Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My 6th picture

My soul-sister Meg at House Notes tagged me to share my 6th post earlier this week...or weekend?  I can't keep track of days anymore!  Because Meg invited me to participate, I couldn't refuse.  Actually, this originated as a 'share your sixth blog picture' party from Londen at Sixty Fifth Avenue, so I went back to August 31, 2009 to find the 6th (extremely undersized) picture I ever shared on this site.  It was this one:
The post was all about the hundreds of flagstones that were buried all over our yard.  Boozie Susie alert!!  I heard from a neighbor that the back yard had a custom-built flagstone planting bed that probably cost $$$.   Well, it was demolished and all the stones were conveniently placed on the ground, then covered with dirt and grass seed.  Wha?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Imagine creating a planting bed (where you thought there was none) and every time you put the shovel down, you hear a CLINK of stone.  That sound is forever ingrained in my memory and causes my blood to boil just thinking about it.  Planting one shrub turned into an hour-long ordeal complete with sweat, swears, mutiple tools, and lots of beer.  NOT COOL, BOOZIE!  At least some of them she was too lazy to bury...
Either way, we had the last laugh because we used all those stones to create a new, curvy planting bed that goes the entire length of the back yard - which you can see in my header.  And the 'after' to the 6th picture above?  Well, we dug up that entire side yard, moved 11 tons of dirt, and created a 300 sq foot paver patio ourselves. 
It is fantastic, and surprisingly still intact from last summer! Check out the how-to post here.  And please share your 6th blog picture with us!  It's too funny to see how much your writing and blogger skills have improved since the beginning. 

15 comments:

  1. love this idea! I'm taking a break to get ready for my daughter's bday party on Sunday, but I am soooo doing this when I get back!

    The first picture on this post is my 6th: http://whitehouseblackshutters.blogspot.com/2009/10/spackle-and-crown-molding.html

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  2. WHAT?? Crazy people, I tell ya! You guys did have the last laugh because it is grand!

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  3. Ooh, I like your planting bed! I want something similar to that when we redo our backyard this summer. Hopefully the results will look as good!

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  4. Onmygosh! Haha, I wonder if Boozie Suzie and Charlie knew each other. :) I just read your how-to for the patio, and here I was thinking that putting in a paver patio would be alot easier than trying to revive our buried cement block patio... looks like I was very wrong! You worked hard, girl! I totally feel you on the digging, too, yeesh! But your patio is TO DIE FOR! (I'm sure you guys felt like it sometimes, huh?) And yes, we totally run on booze during big projects, too! It's like DIY Project fuel, lol!

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  5. That is crazy! I can kind of feel your pain, we had the house of rocks, rocks, everywhere. We took them all out and planted gardens, it was a lot of work!
    Your patio is fabulous! I would love to have a beer with you out there. You did a great job!
    Londen

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  6. Who does crazy stuff like that! Your patio is so pretty!! I know your already enjoying the heck out of it!

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  7. seriously, that's awful.... i would have lost it and probably resorted to a lot more than beer... maybe vodka on the rocks with a twist :) that being said your backyard is fantastic now!

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  8. Every time I see your patio I turn a pea-green-soup shade of green with envy. Sigh...

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  9. Your patio looks great. Our looks horrible. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  10. I think your patio was the very first entry I ever read in your blog. It had been featured somewhere... YHL!? I was hooked from the first time I saw it! That was quite an impressive project :)

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  11. Oh wow....buried flagstone....that must have been a whole lot of beer! But I love that patio and wish we had the patience to do something like that!

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  12. Ha! I love my blog family!

    You and Micah put me to extreme shame. Everyone has such cute projects. My first few months were a little scary...

    But you are totally Boozie Suzie's worst nightmare. You're taking every inebriated decision and turning it into an HGTV picture perfect product. And you work every bit as hard as you are naturally talented. Love it!

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  13. Every time you post about boozie Susie I think her decision decisions can't possibly get any worse, AND THEN THEY DO. It's amazing! I'm going to build on Meg's brilliant HGTV comment and say that if there were a show about you guys fixing Boozie Susie's issues I would watch that sucker religiously.

    You get major props from me for persevering through all that buried flagstone and ending up with such a gorgeous yard!

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  14. Love your patio, Sara! The pavers you chose are fantastic! Wow, what a difference!

    Kelly

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  15. Wait, are you Boozie Suzie....or is this a "friend" of yours? I'd like to know b/c she might want to meet my, uh, "friend" Drunk Bitch Trish. I'm pretty motivated when it comes to reno's. I mean, SHE's pretty motivated.

    I LOVE how your paver patio turned out. That brick, those trellises (trellisi?), that patio set. LOVES IT.

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara