Bake Sale Tomorrow!

The Bake Sale is here, and the cupcakes are baking as I type. I would love to see some of you local readers stop by. It will be at my house that is located in Taylorsville Utah. I would love to sellout of all my goodies and be able to write a nice check to Bake for Hope.

Utah Home Remodeling Show

Friday night the husband took me out for a little date night. He knows just what I like to do and took me to a Utah Home Remodeling Show. It was a nice night out, but I wish the show had been better. It was mostly heating and air companies, roofing companies, and randomness. I wish there would have been designers, decor items and ideas, wallpaper, and fixtures etc, but to my disappointment there wasn't. I did run across a few things I loved though.

Like these guys! 

Utah Shopping "Flight" Map

With all the new changes to my blog I was not sure if you all noticed the new button I have added

This Utah Shopping Map includes all my favorite shopping destinations and secrets. I will continue adding to it and will update each location with photos and possibly even some video as I go visit them again. I tried to make the location descriptions as informative and interesting as possible so I encourage you to read them. 

Let me know what you think of the map and if it was helpful for you. I love feed-back so I can make my blog better for YOU. 

Hope you enjoy the new blog feature, and hopefully I will see you around town!

Expensive Accessories Are For The Birds

These cute birds have brought a little feeling of spring to my home, and these birds sing "cheap, cheap, cheap", instead of "chirp, chirp, chirp". At a dollar each from the Dollar Tree you can't beat the impact they make on a table arrangement like this one.

I am crossing my fingers and hoping my bulbs (also from the Dollar Tree) bloom shortly so I can enjoy them in the front room.

What says Spring to you?

Iron Man!

No I am not talking about the Iron Man in the movies your husband wants to watch. I am talking about my Iron Man, or at least I want him to be my Iron Man someday.

There is a house in my neighbor-hood that I pass often that always has really pretty wrought iron work, like arbors and trellises in the front yard for sale. I have always wanted to stop and look at them more, and or call the homeowner to find out how much everything is and if they do custom work or not. So the other day when we finally had a sunny afternoon here in Utah Jayna and I went for a walk to that house. I called the Iron Man and left a message and then later talked to him and setup a time for him to come over and give me a quote.

I have a basement entrance on the side of my house that is currently fenced with (cringing) chain link fencing. I have been dreaming of the day that it will be fenced with looping wrought iron and have a cute little gate that has an even more adorable little latch. So I was crossing my fingers that the neighbor-hood Iron Man would be able to come to my rescue.

He is the nicest man, and funny enough ended up being the man who put in our attic insulation last summer. He does all the work and fabrication himself and I love his work. He has this arbor that has a double doored gate that would make any respectable housewife or gardener drool.

So moral of the story is if you are looking for any fun wrought iron work to add to your house, yard or garden this is your guy. He has pot holders he has made, garden boarders etc. Wrought iron is never cheap, but this is your local "Pop" welder that would be great to support and wonderful to work with.

His name is Roger, and you can reach him at 801.372.2460. Tell him Jill sent you, or if you would like you could contact me and I can have him call you. Heck, I need a deal on my work people!

I think Roger needs a new business card though, and I am not sure that I can resist coming up with a logo and making them for him.

Hopefully I can save my pennies and buy his stuff for my yard!

A Thrifty Garden

I was so excited to run across seeds at the dollar store yesterday. I was even more excited that they had seeds for some beautiful flowers that I have always wanted to try and grow.

I bought all these seeds for less than $15.00. The little packets were four for a dollar and the bulbs were a dollar each. I need to go back and buy more. I am having flower seed anxiety.

So hopefully I can get my act together this spring and at least plant some flowers from seed. I have three tiered planting boxes leading down to the basement french doors that I want to plant nothing but flowers in. I have visions of sitting in my front room and gazing out the bay window to see peonies, cosmos, zinnias, and ranunculus. I wanted to be really select about the flower colors, but these seeds were just too good of a deal to pass up. I am afraid my peony bulbs will not be as cheap, but I just have to have them. I cannot wait to go out into the backyard and pick fresh cut flowers to put in the house. Dream come true!

My other hope is to have three growing boxes in the backyard against the fence so that I can plant vegetables, fruit, and herbs. Down by the basement I also want to plant blackberries and raspberries so that they can grow up the wall down there. I hoping I can get some starts from my Sister-in-laws garden. She also has some clematis which she got from our first house we ever lived in together in Provo. So I for-sure want to plant some of that so we can have a little piece of our past her at this house. The only thing that may hold all my plans up is that we also want to put a fence in sometime. We are still debating on when to do it though. So I have to figure out what is top on the list. A fence would be so nice so that we do not have to heard the dog and child as much, but if we spend all are money on that there will not really be anything back there anyways. I really want to get started on planting things too, since it takes a couple of years for everything to mature and get just right. So we will see.

What is Your Favorite Childhood Place?

I recently got to visit one of my favorite childhood places, Apple Hill, while on our Thanksgiving vacation in Northern California. I have such fond memories of going there each fall growing-up. It is literally a whole hill full of apple orchards up in Placerville. You drive the small windy roads that circle the hill, and stop by little farms and shops that serve fresh apple pies, carmel apples, apple donuts, and free samples of freshly pressed apple cider. Craft vendors in little booths occupy most of the farms walkways selling homemade crafts and art. The leaves were just turning while we were there, and there is nothing like the crisp autumn air of the California mountains.

I am really "old fashion" at heart and love all things from eras past, so the wood baskets full of just plucked apples and produce were to much for me to handle. I couldn't leave without buying some baskets of my own. I now have them in my pantry full of apples from the trip and potatoes and onions I just bought from the store yesterday. I love that they are a functional trip souvenir that reminds me of beautiful Apple Hill and memories from my childhood.


What is your favorite childhood place?

the Bird and the Berries Shopping Flight Map

Want to know where I love to shop and all my little junking secrets for each location? Check this map out and you may just bump into me in my blue truck junking around town.

View SLC Shopping in a larger map

Click on SLC Shopping under the map to view map in larger format and to see a list of locations.

If you have any questions about this map or the locations featured, or want a shopping buddy just contact me.