Keeping Busy

I haven't been able to blog much lately because I have been busy finishing up the flower bed and front porch entrance.  Yesterday my mom and I spent three (much needed) hours at the spa.  She had never had a massage so that was my Mother's Day gift to her.  It was sooooo amazing.  We had a foot rejuvenation that involved a warm soak, scrub, and hot stone massage.  Then we were given 1.5 hr full body massages followed by a facial and scalp massage.  Lets just say we didn't want to leave after all that :)  So besides getting pampered, here is what I've been up to:

I painted a HUGE clay flower pot that I had bought for $5 at IKEA a few weeks ago.  I used the same colors and polka dots idea that I used on some of the other front entrance pots to give it kind of a unified theme.  The colors are egg yolk, wythe blue, cafe latte, and white:

After I painted it and sprayed with the clear sealant, I put down a coffee filter to keep the potting soil from running out of the bottom when I water it.

Afterward I put it in one of the corners of the front entrance.

 Here's a close up (yes, Eva has her cowgirl boots on wrong lol).

 The tiered pots are wythe blue, cafe latte, and white:

So all of those pots were done with the same colors, which saved me money and used up a lot of extra paint that was just sitting on a shelf in the garage woohoo!

I can't remember if I mentioned that my neighbor next door had an ENORMOUS flower pot in her front yard that she wasn't using (they're not really into gardening).  She and her husband moved into their home about a month before I purchased mine.  I approached her a few days ago and asked if I could buy the flower pot from her since she wasn't using it.  I explained that it would be easier than buying one at a store and trying to fit it into my car, plus I had a big gardenia (Mother's Day gift from my awesome Mother in Law) that would fit perfectly in her pot.  She was so nice and said I could have it for FREE since she didn't care to use it.  Can I get a woohoo?!  I <3 free stuff.  I moved it over this morning (it was sooo heavy), dug out alot of the old soil, and planted the gardenia.  

I'm not sure if I'll leave it that way or paint it.  What do you think?

PS, I know I just took a zoomed out picture of the finished flower bed a few days ago, so I tried taking some closer pictures today.  Here's a small (zoomed in) sample of what I planted:

This is just a beautiful pot that I found at the nursery and semi-buried to give it that 'dug up artifact' look that I love. What can I say, I'm from the desert and love the way those look in people's yards.  I planted the begonia near the mouth of the vase to give it the illusion that it's actually growing out of the pot.

I had also found this curious little flower pot at the nursery.  It has three holes on its sides, which flowers can grow into. 

It was an added cost, but I think those flower pots give the flower bed some character.

I had Eva outside working with me, but she got tired and left all her gear outside for me to clean up.  

She manages to leave shoes everywhere she goes.  

So now you know what's been keeping me busy the past few days.  I may still add some more flowers and things to the front yard, but at least now the flower bed and front door entrance are finished.