Sweet friends, here we are with 10 Q&As all about spring. The second 10 on the 10th post for the year. I’ve offered to host 10 on the 10th this year. Have given an old series a new twist by alternating between Q&A posts one month and responding to a prompt the next. Take a look at the graphic below to see what I mean.
If you haven’t joined up with us yet, take note of these prompts, and plan to give this shiny new 10 on the 10th series a try.
Now, let’s get on with this month’s post.
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10 Q&As All About Spring
First 5 Qs
Here are my responses to each of these 10 questions about spring.
Childhood Celebrations
- How did you celebrate spring break/Easter as a child? How do celebrate spring break/Easter now? Bunny, chocolate, church? Beach holiday? I don’t remember Easter being as popular when I was a child as it is now. Of course, that was back in the dark ages!! BP – Before Pinterest. We dyed eggs and the Easter bunny did visit. There was always plenty of chocolate in our baskets. And I think sometimes the bunny left nests of Easter grass with a chocolate egg or two around the living room. Our family didn’t attend church until I was in high school and then only for occasional holidays, like sunrise Easter service. When I was a tween, my parents joined Holly Hills Country Club and we always partook of their Easter buffet. Spring break was spent in the backyard sun bathing, maybe taking swimming lessons that never really took.
Spring Cleaning
- Do you spring clean? If so, share one tip. I love me some spring cleaning. Weird that way. But I am reading a book Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist and it has caused me to reflect on the why of my love affair with cleaning. She likens her affection for cleaning (and hustling as fast she can to handle everything) as a kind of drug that keeps her from connecting with the things in life that really matter. Hmmm. That being said, I will share my favorite cleaning tip…baskets in which the belongings of each person in the family are placed when doing a speed cleaning of your house. I had a basket for each daughter. When I was pressed for time, or not doing a full-blown house cleaning, I would set an egg timer and spend 15 minutes in each room. And used the baskets to put shoes, toys, school papers, jackets for each daughter to deal with that evening. The baskets either sat on the stairs so they had to climb over them on the way up to their rooms. Or underneath an end table in the den.
Spring Weather
- What’s spring weather like where you live? Average rainfall? Average temps? Ever the librarian, I looked this one up so as to give you accurate info. Here’s the breakdown: March average high of 73° / average low of 44° with 1 day of rain; April 81° / 51° 0 days (they don’t call it a desert for nothing); May 89° / 60° 1 day of rain [source]. We are breaking records with the rain we have received already this month. We have had 3 rainy days this month and 1.25″ of precipitation. So, I have pulled out my yellow rain coat and gotten several good days of use out of it in just this first 10 days of the month. By mid April we could be swimming, not in rainwater but in our pool. And even on the rainy days, the sun almost always makes an appearance.
Green Thumb
- How green is your thumb? Do you do yard work or have a lawn service? Where’s your favorite outdoor space? My green thumb has become more camouflaged since we moved to El Paso. Looks rather dusty brown these days. We have Trugreen fertilize our lawn and spray for weeds – which grow in our desert landscaping (rocks) with great abandon. We mow our own grass which isn’t saying much! Small yard and lots of rock. But I have our lawn edged professionally. My favorite outdoor space is either on our patio or under our pergola by the hot tub. But our outdoor space is due for a face lift. PC promised I could get new patio furniture with our tax refund. Just hope we get a tax refund. We are putting down new indoor-outdoor carpeting on the balcony, putting new solar lights around the pool deck and (hopefully) getting new patio furniture. The desert sun is very hard on patio furniture and it doesn’t have a long lifespan here.
Go Topless
- AC on or windows open? Convertible top up or down, sunroof open or closed? I like sleeping with the windows open in the spring. Driving with the car windows down. And I love when we take PC’s convertible Mustang for a topless spin. Spring and fall are the best seasons in El Paso for convertibles and open windows. Although the wind and dust can be pretty miserable those seasons, too. As you can tell by looking at my hair, I don’t give it a lot of thought. Having the top down on the car is not going to matter one lick in how I look!
Second 5 Qs
My blog editng program likes for me to break posts into bits. So here’s round 2.
Spring Decorations
- How do you decorate for spring/Easter/Passover? Do you switch to spring bedding and linens? Do you add bits of spring everywhere? Spring throw pillows on the couch? Spring place mats on the table? You know that I love putting out seasonal and holiday decorations. So YES to the decorating. Also recently replaced our kitty-claw slashed quilt with this one from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I also change our bedroom drapes to lighter ones for the warm months. The girls’ friends used to remark that I had place mats for every occasion. And I did. But have fallen off my game some since they are all grown up with houses, and tables and place mats of their own.
