Lifestyle - A Garden Makeover

When I did my post about the Liebster Award I had to think up some questions to ask my nominees and it seemed unfair to not answer them myself, too. So here goes:

1. What's your motivation for blogging?

I started blogging because I was depressed and it was to help me organise my thoughts, now I just really enjoy being able to share the things I love with anyone who might be reading! I find it a fun thing to do and it still helps me to focus and clear up space in my head.

2. Is there anything you would change about yourself and why?

I'm not a big believer in regrets, I don't think they serve much purpose and I'm pretty much the same about who I am too. I would like to lose some weight as it's not healthy to be as big as I am, but I do go to the gym regularly and I walk everywhere so I don't count myself as unfit... 

3. What's your favourite book?

Why did I ask this?! I cannot pick just one. But I suppose if I was going to be trapped on a desert island the book I would most like to have with me (other than a book on survival skills) would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I've read it over and over...

4. Do you have any pets?

Um, no, but I would love a cat. 

5. Do you have a pet hate?

I hate people cracking their knuckles!

6. Who inspires you?

My biggest inspiration is probably my mum. Yeah, I know. But I always take her advice and respect her opinion. She shows me the way when I can't see it and she somehow manages to always give off a calm, yet determined, vibe.

Oh, and she smells like coffee :)

7. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

You'll never know if you don't try.

8. What would you do if you won the lottery?

Buy the house I'm currently renting and do it up properly. Put in a nice arbour for my new garden. Then I would make sure all my friends had something they needed and lastly, go on a big holiday somewhere warm and sunny. Oh, and I'd give some to a couple of charities that I care deeply about... (MS Society, Cancer Research UK, RSPB, Scope, Hull Animal Welfare Trust and Dove House (and probably a couple of others as well.)) 

9. What's your next ambition?

To have a paid job!

10. What's your favourite flavour of ice cream?

As long as it's got chocolate in I'm usually good! Probably Ben and Jerry's Phish Food...

11. Are you happy right now? 

Yes. And it's been a very long time since I have been able to say that!

So, that is my contribution. I shall now leave the Liebster Award alone and you can all heave a sigh of relief! 

I mentioned in those answers that I have a new garden. What I meant by that is that I have done up my garden to such an extent it looks like a new one! My neighbour and I pruned back all the privet hedging down both sides of the garden. We also got rid of all the random debris that was at the bottom of the garden and had been left by the previous tenant. 

The right hand side, after pruning (basically this was what we did in the morning)

I have no idea why this one is so blurry, and I didn't even notice until after we'd cut all of this hedge back too! (you can see the weird structure that was left by the old tenants too...)

The agency had been meant to tidy that up, but never did.

We trimmed back the hedge at the bottom of the garden and found that there was a patch of actual earth in there. The word garden is probably an overstatement. It's a concrete yard, but much bigger then I had realised! We also sorted the gate so it actually worked as such. It took us a whole day and I spent the two subsequent days with arms that were incredibly sore...

et voila! This is before we sorted the gate, but the garden is unrecognisable from earlier...

I went out on Saturday and got some flowers to put in my new flowerbed and planted them up on Sunday. I have put 2 lupins, a verbena, 2 lavenders and some pansies in :) 

Not the neatest, but it's all mine :)

Now, I just sit back and wait for them to grow... 

Love, Pearl.