flowers for the living room

Over the past few months, I’ve been spending most of my free time in the garden. Planting a few more climbing roses, starting a little vegetable patch, tending to my hydrangeas and enjoying the amazing bonus of always having fresh cut flowers at home.

Plus, I always have my favorite herbs on hand! They're scattered throughout the garden. Most of my favorite recipes include fresh herbs. They add such depth of flavor to food, and they're pretty nutritious too. One of my favorite dishes that combines plenty of tasty herbs is this recipe for French Onion Soup includes fresh sage, thyme and bay leaves from the garden.

The snapshot above of a corner of my living room captures the snowball viburnum I brought in from the backyard. I love how the flowers turn from soft lime green to creamy white. If only they had a longer blooming period! 

I’d love hear from you... 

How have you been spending your time this spring?   

What are your favorite flowers? 

What’s your favorite recipe to prepare at home? 

What do you miss the most about freely roaming this world? 

Just leave me a comment or let me know via email.

xoxo    fabiana 

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“I live vicariously through my own imagination.”  -- Lavinia Teagarden

sunday drive part two

Last Sunday, I shared a favorite street of mine in Newport Beach called Hampshire Court. The gorgeous Cape Cod style home at the end of the cul de sac is a real showstopper and, last week I gave you a little tour of the inside.

Today the drive continues on Hampshire Court, but this time home is much different in style than the beautiful one decorated by Blackband Design. This interesting pink home was for sale recently, so we have little peek at the inside here.   

This home has that sort of south Florida and Bahamas vibe to it, and it even reminds me a little bit of the Beverly Hills Hotel. It needs a little updating in my opinion, but the décor is definitely old-school glam!

You can see the Cape Cod home from here.

See how close it is to the Cape Cod home?

Isn’t it fun to take this little Sunday drive, while not leaving the comfort of your own home, haha?

💕

While I’m here today, I wanted to share some of my "Tablescaping Essentials" with you. I have a whole page on the Amazon website with my favorite picks for setting a beautiful table.

Quite often time is of the essence, and I have last minute projects or events to work on, so I turn to Amazon for one or two day delivery. You’d be surprised at how many amazing items they have to offer! And I'm constantly updating this page with my new favorites. 

You can check it out here, at “Tablescaping Essentials”.

ciao! fabiana

sunday drive on hampshire court

One of my favorite streets here in Newport Beach is Hampshire Court. It’s a very small cul de sac that’s more of a little circular street with only about four homes on it.

As you drive up the street, the first house that catches your attention is this Cape Cod beauty.

And right next door, is this home. These two homes are the perfect companions to one another.

Here’s what they look like, side by side.

And to the right is this southern colonial home.

Last but not least is this fabulous pink house that looks like it belongs in Palm Beach or the Bahamas!

As fabulous as these homes are from the outside, do you ever wonder what some of your favorite homes look like on the inside? I know I do! 

Well, wonder no more about the first home, you see it was designed by the fabulous husband and wife team of Blackband Design, so today we have a little peek at the interior…

More photos of this home can be found on Instagram with the hashtag #projectbackbay.

What did you think of this blog post? If you'd like to see more like this, please let me know!

ciao! fabiana

a sunday spent in the garden

Sunday’s the perfect day to take a little hunk of time and reserve it to spend in the garden. Whether it’s 20 minutes or all day, time spent outdoors enjoying a garden is beneficial to the mind and body.

Earlier this year, I discovered two Netflix shows that kind of changed my life. The first one is English gardening master "Monty Don’s Big Dreams, Small Spaces".

Believe it or not, watching folks in London or in smaller British towns transform their small gardens into fantastic spaces got me soooo motivated to dig and totally enhance my own backyard.

Now that summer’s here, I can actually go out to the garden and gather hydrangeas, old-fashioned roses, lavender, herbs and even some vegetables from my garden.

Just like everyone on Monty’s show, I had a “Big Dream” of what I wanted my garden to look like, and it’s literally come to fruition! My vision was to have a relaxed English cottage garden or French potager that incorporates pretty flowers intermixed with vegetables.

Now I’ve got my tomatoes and flowering sage growing under my apricot tree. I’ve got beautiful eggplant growing amongst the roses and hollyhock. My garden has truly been transformed and it’s so rewarding!  

So, in honor of “time spent in the garden”, I’ve gathered a few pretty garden snapshots from pinterest and combined them with some of my favorite inspirational garden quotes.  

“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.” –Gertrude Jekyll

“There is no real need for decorations when throwing a barbecue party - let the summer garden, in all its vibrant and luscious splendour, speak for itself.” –Pippa Middleton

“I have an organic garden and love being able to say, 'I'm going to see what I can pick to throw in my salad.'” –Christie Brinkley

“It gives you a good feeling. Each year, you rediscover in a garden the magic of life. A flower arrives, and it is a miracle. The leaves fall in the autumn, and it looks fantastic. There is a tenderness about a garden, and you can't help but be sensitive to that.” –Hubert de Givenchy

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”― Audrey Hepburn

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”  ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years.” – Unknown

“If you have a garden in your library, everything will be complete.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Life begins the day you start a garden.” – Chinese proverb

I have yet to photograph the favorite parts of my garden but I’d love to share them with you soon. You may have caught a little glimpse of it during my magazine photo shoot with Cottages and Bungalows. Check it out here.

And if you’re wondering what the second Netflix show that changed my life is, it’s “The Paleo Way” with Australian Pete Evans. The amazing recipes are what got me hooked, and yes, I’ve been eating Paleo since February 1. More on that later!

ciao! fabiana

photos:  pinterest

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