grace grits and gardening - ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Use it or Lose it. Ohm….

April 23, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Use it or lose it. That’s how the saying goes, right? Well I’m here to tell you, IT’S TRUE. For me, anyway.

Lately, I’ve been lax with yoga classes. Oh sure, I wear my yoga pants all over the house and through the neighborhood. This week I even wore them to…wait for it…

yoga!

In fact, I went to yoga two-days-in-a-row, three if I go today, but since I probably won’t, I’ll leave it at two. It’s not that I don’t love yoga, because I do. I’ve let travel and writing interrupt my routine, and I hate that.

I’ve lost core strength, and I really hate that.

Yoga works areas of the body and mind not used with other forms of exercises. So any minute now I expect my brain to slip-slide away along with my ability to do an average plank.

During day one of my two-days-in-a-row, I discovered core strength was not the only thing I’d lost during my lackadaisical period. My mat had disappeared from the corner where it had no doubt begun to collect dust. (Students leave their mats instead of dragging them to and from class…)

I checked with the instructor who helped me search everywhere. Maybe it vaporized from lack of use.

I’m gonna miss my cool Lululemon mat. We’d been in a lot of surprising places together.

I hope she will turn up, but I realize that’s what I get for being such a slacker.

Lululemon

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

The Slackers: Close My Eyes

Simple Spring Decor

April 22, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Raise your hand if you thought spring would never arrive! I know, me too. In Dallas I’ve learned to really appreciate spring because summer brings challenges I’d rather not think about like trying to keep plants alive in blistering days of drought. But right now I’m celebrating cool nights and perfect days, days of front porches, a good book and a glass of white wine.

Okay I’m rambling, but I do have a point, and that point is how simple spring decorating can be. With only a few dollars (or zero dollars) you can transform your home from dull and uninspired to fresh and inviting using items around your house and plants growing in your garden.

Take a look at the centerpiece (below) I arranged for my dining room table. For five dollars, I purchased a bouquet of white gerber daisies at Trader Joe’s and created this natural look using Fostoria goblets (handed down from John’s Godmother) centered inside an antique picture frame layered over a plaid runner that covers my table almost year-round.

The next arrangement is so basic I almost didn’t include it—a crystal vase filled with budding branches. Take advantage of the many trees and shrubs in full bloom now. Forsythia, Redbud, Dogwood, Spirea, Azalea… Snip a few buds or branches from your own yard, alley or roadside. Or maybe your neighbor will share? Ask first of course.

The vintage glass basket (candy dish?) which belonged to my mother-in-law makes a sweet and aromatic arrangement of herbs and flowers from the garden. Only a few snips and it is filled. Keep it nearby in the kitchen, and you won’t forget to use your herbs when cooking supper.