May 23, 2016

Ride Together with Brilliant



"Don't let having a baby keep you from doing what you love. Take her along and she'll learn to enjoy the things you do."

This was a little piece of advice my sister gave me nearly six years ago and I think about it often. There's so much truth to it and I've witnessed it first hand with my two girls.

It's no secret my husband and I love being outside and we want our kids to learn to love the outdoors as much as we do. Most nights or weekends you can find us in our backyard, hands dirty, music blasting, working in the garden. The kids are never too far off, switching from jumping on the trampoline, playing in the garden with us, chasing the chickens and going on adventures in the creek behind the house. I looked around one afternoon as my girls were digging in the dirt making mud cakes in their swimsuits and couldn't help but smile as I those words crossed my mind again. Here they were, enjoying the things we do, right alongside us.

And as they get older I want them to know we will be there to support them and learn to enjoy the things they love too, not just what interests us. So when my girls started riding bikes and getting better at longer distances, I realized I needed to get my own bicycle so I could ride alongside them.




Best decision I've made in a long time. You guys, you should have seen my girls faces when they found out Brilliant sent over a bike for me to ride with them! (Thank you, Brilliant, it's amazing!) They just kept saying, "you get to ride with us now!"




You would have thought the bike was for them by the little squeals they kept making as I assembled it, which was super easy by the way, thanks to the video tutorial. And when they realized Brilliant also sent over a balance bike for my youngest, man, the energy in the room went through the roof!




We hopped on the bikes for our first "girls only" ride as they kept saying. A quick ride up and down our street and I've never heard so many giggles or watched them smile so much. It was the most fun I've ever had riding a bicycle and can already tell that this is going to be a new family fun activity.

I want them to always know how much we love and support them and their unique interests and I think it makes such a big impact when we, as parents, step out of our routine and participate in what the kids enjoy.




I hope they'll keep taking me along to learn to love the things they enjoy even as they become teenagers, young women and adults because together is pretty awesome.





I am so thankful that Brilliant sent us the bikes and gave us a new way to connect as a family outside because, goodness, I forgot how much run riding a bike is!

And you guys, they're offering you, my amazing friends, a crazy discount so you can get your very own Brilliant bicycle! The prices are already great but goodness, they're giving you $100 off a Mayfair, like mine but any color you want, and $50 off a Biddle balance bike! Head on over and get your own!

Just remember to enter the discount codes at checkout:

$100 off a Mayfair: LESLEYxMAYFAIR
$50 off a Biddle: LESLEYxBIDDLE



And if you're local, one of the best spots to go for a ride with littles is along Riverside. It's a pretty flat, easy ride and there are lanes for bikers. And since kids are around a lot, the serious bikers are alert so you don't have to be too cautious or worried. Plus it's pretty and there's a fun park at 41st if you want to make an afternoon of it.
 
If you have a favorite spot to ride in Tulsa or Broken Arrow, I'd love to hear about it in the comment section. Also, any advice or recommendations for either an child carrier or trailer would be much appreciated so I can get my little guy out there with us!


All photos by Ashley Campbell, Mayfair in Ink Black and Biddle in Frosted Mint.

May 9, 2016

Spring Garden Workshop RE-CAP

Is it just me or is time just flying by these days? I can't believe it's already been a few weeks since our garden workshop. For those that couldn't make it, here's a little recap of the day.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden 
Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

We started the morning meeting and chatting with new gardening friends over coffee and donuts.  Sweet Shop Lulu sent some super cute decorations and my sister worked her magic all over the place!

Spring Backyard Garden 
Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden Workshop
Spring Garden Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

The weather tried to scare me with a little slight misting but thankfully that was it and it quickly cleared up and even felt crisp. Although it didn't do much for my hair, I welcomed the cool breeze.

Spring Garden Workshop

After some introductions we jumped right into garden talk. My husband shared our gardening background, some basic tips and then we got after it with information on composting, comfrey, natural fertilizers and more.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

I think the number one thing I've learned this year, thanks to my husband, is how important feeding your soil is. We have been very proactive in giving our soil good food, stuff like compost tea, comfrey tea, organic mulch, etc. and I really think it's paid off.

Take a look at a radish from our garden, where we've worked the soil, and one from my girls' garden where the just dug a hole in the yard and planted some seeds.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

Feed your soil, y'all.

We took a stroll through the garden and talked about plant spacing, companion planting and how we try to bring in beneficial insects with various flowers and herbs.

