Thrill of the Week: Quit Grillin’ Me!

We got a grill, yo. FINALLY! Remember way back when we were pining over our grill woes? Here’s the one we were looking for:

Well, I’m happy to report that we waited it out and snatched ours up when Lowes ran another sale on them… but it wasn’t completely smooth sailing. As soon as I saw them go on sale again (for $159 down from $199), we booked it to our local Lowes to find that they had plenty of the grills.But every.single.one.of.them was set up. The sales associate assured us that most people love to take them home already-assembled, which I’m sure is true… if you don’t drive a Hyundai Sonata and a Hyundai Accent. Ain’t no way that monster was fitting in either of our cars all set up like that. The funny thing was (but not at the time)- out of all sixteen they had in stock, EVERY LAST ONE of them was assembled! Sooooo, we got back in the car (now running super late in getting on the road to go to the bay for the weekend) and drove to a different location to see if they had any still in boxes, all the while keeping an eye on a storm that was drawing closer by the minute.

Happy Day, they had some all boxed up and ready to go! We were paying for it when the heavens opened up in a downpour, so our loading experience was… well, wet. The details of this story are nothing, if not consistent. 🙂 Being our first grill ever, we were psyched to finally (a couple weeks later) get a chance to open the box and start assembling the goods.Mitch’s dad was nice enough to come over one Saturday morning (remember watching that show, those of you who grew up in the 90’s?) and give us a hand setting everything up. And by “us”, I mean they set it up and I watched from inside in the AC and took pictures. #teamplayer

Happy is hardly a good enough word to describe how it feels to finally have a grill! We’re stoked!

We’ve already put it to use during a youth group cookout and dinner a few times… Mitch is thrilled with his new toy and I’m thrilled with the grilled chicken. It’s a win win.Oh, and as for where we keep it- a few of you mentioned the dangers of having a grill and cooking with it too close to siding (it will melt the siding!) and we took your advice to heart. In addition to not wanting to burn the house down, our grill is a bit bigger than we anticipated. Alright, it’s enormous. At least for our little patio. However, we’ve found a way to “hide” it so that you’d barely know it was there if you’re not looking…With the cover (this is the one we got) on it, it blends right in! As much as a grill can, at least. So that’s the end of our grillscapades… any new backyard items at your house lately? We’re still holding out for that darned umbrella… but for now, here’s the updated “to-do” list:

• Find and purchase bench See it here.
• Purchase table with lots of potential seating See it here.
• Find and purchase seating for at least 10-12 people  See it here and here.
• Purchase a grill
• Purchase an umbrella
• Build a mini-patio under the bench See it here.
• DIY solution for hiding the air conditioner and misc. garden supplies See it here.
• Weed and plant new flowers in garden bed See it here.
• Edge garden bed  See it here.
• Weed brick patio
• Figure out a way to better camouflage Christmas lights
• DIY a birdhouse and hang
•  Figure out how to plant a mini veggie/herb garden See it here.
• Decide on plants to fill hanging baskets and empty pots
• DIY or purchase accent pillows for seating

Only a few more to go!

-Leslie