Jenn and Jonathan: An American Weekend

"Well, um, actually, a pretty nice little Saturday. We're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I don't know. . . I don't know if we'll have time!" --Frank, Old School

Home Depot, to me, is your typical, suburban Saturday afternoon activity. You go and pick out your project for the day and then return home to your own personal slice of Americana and work with your hands, get dirty, and feel like you've actually accomplished something by the end of the day. Well, after 5 years overseas, Jonathan and I were able to have our own little American weekend. We STILL don't have household goods (yep, almost a month now) but we figured, well, if we can't enjoy the INSIDE of our house, let's at least try to enjoy the outside. So Home Depot, here we come!

My first line of business was to get some plants for the front of our house. The landscaping is pretty nice out front, but I wanted some touches to let people know that the Wrights lived here now. I wanted something low-maintenance and drought-resistant (in case I got a little too distracted with a newborn baby to remember to water it), but still pretty. With limited options, I chose a few cactuses and a desert rose plant.

You know what I've discovered? I do NOT like trying to re-pot cactuses! I was wearing leather (LEATHER!) gloves, and I still got continuously got poked trying to plant these suckers. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the needles are a beautiful yellow color, and they will eventually flower later in the season.

This is my desert rose. I'm hoping it takes off and gets more blooms because the flowers are actually really pretty. This, however, was only one they had left, and I think I'm going to have to give it a lot of love before it really takes off. . .

Although not high on our priority list, we did get a swing for the second story balcony. We'd like to eventually get some plants and other furniture up here, but for now, this swing will do. It gives us a bit of privacy, and I'll be able to sit out here and rock Baby W. to sleep when he gets here. . . while admiring the lights of the Las Vegas Strip. ;)

Jonathan's project for the weekend was our backyard. We wanted a nice, cozy sitting area where we could relax (and throw Oskar's ball around the yard). I picked out the furniture, but Jonathan put it together and chose all the plant accents for the area. I think he did a wonderful job. It's the comfiest place in our whole house at the moment. ;)

Speaking of Oskar, he was not left out of the weekend's festivities. We bought him a little inflatable pool for the backyard. Now, it's no pond to swim around in (in fact, he can stand up in it and still touch bottom), but it's somewhere he can cool off from the intense Nevada heat. His favorite game? Throw his ball into it and he'll fish it out.