When we walked out of the church its Polish tradition to throw money at the newlyweds, and whomever picks up the most rules the money hand. I think all my bridesmaids helped pick up only the larger denominations, and someone stuck a paper bill in my hand too. 

But I have to say with as large of a wedding as we had, 500 people, the thing that got me the most was the surprise that my parents got for us. We had booked a limo and a party bus for the bridal party but when we got out of the church... there was a traditional highlander horse and carriage waiting for us. 

And of course when we went to take our pictures in the park, we had to bring along a cooler with the homemade vodka and other booze to tide the bridal party over. Although this tradition was new to most of the Filipinos the Polish crew got them accustomed real quick. 

To say the reception was fun is an understatement. I think we were all pleasantly surprised how well opposite sides of the globe got along and partied so well. We had a band and a dj took over while the band took breaks plus the highlander group played while guests walked in. We danced and drank and ate till the early morning hours and the next day the party continued until late in the night. It was a great day, one I will remember and smile on, for the rest of my life. 

I made waaaay more than in this pic but with everything going on I took this pic a day later after they were mostly gone. Boy were these good. Time consuming but good. My brothers' sweet girlfriend Iza made her  red velvet cake from scratch - no box mix here baby. I mixed it with cream cheese frosting and dipped them into dark cocoa. S'cuse me while I wipe the drool from my mouth, they were delicious. Everyone kept sneaking one, which I don't know why they needed to sneak they were out for everyone to eat, maybe cuz they tasted so decadent? 

And then there were the pom poms that I did the day before. They were supposed to hang outdoors but the rain was coming down pretty hard so we swapped that idea, instead to decorate inside.

I had the whole first floor covered, and the kids took some home at the end of the night.  

Last but definitely not least the craft that took me the longest to make was her cake topper. I figure we can reuse this every year maybe I'll change the dress out.  This topper took me about a week to make, it was the first time I made it so I was figuring out the way to get the head on the glue to use paint, dry paint again. Phew. I have to say it was worth it, I plan on making more for some friends and maybe with practice it will take less time to make, and look a bit more finished. 

What do you all think, can you see yourselves using these colors in your next home project, if so I would love to know which ones and where.

But then again, I don't have enough room to keep all the crap that we accumulate in this lifetime, somethings gotta go. 

In the past we have always eaten them just off the branch but if there a a large bounty my grandma used to can them in their own syrup and later open and make something called kompot. Which is stewed fruit in water with sugar and later cooled and drank. It always tastes the best when you have a mixture of left over fruit like strawberries or some raspberries, plums, etc...

Yum I'm getting thirsty just thinking about the homemade fruit drink, maybe I'll make some this week instead of waiting for leftover fruit.

The longest portion of this was marinating the shrimp but after that sits for a little bit, the rest cooks up pretty quickly. I paired this dish with brown rice and baby bok choy.

For the Marinade:

Soy Sauce

Garlic (grated)

Red pepper flakes

ginger (freshly grated if possible)

olive oil (sesame oil preferred)

Mix all the ingredients together and rub shrimp with the marinade. Reserve a bit of the marinade for the vegetables, you don't have to marinade them but you can use it when sautéing the vegetables to add flavor. The amount is really a preference thing. If you like more garlic add more if you like it spicier add more flakes if you like ginger add more. It's really dependent on your taste buds. I grate my ginger and garlic for this dish, it tends to coat the shrimp really well and then your not biting into a chunk of ginger while eating. 

Marinate for 20 mins to 2 hrs in the fridge, not longer, shrimp shouldn't sit for too long, even in the fridge. Before cooking take out the shrimp to get room temp for a few minutes. Heat up your pan with a tiny drizzle of olive oil, not too much remember your marinade has olive oil. Your not deep frying them just giving the pan some lubrication, as you need to get your pan smokin' hot.

Saute the shrimp on high on one side till they get a crust, turn over and do the same on the other side. The garlic and ginger help the shrimp develop a nice crust. This should really take a few minutes on each side. I used extra large shrimp so I needed a bit of time on each side.  

