My family was in town last week. One afternoon, we went to the RiNo district for lunch and a Rockies Game. We sat up high and enjoyed people watching, beautiful weather and game day snacks.A beautiful day at Coors Field with the new lights high above the stands.Funnel cake! Never had it, but it looks pretty tasty!New construction from Coors Field. The Denver skyline is full of cranes.It looks like I’m photo bombing Susie! Heading into the field.I don’t know if you’ve been into the RiNo District lately, but it’s been completely redeveloped and is now a hip and stylish area. We ate at Safta (meaning grandma) Restaurant, which offers fabulous Middle Eastern food. It’s located in the The Source Hotel and Market Hall lobby. I recommend this awesome restaurant with great food, views and service. The lobby of the hotel- Market Hall, has a fun retail area including a coffee shop, floral shop and local art.One of the unique shops at Market Hall.Susie pondering weather to visit another shop or grab a Chai Latte at the coffee bar. Latte won!We also stopped by the Old Santa Fe Pottery shop to see what they are showing for spring! It’s so fun here! I would LOVE to convert this place into a house with a cool courtyard!
Ok, “retired” is a debatable word. It’s come up over the last 3 years that I’m not actually “retired”. And that’s fair! I manage my rentals which is a responsibility, and sometimes they require extra time and energy to maintain, repair or upgrade any of the houses. I’m fortunate that I’ve had great tenants for the most part, and good luck with no devastating property issues! Thankfully! And I do love to remodel, which takes time and money, of course. But it’s also a great creative outlet for me. And it improves my investment at the same time. So, I’m not retired in the sense of not having any responsibilities, I’m retired from working for someone else and having a schedule. Self employed, I guess. Otherwise, I’m busy doing all the things I love to do. And getting paid for it. Win, Win!
I make it all seem like a dream, but the reality is that everything doesn’t always go perfectly smooth. I’m grateful to have help with maintenance issues that pop up at the rentals, like the kitchen plumbing at one of the houses. Juan is nor only positive and determined, he doesn’t complain about having to work under the sink for a few hours. Ugh!I was hoping to get the repair done without having to dig into the wall downstairs, but we ended up having to make a small hole in the drywall to get to the problem. Good thing we did, the insulation and drywall were wet. Now that the clog is fixed, I’ll let the inside of the wall dry before repairing the hole we made.This part, I can do! I have MAD weed eating skills!Meanwhile, Juan is finishing up the plumbing repair.Susie and I went by this specialty shop on Santa Fe to see what they offer for small spaces. Murphy Bed’s have come along way! These are cool, but not cheap! The most expensive one was $15K! They are custom made and can be configured in several ways to fit the space. I’m learning about them here.Downtown Englewood! Englewood has been experiencing a redevelopment over the last several years. I love the new energy, next generation of neighbors and new businesses. See the cow at the far end?At the end of a great week we had a great dinner at the new One Barrel Restaurant in Englewood. Preston can’t contain his excitement!And, I learn grace from Rocco. Here, he’s found a perfect place to grab some morning sun. He does only what makes him happy, feels or tastes good, loves having the family around with all their shenanigans, and he simply wants to be near the humans he loves. I try to be like him.
