Winter

While everyone else was playing in the snow last week, I was down for the count. I spent 2 days at home coughing like an old man. I am still recovering even a week later. We are at the point of winter when it gets dark early and I want to go home and curl up in front of the fire. Unfortunately, I have not had the chimney man out yet to certify that a fire is a good idea. I've put it on the list of things to do when I have a few days at home after Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I am really excited that I have (mostly) finished all of my shopping and I am counting down the days until I can give the gifts. I love Christmas and my favorite part is watching people open the gifts. It is such a fun and surprising time. I have been loving my Christmas tree and I have it set up to turn on automatically so when I come home at night it is on and when I get up in the morning it is on. So pretty.

I hope all of your holiday plans are shaping up nicely, too.

Snow and Holidays

I think I may be averaging 10 days between posts. I don't know where the time goes . . .

I moved away from my hometown right after high school, so I never had the experience of going home and visiting with old friends. Now that I live closer to the place I went to college, I am experiencing that here. I had two visits with old friends yesterday and it was really great to see people and reconnect.

We spent Thanksgiving with Josh's family. It was a great, traditional day with football and good food and knitting. Okay, the knitting might only be traditional for me...

Friday, we went with my family to cut Christmas trees and because I was entertaining on Saturday, I was inspired to get my decorating done and I am pleased to say that I am ready for the holidays.

Here are two views of the tree. One is slightly blurry and taken without the flash to show you how beautiful is all lit up.

Of course, I now have Christmas music playing which is why it was such a joy to wake up to snow this morning. I sat in my chair, reading, watching the snow and drinking my coffee. It was a real treat.

Tomorrow may be more of a challenge. Seattle in the snow is always interesting. Since it only snows here once a year, people are quite baffled by what to do with it. We have it a little easier as long as I can get my truck down to the ferry. I'm in charge of the driving since I have the 4WD. So I will slide down the hill and pick up Josh tomorrow morning.

Have a lovely and happy Monday and a great week!

Quick, before the site goes down

I just logged in for a brief post. I've been having a great week of getting back into the swing of things. I really love my job after being away from it for a few days. I think we all get a little strung out if we work for too long without a break. Vacations can really serve to show you how great your life is - and I am really grateful for everything in mine.

Josh and I started learning Manadarin Chinese in the car last night. I downloaded the lessons from iTunes and we are using the Pimsleur Quick and Easy version. It is 8 - 30 minute lessons. So far, we have listened to the first lesson about 2.5 times. It will take us a while, but we will soon be able to say "Excuse me, can I ask you a question? Do you speak English?" - I've found this to be the most effective phrase in all of my world travels.

We are having a fantastic, cold, crisp, sunny day in Seattle. Unbelievable. Hope everyone is enjoying the weather :)

Back to Work

I survived my first full day of work and even had a good time. It was good to get some time for restoration and now I have a lot more energy. I might try this vacation thing more often. I'm definitely taking Josh on the next one.

November and December are my favorite months of the year. It has been interesting since I started working in a business that goes crazy during these months. I find that I have to be really intentional about taking time for family and friends and it makes the time even better.

It was a good week to take off - now that I am back, I have a four day week this week and a three day week next week. I wish I could take credit and say that I planned it that way, but I only realized it this morning when we were making the uphill trek to work. Yes, that means we walked on the ferry. We have been much better about that this month.

I mean to get to the picture uploading soon. Have a great week!

Colorado

I am sitting here in the living room of Joanne's house watching the Sunday night football game and catching up on the world. For the last 5 days we have been in the mountains for our annual girls weekend. It was a weekend devoid of computers and full of knitting. I took a picture of all the projects we worked on and I will post it tomorrow.

It is really good to get away from work for a couple of days. We get together for one weekend a year to have time away from our jobs and lives to talk and knit and maybe do a little shopping. The weather was beautiful - swinging from warm and sunny to cold and snowing. I lived in Colorado for six years before moving to Bremerton last year and it was nice to come back for a visit.

I can't believe that it is almost time for Thanksgiving. I'm starting to make my lists and check them twice. I love this time of year and I am already itching to decorate my house. Maybe we will put the lights up Thanskgiving weekend. Pictures to come. Happy Sunday!

Dearth

I have been having so much fun reading other people's blogs that I have been neglecting mine.

I took the day off last Friday and I meant to update at that point. I spent the day cleaning out my closet, reorganizing my downstairs, cleaning out my refrigerator, baking, grocery shopping, knitting, making dinner and watching movies. It was great. I'd like to do it every week.

