Spring Has Sprung

The woman who sold us our house was an impressive gardener. It was obvious that she had put a lot of hard work into keeping her plants look beautiful.

Little did she know that she sold her house to a plant killer.

I haven't had much experience with plants, but what little experience I do have hasn't been pretty. But when we bought this house, I felt like I should at least try to maintain what she already started.

And lo and behold it's worked (so far, at least)! They survived complete neglect for a few months - and all it took was some watering to bring them back to life.

I bought these $.88 petunias from Lowes - sort of as 'tester plants' - to see if I could keep plants alive that I bought myself. So far, so good. They've been sturdy enough to survive so far. I definitely didn't want to test that theory with expensive plants right off the bat. Maybe I'll graduate to grown-up plants one day.

The next pictures are of our plants in our backyard:

This is one of the coolest plants I've ever seen.
It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I realized that it wasn't fake!
It looks like a ceramic plant, but it's definitely real.

I think the official name is "Hens-and-Chicks". Or something like that.

Plants on our back porch:

My neglect affected this plant the most.
I had to remove every single leaf - all that was left was the vine thing.
I'm happy to see some new leaves growing.

And we just ordered our first piece of married furniture (minus the coffee table)
I'm so excited about it! (and I totally love the orange wall)

1 Down, 59 to Go!

I can't believe we've already been married a year. It's been such an awesome year.

Lee sent me flowers at work on Friday morning. So fun!

Before church on Sunday, we exchanged gifts. I gave Lee a Japanese Magnolia tree for us plant in our backyard. It was my roundabout way of keeping the 'paper anniversary' tradition.

close-up of the pretty flowers

Lee's present to me was the coolest paper anniversary gift ever - a customized print of the 17th Avenue Graffiti Bridge.
(look closely at the center of the bridge - !)

After church, we went to Sunday Brunch at Skopelos - the scene of the crime ...
Thankfully, the weather a year ago was much prettier than it was today

After brunch, we went home to take a nap (Lee knows me so well ...). When we woke up, Lee was telling me that he felt really sick, that something he ate must not have agreed with him. He asked me to run to Tom Thumb to get him a Sprite. I, being the concerned wife, happily obliged.

When I got back home, after getting him three different drinks AND crackers, I see Lee's April Fool's joke: all my luggage is laid out on the sidewalk, with a note that said "It's not me ... it's YOU". Thankfully the luggage was empty ... though he said that won't be the case next year :) Very well done on his part. Lee - 1; Suze - 0.

And we ended the night with a piece of the slightly freezer-burned, but still surprisingly tasty top part of our wedding cake. Kudos to J's Bakery and my mom's outstanding wrapping abilities.

I'll start thinking now about next year's April Fool's joke ...