 Spring Garden Workshop
Spring Garden Workshop

Then everyone headed over to our neighbor's backyard to check out how he does his garden. I personally love seeing how different people grow things and I think it just shows you that there's no right way to garden and how you can really make it your own.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

Once everyone returned to the backyard, it was time for lunch. The table was set with a variety of veggies for each person to build their own salad.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden Workshop
Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

We had mixed greens, sliced scallions and sliced radishes from the garden. There was also hard boiled eggs from our backyard chickens, grilled chicken, chopped bacon, different cheeses, sliced cucumbers and two of my favorite homemade salad dressings, buttermilk ranch and balsamic vinaigrette.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

During lunch we wrapped up with a little Q&A time for anything we didn't cover and got to spoil our guests with some goodies from some amazing businesses.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

Major thank you to our sponsors:
  • Stringer Nursery - thank you for all the seeds, fertilizer and giveaways!
  • Freckled Hen Farmhouse - everyone was excited to go home with some large harvest scissors! Thank you.
  • May Designs - Thank you for customizing notebooks for each person. They are set to get to work planning out their gardens.
  • Home Again Creative - that shop credit is calling my name!
And thank you One Lane Road for the tote giveaways!

After lunch we chatted a bit longer, let the chickens run a muck and then we said good bye. Earlier in the year I started several varieties of tomato plants in our greenhouse and my husband got some comfrey plants going for each person to take home.

Spring Backyard Garden Workshop

I am so happy everyone got to get something in the ground and also so happy I no longer have to keep those 100+ plants alive!

Words cannot express how thankful I am to the new friends that came into our backyard to share a love and passion for gardening with us. You took a chance on a couple that just loves growing our own food and you let us talk your ears off! Thank you for being here with us.

Also, thank you, Ann, for capturing our day with your beautiful photos! Be sure to check out her site for your upcoming photography needs!

And thank you, Ashley, for letting us use your tables, plates, and everything else and for making our backyard look more beautiful than ever. I wish I had an ounce of your styling skills. Until that day comes, I'll just keep growing the plants and you keep making them look good.

And to all the family and friends that supported us along the way, either in words of encouragement, texts, decorating, watching our children and so much more, Thank You.


May 4, 2016

May the 4th

yoda best

In celebration of May the 4th, I'm offering a BOGO sale on all pun-intended greeting cards - TODAY ONLY.

pun-intended cards by lesley zellers

Here's how it works:
  • Simply choose any greeting card in my shop
  • Add each to your cart INCLUDING the FREE one. 
  • So if you want to BUY 1 and GET 1 FREE, add each card you'd like to your cart for a total of 2 items in your cart
  • If you want to BUY 2 and GET 2 FREE, there should be 4 items in your cart
  • and so on, BUY 6 & GET 6 FREE, 12 items...
  • Once you've made your selections, proceed to checkout and enter this code: BOGOPUNS and you're total will be cut in half for all available discounted cards

And if you're total is $30 or more, choose FREE SHIPPING at checkout and I'll cover shipping costs.

May the 4th be with you.

May 2, 2016

May Sketch-a-Day!

Well, it's been 122 days since the start of a new year and personal challenge to sketch every day. While I have missed a handful of days, I have at least completed 122 sketches so I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back.

And so many of you have joined in the challenge so I'm going to pat you all on the back too. You all have encouraged, supported and challenged me in the best ways and I'm so thankful for you.

I want to thank Stephanie one more time for leading the #sketchadaywithfancythat challenge for April. I loved the theme and hope you all did too. If you remember, we had a little giveaway in April for anyone that completed all 30 days of sketching.



Here's what the lucky artist is winning:

I will be announcing the winner on instagram, @recipeforcrazy, today and then I'll come back here to update this post.

So, are you ready for a new month of sketching?

My long-time friend, Jason - @invisibleelement, is leading May sketches and has a fun theme planned for us. Here's the list of prompts:


If you've never challenged yourself to sketch every day for a month, I encourage you to start this month with us. You'll be surprised what a little commitment can do for the creative mind! And if you've been doing these challenges with us, keep it up! It's no big deal if you miss a day, just draw when you can.

This month we'll be using #sketchadaywithie to keep all our work together and I'll continue to use #sketchadaywithlrz for all you sketch-a-day vets that have been doing it with me since last october.

Happy Monday, friends!