My front yard has been the bane of my existence as a homeowner. Well, the back yard is as well, but at least it is behind a fence so no one but me can really see it. The front yard gets me in trouble with the homeowners association all the time (“your lawn isn’t flourishing”)  – and honestly, I have to admit, they’ve been patient with me about it for the last nine years. It doesn’t bother them near as much, however, as it bothers me. I have to look at it every day when I come home, when I get the mail, well…. you know the drill.

When I bought this home, the builders’ landscapers must have been the cheapest, laziest landscapers known to men because they put all of maybe one inch of topsoil on a hard clay base for the “lawn” and the hill was angled such that all the soil just ran off with the rain – forget trying to maneuver a mower across it – and watering it meant watching water trickle down the drain. So, one year, I took out the lawn. I tried covering it all with bark and low-growing plants. The weeds just came back through the bark and the yard just looked even more messy. Fail.

The driveway is also narrower than most and we tried to extend it with pavers and sand. Cody, my son-in-law, and my daughter, Cindy worked really hard on this one summer but the weeds just kept coming back up through the landscape fabric barrier designed to prevent weeds. Fail.

So I sat and stared at this yard for a long time. A very long time. I watched a lot of landscaping shows on HGTV. I sat outside and stared some more and formulated plans for it and discussed it with my neighbors. Ad nauseum. I’m sure they probably wondered if I’d ever get around to it.

I always had the excuse that there was no one to help me with my yard. Not entirely true as my daughter and son-in-law have helped numerous times. But they have a busy family and really all my design ideas in the past were mammoth fails because I could never finish them.

Then along came my Honey.

And along came my determination to finally get this done. Plus, if I’d known how cheap it was to do all this, I would have done it sooner.

I drew out my own landscaping plan the old school way – on paper, with pencil. No fancy software required. Just a tape measure.

We started by pulling out a row of cedar hedge bushes that were extremely overgrown and crowding the side yard. Actually, my Honey did that one day while I was gone. Came in with a chain saw and a pickup and voila, they were gone.

Then we had the stumps to contend with. He came back with a chain this time, and his pickup, and voila, with a couple tugs, they were gone too.

Yesterday was the big push to get most of the work done. My honey arrived, coffee in hand for us both, with his pickup and we went and got the retaining wall blocks – all 45 of them – and edger bricks – all 20 of them – which he hand-loaded onto his truck and unloaded into my driveway.

After that we went to the local nursery that sells dirt and rocks and got a yard of awesome topsoil and four bags of 7/8 river rock.

We came home and got to work. We cleared out the icky yard, the overgrown vinca ground cover, and laid the retaining wall blocks. Well, my Honey did the wall blocks. And the hacking of the overgrown ground cover. And the shoveling. And…just so you know… I was firmly instructed by my youngest and my Honey that I’m not allowed to lift or overdo it as I’ll hurt my back again. So, I followed behind him and filled in with the dirt. I raked, he shoveled. And he shoveled and shoveled. A whole yard of dirt out of the back of his truck.

We also had to move the old pavers out of the way to make room for the new design. Well, my Honey moved them. Finally, after we got the flowerbed done, we were ready to do the pavers. We lined things up and laid them, and then he dumped the river rock for me to fill in.

The last phase of this work will be finished over the next couple weekends. We have to get rid of the last of the bad dirt along the side where the remaining hedges are, lay some more edgers, and then spread and roll the rest of the topsoil. After that, we’ll plant grass seed and my yard will be the jewel of the street. Finally.

A semi-before picture.

The semi-finished result.

My Honey sitting down on the front porch after a  hard day’s work.

Last night after we came home from returning trucks, removing dirt from our bodies and such, we sat on the front porch and had our take-out dinner. It was awesome. I look forward to the days when the yard is all complete and we can enjoy our summer sitting there watching the grandkids play in the street or ride bikes, the dogs chase balls (he has a Golden), or just quietly enjoying each other’s company.

Life is good.

