#38. lemons & limes, part III

will continuously using this title get old? probably. too bad.

so back forever a few weeks ago I promised you some pictures from the latest lemon/lime extravaganza when I was home to visit momma. after the tests we did with real fruit (and the resulting mess!), momma thought it would be a good idea to test, well, fake fruit. foam fruit to be exact. somewhere (t.j.maxx), somehow (clearance rack) she found large amounts of foam faux lemons and limes. momma already has more vases than a second-rate flower shop so we hauled out tons of hers and got to work.

here's what we put together:

here's what I learned:

• I really like the look of all the same fruit in the tall lined vases (see the right side of pic 2)
• the deep green vase with the bright yellow lemons is great (see pic 1, just right of middle)
• I don't like the fishbowl vases (pic 2, left)
• the low bowl with flowers & fruit is super pretty (pic 2, lower left) but real fruit won't float, right? will that be good or bad?
• we will in no way need to buy vases! seriously. there are, what, 10 vases on the table here? not even a dent in the displayed collection. not even a dent. I swear the woman has 15 tall lined ones & 8 or 10 of those low floater bowls
• wine is a necessity in these endeavors
• my step daddy is such a good sport

and, for those of you who have made it this far, here's a bonus shot of my memorial day weekend. we got a grill!

(yeah, that's me. in a box. I may or may not have tried to trap the dog in it later that evening. unsuccessfully.)

#26. refreshing taste of lemon & lime

remember when mom came to visit? and we tested out some different centerpiece ideas? I finally have pictures!

we're looking at green and yellow (and maybe sapphire blue) for colors and thought what's green and yellow? fruit! specifically, lemons and limes. so, momma and I bought a bunch of lemons and limes and spent half a day cramming them into vases in various order.

like so . . .

not bad but not exactly what I was looking for . . .

we also cut slices to put into a vase with a narrower opening:

a little gross, you say? yeah, but look at it a few hours later . . .

mmmmm . . . or not. I think this one is a NO

after a while, we came up with what I think is a winner:

(mmmm . . . background liquor cabinet . . . which I totally needed after 4+ hours of fruit arranging )

it would look better if the glass didn't have that strange wheat pattern, but, it's a pretty clear idea of what we're going for. maybe this on half, floral on half? maybe some of both? not completely sure yet, but I feel like some sort of progress has been made. and that's enough for me. (for now . . .)

what do you think?

#12. mother knows best

remember how I didn't have any plans for non-texan mom's visit? (except for these. which were SO tasty, by the way!) well, as it turns out, momma had plenty of plans, all involving wedding things . . . unbeknownst to me, momma has stored any snippet of wedding related opinion I might ever have expressed, no matter how casually I might have mentioned it. therefore, she was just full of questions about so many things. things I didn't even know I should have been thinking about . . .

I love my momma, but she can be a little intense . . . a few direct transcripts of our conversations:

momma: you're doing cupcakes instead of a cake right?
me: umm, well, I did kinda think cupcakes might be kinda cool . . . Rock & I haven't really
talked about it . . .
momma: ok, so how are you displaying them? did you want step-daddy to build a
display? were you still planning on having the aunts make them all? I bought this
magazine that has instructions on making little gumdrop flowers to decorate them . . .
me: ummm . . . wait, what?

momma: I was thinking we'd buy a bunch of lemons and limes today to try out your
centerpiece ideas
me: ideas?
momma: right, the different vases with lemons and limes and different flowers like you
talked about before. you have vases right? let's go buy some!
me: . . . I might have a couple . . . wait, I don't want you to spend a ton of money on this
stuff. especially not on practice vases.
momma: you've always wanted lemons and limes in vases though. we have to practice.
I'm sure you'll find something to do with them after we're done.
me: wait, what?

momma: did you find any place to buy that pink sparkle crystal tiara you're going to wear?
me: uh . . . I'm sorry? tiara?
momma: like you've always wanted . . .
me: did I actually ever say anything about a pink sparkly tiara?
momma: you did. may 1991. don't you remember?
me: when I was 8? really? really?

#10. hey cupcake

non-texan mom and non-texan sis are in town for the week. mostly because it's HOT here and approximately super-cold where they live. (and also to see me, so they say . . . )

and, due to my excellent knowledge of the area and mad planning skillz*, we have exactly nothing planned to do. except this:

coldstone has cupcakes! how brilliant! technically, they are just a "special limited time promotion" and are only around until the end of March. but I asked the singing ice cream mixer and he said they will almost certainly be back as a regular menu option. look at this utter deliciousness!

(yes, I know it's blurry. it still looks tasty. blurry and tasty.)

* actually, I asked them what they wanted to do this week and they said "Be Warm" . . . so I say it's their fault we have nothing to do but eat cupcakes. as if that's a bad thing.