Corner: DONE

Ever since we moved in, one part of our yard that I wanted to change was the corner. It had hostas and a rose bush but it looked pretty sad. In the beginning, I thought "how much work could this possibly be? It's a tiny little corner." And so, I convinced Kristin to let me trim the rose bush down (she loved it and didn't want it ruined). Our friend Rosa came over to help, and we went at it with some trimmers.

Once we started trimming it down, however, we realized how out of control it was, and with Rosa's help, I convinced Kristin the roses just had to go. She finally agreed, and we cleared the corner out and replaced the border with a more...colorful version. :)

A few days later we went to buy plants to fill the space, and the woman said "No way! It's too early!" So we didn't buy anything, and the corner plot sat empty. But it wasn't empty for long because soon the weeds took over...which meant when it was finally time to buy the plants we had even more work to do...

Once that was done we went to Leitner's where a woman walked around and told us everything we could have ever wanted to know about the plants that might work in our space, and after making some decisions we headed home with a car full of plants. We decided to get them planted today before the weeds took over again, and we FINALLY finished! We got a ton of compliments from neighbors as we were working on it, which made all of the time and work completely worth it!

Bleeding Hearts...

One of the best parts of this spring has been watching all of the "mystery" plants in our yard come alive. I'm basically just watching most of them this year to see what they are and then I'll decide what stays and what goes for next year.

We have this corner by our back door that had a leafy plant growing in it...which was fine, but I almost ripped it up to plant "pretty" things instead. In the end I left the main leafy plant and removed the smaller ones in order to plant flowers around it. Several days after I planted the flowers the leafy plant "bloomed!" Seems it's a bleeding heart plant. Who knew?!? Now I'm completely fascinated with it and love it even though it's starting to take over the flowers I just planted. Ah well...

Spring Has Sprung!

I have always liked spring, but this year I am enjoying it more. I don't know if it's because of the unseasonably warm weather or the fact that we now own a house and trees and flowers and it's fun to watch everything grow or because I'm home more to enjoy it, but it's wonderful!

Here are a few pictures I snapped this morning from our yard...

Quick Catch Up...

Things have been a little crazy the past few weeks. I thought I'd give a quick recap on some highlights (beware - lots of pictures ahead!).

My sisters, Cassi and Robyn, and their significant others, Nic and Dejan, came to visit July 22 – 26. It was so great to see them all again!! We went to the Science Museum to see the Titanic exhibit (well worth the time and money to see…amazingly powerful). We went to the Mall of America and bowling and had a bon fire at the Como Park fire rings. We also tried a new restaurant or two along the way. Thanks to Robyn and Dejan for all of the housewarming gifts (the flowers, part of the router, the rug, domacica (sp?), and more!) and to Cassi and Nic for their housewarming gifts as well as helping to unpack and set up the router. We’re already planning next year’s gathering, so hopefully this will become a yearly thing.

Kristin, Me, Cassi, and Robyn hanging out at the bowling alley.

Dejan and Robyn relaxing between rounds.

Cassi inspects Nic's eye at the Science Museum.

Robyn tries her hand at eye inspections.

Nic is scared to see the Titanic movie.

The girls hanging out at the Science Museum.

Monday the 27th was our 2nd anniversary! We were both exhausted and spent most of the day lounging around the house ignoring all the stuff we had to do! We ended up going to Bascali’s for dinner. A place neither of had been, but which had gotten great reviews. Kristin thought it was okay, I didn’t like it at all. We headed to a movie, The Proposal, and then headed home to open gifts (the 2nd wedding anniversary gift is cotton – Kristin gave me a skirt and a customizable stepping stone for the garden. I gave her a hammock chair to hang either on the porch, in the living room, or in our bedroom upstairs once that is finished).

On Thursday, the 30th we headed to Wascott, Wisconsin, to Wilderness Way! We went a couple of times last year and loved it, so we decided we needed to make a trip out there at least once this year. We went with Patti from California and Vicenta (a classmate from St. Kate’s). It was a fun trip. Kristin ended up spending a majority of the trip catching up on sleep, and I used it as an excuse to make a little headway in the book I’ve been reading for the past two months. It was a fun trip – peaceful and relaxing as always!

Me walking on the dock

Patti

Vicenta

Kristin and Me by the fire.

We came back from Wilderness Way on Saturday, the 1st. Jessie and Patti’s birthdays were both on the 29th, so we went to a party at Jessie’s that evening to celebrate! It was seriously one of the best times I’ve had in a long time…just what I needed!

Playing the psychiatrist game. I was doing my best

imitation of Emily. Kristin was doing her best imitation of me

and Heather was doing her best imitation of Kristin.

I think we all hit it right on :)

Jessie opening her gifts.

Kristin and Me!