Taking a break and sitting in the sun on the back patio! This is Nice!Rocco has his own sofa, of course.So exciting! I got a delivery on Saturday morning. My new outdoor furniture!Although I know I’m putting this thing together, I look a bit tentative in this pic.Rocco is also checking things out, very closely.OK! I can do this!Here’s my station, under the umbrella, on my new patio!It only took 4.5 hours, but I got it done and think it’s perfect! There are sure to be more moves, but the pieces are modular so I can move them around, how they best fit for different uses. Plus, I love looking at this from the kitchen! Yesterday, while assembling the group, I learned how valuable the umbrella is in this space. I almost feel like a Cedar arbor overheard would be nice. But for now, I’ll try it this way.This is the view from the new sitting area. Not to bad!This space is also more private and protected with the shed, fence and house surrounding it. It feels intimate and It’s the first space you see when you walk into the back yard.The shed provides shade in the afternoon, but the umbrella keeps the space usable all day.This is the accent pillow fabric I bought for all the outdoor furniture. It adds some fun color to an otherwise pretty neutral palette. The pattern is sophisticated, bright and casual.In order to move this behemoth, I had to take most of the dirt out and roll it. It’s big and heavy empty! It’ll go in the back yard once the landscapers finish the Breeze.I used up all the materials that were being stored in the middle of the yard. Now you can see straight through to the back of the yard when you walk into the back. This is your view.My landscaper will be back for the last visit (I hope) to finish up the irrigation and some details. The border around the back patio and around the whole back yard will be gone, with a few steppers along the patio and walkways. I’ll lose 2 of these 4×8 Cedar planters, leaving me more space to move around. I so appreciate a clean, low maintenance yard!There are 2 shrubs that I planted several years ago, growing along the back patio. They’ve been abused over the years and especially during this project but are showing signs they will be back. I love the deep Burgundy leaves they produce. I’ve trimmed them back and look forward to seeing how they evolve this year.This project has been healing and energizing for me. This being the first house I bought when I moved to Denver, I can’t help but think about my life then, now, and all the years in between. I’m grateful everyday, that I can wake up, hear the birds chirp and smell the earth begin to wake up and grow again. This is my therapy and I’m so glad to be able to share it with you! Happy Easter!
Heading toward the East Coast for a couple days before our visit to Ireland.We stayed at the tip of Manhattan this time, in the financial district. Where the Green dot is.
On the way to Ireland, we stayed in NYC for 2 nights to take in some of the sights. The map shows where our hotel was, at the tip of Manhattan. In the 2 days we were there, we walked around and were able to see a lot of Battery Park, Liberty Island, Ellis Island, ground zero at World Trade Center and found some fun places to stop for lunch, dinner and cool refreshments.
We stayed at The Doubletree Hilton at the Financial District on Stone Street. This is the view from our room. The room was clean, with nice linens, but SUPER small. I guess that’s how it works in NYC. We loved the location and were able to walk around easily from the room. Starbucks was half a block away, gratefully! We had a partial view of Ellis Island, on the left side of the pic, across the harbor. Battery Park is on this side of the harbor, below. NYC, Financial District. New York does a good job of creating parks in the middle of the city. The bull on Wall Street is bigger than it looks! Defiant girl, in training!We walked down the embankment to The World Trade Center grounds. This place is such an emotional space. Years later, people from all over the world are here trying to understand how something like this could happen and pray for peace in our world.I can’t explain how it feels to be in this place. Somber, heavy and reflective. The Twin Tower foot prints, now eternity pools, are so vast. This pic shows how small the people across the pool are. The survivor tree at Ground Zero was saved after severe damage and has been a beacon of hope for so many after 9/11.1 World Trade Center.American Merchant Marines Memorial on the harbor. North Cove and Manhattan Sailing School on this gorgeous day! These yachts are over 150′ long. This marina sits along the harbor and has great restaurants, shops and walking paths with people enjoying the beautiful sunny day in August.North Cove is on the Hudson, 3 blocks from The World Trade Center Museum. We discovered a great deli and enjoyed our sandwiches on a bench watching crew members work on these amazing yachts.The Staten Island Ferry is free and takes people across the harbor to New Jersey on a regular schedule. We decided to take a spin across and back toward the end of our first day.The ferry’s are actually pretty cool. It’s a main form of transportation across the Hudson. Here are local commuters on the ferry.After walking around all day, I was looking for a good place to sit and sip. “How about this place?” I’m pointing out the Dubliner to Sean, who is desperately looking for a Guiness.
This cute little alley was blocked off to traffic and set up for people to hang out in between a bunch of little neighborhood restaurants. We loved finding it only a block from our hotel.
Awww! I look happy to be off my feet and scoping the NY scene.The 2nd day, we decided to try out luck at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tours. I’m not big on huge lines of people, but I had to suck it up and stand in line with the rest of them to see the sights!Looking back at Manhattan across the harbor.The Coast Guard is always on alert. The gunner is standing on the bow, strapped into a harness with his hand on the machine gun! Adventurous job!The path walking around Lady Liberty on Liberty Island. This shot, from Liberty Island shows Manhattan and 1 World Trade Center in the background, Ellis Island on the left of the background and all the tourists walking around Liberty Island.Liberty Island is worth standing in line and navigating through hundreds of people. The statue from France represents Liberty Enlightening the World. Such a positive image from our history.1 World Trade Center with sailboats in the harbor.Ellis Island from the ferry.
