint~~ how many things to paint is the hard part. The pots below I had sponge painted when I was first married (8.5 years ago) back when sponging was trendy in the craft world…or was it ever. They’ve been sitting on my potting shelf for years just waiting to have new life.

Enter: chalkboard paint.

My pots with the uber-cool sponge painting from 2003. So, I slapped some paint on them.

I just bought some succulents back in October when I made a chalkboard pumpkin and potted them right away. Succulents are awesome for people who don’t do well with house plants. I am not a good houseplant caretaker myself as I am constantly distracted in my projects. If it’s not watered automatically, it doesn’t get done. Anyway, you only have to water succulents every couple of weeks and a little more often during the warmer months. They store up their water so they take care of themselves in many ways which is awesome!

You can make one for your UPS driver. Ours is here every day during the holidays and almost every day the rest of the year so he’s high on my list, fo sho. Entrepreneurs who work from home, like my husband, have that effect on the mail system. Hey, we help keep them in business, right?

“Dear Neighbor, I’m sorry my children are so loud. Happy Christmas!”

One for your neighbors, to thank them for their patience with your children’s noise levels (my neighbors are actually a very sweet, kind, and patient couple).

If you don’t get to it before Christmas, you could always use it as a “Thank You” for after the holidays or even a New Years gift.

Happy Chalkboard-ing!

Post your Christmas Pinterest projects here…