Remove the shrimp and in the same pan add the quartered baby bok choy to the pan and quickly saute. You can add some of the marinade into the pan to cook up with the vegetables or you can just add a splash of soy sauce and a splash of water to help the bok choy cook trough. It doesn't take long to get the baby bok tender, so act fast. 

You can serve this with any kind of rice, I like it with brown rice, but have also had it with black wild rice, or change up the vegetable. Either way it's a quick, tasty and healthy recipe that you can make with out too much time in the kitchen.

My first grouping was a plethora of pink shells that I put around my snake plant in a white ikea planter. They seem to contrast nicely with the variegated green spikes and the white geometric planter. I also added the white shells to a dark planter that my ficus is in, I won't show that one since the planter is not to my liking and am currently searching for something more modern. I'll keep you posted once I find something else.

The other thing that I put together was a bunch of these pearlescent shells, almost capiz like but they aren't capiz and grouped them with a few of the white shells in a round short vase. On top was one of the air plants that I grabbed off of a tree that grew all over the area. I checked, I wasn't stealing, I was actually, come to think of it, propagating. 

These air plants grew in clusters all over trees, and they would attach themselves to the trunk and just grow all over. There were a couple of the larger bromeliads on the tree that I think these spawned from.  You can't see on this pic but they have these tentacles that grow and at the ends are seed pods that when the wind blows it carries and "seeds" itself on a different part of the tree.  

I wish I grabbed more but I wasn't too sure if I would have a hard time bringing these babies home. I was able to wet a paper towel and stick them into a plastic baggie filled with air. Wouldn't you know it, they survived the trip home and are doing pretty well. Every few days I just mist them with some water and a bit of fertilizer.

My biggest coup from the trip was a bunch of barnacles, that I thought I might display on my media stand between the stand and the top shelf that the plasma rests on. I don't know what I was thinking, I thought the space was much bigger than it actually was.  When I brought the two barnacles home, they wouldn't fit in the space so I had to figure an alternative. 

Oh and that beauty sitting next to it is a FARM raised coral from Indonesia, that I purchased in Florida. I have been looking to buy some coral for a long time but they all are very fragile and the bigger they get the more unlikely a place will ship. Most of the ones that I looked at before are pickup only.  I know the coral was farm raised, they were too perfect to be something that was found in the ocean, and I paid about the same amount I would have paid for synthetic coral i.e. plaster. Anywho, the barnacle, those things I was told are a nuisance and grow on most anything. I know this to be true since a ton of shells that I picked up from the beach had tiny clusters of barnacles already forming (you can actually see a barnacle growing on the seashell picture of the potted snake plant).

So for now these specimens are on my console table, hopefully curious little fingers won't go trolling while my back is turned. If you notice I have a clear plastic stand to prop the coral on and the barnacles have these felt stickers on them, both of these are really sharp and will scratch up the wood mighty easily.  

As for whats on the media stand between the shelves, well that's a work in progress yet again. I'm hoping to fill it with some objects that are bright that will stand out amongst all that dark wood. Back to the drawing board for now.

We walked around to a couple of galleries and boutiques but most everything that I liked was way more than I would ever spend on it.

The restaurants though had great deals on a early bird dinner/lunch, anytime before 6 you can get TWO meals AND a bottle of wine for $20.00 That's Cheap!

We didn't partake of that menu but we did have the best sushi lunch I have probably had EVER!

Sushi Thai Too is on the corner of 5th Ave and if your ever in the area and like sushi, don't pass this place up. We ordered a sushi/sashimi boat with a couple of add-ons and the pieces of sashimi were super thick and duper fresh. I swear they had to be at least a .5" thick. It was the best lunch, everyone came away so satisfied and full that I we skipped dinner that night. 

Yeah go on, I'll wait while you wipe your drool. 

We left Naples pretty late to try and hit up Marco Island, but we weren't able to walk around like we did in Naples. Everything is private property so if your not staying on Marco Island, there really isn't any point in going. Granted the sand on Marco Island is probably the finest sand I have ever felt, it really felt like I was standing in a bag of flour. We were tired and glad to be going back to Sanibel. 

