Hello and goodbye!

I got a roll of film developed, it's always a nice surprise since I'd forgotten what was on some of the film. I'm in great danger of not being able to fit in my wedding dress, but we had fried chicken and mash potatoes anyway last night, why? Because tomorrow my fiance and I are going to China for our wedding, we are going to have nothing but Chinese food for two weeks!

I'm bad with names but I know it's a drought resistant perennial. I am terribly attracted to this type of plants and planted a bunch of them myself in the front yard.

Yesterday my gardener did some back breaking hard work and planted in six more roses around the front and back of the house, three fruit trees, and more tomato plants and herbs in the vegetable garden. He also re-potted my maple tree, loosened up the soil around the roses, mixed in mulch and got ride of a ginormous weed looking bush in the front yard left over by the previous owner.

The little mocking birds are doing well!

the plums from my backyard are ready to eat, I had one this morning and it was super delicious so I had another two in the afternoon.

I have this vague ambition to always trim down before a major event, like a recital or my wedding, but it never happens!

It's the season for peonies again. I always buy some whenever I see them in store. I have been cutting and trimming roses, planting little flowers here and there, loosening up the soil and mixing in mulch, spraying oil on infected plants, feeding plant food, and during the process discovered a pair of mocking birds living in a climbing rose bush in my backyard. They were high up but screamed when I pulled some fern off the rose bush, that's when I looked inside the bush and discovered a little nest! This morning I had my fiance stuffed some cotton balls around the rose tree, hopefully the birds will use them for their home. I always hoped for some birds to nest in my backyard and it happened!

Also, sailor is here!

I'm learning to garden a little at a time. 

I received our engagement photos in the mail today, they came out good!

At St. Regis in Dana Point.

I had been having a vegan diet for several days, but gave up last night for some mac and cheese with bacon on top.

Hello that girl with crooked teeth and ugly smile, where did she go? I really do miss her.

All done! Mission accomplished!

a little cheap outdoor shelf.

after one layer of spray paint... I figure anything looks good in lavender color. I'm going to let it sit and dry before I put on a second coat. Will be back!

I had only learned today that Dr. Vitaly Margulis had passed away on May 29th. It is a great loss of the music world, for those of us who had studied with him, we shall always treasure the memories! Rest in peace Dr. Margulis!

I tried my hands at planting some flowers in the front yard today. Luckily my gardener was here to help me loosen up the soil before I started, otherwise it would have taken me hours to dig up the dirt. I like the result! Now I hope they will live and won't start dying on me.

I have a raised bed garden at the back of my house, it's the perfect place for a vegetable garden. I bought baby plants for watermelon, green pepper, squash, and tomatoes and asked my gardener to plant them in today. I'm really getting hooked on gardening, my favorite time of day has been the mornings watering my plants and trimming the roses. I am really lucky to have this little outdoor space!

I got up early this morning to do some work in the backyard. Taking care of plants and flowers is like therapy for the soul, I really enjoy doing it! Us family of four also took a hike today. We saw all kinds of animals, bunnies, horses, lizards, Kelly and Bobby were thrilled.

Since I moved to our new house, I became the person with a lot of time to scavenge for household furniture while my fiance worked and worked and worked. I was very proud to find this folding shelve from Pier 1, it was the perfect size for the little bit of wall space between window in the family room and the kitchen. It holds part of my cook book collection and a vintage jaguar drawing. In my opinion, a home is not a home without a massive library, I still haven't figure out just where I could fit in such a thing, in the meanwhile, it's nice to at least have a handy little book shelve and cookbooks near by the kitchen.

Jeff decided that Bobby's full name should be Bobinsky, like the crazy blue man in Coraline, I think that's an excellent idea!

I'm still slowly getting stuff for the house, prioritizing is very important, I am fully aware of that, even though I bought the third set of outdoor table and chairs that never get used when I don't have my own desk around the house yet.

We took our engagement picture today and it was so much fun! Hopefully they will be good when we have them back!