2013: the year of the outdoors.



one of my non-resolutions for this year (which is actually one that carried over from last year) is to have pretty flowerbeds. we have lived in our house for almost three years, and in those three years we have been so focused on inside projects that we have given hardly any thought or time or energy to the outside of the house. in fact, we just barely managed to keep the grass mowed. but no more! we are finally at a good place inside (aka no big painting or drywall or bathroom projects for a while) that we can focus our attention elsewhere. so this is the year of the outdoors. the year i will finally have pretty flowerbeds. or at least flowerbeds that are filled with something other than weeds and dead things.

 

as with any good project, we're starting with demo. there were a few bushes around our house that had to go, because they just weren't doing it for me. so i made a list. and then i gave that list to the hubs and spent the weekend chillin' in New York City.

 

i didn't have have a chance to take any updated before pictures, so i went back through my archives and found these from last year when i painted our front door and weeded that one time. i even went so far as to highlight the offending bushes for your viewing convenience.

 

two bushes by the front door



overgrown lavender bush in the backyard

 

giant angry bush that would eat the entire house if we let it

 

since i was out of town, i was at the mercy of the hubs for process pictures. i got one. and i was never so happy to see an empty hole in the ground.

 

 



when i got home on Sunday, i was THRILLED to see all of the progress that had been made, and all of the things that had been crossed off the list. in addition to a few smaller items like raking up some leftover leaves and picking up all the sticks in the yard, the bushes in the front of the house were gone! its kind of wild to see just how much visual space their removal has opened up on the front porch.

 

 

and i can practically hear my works-at-a-lavender-farm sister's heart breaking in two over this picture, but that bush in our backyard was in bad shape. in fact, it didnt really have any shape at all. AND there was giant ugly grass that grew up the middle of it that was impossible to pull. mark claims that he did not see the family of bunnies that in the past has been known to live in the lavender bush and scare the life out of me by bolting out from under it any time i got too close to it with the lawnmower. i do feel a little bad about evicting them, but i'm more excited about planning something new to plant in this spot and disguise the well.

 

mark didnt have time to deal with the giant angry bush on the corner while i was gone, or maybe he didnt want to take it on by himself, but man oh man do we have PLANS for this weekend! so exciting!!