End of Summer Shin Dig!

We invited friends and family over to our house this weekend for a little get together to celebrate the end of summer and beginning of fall. It was a cool, dry day and we were able to spend the majority of the day outdoors.

The afternoon started with a little football. Bella was dressed up and ready to support MSU while the boys watched the game downstairs in "the man room"




Then it was time to get the grill fired up! I snapped a couple of photos inside the house before guests arrived - just for fun. We got a new rug and I am kind of in love with it!



Once the party got started there was much socializing...


Food to be eaten...


Bubbles...




Did I mention eating?




And time with the little ones...



It was a wonderful afternoon and evening! Thanks to everyone who came over and spent the day with us - we love you!

Beautiful Evening

Lovely zinnias blooming in pots on my patio...

Pretty puppy sitting on the grass...

Wonderful husband working the grill...

Gorgeous evening light...

Sitting in the back yard with a glass of wine and my knitting...


One beautiful evening.

Weekend Wrap Up

And what a fabulous weekend it was!

My parents came into town for a visit and the weather was just beautiful. I made some delicious Coconut-Banada Coladas (hop on over to my craft blog to see the recipe) which we enjoyed on our backyard patio. Yay back yard!

We then enjoyed a yummy dinner at our local Indian restaurant. My parents have always loved Indian food (there are Indian takeout places all over the place in England), but as a kid I wouldn't touch it. In the past year or so it has become one of Trav and I's favorite foods to eat out! (food photos for you - Abby!)

We indulged in some samosas for appetizers...

I ate chicken tikka masala for my entree. Delicious! And plenty for leftovers, too! (it reheats really well)



After dinner we headed back to the house to relax. Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast and did some shopping before my parents headed home. Thanks for coming, guys!

On Sunday afternoon Travis mowed the lawn while I sat on the patio and soaked up some rays (with sunscreen this time!) The grass is actually looking pretty darn good. Bella enjoys laying on the cool grass in the shade.


Sunday evening we headed to a local pub where Travis is a member of the Beer Mug Club (remember?) He was pleased to find that his beer mug was ready to go! It's engraved with his first and last name, and member number (he was the 20th member!) It was hard to take a photo of, but you can kind of see it in the pictures above.

It was a nice, relaxing way to end the weekend. I love restaurants where you can sit outside, don't you?

Hope your weekend was as lovely as ours!

Back Yard Furniture

After all the hard work we've put in on the back yard... this weekend was time to reap the fruit of our labors! We went out and purchased some patio furniture to set up out there!

Cute little table and chairs with striped umbrella

Faux adirondack chairs... can you just see me sitting back there with a cocktail in one hand and a magazine in the other? All I need now is a little table to set aforementioned items on when I fall asleep...

From another angle. Note very ugly side of garage that needs major work (we can't do EVERYTHING all at once after all - but at least it has a cute little window planter!)

Cutesy patio. How cozy!

We ate our first meal out there on Saturday night with our good pals Seth and Kelly. We grilled up some brats and some chicken kebobs (with veggies from our local farmers market - yum!) and enjoyed some cool beverages to the tunes of Bob Marley and Dave Matthews.

It was, as they say, a perfect lazy summer evening.

I'm Back!

I know... it's been awhile!

Hopefully this will be my last blog-absence for a good long while since I'm all wrapped up with the dance recital, and all things YMCA! I'm enjoying my first week as a single-job woman and appreciating the time at home in the evenings to do... well... whatever I want!

That's not to say that work isn't demanding right now. Our annual fundraiser is coming up next week already, so I'm busy busy busy with all of the logistics for that event. I love special event planning though - both personally and professionally - so I'm having a good time with it and trying to keep the stress at a minimum.

Okay, I need to catch you up on everything that's going on around here... where to start? The backyard of course! Since it's been awhile, let's review what it looked like BEFORE...


And I'm proud to show you what it looks like NOW!





Incredibly exciting, right?! The landscaping finally got finished, despite a few setbacks, this past Thursday morning. I still have to throw some trellis on the side of the garage to cover up the stucco that needs to be redone (we can't fix EVERYTHING all at once, after all!) but other than that we're finished!

Saturday was the big dance recital. It was a crazy busy and sometimes stressful day - but everything went really well. The kids were excited and the parents seemed pleased. It sure was a relief for it to be over, though! That night we hosted a BBQ to celebrate the end of my Y career (for now...), a successful dance recital, and the new back yard! Thank goodness for Travis, Mum and Dad, Heather and Anthony, and Alison and Noah for being so incredibly amazing all weekend and pitching in with everything from costume-making to backstage working to ticket taking to house cleaning to BBQ set up to cupcake making and beyond.

I was blown away by the support of my family and friends this weekend. I am truly blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you a million times over! I love you!

I don't have photos from the dance recital yet - but will share them with you later in the month. I'll leave you with some great pics from the BBQ (note what good folks we are by staying off the sod so that it can take root REALLY well!)... unfortunately some of my favorite pictures from the evening won't upload to my computer because my camera is dying and files keep getting corrupted, but these few give you a little taste...

Landscaping Day 1

This is what my back yard looked like when I left the house this morning...



This is what it looked like when I came home at 4:00pm...


And here's how it looked by the end of the day...

Roehm's vs. the Back Yard (and the front, too!) - Part 2

So the tearing up of the back yard continued through Saturday evening, and the boys managed to remove ALL of the brick and fieldstone, see?!

BEFORE


AFTER

Note: Apparently I didn't take a final photo of the yard ripped up. After I posted this I realized there's still a lot of field stone in this photo. Since then, all that has been removed. Good job, Travis and Seth!

On SUNDAY we tackled the front yard - well, a small section of it. We decided to begin with the side bed that runs along the driveway, I didn't take a before shot of it (what was I thinking?!) but it looked a lot like the rest of the front of the house does, like this...


We did a lot of digging out of old plants, weeds, etc. and then removed some excess dirt. We used some of the old stone and brick we had dug up to re-shape the bed, left a small existing shrub in place, and laid down new top soil (we actually need to pick up some more of that tonight to finish it off)


I also snatched up a great deal at Lowes on some geranium pots for the front steps. I love me some geraniums!


And yes, the steps desperately need painting. One thing at a time!

In non-gardening news, there's not much to report. Travis is under the weather with an upper respiratory bug, but at least it's not the swine flu!!

Note: I am so, so tired of hearing about the swine flu already. I understand it's an issue, but geez - talk about over-the-top media coverage...