Collection: Floral Frogs

In my last post i mentioned that when i was in Georgia me and my parents went antiquing and i got a couple floral frogs.  Well i got a couple more when we got back and i think i might be set on the collection unless i see one that really stands out and is interesting or a pretty glass colored one.  For a long time i would always see these in antique malls and never really knew what they were for.  Then when i actually started working with flowers i got a couple and would use them in arrangements.

The spiky pin needle ones are my favorite to actually use because they hold up the best.

But you have to be careful with them because i have cut myself a few times handling these. 

you can usually find a ton of clear glass frogs...but a lot of times they're flat and wide.  I liked this one because of the dome shape.  We did see one that was a really big dome that i kind of wish i had gotten, but who knows maybe if we go back (in Florida) at Christmas and if it's still there i may get it.  

and there was also a huge green glass frog in Florida that i passed up :( i found this one here in St. Louis.

I had been walking around looking for awhile...picked up a clear glass and a cage frog...and before i could even finish saying "I wish i could find a colored glass one" i spotted this green frog.  My eyes got really big and made a quick run to the table.

So there's 12 total and i think that's a good amount, unless like i said earlier, there's just one that stands out.

Jeremy said that i could probably find a bunch online and even get new ones online too...but it's all about the hunt!!

home

The other week we went home to visit our families.  It had been an entire year since we were last there and that was too long.  We'll be back again for Christmas so only a few months till we see everyone again.  Apparently it had been raining every day for a couple months or something like that, but i don't know...we must have brought the nice weather with us when we came down, because it only rained for a little while one afternoon.  I just hope the cold weather doesn't follow us at Christmas time.  Anyway, speaking of all that rain, Valdosta was looking pretty lush.  And my moms garden....looked like a jungle to me.  Maybe it's because i hadn't seen it in a year or because she works in a garden center and brings plants home all the time (probably both), but it seemed to double in growth since i last saw it.  Of course i took a bunch of pictures!  and a few inside too!

These are pretty much the only pictures i got from our trip.  Jeremy was starting to feel bad on our way down and it turned out he had pneumonia.  We had planned on taking a trip to Savannah, but decided maybe we shouldn't and let him rest.  We met up with some friends and family through out the week and we did go down to Florida with my parents one day to go antiquing. I came home with a few floral frogs (more on that later).  We also celebrated Jeremy's birthday on the 31st.  The week seemed to go by too fast, but like i said earlier...we'll be back in a few months!  So here are those pictures i was telling you about...

Top half

bottom half...it was hard to get a good picture in just one shot.  Last years Christmas tree turned bottle tree.

I've started my own bottle tree at my house. 

Lucy!!

me and my mom made the beads for my wedding and hung them above our cake along with a few other lanterns from an old fence gate.  We called them "love beads"

Some other pictures from home....here and here 

playing catch up

The past month has either been really busy or not busy at all.  I figured i'd just post a bunch of pictures from lately and keep it all in one post.  

sunset from our usual walk in the evening

this day had perfect weather, high of 75 and Ziva was loving it.  

hiding from the vacuum cleaner or just a new napping spot?  

one weekend at the end of July we decided to take advantage of the super nice weather and drive 45 minutes to the Lewis and Clark trail.  

Missouri River

I believe this was before i got attacked by a butterfly and started crying from laughing and embarrassment.

i'm an easy crier.

and afraid of butterflies.

looking for arrowheads 

I started taking dance again!  Well actually i started taking a class back in June through one of the colleges.  It was just an 8 week summer class.  

Jeremy works with someone who told me about this other studio.  They offer all kinds of different classes for all levels. So far i've taken Zumba, Pop Ballet, Contemporary, a Flexibility class and a Tap class.

Ok, i only took tap once...it was a little (a lot) too advanced for me.  Tap was never really my strong point anyway.  I've been wanting to take a pointe class too, but i'm a little nervous, it's been a long time.  They will also be offering a new Cardio Barre next week so i may join that one too. 

we made a blueberry pie!!

a small backyard bouquet...everything from my yard

My friend, Ashley, was driving through St. Louis ( from California to Georgia!) and stopped and stayed for a couple nights.  It was really nice to catch up, i haven't seen her in about 5 years (she moved out to CA 5 years ago and is making the move back home to GA) We grew up together and even went to Italy together after high school.  We went up in the Arch at night (my first time at night) and it was really cool!  There was a Cardinals baseball game going on so Busch stadium is all lit up to the left. 

The same time Ashley was here Jeremy's sister and her four kids came to visit.  We had a full house and a busy weekend!  Me and Ashley went to the Art Museum in Forest Park and met up with Jeremy, Lisa, and the kids at the zoo when they got in to town.  When we got back home we ordered pizza, played with Ziva (she loooooved those kids....so many new people to lick. She was such a good dog!) the kids watched a movie and we made some peach cobbler with some Georgia peaches that Lisa brought up.  The next morning Ashley left and the rest of us went to the Science Museum.  Monday we did the City Museum and Tuesday we saw the Arch before Lisa and the kids left. 

Uncle Jeremy!

The last week in August we'll be making a trip down to Georgia to visit our families.  It will have been a whole year since we've been home.  That's a long time! Too long.  We've got a few things going on in September...Lindsey is coming to visit!  I'm looking forward to fall this year.  Being in the house and neighborhood seeing all the trees change. And the holidays!  We'll be able to go home for Christmas this year for the first time since moving to St. Louis.  I'm pretty excited about that!  

So that's pretty much all that's been going on the past few weeks.  

berries, peonies, and backyard flowers

I made these earlier in June.  I think it was the first time i went scavenging for some goods along the trail.  I came home with some of the mini Queen Anne's Lace (i'm not sure if that's what it is exactly, but it looks like it) and the berries.  I actually found some of the berries in my back yard, but they were too high up in the tree to reach or climb too.  I bought the peonies and the rest are from my yard.  I have to say i really like trying to find things from my yard that I can add in to arrangements.  I planted some seeds of different things, but so far only a few things have shown up and the dinner plate dahlias are kinda wilted and brown and more like teacup size.  Although a second one has bloomed and it's looking better.  Fingers crossed it makes it!  Anyway, i'm trying to work with what i've got and it's been pretty rewarding seeing the outcome.  Going out in the back yard trying to figure out what colors will go together, what won't wilt after cutting, and finding new things growing with a new season (like that pokeberry....i've used it a few times since this one and i'm sure i would have used it here had it been blooming since it's in the same color scheme).  There's a neighbor down the street with an apple tree...don't think i haven't wanted to go clip some of the branches.  Jeremy just shakes his head and calls me a klepto.  I did go into my next door neighbors garbage after i saw him trimming his rose bush and throwing away what looked like perfect roses. I thought about it for a couple hours and after it got dark i went to check them out.  Well there was some other trash on top of it and i was afraid i was going to get caught so i didn't linger for too long.  I came back empty handed.  Anyway, enough about my kleptomania problems.

Kitchen table mess

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this one was made up from some of the leftovers