Oh my goodness. What a surprise to end the day finding all these wonderful "favorite things" -- I love it! Creating and sharing beauty; everyone here seems to have an interest in that. Michaela, you and I are sharing the uplifting experience of finding some new roses that don't "sleep" after they're newly planted. I expected these roses to do not much of anything this first year. Instead, they're lending a maturity to the new "Garden of Forgotten Dreams" that's making me so happy. From my early observations, though, I do think Carding Mill performs better in heat than it does when the weather cools. Msdorkgirl, is your Grand Dame a prolific bloomer? I've been seeing pictures of this rose exploding with blooms, and wonder if that happens commonly. Ingrid, how warm and inviting to share your cherished antiques -- exquisite! You say you don't have many roses blooming, but the ones you have are gorgeous. I especially love the picture of Aunt Margy's Rose. Thank you everyone for this nice gift at the end of a very long day. So . . . When the Bloom Balls . .

I have the Crop in Style XXL tote. My sister in law has the Creative Memories one; same size as mine. I like mine better because the outsides have zipper compartments with small individual compartments within and her's has just a big pouch. I like being able to use the seperate compartments for pens, adhesives, glue, etc. I do use other CM (Creative Memories) totes though. I love their small case (can't remember the name but its pretty small and zips up both sides). I have 3 of them and they're great!! CM also has a great cutting system that I think is above any other you can buy. It's a little pricey but well worth it. And their albums are really nice too. Anything CM makes is nice, high quality though. Cropper Hopper makes some nice paper organizers. I think they have a website. I have several of them.

What a great post, the stories are all so touching & humanitarian. Anything I was going to say about my favourite things in my yard would just sound so trivial & shallow in comparison. But I will share anyways. I do not have a fantastic landscape view, wildlife is limited, I have a subdivision lot to work with. Some of my neighbours think I spend an unhealthy amount of time gardening & that makes me odd? But I have spent the last 7 years with my husband, my son & 4 dogs in 2 different yards & I realize that I'm very grateful & fortunate to have that. We do spend a lot of time in our yard as a family. And slowly each year we add to it; for our enjoyment. Last year my husband spent a number of weekends building me a shed & veggie garden. It turned out great, but it was a lot of work for him after putting in 60 hour work weeks. So I really appreciate his weekend sacrifices to make me happy. And we all enjoy the veggie patch, it's great for little ones to learn about food. Even my husband is getting into gardening. He now wants to watch Monty Don & other gardening shows with me instead of watching a banal sitcom. It has really become something we are bonding over. We are planning on doing some garden tours together this summer. That would not have happened a couple years ago. It is just so nice to share that enthusiasm with someone else. The more he gets into gardening the easier it is to convince him to spend money on plants and the landscaping. So that's a win-win for me! He has also surprised me a few times by picking up potted roses or garden items that he knows I would like. To others that would seem so unromantic, but a handy garden tool or flower is right up my alley. And it proves he is listening to me! As for actual favourite things in the yard there are a few. We have a glacier boulder in our front yard. That was the reason I got him to go to the open house in the first place. We lived in the area & my husband said he wished we had a big rock on our lawn when we would go for walks and see other landscaped yards. So when this house went on the market, I told him about it and said it has the biggest rock in the whole neighbourhood. We bought it at the open house & it all started because of a big rock. And it's fun for the kids to play on too! I also have a couple plants that were from family. They are not anything fancy, but one is a plantain lily that my grandfather grew, than my mom has a chunk of it & now I have a chunk of the one my mom has. So it's special to me.

I love the functional things that we changed in our "refresh" last year: a large single-bowl sink, wipeable tile backsplash, replacing light-sucking black appliances with light-reflective stainless, converting base cabinets to drawer bases with soft close slides, adding a light-reflective quartz countertop on the sink side & a warm cherry butcherblock countertop by the range, and replacing upper cabinets with open shelving for everyday dishes, Our kitchen had an existing seating area with built-in banquette, which we (and our cats) love, and use daily.