I’ve been to many beautiful places in my life, but the most unexpected so far has been the San Antonio Riverwalk. I never expected to see such lush greenery and beautiful water in the middle of Texas. The architects who designed this area were inspired and talented. This river runs below street level in the middle of the city and is flanked by sidewalks, restaurants, shops, and hotels. There are also several beautiful water features that bring the soothing sound of rushing water to your ears while you dine or sip coffee. We took a riverboat tour along the route and learned a few little historic details – very few of which I remember.

The first morning we were there, I got up early and went for a stroll along the Riverwalk. It had rained earlier in the morning and all the restaurant employees were out sweeping the water off the sidewalks. It was quiet, very few people were out, and it was warm and humid. So much for fixing my hair. I captured several pictures of the water features for a new friend who creates beautiful ponds – hopefully these will be inspiration for her.

This next photo makes me think I should be somewhere in Europe. According to the tour guide, that hotel (can’t remember the name) is one of the top rated hotels in the country.

I love the use of stone all over the place. Gorgeous, but bumpy if you’re riding in or maneuvering a wheelchair.

Yes, we ate at the Hard Rock, and I bought a really cool sweatshirt/hoodie from there – it’s COLD inside the stores!

I love how this water feature runs underneath the stairs.

This next water feature is underneath a street overpass.

Just a little cool architecture.

Notice below how the sidewalk goes up a bit. There are lots of those instances along the Riverwalk. That, and all the windy curves made for a great workout when pushing my mom around in the wheelchair. Some people though are really oblivious to the disabled – they ignore wheelchairs. I often had images from Weekend at Bernie’s, afraid I’d turn just the wrong way and tip my mom into the drink! LMAO. That would not have been funny.

This was a little outdoor theatre on the Riverwalk (below). Apparently it was used in the movie Miss Congeniality. The five bells represent the five missions in San Antonio. (I hope I remembered my facts correctly.) The seating for the theatre is on the opposite side of the Riverwalk. Very cool.

Our hotel had a balcony, and right outside the balcony was this huge tree. The first morning I stood out there, I noticed some “weird” birds. I couldn’t figure out what they were, but a couple days later, Colleen and I were standing out on the balcony and she saw them as well. There was a whole nest of baby herons. They were so cute!

I love to see new places. I just don’t care so much for the getting there part. This 4th of July, I went with my mom to San Antonio. It took a day each way just for travel, but once we got there, we had a great time. We were greeted with the effects of Hurricane Alex for the first two days in the form of flash flooding. Really, we didn’t get flooded, but the rain came down suddenly, fast, and big wet drops unlike what I’m used to here in Seattle, and we had to walk through mini rivers in the street. But it was warm, so even though we got really wet, we didn’t get cold and we dried out quickly, so that was nice.

After a couple days the rain cleared up and we had some lovely heat and sun. Great for me, not so fun for my mom. At 90, she doesn’t fare so well in the sun, so we got her a wheelchair for the trip and I pushed her around all of San Antonio. I sure got in my activity points, I’m sure. Hopefully it was enough to counteract the food I ate, even though I tried to make good choices as well there.

Once we got to San Antonio, we connected with our friend, Colleen, who had gotten stuck out at a hotel on the edge of town – a Priceline bait and switch deal – not good – so we had her come stay with us as we had two double beds. This turned out fabulously as Colleen and I hit it off and are new BFFs. People swore we could be sisters, and I think we are kindred spirits, for certain.

We stayed at the Westin, which is a story by itself. You would think for the price and the name that we would have five-star service, but their staff was seriously lacking in smarts. One time we had booked a taxi an hour ahead of when we needed and the doorman let our taxi go to someone else, thus making us a half hour late for where we were going. Another time, we ordered room service and I chose a Chicken Caesar Salad. They forgot the dressing. When I called 20 minutes later asking for the dressing, they apologized and asked, “Would you like me to bring that right up?” Are you serious? These are just a couple examples of so many little things that were frustrating. But overall, we had a really great time. There’s more to report, but I’m going to break it up into several posts.

I love taking pictures of hotel rooms when I arrive, before they get all messed up. We had two double beds.

