Help!!! Driveway Landscaping! (Thank you ahead of time!)

This past weekend I began a project to line 2ft of my driveway on either side with rocks and edging bricks. After "finishing" one side, I realized that my edging bricks are not totally straight. I was curious about any recommendations that you might have in order to correct this problem AND perhaps a how to in order to avoid it on the other side.

I have included links to photos of the project itself on my personal web site for your reference.

http://www.michaelmontalto.com/gallery/v/Home/Driveway/

Process:

1. Remove 2ft wide section of sod to length desired running down the driveway
2. Remove/Dig 5" "trench" of dirt for edging bricks
3. Lay 2" patio gravel in trench
4. Lay 1" sand in trench
5. Insert edging bricks into trench to form outter wall
6. "Stomp" ground with heavy squared leveling tool (I forgot it's name)
7. Pour rocks into area
8. Install solar lighting (haven't performed this yet)
If you notice, the edging bricks "snake" and are not directly in line with one another. I would like to fix this, and of course prevent this in the future. One issue I'm going to have with the right side of my driveway is that I have an "elbow" (you can see this in the photos) that I have purchased a rounded edging brick for.

ANY help you give would be greatly apprecaited. I realize I am new to this whole process and this is considered an extremely easy project to complete, but being a born and raised city boy with absolutely NO experience in this realm, even the most menial of home improvement projects seems to take on problems for me.

Regards,

Hemi

Hi Hemisfear, really sorry but had trouble sorting out your pictures, so hope this helps a little bit.
First rule when trying to do shapes or straight lines is: you must use either a long length of string and a measuring tape, if you want to make curved shapes, I always use my garden hosepipe to lay out the curve and stand back to see if it looks OK before I cut out the shape, this allows you to alter things before you cut the grass away.
To get the straight line you want, measure the width, yours is 2 ft, hammer a long piece of wood into the ground, start at the top of your slope, ( HOUSE END) where you want to START the line, tie a ball/coil of white string onto this stick, make sure it is strong enough and stick is in deep enough so it wont move when you put tension on the string, now walk down the slope (to sidewalk) do same again, 2 feet in, hammer in stick at this point, then gently pull the string till it is taught, wind the string around second stick and tie it so it wont loosen off, your taught string should be (ONLY JUST) above the lawn level and this will give you the straight line you need to work with, so cut up the grass along the string line, use an edging spade for best results.
Now that you know OLD line is not straight, do what I said beside the wavey dug out line, and you will see the bits that you need to change, DONT remove the string line when you work or it will all go wrong again, as you work, you must keep checking that the string line has not moved as you dig or became loose, so keep it taught and keep measuring every few feet.
Maybe you will only have a little bit to fix, but you wont know till you get your string line to the right 2 FEET.
Before you start on the second side of the drive, do the sizes and string line as the first and it should be dead straight.
If for any reason you have to stop the job to go away, even for a half hour, always check that the sizes are right before you start again as even a dog running over the string can alter the sizes.
Hope this helps, maybe someone else can explain it better than me, but the principals will be the same. Good Luck. WeeNel.

Wow, so simple yet so perfect! Yes, I understand exactly what you are saying and it's something that I can do quite easily. My only real problem is going to be removing the bricks as I go to dig away again.

The rounded section is going to be to the right side of my drivway. I actually could use the same set of string for the first half and then the curved edging brick for the outline going into the curve. I wonder if this approach would work.

Maybe not too much digging will be required, set your string out and it will tell you how far off the line you have went, it may be just a small stretch, so dont dig anything till you stretch the string to the size 2 feet, and go from there.
As you do the second length down the other side of your lawn/driveway, you do the exact same, then when it comes to the curved part, you dleave the string in place, then at the top of the drveway, HOUSE end, you measure 2 feet from the house/path, and put another piece of string left to right, this will give you a cross shape, 2 feet up the way and 2 feet going along from left to right OR right to left, whichever side of the garden you are working on. you will then be able to work out your rounded shape, AND, keep everything going straight, hope this helps you, lots of luck and happy gardening, you know you can do it, just take your time.
WeeNel.