The search for new dinner plates

I had a set of dishes we both loved, but they did not fit in our cabinets or our dishwasher because they are 12" square. Plus they took up half the island in a plate rack. So a few days ago we finally decided to start really looking for new ones. Here are the old ones (pretty, huh?)



On Saturday, after trying Linens N' Things, World Market, Kohl's, Target and WalMart we found some we both really liked at Bed Bath & Beyond. We also found a nice rug to put under the table and got a table runner. We're so happy with how it all turned out.





So now that we have our plates up in the cabinet, it cleared out half our island. I put in a sliding drawer for the pots and some lids, and I used our plate rack to organize other plates and some baking dishes. It all looks so nice and organized now.

RIP Cape Mallow and Marigolds

Today we said goodbye to some of the plants we planted a few weeks ago - including our pink cape mallows (aka the marshmallow trees) and a few marigolds. Turns out the cape mallows do not grow well in New Mexico. Of course, it would have been nice to know that before we bought them, dug holes and planted them, but oh well. Oh well - they were pretty while they lasted.

Landscaping, Continued

This weekend we (and by we, I mean Brian) added some trees to our yard. It's all looking so pretty!





The tree in the corner of each rounded bed is this a Cleveland Flowering Pear, which will look like this when it matures a little more:



Then on the sides for some privacy we planted some of these:



And finally on the other side there's one of these:




And of course, how do the dogs show us they love what we did? They lay all over it:









Brian taking a much-deserved break to enjoy lunch on our new patio:

Rock's done...now what?

It's time for plants. After finishing the rock and the patio yesterday, we went to Lowe's (thanks for the coupons mom). Here's what we came home with:



Step #1- Create something plants could live in. As you saw in previous pictures, our yard was sand. So we got potting soil, manure and compost to create a liveable ground. Here's Brian doing the back-breaking work while I was making lunch and putting a chicken soup on the stove. If it's any good I'll post the recipe.


Step #2: Get planting. We plan on adding some shade trees in the corners, but we wanted to only get what we could feasibly finish, so trees coming later.




Proof that I worked and just didn't take pictures of Brian:




Here's something really cool about our patio. This picture was taken at 2 p.m. and this is as much sun as it gets because it's shaded by the house:


That's it for now. I'll post more pics as things start to bloom and grown.

Weekend improvements - part 2

We got about 90% of the way done with the rock last weekend, but we didn't have enough for one side alleyway along the house. We had dinner with our neighbors earlier this week, and they said they were planning on rocking their side alleys this weekend, so we were able to get in on their delivery.

So here is what 3 tons of rock looks like. Last week we had 7.


And here's what is going on in our yard right this minute (yes I'm blogging while B works)


We will be able to sit outside and enjoy the view on our new patio in two days. And no - I did not carve my initials in it like I did the house slab. :-)

We start landscaping the flower beds later this afternoon, so more pics to come soon.

Funny story - I was chatting with one of the concrete guys about KB leaving, and he said "didn't I see you on the news the other night?" Hee hee - I'm famous.