This past Sunday we spent time working in and around the house. I mowed the lawn which turned out to be a much bigger job than I thought it would be. I love mowing lawns…but with all the steep hills it was a bit much for me…I have gotten some really great ideas on how to do it better next time, so hopefully next time it won’t be so bad.

Mowing with the new mower!

Monday Heather and Santiago came for a visit. It was so good to see them and we had a lot of fun. I introduced Santi to the miracle of the laundry chute and taught him how to use the camera. He seemed to enjoy both activiites :). He also read me a bedtime story which put me right to sleep!

Heather and Santi

Santi smiles for the camera!

Santi loves the laundry chute as much as I do!

One of Santi's first photos! I think we have a

future star on our hands!

Santi tries to put me to sleep by reading about

a red barn on a farm.

I had my first day of internship training at The Bridge yesterday. I hope to write more about it soon, but it was awesome – I can’t wait to get started in September!

Consider yourselves caught up. :) The end.

Light Update....

Okay, so we got home from dinner tonight, and I felt the urge to fix the random lights that are burned out throughout the house. I decided to try to tackle the master bedroom light because it is really, really annoying me. When you turn it on it isn't even bright enough to light your way to the bedside stand where another lamp is. It's pathetic. The picture below was taken at night, without a flash, but with the room light turned ON. Can't see a whole lot, eh?

The light fixture is connected to the ceiling fan which seemed a little daunting to deal with just to change a light bulb or two...but I decided to try. After unscrewing and rescrewing several screws I gave up. Jehn was here, though, so she offered to take a look. She was able to get a little panel off and discovered that all the lights are indeed working.

So why is it so dark if all the lights are working, you ask?...are you ready for this?!? It is so dark because the room is being lit with FOUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS.

You read that right. Whoever the idiot was who created this crazy contraption thought that putting four Christmas lights behind a thick pane of glass would be sufficient to light an entire room. You have got to be kidding me.

Okay, so it's not like this is the end of the world, right? We already have two lamps in the room that provide a good bit of light...so really, as far as light in the room is concerned it's fine. But I want to meet the person who designed this crazy light fixture/fan ensemble...and tell them to their face what a complete idiot they are.

PS - Kristin thinks the light fixture is beautiful.

Our House

We've been in the house for a week now, and I'm discovering cool things (and a few not cool things) about it every day.

Some favorite things:

- Mail slot - it makes getting mail exciting :)

- Laundry chute

- Blinds - a pleasant surprise since I thought I hated them before we moved in

- Tree in the front yard

- Street sign - I don't know why I like this...it's not like it's OUR street sign...but I love it

- Basement - not that I would just go hang out down there, but I'm so glad we have a non-scary basement

- Mysterious writing on the wall in the secret bomb/tornado shelter downstairs. Seems some girls had some fun down there in the 40s.

- The overall feeling of the house - it reminds me of my grandparents house (which is full of good memories), and just feels homey...which is a good thing!

Some not so favorite things:

- The light (or lack thereof) in the master bedroom - we need to change some bulbs but it looks like such a hard job neither of us has decided we have the energy to deal with it as of yet

- Tiny bathroom

- Tiny Closets - we realized this before we moved in, but once you start to put clothes in them you realize just how small they are!

- Empty wall in the bathroom - still not thrilled the previous owners took the mirror off the wall, but what do you do?

Undecided things:

- Hardwood floors - I've never had hardwood floors before...and while I think maybe I'll learn to like them for now they just seem cold and hard

- Rose bush - The previous owners clipped all the roses before they left, so it's a little sad looking right now

- Garden in the backyard - I hate it right now, but maybe after I spend some time out there cleaning it up I will have a change of heart

Okay, that's all I can think of off the top of my head...I have a lot of thoughts about the home buying experience...hopefully I'll have the time in the next week or two to write them all down and share them!

Goodbye Bushes!

Today we had a guy come and do an estimate to do some trimming of everything overgrown at our new house. He gave me a quote this morning which was just too good to turn down. He said he would come next week to do the work but called a bit later and said his afternoon had opened up and he could do it today!

I was so happy to see the bushes come down and the tree trimmed up. He even did some extra trimming to other bushes and overall it looks great! There's one part that seems a little "naked," but it will grow and I think it needed to be cut back so much because of how overgrown it was.

Anyway, here are some before and after pics for your enjoyment :)

House Before

House After

Side bushes before

Side bushes after - these are what I think look a little naked...

(sorry for the poor quality of picture...I was losing light fast :))

Tree before...

Tree after!

House!

We bought a house! Most people that read this probably already know this, but I thought I'd say it here anyway. The process has been relatively low stress (to what everyone has always told me the process is supposed to be like). We looked at homes, made an offer on this one that day, and heard back 2 1/2 hours later that our offer had been accepted! The sellers are even replacing the roof for us! The closing date is set for July 17. Here's to hoping the process continues to go as smoothly as it has so far.