A quick little update and my favourite reads from the week.


Happy Friday friends! How was your week? It’s been another busy week around here as we worked our way through a few more big tasks around the house, mainly outdoors I’d say. Despite the smoke rolling in from the forest fires all around us (we’re still not out of the danger zone yet), we spent a lot of time working on projects outside this week. While Brady has worked on trouble shooting our very neglected sprinkler system, trying to see whether it might be salvageable (it would be SUCH a great feature to have if we can make it work!), I was busy digging away in the gardens. Like everything else around here, every garden bed around this place had been forgotten about long ago. Bushes, ferns and weeds had totally taken over. Having moved in at the end of the summer last year, there really wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it all last year, but this year my plan was to get ahead of things before it all grew totally out of control again. I’ve been slowly working my way through each of the different garden beds these past few weeks, digging out all of the old plants that had been neglected for far too long to salvage. Our plan is to replenish the dirt in them all and replant them with some new bushes and trees. While we picked up a truckload of plants last weekend, I want to wait until Brady’s got the sprinkler system all figured out before I fill them back up. We’re hoping he’ll have some extra time to work on it all through the long weekend ahead and hopefully we’ll have a better idea of what we’re working with there soon. My goal is to have these weed free and replanted with trees and bushes by the end of the month – wish me luck!
Do you have any fun plans for the weekend ahead? The forest fires surrounding us will be keeping us close to home again this weekend – we’re just not really comfortable with the idea of being too far away to come home and pack up if our little town ends up being evacuated. While this means we’ve had to cancel our long weekend plans, there are still plenty of fun things we can do closer to home – not only are we planning to hit the local trails with mountain bikes, but I think we might just dig out the paddle boards for the first time this season as well. And of course, we’ll take advantage of the extra time at home to get a handle on some of these outdoor projects like the sprinkler system and the gardens.


Our Favourite Living Room Lights (including the one we chose)
And now, here are my favourite reads from the week…
My favourite reads from the week…

How sweet is this little girl’s room.
Loving all of the colour and pattern in this gorgeous house tour.
I’v really loved following along with this modern farmhouse renovation.
Cannot wait to try these pesto garlic butter soft pretzel knots.

Easy ways to achieve the easy going California casual style in your home.
The book I’ve been curling up with this week.
And finally, the Instagram feed I can’t get enough of this week.


Wishing you the most lovely weekend! Let me know if you have any fun plans in the comments below!
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You are so wise to amend the soil before planting. Years ago, when I moved into my home, the soil was hard, dry and had clay deep down about 12 inches.
I bought some gypsum, mushroom compost, peat moss, sand and lots of bags of soil. Mixed it all together and tilled it into the garden beds. Today the gardens are flourishing, and everywhere I dig there are earthworms enjoying the soil.
Hard work, but so worth the investment.
Thanks Patti! That’s great to hear that all of your hard work paid off. I sure hope we can say the same down the road too!