did a bit of gardening today...

And I literally mean a bit. See - I'm not a gardener. Never have been. But one of the reasons I moved out to the suburbs is because I had been having Spring Fever like crazy for a few years and I thought this meant that I was finally ready to start gardening. Notsomuch.

Today I headed out to the yard to hack away with my needs-to-be-sharpened push mower (that came with the house - yay!).

I've dumped grass seed on the yard a couple times, but it's mostly just weeds and vines and moss, which is fine with me - less mowing!

Then I was doing my normal ripping out of the grasses along the edge that the mower doesn't reach and trimming the bushes so they don't poke a person's eye out and I kinda accidentally ripped out everything from one of the planters on the deck. No big loss - it was just a mess of lemon balm. But then I was left with a planter half full of dirt. Hmmmmmmm

I then grabbed my tools:

Liberty for London gardening gloves (they fit better than traditional gloves, it's not just that they're pretty!), clippers and this crazy scary trowel my mom gave me as a housewarming gift. It has sharp teeth on one edge, which is perfect for dividing plants, but just makes me think of Crocodile Dundee



Anyway, I went to the front yard and took a few pieces from this large dark green hosta by my front door and took a piece from the sedum that grows along (and over) my front path. Perfect, right? Two plants that definitely needed to be trimmed anyway.

Then I added them to the planter. Voila!

Another signal that I'm not a gardener? I wasn't able to save any of the leaves or flowers from the plants in the transfer. But it's the roots that count, right? And if it all fails, well, all I lost was about 10 minutes. It really was pretty easy. Maybe this gardening thing isn't scary after all. (emphasis on the maybe)

And I was able to save the sedum flowers to make a little nosegay!

Overall, it was a successful afternoon and I was so happy to spend one of the last 80 degree days in my yard.

a productive day off

My office was closed yesterday for Veteran's Day and I managed to pack it full of personal stuff.  I really love having productive holidays.  It's so easy for me to be lazy on a weekend that being lazy on a holiday seems like a waste.

My sister made me wake up earlier than I do for work to go with her to the press opening of Neiman Marcus's Last Call Studio in Rockville.  This store is great.  I feel like rather than it being an outlet for Neiman Marcus, it's more an outlet for their cool little sister, Cusp.  Everything was on trend and at fabulous prices.  As an added bonus, we got $100 gift cards.  I spent mine on a fab pair of Jimmy Choo sunglasses. 

My current sunglasses are cheapo ones from Target with butterflies at the temples.  I bought them for Bonnaroo and continued to wear them all summer, though my niece had dropped them and scratched the lenses.  But I loved the shape and while it was a bit goofy, I loved the butterflies.  But once September rolled around, they just didn't seem appropriate, you know?

Unfortunately, one of the arms fell off this morning.  So weird.  I wore them on my way into work and didn't take them off until I was in the elevator.  Took them off and went to put in the case, but they were a bit smudged so I wiped them and then put them in the case.  Once in the office, I pulled them out to show to my colleagues and one of the arms was missing!  I called Jimmy Choo who said they would either have a local store (there's one in Chevy Chase) fix them or I could send the glasses off to be exchanged.  Will keep you updated.

After shopping, Alison and I met her husband and daughter for brunch at the Silver Diner.  Love this place and love getting extra Emerson time.  We bonded over my jewelry and while I showed her my sunglasses, I didn't let her try them on :) 

Next up was the One Day Meat Sale at the Co-Op.  I had actually forgotten about this sale and at first wondered why the parking lot was so full, even though it was a holiday.  I actually had to park in the last row!  But I bought a whole chicken, some lovely strip steaks, ground beef and pork chops.  Came home and separated it all out into single portions and filled my freezer.  Now that my work schedule is back to normal, it will be nice to cook real dinners again.

The plan was to then go straight outside and tackle my front yard, but the Nate Berkus Show was on.  I love this show - it's like a moving design blog.  And can Nate's handyman please come to my house and switch out the crazy light switches in my kitchen and bedroom?  Would be nice for guests to be able to turn on these lights without a 15 minute lesson.

I did have self-control and turned off the TV before Ellen came on.  Otherwise she would have sucked me in as well, but my yard was calling!  It's been a wild wonderland all summer and I kind of loved its mess.  Overgrown and wild, it had its own beauty.  But by the end of the summer, I was sick of it.  All of the winding vines and overgrown mint made it impossible (for me, at least) to do any constructive gardening.  I knew I needed to clear it out now so it would be ready for me in the spring. 

