They Call me Mellow Yellow....

I love yellow. It should come as no surprise then that it is by far my favorite color. Yellow, quite simply, makes me happy.

I saw this folding bookshelf at Cost Plus and it immediately caught my eye. I saw a bookshelf.... and it was yellow. I am happy to report I did not impulsively buy a bright yellow bookshelf. Instead, I went home, carried on with my day and talked to Joe about the bright yellow bookshelf the next day. To my surprise, he instantly said I should go out and purchase it. This was a surprise because we did not necessarily need a bookshelf and because it was yellow and Joe does not have the same love-love-love-love relationship with yellow that I do.

We are now the proud owners of the above yellow bookshelf. It was $49.99 at Cost Plus and I am extremely happy with it. Because of Joe's non-love relationship with yellow, we don't even have so much as a yellow wall in our house. But that is okay, because now I have a lovely yellow piece of furniture that I get to see every day as I go in and out of the house. This will guarantee I smile at least three more times a day.

P.S. Now that I've said and spelled yellow a million times- I've found that the word sounds weird and looks weird. I better stick to just looking at it :)

P.S.S. The painting above the yellow bookshelf is an oil portrait of the Dobermans by Joe. Love it!

Current Living

I appreciate having a home that feels "lived in." From the furniture and decor to the four dogs we have running around the house all day -- our home truly fits us and it's designed to be functional for our behaviors, interests and attitudes. Decorating magazines, DIY television shows and home furnishing stores can easily turn any home into a depersonalized space. I can't even count how many homes I've been in that feel no different then any others because the homeowners put a decorating stamp, but not a personal stamp, on their home. I don't mean to criticize, but I hope that to others, our home feels like a warm space that screams "Joe and Sydney" as much as any place of ours can.

Here are some "Before and After" photos of our home when we first purchased it and the way it looks today (literally). Naturally, I cleaned up a bit before taking these photos. You're more likely to see dog toys strewn about the floor, toss pillows in no particular design on the couch, and miscellaneous odds and ends that haven't yet been put back in their designated place. But, other than that, these are photos of our main living areas as they are right now.

Year ones comes to a close

Joe and I have now been homeowners for over one year!! I had completely forgotten it had been a full year until Joe brought it up a few days ago. This is the first time that neither one of us has had to pack and move to a new place in awhile! It feels wonderful to not only have a place to call home, but a place that we know will continue to be our home for the forseeable future. We have done a lot to our house since we first moved in, and I put together a few of the photos and a list of all our projects. In the next year or so we plan to knock out a lot of our large renovation projects i.e. renovating the master bathroom and kitchen, adding new stair railings and stone to the fireplace, and replacing all the windows and exterior doors.


1. Removal of all pre-existing landscaping to the front and back yards
2. Adding granite and new landscaping to the front yard
3. Painting all interior walls
4. Replacing all main living area lighting (foyer, dining, loft, living room)
5. Replacing sliding patio door with french doors (and painting them)
6. Replacing interior living room mini blinds with wood blinds
7. Removing and replacing all pre-existing carpeting
8. Adding laminate wood flooring in the loft
9. Renovating Guest Bathroom - replacing sink, paint color, flooring and hardware
10. Replacing front and backyard gates
11. Backyard renovation - paver patio, curbing, sod, side yard fire pit, granite around the curbing, adding palms and trees

There have been lots of smaller projects to spruce up things here and there as well. We were able to fill out a lot of our home with new furniture when Costco Home closed down and our new hobby, oil painting, is quickly filling up the walls with original art. We are very excited for our second year as homeowners and our upcoming fourth year as husband and wife!

Trees

Back in August, we made a run to Moon Valley Nursery and came back with some trees and palms to plant in our backyard. We also added granite rock around the curbing and sideyard/firepit area. I just realized I never posted any photos but couldn't run outside and take some because we are in the process of transitioning to winter grass.

These photos were taken just after planting and before the granite rock went in. You can see a Queen Palm on the left and the right and a Navel Orange tree to the right of the gate.

One of the Queen Palms.

A Mexican Fan Palm. I love our flagstone stepping stones- you can see them peeking out in the picture below.

We planted a Tipu Tree between our garage and our house. I'll have to take another photo of it because it has grown a lot since we first moved it. It is a fast grower and will bloom yellow flowers in the spring.

And here is how Jake and Joe dug the holes for all of these lovely trees!

Reclaimed Space

Let me preface this by reminding everyone who reads this that we have FOUR dogs. Our house is definitely not large enough for all of them, so we slowly tinker around with our set up trying to find a way to make living with them manageable for us and living with us manageable for them.

Lately, we have done quite a bit of tinkering. We set up a dog gate (extra tall) in our hallway to block access to the rest of the house. This gives us a nice, pen like space to put the Dobes when we don't want them to have free run of the house but we don't want to kennel them either. Look- it even has a small door small enough for just the pugs!


Then, we decided to reclaim the dog room as our own. We had used one of our extra bedrooms as a space to keep the dogs kenneled. However, we realized we could use the extra space and it was better to get used to having the dogs in the main living area since that is where they will ultimately need to be.

