My latest craigslist purchase!

We've been thinking about purchasing patio furniture for the upcoming spring and summer seasons...but I was shocked to see the actual prices of these sets! Yesterday here's what I found on craigslist...and here it is today on our patio deck!

take 2 - my front yard project

As you can tell by reading my last blog post...I wasn't too pleased with the results of the retaining wall planter attempt 1! I took it upon myself this Saturday to correct the problem. I wanted all the stones to be level. I worked from 12:45-5:45 non-stop picking up and re-placing the blocks in their new position. I'm much more pleased with the results. The project is now 2/3 finished. I want to make sure you realize that Jason was out of town this weekend, so ALL OF THIS WORK WAS DONE BY ME!

Front yard project

This may be the largest scale project I have started around the house and also the most important! Our house sits at the top of a cul-de-sac. The ground is higher than the rest of the houses which provides us with a great view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately it also provides for difficulty landscaping the front flower bed because of the steep slope downward away from the house. Here are some pictures of the pathetic attempt I made to create a stone edging/retaining wall around the potential flower bed. I've spoken with a neighbor who actually has landscaping experience for help with this project. Check out the atrocity:

Look at that slope!

Side view: it looks like the wall is going to fall forward

Great Potato Salad Recipe

I was looking for a new fresh and easy potato salad recipe...and I found a great one on http://www.foodnetwork.com/

Here's the recipe:

3lb Yukon gold potatoes
salt and pepper
2 stalks of celery (I left this out)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 small red onion chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (I used dried, but less)
1-2 T of vinegar
1/2 lemon juiced
1 T Dijon mustard

Peel potatoes and boil for about 25 minutes. - Cut potatoes to 1 1/2" and let cool to room temperature. Combine all ingredients and serve!

And here's a picture of the potato salad I made on Saturday!

spring break Project: Bonus room

I had little to no official plans for spring break which sounded very relaxing. I decided to take on a few projects around the house. One of which was to find a daybed with a trundle to replace the red love seat in the bonus room. Per request of my husband: I had to sell the love seat before I purchased a daybed. I posted the love seat on craigslist and had a buyer within 2 hours. Such a lovely lady and her two sons. Hopefully they are enjoying the love seat. Jason was a little sentimental about this piece of furniture reminding me that it was the first piece of furniture we ever bought together... I just wanted to get the money to put towards the new daybed. haha

Here is the beloved love seat.

The master plan: currently our house has limited "official sleeping" locations. There is a king bed in the master bedroom, queen bed in the guest bedroom and two very large comfortable couches in the bonus room. The red love seat was too small for anyone to sleep on and only 2 people could sit on it at a time...so...I would like to replace the love seat with a daybed and trundle therefore providing 2 more locations for guests to sleep.

The day after the love seat was picked up and paid for by a craigslist purchaser I found this lovely daybed with 2 mattresses and trundle. The piece was a little ugly on the surface, but I saw true potential!

Before I painted the frame.

Please excuse the blue shutters (that I have still not turned into a head and foot board) next to the trundle frame.

I primed and painted the daybed frame with a satin red paint.

I found a demi-ish and white stripe twin bed sheet to put over the mattress. I also bought the large red and white plaid fabric to make the euro pillows and a matching curtain.

The last thing I did was paint the previously bronze lamps the same color red as the bed frame.

Over all I would consider the spring break project: bonus room a success!

Birthdays

Last week was Jason and my birthday week! My day was the 11th and 2 days later Jason had his day on the 13th. It was a fun week and we had a very relaxing dinner celebration and just spent some QTime together. No gifts involved.

Here is a picture of all the special birthday cards our friends and family sent us! Thanks!

Wedding vows

Well, Jason and I have been married 3 years July 1st. I've been looking/thinking for a while about a keepsake (other than pictures) that would be special for us. I stumbled across Sara Mincy's blog about 2 months ago (it inspired me to start my own blog). Any how, I sent Sara a copy of the wedding vows Jason and I wrote for our wedding and asked her to paint them. I gave her some colors but that's it. She did the rest. Here's the painting:

So, I'll be putting this up in the bedroom as soon as it gets here. Wish I had artistic talent like this, but Laura + paint (usually) = disaster. I always think I can whip of these masterpieces, but they NEVER turn out the way I envision them.

Sara's blog: http://sara-mincy.blogspot.com/

My new purse

Here's my new Cole Haan purse!! I bought it this weekend! Happy Birthday to me!