Bloomin'!

Red yucca in bloom

notice who's hiding in the top-most flower?

This morning around 6:45 am, I went for a walk.  I prefer evening walks, but the weather is heating up here (85 today and in the high 90s later this week) and soon I'm going to need to walk as early as possible in the coolest part of the day.  I decided to transition now.

I took my camera this morning - and I'm glad I did!

The desert is in bloom!

I caught a bee in flight!

Bougainvillea

Close-up:

Bougainvillea are very beautiful and cheerful, but they are SPIKY and grow like weeds here in the desert.  We had four bougainvillea plants in our backyard.  Every January, when they were dormant, we would chop them down almost to the ground, and when spring came, they shot back up and took over.  Leaves everywhere in the fall.  And chopping them down was no mean feat, considering all the spikes.

From now on, I'll look at OTHER PEOPLE'S Bougainvillea!

Lantana

Lantana has no spikes, and it has lovely teeny weeny flowers, but whiteflies love to live in it and the sap is very sticky (I hate sticky!)  So we removed our Lantana.  I saw this multi-colored one on my walk this morning.

White Oleander tree

Desert trees of various kinds against the beautiful clear blue sky:

And the mountains in the far background!

(California is in that direction!)

And I saw this wonderful woodpecker (anyone know what kind?):

He was pecking on every lamppost he could find!

YouTube link

And here he is again!

Maybe he just doesn't recognize real trees!

YouTube link

I walked two miles.  Then I came home.

My parents gave us Oskar (this lovely little green owl) as an anniversary present, and now he guards our front door for us.  He's fierce, so watch out if you're not authorized to be on the premises! 

At one point over the last couple of days, I came home to find these little cuddling kittens:

Stephen was getting smushed by his brother Allistair, but he didn't seem too sad about it.

I climbed right up and took a picture with me in it.  Blurry, but worth it!

Allistair:  "Rub my belly, please?"

And here's what I wore today . . . I actually wore heels out and about for the first time in about a year.

When I got home from mega errands, my feet were sore.  Guess I'll stick with my ballet flats on errands day.

I read that as people age, the fat pads in the bottom of the feet disperse, meaning that feet need more cushioning.  Okay, but only as long as the shoes are CUTE!

Necklace: J. Crew opera length "pearl" beads from eBay

Old Navy t-shirt

Target pencil skirt

Born Cornflower shoes

This afternoon, these skirts arrived in the mail (from Target), and they are a good fit and a wise purchase (SOLID, no patterns = goes with more stuff!  I love patterns, so it's tough to buy plain stuff):

I thought the pockets might lead to a weird drape, but they don't.  Yay!

I also found these necklaces on www.target.com clearance (less than $5 apiece!)

Opera length (reach my belly-button) and very sparkly!

They are much prettier in person - I just couldn't capture their beauty in photos.

And this one is blurry, too - sorry!

I found this scarf for less than $4 at Ross, and I'm going to wear it in my hair when I put my hair up this summer.  It's a long skinny one, so it's good for wearing around the lapels of a jacket, too.

Look at the pretty pattern!

One more new purchase, also from Target:

I saw this outfit somewhere (Pinterest, probably), and want to recreate it - 

can't remember where I got this picture -
if it's yours, let me know and I will credit you!

I have plenty of floral skirts, but I didn't have a chambray/denim shirt that I could actually wear as a shirt (rather than a topper).  This one is 100% cotton and will be nice for summer because the sleeves roll up pretty high and button there.

What a productive and enjoyable day!  Hope yours was just as lovely.

xo