One thing checked off our list! My husband and I finally picked out our new sofa. We've been thinking of giving our piano room a more up to date look, plus we want more comfortable seatings than a skinny french settee... I'm still keeping it tough, because you never know when I will have a French piano room:) it will take 6 weeks to arrive, and I can't wait! We got ours at Crate and Barrel and it was so much fun to have my husband there with me trying to figure out the firmness, sizing and style. I tried several stores during our search and sat on every single one before we found the perfect fit. When we sat on this sofa, we didn't want to get up, it was not just for looks, but it's got firmness and have the perfect back support... And would you listen to me, since when did functionality become a part of my furniture shopping priority? I must be growing up!

Found these flowers left at the door today... anyday is a good day to receive flowers!

One of my summer resolution is to learn to ride a bike.

I can't complain about a morning with some good breakfast and a walk!

I have been too busy, but I want to take film pictures, read a new book, have breakfast at a cafe with my doggies, and exercise more!

Remember this picture from a while back?

Today I hired a gardener to level out the soil near the lemon tree, putted 10 bags of barks on top of the soil, added path stones, and planted a few more plants between the fruit trees.  My side yard, or my secret garden as I like to call it, is now almost a clean slate.  I still have some stuff to clean out, but most of the junk is out of there, and it feels very good!

Next week I'm putting in a couple of fan trellis along the walls with climbing plants, removing the ugly wall shelf, moving out all the unused things, and that should be all the planting and cleaning I will do for the side yard. I can't wait til it's all done so I can start decorating this little space with cute cheesy garden ornaments.

My backyard has been a constant mess, but happily so. It seems that when I come home everyday feeling dead tired and woefully uninspired, listening to Beethoven and playing with my plants is one legitimate way to relax.

Here's my finished version. I found the rocks at a bonsai section in one of the local nurseries that I frequent, and it looked like a miniature mountain:)

Remember I purchased two pink Serissa trees a while back? This is what I'm doing with it. It makes me so happy to just look at the tiny pink flowers. The tree on the left is just a small Catlin elm. Trees at this size are very reasonably priced, I bought a Cork elm at the same time but haven't used it yet. I think they've got a nice shape to it, bonsai or not!

Don't let those innocent looking little faces fool you. The peacefulness is nothing like what's really going on in my house.

This is what's really going on on a daily basis. Somehow, these two just can't leave each other alone.

Uggie is doing so much better compared to when we first got him. He is slowly learning how to be a house dog, how to walk on a leash, and gained a little bit of weight. He's also becoming great friends with Kelly and Alfie. This morning I tempted to walk all three dogs at once and it was quite successful. It just goes to show that while adopting a new dog can be a little tough in the beginning, with a little bit of time and patience, things can really improve.  Now I am beginning to feel like I'm enjoy the results of my hard work, and I get to have the company of three adorable little dogs with very minimum amount of work.

I sometimes still get snarky comments from people about the fact that I have three dogs, because, you know, you can always use the spare time, money and energy towards yourself, or work, or potential kids. While it is true that without pets life would be altogether easier, it sometimes is just so tiring to live a life that's all about myself, all the time. I enjoy providing a loving home to abandoned pets, and having little animals in my life that do silly little tricks and make me laugh on a daily basis is great, and if that means I should put in a little time and money towards it, then I think it's well worth the effort.