So I spent about two hours filling three of those tall paper yard bags...

and ended up with a cleared out yard!  You can actually see the parking lot!  Light!  Air!  It's a good thing.

I pulled out all of the vines and mint, trimmed down the rest of the weeds and the wild parts of the bush/tree things and cut away the dead parts of one bush that was almost completely flattened by the snow this winter.  I pulled out the faux stone edgers that were randomly placed in the yard and pulled up some of the randomly placed paving stones.

Next up is to fully remove all the weeds and random green stuff, relocate the hostas and brown flower-things to better places, remove the rest of the paving stones, put the saint the previous owner left on Freecycle and lay down some mulch.  In Greenbelt, you have to have something covering the dirt in your yard and I don't want to deal with grass.  It's hard enough getting bits of it to grow in my backyard.  Then I'll be all ready to make it pretty next year!

Having successfully cleared out my yard, I treated myself to watching Lost in Austen on Netflix On Demand.  SUCH a cute little movie that I didn't even mind that it was 3 hours long (it was originally a miniseries) and cooked up one of the steaks I just bought with some heirloom cherry tomatoes.

It was a fabulous day!

my front yard

My sister snapped this picture last weekend.  The previous owner left this saint in the front yard, probably because he was hidden amongst the bushes in one corner.  I moved him closer to the front thinking I'd put him on Freecycle.  I haven't gotten around to that and my wild, wild yard has grown around him.  I still need to find him a new home, but from the right angle he looks right at home!

outdoor furniture update

My outdoor furniture is installed and has been in use!

I have my two turquoise Adirondack chairs and an end table in between.  This picture makes them look almost green, but they really are very blue.

Underneath I have a brown and tan zebra print rug.  I adore this rug.  It really makes the space.

To the left (as you're coming out of the house), I have the dining table and motion chairs.  I bought tan cushions for the seats and turquoise and green print pillows for the backs.

It all fits, but with the Adirondack chairs on the deck, the table has to be squished in the corner for there to be enough room to walk between it all.  Not really an issue if it's just one or two people eating out there, but it would be hard for someone to get to the chairs in the corners.

I really like this dining set because I can add pillows and cushions to add color, but it's also comfortable without.

Yesterday was Mother's Day and my sister and I took our mom to a Nationals game.  This has become a tradition and we all love it.  But we also like to have brunch beforehand, but restaurants on holidays are a mess so I had them over to my house instead. 

To make enough space, I moved the Adirondack chairs and end table to the yard and moved the table to the center of the patio.  I actually really like them out there and may keep it that way for a while.  At least a few weeks while there's still enough grass to keep the yard from becoming a mud pit.

I just got this tablecloth from Ross ($7!) and I love the yellow on the various blues.  Very Provencal.  It doesn't go with the pillows so I just used the cushions.  See how useful it is to have comfortable-without-cushions chairs?

I ran over to the Bagel Place for 1/2 a dozen bagels (2 everything, 2 Old Bay, 1 plain, 1 blueberry) and a tub of cream cheese. The day before I bought some lox and raspberry lemonade to mix with raspberry vodka I already owned. My wine glasses are polycarbonate ($2.99 at Target), but the plates, water glasses and serving dishes are my everday stuff. They're sturdy enough to survive being outside.  The napkins were my great-aunt's or great-grandmothers.  They're monogramed and incredibly soft from so many washings.  I did have a plastic plate and dish rag for my 16 month old niece, but she likes drinking out of real glasses (with adult help) so she also got one of my bee glasses.  The bottle for water was also bought at Ross for $1.99. I love that place.

Once I was back in my house from getting the bagels, the whole table took about 15 minutes to assemble, which was great.  I love super simple entertaining where it's more assembly instead of cooking.  Brings out the decorator in me.  I love cooking, but I love decorating more!

outdoor furniture update!

Sitting on my front stoop right now should be the cushions and rug I ordered for my deck!  I can't wait to go home and check them out.  And then tomorrow the table and chairs should be arriving!  Love Home Depot - less than a week for all of this to arrive.  Yay!

outdoor furniture!

I bought two turquoise plastic Adirondack chairs from Home Depot.  They're so bright they almost glow at twilight.  And they're pretty darn comfortable - I spent a lot of time in them this warm and sunny weekend.  My niece also enjoyed them when she stopped by for a visit!

spring!

I have crocuses!  And daffodils!  So much fun to see flowers popping up in my garden.  The crocuses first came out on Thursday but didn't open up until Friday.  The daffodil leaves popped up at the same time but didn't start blooming until this week.  How exciting!