"Sparkles with pride of ownership!"

While Brian and I were house-hunting for for our very first home (this one), we came across worlds of tackiness we had previously only imagined. One listing has since lived on, and contained the description, "Sparkles with pride of ownership!" Naturally we were intrigued and clicked further, only to discover the worst custom paint job in the history of time! It looked like South Beach Miami had exploded inside... and not in a good way! Every wall was a different color from the next... and the colors would only go together in one place. You guessed it... South Beach Miami. Anyway, that phrase in sarcasm has stuck with us ( it taught us to wise-up to realtor ad-speak), and slips in to our efforts in and around our home.

Well, Brian has been hard at work the past couple of weeks ensuring that our home has lots of curb appeal. (This is the only way we're willing to compete with the Joneses!) We'll save the trimming for later and further planting for next year. He moved a bunch of plants around, planted a slew of new ones, and topped it all off with fresh cedar mulch (that's supposed to repel bugs... fingers are crossed!). Now we'll need to get some patio furniture to enjoy our new outdoor area. I just had to show off what a good job he's done!!

The lilac bushes came in strong this year...
I think we may end up replacing the azaleas with more lilacs next spring.

Hopefully these: Will turn into these:(Lupines)

Sweetie, EXCELLENT work!!

Our place now sparkles with pride of ownership!!