stuck

I was feeling so excited about our new back garden and then suddenly, I got stuck. Really stuck.

Our cement backyard is a real quagmire. Mark tried breaking holes in it with a sledge hammer to plant the bamboo--no dice, way too hard to even make a chip in it.

So we rented a cement saw from Home Depot. We worked on it together for a few hours, very slow going. There was definitely something we weren't doing right.

Our friend Stacy recommended a neighbor who does all kinds of handyman type jobs and he came over to help. He sawed throw the perimeter of our little cement jungle in about 2 hours. It probably would have taken us days. His name was Jesus and he indeed saved the day.

Yet, one minute Jesus was there and one minute he virtually vanished into thin air. He promised to return the following week with his sledge hammer and remove the cement but days passed, then weeks, then months, no word from Jesus.

All we had to show was a line carved in the cement but still a backyard filled with cement.

I tried to find someone else to jack hammer the cement, a recommendation from another friend. We spoke about the job, he was reluctantly interested. Maybe jack hammering is the worst job of all time and no one wants to do it? He too, disappeared and never returned my phone call again.

Then, I ran into another friend and he recommended someone else and finally our cement jungle has been liberated!

He came and jack hammered out a beautiful border that's now almost filled with plants. What a difference!

gentleman's boutonnière

Sophie and I made tiny bouquets for our friends Michael and Jimmy for their birthday party. We used the nasturtiums that sprout up every spring in our garden. We also decorated the double chocolate cake we make with flowers as well.

Our favorite Venice gentlemen wore the bouquets in their front pockets the whole party. Sophie was soooo proud!

stripey playhouse

Mark painted these stripes on the shack in the back a few years back. Now the shack is transitioning from Mark's hangout to Sophie's playhouse AND Mark's hangout.

I decided to continue the stripes around to the other side. I also painted the flower boxes and planted them with a trailing succulent that is impossible to kill (which is great for me!)

I was a tad concerned that it was all a bit too colorful but I just kept remembering the Caribbean and how it seems that in the Carib regions there can never be too much color. It is, after all, Sophie's playhouse.

the wall becomes a canvas

Mark mentioned that he thought I should do some sort of mural on the wall. I felt this might be a bit of overkill, as Sophie's playhouse floor already has a mural of sorts on it.


Anthropology had a beautiful painted split leaf philodendren on their window but before I could snap a pic they put up something else. I googled philodendren and found a picture to work from and painted a big one, plus a palm tree both in a lighter green. I'm really happy with it, it looks very simple and graphic and looks great peaking through the Buddha's belly bamboo I bought at home depot today.



Now I just need to get Mark to sledge hammer some holes in the cement patio. (He made the mistake of telling me the sledge hammering was easy!) The bamboo will be all around the perimeter of the back yard and will totally transform it into a tropical garden in no time!

thank god for non-toxic paint

We raised the wall! One cinderblock makes a huge difference, even Mark can't see over it now. I started painting it a sort of medium grass green. When I posted this picture, I realized it's almost the exact color of the background of my blog!

It looks soooo much better. I really want to finish BUT Sophie wakes up from her nap.

"Sophie if Mommy paints, can you not touch the wet green parts?"

Sophie- "Only the red parts, Momma"



Yeah, right. Yes, clearly I am more than a bit deluded about my daughter's ability to stay away from wet paint. We are two of a kind sometimes.

She turns to me, covered in green paint, "Momma, I am so happy!"

Me, too.

the wall

Since we moved in we've been talking about making the wall in our back yard taller. It opens onto a dirty, graffiti filled alley, hence the need for a bit more privacy and security. Plus, it is just hideously ugly, don't you think? Except for Sophie and Mark's chalk drawings, of course.

And so the process goes. I call a few guys to get bids, they scratch their heads, look very doubtful, scratch their heads again and give me a huge bid or alternately, they seem so sketchy that I don't want them anywhere near my house or my daughter.

It seems it always works this way. When I started landscaping the front yard, I met so many naysayers. "You need to get a backhoe in here to move all this dirt and your old lawn." "You need to regrade the whole lot." "it'll be $1000 just for the dumping costs, not including labor."

So I arrive at the idea of doing it myself (with a little help from Mark.)

I head to Home Depot. I'm surveying the cinder blocks and someone walks me to a counter to speak to the coolest guy. "Do you have a driver's license and a high school diploma? he jokes. "Then, you can do this." I feel like hugging the guy. Where has he been all my life?

So, I fill the back of my SUV with blocks and return home so we can begin...the wall.


Mark did an amazing job and don't tell anyone, but he actually enjoyed it!

p.s. the dirt issue in the front yard was resolved slowly but surely, day after day, digging out the lawn (with weekend, arm twisting, help from Mark) putting it in the green bin and sometimes the black and then one day, months later, it was gone and a gorgeous tropical garden has sprung up in it's place!

(btw, I spent the $1000's we saved on plants, which is how it should be.)

what do you hate not doing?

I met a friend of a friend, Derek Sivers, the other night and was checking out his blog. He writes about what you hate not doing.

http://sivers.org/hatenot

I found it so illuminating.

I hate not...

traveling - I really want to get back to this. going on trips not vacations. life changing, perspective shifting journeys. can't wait to do this with Sophie!

painting - I felt so in the zone when I was working on Sophie's playhouse floor painting, in the moment, I just typed ohment...that's a cool word ohm + moment.

yoga - brings me back to my stillness AND makes me sweat and feel so strong.

being present with Sophie - when I get grumpy, rushed, needing to get and go, I hate not taking the time to just BE with my little angel.

Sophie's playhouse

Just started work painting the floor of Sophie's playhouse out back. Worked on it today while she was in school and time just flew by.
It's going to look so tropical and cool. I'm doing the same paint treatment that I did on her sandbox cover, the one I saw in an Anthropology catalog.
Their catalogs are so incredible. Sorry to copy you, Anthro artists, but right now with my painting, I'm doing great at copying and not so great at painting from scratch. Hopefully, you would be flattered by my attempts to recreate your backgrounds!
Here's pretty much the finished product, although I will probably keep working here and there.

Gardening with Laurie and Delilah

Sophie, Mark and I headed over to the valley a while back to help get their back garden growing. I went earlier in the week to pick up plants from Home Depot and was able to get 26 plants for around $150!

It was so great to help our our friends and get their garden started but the most fun was seeing how much Laurie's daughter, Delilah, enjoyed planting and digging with her Mom and making the garden beautiful. Hopefully, it's all still surviving because it is hot out there!

venice garden tour

Our garden (well the front part) was featured on the Venice garden tour. I was so amazed, humbled, honored by this. I weeded, planted, weeded some more, tweaked my back at least 2 or 3 times.

Finally, I had to finish and be done. There's only so much you can do. I was a bit of a nervous wreck that our garden wouldn't be up to snuff.

Well, our garden looked great! It was one of a handful of gardens that had been designed by the owners. All the visitors to our garden were so friendly and gave us such positive feedback. Our daughter loved having everyone visit her garden and when it was over said "I want more people to come to our garden!" Me too, Sophie!

Most importantly, the garden tour raised nearly $250,000 for Las Doradas Children's Center, which provides preschool for low-income Venice families!