#Innsider Events at Half-Mile Farm

We love bringing a sense of the outdoors, in. Whether that's through floral arrangements in unexpected places or rustic wood touches, here are our #Innsider ideas on how to breathe life into your home with fresh flowers.

1. Place flowers at eye level. Use hanging planters, wall baskets and shelves to add a fresh element to your decor. You can also create wall art by arranging potted flowers on mounted wooden boxes! This is a great way to incorporate flowers when you don't have a lot of floor space to work with.

2. Add fresh flowers to your kitchen and bathroom. This makes the spaces more inviting, and brings in a pop of color and fragrance in place of the typical choice of candles.

3. Incorporate floral arrangements both large and small. Go bold by using a larger set of fresh flowers to anchor a room, and a smaller bouquet as a bookend.

4. Create dynamic visuals in your home by using an array of colors and textures. Try weaving succulents and small branches in with your floral displays.

Whether you're looking to connect with an old friend, make an unexpected gesture for a loved one or form a new connection, pen palling is a wonderful way to practice your penmanship and feel a sense of community during times that might otherwise feel a little bit lonely.

If you're looking for the full penpal experience, write to someone you've never met. Our #Innsider programs of choice are PenPal World and Worldwide Snail Mail Pen Pals, both of which are free. When writing to a person you have not met, but hope to form a connection with, don't be intimidated. Try beginning your letter with an introduction to who you are, and pose a light-hearted question such as "something that brought a smile to my face this week was ___." As you build your friendship, feel encouraged to go deeper. We're Not Really Strangers has a wonderful card game with similar questions.

When looking at your letter length, try beginning with one page, or 250 words, and working your way up. As you begin to get more comfortable with writing your letter to your old friend or new pal, you'll naturally begin to write more. As far as frequency goes, keep daily communications for social media and email. Save those more meaningful conversations for your letter, and set a goal to write them on a weekly basis, such as Sunday afternoon and mail them out on Monday. This also gives you an opportunity to reflect on your past week.

All you need to do is think of a loved one or determine if you want to form a new connection, grab your favorite stationery, find a quiet place in your home or surrounded by nature and get to writing.

As flowers blossom, so do the flavors in our favorite Half-Mile Farm cocktail, the mimosa. Here are our very own bar manager, Ryan Henry's, #Innsider tips on creating a fresh take on a refreshing mimosa at home.

While oranges are the classic fruit of choice for mimosas, he recommends mixing things up with other fresh fruits — blood oranges and grapefruits are delicious substitutions. While not technically a mimosa, topping cranberry juice over your favorite bubbly creates a refreshing Poinsettia and swapping OJ and Champagne for peach puree and Prosecco creates a Bellini. For a more spirit-heavy cocktail, combine gin, Champagne, lemon juice and sugar to create a French 75.

The key to the perfect ratio, whether it's a classic mimosa or one of its refreshing counterparts, is using one ounce of juice and filling the rest of the flute with your choice of bubbles. Get creative and have fun with your brunch cocktail — we'd love to see how you use our #Innsider tips for your next refreshing spring drink. Cheers!