Where were we going to put the dogs? We ended up pushing our couch forward which solved two problems. First, it created the extra space we needed for Max's kennel (which is huge). Second, our living room rug now fits perfectly inbetween the couch and the entertainment console whereas previously there was a gap of tile.


So far, keeping the kennels in the main room of the house has worked for them and us. Joe recently found out that he is allergic to dogs and we have had to find ways to make living with FOUR dogs as undamaging to his health as possible. We have four air purifiers, an Animal Dyson and have also insisted upon a "No Dogs in any carpeted area" rule. More than anything, this rule has eased up on the allergens in the house because dust and fur are much easier to spot and clean on tile then on carpet where they linger in the fibers. An old, unused dog gate is now positioned on the stairs and keeps the dogs out of the loft as well.

So, how are the humans enjoying their new, extra space? Very much! We are using the extra bedroom as a studio and spend a lot of our down time painting. Eventually, this room will become the nursery but until then we are enjoying it for ourselves :)

Oils

Here is some more artwork that Joe and I have been working on. We spend a great deal of our time painting and reclaimed the dogs room (more on that later) and transformed it into a studio room for us.

Joe's Gargoyle

My Tiger Lily (work in progress).

Joe's Rose. This is his first painting.

Joe's portrait of the Dobermans (work in progress). I think he is doing a wonderful job!!!

Hobbies

It seems Joe and I are getting to that phase in life where we start developing new hobbies. Joe and I have most recently taken up oil painting. Our lovely friends George and Jeanine offered to let us come to their studio and give us a painting lesson. Since then, we've begun stocking up on supplies and spend quite a few days a week painting.

To do this, we cover our dining room table with a giant beach towel and set up our palettes, easels, canvas, medium, turpentine, brushes and oils. Then we're off!

Joe has been primarily painting roses and he has a work-in-progress Gargoyle. I have been sticking to landscapes and seem to end up with a beach scene no matter what I do. As our desire to paint has increased, so has our need for additional shelving to display our art work. We've already run out of room! Oil paints take time to dry- Mine take an espicially long time to dry since I tend to slather on the paint. This means that we have to find a place to display our finished artwork but also our works-in-progress while they dry.

Joe and I each have one finished painting. I have 3 pending paintings and Joe has 2. I'll post pictures as they start getting completed.

The painting above is one I finished last night. The only reason it was finished is because I did it in one sitting (as opposed to adding several layers). Joe has a beautiful rose painting which I need to take a photo of and then will post as well.

Pool

The kids came right at the beginning of the nasty heat wave we had in July. I've been so grateful for the cooler temperatures over the last few days (and so have my plants!). The kids spent a lot of time at the pool and all three went home darker then when we got them. Even Alec, so affectionately known as the Great White Hope by Joe, became more of the Great Cream Hope, by time he left.

A Frisbee, courtesy of Rachael's Dave & Busters winnings, provided the entertainment.

We had to stock up on pool accessories. I had to stock up on oxygen after trying to blow them all up.

Alec = Great White Hope

Rachael is throwing the frisbee-- Look! Over Brooke's head!

Relaxing. Cooling off. Burning to a little red, sun baked crisp.

The beach ball, Brooke, myself, Rachael and the frisbee.

Park Day

When the kids were here, we took the dogs to the park just down the street from our house. It ended up being too hot to let them play a lot, but Joe managed to get quite a few great pictures.

We were hot too -- I don't know why Alec, who burns the easiest, was sitting outside of the shade canopy.

Max and Sadie enjoying the shade too.

Look how big his tongue is!

Sadielicious
She blows kisses.. That puts them boys on rock, rock and they be linin down the block just to watch what she got!

My Dobes!

O-T-I-S. Number one, the original.

Sadie loves the grass. Laying it, rolling in it...

Oh, Baby Brady. He is adventerous enough to keep up with the Dobes, but he wears out quickly.

All four of my pups!! You'll notice Otis sat himself down right behind him, he is a Mommas boy for sure.

Just to show you how big Max is... bigger than me!!

Workin Outside

I've got a lot of pictures and what the heck- I'll do two blogs in a day since I've been ultra-lazy in posting lately.

Sunday's are usually my gardening day. There is not a lot to do in the summers because most of my plants are not growing enough to need any sort of trimming and deadheading (removing the spent flowers)is not necessary since my plants are also not flowering. In addition, I have not been able to get out there the last two weeks because of the heat and the monsoons. Our poor front yard is quite a mess with a giant blanket of pine needles on the ground! I refused to rake the yard after the first big storm a couple weeks back knowing that I'd have to redo in a few days when the next one came. We even had hail during that big one!

Now "it's HOT" is my excuse. And it is!! This is my first summer doing any sort of gardening and all of my plants were planted in the spring. It is a struggle trying to make sure they survive the summer. An unintended consequence of wanting a great deal of diversity in plants is that they all need different levels of water but they are all on the same drip line. This weekend I need to sit down and find out how much water they each need and then change the emitters to match. Then, I need to figure out a better watering system so the plants that need water daily get it while the plants that don't... don't!

