{renovate} landscaping: curb appeal

We're making some big changes to our house's curb appeal.

Of course, our potted flowers are back. A little burst of color is very spring-y and welcoming.

But, we've also been doing a little of this:

We're landscaping our front yard! Last weekend, we rented a sod cutter, tore up a lot of our grass, and sculpted it for plants.

As a reminder, here is how our house looked when I moved in nearly two years ago:

And here it is after nine-hours of crazy hard work:

Confession: I'm a little nervous. I've never landscaped anything and I'm worried it'll look ... weird. But I am excited to get plants planted in the next couple weeks and I'll make sure you're all along for the ride. Hopefully I'll pass along some tips I'm learning to help your landscaping adventures.

I wish you could actually see all the dirt covering these laborer's tired, but happy, faces. It was messy friends.

Texas (!), part 2

I have a story to tell you all. I coordinated a week-long conference. And then, my brain turned to mush. For about two weeks. The end.

So, when we last chatted, I was telling you about my fantastic trip to Texas!

You see, while the botanical gardens and downtown Fort Worth were fantastic, the real reason behind our jaunt to Texas was so that I could be in one of my dear friends weddings! I love seeing my friends happy and being in there weddings is truly an honor. 

Plus, I love getting all glammed up! It doesn't happen near enough in my *real life*.

Special occasion hair = wow. It's not like I haven't been through it before. But I forget. My hair is still recovering nearly a month later. I get my hairs cut today. FINALLY.

The wedding was completely ah-maaaz-ing. And the bride was so beautiful!

And the flowers, quite possibly my favorite decoration ever? Completely gorgeous, of course.

I love the pops of black in these anemones. So unique and really complementary to our black dresses.

The room glowed, friends. With the windows, mirrors, chandeliers and candles the reception was stunning and completely elegant.

I love a good wedding theme.  Both bride and groom are big readers, so this wedding's theme was *A love story* and the bride wove the theme seamlessly from the initial announcement through the big day. So it was only fitting that on half the table vintage *love stories* were used as centerpieces. No two books in the room were the same. Perfection.

And of course I have to show you the cakes. 

Yum! One was beautiful ...

... and the other so clever!

It was such a great ending to a super fun trip. 

Texas (!), part 1

Happy friday friends! I wanted to share with you one of the fun things we've done lately. Because despite working a million hours each week (I'm only slightly exaggerating), we've been having so much fun too.

We went to Texas! And it was green!

Really green. In fact Chris looked out the window when we were flying in and said *wow, it's really green*, and I didn't for a second believe him.

 In my defense, last time I was in Texas it was brown. It was a very different time of year.

Relaxed and enjoying the WARM sun.

We went to the Fort Worth botanical gardens. They were beautiful!

I'd be worried too if giants were tapping on my home!

You guys, not only do I know what Biosphere 2 is, I've been there! Weird.

We stayed in downtown Fort Worth. Have you all been there? I was a little surprised, I'll admit. It's super charming!

Across the street from our hotel.

And we ate lots of really awesome food.

All this was fun, but it was not the reason we visited Texas. Monday I'll give you the why of it all!

where I've been ...

Phew. I have I been MIA lately, or what? Thanks for hanging in here with me guys. I'll be back to a more routine schedule soon.

Today, though, I am so excited to be a guest blogger! I am over at my good friend Becky's blog to share some tips about incorporating the tropics into your every day style.

Make sure you pop on over. You can find my post at: It's All About the Mochaface.

mmmm. minty.

Oh goodness. What a week/month. I have never had work intrude so forcefully on my personal life as it has these past few weeks. I'm just happy that it is for a fun and challenging project, which I already feel completely rewarded for having worked on. And, I'm not even close to finished!

Today thought I'd share with you one of my favorite brownie recipes. I don't know where I originally found the recipe. It was years ago. I've been asked to bring these brownies to three different celebrations lately and they've been a huge hit each time. Recently, my dad requested them for his birthday. I wrangled  them a bit and turned them in a brownie cake. I have this thing about making an actual *cake* on someone's birthday.

Although, after seeing these pics, I think they might be more attractive as brownies :).  Looks aside, these are super fudgy and super minty and so. darn. good.

My copy of the recipe is a gnarly old piece of paper. I did a little searching and found the recipe on Tasty Kitchen. I just a made a couple changes:

• I did not use food coloring. Although that would be fun on St. Patrick's Day. Or red on Valentine's Day. You get the idea.
• I used Hershey's special dark cocoa and it was amazing.
• To offset the super dark brownie, I used milk chocolate. It was perfect.
• You could probably use white chocolate for the ganache and that would be lovely as well.
• I recommend serving them right out of the fridge. Yum!

Full recipe here: Famous Mint Brownies.

The little flag helped dress the cake up a bit. Read: we were out of candles!

Make these soon, but I caution, make them for an occasion when others will be joining you. They're dangerously good and addictive.