Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and times of year. I love to decorate for Halloween because the decorations you can find are so cute and I love all the colors. I did a lot more than I did last year...I think I did a display everywhere possible :)

I love these candy corn guys. I ordered them off etsy from a business in Louisiana. They are outdoor wood and come with metal stakes so you can stand them up. I put them down the side of my house with lots of lights for night time. 

Front of the house with Black netting over the rocking chairs and cute signs!

I planted mums and pansies in my whiskey barrel and put mimi pumpkins and a broom in a mesh container. 

I love this felt witch. My mom gave her to me in my first halloween care package :) I added a lighted witch hat and cute standing owl. 

I put garland and purple lights around the door and candy corn lights in the boxwood tree. 

If you look very closely there are glow in the dark eyes in each begonia cluster :) 

Ghosts in the holly tree :)

Witch on the gate to side yard

Giant orange spider on the trellis to the back. I also put purple lights on it for nighttime 

Front of shed

Back yard set up :)

Fall Garden

I wanted to show off my garden craziness from this summer and all the new projects I have been working on.

New Red Emperor Maple Tree...A Birthday Gift from my Hubby :)

I love this tree I hope he is happy in his new home and it is the perfect size once it grows a little to give the front of my house some shade. Also in the pic are my rock owls these guys are so cute!

Side view of front garden.

My favorite spot to sit! I have my mums and I am so excited for fall!!

One of my projects from this summer. I wanted a little Orla Kiely in my garden so I painted a window to put in with my flowers :) 

Fire pit and new seating area. View through new arbor in side yard

This was my big under taking this summer. I added a driveway area off the shed so hubby can have his own parking area. I was also able to add lots more seating and a cute fire pit thanks to my Mom who hooked me up for my birthday! The benches are attached to planters so I can add color and flowers. All of this area used to be "grass" also known as weeds and I gave up fighting in. With the help of family and friends I put down landscape fabric to kill the weeds and 5 TONS of Gravel for my new back yard!! I loved creating this space but my back did not. I am one of those people who want it done right then and if no one is there to help I will do it myself even if I really shouldn't. Case in point I raked most of the gravel myself because I wanted to see how it looked and wanted it done. I hurt my back so badly I could not bend, lift, sit, stand, and basically move for 3 weeks. But it sure looks pretty :)  

New side garden

The flowers in my side garden off the porch went nuts this summer and I managed to save my Lilac bush :) I also added in the pink trellis to grow Clematis next year and as support for my climbing roses. 

My purple shed!

I love this shed. It is one of my favorite things in my garden and is also a conversation point for the neighborhood. Most people love it but there is always some comment about "How does my Husband put up with it". My husband is wonderful and actually picked the color for the shed...I wanted to go darker. He loves what I do in the garden and loves that our house is so colorful and unique. It makes me happy that he likes what I do. It also makes me happy when people in the neighborhood walk by and really appreciate and compliment what I am working on. 

To plant a garden is to believe in Tomorrow

The bottom window was one of the last projects I worked on this summer. With the help of my friend Jessie I got a really cute window. I have terrible handwriting (curse of being a lefty) so Jessie helped me do the lettering. I really like this quote from Audrey Hepburn and I thought it fit in really well with my garden. 

Hope you enjoy the view! Halloween pics coming soon :)

Mama Leta I miss you

Dear Mama Leta,
You went home 6 years ago. I miss you everyday. Michael and I have been married for almost 2 years and hope that you can see joy and love we have for each other. I think of you at the big moments and the small. I think of you when I wear pink...I just bought pink sparkly TOMS that reminded me of you. I am wearing them today. I think of you when we get pizza from Selby's and remember all the picnics and late night talks we had in your bedroom. I thought of you when we got engaged and thought finally I really am going to be your daughter. I thought of you when we bought our house and hoped that you would like it. I thought of you on our wedding day and missed you so much my heart ached. I wanted you to see how happy I was to have your son and wanted you to hold my hand. I think of you when I garden and laugh and imagine you telling me I'm crazy where am I going to put another plant!?. I look around my house while I'm sitting with Michael and just think you would have loved this. I always hear your voice saying..."when do I get grand babies" and shooting me your eye crinkling smile :) I will think of you when we have our first baby and will want you to be with us so badly.  I miss you at the silliest moments and sometimes think I am going to walk upstairs in the old house and see you sleeping. Sometimes I dream about you and we talk just like we used to...those are the best dreams its like you are coming back to visit. You were an amazing light in my life and I will always carry that light with me.
Love,
Jillian

Fall has arrived...

