Another Driveway Vegetable Garden

Last summer, I grew a few tomato plants in the middle of my driveway. This awesome driveway garden puts mine to shame. It belongs to Cabell, whose home and garden I featured last week. Let's take a look around! 

Cabell said when she started thinking about growing veggies, she realized that she wasn't using and didn't need the whole length of her long driveway, so she plopped some raised beds in it. Isn't it perfect?

She's got lots of herbs growing, and squash and tomatoes, too.

Don't you love these herb markers? Stevia and cilantro....

Purple basil...

I love how Cabell uses these giant silver bins, I think they're supposed to be for horse feeding? What a great use for veggie growing! I hope Cabell's garden gives you some ideas for veggie growing this summer.

PS - DIY eggshell fertilizer and what to do with homegrown tomatoes? A tomato tart.

Kirkland's Look for Less

You guys know how good it feels to get a really good deal? I'm one of those people that admits "I know right! I got it on sale for $4! Just a few days ago, I bet they still have more!" Really. It's kind of embarrassing. Those comments are usually followed by "Isn't there a social rule about how you shouldn't admit stuff like that?" Is there? I digress. The point is, Kirkland's is one of those places where you can get a great deal, something that looks like a higher end item, but still gives you a little cushion in your budget. That's why I was happy to oblige when Kirkland's asked me to share a few of my favorite items! 

Glass Lamp: Kirkland's / Pottery Barn

Dining Chair:  Kirkland's / Pottery Barn

Mercury Glass Lamp: Kirkland's / Layla Grace 

Mirrored Side Table: Kirkland's / Hayneedle

Tufted Linen Bench: Kirkland's / Sophie Loren

Ceramic Garden Bench: Kirkland's / Ballard Design

Disclosure: I collaborated with Kirkland's for the content of this post.

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Planning a San Francisco Vacation

Have you ever been to San Francisco? Allen and I are going this summer and we are really excited to start planning. It's our first trip to the city by the bay and we'll be celebrating our fourth anniversary! We're usually traveling on lots of weekend trips to visit family and friends in the summer but we haven't taken a real vacation since we were first married. I think excited is an understatement!

So... Do you have any suggestions for us? I would love to hear your recommendations if you've been to San Fran or if you live there! Where to stay? What to see? Where to eat? Tell me!

Here's the list we've started working on:
Ride a cable car

Get breakfast at Tartine Bakery
Visit Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39

Rent bikes for a day

Have dinner at Foreign Cinema

See the crookest street, Lombard Street

Dinner with my San Franciscan friend Meredith!
Ice cream at Humphry Slocombe

Stop in the Lydali office!

Head up to wine country and stay a night at The Beltane Ranch

Here are a few other suggestions for where to eat from Oh Happy Day: The Sentinel, Pizzeria Delfina, Pena Pacha Mama, Red Door Cafe, Frances, Zazie, Boulette’s Larder, and Nopa. I think we might gain  a gajillion pounds, even though we'll only be there 5 days!

Oh and here are Liz's tips on how not to look like a tourist. I'm going to heed all of her warnings!

Please leave me your suggestions, friends, I will pour over all of them and we'll pack as much as we can into our itinerary! We can't wait!

Photos via art.com, unknown, The Selby (x2), Alan Levine

Sponsor: Liza Hathaway Matthews, Abstract Artist

Good morning! I have a fun introduction to make to you all today, Liza Hathaway Matthews! Liza, our newest sponsor, is an abstract artist, whose botanical and nature series I have really fallen in love with. She also does commission work, too. Check out her Facebook page, say hello and get to know her!

Garden Inspiration, Vol. 12

Good morning, friends! Did everyone have a good weekend? We had a quick weekend trip to Mississippi and back. On the schedule for this week? I'm working on a container gardening event I'm doing next week (details coming!) and thinking about these inspiring spaces. Happy Monday!

1 & 2 / 3 / 4

Garden Tour: Cabell's Winding Backyard Garden

After walking through Cabell's lovely home, I want to show you one of my absolute favorite parts of the house: the back porch and garden. It's so peaceful here, you can't help but relax at the sight of a giant fireplace, right? There are plenty of places to sit and stay a while.

Cabell keeps all her garden tools close at hand. Containers, trowels, gloves, plant markers, fertilizer, vases, anything you can think of.

As you walk off the porch and into the garden, you're met with a perfect stone pathway to the left and stairs out to the right. The landscape is so natural, I just love it.

