Anything But Red!!

Those of you who follow me know that I am just not a fan of red. That being said, you WILL see it in my house for 4th of July, Christmas and of course Valentine's Day! I went to Valentine's when I took my Christmas down the first week of January so it has been up four weeks...and I am ready for it to come down. You also know that I will not take it down one minute before February 15 but then...watch out because the red will fly!

I am of course thinking ahead to St. Patrick's Day and then even Easter. Green is about my favorite color so I get happy when I start thinking of St. Pat's. As I buy/make things I see, I usually just stack them up in my office/craft room/grandchildren's dormitory. And as things start to pile up, an obvious theme comes forth. Here is what I am looking at these days.

My heart is happy. So far for St. Pat's I have the things that I made and have already shared with you and then I have my new "Bells of Ireland". I have literally been looking for more of these flowers since I found a few many years ago. When I ask, most people have never even heard of them...but, that doesn't stop me from asking every new place I find. And so, when we happened upon the shop in Eustis with the gorgeous fauxs, I once again asked and the owner lead me right to them. I will say, they were NOT inexpensive-hence the reason I only bought five more-but, now I know where I can get more if I need them. And, I saw a sale of more light green Luminara candles and so they too were a "must have"! I am obsessed with these things and, even though a darker green would have been preferable, I am fine with these and they can be out for spring and Easter as well.

Then, of course my mind is also jumping to Easter. I showed you the bunny but I also picked up the small lavender wreath at Target the other day. It may go in the kitchen hanging from the cutting board for Easter but, since I already have a shamrock wreath for that spot for St. Pat's, I might use it as a candle ring with that decor and "pretend" it is heather instead. Lol We shall see. So that's what is coming next. Let's go back to what is here. I think we're on our way into the bathrooms and master bedroom next.

So the guest bath is pretty self explanatory as is my bath. I always just try to give a nod to whatever holiday the rest of the house has but it needs to be a small enough nod that it doesn't get in the way of function.

And then I have started putting my overflow of photos in the master bedroom. Don't know where I can head once I've got these spaces all full. Lol

So I think we have now seen all of Valentine's Day 2022. I thought I would share just a quick shot of the table yesterday when my brother and sister-in-law came down. I wanted to do a belated birthday lunch for my sister-in-law and, since the Valentines were already everywhere, I just went with them. It wasn't over-the-top because we were doing other things as well, but it was pretty. The white, crocheted placemats (over the red ones) were made for me by my mom a long time ago and I love to use them when I can.

The casserole dish in the middle of the table is the recipe I told you about from Ree Drummond. It is a Veggie Packed Pasta. It has asparagus, zucchini, spinach, peas, onions, pesto, wine, garlic and ricotta cheese. Then the topping is seasoned bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and olive oil. It sounds delicious, doesn't it? But, it was not all it was cracked up to be! I'm not sure I will ever try it again but if I do, there will be much tweaking. I really wanted to like it because I love veggies and pasta.

I wish I had thought to get a picture of dessert. I made an old favorite that I had forgotten about. It is a butter cake with fresh orange flavoring stacked with strawberries and then filled and frosted with a whipped cream frosting. It is so fresh and delicious and I got to use some of the strawberries that I picked on Saturday.

So that is it for today. I've had the windows open all day so it might be time to get them closed and start to think about dinner. I'll be back. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.