Signs of Spring

I am a warm weather kind of gal. No bones about it. I tend to complain when it's hot, hot, hot, but I overall enjoy it much more than freezing to death.

We didn't have a bad winter this year, but it was dreary. And depressing. And I'm glad that spring is arriving!!

A few weeks ago, the girls and I got bored one Sunday afternoon and went for a drive on the backroads. I love that we live where we do. We are minutes from the "city" and minutes from the middle of no-where, too. We are far enough out that it gets really dark here at night, and we can see the stars. That really has nothing to do with why we went for a drive, or what we saw, but I thought I would throw that in there, just because I think it's cool!

Anyway, back to the drive...

I took my camera, and snapped a few pictures of the fresh green-ness of the world. Seeing these simple things made me so happy. Just the breath of fresh air that I needed.

One of Kayti's favorite signs of spring is the fields of purple "flowers". These are nothing more than weeds growing, but she loves them. We snapped a few pictures of this field in Mooresville.

I had to pull over to the side of the road to get the next couple of pictures. I just love seeing the green fields and blue skies.

I even started noticing signs of life around my own house...

 My hydrangea is starting to bloom!

The strawberries are coming to life. Barry hopes he gets to eat more than the birds this year!

All the freshness outside made me want to get busy on the inside of the house. It was time to take down the Valentine's Day decor, and bring in some Spring!

The mantel. Not quite done with it, but I do love the simplicity of it. I have a "SPRING" banner that I made last year that I am thinking of hanging, but not sure if I'm going to yet or not.

I painted this all by myself this week. I went to a painting party a month ago for a friend's batchelorette party. It was so much fun, and I think I might have just fallen in love with it. I have been looking for something to put on the mantel, and decided to just be brave and daring and try to come up with something on my own. This is pretty much what I saw in my head, and I'm glad I was able to put it on cavas. Not that I don't see a ton of flaws in it, but I'm still pretty proud of it.

I got the bird cage on sale (need to still take that tag off... oops!), and I got the nest for free!! It was a home to a momma and babies last year, but it had been abandoned this year and I didn't feel guilty about borrowing it for my decor.

I saw this idea a lot at Christmas time... filling glassware with split peas and then inserting candles. I love the idea for spring. I think green is my favorite color right now, and love how it looks with everything else.

So... there is my little touch of freshness. I want to add fresh flowers everywhere, but guess I need to do that in moderation.  I'm anxious to get outside and start planting. What are your plans for spring?