Big flat screen TV that we didn’t even turn on once. The desk became the our makeup station. LOL.

Gorgeous bathroom. I’m going to get me one of those little makeup mirrors, and I’d love to swap out my 1990s giant bathroom mirror for a couple of these. I bet I could DIY on the cheap too. *ideas clicking* Notice the marble though – mom commented that it was weird they chose that particular marble with the white in it because it looks like someone dropped toothpaste on it and didn’t wipe it up. Not only does she have an eye for fashion, she could do interior design too!

We had our own private balcony overlooking the San Antonio Riverwalk. The larger balconies below us were sweet too. We had french doors that opened onto the balcony and we tied one open and left it open all night long. Gawd, that was wonderful.

We got back from our first day out in the rain, were completely soaked and exhausted and there were these gorgeous flowers to brighten our room from Tom. It’s hard to see in this picture, but they were red and peach. So very thoughtful of Tom and they lasted the whole trip – I even brought the vase and some of the flowers home.

I was reading through some old posts on an old blog of mine and I found this video from when Cayden and Elise were really little and playing with Felix – the Best. Cat. EVER. Hope you enjoy.

We have had the worst Spring here in Washington State that I can recall since I moved here in 1988. It’s seemed like we’ve had nearly constant rain – for weeks. It’s probably not really the worst, it just feels that way because it’s happening to us now. Today we had a peek at remembering what sunshine felt like and the hope that possibly we might get a Summer before school starts again. But when the sun comes out in the Pacific Northwest, it’s incredible, and most of us try to fit in doing everything possible that we’ve wanted to do in the sun because we know that tomorrow it could rain again. I am no exception.

Laila’s not so sure about this summer and sunglasses thing, but isn’t she so stinking cute?

Today I skipped my morning walk with my girlfriends and instead chose to go up and visit my daughter and her family. I’ve missed them even though it’s only been a week since I last saw them. I’ve been so extremely busy with work that I’ve had no time like I used to to just chat with my daughter, plus she’s gone back to work now and her work is also busy. So it was nice to just go hang out with them and play with the boys. Evan loves baby Laila and I think the two of them are going to be best buddies.

After that, I came home and did some yard work. Tom came over to help me weed and we talked the neighbor’s landscapers into yanking out these ugly laurel bushes that I no longer wanted. I never like them anyway. I lucked out and the landscapers did the heavy work of pulling them out. However, I sure got some sunburn!

When we’d finished our yard work (Phase 1 of 3) Tom took me to get some lunch (Subway) and then he took me on a motorcycle ride. The last time I was on a motorcycle I was 17 and at that time, we went around a roundabout in England, hit an oil slick, and spun out. I was freaked out ever since.

But not today.

Tom is an awesome driver and he was very careful to make sure I felt comfortable – especially going around corners. I felt totally safe with him. He has an awesome bike (not that I know the difference really, it’s just pretty and shiny with a comfy second seat and backrest.) He took me on some beautiful back country roads, not too windy, but it was warm out and I can’t describe it really, but I felt wonderful and at peace. Tomorrow, we’re going for another ride!

After our ride, we went down into Kirkland and walked along the waterfront, had some Thai food, and then stopped in to see my mom. It was a great way to cap off a wonderful day with my beau. I’m a happy girl.

I’d better hurry. I need to have this dress finished asap and I haven’t finished cutting it out yet. I plan to wear it to my brother’s wedding this Friday. My brother is getting married to a wonderful, sweet woman, and we all couldn’t be happier for them.

So, because I’m in a hurry, I’m keeping this post short, but thought my sewing peeps would want to see what I’m working on.

This fabric, which I’ve had in my stash for about four years. It’s a beautiful soft tie-dye look on embroidered rayon linen. Won’t wrinkle. Sweet!

This dress. The short view, since the wedding is semi-formal. I made it before several years ago, so it should go together fast. I plan on lining the skirt part with a lightweight cotton lining, so you can’t see through the eyelets. I’ll be using a contrasting tangerine solid color for the neckline binding. The scalloped edging on the fabric (which is a double border) will be the hemline, so no hemming required.

