It's a Beautiful Day

One of our favorite things is to enter a weekend with zero plans and see where the days take us. That was the case yesterday. After 3 consecutive weekends of being out of town, Ed and I were very excited to have a weekend home to catch up on house projects and catch up on local flavor.

We spent Friday night hanging out with Grandma Basile while Mama and Papa Q. were at a wedding. It was a classic date night - dinner (pizza) and a movie (Grandma friendly "Morning Glory"). After a great night of sleep, we awoke to a gorgeous day. Ed had plans to go to the shooting range with some of the neighborhood guys, so I decided it was time to trek out to Tyson's Corner to pick up the plant stands I have been eying from Crate and Barrel. Of course the purchase turned into more than just plant stands...but how often do I get to go to one of my favorite stores!!! And I didn't stop there. I then headed over to my new love, West Elm, and picked up all kinds of stuff that I was lusting over in the catalog. The shopping outing ended at Pier One where I needed to pick up a dish that we broke and found a few cute things along with way. All in all, I say it was a BIG success!


P.S. I'm OBSESSED with owls lately and West Elm fed right into my obsession!




After my shopping spree and Ed's shooting spree (in a gun-range mind you!), we decided it was time to get down and get dirty. More dirty then down. :) It was time to finish our landscaping project in the front of the house. Luckily the weather was not at brutal as it was when we dug the flower bed out. So here is the before:


...the digging...


...the plant purchases...


...the planting...


...the Lucy...

and finally, the after:



We are LOVING the way it looks and can't wait for the plants to perk up a bit now that they are in the ground. And how much are we loving the JMU garden flag?!?!?? A job well done!

Our Saturday continued with a visit from my bestie Beth Belluzzo who happened to be in the neighborhood for a baby shower. Beth is not only one of my dearest friends from college, but one of the MOST fun people I know. It was so good to see her...but I think Lucy was the MOST excited. She gave Auntie Beth LOTS of love and kisses.

The evening then carried on with an impromptu BBQ with some of our neighbors - Mr. Chris Newland (who was sans wife and kids for the weekend) and the Miller family, Shawn, Laura and their beautiful daughter, Ariana. The adults shared in a delicious meal (complete with venison steaks and wine) and some great company, while Ariana basked in the glow of "Toy Story" and her new Barbie doll. We are SO lucky that we not only have our dream house, but that it is in a neighborhood with such wonderful people. Seriously...a house is just a house. It's the people that fill it that make it a home and we are so happy to have people like Chris and Kim, Shawn and Laura, and Ed and Michelle (who sadly were out of town) over to make it swell with joy and laughter. It was a great night and we look forward to many more.