culture. and flowers. always flowers.

It was a perfect spring weekend. SUPER perfect.

For example, take Friday night. First we ate Argentinian food on the restaurant's porch. Not only was the food amazing, but we were surrounded by flowering trees and a view of some of Athens's loveliest gigantic antebellum mansions-turned-frat houses (sad but true story). 

After we stuffed our bellies, we headed to the Georgia Museum of Art to take a gander at the new MFA exhibit. It was...arty. What can I say. I really don't understand much art, but I can look at it and cock my head in a thoughtful manner and nod slowly...so maybe I blend in with the true art appreciators? Maybe. At any rate, I enthusiastically eat the free food and drink the free beer and wine like I know what I'm doing (and I do!), so there's that. 

I'm telling you. Sometimes there are some true advantages to living in a college town. I submit art shows with free (quality! local! Terrapin!!) beer as Exhibit A.

After our fill of art (and refreshments) we headed across the lawn to a scene I'm a little more familiar with: the UGA Wind Symphony's spring concert. Band concerts are my love language and I'm always thankful when Matt takes the initiative to figure out when and where they're taking place and then goes to them with me.

Pre-concert, obviously.

I was in band for all of middle and high school...and not just in band, but like...REALLY INTO BAND. My life more or less revolved around band, my friends in band, my private lessons, weekend honor bands, auditions, competitions, camps, and spending every spare minute of the day in the band room. I was just as cool as you're imagining. I loved every minute of it. Sadly, Matt went to a very tiny private school that had NO BAND, so he's woefully uneducated in the ways of music and band. But that's okay because it means he asks hilarious (to me and other music-educated folks) questions and makes funny observations about things in the concert program, the wind symphony itself, and music. It's very entertaining. So I would have to say that going to a band concert with Matt is probably the best thing ever. Therefore Friday night was pretty awesome. Again- thanks for the free entertainment, UGA! 

While our Friday was quite a cultural and artsy experience, Saturday was all about flowers. SHOCKING, right?

Our favorite local nursery was having its annual spring open house, which meant that in addition to plant sales, there was live music and free food! (You could say that we spent the weekend chasing free food...and it was glorious.)

A dude singing in a nursery-- HOW DO I GET THIS JOB??!

The combination of free food, lovely weather, live music, and good prices meant that we bought a ridiculous amount of flowers. Two new hydrangeas, three lantana (MOST CRAZY LANTANA COLOR VARIETIES EVER!!), and some super fabulous dahlias. And a raspberry bush! And some other things I can't remember the names of.

Hello ridiculously pretty dahlias!

Obviously this meant we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon digging and planting. And pruning and sweating and planning and examining. Shockingly, after all the new things were in the ground, we discovered that we 'needed' even more flowers. Funny how that works. So we had to go back yesterday and do it all again. What a tragedy. It was really torturous, let me tell ya. On the plus side, at least our flower beds will be super fabulous this summer!

Other plant-y observations:

1. With every plant I put in the ground, it adds to the feeling that I will probably never be able to sell the house and move. LEAVE MY BABIES BEHIND?!?! What if the new owners didn't care about flowers? What if they let them all die?!??!! The thought of this is unnecessarily stressful for someone that isn't even really considering moving. Ugh.

2. I'm pretty sure I just spent a week's pay on flowers. Workin' for the flowers, yall.

After all of that yard beautification on Saturday, I felt that the front door was looking sad and boring. I needed a spring/early summer wreath to get me through til it's time for the Fourth of July wreath. Allison inspired me with her fun natural-and-burlap wreath that she made a few weeks ago, so I set out to make one similar. But then I got sidetracked by things that were bright colors, so mine is a little less neutral and a little more TURQUOISE, but I'm okay with that.

The pictures suck because it was getting dark and iPhone pictures in the semi-dark and/or using a flash are a joke, but you get the idea. For a wreath that took about 20 minutes to make, I think it's pretty great! And it makes my front door look WAY happier. 

So with that, spring has been officially welcomed at our house. We knew it was really official when we both got multiple mosquito bites. Yup. Between the pollen, mosquitoes, and humidity, Georgia makes sure we never get too satisfied with the current weather. By the time the pollen leaves, it'll be 920 degrees every day...but my plants will be happy and blooming, so really, I don't care. Bring it.