It used to be that my thumb was black. Jet-black. It was the “why bother?” thumb. As in, all plants I owned were fake.  Live plants just didn’t stand a chance.  Then, as I grew older my thumb became more brown than black. Plants lived.  For a while, anyways.  Then, they died.  It wasn’t the immediate execution that plants had sustained in the past, though it wasn’t fully successful either.  As time passed, I was able to keep one blessed plant alive. Granted, this viney plant (the name of which escapes me) is of a hardy variety…

But regardless, it lived.

Which gave me confidence to adopt more plants. A snake plant, some succulents, an orchid.  All are still alive (though the orchid has been sans flowers for some time).  And they seem to be relatively happy.  Here’s the thing, though. The one thing that these plants have in common:  they thrive indoors. Period.  My outdoor potted plants never live. They die fast. Thus, I dub my thumb: Olive.  It’s green, but brown-green. Not quite the kelly-green that I’d eventually like to boast. All because of those darn outdoor buggers. So, what’s a girl to do, you ask??

Why, buy more plants, of course!

I went with herbs, mainly.  Oregano…

Basil, parsley and thyme….

Plus, I picked up this beauty for for a splash of color and pretty….

Again, I don’t know the name.  Maybe I should learn these things before blogging about them.  In the meantime, I’ll just refer to him as Jack  (I’ve been watching Lost on Netflix.  Yes, I’m the one who didn’t watch it.).

You can see that my lovely green garden stool finally departed the front room to claim his new, breezier home…

I just heart him to no end.  And I can tell that Fri and my Beloved Desk chair are grieving over the loss of their green friend to his new outdoor abode, but its a small price to pay for outdoor style.    I’m happy to say that our spray-painted furniture and galvanized steel water heater tables have fared well over the winter (you can read more about them in this post of yore).  We stored our cushions and steal-of-a-deal throw pillows in the garage and they still look brand new.  Now that I’m getting things situated out here, I’m itching to do something with the patio floor.  Regardless of whether it’s simply adding an outdoor rug or staining the concrete, something needs to be done.   I’ll get there at some point, I’m sure.  In the meantime, I’m gonna be stalking Pinterest in search of ideas (you’re welcome to join the fun and follow along if you so wish).

So, what kind of outdoor projects are you guys working on lately?? Doesn’t it feel nice to finally get out there, sun on your skin, and jazz it all up??

Linked up at Tatortots and Jello