My favorite new baking book is Buttercup Bakes at Home. I made Orange Coconut Raisen cookies and Marshmallow Crunch Brownie bars this weekend (you can see both prominently featured on the cover). They were a hit.

Robb and Reba were in Chicago last weekend so Hannah and I took Noah and Jonah to Jonah's soccer game on Saturday morning. We had so much fun - I promise to add pictures from the game. In the afternoon, Josh and I took Noah and Jonah ice skating. They boys are loving skating and they love hanging out with Josh. He got Noah to skate on his own and then pulled him around the rink "weally, weally fast".

Mom and Jacob went to pick up Dad who was just returning from two weeks in Africa. We all reconvened at Mom and Dad's for dinner. I had thrown together a beef stew in the crock pot, so we had that with a salad and corn bread - true comfort food.

We are having a tremendous fall. The colors are amazing and the air is so clear. We have just been through a couple of really cold, sunny days with amazing sunsets - at 4:45. I have a really hard time adjusting to leaving work in the dark - it makes me really tired.

All of the kids have just come around trick or treating which reminds me to say - Happy Halloween everybody!

Sports Sunday

Today was a sporty day and I am wiped out, but I thought I'd post some pictures before I collapse into bed. . .

The Bremerton ferry! It was such a clear, beautiful morning. Cold, but sunny and on the way to church we had to go through a strange patch of fog.

After church, we went back to Josh's house to pick up his brother, Jeremy and his dad, Mike.









Qwest Field has such a great view of the Sound. Our seats were at the top of the stadium, so we had a great view of the field and the Olympic mountains.









The game was a little disappointing - the Seahawks lost, but I loved being there and actually seeing them play live. The cheering in the stands was incredibly loud. I have been a football fan for a long time, but I had only been to one other professional game. My dad took me to see a 49er game when I was in high school. I'm going to try to see more than one every other decade. :)







On the way home, the sunset was incredible. this is what the sky looked as the ferry docked in Bremerton. Incredible. . .











And, finally, we went to Josh's hockey game. Jeremy came with me to sit in the stands and cheer and I took pictures so Josh can see what he looks like when he is playing. His team played really well and won their game even though they were down a couple of people tonight.

A great day! Now I am off to get some sleep before heading back to Seattle in the morning.

Sleep well everybody.

Friday!

I finished my book on the boat this morning so I will take a moment to say that I really enjoyed The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. So much, that I am going to send it to Joanne right away. It reminded me of the classic detective novel and Joanne has always been a big reader of mysteries. It does not supplant my favorite book the year, The Thirteenth Tale, but it was a great read. Next, I am going for the pure weekend fun of Act of Treason by Vince Flynn. I have been trying to to mix up the fiction and the non-fiction, but weekends are for fiction.

Next week I intend to read Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. I am a big fan of Obama and I got to meet him this summer in Washington, DC. It is very difficult to find politicians who actually talk about the issues and admit that it is a complex world with complex problems that cannot be solved with a sound bite. In this election season, it is refreshing to hear after seeing so many reductionist campaign ads. Okay, speech over.

We are going to the Seahawks game on Sunday and I cannot wait. Josh got 4 tickets this week so he is taking me along with his dad and his brother, Jeremy. Jeremy surprised us all with jerseys, so we will be in full Seahawks gear. It is supposed to be sunny and 60 degrees - unheard of for October in Seattle. I will try to post some pictures on Sunday night.

Have a great weekend!

Days go by

I feel like I blinked and it was time for fall. I'm sitting in my office and I looked down and saw my hat and gloves and was grateful that I knew where they were. Josh and I have been actually walking on to the boat this week (and last Friday) instead of spending so much time in the car. I go through phases where I think it is better to drive because I am on my own schedule. Then I ride the ferry a couple of times. It is so nice to be able to sit and read or sleep or talk instead of sitting in traffic. It feels like we got a lot of time back even though we get back at the same time.

Mom and Hannah and I got pedicures on Saturday. It was a true luxury. I used to only get pedicures in the summer when people could see my feet, but now I get them all year round. I find it to be relaxing and I like that I can look down when I am barefoot and not have completely embarassing toes. I know, I know, small stuff. But, it is really the small stuff that I appreciate.

Today was a stunningly beautiful day and I took a walk down to Office Depot at lunch. It is not too cold yet - just a perfect autumn day and I enjoyed getting out in the (rare) sunshine.

I hope all is well with everyone - if you haven't yet, read Robb and Rebecca's latest entry about their dog, Lego. Happy Tuesday!

Fog

It is a beautiful morning and my picture window opens up on the view of fog. I feel like I am living in the clouds. We have had some really beautiful sunrises this week (I know because I have been up to see them). I always struggle a little bit when the seasons change and the days get shorter. I'm a little more tired and I want to curl up earlier and earlier every night.