EXCEPT... we had to make a detour and find a Checkers. My sister made us drive around and try and find a Checkers burger joint, but to no avail, we did't find the one that google maps said was there. I get why she was craving it, they used to be all over Chicago but were slowly closed off, probably that they only had drive through or outside seating, and in Chicago we kinda need the indoor concept. You know we're not called the windy city for nothin'. We were all compensated with a Five Guys Burger. Not Checkers but they'll do.

Of course my daughter was ready to get to the beach.

But as soon as she got there she wanted to strip her clothes off, I was able to have her not take her shorts off, not that I care its just more crap for mommy to carry around.

This turtle was grazing on the grounds between the condo and the beach and I caught a pic of him coming out from under the walkway back to his hidey hole. May is the start of turtle hatching season, so who knows if there were more nearby just preparing to hatch.

I so love palm trees, I wish we were in zone 8 instead of 5  :(

Of course how can I not show you some of the lush succulents growing on the beach. These plants actually help the sand stay put, by growing a web of roots that help when a large storm comes.

This was a common action, I don't know why I even bothered to dress her most days. She also never got bit by the terrible no-see-ums, unlike her mother and most everyone else that got bitten alive. Maybe that Filipino blood is adept to tropical bugs?

...to paradise in the continental USA. 

I have to say that I have never been to Florida before but have been to the tropics plenty of times, I will definitely come back to Sanibel again. It was a beautiful, laid-back and wonderful vacation. The beach is littered, in some places up to 6" high, with seashells. And when they talk about the Sanibel stoop, you get it, after a few days we all experienced a sunburn on our back. You can't help it, newcomers come to the island and want to pick up practically every seashell, we did, but people who have been to Sanibel before only take away the special shells. 

We brought a couple of those shells back, at the time I had no clue what I would do with them, but I think I have a couple of ideas, you'll see!

We spent most of our time on Sanibel but took a few day trips to Ft. Myers beach, Naples and Marco Island. those are in the next post. 

Now that I'm back it's time to get serious about our front yard landscaping. 

Oh get your mind out of the gutter. I ordered a new strap for my nikon cuz I'm hating the way the NIKON shows all bright on the original strap. It's not that I don't want to show that its nikon but I would like to keep it a little low key from people perusing something to take. Ya know.

I also found a few that were leather, and very snazzy. I liked them a lot and the price wasn't bad, they just had something missing. They were all neck straps.

Nice huh?  Yeah I thought so too, except having a neck strap now is not optimal for me. I like to carry my camera on my shoulder or across my torso but with these type of straps your limited to how long you can make them. Doesn't work so well if you're like me and want to pull it across your body at anytime to take photographs and then swing it back.

I have found the solution to this problem, Gordyscamerastrap.com. I chose a sling with a screw tripod connector, and I got an additional lug mount wrist strap with a wrist pad. I can't wait to try this sucker out on a longer day of shooting. I figure that I can detach the body sling easily and just keep the wrist strap on all the time on the nikon d40x. 

These trees I named the crew cut trees but they are amazing, there is a path that is lined on both sides with theses trees and looking down the path it looks really cool. The photos you are able to take here are amazing the light is filtered and its full of color. Just fantastic.

There are also the inside gardens as I call them, but they are actually green houses with a different type of environment in each house. This one was gardenias and palms and venus flytraps, among others.

The palm trees in the green house.

This is the little bumblebee that came with us, matching his yellow shoes.

I hope you find my pics interesting enough to get you to go, if your ever in the Chicago area. It really is a great way to spend the day.

A great idea for any type of sports paraphernalia, maybe old football helmets, the ones that used to be leather, or golf shoes granted the shadow box would be thicker but I think it could work. 

I don't know for sure if that perforated looking egg is a garden stool, it looks a little fragile to sit on. The orchids, well they are just plain lovely, but the shell box that they were in was priced at $750.00 sorry, I think I'll pass. 

