Green Thumb

If you would have told me a few years ago I'd be spending my weekends doing yard work, pouring mulch, pulling up weeds and having lengthy conversations with the hubby about exposed tree roots, I would have laughed at you. About as outdoorsy as I get is laying out poolside. Well, we are now full-fledged home-owners (insert virtual badge of honor) and spend quite a bit of time taking care of our baby (which is our house, currently).

For several weekends, we've been trying to get our yard in order. We basically ignored it for the past six or so months and one day went outside and realized 1. there were weeds E-VER-Y-WHERE. 2. the yard was out of control 3. we now had the worst lawn on our street. This was quite a blow to our proud home-owner egos so we set out to fix it.
BEFORE: (It was much worse than these photos show)

We quickly realized we needed a service to come out and spray. Lucky for us, because of how terrible our yard looked, we were getting flyers and postcards for lawn services in the mail on a daily basis. (This is not an exaggeration.) OK, folks, WE GET IT. (If you ask me, I'm guessing these were from the crazy HOA president.) So we got that taken care. Then, it was time for a trip to Lowe's. (Side note: My employer should probably just withhold a percentage of my paycheck and send it directly to Lowe's because, good lord, we sure do spend a lot of money there!)

Greg took care of all the serious items (mulch, top soil, etc.) while I got to pick out my own garden gloves (blue polka dot!), cute hand trowel, knee pad and watering can. This is how the hubby has to entice me to get me out working in the yard...

While I'm really not an outdoorsy person, I've really taken a liking to pulling weeds. I seriously think it's the most therapeutic thing ever. I've become a bit obsessed. If I'm walking to the mailbox and spot a weed, I'm like "Oh hell no..." (as I run to get my cute hand trowel). Had a rough day? Is someone driving you crazy? Take it out on the weeds.

After:

The only thing left for us to do is add a stone border. But after the 6-hour day in the sun yesterday, we're adding that to a to-do list for another day. You'll also notice we opted for no flowers in the landscaping - only in two flower pots. We are newbie gardeners and with two full-time jobs and busy lives, we just don't have time to maintain. Watering flower pots on our drive three times a week? That I can do!

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!