Headed off to the Great White North

Its hard to say "see ya later" to old friends. Especially those who you recently came back in contact with. My dear friend Lamanda, who was in my sorority with me YEARS ago, is moving to Minneapolis. funny how 6 degrees of seperateion work, but she is very close friends with my close friend Cindy's best friend and over the past XX years has been hanging out with her all the while living 10 minutes from me......about 3 weeks ago we all connected the dots and had dinner..then last night we had to say see ya later, since she is moving tomorrow! Great news is I am definetly going to visit esp since I go to Chicago and MN for business occassionally. Anyway we had dinner at Javiers YUMMMMM and then went to have a dance off at the Slip inn.....

It was a great night!

TA DAH!

Well, I am finally sitting on my patio on my new patio furniture drinking a glass of VINO! Today I am done working! I have put together the furniture with the help of my neighbor Linda! and then put in the landscape edging (40ft) of it around so I can start moving dirt and plan the planting next weekend!

Enjoy the pics as I enjoy my wine!

Finito!!!!!

Check it out...we finished last night and did final leveling and tamping today! Tomorrow I will fill in the edges with dirt and then we will fill the gaps with a concrete sand mixture! SO PRETTY!!!



Its definitely BBQ time!

Last NIght 10:45pm

Deflated!

Yep...no pictures of a completed patio today! We were 7 stones from the final completed patio last night at 8:30pm! Until we stopped to rest and take a look at the project. With the light and from our view the patio was looking, well, to put it nicely -wobbley- so last night instead of placing that final stone and celebrating the victory....we ripped up ALL the stone to start FRESH today! :(

Tonight begins my patio re-construction...

Progress

More progres was made late into the night last night! Sean and I put down about half of the pallet of stone...Slowly and surely it is coming together like a puzzle with 100 lb pieces! I need to keep this up it is a great way to stay in shape!

Just think tomorrow there will be a full patio and a pic of us sitting on it with wine glass in hand!

Ciao

Introducing my backyard!

Well, I finally decided to tackle the backyard. All the DIY network tv shows make building things such as patios and flower beds look so easy...Well, I will declare that it is NOT.

So, here we are after 2 days of digging, excavating and prepping the patio and I have a big hole in the ground with 500 lbs of gravel and sand in it! Sounds fantastic huh! So, below are the fabulous before pics of the yard!

Image 1 is the fabulous chain link fence that divides my house from my neighbors! Did I mention that I hate chain link fences...









Here is the location of the patio...before excavation. Don't you just love the landscaping!










Now the picturesque back of the house and my always running air conditioner. Note the Cannas growing up to eventually take over the back yard and add color to the blah space. Also, take note of my latest test fencing! It is a bamboo roll that is held to the chain link by zip ties! I love the fact that in a few days you won't see the eye sore of a fence again!










Finally the great scape that I call my back yard!

Now that you are acquainted with the space. Please take a look at what was accomplished this weekend by myself! Not that Sunday afternoon my parents and Sean didn't stop by and help out....but by then the excavation had taken place....how Convenient.

After 3 trips to Home Depot, 1 trip to a rock quarry, relocating 2,500 lbs of dirt, and dumping 500lbs of gravel and sand.....here we are today!

After Digging Day 1

End of Day 2










Til tonight!!!











In my dreams!!!!