Garden Produce

I think I've mentioned before that one of my FAVORITE parts of being a home owner is having my own garden. This is the first year since I was a little kid that I've been able to grow things of my own, in my own back yard. I spent a lot of hot, sweaty hours outside digging my vegetable garden and building a raised bed for my strawberries. I also sunburned a ridiculous stripe across my lower back, where my shirt rode up while I was working. Anyway, I like to snap photos of my garden and its produce with my phone, and I think it's high time I share them with the world! Read on:

OK, so this is my "farm." It's about 6'x6' and I had just finished digging it up when I took this photo, back on April 5th.


Eventually I planted 3 types of tomatoes, a cucumber vine, some peas, and a banana pepper plant. This is how things looked a few weeks later, on June 16th:

I did not grow any of that from seed - I tried to grow a lot of tomatoes and peppers form seeds and it didn't work out well. I think I started too late, gave them too little light, and in general did not know what on Earth I was doing. I bought these as baby plants from various nurseries around Wichita including Johnson's Garden Center, The Home Depot, and whoever set up shop in the old CompUSA parking lot at Rock and 34th.

Before long, the garden matured and started fruiting like crazy! Well, everything but the peas. They died pretty quickly. I heard somewhere that peas like a colder growing season, so maybe that's why they didn't make it. The first plant in the veggie garden to produce was the banana pepper. Imagine the thrill when I checked on it one afternoon and found THIS:

Sadly, I had a hard time telling when the pepper was ripe. I'm pretty sure that by the time I picked it off the plant, it was past its prime. However, the plant has been gracious enough to provide several new baby peppers, and I hope to do better with those.

Next, the cucumber took off. That thing has pretty much taken over all the free space in the garden. For some reason I don't have any pictures of my harvested cucumbers, but there have probably been 7 or 8 so far, with plenty more left growing on the vine. My first few were beautiful, dark green and long. The next "batch" was different, kind of yellow and shorter. I think something happened to the plant that it didn't like. Maybe it didn't get enough water for a while, or maybe it was just too darn hot. I haven't tried one of the yellow cucumbers yet, but I'm hoping they're not bad.

Finally, the tomatoes burst into productivity. I have a pretty decent harvest from the three plants about once a week, sometimes twice. Here's a typical day's worth of ripe ones:


I like to combine my tomatoes and cucumbers in a salad which I dress with a mixture of olive oil, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and whatever else I'm in the mood for. It comes out looking something like this:

I'm addicted to these salads now - I don't know what I'll do when the growing season is over.

I also made some salsa with my best friend last weekend using a bunch of tomatoes and some store-bought ingredients. It was super easy! We skinned the larger tomatoes (Slice an X into the skin, boil them for a minute (maybe less) and drop them into ice water. The skin slides right off.) and left the little ones alone, then diced them all. Then we chopped about a quarter of an onion (I am not big on onion. I use it sparingly.) and a few cilantro leaves (again, not a big fan.) Combined all those and added some lime juice and a TINY pile of chopped hot peppers, and I had the perfect salsa for me. Mild, tangy, and colorful. However, I have unique taste in salsa, and to make it more crowd-pleasing, we then added some garlic (which I hate), more hot peppers, and more cilantro. The salsa went over well with everyone, so I can't wait to make it again! If I make it at home, I think I'll add corn. I love corn in salsa. But I digress. . .

Here's the garden today:

You can see the tomato plants got HUGE! The biggest is the Yellow Pear Tomato, then the Roma, then Jet Stars. I think they grew the way they did because the Yellow Pear gets the first of the sun, and shades the other two. I'm happy though, because I like the Yellow Pears best, then the Romas, then the Jet Stars. You can also see the yellow parts of the cucumber. I really don't know what I did to anger that plant. It's still putting off cucumbers though, and the new ones are nice and dark green, so I think it forgave me. The pepper plant sort of blends in with the tomatoes, but it's in front of the Jet Star plant. The peas, clearly, are not there at all.

I also built a raised strawberry bed in April:

It was slow to take off, but I added a layer of straw over the top soil and that seemed to make the plants happier (sorry, no picture) and they started to fruit around June. I think they may be done fruiting now, or they might just be taking a break, but for a while I had something like this waiting for me just about every morning:


Last but DEFINITELY not least, I have a ton of flower plants. I can't take credit for many of them, because the previous owner of my house had a lot of beautifully maintained perennials. Here are a few photos of them:












I also contributed my own NEW set of perennials around our mailbox, which I think I've shared before:

(Those are all looking pretty dead now, by the way. I'm hoping this is just part of what they do - none of the neighbors' flowers are alive anymore either so I don't think I messed up.)

And, in my back yard, I planted a huge pot of petunias:

I wish I had taken a picture of them a month later - they went crazy and filled out the whole barrel beautifully.

I also planted sunflowers. I then failed to water them sufficiently and, shortly after blooming, they died. I did get one picture before it was too late:


Phew, congratulations if you read this far! Thanks for letting me share my garden story with you. I can't wait to do it all again next year!