This installation has to be my favorite, for the kites. I believe that those are a permanent fixture in the gallery space and the table might have been temporary.  This would work if you had a large skylight in your home or maybe a sunroom, how pretty would that look with the filtered light coming through? 

Overall, it was a wonderful saturday, time spent with friends was worth it even though nothing was of particular interest or affordability.

Yeah I'm sure the pergola is not gonna fly, its way too much to spend on a decorative object but I thought hey why the hell not, if I'm photoshopping some landscaping why not go all the way.

So you see we are going to get our siding done, we dont have much since the house is all brick its just that triangle up in front and the back, which you cant see from this angle, of the house which is the negative space of the triangle. Oh and the garage, which isnt much we are also planning on doing the soffits and fascia and gutter and I want to go a dark grey but Im not sure if we can do the same thing for the gutters and everything or if that needs to be special ordered. 

But on to the landscaping. We are replacing the cherry tree with a nishiro japanese willow and behind it will be pink and yellow scotch brooms that grow pretty fast. And then I want to add some sort of grass that is a perennial, like maybe pampas or some other ornamental grass to give it some height. Also there will be some mounding white flowers and to give the rock facade some more color, there will be overflowing ground cover that spills over the rocks. In the back, on the right side of the fence where it currently is dead now will be my autumn clematis, that grows green all summer long just to bloom in august when the rest of the flowers are done. Smells so pretty especially at night when the windows are open, I love that time of the year. 

I went yesterday and bought some of the items listed like the scotch brooms, in yellow and pink, although they are pretty small they grow really fast, and to pay $20 for a full grown one was ridiculous since the ones that are for $6 will grow in about a month to the other size and be fully grown by the middle of summer anyhow. 

Also for $5 a pot there was montana sandwort, never seen it before but it grows in clumps and its perennial. So I picked up 3 pots. 

It's not much but it does add up quickly, the most expensive thing will be the willow tree and the extra soil we will need to raise the bed up, which I'm figuring to need about a ton? So you see when I go to my husband and say "Imagine this" he's gonna ask me how much and do we really need a pergola?

Well no we don't need it, but it sure looks pretty. 

Oh and just to leave you with a pretty pic, this is our flowering crabapple that I picked up for $30!! It was being nursed back to health and no one wanted it, but I saw the potential and after 2 years its holding up pretty well. 

Wish me luck, and if any of you gardeners out there have any suggestions on anything that I have talked about please feel free to comment and give me any advice. I sometimes get lucky and pick the right type of planting but this is fairly new to me for front yard landscaping.

Unfortunately I don't have a pic of the front of the house with the tree in bloom, never thought I wouldn't have the chance to take a pic.

Last year we noticed that the tree wasn't getting  leaves through some of the top branches, and I noticed some white stuff growing on the bark. I took a pic of the stuff and took it to our local nursery. They took a look and said it was lichen and that it was ok, its not going to harm the tree. Well in the spring we usually get beautiful pink flowers all over the tree not so much this year. I called an arborist out to the house and he said that there was nothing we can do to save the tree, it had gotten peach tree borers. It was 60% dead. 

Thats sad, I was hoping we can spray something on it but unfortunately this type of tree, which is a purple sand cherry doesn't live past 15 years, and its probably right at that marker. Plus our neighbor has the exact same tree and he got the peach borers also. So not only is my full grown tree going but so is theirs.

This is what it looked like before we cut it down, it wasn't really blooming, except for the lowest branch everything else was dead. Look how pitiful it looks, by this time it would have had a mound of pink flowers on it. 

But today after cutting it down, even the skies are sad, well not really I just took the photo later in the day.

It really is EMPTY now. We are planning on planting something in that spot and I thought of adding some other type of tall plants but thats going to take me a bit before I get the plan together. I really wasn't planning on replacing the tree at all and in the last two weeks I have had to come to the decision that curb appeal means a lot if you want to sell a house. I know that is what drew me to this house so we will have to do our best to liven up the curb appeal before we think about selling.