As I mentioned in a previous post, Mr. Right has been nesting even more than me. I was really concerned with getting the nursery put together, which he so wonderfully helped me with (since I can’t paint, move heavy things, etc.), and once he finished that, he moved on to the backyard.

I came home from work one night to a surprise – he had finished building the pergola that we started last summer when we expanded our patio. Check out his handiwork – he did everything in one afternoon! My man is so talented when it comes to dreaming things up and then turning them into reality. While you’re at it, check out our monster urban garden he built last summer – we’re eating the best home-grown tomatoes in the whole world right now.

You’ll notice he also put twinkle lights above our table because, well, I have a weird obsession with twinkle lights. If I could, I’d leave Christmas lights on our house year-round, but then we’d be those neighbors (actually, sometimes I wonder if we already ARE those neighbors). The twinkle lights make a bit of a chandelier right over our table – It’s my favorite part!

Can you tell we don’t like to mow? We’ve slowly but surely filled our tiny backyard with flowers, patios, and vegetable gardens. One or two more summers and there won’t be a blade of grass anywhere to be seen!

And, while we’re at it, I thought I’d show you some other new additions, including our succulents (um, hello – succulent is code for cactus which is code for “okay if you forget to water for weeks at at time” – this is my new favorite plant!):

Another easy plant to keep alive is moss rose – and it blooms the most beautiful, colorful blooms. The only drawback is that it wilts every night, so if you’re hosting a lot of evening parties, it will look like you’ve got a dead plant. But during the day, it’s breathtaking. I’m also partial to hibiscus, which reminds me of Hawaii.

And then there’s our potted jalapenos, which I plan to wrap in bacon and cream cheese any day now. Yum.

We have tried to spend every cool evening sitting on our patio, soaking up the new place. It makes me feel like I’m on vacation in my own backyard. Thanks to my Mr. Right for dreaming up such a wonderful escape for us!