And I hope to catch a couple more tanning sessions between now and then too. Pictures after the wedding.

Later, folks.

Have your tissues handy. I was unprepared, but this post gets printed and tucked away safe – it’s already tucked away close to my heart.

Cindy – I love you. I want the whole world to know just how lucky *I* am to have you for a daughter.

Read here.

I’ve been single most of my life. I’ve been married twice, but both those marriages were short and unfulfilling – and that’s probably an understatement. I won’t go into details, but in a way, I’m grateful they happened because it’s helped me be who I am today. Those earlier relationships, while horrible, painful, and emotionally damaging to me, were the best things that could have happened to me. They caused me to fight to be stronger, to heal, to withdraw into myself for a while so that I could truly learn who I was. I don’t credit who I am today totally to past bad relationships, but I also think there’s just something about who I am that enables me to pick myself up by the bootstraps and move forward.

When it comes to romance, there were so many times that I would whine about there not being someone for me. My married girlfriends would tell me that they sometimes wished they were single – they would welcome the chance to do what they wanted when they wanted, and so forth. I would waffle back and forth between enjoying my singlehood and longing for a companion. All my girlfriends would tell me that there was someone for me and often I doubted them, but I held out a glimmer of hope.

Finally, in my deepest, darkest moment of despair, I had to swallow the bitter pill that possibly – just possibly – there was *not* someone meant for me in this lifetime. It happens sometimes. And that had to be okay.

I had to accept my life exactly the way it was, to learn to be perfectly fine with myself and build my life the way I wanted it, fulfilling, following my dreams and creating a life that would make me happy – without a mate. I also told myself that the person I would want to meet would show up while I was doing what made me happy and likely he’d be doing the same things. My prayer was that I would be able to recognize him when he appeared. One thing I knew for certain wasn’t how I wanted him to look physically, but how I wanted to feel when I was with him. I couldn’t define it in words, but I knew intuitively that I would know when I know.

My girlfriend wanted to introduce me to this guy two years ago. She once said to me, “I want you to meet my friend. I think you two would be really good together.” I said, sure, that sounds great, but it never happened. I continued to date some other guys, and although they were close to what I thought I was looking for, that feeling was not there. There was always something missing.

Finally, several weeks ago, this same friend still wanted to introduce me to her friend – he was still single and available. I told her a bit more emphatically this time, “Set it up!” And she did. We went out on a double date and at the end of that evening, after I got a really memorable hug from him, the words went through my head: “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

I’ve been cautiously optimistic about my new romance. Every time I see him, I become less cautious and more optimistic – and my feelings are growing. So much that we both just changed our Facebook status to reflect that we are officially “in a relationship”.

Girls, I’m 50 years old now. And I feel like I’m just now hitting the prime of my life and the whole world is ahead of me. I am hopeful and happy and I’m living proof that age is just a number, and that old adage of when you quit looking… um, yeah, it’s true.

Oh, and my friend? Yeah, she was right.

A couple years ago I started on a quest toward arriving at my fiftieth birthday being fit and fabulous, and May 15th, I arrived at age 50 feeling fit and fabulous.

I wanted a party to celebrate this new half-century ahead of me and to celebrate the new person I am today after having reinvented myself in so many ways. So, I asked my daughters to do this for me and the result was more than I ever imagined. My son-in-law and oldest daughter did a lot of the legwork getting everything together. The sisters (my daughters) went shopping for decorations and ordered a gorgeous specially decorated cake for me. They had catered food and the caterer made a special version of the menu that was Weight Watchers friendly – just for me. (We think that it totaled up about 5-6 points for the meal – leaving points room for birthday cake!)

I hope to have more pictures later as soon as my oldest loads the ones from her camera, but in the meantime, here are some that I took on my camera.

Evan was particularly interested in the little candies with the “50” wrapper.

More of the gorgeous decorations.

The hosts, Cindy and Cody…

Stacy and Laila

Cayden chatting with Tom

Me and my new beau, Tom. (My girls made me wear that hat all evening!)