summer project // landscaping

Since moving into our house exactly two years ago, we've had a running list of projects big and small, inside and out. During our first summer, we tackled a lot of the smaller, inexpensive projects - painting, changing hardware on cabinets, adding lighting, etc. Last summer we added the deck, which we LOVE and use many evenings for supper and bird watching. This summer's big project was landscaping the front of the house. When we moved in, the landscaping looked like this:

It was completely overgrown with perennials, shrubs, and weeds. Don't mind the tub/cooler in the front lawn - we must have just gotten back from a camping trip. We knew we wanted to change it eventually, so shortly after we moved in, we tore everything out and have spent the last two years staring at a big dirt expanse in the front of our house which would inevitably fill up with small weeds during the summer. It was ugly. I'm sure our neighbors were just as excited as we were to get this project done.

Fast forward to three days ago. After getting a couple yards of dirt and rock dropped off, purchasing plants and shrubs, and hauling three car loads of landscape block, we were ready to begin. And by we, I mean Tim...while Jack and I supervised from the shade.

A couple weekends ago, we visited a local nursery to look at our plant options and ended up going with:

+ 1 lilac-colored azalea

+ 2 dwarf spruce trees

+ 2 prairie grass plants

+ 3 barberry bushes

And after 18 hours of hauling, spreading, measuring, cutting, and planting, it was complete and a BIG improvement from the overgrown daylilies/weed-invested mud hole. Tim did such a great job and along with master deck builder, he can now confidently add master landscaper to his resume. 

Other upcoming projects:
+ new landscape to the right of the front door
+ spruce up the sunroom
+ replace the front door
+ till up a garden plot

my (non) green thumb

Back at the beginning of summer, I went to the greenhouse with big dreams and the confidence that since my mom and Grandma both have killer gardens, I probably inherited their plant-nurturing genes and could have a killer garden of my own. Ha! There is a man-made planter box that runs the length of the back of the sunroom and I thought that'd be the perfect place for a little garden. So I bought some herb plants, three kinds of heirloom tomato plants, three kinds of peppers, and some begonias to line the edges. I had visions of BLTs with brightly colored tomatoes and stuffed peppers with peppers and cilantro that I grew with my own two hands. I watered and weeded it faithfully all summer, but by August, my cilantro had completely died, the flowers were hardly any bigger than when I bought them, and there wasn't a hint of produce on any of the plants. And then finally! A tiny pepper appeared and a green tomato seemed to spring up out of nowhere. But I'm afraid it's all a little too late since it's already the middle of September and our temperatures are already starting to dip into the 30s at night. So I guess gardening genes aren't something that you can really inherit.

weekend warriors

Before we moved in, one of the biggest things we talked about was all of the projects we wanted to do to the house/landscaping/etc. Even though everything is pretty much in great shape, there are still many things we want to change and improve. Hearing endless conversations of, "Let's do this to the front and this to the kitchen and this to the basement and this to...", everyone kept warning us to not go too fast in order to avoid getting burnt out. And while that is sounds advice, I think we've silently agreed that we'll push our luck on that one. Smart? Who knows. All I know is that all weekend was one big house project party and we ended the day yesterday covered in sweat, dirt, and accomplishment. It felt so great!

Projects we accomplished:

organized and cleaned up basement storage room
got rid of a lot more "stuff" that was left in the house when we moved in
overhauled the front landscaping (see proof below)
put new hardware on the kitchen cabinets

Looking at the list now, it doesn't seem like that much, but taking out the landscaping alone was whole afternoon project. And on top of all this house fun, I got to take some photos of baby Evie being all cute, purchase my first pair of really good base layer bottoms for camping, go out to sushi with Matt/Marji/Zach, and enjoy a warm summer evening looking at the Minneapolis skyline from St. Anthony Main. If this weekend is any indication of how this summer is going to go, I'm willing to claim "awesome" right now.

lately...

...my days are filled with

eating frozen pizza since we haven't really gone grocery shopping since the move
soaking up the MN summer sun over my lunch break
getting my nails dirty from weeding the landscaping (see photo below)
listening to Airstream Song on repeat
learning how to keep wood floors clean
late nights in the sunroom
daydreaming of hosting a party in our new digs
meeting neighbors
figuring out how to fit a queen sized box spring up narrow stairs
finding a new evening walking route around the neighborhood

life is good.