S’mores, Star Gazing, and the Fire Pit That Brought My Teenagers Back Outside

S'mores, Star Gazing, and the Fire Pit That Brought My Teenagers Back Outside

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Let me set the scene. It’s a Tuesday evening in late September. My two teenagers are doing what teenagers do — one is upstairs watching something on a screen, the other is texting someone about something I’ll never fully understand. I’m … Read more

Fire Pit Safety: How I Almost Learned the Hard Way (But Didn’t)

Fire Pit Safety: How I Almost Learned the Hard Way (But Didn't)

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It was a Saturday evening in early October, the kind of night that practically begs you to light a fire. My neighbor Dave and I had just finished building a beautiful steel fire pit on my back patio — flagstone surface, … Read more

The Fire Pit Table That Transformed My Patio From Blah to Beautiful

The Fire Pit Table That Transformed My Patio From Blah to Beautiful

I want to tell you about the day I accidentally set my patio umbrella on fire. Not a metaphorical fire. An actual, “oh-no-the-fringe-is-definitely-melting” fire. It happened because I was determined to create the perfect fire pit table outdoor patio setup without really thinking through the whole “clearance above an open flame” situation. My husband watched … Read more

Propane vs Wood Fire Pit: I Used Both for One Full Season and Here’s My Verdict

Propane vs Wood Fire Pit: I Used Both for One Full Season and Here's My Verdict

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Let me tell you about the night I nearly set my eyebrows on fire in front of twelve dinner guests. I had been going back and forth on the whole propane vs wood fire pit debate for months, and I finally … Read more

My First Backyard Fire Pit Build: 3 Failures and One Perfect Evening

My First Backyard Fire Pit Build: 3 Failures and One Perfect Evening

I still cringe when I think about the Saturday morning I stood in my backyard surrounded by a pile of mismatched stones, a crooked ring of bricks that looked like it had survived an earthquake, and a husband who was very diplomatically not saying “I told you so.” My grand plan to build a backyard … Read more