Summer in Wichita

Hello readers!

I hope nobody has lofty expectation for this update, because I don't have anything special to unveil or impart. I've just missed updating for a while, and even though there's nothing special to report, I felt like checking in!

A couple of weeks ago I closed a REALLY tough deal for a friend of mine named Peter. He bought a beautiful riverfront property! It was quite a troublesome transaction, and I won't go into details publicly, but the moral of the story is that when reasonable people decide to work together to achieve something, anything is possible! I feel very fortunate that in this case the buyer, seller, and both agents all wanted the same things and were all willing to work hard and or/compromise to reach that goal. Now Peter has his house, the seller has moved up, and everybody's happy! I wish I had thought to take a picture of Peter the way I did with Price; I'd love to have pictures of all my clients in front of their new homes. Maybe I'll get one the next time I visit.

In other news, there are free concerts at Bradley Fair on Thursdays! The shopping center does this every summer, but I've only started to go recently. Sometimes these concerts overlap with the Zoo concerts, so choose carefully! Here's a schedule, and I'm sorry that the series is almost over already!

Funny Story

In case you didn't know, when I'm not selling Real Estate, I'm usually dancing. I work part time at Old Town Ballroom as an instructor, and I'm on the board of directors for the Wichita Swing Dance Society. I do performances for local events, and I socially dance at every possible opportunity.

As a result of this, SOMETIMES I have the eerie experience of being recognized by strangers. I'll be going along through my day and suddenly someone I don't know stops me, asks if they saw me dance at such-and-such event, and we chat for a minute. It's kind of cool, and kind of surreal at the same time.

Well, yesterday, Bryan and I were shopping for furniture and we decided to buy this couch for our basement:


So we talked to the sales guy and got the transaction squared away, and as we turn to leave, he says to me "Hey, don't you dance? For like the Wichita Ballroom?" I got a little flustered (which always happens at times like these) and stammered that I do. He said "Yeah, I saw you dance at the Bridal Fair at Century II a few months ago. . ." and I said something and we chatted a little. Then, he says to BRYAN, "Congratulations dude, you're dating a local celebrity!"

I just about burst out laughing on the spot! a) I am not used to being talked about that way, and b) WHY would this furniture salesman assume that two people, buying a couch together, wearing wedding rings, were just dating? I don't know, but the whole episode just makes me laugh. Hopefully it got a giggle out of you too.

Summer Concert Series at Sedgwick County Zoo

Hello Wichita!

Did you miss me? The entire month of May has practically been gobbled up by a couple of sales I've been navigating. Congratulations to my buddy Kevin on selling his house within one month of listing (with help from me, of course)! I'm hoping to wrap up another purchase in the next couple of weeks - keep your fingers crossed for me!

I wanted to make sure all my readers know about the Summer Concert Series at the Sedgwick County Zoo! These live shows are a great way to spend a summer evening, and, most times, I can be found dancing in front of the band. Here's the schedule for this summer:

Gates open at 6:30 p.m. Concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and runs until 10.

June 10: New Riders of the Purple Sage
June 24: the subdudes
July 8: Honey Island Swamp Band
July 22: Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band
August 5: Better Than Ezra

Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children ages (3-11), for both Zoo members and nonmembers. Advance tickets can be purchased at the Zoo entrance, by phone at 316-266-8273 or online.

Tickets purchased at the door are:
$12 for Adult members
$15 for Adult nonmembers

$6 for Child members
$8 for Child nonmembers

For more information, including season pass prices, visit the Zoo's information page.

I hope to see some of you out there this summer!

What Every Seller Should Know (Part 2)

Hello Sellers! It's time for another installment of What Every Seller Should Know. Last time, I discussed the importance of making sure your home looks its best from the outside. Today, we're moving on to making cosmetic improvements to the interior of your home.

Making Cosmetic Improvements
If you've ever watched any of the home-improvement shows on TLC or HGTV, you know what a huge difference a cosmetic makeover can make to a space. The great thing about these changes is that they're often simple and cheap, especially compared with major remodeling. Speaking of major remodeling, I do NOT recommend it as a means to get your house ready for sale. Replacing an outdated oven range or a grungy bathroom fixture is one thing, but doing a total re-haul of your home's floor plan (or other similar measures) can easily land you in a situation where you either can't find a buyer who likes what you've done OR you can't recoup the costs of the remodeling by selling. Bottom line: Accept your home for what it IS, and make the best of it, rather than trying to make it something it isn't.

That being said, here are some great ways to help your house fulfill its potential:

- Paint the entire interior in warm, neutral colors. Think colors like sandy browns, sage greens, and light greys. And think SIMPLE - if your painting gets too customized with trim colors, accent walls, or borders, you'll end up narrowing the field of buyers who will find it attractive. Read more about using warm neutrals here.

