Landscaping Birthdays

Friday, Zach turned the big 27. It's been a celebration all week, but on Friday night we spent the night at home with a nice dinner and a movie. I made a homemade lasagna (even though I can't have cheese) and set the table all pretty just for the special occasion. This was really one of our first warm meals in the house. It was a great evening and one that we'll remember for a long time. The night was topped off with a little Will Farrell/Jon Heder action in Blades of Glory. Pretty hysterical movie... too bad in the middle of it we had to take it back to Blockbuster and trade it out because it kept skipping. Oh well. ;-)



Zach's birthday present this year from me... a set of nut drivers. To me this sounds like an odd request, but it's what he wanted, so it's what he got. Next time I buy any tools though, I'll make sure that I read the measurements... he had asked for Metric and I got Standard. How's a girl supposed to know. He exchanged it today for the right set, no problemo.

Zach's birthday present from my parents... a cabinet for the garage. This was an incredible deal on the HD because they were literally going to throw the cabinets away... it was marked off like 85%, so we now have beautiful storage in the garage and Zach has his very own workbench. He's thrilled!!! Also pictured is Zach's bday present from his parents... the mini fridge. It's perfect for holding all the cokes. I love that it frees up the fridge in the kitchen! Birthday present not pictured... is the one that my sister gave him. We have tickets to the Relient K/Switchfoot concert for October 26th. I can't tell you how excited I am about this concert. Two of my favorite bands and they are on tour together. (I know Zach is excited too, he's just not the one posting on a blog.) How amazing is that!! Can't wait!!

After birthday celebrations... we spent this weekend in the yard. It was time to get the shrubs in the ground. Zach worked hard with our friend, Tyson to get all the holly bushes dug up. The only one left was over 100 lbs. and it took a chain and my dad's truck to pull out. See that monster of a bush in the corner... there was no way Zach was getting that out by himself.

Now that all the holly is gone... here is what our front yard looks like. It's beautimous !!
The three shrubs in the middle are Indian Hawthorne, the two on each side are Texas Sage. We also have a fringe flower in the gap on the left hand side.

One the other side of the front door we have three oleander plants... they are supposed to grow to 8-10 feet. Right now, they are only 3 feet tall. We'll see. They bloom pretty pink flowers, so I'm excited about them.
And lastly, our yard gnome who faithfully watches the yard that we now have to put him in.

Work, Work, Work

Since my last post, we still haven't gotten the office in complete order yet and there are still some pictures left to hang in the master bedroom, but one day it will be a finished product. So until that day comes, I'll let you see some pictures of definite finished products.

Here is the wall of plates. I got these for a steal in Canton. Zach's mom and I tried to arrange them randomly on the wall, but my random is very orderly if you can't tell. They are vintage black and white plates and they have sorta squared off edges. Love them.

Here is the picture wall at the top of the stairs in the little hallway between the office and the master bedroom.
On the way up the stairs....

So today, my mom and I went and did a lot of errands. We took back a whole bunch of stuff to Home Depot that has just been waiting for the right moment to return. Then we went to JoAnn's and got fabric for my mom to make curtains for our bedroom. This is my birthday present. ;-) Then we went to Calloway's Nursery and got lots of shrubs for the front yard. Now you know what our project will be next weekend. In the process of getting shrubs, we got some little petunias for my red pots to go on the picnic table. So cute!

After planting them tonight, Bailey went crazy and couldn't contain herself because she loves water so much. Here she is nursing the water hose (which is not turned on) hoping that there will be just a drop of water for her. What a crazy dog!

Here are the shrubs that will go in the front yards, once we have pulled up the holly bush stubs. That's definitely going to be a project. We definitely need to get these in the ground soon. Can't wait for the front yard to look nice!
Hopefully we'll get this all done in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep ya posted.

First Floor

This weekend was very productive and very busy. Zach's parents were in town for the weekend and they helped us around the house with a lot of little projects and some big ones. Zach and his dad finished the wall in the garage (more pictures to come later) and they also put a turbine on the roof. Those were the big jobs. Zach's mom and I hung lots of pictures in the house, some of which you can see below.

This is the downstairs bedroom, guest bedroom, the one that Zach had to rebuild the wall in... it has now officially become Zach's car room. We got the big pictures of cars from an auction at my work and they are perfect for our black and white themed room.

The type case is holding all of Zach's special Matchbox cars... mostly Mustangs. We're working to fill up the extra spaces with more Mustangs.
This is the entry way to the living room also right next to the front door. Our little mirror from IKEA is perfect here as well as this little table that my mom gave me. It used to be my Papaw's table that sat next to his chair in their living room collecting newspapers. It's a perfect little entry table and will eventually be painted black, but not anytime real soon. (I'm done with painting projects for a while.) I also need another little basket to complete the bottom shelf, but I think that it looks great!

Here's the massive China Cabinet that we were so thankful we hired movers for. It doesn't come apart... once we got it in the house, my mom unloaded everything and arranged it very nicely for me. What you see in the picture is actually only half of the cabinet, if you can imagine. Now to the living room... it's complete and very comfortable. It's much bigger than our living room in the apartment. We are loving it!


I know you've seen the kitchen many times, but this is the finished kitchen... the last touches were done this weekend. The little light above the sink was installed this weekend and I call it my little space ship. It's very unique and fits the rest of the kitchen well.
And now for the top of the refrigerator... Upstairs is still a work in progress, but I hope to have some things cleared out by the end of this weekend. ;-)