Ellis Island Hall, where thousands of immigrants landed, looking for a better life.
Irish immigrant family in a pic at Ellis Island. A hard life makes it understandable to want to immigrate. “Goodbye, I’ll see you later!”The long story of Immigration can not be accurately demonstrated in these few pics. However, when visiting Ellis Island, it’s heartbreaking and inspiring to read about all the people who have found their way to the US, using whatever means they had, to try for a better life.Ellis Island. On the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. I do love to visit New York. I’ve now been a couple times and look forward to a return visit. It’s a great way to break up a trip to Europe and now, we’re off to Ireland.
Susie was in town last week to help me get my yard cleaned up for spring! It’s a tradition we look forward to, celebrating all the tiny miracles that happen, this time of year. We took my brother, Michael to lunch for his birthday.I got my outdoor curtains up and the patio furniture rearranged. Luckily, I have plenty of rugs to use on the concrete pad. I’m thinking abut tiling the whole patio to clean it up and add some fun style to the space.The curtains add a lot of charm and privacy to the space. I can open or close them to create more intimate sitting areas.Here, I’m using a curtain to create a backdrop for the floating chair. And we finally moved all the garden tools from the outside of the shed. Now I can use this door to access the shed.Susie dug all the volunteer grass out of the planter and we raked up old tree branches and leaves on the Breeze, leaving the yard cleaner, but aching for some foliage.This vintage paned glass door was recycled from the cottage on the back of the lot. I love it as a decorative focal point and practical door to the shed. All the windows were also recycled from another house which I had the original windows replaced.This tree and shrub were salvaged during the remodel. The shrub isn’t looking so good, but I hope they both survive the project. Shade and foliage is what this house is missing right now.This is what you see when you come in the side gate, which has become my actual entry to the house. At this point, every pic I post has a lingering project that I need to address. In this pic, it’s the Blue tarp covering mulch, potting soil and bulbs from last fall. I just need to do it! The side yard is clean with Breeze. Although this isn’t a part of the yard people see, I love how clean and low maintenance it is! These curtains give me and my neighbor privacy while I’m on the back patio, which is more and more often!The pile of flagstone behind the door will be used in the front and back yards for steppers near the sliding patio door and as you walk off the patio slab of the back porch.The garden boxes are overgrown with only a couple plants worth saving. Susie dug out clumps of grass and found a healthy Chive and a Strawberry plant! More proof that miracles happen everyday in the garden!Susie and I moved this rustic garden bench to this area to accommodate all the pots that will come in handy in a month, or so. This valuable space is now the gardening area. A place to work and store my outdoor projects! The 4×4 planter will be removed.I‘m meeting with my landscaper to discuss removing a couple of these planters. I’ll have 2 large and 1 small planter to use. That’ll give me more room for my fire pit, on this end, and the garden work space at the other end. Sprinklers will get turned on for the season at the end of April.I’ve been shopping for outdoor patio furniture for this space. Now that I use it for my entrance everyday, I need to make it welcoming and comfortable. So far, I hung a window planter with metal shudders, added a couple chaise lounge chairs and I moved an outdoor bakers/garden rack near the shed door. The pots will get moved after I dig some of the dirt out of them to make them lighter. 2 part project! I still need more foliage and soft cushioned furniture!More window planters on this side. I also have some metal art I’ll add to this side of the shed.This cluttered corner will be a focal point of the yard. Motivation to do what I need to do! Nice extension cord leading to the heat tape on the shed roof!I added a couple hanging baskets on the front arbor and have a couple smaller projects planned for the front yard. I’ll make the garden with the Aspen tree a bit bigger and taller- like a burm, with some perennial flowers. Also add a second burm style garden on the other piece of grass near the driveway with the windmill, shrub or tree and perennial flowers too!My fabulous sister, Susie! Loving the early vegetation at O’Toole’s garden shop! I find my way here throughout the winter, when it’s cold and snowy outside and spring is only a distant memory. See how happy she is?Spring is such an inspiring time for everyone! The anticipation of each pastey white face as we visit the garden shop to see what treasures are just in!
Even the yard cat in the video below is inspired, although cats don’t really show emotion, I can see she’s happy to have the fresh adventure!
Smart Girl Ideas 