Flora Focus || Peony

Time to learn about my favorite flowers, Peonies!!! I just think they have the most gorgeous blooms, they are huge! I have 2 of these bushes in my yard and neither of them bloomed, so I just had to go out and buy myself some. I love that they bud out as almost perfect balls and open up to reveal a huge flower. Flowers are amazing. Is this bloom anyone else's favorite?

Peony
Botanical Name: Paeonia spp.
Flower: Blooms late spring to early summer in many colors, including pink, white and red. Large, round blooms with round petals.
Leaf: Compound leaves with smooth margins.
Meaning: Anger

My Favorite Bouquet So Far

Ok. This is my favorite bouquet yet. I got myself some peonies from Trader Joe's. I have been seeing everyone on instagram mentioning the bunches of peonies they have there and since both of my peony bushes don't want to bloom this year, I decided I had to get myself some. I am so glad I did. Peonies are my absolute favorite flower. I mean, just look at them. The rest of the flowers came from around my house and Im really happy with how all of the colors look together, especially the pop of blue.

I used Peonies, buttercups, scabies, digitalis and mock orange for the greenery.

Getting Ready for Vacation

I hope everyone is having a good long weekend! Im getting ready to go on vacation this Wednesday! My boyfriend, my brother and his girlfriend are all road tripping down to California to stay with my other brother and his wife. We'll be there for a couple days then off the Las Vegas we go! Im super excited! We did this last year and it was a blast! To prepare myself for all the food I will be eating, Ive been cleansing for the last week. No sugar, no dairy. Just meat, vegetables and fruit. Its tough. But you feel so amazing during it. Its crazy what changing your diet can do to you.  

One more thing, I was interviewed by Modcloth and you can read it on their blog now!

Outfit Details

Dress & Shoes || Target

Belt || Forever 21

Field of Dreams

My boyfriends dad grows alfalfa, so his house is surrounded by green fields on one side and a field full of horses on the other. Doesn't that sound nice? So who wants to move to Okanogan now? But every time I'm there and the field is growing tall, I just want to run through it. You know, like you see in those dreamy movie scenes with the girl, with long hair and a summer dress, her arms stretched out, spinning around? Yeah, I picture that every time, but there are snakes in that field. No thank you. Im not about to go step on a snake. So I'll just keep dreaming. 

Outfit Details

Dress || Burlington Coat Factory

Shoes || Target

Belt || Forever 21

Flora Focus || Balsamroot

I really wish I could have made a little bouquet with all of the wildflowers blooming in Okanogan while I was there. These yellow ones were popping up everywhere. They are called Balsamroots and are like wild sunflowers that grow in clumps. If I would have should up just a week earlier, whole hillsides would have been covered in these blooms, but the majority of them had lived their lives and there were a couple left for me to enjoy.

Balsamroot
Botanical Name: Balsamorhiza
Flower: Spring blooming with yellow petals and a yellow center. Sunflower like in appearance.
Leaf: Large, arrowhead shaped leave with a long petiole. The top of the leaf is fuzzy.

This flower is native to western North America and was used a lot by Native Americans. Almost all of the plant can be eaten. The roots and young shoots can be baked or steamed, the seeds are rich in oil and are nutritious, and wildlife can eat the blooms. The root can also be used a coffee substitute. Plants are amazing.

Spring Brights

These buttercups just bloomed this week and I had to use them for something. They are a weed at my house, just growing where they want. So dad if you're reading this, don't pull them!! I want to keep using them! I am sad to say that this will also be the last we see of the ranunculus. They actually bloomed a lot more than I was expecting and I got a lot of use out them! But they are a spring flower and just bloom in the early season.

To make this bouquet you would need…

1 Snapdragon

5 Ranunculus 

6 Buttercups (1 stem has multiple blooms)

9 Scabiosa's 

5 Bachelor buttons

If you are creating something from your garden I would love to see! Leave me a link below!

Thanks for reading!

A Perfect Day

Last week I was back in the beautiful and relaxing Okanogan county. My boyfriend and I drove into the hills back behind his house, where it is nothing but a single dirt road, open fields, patches of trees and the occasional abandoned shed. Its perfect. We just found this perfect little field and stopped to take these photos. On the other side of the road, there was a field full of cows and a single coyote making its way through the hills. We saw way to many snakes on the road for my liking and just enjoyed the sun. I would do this everyday if I could.

Outfit Details

Skirt || Target

Top || Forever 21

Shoes || TOMS

Sunglasses || Anthropologie 

Snakes...

Im not going to lie. I was kinda terrified taking these photos. Tall grass, in a field, the perfect spot for a snake to hangout in. I watched every step I took. I hate snakes, even if they are behind glass in one of those aquarium things. I just cannot stand they way they slither and how they can strike at you. Now they only snakes that probably would have been hiding here are garden snakes, but still. A snake is snake and Im just getting the creeps writing this out. I can't believe I just wrote a blog post about them…

Details

Skirt || Handmade

Shirt || Target

Shoes || TOMS

Flora Focus || Dogwood

Flowering dogwoods are some of the prettiest in the spring. The whole tree is filled with large pink, red or white blooms. It is quite the site!

Flowering dogwood
Botanical Name: Cornus florida
Flower: The real flower on a dogwood is actually very small. They are the little yellow clusters in the middle of the 4 showy bracts. The bracts are the pink parts on this tree, that resemble petals. The bracts can also be white or red. They emerge on the tip of the branch before the leaves.
Leaf: The leaves or ovate (oval shaped) that come to a point at the end. They can be 3-6 inches in length.
Meaning: Love undiminished by adversity

A little bouquet for Mom

I made this little posy for my mom on mothers day. I just went around the yard and picked these flowers. I wanted something bright to cheer up the kitchen table and catch her eye when she got home. She really liked it, so everything was good!

The recipe is:

2 stems snapdragon
5 stems anemones
4 stems scabiosa
3 ranunculus
4 vinca vines

My Most Favorite Dress

I do believe this is my new favorite dress. For some reason I am attracted to ALL the white and cream dresses lately. I don't know why, Im just loving them right now! But then add some floral print to it and I'm all over it. I think this is more of "fancier" dress, one that you can easily wear to a wedding or nice brunch but I have been trying to dress down my nice dresses lately. I don't want to wear them just for special occasions. You know? So this is my attempt to dress it down. Add a bit of country flare to it :)

Details

Dress || Modcloth

Top || Kohls

Shoes || Target

Necklace || Forever 21