Morning Hike

You should know that this post came at great personal cost. The mosquitoes were worst than I have ever seen them, and every time I paused to take a picture, they were all over me. If they had been zombies, I would be a goner.

Still, it was totally worth it.

Just a few days left to knock off the rest of my 27 Before 27! Eek!


♥ Shannon

Earth Day, My Love!

(how cute is Google's Earth Day logo?)

Earth Day is a beautiful opportunity to gain some awareness and appreciation for the planet. What will you be doing to better to take care of our earth?

Here are a few options:

Check out the website Billion Acts of Green--learn a little bit, and make a pledge! I pledged to eliminate use of toxic cleaning products. Guess what? They also list events going on nearby--who doesn't love a party?

Or, you can check out the new film from DisneyNature: African Cats. It opens today, and if you go see it within the next week, a portion of your ticket sales will go towards The African Wildlife Foundation.

Plus, how cute is that face?

You could recycle, turn off the water when you brush your teeth, forgo meat, walk/bike instead of drive, feed your birds, bring your own bags when you shop, buy organic--so many little steps that make a big difference!

♥ Shannon

Butterfly Garden

So the previous tenants of my townhouse had planted a little garden by the front door. They, however, must not have known that mint is kind of an invasive species, in that it will take over your entire garden if not monitored. So that's what happened, resulting in a Jurassic Park-esque jungle by mid-summer.

So I've decided that I am going to clean up the yard, get rid of weeds and mint growth, and scatter what I hope will be a low maintenance butterfly habitat.

Butterflies need specific flowers--ideally from plants native to the area. I did some research, and then lucked out with this little scatter garden kit, containing the plants I wanted (milkweed was my #1)--and more. It also has some nice instructions for this gardening newb.

So hopefully when these little lovelies come migrating through Maryland, they'll stop by and say hello! You know I love me some butterflies!

Now all I need is a hoe (but who doesn't, am I right? Just kidding...inappropriate...).

♥ Shannon