I am so excited that Fall is finally here! I love the weather and all the fun things that come with it. Today was one of those gorgeous perfect fall days...It was warm in the sun but cool in the breeze- just enough for a sweater. When I woke up this morning I really wanted to break out the boots but I told myself not to rush it. I am not coaching cheerleading this year or teaching and it feels a little strange to not be part of school fall activities. I am going to do as much as I can with my friends and family and in my garden. I really want to enjoy this fall and not waste any of these beautiful days.

 I have really big plans for my garden to get it ready for spring! (I know I am thinking way ahead) Fall is bulb planting time and I have tons to plant thanks to my wonderful husband. This will be third spring in this garden and I am finally adding lots of spring color. Over the summer I filled in all my beds and dug a few new ones (I can always find somewhere to put flowers). We also added hardscape in the back in the form of a gravel driveway for the shed and a fire pit seating area (I will post pictures soon) I really love how everything has come together and all the little areas I have to play with. I am really excited to add my bulbs into the mix. I have about 100 tulips to scatter everywhere in purple, red, yellow, and white. I also have lots of different types of daffodils, hyacinths, and crocus for color all spring. Spring used to be my least favorite season mostly because of my allergies (I'm a weird gardener...terrible allergies and I'm afraid of bees!) but now spring is like christmas waiting for all my flowers to bloom.

I am loving all the fall flowers that I have been snapping up, mums, pansies, asters, and ornamental peppers. I jumped the gun in August and bought some mums and they all died because it was so hot! The ones I bought this week are doing great and are filling my garden with pretty colors since many of my summer flowers have gotten over grown or are starting to die now that it's getting cooler at night.

Pictures and more posts to come...Halloween plans and Christmas fun!

Pictures from the garden

I haven't been able to do much because spring break is over and the weather has been crappy. It's a beautiful day and I still can't do much because I'm a gimp (hurt my knee walking down my front steps). I wanted to share some pictures of progress so far :)

My new Shed

Shed Complete!!

Projects this week

 Painted the shed to today with the help of one of my friends Jenna. Love the purple and I can't wait to finish the trim (white) and hang windows with window boxes.

 Spray painted all my lovely new outdoor furniture a few days ago. Took 10 cans of spray paint and 2 trips to Home Depot. I wore my irresistible paint shirt for the 2nd trip. I get hit or receive phone numbers every time I wear this huge blue paint covered 20 year old button down men's shirt. This time was no different...I will never understand the attractiveness of this shirt.

 My patio also has a nice purple tint to it as well...oops. This was probably not the best project to undertake 2 days after sinus surgery but I was bored and I am a really bad patient.

Purple rocking chairs in the front! I can't wait to add the window boxes in the front :)

Before Pictures

Before this was horrible so this was a major improvement. 4 straight days of pulling weeds to get to this. 

This is my house in May of 2011- I love my purple door!! It looks very different now. That tree to the left fell over and killed most of my garden in July so I started over. Burning Bushes under the windows are gone. They get to be 8ft wide so that was a bad plan. Fence to the right and half dead azalea bushes are gone too! 

 Backyard- THAT SHED went bye bye!! We also have tried to plant grass to have a lawn instead of weeds...we will see.

This side yard will be the bane of my existence in about a month. I planted tulips down one side (My favorite) but come summer this whole bed will be filled with Bindweed!! Not to be confused with its nice cousin Morning Glory. This weed has roots that go down 60 feet and will survive the apocalypse!! It spreads everywhere and is very invasive...I gave up for a week last year and it covered the whole fence. 

Hello

I have officially entered the blog world. I am 25 and married to a wonderful man and living in Paradise.
 I am a newlywed and have been decorating and rearranging our house for a little over a year.  My house is my favorite project. I cannot be bored or sit still and I am constantly doing something in my house or garden. I teach Middle School Social Studies so my "projects" are often my stress relievers :)
 I am laid up on my couch because I had surgery and I am not supposed to do anything...well I painted my new outdoor furniture instead of resting. I am now paying for that decision but I am still bored so I decided I want to share all the cool stuff I do in my "Paradise" with the world.
My garden renovation from last year is well underway...I learned some lessons and moved a lot of plants.
I am painting my shed Purple!!
And many other projects coming soon...school is not over yet!
Pictures to come soon.