Oh My Sod!

Progress! Progress! Progress! I am happy to report that our back yard FINALLY looks like a real yard rather than a gravel pit in a quarry. That's right...the lovely people of Mow Cow showed up unexpectedly this morning and graced us with the green stuff. It only took a few hours to install and I have to say it makes the place look 100% better. It's amazing what a little grass can do.

Before...

...during...

...half way there...


...Lucy checking on things...


...almost done...

...watering...


...and after!

The yard finally feels like a place that we want to spend time. And with the addition of an adorable bistro set and pillows, some fun lanterns and 2 hanging ferns, it is a regular oasis!


I must say, we have been very skeptical about the work we hired Mow Cow to do. I don't want to bash anyone, but they are not the easiest company to work with. We actually had convinced ourselves to cancel the remainder of the job over the weekend because of all the frustration, but after spending WAY too many hours outside sanding the deck (more on that later), we decided to give them one last chance to redeem themselves. Their showing up this morning made way for a check mark in the "Pro" column.

There is one last job in the backyard and it is a doozie. We have hired them to fix some broken floor boards, replace the top railings and stain the sucker. Over the weekend we had the task of choosing the stain color and while you may think that sounds easy, it is not. There aren't a ton of colors to choose from...that is not the problem. The problem is that our deck was once stained using a solid color resembling paint. We were told that after a good power-wash, all that color would come off and we could use a semi-transparent stain.

Not so much.

The power washing did take a lot of paint off, but there was still a ton left which would have made a semi-transparent stain look awful. We actually bought some stain and did a test run. Results = not so good. We were so annoyed that we didn't even snap a photo so you will just have to take our word for it.

We then thought...hmm, why don't we try to sand the paint off the deck which lead to many hours of this...


...and this...


...and this...


In the end, we threw in the towel and picked the solid stain color known as Cedar. It's not ideal, but we know it will look good. We just want it done already!

We are told they are coming this Thursday to do the work so everyone please keep your fingers crossed that they actually show up. If they don't, I can't be responsible for what might come out of my husband's mouth. God love an Italian from New York ~ these people down here won't know what hit 'em!

Three Day Weekend!

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and that you live it up in the best way you know how. We are staying local and plan to visit with friends and family. We may even head to Gravelly Point and have a picnic like we did last year. Lucy was a BIG fan of the planes so it may become a Memorial Day tradition.


See everyone on the flip side! xoxo

How's it Hanging?

I know the slang is really spelled hangin', but I am not talking about the vernacular of America's youth. Instead, I am referring to the many new wall hangings that have popped up around the place. We have been living with many blank walls since we moved in ~ but we are working on it and would like to share some of the newest "stuff" that are deemed worthy of putting holes in the walls.

You have all seen our Wall of Frames that lives in the basement near my office. I'm happy to report that Ed is warming up to it...as long as I promise not to do it anywhere else in the house. Such a fuddy-duddy...but that's okay because we have lots of other cool stuff to hang. Like, for instance, this print that I found on Etsy:


Thanks to a tip from my new favorite blog, we decided to pick it up and we are so happy we did. We love it for it's playfulness, but also because it is an homage to where we met and fell in love. We hung it on the wall at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor so we get to see it every time we head up to our room. We heart NY!

Another Etsy find is now hanging in our 2nd floor hall bathroom. We painted this room a vibrant blue (inspired by several rooms at the Bethany Beach House), and have a very simple white shower curtain to compliment the walls. I decided it was a bit too bland and jazzed it up with some fun yellow towels from World Market and this new print:


It was too adorable to pass up and it works really well with the decor of the bathroom...


We now head into the Master BR to see our 3rd newest wall art. And when I say art, I mean photography. And when I say photography, I mean images of the cutest puppy in the world!!! I put this collage of Lucy photos together and gave it to Ed for our First Anniversary (photos are paper people!) and it now hangs in our room.


Lucy was very happy to see it hanging...after all, she did help me put it together for Ed. But all that work, made her very sleepy...

And speaking of Anniversary gifts, allow me to share with you my gift from Ed...also a wall hanging:


It is a beautiful canvas with the "Love is Patient" psalm along with our names and anniversary date. We hung it in the living room to commemorate the big day that seems like forever ago, but at the same time, just yesterday. Here are a few more vantage points:


So that's what we got goin' on these days...but there is more to come. We are in the market for many more things including a giant mirror for over the couch, a fashionable clock for the living room, some attractive artwork for over the bed and a slew of other things. So much wall space...so little time.

