What?  How can this be?  I was encouraged by my eldest son to start a blog in 2007. I should have reached a larger number of readers by now but I wasn’t exactly posting with any kind of regularity or purpose.  If you’re interested in my story of my start visit HERE, HERE and HERE.

I’m still not writing with the energy of those that post daily…how do they do it?  My excuse, and I’m sticking to it, is that I work full time as an Executive Assistant (Read: Secretary).  Blogging was always to  be a creative outlet for me.  That, and the fact that blogging is somewhat addicting.  Do you fellow-bloggers find that to be the case? I take breaks from it and find I begin to miss the process, not to mention the dear blog friends I’ve made along the way.  How can people you have never met become important?  I can’t answer that, other than to say it’s like a pen pal.  A foreign concept to this age of instant communicating through email, IM and social media, but when I was in grade school we teamed with a classroom in another English speaking country.  We were each offered the name and address of a fellow student in that classroom so far away.  We would write letters and my pen pal and I kept that going until sometime in middle school.

In any event, this is my 500th post and 7th year of blogging and I’ve actually just hit 400+ followers! Hooray and thank you! So I thought I would share some images covering Garden(ing), Home {decor} and Party {cooking, table setting and general fun with friends and family in my home}.

Oh, and I’ve never really gotten as good as I’d like with my photography, but that’s a work in progress, which is why I lean heavily on the professionals (and always try to give appropriate credit).

I’m sharing a few of my favorite images that for me convey the best of Garden(s), Home and Party(ies).

~ home ~

In my imagination, “this is my home”…

or this…

…but in reality this is our sweet, little abode and I wouldn’t exchange the love and memories that we’ve enjoyed while living in it (30+ years) for all of the beautiful homes in the world! well, maybe a cottage in the Cottswolds would tempt me. 🙂

The home in Garden, Home and Party is a top priority.  It means a lot of things to me, but for as long as I can remember (even as a teen) feathering my nest (my bedroom back then) has always been a passion that brings me joy.  Creating a happy place for myself and my family and friends is very satisfying.  I can remember rushing through the fashion pages of Seventeen Magazine each month to see what home decor they were featuring, usually a bedroom.

From accessories…

…or rooms meant for family, friends and pets…

…to striking pieces of furniture…

...whether simple or elegant…

I love it all!

~ garden ~

Before I started my blog, before I went to work full time as a secretary, I used to be a partner in Blooming Borders, a Garden design business, with my good friend Wendy.  It was/is our passion, creating gardens that make people happy.  I needed to return to the corporate world for health insurance reasons (Mr. B and I were both in our own businesses and as we “matured” the costs became impossible) but I think gardening will always be my favorite hobby/pastime/therapy.

I’ve shared lots of images showing my small formal garden.  It’s still one of my favorite rooms in the yard.  That said, it’s a challenge growing all that I’d like because of an extensive root issue (due to the Alder tree that belongs to my next door neighbor), so the canvas is always changing except for the established plants you see here.

It’s easy and informative to find garden inspiration online.

A boxwood hedge has always appealed to my sense of order, it corrals the wild beauty of penstemon, lavender, roses and the like.

{Design Chic}

The above jasmine grid is in the courtyard of my dear friend, Cayley’s house.  More images of Cayley’s beautiful courtyard in a later post.

 ~ party ~

Who doesn’t enjoy a Party?  For me, it comes down to quality visits with friends and family in the comfort of our home.  I enjoy cooking, so it’s always been fun for me to host guests and prepare some kind of meal, it doesn’t have to be fancy. I’ve never become a gourmet, but I enjoy trying new recipes as well as those I’ve found to be tried and true.  Fortunately, our friends and family are happy to accept an invitation and share the food and conversation that happens around this table.

For me, setting the table is icing on the cake.  Today, we entertain in a fairly casual way…many of our friends who like to entertain allow guests to bring some small part of the meal.  An appetizer or dessert makes cooking doable for me and we all do this for one another when invited to dinner.

There’s an endless amount of online table setting inspiration and believe me, I take advantage of it.  It’s fun to see what creative people are doing and then copy borrow the ideas for my own parties.

Whether you love a casual table setting or a more formal one, ideas abound on the internet.  I discover wonderful party ideas at many of my ‘must read’ blog sites, so thank you!

The ideas are often so simple yet so unique…I find myself saying, why didn’t I think of that?

See what I mean?

…and then there’s the food.  Ideas for simple touches that make any event festive…

…presentation is key for me and I’m always appreciative for the chance to view the talents of the masters.

 Finally, thanks to all of you that read my blog and to those who comment.  It’s is a very satisfying hobby and I know it’s the readers and fellow bloggers that make it fun!