feb?

it's hard for me to believe that february is already here. the months just seem to speed by... but i am reminded by all the overwhelming red, pink and white posts that valentine's day will soon be upon us. d and i usually try to do something special. last year we ate out the night before (which, apparently, everyone else did as well) and exchanged sweet notes to each other. this year, i was given explicit instructions to find some jewelry that i adored. well, i did.

these rings by lilypottery have always caught my eye. now, what color?

i have seen several fingerprint necklaces show up lately, but this little one is so cute.

by janeswearjewelry

this little acorn necklace is really sweet. by tigerlillyshop

i really love this necklace too. i'm not normally a gold fan, but this is just beautiful.

by huismus

now that i look back on these, most of them have already been purchased (shucks!) but, after thinking about some of the resolutions i'd made, i decided to ask for something a little more practical. so, i asked for park seed's biodome seed starter.

now, i've already received it, along with an extra bag of their bio sponges and a variety of seeds. i can't wait to try it out, but of course, i'll have to wait a few more weeks so the plants won't be ready too early. i know this sounds like a strange v-day present, but let's be practical... do i really need another piece of jewelry? i think this will come in very useful in my efforts to grow our own veggies.

i'll try to keep the blog updated on when i sow the seeds and transplant them outside. i'm also keeping an excel spreadsheet of everything i'm going to grow. i know, i'm such a nerd. i'm planning on growing tomatoes (2 varieties), green beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe, basil and squash. i am also thinking about lettuce, radishes, and a few other herbs... i'll just need to see how much space we've got to do this. the beans are a bush variety, so that will help. we are also planning on growing the cucumbers up a trellis to save space and keep them away from bugs.

anyone have any tips on growing any of these? i didn't do so well last year, but i'm taking a different approach this time around...

the yard.

i know all of you are probably sick and tired of hearing me blather on about flowers and vegetables and the great outdoors... well, i'm sorry. you are just going to have to get used to it. that said, we actually did something to our yard this past weekend! this is one of the pretty begonias i got...

and this, my friends, is our little storage building in the backyard. i got some plastic pots and with a little help from the in-laws, screwed these puppies into the side of the building and planted tomatoes, parsley, rosemary and basil. mainly to keep the dog from chewing on the plants, but i like how it looks as well. we also planted some zucchini and squash in the actual ground...

this is most of the rest of the backyard. we do have a little patch of grass closer to the house (towards the right side of the photo and the storage building from above is on the left hand side). this is the patch of dirt that is driving me crazy. we think the previous owners had fake grass/turf in this section because we keep finding stakes pushed into the ground... anyway, we added some more dirt and sprinkled a little grass seed and have been watering it twice a day so that soon we may have some actual grass right there...

i have other plans for the backyard (and front yard, for that matter)... the problem is time and money. right now i would love to just have more time to do things... we have a patio set that is currently being refurbished (read: FIL is remaking the table top for us) and we have high hopes of owning a grill this summer as well. there are some trees we would like to cut down and replace with a snowball bush, a gardenia and some boxwood... i'm also hoping to plant some peonies and would LOVE to grow some hydrangea (though i'm thinking i would have a hard time keeping it alive) will post more progress photos as we continue along, these were just a few quick snapshots from the weekend...