Working With A Landscape Designer

Almost a month ago we had a great meeting with a landscape designer to put together a plan for our front yard. If you remember, our yard is in some serious need of help.

Taken in mid-March. Things are a little greener now that the leaves have filled in, but there still isn't much going on at the ground level.

So far it's been a really great experience, so I thought I'd share the process!

Spring is Officially Here

Even though this is the beginning of our third spring living in North Carolina (we moved this week, exactly two years ago), I'm still amazed by the trees out here. They go through change so much more quickly than trees on the west coast do. In fall they turn beautiful colors for a few weeks, and then seem to all fall to the ground overnight. And in spring, in less than one weeks time, everything explodes with greenery.

Taken this morning off our deck:

And taken on Saturday, with a little preview of the back of our first prototype of the deck furniture we're building:

What We're Up To This Weekend

Around this time last year, I was drooling over deck furniture. It's just this time of year, with the promise of warm weather around the corner, I can't help but think about spending lots of time outside. And since we never got deck furniture last year, I'm again asking for it for my birthday.

Between the last two weekends we have visited exactly 11 different stores looking for deck furniture. But we've been having a tough time finding exactly what we want, between my color and aesthetic preferences, my husband's comfort and function requirements, balanced with what we're willing to spend.

Sunbrella outdoor fabric samples

All of the sets of furniture we found that were more reasonably priced at places like Home Depot or Sears either didn't have one of my husband's requirements (a glider lounge chair), or they weren't very comfortable, or they were made of wicker, which isn't a great material for on a deck where you occasionally have to brush off spider webs.

Easter In Photos

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

We had my brother and sister in law over on Saturday to celebrate. I made a honey baked ham, rosemary parmesan potatoes and whiskey-glazed carrots, and after dinner we had a fire down at our fire pit, complete with Peeps s'mores.

And since I shared my Easter party inspiration board last week, I thought I'd share a couple of photos I was able to snap before our guests arrived, of the appetizer and dessert table. I think I need a bigger table next time, since we had extra flowers, drinks, strawberries and a few other snacks spilling over onto the kitchen peninsula.