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!