Ta Da!

Whew! 9 hours, 4 trips to the store, and tons of sweat later - we are all landscaped! 

Took a little peek at my calendar and realized that I'm gone the next 3 weekends and then on the inpatient service.  Decided it was time to put on our gardening gloves and get it done.

Here's a pic of our shrubs all laid out -

 

And our colorful mix of plants (knock-out rosebush, azalea, grasses, hostas, lily, and a fern)

Planted and mulched.  I'm so excited for our Japanese maple, I just hope it likes where it's planted and grows deep, strong roots.

I think Jackson likes it too!

Summer Loving

This weekend did not start out on the right foot - had a hot date with the ED working the 11p-7a shift.  After sleeping it off Saturday morning, Felipe dragged me out into the misty haze to pick up some plants.  Landscaping plans in hand, we hit up the Home Depot down the street, with zero no luck.  Yarrow?  Maybe tomorrow.  Hollyhock - better check down the block.  We climbed back into the car a bit dejected and headed down the road to Walmart.   Again, zero luck.  Our last ditch effort was a mom & pop nursery.  Armed with an open mind, we approached them with our list explaining we were new to this, had been having difficulty finding the recommended plants, and were open to other options.  Definitely did not get the friendly small business reception I was expecting, the wife could barely contain her smirk.  As we stomped back to the car, I rather loudly grumbled that "If I were operating a small business and people came in wanting to buy my product I would most certainly assist them in finding alternatives rather than letting them leave empty-handed." 

(Mom - I almost added so la ti da just for you.)

  Evidently my voice carried, because the husband came after us and was rather nice from that point on.  Unfortunately we didn't have quite enough information on us to formulate a new plan, so back home and back to the drawing board.  I pouted and stomped around the house for a few hours, while Felipe diligently worked on a new plan.  Not my finest moment, I admit.  I'm hoping I redeemed myself with a delicious dinner - leftover grilled salmon and a tomato mozarella salad from one of my fave cookbooks (best present ever Pinto!)

After dinner we went out on a date to see Bridesmaids.  It was just what I needed - absolutely hilarious with just a touch of crass.

Today I'm feeling much better and ready to tackle the landscaping again.  Fingers crossed! 
Just finished up a cup of coffee and some blueberry coffee cake - Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

Pony-up

The show must go on.

meow

im lounging in bed, curled up with the latest issue of elle.  rachel mcadams is on the cover, looking absolutely stunning.  ive loved her ever since the notebook.  i can hear the rain from our open window.  out of the blue i hear a snarl coming from fels dresser.  strange.  i look over and see a black tail poking out and decide to investigate.  not only is elo all curled up into the half open top drawer, but she is snarling at her little brother curled up in the adjacent completely closed drawer. what a little houdini.

Sunday Dinner

Since grilling & wine on the back patio was the perfect way to end last weekend, we decided to repeat - to start we had a glass of moscato d'asti.  The wine tastes of a sunny spring day, with a bit of sparkle and honey.  Fantastic!  Definitely will be buying this one again.

(ironically enough, Fel just asked "do we have anymore of that sweet wine?"  Had to break his heart a little when I told him I drank the last glass as dessert last night.)

As the steaks and corn cooked on the grill, I took a tour of my backyard.  Luckily it was not a hike through the grasslands, thank you felipe for mowing.  Per Wikipedia, "Grassland vegetation can vary in height from very short, as in chalk where the vegetation may be less than 30 cm (12 in) high, to quite tall, as in the case of North American tallgrass prairie, South American grasslands and African savanna."  My backyard used to be an ecosystem called the North American tallgrass prairie.  No doubt about it.  Or maybe, since Felipe is our lawn-boy it would have more appropriately been called the South American grasslands?  Anyways, I digress. 

While roaming the back yard, I took pictures of my irises passed down from the grandma garber.  When I got them, they were just bulbs and leaves so I was very excited to find out I received 3 different (and gorgeous) colors - purple, lavender/pink, and yellow.  Thanks gma!

And by that time the steaks and corn were grilled to perfection, the salad was dressed, and the tomatoes were sliced.  We took our tv dinners to the couch and watched the new episode of "The Event."  Only one more week until season finale! 

Landscaping

Here's a few pics of our big landscaping project-

I'm amazed at how much we have gotten done thus far without becoming completely miserable nor wrenching our backs.  Neither Fel nor I has much experience with manual labor.

This first pic is of the area we are wanting to spiffy up. Last week we removed about 5 dozen bricks and transplanted 5 bushes in preparation.  Today we cleared out what felt like 2000 pounds of sand, added some extra dirt to fill it in (to the tune of 240 lbs!), and fertilized it with some moo-nure from Home Depot.  Gotta fertilize our new plants.

Here are the flowers I transplanted to make room for the transplanted bushes (transplanting seems to be the theme so far, much cheaper than buying new but definitely not much easier.)

And the handsome hubby with the lovingly (and begrudgingly, transplanted bushes.)  We got the back row mulched today, but are waiting to finish landscaping before mulching the front.

Last Week's Sunday dinner

On the menu last sunday - linguisa from Werner's (Felipe's favorite meat market.)  Grilled corn and kabobs with tomato, yellow bell pepper, shitake mushrooms, and zucchini.  SO delicious.

We paired it with an amazing local wine - bouyant blackberry from Riverwood winery.  This is one of our favorite places to pack a picnic and load up the car with friends.  This season's batch is less sweet and more effervescent than prior.  Perfect for a warm spring evening.  Anyone who has not been to Riverwood, I'm issuing an open picnic invitation!

