We’re creeping up on 3 weeks in the house. “Most” boxes are unpacked. Those quotes are used absurdly liberally as the entire guest bedroom is full of stuff yet to be put away and we have about 4 boxes of art/pictures/frames that need to be hung once we finally decide where furniture will go. But, it’s starting to feel like home.

Surprisingly, at least to me, is that we’re making this house ours from the outside in. I think that after having no personal outside space for so long, it’s wildly novel to have outdoor space that is uniquely ours (and that we don’t have to access via an elevator). Both days this weekend we intended to work on rooms inside, but as life and an active two year old would have it, we ended up tackling projects in the backyard instead.

The house’s prior owners had a gardener. And, while they left us the company’s number, their ringing endorsement was “sometimes they show up and sometimes they don’t.” Eric and I are DIYers to the core and absurdly frugal so shelling out cash for people we can’t count on really doesn’t work for us. When the gardener stopped by the house and just handed me the keys without introducing themselves or asking if we’d like to keep up the service, I was convinced.

Thus far, our plan is to stop the service and see how things go. We can always start it up again if the balance of time and money swings in the right direction. So far so good though. And the more I “dig in” (pun intended) the more I wonder what those gardeners were up to anyway. We’ve found new plants planted over dead plants and bushes that haven’t been trimmed back in many months (my guess is years but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt). There are very few plants that we harbor any sort of attachment to, and when my friend (and gardening/conservation guru) Kelli was visiting she wisely said, Look, do what you want, if these die you can put in a garden or native plants.

Touche.

This piece of wisdom rung in my mind as we hacked back rose bushes, star jasmine, asparagus vine, bougainvillea, a lemon tree and several dead vines and shrubs that definitely had to go. And Luke’s having a ball “helping” carrying things to the trash, making piles, or just eating Cheerios nearby as we get our hands dirty.

We’ve had one casualty of the move that I’m just a little sad about. The sellers left us four stunning, enormous planters in a beautiful metallic blue and two that are shades of teal with river rocks on the side. For everything inside not being my cup of tea, these are right in my wheelhouse and I’m beside myself that they’re mine. Right now two of the giant planters house an array of succulents (one of my great loves because they’re the only plants I can keep alive), and there was a third but sadly to get rid of some termites, we lost this plant in the fumigation. Eric and I tackled this mighty beast on Saturday and it was wildly gratifying to go at it with a pair of clippers.

Little by little, that’s what I keep telling myself anyway! What’s in the works for you guys this spring/summer? Any new garden goals?? Next week I’m headed on a work trip but I have some special blog posts plan coming up soon! Miss you lady.