Warm Weather Prep
- How do you get bathing suit/shorts/warm weather ready? Pedis? Self-tanner? New exercise routine? Highlights? Shorter ‘do? This year I am back on Weight Watchers, 2 months earlier than last year, in order to lose the 5 pounds of holiday indulgence that’s been hanging on since Christmas. You may remember I am growing out my natural hair color so my hair is a bit striped, horizontally and vertically. Dark brown with gray from my crown down about 1/2 way and then highlighted and lighter brown from there to my ends. I think the ‘in crowd’ calls it balayage. Or ombre? I call it skunk or zebra. Will probably be in the market for some sunless tanner before I bare these legs. According to this article at Goodhousekeeping.com, Jergen’s Natural Glow Instant Sun Mousse is the best value drugstore self-tanner. It comes in 2 shades, light bronze and deep Aruba, on Amazon.
Your Closet
- Is your closet arranged with just the current season’s clothes? I have all seasons in my closet all the time. What about you? Do you purge clothes before or after a season? Just finishing up my great clean closet challenge with Alison. You can get your free 5 day guide to a clean closet, here. While I didn’t purge a whole lot of clothes, I did empty up about 50 hangers! and did move my clearly winter clothes (heavy sweaters, pants) into a guest room closet. Vacuumed and wiped down all the shelves. Made sure everything was arranged in color order ROY G BIV…red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – then white, tan, brown, gray and black.
Spring Uniform
- What’s your go-to spring uniform? Is there a spring trend you are looking forward to styling? According to this article from Harpers Bazaar, we can expect to see wide-leg jeans. Florals. Bright yellow. Neons. Hot pants (heaven help me). Crochet. My spring uniform is probably a tee, cardi and jeans. I really like my wide-leg jeans. Have you tried them yet? I think the silhouette is very flattering. Need to wear them more. Seeing lots of yellow and Kelly green. And I am a big fan of neons and floral prints. Bought this outfit about a month ago at H&M. Pink floral mock neck top (exact, similar) and paper bag skirt (exact, similar). Paired it with a black motto and blush heels.
Outdoor Fun
- What outdoor activities do you enjoy in the spring? Does your exercise routine change? Do you eat outside? Picnic? Walk? Bike ride? Hike? Hopefully, we will exercise more again, now with Daylight Saving Time and warmer weather. Hoping to hike up Smugglers Pass before it gets too hot. Would like to ride bikes to the gym once a week. And incorporate walks back into my daily routine, which is one of my wellness goals this year.
Well, that’s my 10 Q&As all about spring. I like posts like this because they make me think. Even if I did make up the questions myself!! Ha!
Your Turn
How would you answer these questions? If you are a blogger and haven’t already written your 10 on the 10th post and linked up with , there’s still time. The link up will be open for a few days. So put on your thinking cap and get busy putting together your answer.
And, if you aren’t a blogger you can copy and paste the questions and your answers into a comment below. Come play with us!!
Hugs and kisses,
Mustang?? That s my favorite car! Now I am curious how your house and surrounding looks like!
Aren’t Mustangs great? I am so glad PC bought his and we have the convertible top to enjoy.
I wish we had a convertible to enjoy in the spring and summer!
Someday I am going to have my own convertible again. Had an MG Midget and a Triumph TR6 as a younger gal and loved going everywhere with the top down. Have had a couple of cars with a sunroof. But my Altima is just plain boring in that department.
Love the new quilt on your bed! And I love how you looked up the averages for your area in spring. You have me wanting to do that now, haha! Happy Tuesday, Leslie! Thanks for hosting this fun link-up!
Yay, so glad for all my friends who joined in for 10 on the 10th. Such fun to read all the answers.
Oops, looks like I missed the sub questions to the questions! This was fun and hooray for spring time!
No worries. This 10 on the 10th is adaptable to however you see fit!! Thanks for joining.
Now that I see how it’s done, my answers will be a little more thorough next time! I’m a bit envious of how organized you were/are with cleaning. I was always too much catch as catch can in my house, so I’m not sure my kids learned very good habits. On the other hand, things I *did* teach them, they seem to have forgotten sometimes, haha!, so maybe it’s not that big a deal.
I loved seeing your try-on, you’re so adorable! In my last post, my gray hair was showing so much, I was a little surprised! Have a great day, hugs!
Your sweet message warmed my heart. Thank you, thank you!!!
Need to get back with you guys for SIA. Have missed it so.
I loved the questions for this month, spring is one of my favorite seasons! You are motivating me to love spring cleaning a bit more, I used to be better about it! I love sleeping with the windows open too. Fresh air helps me sleep better I think!
Thank you so much for finding me for 10 on the 10th. Hope you will join in again in April. I am glad to be introduced to your blog and heading over now to say hi.
All the tops down on the vehicles. Give me that spring air hitting my face!!!
I’ll be linking up tomorrow – thanks for hosting this again this month! Love all the answers everyone is giving!
