My garden

My latest passion, even though I know nothing about it, is gardening. I just love the idea of being able to watch something grow. I'm just so excited about the idea.

So Anthony bought me a ton of plants! Both edible and ones that were just pretty.

It's a good thing we had the truck now, because even with it, this is what we had:

This morning I set up all the plants where I want them to go. I'll have more time to plant them all tomorrow. I'm really excited though!

The Green Giant

I just have to take a quick moment here and let you know that I am a pretty dang awesome wife.

Why, do you ask?

Well, if you didn't already know, then this is why:

Yes, I let my husband buy that thing.

Oh, and that thing is a 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, or, as I like to call it, the monster. The thing is huge! And practically older than both of us combined.

But it is the new love of my husband's life. And so I consented to let him buy it and work on it. It's actually in pretty decent shape for how old it is. Besides, it will definitely come in handy for going camping, off-roading, hauling things, etc. The civic and lexus can't do that!

Plus, I have a very happy husband.

The Yard

With most of the work finished inside the house, and with hot weather approaching, its time to get our yard fixed up. We don't have a big one, but it's perfect for what we need.

I love before and after pictures, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any "before" pictures before the cleaning crew came in (we've had a lot of spider issues, and I wasn't about to start to pull out weeds knowing what could be hiding in there...$150 was well worth it!!!)

I only have one picture from the original listing of the house:

And when it was done, it looked like this:

Next step: gardening! I'm so excited!!!

More House Updates

And now, for your enjoyment, here are a few more updated pics of the house!

House Update!

We're almost done! It's been so much work, but definitely all worth it! I am completely and totally in LOVE with our house!

A friend of mine recommended a great little place (unfortunately, it was only a temporary gig) that was selling off model home inventory - furniture and accessories - for really cheap. We found some fantastic deals there for artwork and little decor pieces. We didn't spend a whole lot, but were able to get some cool pieces of decor that I wouldn't normally have spent money on - like some fake books and candlesticks and a decorative bird cage. They look great in the house - very unique!

Here's our dining room now:

And the kitchen:

Although our bedroom isn't completely finished, I did find a great addition at Target, no less - the vinyl lettering! I absolutely love vinyl lettering and they happened to have the exact phrase that I had been wanting to put over our bed! I think it looks wonderful!

And finally, long before we even found "the" house, I found a picture of some curtains that I absolutley loved and wanted to re-create once we were in a new place:

Obviously we weren't going to be having a house quite that upscale, but I loved the look of the curtains. When we found our house, I realized that I just might be able to use that look in the living room! Unfortunately, when I was pricing out the curtains at Bed Bath and Beyond, I realized that the floor length panels (not even long enough to bunch up at the bottom like in the picture) were about $120 each and I needed eight of them! Not to mention the hardware, tassels, etc.

I was devastated.

But then, I got a fantastic idea - I got a sewing machine last year! I could make them! After pricing the fabric out at JoAnn's, I realized that I could not only use far better quality fabric and make them black-out curtains, but also the whole project would only cost about $250 and a few hours at my sewing machine. Sold!

Here's how it turned out:

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!