{{Lacey's Favourites}}

Every now and then you’ll find me sharing a few of my favorite things…everything from people, to places and just some random things too! 

This time around I wanted to share with you one of my favorite places to visit:  Porter’s Coffee and Tea House in one my favorite neighborhoods in Langley…… MURRAYVILLE. 

A 110 year old heritage building, once of the home to the Porter family, Porter’s sits next to the round-a-bout at 216^th and 48^th in the heart of Murrayville.  Not only do they have home made fresh baking, sandwiches and soups, they have a great selection of old style candy (reminiscent of a good ol’ candy store), live music and YUMMY breakfasts!!!

I love breakfast food and it’s one of my favorite places in Langley to visit and enjoy a great breakfast with my sweetheart or good friends. You will often find Lisa and me having our meetings over a great breakfast and a cup of coffee.  

If you haven’t visited Porter’s I would encourage you to go check it out.  They have live music various Friday and Saturday nights…what a great place for a special night out or date night.  Quaint, unique, comfortable and certain to have something for everyone’s taste buds.

{{Easy Entertaining}}

In today’s world it seems as though the art of entertaining and hospitality has been lost.  Life is busy, full to overflowing with things to do.  We’re meeting, tweeting, Facebooking, on our phones, our computers and not really welcoming people into our homes, unless it’s on our computer!

A couple weeks ago the Bakers talked about the ability to turn any house into a home…I want to run with this idea and explore it a bit more.

One VERY simple way to transform your living space into a welcoming home is let people in.  Open the doors, invite people in, enjoy spending time with others.   Now I don’t want you to get overwhelmed with the thought of having to entertain and host people for a whole meal, start with something simple like appetizers or dessert.

As newlyweds, Tim and I love having people in our home, and sometimes it happens to be very last minute, or even surprise guests.  I have two tips I thought I’d share to encourage you to relax your entertaining style and just go with it:

1.  Easy Appetizer – my all time favourite appetizer is super simple to prepare and only requires three ingredients.  I make sure I keep these things on hand at all times: cream cheese, sweet chili sauce & crackers.   Place your cream cheese on a large plate, pour sweet chili sauce on top and serve with crackers.  Delish…..and always a crowd pleaser.

2.  Bake & Serve cookies – who doesn’t really love a good cookie??  When you bake cookies double your batch and instead of baking all of them at the same time, roll half the dough into logs, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.   When unexpected guests pop in, put on a pot of coffee and pull out some frozen cookie dough.  Cut into pucks, place on the baking sheet and in 12 minutes (or so) you have fresh baking!

{{Get Your Garden ON!}}

Hello!

Continuing our look at getting a garden going I thought I would share a couple posts from the "Reluctant Entertainer." 

Her blog is full of great ideas for home, entertaining and gardening.  She talks a lot about growing what you love, eating from the garden and making the most of what you have without blowing the budget.

Here are links to her first two posts in her gardening series this year:

http://reluctantentertainer.com/2011/03/gardening-and-building-raised-beds-in-the-city/

http://reluctantentertainer.com/2011/04/gardening-amending-the-soil-for-raised-beds-in-the-city/

Tim and I have been working out in the garden the last couple days enjoying the sunny weather. My raised garden bed is almost built now and I will be posting some photo’s to share with you soon.  It’s turning out REALLY well and I think some of you may enjoy this style of gardening as an alternative.

Stay tuned!

{{Get Out the Garden Tools}}

I LOVE this photo…it’s my inspiration shot to get me moving and working in the garden!

Spring has SPRUNG! It is time to get out in the yard, do some clean-up, some trimming and plant your garden.  Maybe you’re scared of gardening, maybe you think your thumb is more black than green, well be encouraged my friends, you can do it!

Even I, yes I, went to the garden shop the other day to buy some seeds! I was leafing through a gardening issue that Martha Stewart put out the other month and I have anxiously been waiting for this cold weather to go away. Now that the cherry blossoms are blooming it’s a pretty good sign that spring has arrived! So Tim and I are going to work out in the garden over the next couple weeks to start to get things “Spring Ready.”

My plan is to do a little vegetable patch in my backyard and to add a few more herbs to my garden this year. Because I have limited space and I like things to grow fast (are you surprised? I admit I am not always the most patient lady. That’s why I have a large amount of miracle grow for my flowers in my garage!) I have asked Tim to help me make some homemade boxes to grow some veggies in. Hint: Boxes that are elevated off the ground will help the soil heat up and will help your plants grow faster.

Over the next few weeks, stay tuned for some great gardening inspiration, I have found a number of blogs with excellent tips on how to get going in your own garden.

Martha Stewart has some great information on starting your own vegetable garden, everything from seed starting, planting and garden prep to a vegetable garden glossary. Check it out:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/planning-your-vegetable-garden

Don’t have a big backyard? No problem! Container gardening, indoor vegetable gardens and “square foot gardening” is simple and easy to do.

Have you had gardening success? If so, I’d love to hear your tips and ideas, please feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Planting!

Lacey