"Nesting"

We've been doing a little remodeling. Dave says I've been in a super-nesting phase, but since I'm not actually gestating a little person as of yet, I maintain we are simply still in the bachelor-pad-to-home transformation. When I start decorating a nursery, I'll call it nesting.

It turns out that even though Dave and I are the best of friends, we are still learning how to work on a project together. We are great workers-in-parallell -- divide and conquer, that's what we're all about -- but when we actually have to combine our efforts on the same thing...well, there has to be room for growth, right?

Exhibit 1: Our first foray into vinyl lettering.

This looks innocent enough, but this project was embarked upon at 10:30 at night and I was hungry and tired. We both had our own ideas about how to deal with the difficult font application.  We had to step away from the project a couple of times and take some deep breaths. Dave makes me hug him when I start to get anxious. There was a lot of hugging that night. The one good thing that came out of this night was that we were up late enough to catch the exploding water softener within 5 minutes of bursting. The flooding in the garage could have been so much worse. 

I decided this year I wanted an herb garden, so we ripped out the bushes along our patio and my dad and I worked together to put in these raised planters while Dave was hard at work doing his doctor thing.

Two days of backbreaking labor later...

I have my very own herb garden right outside my kitchen!

Those are my peppers and strawberries!

Tomatoes, tomatillos, and squash

About a month ago, we had a guy come look at our yard to tell us how much it would cost to rehabilitate it. After he walked around, he just laughed and said he doesn't do the kind of work it would take. It was going to cost us thousands, so I decided I am able-bodied enough to do the work myself. I have been out there daily since. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

Gone is the vicious mint and in its place is a rose that is not only alive but CLIMBING like it's supposed to on the archway that I put in.

I resurrected the rose garden. You can really cut those suckers back and it's amazing how fiercely they will grow back

 There are little pieces of FRUIT on that tree! It not only lived from last year to this year, but it actually GREW! I'm so excited for my first crop of plums!

Peaches. I'm going to have fresh peaches. I can hardly stand it, I'm so excited.

I needed a break from the yard so Dave helped me put in the last of our vinyl lettering this weekend. We grew a lot during this process and actually ended up having a great time by the end. It's so satisfying to see the product of your labor.

 This is in our dining room. It turned out so nice.

I love this little corner in our living room. I never thought I would have a husband, let alone such a great one. And I for sure never thought I'd have a house in which I could hang a picture of us and put up semi-cheesy vinyl lettering. But I love it.