the secret garden

After living in our townhome for 3 years, one on the biggest wasted spaces was the backyard. I have made efforts to improve it with new garden boxes, weeding, and ground cover. Over the years, though, the weeds had taken hold and it was becoming our outdoor garage. The time had come to make it a useful space and a better "room" for our house.

These before and afters should make it clear how much of an improvement one day of work can make. Much thanks to my mom and dad that came over and put in a lot of work.

Here is our yard in the morning. Notice the dying plants, extra stuff piled all over, and weeds, weeds, weeds. The only ones that truly enjoyed the yard were the pets; it was like a jungle for them.

By 6 o'clock, our yard had undergone a massive transformation.

Believe it or not, the cost was mostly sweat and dirt. I did this on a budget of about $150 - $200. We were able to repurpose the large pavers but had to supplement with a few more (the embossed ones). I built a new 7' garden box, added a lot more dirt, and threw some pebbles in there to fill in the gaps and we were almost there.

I still need to work on the path along the side of the house and add in some bark in the flower beds. Just now, the lilies are starting to bloom and the dahlia bulbs are coming up out of the ground. The last touch will be a little bistro set to sit at for drinks after work. Maybe a bbq will be in our future. Keep on the lookout for some tomatoes from the garden!

one year later, i'm back.

back for 2 things.

1. actually posting with things that are interesting/important to me
2. inspiration

Success!

I think the best thing about losing weight is being able to fit in your clothes again.

Before I began, I bought a shirt at J.Crew (as everyone knows, my favorite on- and off-line store) that was a size 10. It was my inspiration shirt. When I picked it up, I couldn't fit one boob in it. Now, I fit 2, plus the rest of my body. I was elated! The color is amazing for summer... and I love silk! Go natural fibers. You know you want one, so shop here: http://bit.ly/nwagnt


 Now comes this morning. There are a pair of jeans that I hold on to. A pair of black Citizens of Humanity straight leg denim. They are my holy grail of making my legs look long and my butt look 6 inches higher. I looked at them and thought, well maybe today. All I can say is that it was so satisfying to put them on and not have to suck it in. Today is a happy day!

I started back a the gym this week and I can feel myself getting stronger. It gives me more inspiration to keep going and reach my goals! So does getting back into my skinnier jeans.

Welcome home, Jamie!

This past week my friend, Jamie Despres, traveled to Costa Rica with Soles4Souls. In the village of La Carpio, she and a small group of volunteers distributed hundreds of shoes to children. Each volunteer washes the feet of the child before fitting them with a new pair of shoes. This pair of shoes can be the barrier they need from disease and illness that can end their lives.

I was proud to volunteer my time making small notebook for the kids. Maybe next year, I will be able to do more than that.

To see more about the trip, you can read Jamie's blog, The Best Shoes Are Free, or the Soles4Souls blog.

2 announcements

Today I have 2 awesome things to announce.

I have lost 15 pounds. Which is absolutely amazing and such a great inspiration to keep going to reach my total goal... and beyond. Thanks, finally, to something that worked and is keeping my motivated. A few weeks ago, my mom and I started keeping track of each other. I joined up with Weight Watchers and she was doing it on her own. In 7 weeks, I am down 15 and she is plus 1. Granted 1 pound over 7 weeks isn't bad, but when you compare it to a loss... Needless to say, this morning was her first weigh in with Weight Watchers :)

The second cool thing is starting August 15, I will be at Amazon!! And yes, it is full-time! If you want something that is tiring and crazy and taxes almost every little bit of strength you have, go for a loop. Imagine presenting your portfolio at 8:30 am and then having 5 hour long interviews in a row. To be fair, when you are meeting with such a great group of people, the time flies... but it still makes for a long day. This all happened last week, so I have been keeping a small lid on it... you know, pending background check and all. So, for all of you in the big city, lunches in SLU! Or at least whole paycheck!

Next post will be sooner... I swear!

$40 squirrel food

A few weeks ago I went to a special store to purchase some bird food. I'm not getting a lot of birds in my yard. I wonder why.

Over the winter I was a terrible lover of nature and didn't put a lot of food out, so our birds took a long time to come back. Only thing is... the squirrels didn't. They ate so much of it I had to move it out of the tree and on to this shepherd's pole. It only took a couple days for them to figure out how to get up to feeder and get at the food again.

Pesky critters.

204

That's how much I weigh. Depressing.

Today I am embarking on a new chapter... to lose weight (of course) but to also start to develop healthy eating habits that somehow went the way of the dodo when I started living on my own. I am trying to be open and honest about this so that when one of my friends sees me chowing down on Mike 'n Ikes, they'll be all, "WTF, Kim!"

In order to accomplish my goal, I joined Weight Watchers. This is my first day. All gung-ho and ready to do this. Not to be defeatist, but I know I will need encouragement in a few weeks. So if I am out to lunch with you and I pull out a little book and calculator, wish me well!

This is going to be my journal. And sounding board. And bitch tent. Not to fear, it won't be all about boring diet and health stuff. I am hoping to sprinkle in some fun stuff, too. Like pictures of Bruce Quillis and the awesome things I am sewing for my nephew and niece (maybe myself).

Talk to you soon!