snail mail time

Gibraltar has just celebrated their 20th year of being free.  much hoo-ha (both social and political) was made amidst the fireworks and the time and tested-- releasing of balloons.  i am crossing my fingers that those balloons are environment-friendly though...

well, also in the middle of all this hoopla was a package from a very dear good old friend of mine from the States who sent me this lovely wall decor in the style of a book with these magical words written on them.  its the sweetest thing there is in my garden :)

also in the package was this tiny, tiny book about tiny, tiny homes :)  its hilarious! but soooo cute and perfect for Gibraltar (one of the most densely populated places in the world with 13,000 people living per square mile!)

i am ending this post earlier than usual because i am aching all over due to the fact that the mister and i went to a Jessie J concert and danced our hearts out the whole 4 hours non-stop!  more on that on my next post :)

flea market finds: good things come in small packages

that saying has never been more true than today when all of my finds from last week are all cute and diminutive complete with a colorful personality that packs a wallop:)

first up is this cobalt blue alarm clock with a snooze button, huge digital numbers and the softest blue light imaginable.  a little help for the mister especially on monday mornings :)

(bought for £1)

this Matryoshka doll (aka Russian nest-ing/ed doll) is a fine example of Russian folk art that was originally inspired by the Japanese Kokeshi doll.  i love their vibrant colors! 

(bought for .50p)

my next find are two handpainted ceramicware bowls and a mug with a whimsical chicken design from M&S.  i just love the colorful polka dots on the edges :)

(bought for £1 each)

and for my garden, i found this tealight lamp with a blue and turquoise mosaic design.  perfect for barbecues!

(bought for £1)

 following my garden theme,  i found two beautiful handmade butterflies who will never ever leave my garden :)

(bought for .10p)

(bought for .10p)

and lastly,  i conclude this post with a blessing from the Laughing Buddha who is said to be the deity of happiness, contentment, good luck and abundance!  (rub his tummy and we will see!)

(bought for .10p)

about 3 inches in length, he is actually a refrigerator magnet.  the words underneath written in chinese characters mean ... eerr.. let me get back to you on that one!  

thank you God for the giggles!

*linking to ThriftShare Monday @Apron Thrift Girl and Flea Market Finds @Her Library Adventures :)

crazy over daisies

one day it just happened.  they burst out of their buds as if characters in a cirque du soleil production.  a deeper kind of pink.  a happier kind of pink.  

and people started stopping by. and they started smiling more :)

 little fuchsia daisies gracing our verandah with their presence this spring :)

a lot of our neighbors have stopped by and complemented our lovely daisies :) we are happy they give people a reason to smile each time they pass by :)

its cool to be "green"

spotted this unusual plant with a long "trunk" sniffing the garbage bin on our way to Ocean Village. this is the only case of carbon dioxide poisoning i know that is actually commendable AND encouraged!

you say tomatoe, i say tomahto...

yay! for the first time we harvested our "balcony farm" the other day and now!... presenting... the two fat, juicy, organic Beefsteak variety tomatoes that survived the "harsh landscape"! ta-dah!

the little garden truly made me happy this summer. just digging my fingers into the dirt, replanting them, watering them and then pruning them made it so life-affirming. i highly recommend it for everyone!

i cant wait to do this again next summer!

good things come to those who wait

it wasn't so long ago that i started our little garden in our little verandah. on top of Alejandro (our bonsai plant) and a lovely young lavender, i planted tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, parsley, dill and some chives. i browsed through a lot of gardening sites to make sure i am doing the right thing. (thank God for the internet!)

as you can see, they are all crowded into our verandah where they get some precious sun every morning. of about 50 pots, i only bought 5 and the rest were either found in the dumpster in our building or were given by our friend, Victor, who is our buildings' gardener. he also checks in on us sometimes and gives us valuable advice on how to care for our organic babies. the sticks that serve as support for the tomatoes i also found in our building's dumpster. someone threw away a bunch of them and i regretted not getting the whole lot. we ended up going up the Rock to get some more sturdy sticks.

this is one of the very first tomatoes that grew out of the wilted flowers as if by magic. any day now, we are going to be harvesting the fruits of my labors :) we've already snipped some spring onions and parsley leaves :)

flea market finds: a pair of gloves that guarantees to make you laugh

don't you just love a garden? especially in the summer time, it serves as an instant de-humidifier. two months ago, i have started a wee garden in our balcony. i planted some tomatoes, green peppers, spring onions and some dill, parsley and chives. i also have one lovely lavender and of course, our beloved bonsai, Alejandro (the mister named him after Lady Gaga's song). now, i am happily anticipating our first fruits! the tomatoes have started flowering and yesterday, the mister found the first teeny tiny green tomato! my mother is a green thumb and i never thought i'd follow in her footsteps but i guess i now know what she tried to teach me when i was a little girl; that tending a garden teaches you how to take care of something. to give it lots of love and attention and you will be rewarded with 7 times what you have given it to. thanks ma!in all the excitement (and patience!) of tending a garden, i have been on the lookout for anything that i can use in our little plot of "land". I was so overjoyed then when i saw this beribboned pair of gloves from Gloveables in one of my favorite thrift shops. they have this rubbery smell that never fails to get me high when its time to tend my garden.at the back of the label, i love that it has this message: "Use of this product has been known to cause laughter. Guaranteed to class up your day." Just my kind of gloves :)

what it is to take care of something

summer is officially here!

yesterday it went up to a whopping 32degrees! whew! now we're talking ;) this is my kind of weather :D it might not be the beach for me but i've got a few activities lined up that will permanently stick this smile to my face just until the first cold wind chase the sun away. so, first up was my little garden in the balcony. i've had this packet of spring onion seeds tucked away for the longest time since last year and so i finally planted them a month ago and look at them go now!eventually, i will be replanting them to bigger pots so they won't have to compete for their food. i planted them in recycled plastic containers that came with the ready-made meals i used to buy. i just created holes under them so water can flow freely. my tomatoes are fat and lovely :D i just know they will be yummy when the fruits eventually come out.
my peppers are quiet but sturdy. the seedlings took their own sweet time coming out :) so, with this little garden of mine, i am reminded of my mother, who grew up tilling the land and who loves the earth dearly. i grew up watching her take care of something and everything .. or someone and everyone. she told me that everything and everyone need the right amount of everything, really, for it to grow into what its supposed to grow up to. of course you can only do your best, depends on the effort you put into it. the rest is up to God.