A few episodes of "This Old House" and Ryan is ready to rock the basement!

One of the reasons we loved our house when we bought it last year was the potential to finish off the basement and add some extra living space. The basement already had a working toilet in what we affectionately called "The Privy", a box that looked remarkably like an outhouse.

A couple weeks ago, Ryan rolled up his sleeves and got to work framing out what will eventually be a half-bathroom/laundry room. The goal is to have a toilet in a nook with a Craftsman style half wall separating it from some cabinetry, a sink, and the washer and dryer.

I've learned that Ryan and I have very different working styles (something that you can probably tell after a few months of reading this blog). I like to have everything planned out with a plan B and plan C just in case something goes wrong. Ryan likes to take things as they come. Needless to say, I'm staying out of the basement project as much as possible. Instead, I've been focusing on the garden (pictures to come) and gearing up for warmer weather.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the start of the project and the current view of our basement. Enjoy!

Laundry area in full use and The Privy

No, Ryan did not clog the toilet.
I think he's goofing around with a plunger -- toilet jokes get him every time.

The new hallway
The brown things in the photo are some curtains that we've rigged to keep Soma out of the construction zone.

Despite the fact that our basement is in a somewhat major transition, we've decided that we need to leave town. On Friday, we're leaving for Maui to get a little sun and relax after an insanely busy few months (ok, more like two years). Surfing, cocktails, a good book, the beach -- what else do you need?

She's a maniac! Maniac! I know-o...

As of last week, my life began to return to normal. I worked (mostly) 9-5 days and came home with energy left over from my day. I turned my attention back to the garden, and thanks to Ryan's amazing help, we've completely renovated our front garden.

I didn't get a good "before" picture (sorry, Amy!), but I found this photo that was taken when Ryan's folks came to visit in January. The focus of our garden reno was the overgrown mass of shrubs and juniper on the right hand side.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but the garden was completely overgrown and overwhelming.

Ryan unloading dirt after a trip to our favorite place, Pacific Topsoil, which allows you to dump your garden waste and pick up soil in one stop!

The new garden!
We kept the conifer on the right but trimmed it significantly.
Once we get a few more plants and the garden is established, it should look like a natural woodland garden with a few wild and not-so-wild flowers!

And in the rest of the garden...

On top of our garage (a future deck with table and chairs), I put an Evergreen Clematis in a big container with plenty of room to climb.

Loads of blossoms in our tree just waiting to burst.
The 70-degree days we've been having caused this tree to explode. Pictures to follow very soon!

Camellia in full bloom!

Perhaps the Biggest Test to Our Marriage

Last night, UConn (Darcy's alma mater) played Syracuse (Ryan's hometown team) in an epic 6-overtime battle. As you can imagine, the game was intense and emotional. Some things were said that we can't take back. For example, "How could you support the Cuse? Devendorf is a douchebag!" and "UConn is a bunch of lazy kids that don't move on offense." We've spent a lot of time this morning apologizing to each other and trying to move on, and I feel good about our chances to make it through this bad spell.

Ok, that's a little overdramatic. It was a great game and we couldn't believe what we were watching.

I took a few poor quality photos on my iPhone. Sorry for the blurriness -- it was dark and I'm sure my hand was influenced by my nerves.

Jonny Flynn shooting free throws in the sixth overtime.

Freshman Kemba Walker Stunned

Ryan's joy and his security blanket.

I'm not a happy camper.

On to the big dance!

Even the plants want to celebrate Ryan's birthday!

It's no secret that Ryan has done a lot for our garden since we bought our house last summer. He helped put in a new flagstone walkway, take out grass and put mounds of dirt down for a new flower garden, he built two raised beds for our vegetable garden, and much more. For the last couple weeks, he's been working -- rain, snow, or shine -- to put up a pergola to retrain our wisteria vine. Before, the wisteria grew on a rickety trellis up the side of our porch and when we pruned the vine a few weeks ago, we noticed that it was jeopardizing part of our roof and our gutters.

Ryan has really become an impressive handy man around the house. While he is likely to need a break after the pergola, he's already talking about the next big project, which could be a new deck on top of our garage or a bathroom/utility room in the basement. Who knows! You'll just have to keep reading to find out!