Cabell's potting bench is just to the left of the photo above. What an awesome place to re-pot a few plants. Cabell's artwork is everywhere around the house and the garden is no exception. And there's a funny story to go with this one... If you read Cabell's definition of "Garden" here you might notice one word has been misspelled. She is (admittedly) notorious for misspelling words in her artwork. So Cabell told us she was just working in the garden one day, and her husband, Mike, was sitting on the porch. She asked him what he was doing and his response... "Oh, just discov-ing life." She had no idea what he was talking about, but he told her she'd get it eventually. A while later, Cabell noticed the spelling error and remembered "disov-ing life!" - ha! 

This is a simple story but it's one of my favorites. It takes on so much meaning because Cabell's husband, Mike, passed away a few years ago. I have re-written this sentence that comes after that sentence a few times now, and there's no way to properly express how heartbreaking the loss, but how Cabell's unwavering faith has kept her joyful. I will always be in awe of her. 

Back to the garden.... columbine! A new favorite of mine, these are some of the funniest shaped flowers I've ever seen. In this shady corner, the flowers are elevated in a terra cotta pot, while the hosta and creeping jenny create a nice, green groundcover.

I love how these terra cotta pots have become such a part of the garden, they are grown over and half visible, sacrificing themselves for the vines and greenery. I love the sense of permanence this lends to a garden. Since getting back to my own garden after our visit to Cabell's, I'm looking around for perfect places to add trios of terra cotta.

As you walk up the path, there are birds chirping and bees buzzing everywhere. Not bad for what Cabell calls her "morning commute" to the studio...

Looking back at the porch from the studio is quite a lovely view.

Cabell laughed when she told us about the wisteria she's growing up the right side of the porch. I can't wait to see it take over!

 Don't you just want to hop in and stay a while? I could have walked around the garden for hours. I can't wait to go back to see another season's blooms and what Cabell has added. It's a long process, gardening, but what a beautiful result.

Home Tour: Cabell's Artsy Haven in Rome, GA

Sometimes you walk into a beautiful, well-curated home, you're greeted by a lovely, let-me-take-your-bags hostess and you never want to leave. That's what happened last week when Jeanette, Bonnie and I (and baby Edith!) took a little road trip to Rome, GA to spend some time with Cabell Sweeney. Cabell is a pro at loving on people. She invited us up for an evening of rest and relaxation, and (a first for me) a tour of her gorgeous home and garden. Take a peek inside!

Cabell's bright green front door welcomes you into a comfortable, art-laden family room first. There is greenery everywhere, canvases and frames fill every vertical surface and the walls of bookshelves instantly give you a sense that Cabell has been collecting and curating for a long while.

This wall of various sized bookshelves is a sight to behold! Cabell pointed to specific shelves and told us that when she was a young girl in middle school her mother would give her a choice for the summers: work extra chores around the house or read. She obviously chose reading and has the books to prove it.

Every piece of artwork in this house has a story, a connection and a meaning. Cabell shared with us so many of these stories, it was hard to believe she could remember them all! Then again, the stories are so poignant, how could she not? The top two portraits in the wall below are Cabell's great-grandparents, their portraits done by John Singer Sargent. The originals are in the Boston Museum of Fine Art. How neat!

There are a couple of these small chairs placed around the house, holding coffee table books on museums, art, and history. I love each vignette.

To the right of the family room is the dining room, a large rectangular farmhouse table welcomes guests. 

More bookshelves filled with books, art, and keepsakes....

Knowing that she wanted to feature this portrait of her grandmother, Cabell said she sketched out the wall of bookshelves pretty loosely, focusing on the larger areas. The small shelves fell into place for small stacks of books and pottery.

Another lovely chair and coffee tabel book vignette...

Cabell has a wildly successful pottery business - you can read about it here! - so it's easy to see why gorgeous hand-painted mugs, bowls and everyday china fill her kitchen to the brim.

Concrete countertops, a wall of white subway tile, open shelving, a picturesque window above the sink and copper accents all contribute to this lovely kitchen.

Cabell had fresh cut flowers everywhere....

This hallway leads to a few bedrooms and bathrooms and opens up to my favorite part of the house.... the back porch and garden. Come back tomorrow to see the lovely cottage-style garden and Cabell's "commute" to the art studio in her backyard. You won't want to miss it.