Hurricane Sandy!

We just finished the dutch door on the front of the shed, when hurricane Sandy hit!

Thank goodness this tree did not hit the house or shed!

One of the reasons I have been slow in fluffing my house for fall is this little shed we have been building.  Thank goodness we are almost finished!  Just the doors, stairs and tweaking.

Dining room center piece, cloche decorated for fall with velvet artichokes and small books.

I love fall, I love the smell and the crisp air!  I usually like to decorate a little during this time and I do have  a few fall vignettes to share.  Above is the front porch by the door.  I decided to use pansies instead of mums this year for my flowers.  Pansies last a little longer here in Virginia. 

Yeah! Beautiful Oak Porch Floor

Sam Axton finished our floors today and I have to say he did a fabulous job!

We were going to paint but we can't cover this natural wood, and just

look at those mitered corners, it's a thing of beauty!

Thanks again Sam!

Now all Darling Husband and I have to do is sand, stain and move porch 

furniture back in.

White oak porch floorboards being installed

Taking a break from the shed, and putting in a new porch floor.  Our porch floors were getting a little punky so we removed the old boards (what a job) and our wonderful floor guy Sam Axton (he also renovated our bathroom) is beefing up the joists and putting down tongue and groove white oak.  Ill post pics as they come.

I think this is really going to happen!  The shed is starting to take shape!

We used pretreated plywood for floor and painted it with porch paint.  Later I will faux the floor, but I haven't decided on a design yet.

This is my DH's first building project, so a lot of help from friends has been needed.  We are sort of copying our neighbor's shed, he has given us help and tips.  You can see his yellow shed just above our back fence.

Looks so bare doesn't it?  Anyway Darling Husband dug holes and pored concrete for the foundation.  And so it begins!

The bushes you see at the back of fence were cleared last fall.

We have a cute little shed at the back of our property, it looked charming when we bought the house, unfortunately it is rotting, not to mention we need more room for our stuff!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is my beautiful, strong, lovely mother on her wedding day to my stepdad.  She and I have had a special relationship because it was just her and I for many years, my biological dad had passed away when she was 8 months into her pregnancy with me.  So, we grew up together so to say.  She has been my best friend, teacher and always, always on my and my brother's side.

Our Cinco de Mayo outing!  One of the best places for margarita's in Arlington is Mexicali Blues!  We like to sit outside in spring and summer,  sip on our margarita, people watch and have a bite to eat.  

Our wisteria is blooming this year, it took 2 years!  Maybe not enough sun?  At any rate it is coming around and the side yard is really starting to take off!

We are always on the lookout for new restaurants to try in our area.  The Quarter Deck in Arlington is great for hanging out with friends.  The tables in the outside area are covered with paper, we have crab, onion rings and beer what more could you want!

                                   Our two children that never left for college, thank goodness
                                   or we wouldn't be able to take the empty nest!
                                   Top Gerty bottem Dick.

This area gets a lot of traffic and have quite a bit of shade so grass struggled here.  I love brick paths
So we collected bricks from different sources and had a path layer along the side of house.
                            Workers laying granite stone for base of brick laying.

                                We collected old bricks from a neighbor who was renovating
                                 and another friend who has an old house in Front Royal, VA.
                                 These bricks are from the late 1800's and have a beautiful patina
                                 to them.  It took us about a year to get what we needed.

                                          I had a brick inserted from the old Delta Colorado
                                          Brick and Tile Company which my Uncle and
                                          Grandfather owned many years ago.

Finished product, along side of house and a small area just inside backyard, where the gate and traffic kept anything from growing anyway.

                                       Darling Husband preparing area for new Japanese Maple, our
                                       first tree that we have added to the yard.

     

                                          Our first planting on the side of house, so cute!

Hasn't it grown!

My new pergola, which will have wisteria growing on it!

We removed the old fence.

We live in a city where space is at a premium, so of course the houses are very close together.  When we first moved into our house this rotten ugly fence was what separated our house from the neighbors and also what I looked out on from my kitchen window.  Yuck!