Blowing Through the Jasmine in my Mind

I love summer. I love every hot, humid moment. The other day I was outside working and I had sweat behind my knees and I was so happy I almost passed out. I always anticipate the summer like a small child who can't stand the wait until their birthday. There are all these first momentous moments that tell me it's getting closer; the first time I wear flip-flops, the first time I wear shorts, the first time I open the sun roof in the car...all telling me that hope springs eternal.

It has turned out to be a stellar spring. I decided that the first weekend in May was my "opening summer weekend." It was the perfect blend of fun activities and productivity that make a summer weekend perfect. (i.e. yard work, garage cleaning, car cleaning, a baseball game in Fort Wayne, a bonfire, a knit-in, shopping for outdoor furniture...) Mix that up with the perfect weather and you have a weekend that makes life worth living.

Making this spring even more special is that for the first time, Brian and I have a back yard that we enjoy spending time in. I love being outdoors as much as possible but our backyard didn't really have space for relaxing and was just kinda - yick! - even though I tried and tried to make it inviting. So last summer began the big patio make-over...which took the entire summer and meant that our back yard was even more of a disaster than ever before. We got it done just in time for the winter. Here are some before and during pictures...so you can see the mess that we lived with last summer.

So this spring it's like we woke up to a whole new backyard! We purchased a few items for the empty patio and now - voila! - a backyard that makes us not ever want to go inside to vacuum or do anything else that needs to be done. Here are the preliminary results. It's still a work in progress.

We drag a radio outside and chill at the table eating (I have declared that we shan't eat in doors until November) or we have a fire in our little fire pit and all is right with the world. And the piece de resistance:

Brian was all talking smack to me about how cheesy I was when I showed up at the cash register with my package of white lights for the umbrella (he also thought I was ridiculous for not choosing one color for the patio table chairs but getting one of each). But, he faithfully strung those lights up like a champ, and these lights make our patio completely festive, like we're on vacation every moment that we're back there. So until we get our dream house out in the country, I am completely content, more than that, really happy right where we are.