It’s time for another TGI-Friday! We’ve had so much going on these past few weeks, it’s been hard to keep up with everything!  A proper update is definitely due!

If you follow me on Instagram, and if you watched my Stories, you saw that last week we worked on demo’ing our back patio for the new patio installation. We were scheduled to have the work done this week, we just weren’t sure when they’d be here, but they started all the prep work today! Needless to say, it’s an exciting day around here! They should be finished next week… we’re both so excited to have a new patio!

In all honesty, demo’ing the patio went much easier than we were expecting. It was still a full day, but it came out in nice big sections, which made the process feel like it was going faster. It also helped that the old concrete was in rough shape, so we used the existing cracks to help tear up what was already there.

While we were demo’ing the patio in the back yard, we had a crew working on installing the new landscaping curbing in the front yard. It’s so amazing to see just how much the curbing elevated our front exterior. It added such a nice touch, and we are so close to having grass! It’s felt like a long time in the making, but we’re finally to that point and hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll be able to share another big update.

With it being close to the end of summer, the majority of our landscaping plants will come next year. Honestly, just having grass will feel like a major accomplishment, and definitely something to celebrate!

In other news:

• In case you missed it, a few days ago we had our one year house anniversary! It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year, but it’s so fun seeing all the progress we’ve made. Turning this house into our home has been so enjoyable and exciting. It’s really transforming into something beautiful, and I made a few video’s to share our progress. The first video is from when we bought the house and it’s the original tour, showing right where we started. The second, is focused on where we’re at today with the house… there’s already such a difference! You can watch both of those video’s here.

• It’s officially canning season, and next week on the blog I’m deeming it “Canning Week”. Our house came with an apple tree in the back yard, and I’m taking full advantage of it, as well as the peach tree our neighbors have graciously shared with us. Canning has always been such a huge part of my childhood and even though it can be time consuming, it’s something I enjoy! Look for a few new canning recipes next week!

• I finally ordered an olive tree for the office. I ended up finding a different one that I liked better than the one I originally chose in my office design plan. This is the one I ended up buying and it should be arriving next week. I can’t wait to get it!

• We’re headed to Hawaii, Oahu specifically, in September and we’ve been searching for fun places to visit, things to do and good places to eat. Do you have any “must” visit places? If so, please feel free to share! 🙂 

I’m looking forward to next week… now, off to start canning! It’s going to be a busy weekend!