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Happy Monday, folks. After a week of no posting, I’m anxious to give you guys some updates. But, since this:
…is currently going on outside of my house right now, there isn’t much time between chainsaw noises, yelling, and dog barks (that are also setting off my neighbor’s car alarm) to form coherent sentences. So, just a few quick details about what to expect this week:
1. Obviously, the chainsaw means that the tree service I selected last month is hard at work turning my back yard into a much sunnier area. I’m trying to both stay out of their way and simultaneously take photos for you during the process (every time one of the larger sections is taken down, it shakes the house and scares the crap out of Charlie). But HECK YEAH! More sun! Less brown! And just in time for things to start warming up. It will be fun figuring out what to plant back there and do with the space once it’s all done.
2. After a bout of food poisoning last week (which was really, really bad, and also the reason for the lack of posts), I had very little time to finish up some of the stuff I slated on the calendar for February. Which means I’m that much more excited to get some updates out to you this week.
3. Thankfully, I managed to recover in just enough time to take a quick trip to San Francisco for a media summit planned at the end of last week. It was an in-and-out thing, so I didn’t really see any sights, but it was gorgeous and a wonderful break from all of the freezing cold temps in Georgia (which have already started warming up again… per the usual for wacky weather in this state). Really looking forward to having an excuse to go back again, so if you have any suggestions for what to see next time, I’m all ears!
4. I’ve still got to share February’s small DIY project (here’s January’s), but have also started working on March. This one might get a little nerdy.
5. I have been trying for MONTHS to finalize the new blog design, and am still unable to make a final decision on the layout (or rather, have time to focus on finalizing it). But, since design is always a little fun, I’m writing up a post where you can see some of the MANY variations of what the new UDH logo has been looking like behind the scenes. There are quite a few, so it will be fun to also see what you think of them.
That’s it for now. Even if the trees are the only things that truly get done this week, it will be tons of work completed—literally.
I hate to see healthy trees be cut down, but sometimes it really is for the good of the house/yard/letting sun in!! Plus I can’t imagine having to deal with all of the gutter-clogging pine needles. Yuck!
I have a question… did you just kind of teach yourself website design/coding independently, or was it something you studied as part of your MBA? I know some basic html and have some basic adobe creative suite skills, but would love to hear how you went about teaching yourself these things or maybe if you are just a natural :)
I posted some details about how I learned on my design site, here. I am pretty much all self-taught by breaking my site and fixing it over and over. Not the quickest way of course, but definitely fun for me!
I got pretty giddy last Fall when we had all our trees trimmed. I then shuddered at the hack job two of my neighbors got on their trees! I think they used the same untrained company/guy. They look hideous and I don’t quite understand why they felt the trees needed THAT! Glad you were better in time to go to SF. I would love to go sometime. As for the weather we will have 55 degrees on Wed. with rain and a high of 27 on Thursday! I think every state may be entitled to the “if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes” statement. We all seem to get it. Can’t wait to see your logo changes!
Cutting the trees like that, leaving a gorgeous crown makes them so pretty, makes the yard seems larger and wonderful – great you decided on that – we live where you cant cut down trees but they can be trimmed and there is so much to be done with that approach – and taking out all the underbrush, etc. tho you dont seem to have much. Feel better – dare I say you are doing a tad too much?? Making the flowers grow and the mold give up is another reasons for the tree renovation – all the best and thanks for thinking of us thru all of this!
So sorry you were ill! So thrilled to see the trees coming down!
I just started blogging about my home renovation and there are a lot of similar things in our homes. I also live in Atlanta! I was reading your blog at work and my boss walked by. It happened to be on a picture of your before dining room (the one on the house tour page), she stopped and commented on how lovely the pink was and how beautifully it was decorated. She asked if it was my house. I held it together long enough to say “no, it’s on a blog I’m reading.” However, when she was out of earshot I had a good laugh about it!! Yes, she is on the older side. I am glad to know your dining room looks so much better now! I also hope that people like us continue to put old houses out of their overly-cutesy misery! ;) Cheers!
Thank you! Funny, she is not the only one who has complimented the wallpaper in my “before” pic. Others have done the same and I’m like, “whaaa?” To each their own, I suppose! FYI, there’s an Atlanta blogger group for DIYers that meets up on a regular basis to talk blog if you want to look them up on Facebook. It’s a closed group, so if you have an email address you’d like me to send an invite to, shoot me a quick email and I’d be happy to add you (Erin from DIY on the Cheap is the organizer).