Steamy Summer...

...makes for lazy post updating.

Ugh, I promised a post last week, and then my family came to visit!  YAY!!!  But the post never got written (boo), and at this point I don't even know where to begin!  While I've been lazy with the posts, we have not been lazy with getting things done.  We have a new front light (solar sensitive so it only comes on at night!) thanks to Peter's electrical abilities, we have upgraded tomato cages, new bike racks for vertical storage, patio furniture (thanks, Mommy and Daddy!), and flourishing gardens even in the summer heat.  

It's been a great summer so far.  It was fun to see what our house was capable of.  Throughout my family's visit, we deemed it very possible for it to house 6 people at one time, though it is HOT and incredibly cozy.  And for party purposes, we figured out that it can hold up to 25-30 people at one time with some spillout into the backyard.  Again, it's intimate, but still possible!  I think that's pretty good for 812 sqft, right?

I've finally been working in my studio more, which has been pretty great.  We figured out a way to cool it enough so I don't die in there, so look for updates on the art side of things soon.  Alright, enough from me, here are the photos.  Oh, and a shout out to Crystal Roel for the photo push.  =)  

BIKES!!!  Finally we don't have to trip over them every time we travel between the kitchen and the living room.

I like the way they look next to our hanging rack and bench.

And now into the "front yard"...bachelor's buttons!!!

The bamboo is growing, and so is the perennial mix that I threw in there at the beginning of the summer! 

Sooooo green!!!

Shot from above.  Notice the unintended melon that just sprouted there.  I'm excited to see what it really is.  

New light!  Thank you Peter!

Now the backyard!  Here it is! 

New chairs from my parents.  I think they brighten things up.  They're comfortable and cool on the skin.  Excellent for summer relaxing in the yard. 

WE FINALLY HAVE A HOSE IN THE BACKYARD!  Our neighbor Miguel (who is a professional plumber) installed it a couple weeks ago.  You should have seen the drill he used to drill THOUGH THE ENTIRE BRICK WALL (3 layers of brick) so that we could connect the spigot to the water line.  IT WAS A SERIOUS DRILL.  Whoa.   

Tomato wranglers in the back, it was indeed a wrestling match to get those up and in there.  Somehow our tomatoes are doing extremely well in our soil!  So excited!

Photo from the back of the yard.  Notice the new fence that Miguel installed a few days ago.  Though it was nice to have it open, it's also nice to have some privacy back there.  Plus now we can let Kitty out there and not worry too much about her escaping. 

Close-up on fence and fig.  It finally got leaves!  Not dead after all!

Little heirloom lettuce mix! 

Peppers and blackberries!

An eggplant!  I've never seen eggplants grow before.  They're so cute...

Close-up on the tomato plants!  Even with the posts and wire, they're still a bit unruly.  Tsk tsk tsk.

Another attempt to capture the whole thing. 

Chairs and table from our friend Molly (thanks, Molly!!!).  Two extra chairs hang in the back ready for friends to use.  (oops, I can see now that I forgot to remove the tags on the chairs...they're brand new...)

The back yard! 

 

Twinkle twinkle!

Newest addition to the back yard. Solar lights! On sale at Target of all places. I think they're pretty cool. And since we took out our back light (it was attached to the shed we took down), and our electrical situation is "complicated" back there, the fact that the lights are solar and don't need to be plugged in at all, is a huge plus. AND, no monthly energy fees! I hadn't posted anything for a while, so I also included a few dusk images of the yard with the lights.

The bamboo in the front is doing really well, and I'll post some photos of them at the end of the week, as well as some other projects that we were working on this week. Hope everyone's June is going well!

Kitchen Makeover Part Deux!

Finally FINALLY the kitchen is finished.  This last project--painting--was one that just dragged on and on.  But it's done!  And I really like the way that it turned out.  In fact, it looks so right that we had some people over, and they didn't even notice the new paint-job.  I take that as a compliment!  But in lieu of the fact that this is a blog about progress and projects, I'll post a before photo and an after photo.

In fact, here is a before photo from before we even owned the house!!!! 

And here is an after photo!  Crazy, huh?

Sorry, it's a little blurry...

Although it's not entirely clean here, the nice new coat of paint makes it feel cleaner when we do have it clean.  I didn't realize how grungy the kitchen felt even when we would do a deep clean. 

Oopy, another blurry one.  But it gives you a good idea of the new color. 

This project will probably the last one for a little bit.  I decided to do it during a time when I was really motivated, but when Peter was in a really heavy rotation.  So, I did all of the painting solo!  I'm exhausted from house projects!  Time to make some more art!  But no worries I'm sure I'll get a hankering to do some more stuff real soon.  Happy spring, y'all!

Tiger in the Grass!

Hello again!  I know I promised a post yesterday, but I just couldn't quite deliver this amazing post quite that quickly...I'm really not going to say much here, this post is going to mostly be a photo tour.  Your guide:  Kitty!  She's been coming out with me in the mornings, and it's such a treat to watch her explore.  She's never really spent much time outside before, and so everything she sees really seems to delight her.  Plus, she loves eating the grass.  While I love having Kitty outside with me, it also delights me that she's spreading her cat-smell all over the place.  It's got to be part of the reason that the rats haven't eaten everything in the yard...

Kitty with some greens. 

Putting the seedlings out for some sun. 

Kitty looking up at some birds.

This growth is literally from the past week and a half.  It's pretty crazy how fast stuff is growing. 

Alright, this post is becoming a little "Kitty obsessive."  It's not nearly as exciting to see the photos of her exploring as it is to actually watch her explore. 

One more picture of Kitty.  It gives you some perspective on how big things are, right? 

So much more green!!!

The hops have progressed...and in the lower right hand corner is a little rosemary plant!

Tomatoes!  I'm trying to keep them a little hidden.  I attempted some phytoremediation with some mustard greens (I've since been told that doesn't work, but we'll see...), but I've found that the rats hate it.  So far, so good.  The tomato plants are still all in one piece (knock on wood!).

Baby pawpaw!!!! 

Oooo! Look at all that greeeeen!

Alright, guys...so here's the thing.  I got a little behind with my posts.  So, these photos are actually from a couple of weeks ago.  What I really want to say is, "and you should see it now!!!!" because you should!  I'll post photos of what it currently looks like ASAP.  I promise.  But for now, look at all of this green!  At the time, this was such a huge success.  I really had no idea if anything would really grow in this soil; it was so dry and just hard clay.  But somehow it's working!  I have a lead test that's coming to me in the mail.  And hopefully the results from that will say that veggies will be safe to eat.  Then I'll get to direct seeding a bunch of things.  In the meantime, I've planted a few tomato plants, and one eggplant plant...they say fruit is typically always safe regardless of how much lead you have in your soil.  I should mention that you shouldn't look for the tomato plants in these photos, though, as I planted them this week, AFTER the photos were taken.  Maybe I should stop writing and save all of these things for tomorrow's post.  =)  Thanks for reading, guys!

Here it is!

That stick in the foreground is a fig tree that I've been nursing all winter.  It still hasn't put out any leaves, and looks really dead...and is yet green everywhere when I do the "scratch test."  I'll keep you updated...

That string on the fence is where the hops will hopefully grow.  The hops were a gift from a friend who is a really great home brewer.  I've promised him the hops I get from the plant since I wouldn't know the first thing to do with them...

Moss between the bricks and cement!  Adorable!!!

Close-up of Dave's hops. 

I finally put sand in between the rocks and bricks, I think it looks a lot better, and they're way easier to walk on. 

Another photo of almost the entire yard!

Raised bed, just in case there's lead!

Green!!!