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While we've been enjoying some amazing weather the past few weeks (finally!) it seems that we have still experienced cooler weather than what is to be expected for Baltimore in May. With all of the work we've done lately with out back yard-soon-to-be-garden-slash-patio, I'm longing for those balmy summer nights. I've picked up a few things here and there to add to out outdoor space, yet I've not been able to actually use them since our patio is nowhere near completed. So for now I just daydream of the fun atmospheric additions I could make once we have reached the finished stages-- which may not be for another few weeks.
There is nothing I love more than having a few friends over for some good food and drinks on a beautiful summer evening. And here are some of the fun things I've found that would be perfect for a summer fiesta. 

via Pigeon Toe Ceramics

via West Elm

via My Fathers House

via Aedriel Originals

via West Elm

via West Elm

There is a huge hole in our backyard.



The next step will be getting rid of that heaping pile of concrete. One option is to rent a dumpster for a day, while the other is to rent or borrow a pickup truck and haul it out in loads by ourselves to the nearby Potts and Callahan Company which recycles concrete. I'm looking forward to having a patio surrounded by my flowers and veggie plants, but it seems it will be a long time until that comes to fruition. After the concrete is removed there will be other items on the list: filler dirt, stone pavers, fencing to be put up, and pergolas to be built. I'd estimate another three to four weekends. But it'll be worth it in the end!

I had a chance to go back to Indiana this weekend for Mother's Day, but unfortunately I couldn't take time off from work to go. So I will wish my mother a happy mother's day from afar. I am most certainly my mother's daughter. When I was little, I looked more like my dad. But now, the older I get the more and more I look like my mom. And not only do I look like her, but there are all sorts of other things that I do just like her. I catch myself in the act thinking, I'm just like my mom! I once had someone I didn't know approach me asking if I was my mother's daughter. When I said yes, the woman responded, "I knew you had to be! I heard you laugh and turned around expecting Rachel, but you were the one laughing instead!"

When I was little, my sister and I would tell my mom that she was weird and laugh at her when she mixed up her words (like turk over left key, instead of leftover turkey). We would tell her that her long, skinny fingers were like "witch fingers" or laugh when she danced to the music on the stereo. Now I laugh at myself when I mix up my words (foke it with a pork, instead of poke it with a fork). Andrew tells me that my long, skinny fingers are witch fingers. And I dance around the kitchen to the music on the stereo with no shame. And I'm pretty sure I'm just as weird as she is-- and it's great to be weird!

Aside from being a lot like my mom, I also think a lot of my experiences and interests today have been influenced by her. I love food, art, music, and travel. And she and my father both exposed me to these things from early on. I am grateful for that because I realize that without these things life would be very dull! So from Baltimore to Goshen, happy mother's day, Mama!

My mom and I with the Rachel/Heidi pose at Agawa Rock in Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario.

Showing up at my cousin's wedding wearing nearly the same thing.

Hiking Grand Teton mountain in Wyoming.

Riding the train from Paris to Chartres

I haven't written in quite a while, mostly due to the fact that I was on vacation. Also due to the fact that this week we went back to school and that always entails quite the preparation to gear back up for the kids. I've really geared this blog toward projects thus far, so it really seems appropriate to jump back into the cyber world with a loud bang, so to speak.

Our latest project is a much less peaceful one than those I've previously written about. When we purchased our house last June, the only thing we did not like about the house was the designer concrete parking pad in the back and the lack of fencing. We never have a problem with parking in our new neighborhood and the parking pad is so small anyway that it is pretty much impossible to park either of our cars there. In addition, we loved having a patio with plants and a veggie garden at our old apartment. It was great to be able to have a small pocket of green space within the city. And it is great to let Lilah have some outdoor space aside from the park. She loves being able to nap outside when it is nice out. While the rest of the house was a complete rehab job and in great condition, we knew that this parking pad would become our huge project, soon to become our back yard.

So, the first step to making this our back yard is to tear out the concrete parking pad and a concrete block wall. We are definitely DIY-ers so Andrew set off this morning to rent a jackhammer to add to his sledgehammer and pick. After the concrete has been taken out we'll take it to a concrete recycling facility, get some filler dirt, put in some stone pavers, put up a wood fence, create a veggie garden area, etc. Needless to say, this will be quite the extensive project.

A few before pictures for documentation:




And I promise, next post will be a bit more peaceful! No jackhammers involved! What home have you been working on?

Today officially marks the beginning of our fourth day of vacation. Our first day was a 13 hour drive that turned into 16 hours without us even making our final destination. Due to some ridiculous weather and the entire state of New York taking their vacation and driving down I95 South, our trip took much longer. Almost every car we saw, by the time we reached North Carolina, had a New York license plate!

Then there was the ridiculous weather I was speaking of. Yes. A tornado. In North Carolina. Headed straight at us. The most bizarre road trip of my life.

We tend to have a bit of bad luck when it come to road trips. Something weird and weather related usually happens. One winter we drove through the blizzard of the century in Nebraska on our way to Colorado to my sister's place for Christmas. You could see nothing but white out the windshield and we ended up having to stay at the most gross hotel I have ever stepped foot in. That was concluded by a meal on Christmas at the only place that was open where we met Russ the trucker and some crazy old ex-marine that ended up peeing himself by the end of the night because he was so drunk.
Oh yes. It's true. Worst road trip luck ever.

Last summer, on our way back to Baltimore from camping with my parents in Canada, we ran into some pretty psycho weather again. We had spent the night in Indiana at my parents' house and were headed out on our last stretch when the sky began to turn green. I checked the weather, and sure enough, tornado warning. Luckily we didn't run into any tornadoes, but we were caught in one of the most incredible thunderstorms I have ever been in. Rain so hard you could almost feel it pelting you through the car. You couldn't see anything out the front window and the wind was so strong that we had to pull over.

Yup. Not as bad as the blizzard, but bad road trip luck nonetheless.

So as you can imagine, as we left Baltimore early Saturday morning, and we heard on NPR that bad storms were expected in the Carolina, we laughed and said, "Wouldn't that be our luck."
We thought nothing of it. There was rain for most of the day on our drive. About halfway through North Carolina, we began to get hail. This, we thought, was our crazy weather experience for this road trip. Little did we know what we'd be in for about two minutes later.

This is what we were in for:

Let me just say, I am now quite happy to be relaxing on a beautiful, sunny, Florida beach!