Meeting My Idol - Ahmed Hassan

Today was an awesome day!! It’s not everyday you get to meet your idol, but to have him be even more amazing in person, was just incredible. I had plans to go to the Philly Home Show with some girlfriends next weekend, but when I found out that Ahmed Hassan was going to be there this weekend only, I decided not to wait for my girlfriends and headed into Philly with Smart Jr today. We had no idea what to expect, and when we found the “main stage” we were surprised to find Ahmed standing there, just 2 rows of chairs from the aisle. He was right there!

There weren’t any Yard Crashers fanatics around, so I’m glad we decided NOT to make the We LOVE Ahmed signs. Lol. We listened to him talk about landscaping and answer questions. Then we ran over so we could be 2nd on line to get a picture with him. He insisted on giving us his autograph, which I thought was pretty pointless since we’ll soon be co-hosting a new landscaping show together. BAHAHA!

OMG. I’m just looking at my phone now, and I had no idea the nice woman behind me took so many pictures with my phone. Thank you! I thought it was just the one picture, but she was taking pics the whole time we were talking to him. That’s awesome. Doesn’t he totally seem into hearing about my yard?

I am such a dork that I printed out a couple of pictures of my yard to bring with me. Yes. I really did. And he was nice enough to look at them. No, really he was into it. I told him I had this blog. He said he was starting a blog soon. He asked for my card. Um, I don’t have any. But I did give him this AWESOME picture of myself because it had the blog name on it. In my dreams he would come to my house and say, “This yard doesn’t need to be crashed, you’ve done an amazing job!” BAHAHAHA! These were the pictures I showed him. He seemed impressed. I did give Ahmed my email address and I liked him on Facebook and Jr showed me how to follow him on Instagram. You guys should follow him. My man’s got less than 1000 followers. You should follow me too. I’m just getting into Instagram. It helps to have a preteen in the house. Ahmed has two daughters and a son, just like me. Smart Jr showed me a picture of his 14 year old son from Instagram. Very cute. Ahmed’s website is here.

After Smart Jr and I went across the street to grab sushi at Reading Terminal Market, then we came back to listen to his second talk of the day. We learned that he doesn’t like black mulch because, he says, he’s racist. Gotta love a guy with a sense of humor! He spoke of his difficult childhood, the death of his dad and brother. How he lost his way and instead of finishing HS, got locked up for selling weed. I had no idea. He was an awesome motivational speaker and I’m glad Jr was there to hear him. He also explained what happened with Yard Crashers… He got booted off the show after he told the producers he wasn’t happy with the way things were headed. I’m assuming he was referring to when the show got all crazy and they started putting in swimming pools. We stopped watching it after he left. Plus there’s not a whole lot left I can do in my yard. And no, I don’t have time to come crash your yard. Although I’m always willing to tell people what THEY should do. Ahmed is waiting for the landscaping gods to reveal what is next for him. Oh, and he straightened one thing out for me… He IS a celebrity landscaper, he doesn’t landscape FOR celebrities. Oh! Although he should. Right!?

A question came up about french drains and downspouts and he told me I installed mine wrong. That a pro would never hook up a downspout to a french drain, unless they ran a second line. Well, I guess that’s why I’m a DIYer and not a pro, but my drain works like a charm.You know who was super bummed he couldn’t come with us on such short notice? My bro. But I would like to get some best sister points for offering to have Ahmed talk to him on the phone. He decided he’d just wait to meet him in person when the Ahmed and Liz show comes out. Oh, and I can’t wait to tell my man Geoff at Lowe’s. He will love this story. He’s the garden department manager and he’s been privy to all my yard crashing, right down to the 12 pallets of retaining wall block I’ve ordered from him.

After a day of listening to and hanging out with Ahmed Hassan, I am totally ~~embarrassed that I’ve never finished writing~~ stoked to write about my yard transformation. So I am going to do it. Right now! I am starting my own Yard Crashers series today. In the middle of winter. In cold New Jersey. Because we could all use a little glimpse of a sunny backyard this time of year. I have tons of pictures, I’ve just never shared them with you guys. So stay tuned! Thanks for the motivation Ahmed!