Hannah has been bugging me to update this more and I will try to be better about it. It seems like we are going really fast all the time from one thing to the next and I forget to do this.

Today is my mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. Josh and I managed to walk on the ferry yesterday so we would be able to get on the one coming home. Most days we are still driving and it is impossible to get on the 5:30 ferry because it fills up so fast. It was such a great experience to walk on and walk up the hill to work - although my calves reminded me that I had not done it for a long time. Dinner was fun - Red Robin, the traditional Snelling birthday joint. Grandma drove over for the occassion and Hannah has been hanging out with my parents for a few days. I need to get my camera over there to take pictures of Mom and Dad's new dog. Mom finally relented and let Dad get a new golden retriever. They think that puppies might be harder than babies since they get in to everything and chew.

I'm looking forward to spending some focused time today on knitting. With the fog and gray and the promise of rain it seems like the perfect plan :-)

Happy Saturday.

How can it be Fall already?

I've been reading other people's blogs while I eat my lunch and I was struck by the fact that it is really Fall. I was empathizing with Joanne who is also suffering from a bit of a cold and seeing the pictures of Denver in the Fall made me realize that it is already time to start thinking about Christmas presents.

Josh and I went to see the Cirque de Soleil show Delerium last night at the Key Arena. I was entranced. Such cool music and dancing. It was the first time I have ever seen Cirque and now I want to see them all. Perhaps a trip to Vegas is in order.

Tomorrow I have one of those crazy, can it all really be happening in one day days. I have a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner and in between, I have two big meetings. Love it. You can't beat the free food and I get to meet some cool people (Philippa Gregory and Steve Wozniak). Yep, my job is great.

Anyone else starting to think about Christmas? Just in case, here is a link to my Amazon wish list. :)

Pictures from our very sunny trip to New York. We took a walk through Central Park on our way to the Museum of Natural History. It was hot and muggy from the rain of the previous few days, but the park was green and beautiful.

The top of the Empire State Building was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Because Josh had never been to NYC, we got the recorded tour and learned about all of the buildings we could see. It was a great way to experience the city and something I had only done a long time ago.


Yesterday, we took Jacob, Jonah and Noah ice skating. We had so much fun and the kids just loved it. Jacob's hands were freezing by the end since he spent so much of the time falling down. He is fearless and once he took one turn around the rink on the edge, he spotted one of his friends from school and chased him around the middle. Josh provided lots of coaching and then helped Noah who told me later "I skated, I really did".

It is late and I am feeling a little under the weather so I need to get to bed. More pictures in weeks to come. I keep carrying my camera around in the vain hope that I will occasionally take it out and snap some pictures. Tomorrow, Josh and I are going to start our month of smart commuting - we are going to walk on the ferry every day instead of driving. We'll see if that makes things easier or more difficult. Have a great week!

Friday!

I love Friday almost as much as Saturday and this week it might be a toss up. Josh picks me up for work every morning at 6:50, but on Fridays, if we don't have any meetings, he sometimes picks me up at 7:30. Now, I know in the logical part of my brain that 40 minutes should not make that much of a difference, but it really does. It means that I don't have to get out of bed until 7:00 and the illogical part of my brain feels way better about that. We can leave a lot later because it seems like half of the world doesn't go to work on Fridays. I want to know how they make that work. We are trying to push for that at work, but I don't feel traction coming on that any time soon.

Tomorrow we have big plans to take my nephews Ice Skating. It should be hilarious. I can't wait to see which one will be a better little skater. I'm definitely taking pictures and I plan a big picture posting this weekend with all of my latest and greatest...

I know, I know, that's what I said last weekend. Let's see if I can follow through this time around.

Happy Friday, happy payday!

Books!

I clearly did not post pictures over the weekend. We helped Josh's brother and sister in law move in to a new house on Saturday and then went to church on Sunday and took lunch over to Robb and Reba's. We also spent some time Sunday relaxing and watching the Seahawks game before heading out to Josh's hockey game on Sunday night. All in all, a nice weekend.

The week has just been flying by. I sat still for a few moments last night and realized that I have not been writing about books lately. Here are the last several reads (and recommendations) from all of my travels:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl- I like coming of age novels and I like mysteries so I really enjoyed this book although it was quite a commitment. The writing was fantastic, but dense enough that I could not practice my speed reading skills. I read this book for a long time and then got a chance to finish it on the plane on the way out to New York. Well worth the time.