- Remove, store, or hide any of your stuff that you don't use every day. This includes furniture, knick-knacks, family photos, small appliances, and more. You want your home to appear as large and spacious as possible. You want buyers to immediately start imagining what THEY would do with the space, instead of being distracted by what you've done with it.

- If you have carpet, it should be professionally cleaned. If it's in poor condition, or if you have pets, you should consider replacing it. Wood laminate floors are incredibly popular with today's buyers and they are a great option if your flooring needs to be improved.

- Clean all kitchen, bathroom, and lighting fixtures throughout your house. If hte fixtures are dated or damaged, consider replacing them. Fixtures in a home are kind of like makeup on a woman's face. When they're done right, you might not be able to put your finger on why, but you know the house looks nice. When they're done wrong, the place looks ugly.

- Keep your home relatively clean the whole time it's on the market. Usually you will have plenty of advanced notice before a buyer drops by, but you want to be ready just in case! I'll discuss how to stage your home for a showing in greater detail later in this series.

I hope that helps some of you! The best thing to keep in mind when your getting your house ready to sell is that you want it to be a blank slate. Make your improvements with this in mind, and you'll find that your house appeals to more buyers!

Stay tuned for next time, and keep an eye out for more useful information for Sellers in the next edition of my newsletter!

What Every Seller Should Know (Part 1)

As we near the deadline for the $8,000 tax credit, there has been a flood of information for first time home buyers. It seems like you can't read an online newspaper without seeing an article aimed at educating or encouraging all the buyers out there.

But what about sellers? I've heard from a few customers that they'd like to know more about how to maximize the value of their homes as they get ready to sell. Over the next few days, I'll be publishing a series of blog posts called "What Every Seller Should Know." Each post will deal with a new aspect of preparing your home for sale. Feel free to leave questions in the Comments section, and you cal always visit my Seller's Page for more information!

What Every Seller Should Know: Part 1

Understand the Value of Curb Appeal

When you list your house for sale, one of the first things your agent will do is take pictures of the outside. These pictures are likely to be the first thing most buyers will see, and you want them to be appealing. Real estate professionals call this "Curb appeal."


This is an example of bad curb appeal. What's wrong with it? Well. . . bare branches in the foreground, an unkempt lawn cluttered with bicycles, old furniture on the front porch, and a dingy air conditioning unit hanging out of a front window.
These characteristics don't add up to entice a Buyer, even though the home itself is freshly painted and in decent shape.

Here's a better example: Green grass and a leafy tree, mowed lawn with some well-maintained shrubs, and no excess clutter. These are the types of things that Buyer's might not consciously look for, but are drawn to just the same.

Each season comes with its own ways to make the most of your house's curb appeal; In the spring, a neatly maintained lawn with some flower beds or landscaping is great. In summer, if you can keep your lawn green, that's a huge help. (In Wichita, though, it's also a huge expense. If you know in springtime that you plan to list in summer, have your agent take exterior pictures before your grass turns brown.) In the fall, rake the fallen leaves out of your yard, and try to have pictures taken BEFORE the trees are bare. Winter is probably the toughest season to work with, but if you're stuck with it, try to get pictures taken when the ground is snow-covered. Shovel your walkways and driveway, turn all the lights on inside, and go for a "Christmas Card" look.

Regardless of the season, make your home inviting by leaving lights on in the front rooms, and porch lights too if it's after dark. Try to keep your yard free of toys, tools, or other equipment, and keep the lawn well-maintained in case someone does a drive-by viewing. Also, when your Realtor® does take pictures from the front yard, make sure they're taken either before a "For Sale" sign goes up, or from an angle that doesn't show the sign. The pictures are to advertise your house, not your Realtor®.

For more ideas about maximizing your house's curb appeal, browse through the internet or magazines in search of pictures of homes. Even if the pictures aren't Real Estate related, odds are they were staged to be attractive. Take your cues from how the professionals have done it. (A Google Image Search for "curb appeal" yields a bunch of great examples.)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of What Every Buyer Should Know, which will be about making cosmetic improvements to the interior of your house.

Now get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather! I'm headed out for a 5-mile run in Sedgwick County Park. It doesn't get much better than that :-)

Home Sweet Home!

Hello Wichita!

Can you believe how gorgeous it has been outside lately? I feel like Spring has arrived with authority! I couldn't be happier about it :-) Of course, part of that happiness is probably because Bryan and I moved into our very first house last week! I'm here to tell you firsthand that home buying is a HUGE ordeal, but ultimately a very gratifying experience. If you got my newsletter this month, you'll know more about what I mean.

Things in the new house are fantastic! Here's a picture of Bryan and me in one of our favorite new rooms:


And, almost as much as the house itself, I love my yard! We were greeted last weekend by an explosion of blossoms all over a tree in our back yard:


Caught up in a Spring frenzy, I planted some flowers around our mailbox:


And I found some of these growing out front, another surprise!


Stay tuned for more house/garden updates! Happy Spring!