Checking In. . . .

How To Survive the Apocalypse, Hollywood�Style

Countdown 94 minutes until the end of the apocalypse - fingers crossed!
It was a rather long day though - Fel mowed and we moved 4 bushes out front.
I learned how to be a leader.
Felipe was on call.
And I think there were several tornadoes in the area.

Other exciting things this week included street taco's @ Taco Rico on SW Blvd, a shopping spree at Anthropologie, volunteering at JayDoc, a relaxing massage (definitely need a new bag, turns out my purse is the culprit of my tense shoulders!)

not pictured - green blouse.

Mean Girls

I thought I left all the Mean Girls behind when I graduated highschool.  Turns out mean girls exist at every age and stage and they don't get any less vicious they just get older.

Now, If I had my cousins, grandma, and aunt weeze with me - we totally would have taken her down;)

Save-the-Dates

My save-the-dates (which I will be affectionately referring to as std's) have arrived, much earlier than expected.  Upon opening the package of approximately 100 tropical postcards, it immediately dawned on me why I should never do anything of consequence while I am sleep deprived.  

Let's see who catches it first. . .

Haha - get it -  let's see who "catches" the error on the "std" first.  

Totally not appropriate, I know.  Just couldn't help myself.


UPDATE (6/10) - - STD's have been mailed and the travel agent has been contacted.  All systems go!  Can't wait to find out who can come with us to celebrate!


UPDATE (6/20):  Have been perusing several amazing resolrts online.  After my weekend moonlighting in parsons, I could certainly use some sun and sand.  Here's a clue to our destination:

UPDATE (7/3): Destination Playa Mujeres.

In one of the top tourist destinations of the world, it would be hard to imagine a more dramatic setting than Playa Mujeres in Cancun—an all inclusive oasis situated on an untouched peninsula between the Caribbean and a wetlands preserve.

Playa Mujeres brings contemporary luxury to the wilds of the region. Its setting is stunning, reclusive as it is exclusive, on a two-mile stretch of powdery virgin white sand. And yet Cancun International Airport is just 30 minutes away. The shopping and nightlife of Cancun even closer.

Excellence Playa Mujeres is a romantic adults only resort in a private community that boasts an inland marina and a spectacular Greg Norman signature golf course right on the Caribbean.

best hubby ever

Just a quick shout-out to my super snazzy hubby.  Not only does he cook (grilled artichokes last night - absolute heaven with a glass of white white!), he cleans, and he tries to coach me to sleep when my circadian rhythm is all off (I finally crawled in bed around 2am last night, when he crawled out of bed at 5am I was still wide awake.)  

I love you woobles!

jackson the explorer

No clue what came over me this afternoon - perhaps meatball (Jen & Andy's cat) set a good example, perhaps I was sleep deprived.  Either ways, who knows.  While we were grilling some incredibly fishy salmon for dinner (yuck-o!), we decided to leave the back door open just to see what happened. 

 Jackson immediately scampered out and began exploring.  He's such a brave little boy.  Eloise, ever her momma's daughter, cautiosly peeked around the back door for a good 10 minutes before she ventured a single paw onto the deck.  Once on the deck she cautiously crawled about 5 feet before huddling down with saucer-sized eyes to watch the action.

Anyone have a good salmon recipe?  Trying to improve Felipe's heart health and the cute pack I bought at the grocery store was not at all tasty.  Thank goodness there were leftover cilantro potatoes to fill the void.  Next time I will not be fooled by clever packaging!

Mother's Day BBQ

The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Sunday - perfect for an outdoor BBQ.  Once Felipe managed to drag my sleepy self out of bed we began cooking.  After feasting on bacon-chicken kebobs, cilantro potatoes, cucumber salad, and margarita pie everyone was ready for an afternoon nap. 

A few shots of two of my favorite men using my new EVO Shift phone and a fun photo app called FxCamera.

Save the Date

UPDATE: Please don't judge the awesomness of this upcoming event by the typographic error on the Save-the-Dates.  I was on nightfloat, which explains it all.  Thanks for understanding, your the best;)


"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”  -- Abe Lincoln

The Rosso's are turning 30 @ your invited!

When: October 6th-9th, 2011

Where: somewhere warm and sunny, get your passports ready!

More details to come.

This weekend.

Ugh!  Yes, I am still up and awake.  Nightfloat has got me all switched around.  I'm hoping to crawl into bed here soon, and begin the transition back from zombie-girl to regular sleeping hours.  This evening when I woke up, I found my hubby asleep in bed next to me.  Evidently he had a long week too.

A sneak peak into my weekend plans:

Grilling - Chicken Kabobs with Bacon Sauce

Pampering - facial at Xiphium

And a bit of sunshine - our yard is in need of some massive love.

Happy early mother's day to all the hot mama's!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. ~Marion C. Garretty

Still of the Night

Sitting here in the resident room of the hospital trying to study up on ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) for my upcoming recertification and sipping a coffee generously laced with half & half.  As you can tell, I'm having a hard time focusing.  I've already purused Ebay, facebook, and my favorite celebrity gossip site.  I've eaten myself into a chocolate oblivion (oreos dipped in chocolate pudding.)  I even might have saved a life by transfering an unstable patient into the ICU. 

It's officially 12:32 am on May 4th which makes it. . . . Grandpa's Birthday! 

Happy Birthday Gpa, from myself and good ole WC!