Welcome to the Jungle

Spring has fully sprung. With that, we put on our gardening gloves and embarked upon our first ever landscaping adventure.

We moved into our house mid July of last year and between wedding and honeymoon excitement, we didn't do much in our backyard or frontyard. Really the only thing we did was mow the lawn..... once. It got so ridic long that we had to do something about it.

It was almost as tall as Neptune. Our little jungle oasis. So we borrowed an old non-powered push mower from the in-laws and put in our best effort.

Look at those weeds! I vowed that next year we would do a better job. And given that our backyard is so small there's really no excuse.

Next year is now and last week we mowed again. I also tried to dig out as many dandelions (maskros, in Swedish!) as I could with my little trowel shovel. And that means tons of little holes in the lawn. It was patchy as is so we made the obvious decision to reseed.

We bought ten bags of topsoil and one bag of grass seed. I insisted that we do it right away since they were calling for a lot of rain in the next few days. This meant doing everything at 10pm in the dark. Oh and it was already raining. Fun! We did our best at putting down an even layer and let the rain do the rest of the work. Looks like we did an ok job. We were able to admire our work the following morning:

A week later, we sprinkled on another bag of grass seed, this time with fertilizer. When mother nature doesn't bless us with precipitation, I get the hose out and water manually.

So here's hoping we have a nice lush lawn in the weeks to come!

xoxo, E

Neptune

So it's been a while since I blogged. Our doggie passed away last month and I have not been in the mood to do any house stuff or write about anything.

Neptune was honestly the best dog ever. I had him since he was a baby. Words can not explain the relationship we had or the loss I felt after his passing. Having never dealt with death before, coping was very difficult. I miss him madly. He was my best friend for 15 years.

I miss the way he licked my hands (and feet!), the way he would always greet me at the top of the stairs when I came home, the sound he made while drinking his water, the way he would always run to the first tree at the beginning of our walks, the way he loved rolling around in snow and on grass, the way he would chew on his bone, the way he would nudge our elbows with his nose so we would pet him. I miss the way my hands felt on his head, seeing his fur on our hardwood floors, having to go for midnight walks. I miss everything. I will always miss everything.

I can only think of the positives now -- all the amazing times we had together and the unconditional love we had for each other. I know he is looking down at me from doggie heaven (which is filled with warm timbits, lakes to swim in, and bones). I know his leggies are now healthy and the tumor he had in his belly is gone. He no longer feels pain. And I know he is surrounded by other doggie friends.

I love you Neptune. Now I carry you in my heart. You no longer have to wait for me at the top of the stairs. We are always together now.

Spring Wreath

Hope everyone had a great Easter! I definitely enjoyed having 4 days off to relax, sleep in, and DIY stuff.

Despite freezing temperatures, I have spring fever! We have springified the house by adding coral accents, fresh yellow tulips, bunches of pussy willow, and a new door wreath! And this is the story of how the wreath came to be.

Materials used:

- grapevine wreath ($4.99 at Michaels with 40% off coupon = $2.99)

- 3 sprigs of artificial flowers ($1 each at the dollar store)

- Rafia ($2.99 at Hobby Lobby with 40% off coupon = $1.79)

- floral wire

- wire cutters

The above picture lies a bit because I didn't end up using the glue gun or the heavy-duty yellow cutters. The pic on the iPad is a Pinterest link I used for inspiration. I also liked the look of this wreath, this wreath, and this wreath.

I started by cutting off all the individual flowers from the 3 sprigs.

Next I started sticking them in, on by one. I thought that I would need to secure them with hot glue or floral wire, but the grapevine was so thick that the stems held firmly in place right away! The best part about this is that I can take it all apart and reuse the wreath for another season. Perf!

  

This also allowed me to tweak it as I went along since no permanence was involved.

After fussing with it for about 5 minutes, I was happy with the arrangement and called it a day.

After deliberating between satin ribbon, raffia, and burlap, I settled on raffia because I thought it had the most springish feel to it.

But now when I look back, it also has an autumn feel to it. Thoughts? I don't know.. I think it will stay. At least I know I can use the leftover raffia for more DIYs in 6 months.

So there it is! I originally wanted to add a white capital F letter on the other side but I think it would look too busy.

(Yes, I know my door needs a desperate paint job.)

Neptune approves :)

xoxo, E