Cafe Curtains, Peanut Butter Pancakes & a Secret Garden

Hello friends! We had quite the productive weekend over at the house. Little by little we are meeting all the neighbors and they are super sweet. I'm pretty sure, collectively, they've offered to lend us every power tool or lawn instrument we could ever need and volunteered to help us. Can't beat good old Midwestern hospitality!

On Saturday I put up some easy, DIYed cafe curtains over the kitchen sink, made of Pier 1 napkins, a tension rod and Ikea curtain ring clips. It's amazing how something this little makes our kitchen feel so fresh. We won't have our furniture and belongings for another week and Nick doesn't want to start painting projects until we have all of our painting supplies, which are in Atlanta, so the majority of the work we've done this weekend is in the basement and outside. I'm so ready to start decorating and making things more homey!

My super studly husband filled 17 lawn bags of leaves and branches. The yard is looking so much better, but there is still a lot to do. The house was empty for a long time and the previous owner (according to several neighbors) didn't mow the lawn in the entire two years she lived here. Needless to say, it was horribly overrun and everyone's really pleased we are increasing their home values by restoring the curb appeal.

The side patio/courtyard is one of my favorite spots of the house. I can't wait to have it all fixed up! We will have so much fun grilling and entertaining in this sweet space. Here is a shot of Nick rocking a saw. Oh, and it only looks like he's cutting down the branch he's standing on. ;)

Side courtyard entrance:

I took this shot of the whole courtyard back in February, so it's pretty stark looking, but you can see from the shot above of Nick that the redbuds are now in bloom and there is also a beautiful, blossoming pear tree. Just need a partridge! I think we'll plant some Forsythia back here too...

The shrine. Haha!

Spring has sprung in Missouri! The weather was a comfortable 70 degrees this weekend. Please don't be blinded by my glow in the dark legs. Collin got all rosy cheeked and sweaty from all the running around so we pulled off his shirt. He can say "hot" now, but he elongates every vowel, so when you ask him if he's hot he first says, "Um hmm!" and then "Haaaaaaaht!" Not sure he knows what it means, but It's the cutest thing.

On Sunday morning we played hooky from church and went to Colonel's Pancake House. What a step back in time! Their peanut butter pancakes are to.die.for. Can't make this place a habit! Hope you all had a great weekend!