Autumn Flowers

I'm so proud of my mums this year! I'm not much of a gardener but I'm getting there one plant at a time. Trying to take it slow and really learn how to take care of a plant instead of getting over ambitious and adding too many at once that just die off because I can't keep up. I have done that before! It was hard to make myself keep cutting them down all summer, seems so counter intuitive, but that's what I read so I did it and it worked. My mums must have quadrupled in size and they are covered in blooms!

That tiny green mound on the far left is also a mum. I got it the year after the giant ones and from a different place, I can tell the difference, he's looking sad. I think it will do better next year though, the back half looks normal. My one big gardening fail was the Clematis vine I planted. Once it bloomed it was clearly not a Clematis. Not sure what the heck it was, the vine grew beautifully but the flowers, not so much. So I was heartless, ripped that sucker out and planted a new Clematis. I'm bound and determined to do it right!

Wandering Jew in the flower boxes is holding up pretty well but it's probably time to switch it out for something else. My Geraniums never did like my treatment of them! In between the mums are some boxwood plants that are doing well. I had to trim the mums back to keep them from getting swallowed whole though.

I love Gerbera Daisies, who doesn't! They're tough to keep alive in the heat of the summer down here but as soon as it cools down they are happy happy happy. It just makes me so happy to have a little pretty in the front of my house!

The Perfect Cup Of Coffee

Saturday I had the most perfect morning. The privacy fence was finally finished, the weather has finally gone from the fiery, humid bowels of hell to fling open the windows and sit on the back deck wonderful. my puppies are so happy to be free to roam and it was nice to be able to just open the door, let them out and sit outside under my peaceful pergola, with my pretty little lanterns and trees and Tibetan bell. The outside of our house is really starting to come together into something I like and as much as I hated shutting out our neighbors it's also very very nice to carve out your own space when your neighbors are 2 inches away. Now I walk out and I feel like I'm not just a sardine in a suburban cookie cutter, I feel like I'm in my own personal oasis.

Lent N' Dust Bunnies

I know, I've been gone awhile. For Lent I decided to not turn my computer on until after the noon 'o clock hour because it had slowly taken over my life under the guise of "work". 40 days under computer restriction turned out to be the best thing I've done in awhile with the side bonus of having shoulders that weren't knotted up...a pleasure I haven't experienced in some years.

Another wonderful side effect? Household beautification! We're getting things done that we should have had done a long time ago. Now that Lent is over I'm still trying to leave the computer off until after lunch but I'm finding it hard to be inspired to post at all. The thought of spending time trying to make the inane things in my life come across as clever, humorous, interesting...well, it sort of hurts my brain. Also there's the matter of Spring, which I adore and makes me feel like I'm climbing out from under a long, dark fog and all I want to do is play outside. So for awhile the words around here may be a little bland but hopefully there will be frequent pictures!

My flower boxes are exactly what I was hoping to find, thank you Hobby Lobby! I did have to use a can and a half of spray paint to turn them from white to black but it was worth it! You can also see, in the picture at the very top of this post, that we added edging. And by "we" I mean my husband and a friend!

Our handmade mailbox is probably going to need a redo soon, it's splitting down the post. But don't the flowers look lovely!

I was worried about the thingy above the garage but am so glad we put it up, I love it! Our house is starting to take on some of it's own character.

Holy Giant Pergola Batman!

My bitty monkeys enjoying the newest shady spot in our backyard

The Bohemian and I have been together some time now. We've been married nearly 8 years and we dated for 6 before that. In all those 14 years of working together to make a relationship work, of giving and taking and compromise and forgiveness and sticking by each other it's only been in the very recent years that we've been able to even drive past a Lowes without launching into a fight that puts the World Wars to shame. I'm very proud of us though because this weekend we put up this Pergola and didn't kill each other or curse the fact that the other was born! Thanks to my folks for this awesome housewarming gift, I'm so excited when I get to de-bland our suburban cookie cutter and this is fantastic! Next project: build out the slab to accommodate the pergola, wish us luck!

Surprise!

When we came back from North Carolina our house looked just a little bit prettier. The builder decided to go back and put shutters on all the houses, even the ones that had sold, like ours! This was on our list of things to do to cutesie up our cookie cutter house and we got it for free, AWESOME! Even though the whole street got the same shutters they've helped show that each house is actually a little bit different. Now it's time to get some pretty iron work flower boxes for the windows and maybe get brave and hang the iron work wall art thing we bought a few weeks ago for the large, empty expanse above the garage.

This is a welcome mat I found at Target and just love. It's made out of recycled rubber! It fits right along with my idea to make this cookie cutter into something more italian cottage-esque.

Below are pictures of the decoration for above the garage. We got it at Hobby Lobby when they were having their half off metal decor sale. I can't decide if it would look really cute or really bad. Either way I suppose it would make our house different than our neighbors'!