Kibble and Bits and Bits and Bits and Bits

Since Lucy was a puppy, we have fed her some sort of organic kibble. Our vet convinced us that it was better than the "big box" stuff since it didn't have any fillers. We bought into it and got her a big bag of Nutro Natural Choice Small Puppy Bites. She loved it...devoured it in fact until she was introduced to cat food (courtesy of her 2 cat brothers). For some reason, cat food is like candy to dogs and once she got her first bite, it was Meow Mix in ~ Organic Nutro Kibble out.

In order to fix this situation, we decided to switch things up for Lucy. So in came Blue Buffalo. We had heard good things about this stuff and after reading the ingredients on the Small Breed Chicken & Rice bag, we had a winner. And lucky for us, she liked it!
There is just one problem.

The bits.

You see, this very fabulous, expensive, organic kibble that keeps my puppy happy has these little LifeSource Bits filled with antioxidants, vitamins and vital nutrients. Sounds good, right? WRONG! Lucy does not like the bits so instead of eating them, she spits them out all over the floor.


All those little black dots resembling bugs, or bunny poop are in fact LifeSource bits. Oh, I should also mention that she does not eat over her bowl. She takes some kibble in her mouth, walks away, drops it on the floor and then eats which is why there is such a widespread distribution of bits.


When you watch her eat, you can literally see her spit the bit out. It's nuts! Figures she doesn't like the uber-healthy stuff. We have now grown into the habit of picking out all of the bits in her bowl to avoid the mess.


It's a good thing she is so cute! It also might be a good time to find some new kibble.

One Fine Piece of Table

So the tales of our exciting days that kept me from my computer continue with a chock-filled weekend. Saturday morning brought quality time for me with Mom Q. at Leesburg Outlets. My birthday gift from my parents this year was a shopping spree (hello...yah!). And since we spent girl time with Grandma Basile on my actual birthday, we postponed our retail therapy day to this past Saturday. And I can tell you...some damage was done. The goodies flowed from William Sonoma, Cole Haan, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Crate and Barrel and many more. There was so much that we had to make 2 trips to the car to unload bags ~ Thank you Mom and Dad!


Our Saturday evening was spent up in Tacoma Park, MD visiting with cousins Mike and Alisa Mangiaracina. Wouldn't you know that Ed had some family close by! They have an adorable condo filled with fun trinkets from their broad travels and more books than I've ever seen. We enjoyed great food and great company and look forward to seeing them again soon.

Along came Sunday and we had some BIG plans. One of my most favorite things to do in DC when the weather is nice is roam around Eastern Market. This HUGE open air market is filled with farmfresh produce and handmade arts and crafts. I love sampling the food (especially the cheese!) and seeing all the beautiful artwork and jewelry. On this trip, I paid special attention to the flea market area in hopes of finding some fun, unique trinkets for the house.

After loading up on veggies from Sunnyside Farm, home made salsa from the lovely ladies at Wisteria Gardens and all kinds of cheese from Bowers Fancy Dairy Products, we found ourselves at a familiar stand. We had been here before and took this picture:


I've had it in my phone for close to a year...if you can see the date it says 2010/08/08. We knew what we needed to do. May I present, our new improved entrance hallway:


We are SO excited with how the table looks in the hall. It's not a wide space so we needed something slim enough to fit, but large enough to look like it belongs on that long wall. I think we did good. :) Have I mentioned how much I love Eastern Market?!

The weekend ended with a neighborhood BBQ at the Newland house. We feel very lucky that we moved into a house that is surrounded by good people. Good food, good drink ... and even better company. Here's to many more this summer!

Fenced In Part 2

It has been an eventful few days. So eventful, in fact, that I did not have time to sit at the computer and share the details with you fine people. Well that ends now. :) The Mangiaracina excitement started on Friday morning with the arrival of Mow Cow. As I mentioned here, we are installing a fence in the back yard so that we can enjoy some privacy, and have a place for Lucy Girl to run around and do her business. The day finally came and the fence is now up and we couldn't be more pleased. It took 2 guys and about 8 hours to complete the job and I have to say, they did a bang up job. Here is how things looked around 9 am...


...and now an hour or so in.

A slight hiccup occurred when we realized that they had the wrong fence panels. What they had was indeed a spiked plank, but it needed to be a Gothic spike, so off to Home Depot they went to fix the error. Luckily the 2 guys were able to continue the job while good old Matt from Mow Cow made the run. Once the correct materials were in hand, they started moving right along.


Lucy supervised throughout the day...


... and by 4 pm, they were about done. The gate install took almost an hour and after a quick clean up, we had ourselves a fence!


It's been a long time coming, but we are extremely pleased with how it turned out. Lucy is pleased too...she sniffed the place out before finding the perfect spot to let loose. :) Next up is laying sod in the yard and lots and lots of deck maintenance. More on the weekend details to come!