bamboozled

Happy Sunday! It's a gorgeous day outside, perfect to finish tackling the beast of a project we started in the backyard yesterday. (Okay, truth be told we started last week sometime, but then got carried away celebrating our engagement, and just left the project for later.) When we moved into the house last June, there was a little bamboo tree in the back corner of our yard. You can't really see it here, it's in the back left, but how could I resist posting a picture of our adorable one-eyed pup Popeye, enjoying having a backyard for the first time?


Definitely not what we would've chosen, but repainting the icky brown bathroom inside took precedence over tackling some tree in the 103 degree heat! When we finally went outside to really water in July (and yes, we fully realize that that's pathetic, but we're still working on turning our black thumbs green okay?), boy were we surprised to see that our little bamboo tree wasn't so little anymore...


Seriously?! Friends & family had told us when we moved in that bamboo was a nasty little bugger that would take over the yard if we weren't careful, but wow! That monster had taken over the corner of the yard, as well as climbed over to the neighbors on either side. So, we borrowed some giant hedge clippers from Brian's dad and set to work! Reality check #52 of moving from an apartment to a house: you need tools, real ones. A screwdriver and a hammer just won't cut it anymore.


We managed to chop the bamboo into some short of shape and tame it back into the corner a little bit, and promptly made a pact to get that sucker out of there eventually! That was July. Eight months later, we're finally making good on that pact. Since the clippers were only moderately effective last time, and we've had a long time to build up resentment towards this bamboo, Brian decided the most effective plan of attack would be a machete. Excessive? Maybe. Fun? Yes! We got so carried away chopping it down that we forgot to take pictures of the process, but a few hours, a little blood, and a chunk out of the fence later (oops!), we managed to get from this:



To this:


Even though there's a giant ugly hole in our backyard now, it's a sweet satisfaction to see no bamboo! And on that note, we're back to work today, time for sod!

well hello there!

So, I've been kicking around the idea of starting a (new) blog for a while now. There are so many great blogs out there where we (yes we, even if Brian doesn't admit it, he likes it too) can spend hours getting inspiration for the house, and we've done quite a few projects as a result. Much like the super-cute couple over at Young House Love, we are in love with our first house. I was poking around their blog yesterday, and it hit me that we really haven't done as good of a job as I would like in keeping a visual record of all the projects we've done in the house. I mean, as soon as we moved in we painted every room, all of the trim, and all of the doors (yes, the unusually tall 8-foot doors.) And by golly, it sure looks beautiful here now, but I can't help but think it would look even more beautiful if we had some pictures of the ugly trim before to compare too. Enter our blog. Last night, while the boy was watching ESPN (life lesson: if you really want something, ask while he's watching sports, he's more likely to say yes!), I convinced him that we should start a blog to chronicle our adventures in DIY. And since we just got engaged (yay!), probably our adventures in DIYing our wedding too! It might not always be pretty, but it's always fun.