The new pergola that showcases Ryan's path and plant beds.

This week was also special because Monday was Ryan's birthday. Seemingly in recognition of the big day, the garden started to show signs of spring. Dormant plants began to wake up from their winter slumber to show appreciation for all the hard work and loving care Ryan has shown over the last few months.

It all started with the camellia tree. In this picture, you may notice the single bright pink bloom that opened just for Ryan.

A close up of the camellia flower -- see all the other blooms that are just waiting to open?

A winter pansy
(OK, so this is just a new plant in a planter that I put together last weekend, but it's festive!)

The first crocus of spring!
Perhaps it's no surprise that this bloom is near the wisteria.

Hellebore Madness!

Happy birthday, Ryan! Thank you for all you do!

Yikes! Our only February post!

As you can tell by our lack of blog posting, we've been a little busy. I'm in the middle of my busy season at work and Ryan is busy building coffee tables and pergolas for the house (pictures to come soon, I promise!).

A few weeks ago, our good friend, Jeff, came to visit from Denver. Jeff may be looking for a new city to call home, and we tried to lobby for Seattle. Unfortunately, the weather was crappy and someone dumped garbage on our street, so I'm not sure our fair city made the best impression. At least we enjoyed a little culture at the Seattle Sculpture Park!

Life Imitating Art

Art makes Ryan think deep thoughts...

A famous sculpture that I can't remember the name of (Eagle something?) and the Space Needle.

Jeff explaining the influence of post-modern realism in what I call the "Lincoln Log Sculpture."

REBEL!

Blooms in January

One of the reasons I love living in the Northwest is that you can have interesting things happen in your garden year round. I planted some galanthus bulbs last fall, which are starting to bring life to our front walk. Some hellebores were already in the garden when we bought the house and it's exciting to see them bloom in the middle of winter. Our camellia tree is covered in flower buds that should bloom any day now. The pulmonaria that I got from a friend and didn't expect to bloom this winter is loaded with little pink flowers.

While I appreciate all the beauty in my garden, I can't wait for spring. I can already see mysterious sprouts from perennial bulbs of the past. I've ordered hostas and designed two shade gardens for under our camellia tree and another under a conifer in the backyard. Anytime I have a minute to spare, I open our laptop and browse the web for container planting ideas. My friend, Amy, and I are planning on going to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in February, and I'm sure that event will put me completely over the edge.

How did this happen? I've never been much of a gardener, and frankly, I probably laughed at gardeners as old-fashioned and uncool in the past. All I know is that I love seeing the life that our garden provides whether through plants or the animals and insects that find refuge in our mini-habitat. As I've gotten older, a garden is both a therapeutic exercise in teaching me patience but also helps me relax when the world outside seems chaotic and overwhelming.

2009 is the "Year of the Garden", and I will post lots of pictures of my work and the rewards throughout the year. To get us started, here are a few images of what I love in January:

The Galanthus, or Snowdrop, Flower

Green Hellebore

Another View of the Hellebore


Pulmonaria Doin' Its Thang...

Inside the house, I forced some Paperwhite bulbs.

More Paperwhites

Now let's just hope my dog-child doesn't kill anything...

Don't Rely on Us in an Earthquake

It's been too long since I posted on this blog -- my apologies to our legions of fans. I'm in the middle of my busy season at work since the legislative session started three weeks ago. Ryan is busy saving us all from hordes of zombies in a new computer game and building a beautiful coffee table for our living room (pictures to come). 

Anyway, you may be wondering about the title of this blog post. Well, yesterday morning at 5:30 a.m., Seattle and the region felt a 4.5 scale earthquake. Ryan and I slept right through it. Granted a 4.5 quake isn't a big deal usually, but it's big enough to wake most people up at night. In fact, most of Ryan's coworkers felt the earthquake, but that's probably because they were still up at 5:30 a.m. playing World of Warcraft. 

So if you ever need us in the middle of the night, you are warned about our heavy sleeping. Whatever you do, you need to make more of an impact than a 4.5 scale quake.