Progress?...

When we bought our house last May the landscaping had just been redone & looked very nice. Wait, back up... when we first looked at hour house last April the landscaping had just been redone & looked very nice. Then we entered escrow & the owners of the house stopped caring about the yard & by the time we moved in we had dying grass & a ton of weeds. Then it got hot and even more grass died and more weeds popped up. Sadly enough, after that we decided just let things die out & we'd just attack in the spring. Well, it's spring!

First, a few side-by-side comparison shots... just to paint a picture.







The pictures on the left are from my first visit to this house. The grass is green, the trees are happy, there are accent plants all over. The pictures to the right were taken this morning. Dirt and weeds... and no trees.

One of the first "improvements" we made was to rip out all of our trees. Most of them were fruit trees and they really just were a pain. They attracted bees and dropped fruit all over the ground constantly. I realize that fruit trees do need some maintenance but this seemed excessive... especially for fruits that neither of us really ate all that much of to begin with. If it was a cookie tree or a beer tree, by all means... but lemons? Not so much. So out they went. The guys from Dana Pacific Landscaping did a great job!

This is an on-going project but we're both confident that it will look awesome once we're done. Maybe then we can finally have our housewarming party... a year later!

We did it!

It is true... Mark and I are expecting a baby! My due date is mid-October and we couldn't be more thrilled! We decided that this was news we wanted to share right away instead of waiting until the end of my first trimester to divulge.


So far my only symptoms are fatigue and a cold. Ok, well the cold may not be due to the bun in the oven, but I am still suffering and due to that bun, I can't just pop a couple Dayquils & press on. But it's worth it. I'm on cloud 9! (and my head is a bit cloudy too!)

Let the wild rumpus begin!

It's the little things..

We had a productive day yesterday... A while ago we made a "master list" of all of the household things we needed to do - some small, some pretty decent projects. Yesterday we actually got to cross a few off the list!

First was our shower door - bye -bye! I don't know about you but we weren't fans of our glass shower doors. The seemed to be dirty all the time & noisy and just a pain. So, Mark ripped them off yesterday & replaced them with a nice white shower curtain. Already the bathroom feels bigger & is definitely much brighter!

Next he installed a door guard for our sliding glass door. Since the construction of some of the doors in this house leave us questioning their reliability we're doing what we can to make them a bit stronger. So, in comes the door guard. A simple metal bar that rests between the far side of the door and the back of the actual sliding door. Keeps unwanted people or big animals out!

And last but definitely not least, Mark ripped off the cabinet doors and moved them over so they actually shut now. Before you pretty much had to throw your entire body into the doors to get them to close & stay closed but now it is so simple. I love it.

So... now you're asking "what did YOU do?" It is true... Mark spearheaded all of the above improvements even though I was the one who navigated Home Depot to find silicone caulking and razor blades. But while he was being Handy Manny I was making Creme Brulee and Tomato Soup from scratch... so THERE! Both turned out amazing, by the way.

Another productive day at the Lepperchaun farm!

Jillian Michaels is trying to kill me...

It's true.


Little did I know that Monday night, while perusing through Target, I would sign myself up for my imminent death. While browsing through the exercise DVDs I came across the Jillian Michaels' "Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism" DVD and I thought, "Hey, this is only $10... let's give it a go!"




I am a fanatic Biggest Loser follower and really like Jillian.. until now...



I was actually excited to try my new workout DVD - I came home from a quick trip to the grocery store, threw my exercise clothes on and flipped on the DVD. I was ready! We started with a warm up.. but this was like no warm up I've ever done... I was gasping for breath at only the midway point! What ensued for the next 40 minutes (well, 40 minutes according to the DVD player... probably more like 25ish in real time) was a series of circuit combinations that are meant to give these little "bursts" of calorie burning moves. Each circuit is done 2 times. I think I made through about half of each circuit. The moves are a combination of kick-boxing kicks and punches, jumping drills and a bit of floor work.



I admit fully that I am a bit out of shape - it has been about 3 months since I donned my running shoes for a quick sprint around the neighborhood... but this was a whole different beast. As I watched the DVD, doubled over, gasping for breath, hoping to not pass out on my new yoga mat, I was continuously impressed at how flawlessly the girls in the DVD completed each circuit. You could definitely tell they were working though - not just glossing through each move & then off camera taking a ten-minute breather.



I like this DVD and I think that if I can ever get to a place where I am doing even 75% of the workout I will consider myself triumphant.



Mark asked me if she yells at you the whole time you're working out (sort of like on Biggest Loser) and I said no, she's actually quite pleasant... however, like on the Biggest Loser, she does make you want to throw up on your self! Here's to good health!