so today is truly going to be a focus on the landscaping and retaining walls found in and around the basement. this is a tricky area because i'm trying to maintain a visual repetition with the brick and the windows which can only truly be completed if the lower window on the front side of the basement level is visible. here is a picture to demonstrate this.

As you can see, the lower basement window (attached to the garage) is an important focal point which cannot and should not be deleted from vision.

so now the question becomes, how do i form the driveway to slope down to the garage while maintaining the visual integrity of the window at the basement level.