Anyways, Rachael was kind enough and enthusiastic enough to help me one morning while she was here. She helped me rake and bag the pine needles from the lawn and the garden areas. She also helped me spray my roses and hibiscus plants. These need weekly showers of water to knock off any pests like i.e. the spider mites that I thought killed my potted hibiscus. Every single leaf fell off of the bush-- I cut into the bark and verified that it was green, and so alive, and then transplanted it into the grown. It is now fully green again (though the monsoon tore a lot of the leaves) and doing great (so long as I can keep it alive through the heat!).

Much thanks to Rachael for helping me and keeping me company while I worked outside.

Summer Cousin's Visits

My cousins from Oregon came up for a two week visit earlier in July. Every summer when I was a kid my sister, brother and I would spend our summers in Oregon. I was happy that my cousins got to have the chance to do the reverse and come visit us! Alec is 17, Brooke is 14 (15 soon!) and Rachael is 10. Here are some pictures of a night we spent at Dave and Busters. We combined all of our tickets and ended up with over 5,000. I'm still amazed that all the stuff Rachael got fit in her carry-on suit case!

Sadielicious

In January, Joe and I decided to try and find a female Doberman whose ears were already cropped and who was approximately the same age as Max. We assumed this would be difficult because puppies are much easier to find then a full grown Doberman. We thought the ear crop hurdle would be difficult because it is a costly procedure and it's unlikely someone would spend that kind of money and the months it takes to post the ears, just to give the dog away.

But, within a week or two of searching (even less if I'm remembering right) Joe found Sadie. She was being raised by a Doberman breeder out north. Sadie's original owner actually had two female Doberman's and Max played with Sadie first. The crop was standard with her puppies and she had intended to keep Sadie to breed but decided not to.

Our goal in owning a second Doberman was to provide Max with a more appropriate playmate. Doberman's need a lot of exercise and attention and as Max grew it became abundantly clear that he needed a playmate that he could interact with on his giant, muscular level. The pugs were not that dog. Max was also fearful of other dogs and we thought that having a companion would help him socialize better.

Ultimately, we loved how he interacted with Sadie. She was very playful and had no fear or reservations about playing with a dog she didn't know. She was also on the small side for a female Doberman which suited us well given that Max is well and beyond the large end. We ended up taking Sadie home that evening.

You can see in this picture that Sadie's ears were already cropped. She was terrifed of the car on the way home, her original owner had said she had never been in one before (I guess that's farm life for ya). When we got home she jumped into Joe's arms and had her front paws around his neck and would not let go. But the minute he put her down in the grass she trotted around, found a toy and played.

Sadie is a beautiful girl. I wanted her spade because Max was not neutered and there was no way I was going to deal with a dog in heat and a maturing male. We got Sadie so they could interact and without her being spade and heat fast approaching we would have had to separate them.

Sadie was not allowed on the couch or bed at her original owners home. She was basically a farm dog and spent most of her time outside. Because of this she is very comfortable outside. Max, Otis and Brady will whine (Max espicially) to be let back inside when we let them out. Sadie will run around and enjoys plopping herself down on the grass to relax. We don't allow any of the dogs on the couch, but this does not apply to the bed. Most often all of the dogs will be on there with us. Sadie will claim whichever spot fits the following requirements: One, it is next to Joe. Two, it has lots of pillows. Here she is crashed on the bed, sprawled out across pillows. If she is laying like this and we leave the room, she will not move. The other dogs run out and follow us, Sadie is a happy camper just resting.

Her second requirement: Joe is nearby.

Sadie is not a fan of water. We cannot seem to teach her to swim. Her main issue is that she will not lift her butt up so she is parallel to the water. You can hold her up like that and the minute you let go she will let her butt drop. I just bought one of those blue, plastic play pools to keep outside. All the dogs should enjoy this since none of them can drown but they can all stay cool.

One of Sadie's ears dropped and we weren't able to get it to stand back up. We recently took her to the Vet and had a procedure called an ear floss done. I won't go into the specifics but it has been working and we are hopeful her ear will continue to stand.

We call Sadie "Sadielicious" alot :)

Sadie is definitely a Daddy's girl. She loves Joe and he dotes on her. She loves to rest her head on things-- pillows, furniture, people just to let you know she is there. Everyone who meets her comments on her calm and sweet demeanor. She is an instant favorite. I think she has one of those personalities that just draw people to her. One of my favorite things about Sadie is how good she is with the pugs. She is very much a Momma dog and enjoys laying with them and licking them to clean them. She espicially enjoys being around puppies and it is adorable watching her play with them.

Sadie is another joy in our already joyous household. She is completely lovable, friendly and playful. Having four dogs can be difficult at times, but she definitely completed the picture. Without her, Max would not have had the constant companionship that she provides. The pugs are much more relaxed in the house now, and love her just as much as we do.