It’s starting to get warmer in Colorado Springs! Spring is coming, y’all, and I can’t wait for the floral patterns, crisp button downs tucked into skirts, and fresh foliage. Pikes Peak still has snow on it through spring which feels like delightful potential for moisture collection as many parts of our state suffer from droughts. Below are some things that feel appropriately spring-y.

1. One of my favorite Etsy shops is Grace of Melanin, Black woman owned and operated. All of her products are wonderful, but I especially love her home made fragrance oils. The tobacco vanilla is my favorite. It’s smoky and sweet, and I get endless compliments when I wear it. I also recommend the Bloom in Harlem which is decidedly springy and floral.
   
   
2. I recently read the Great Alone by Kristina Hanna. It’s a fun, emotional read that I’d recommend. In it, the author writes of the dangers of springtime in Alaska, like the great ice break up in which locals die if they’re not careful. Trigger warning for domestic violence. The main character’s parents engage in DV throughout the book.
   
   
3. I’ve had my eye on this pendant from the cupcakes and cashmere shop. It would look perfect over a sweater or between the lapels of a button-up, perhaps this top I bought from Target a few weeks ago that my boss calls my “Hampton Rich White Lady” shirt. She ain’t wrong, but I still love it.
   
   
4. This vase for fresh flowers by Jonathan Adler. I’ll have to save up for this one, though. I love cheeky home decor 🙂
   
   
5. Fruits and vegetables are so satisfying at this time of year. I want to make this air fryer brussel sprouts recipe from Emma at A Beautiful Mess. I’m curious to see if my husband would eat this frozen pea soup recipe that Emma describes as fresh and bright, without the smoky split pea soup taste.
   
   
6. Speaking of fruits, I love any makeup whose color is named after berries. This affordable one from Sephora, named Satin Raspberry looks like a fun one to try with a flowey white top and leather jacket for those cold book end days. It would also look great with my Hamptons Target shirt. Or this other chambray one I bought with a birthday gift card.
   
   
7. I transplant my indoor plants at the very beginning of spring so they have more days with longer sunlight in a new home with room to grow. Target has potting stations, like this nude wood bench, that would look so cute in a backyard or on a porch.
   
   
8. For gardening tools, I usually visit my nearest dollar store as they have fairly decent gardening gloves, pots, trowels, and spades. My local one also has a mat to place below your knees when you’re bent over tending to plant babies. You can buy these many places, but it’s literally a piece of foam. Just get the dollar store one and be done with it, sis.
   

What’s been putting you in the spring mood lately?

xMae