So glad to have you join me for 10 on the 10th!! I was tickled by the response to it.
So glad to have joined today – thanks for the invite! I enjoyed your thoughts on spring:) How fun to take a convertible out for a spin!! And I have seen a lot yellow in the spring wardrobe forecasts, too. Yellow can either be great – or horrible – on me. I need to start looking for the perfect yellow something:) Enjoy those walks outside. Bike rides even – you go girl!
I am about the same way with yellow. Never wore it for years after my mom said I looked sea sick in it!! Ha!! But just ordered a yellow Easter tee!! Fingers crossed.
Oh how lovely to have weather warm enough to drive with the top down on your car!
How interesting to see the answers to your questions – what a fun post.
I like these Q&A posts. Fun to read everyone’s response.
Your hair’s a pretty color, not a bit skunk like! Look forward to seeing photos of the new patio furniture, fingers crossed. Thanks for the challenge- was fun!
Thank you, doll!! With all the crazy in the world right now, I feel guilty thinking about new patio furniture. But hope life will return to normal soon.
Your hair looks lovely, Leslie! I love how you and PC stay so active with hiking and exploring. I do all of my exercise, etc. alone, but it’d be nice to get Brian to join me… even if it is just for a nice walk on a trail with some lovely Spring weather. I remember those cactuses you made, so cute!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Maybe you can hit up ole Brian to take a pre-bedtime walk with you now that it is warming up and we all are suffering from cabin fever. Is he able to work? PC is working for now but may be working remotely very soon. We have got to get moving in some form or fashion!!
Thank you for the sweet words about my hair. It has been close to a year since I started growing out the gray and it is a sloooooooow process.
So glad to have found your blog through another blogger. I use to do 10 on the 10th and lost it after that particular hostess stopped hosing it. Glad to have found it and will plan to participate. I’m a cleaning freak as well, cleanliness is next to Godliness in my book. Great to have met a new blogger!
So glad to have you stop by. I always loved 10 on the 10th, and followed along as one after another blogger adopted it. I hated to see it ‘die’ so asked to be allowed to resuscitate it and they said YES!! Looking forward to getting to know you. Heading over to check out your blog now. Thank you for commenting.
Your basket idea is very smart! My family scatters stuff all around the house! It’s fun to be joining in on your Q&A with so many great bloggers!
Yay!! So glad you joined me, doll!
I love what is coming for spring according to Harper’s. That skirt looks fabulous on you. I’ve stayed away from anything below my knee because I’m short, but I might have to give it a try. Enjoy the top down…how fun, friend!
Hope you guys are staying healthy over there. I am glad to be back in Texas. Glad to have mom settled again. Thank you for your sweet words!
I love your thoughts on Spring, Leslie. The basket idea for Spring Cleaning is a great one!
Thank you, Donna!!
Oh yay, lots of people linked up!! I might have to do this later in the month. I definitely plan on linking up in the future though.
Anyway, Spring is weird weather here. It’s very likely to have Winter like weather into the Spring, but most of the time, it’s just pretty rainy – cold or warm, it doesn’t matter…lots of rain. haha I’m looking forward to some more non-rainy warmer days though before it gets TOO hot. When that happens, I need a pool, or I’m inside. haha
-Lauren
Oh, my gravy…just home from KY and the rain!! THE RAIN! No bueno. I am so glad for our sunshine in El Paso. Hope you will link up for 10 on the 10th in April.
What a fun post! I love your outfit from H&M! You always do such a nice job decorating for the seasons and holidays. I didn’t grow up with much decoration, but I’m getting there in our home. It’s just too fun! As a child, I remember celebrating Easter most in El Paso because that was where I went to elementary school on base. We would go to St. Andrews Presbyterian Church and have an outdoor egg hunt. We can’t do outdoor egg hunts here! Way too cold! Haha!
So sad that it is still too cold there for egg hunts at Easter. Here, as you know, it can almost be too hot. It is fun to hear about your memories of El Paso. Did you attend Bliss Elementary or Milam?
Love my holiday decorations, thank you. Need to get Valentine’s Day into boxes and out in the garage. It is all over the guest bedroom!!
I’ve had “Present over Perfect” on my reading list for a while and after reading that quote above, I might just really have to read it. That struck a chord with me. I rush from one thing to the next with a million things on my to-do list. Do I do it to avoid connecting with the things that really matter? Hmm…food for thought.
And I’ve been using the Jergens self tanner for years now. It is the best. I start using it in the spring to give myself a jumpstart and to not expose the rest of the world to my pasty-winter white skin. 🙂
Need to break out the self-tanner this week! It is almost shorts weather and I don’t want to inflict my legs on anyone until they at least have more color!!
I am really enjoying “Present over Perfect”. Very manageable chapters perfect for morning quiet time, and always a good message.