The story behind my spices!
My birthday is in May! As part of my celebration I went to breakfast with a few of my friends at a restaurant in a neighboring town called the Iron Roost. Afterwards I wanted to go to a little shop in town called C’est La Vie that had caught my eye on a recent drive by. The oddity in this story is that, I was supposed to go shopping with my friend Joan, but in the end she had to run to an appointment, so my friend Micha decided to join me for a quick shop. If she hadn’t I might not have gone into the store because it had started to rain & most likely I would have bailed on myself and would have considered stopping at another time. As we were walking from the restaurant to the store my phone rang, but I didn’t want to answer it because it was a work call and we were on a busy street. Once we got into C’est La Vie & pulled down our umbrellas, I decided to check my phone. At that very moment a text popped up & it was from my BFF who lives in Canada. It read ‘You should be arriving in C’est La Vie just about now. Happy Birthday there is a surprise waiting for you.’ I shrieked and in response to my ‘Oh My goodness Patti says there’s a surprise waiting for me’ statement that wasn’t very quiet, the shop owner lifted her head and said ‘you must be Jodie, Happy Birthday’ and handed me a gift certificate. My BFF had called me earlier to ask what I was doing & decided to surprise me & surprise me she did!
What did I buy?
Several items including this metal rack of sorts. I loved it, but wasn’t certain what I was going to do with it. I brought it home and set it in the garage where my husband frequently asked; ‘what exactly are we doing with this?” I ignored him until I came up with a plan :)!
I purchased rust-oleum hammered finish, black paint. Spread out some newspapers and gave it the finish I really wanted it to have.
I then went down to Lowe’s, purchase my three favorite summer spices to grow; oregano, sweet basil and parsley and planted them in three terra-cotta planters and voila, my purchase finally made sense. Now I am not only enjoying my savory fresh spices, I’m enjoying the amazing gift from my friend and how everything aligned that morning.
25 Comments on “Summer Spices and My Outdoor Spice Rack Creation”
What a great story! I bet you are so glad you picked this up! It makes a beautiful planter!
Thanks for sharing at The In and out of the Kitchen LInk Party
I do love the planter, but love how it all happened even more :)! Have a great weekend ~ Jodie
Stopping by from Katherine’s blog hop. I am new to herb gardens and bought a house that came with one this summer. How do you use your fresh oregano and basil? I have used dried in pasta before but want to try them fresh. The rack you refinished is gorgeous!
How lucky to have inherited an herb garden; It’s on my someday list, but for now I’m sticking with the patin configuration :). My absolute favorite way to eat sweet basil is part of caprese creations. Caprese salad is a summer standard for me; there is NOTHING like using fresh sweet basil.
You can use fresh oregano and sweet basil in pizza creations, sauces, etc. I have read that many use a three to one rule (3 fresh for recipes that call for 1 dried), but I just go by taste. Fresh is amazingly better! We have turned our little patio garden into a pizza garden and will be harvesting http://kidsfun101.jodiefitz.com/wp/growing-a-pizza-garden/ it all for grilled pizza = YUM! ENJOY…
I grow those same herbs every summer, but mine don’t have such a lovely display. I’ve never used the hammered finish spray paint. I’ll have to check that out. Thanks for the idea!
I also love rosemary, but it was so rainy here this spring that I had to really scale back my plans. Sometimes simplifying is better :). I’m enjoying my firs uses of the spices & we’re excited about growing a pizza garden with it http://kidsfun101.jodiefitz.com/wp/growing-a-pizza-garden/
Have a GREAT weekend ~ Jodie
This westibe makes things hella easy.
Great planter! It looks really pretty. I’m thinking you could put some mums in it when the weather changes.
LOVE the mum idea – THANK you for that thought…. although I don’t want to think about fall yet, I’m glad to think about other uses for it :). Have a good weekend,
~Jodie
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That is a really cool surprise. glad you had a good birthday. Thanks for linking up at Romance on a dime!!
THANK you, it was an amazing surprise :)! One I will never forget…
Hope you are enjoying your new surprise… ~ jodie
this is awesome!!!! Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things Hop xo
THANK you :)! Hope your summer is going great…
~ Jodie
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What a great planter, Jodie! My husband would have been asking me 100 times what I was going to do too! LOL – Have a great week! Thanks for linking up to All My Bloggy Friends – I can’t wait to see what you share this week!
:)! They are really all alike in so many ways – lol! Thanks for visiting…have a great week… ~ Jodie
What a wonderful surprise from your sweet friend Jodie. The rack turned out great and you will love having your herbs handy. Love using my herbs in cooking! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
THANKS! Just clipped and dried a bunch this week – just love using them fresh too!
Have a great week ~ jodie
I love this! I wish I had an eye for upcycling treasures! I love the spray paint you picked. Thanks for sharing at Pin It Thursday!
THANK you! I used to up cycle, got away from it & feel back into it lately – lol! Life is such a cycle sometimes :). Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week ~ jodie
What a sweet surprise and a thoughtful friend – love the transformation and you using it for herbs! I am delighted that you shared with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy
THANK you! Hope you have an awesome week ~ Jodie
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