The King of Lies by John Hart - After all of that heaviness, I really needed a fast paced, gritty crime novel. The story in this book was better than most and the main character is so broken that I wasn't sure he would make it out of the story in a way that was redeeming. A little darker than Grisham, but a similar feel.

Chuck Klosterman IV - I like pop culture, so this book was a treat. I have read his previous works and this one was merely a collection of columns and one short fiction piece, but it was an interesting way to remember the past couple of years. I especially like the rock and roll parts.

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - The Simon & Schuster rep sent this with a note that indicated it would be right up my alley and it was. The story centers around a family of private investigators that spy on each other as much as they investigate for other people. It reminded me of Veronica Mars - my favorite TV show - or what would happen if Veronica Mars still lived at home when she is 30. (Oh, and I know it is mean to do this, but the book won't be out until 2007.)

How about you? What are you reading lately?

Slacker (or not)

I've been galivanting around the world without an internet connection. It has been a strange trip. I tried to post some pictures of our camping trip on the 10th of September before I left for New York, but they would not upload. I'll try again this weekend...

I also promise to post some pictures from New York. I spent last week there for work and it was a little crazy. We had meetings all day from 8am to 10pm and the wireless in the hotel was SLOWWWWWW. So, I did not post anything. I was really missing Seattle. I've been to New York quite a few times for business, and this time I really missed the sky. It was a little difficult for me.

Josh flew out on Friday and we spent the weekend running around and seeing the sights. It was his first time in New York, so I took him to all of the big things - Times Square, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. We also got to see Spamalot which was a hilarious and fun show. We got back on Monday and in addition to fighting jet lag all week, I had to catch up from being out of the office. I feel like I have been in meetings forever.

Hope everyone is doing well and has grand plans for the weekend. My grand plan is to post some pictures here. Cheers and Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday Jacob

Jacob's Birthday was Tuesday and I haven't had a chance to post until now. He is now 7. I can't believe it. I remember holding him when he was a little baby. We came home from work and got to go to his birthday party at the Round Table. Jacob got a dog, Lego, for his birthday so most of the presents centered around that. He got a dog bed and dog toys and dog food and dog treats.

Tuesday was also the first day of school for Jacob and Jonah. They are now in K and 1st Grade. It is cool to talk to them about what they are learning everyday. Noah is the one with the birthday hat on his face. He started preschool this week. For many more adventures of the boys and their parents current housebuilding craziness, check out their blog.

Road Trip

We headed out on Saturday to the Gorge to hear Dave Matthews Band. It was one of the most beautiful weekends we've had all summer. Perfect sunny skies and 90 degrees. The Columbia looked fantastic. I was feeling nostalgic for all of the Labor Day weekends I spent making the drive back to Whitworth. We saw a lot of trailers heaped with boxes and furniture and heading to college. The concert was great - the band played for 3 hours. I've seen them before and every concert is different because they riff on a bunch of songs, so you always get a new experience. We had a really good time.

Today, we helped Robb and Reba demo their kitchen. Their contractor starts tomorrow on a new kitchen. We started out pulling up linoleum and ended by hanging new doors throughout the house. The men got to do the fun work of pulling down walls and studs. Their was a great deal of laughing as boards were flying through the air. Reba and I worked on getting the doors installed. She is now a certified expert with the nail gun. They posted pictures on their blog - linked above.

Now I am ready to drop from all of the work. Hope everyone is well. Lots of trips coming up and Jacobs birthday is tomorrow so their will be more fun pictures. Happy Labor Day!

Pictures

Finally - here are the pictures from the fair last weekend. The top two are from a ride called The Typhoon that Jacob and I rode about 10 times. The kids also got the chnace to check out an ambulance. And the last picture is of the Baloon ride - they loved this and went on it over and over again.

Happy Saturday!

For Joanne

I keep meaning to update the blog and I have been distracted by many things this week, almost none of them being work. I WAS working late on Monday (I had to go to a baseball game with a vendor) and this IS a crazy time at work. But, most evenings, I have been having fun. Tuesday night, we met up with some friends and had a hilarious dinner experience in the U district. Of course, that means we got home late.

Wednesday, we went and visited Hannah in her new apartment in Tacoma. Josh spent a great deal of time making friends with Hannah's dog, Rosie. Rosie is a cocker spaniel that Hannah rescued many moons ago and she has always been skittish around men. It is really cool that Hannah is here in the area now and it was cool to hang out with her.

Now, I have to own up to the fact that last night, I was playing Halo on XBox. I have a feeling that this could take up a lot of my time if I let it. But, I am going to try not to let it :)

Tomorrow, we are going to the Gorge to see Dave Matthews Band. I am looking forward to the unbelievable weather and the great views of the Columbia River. I promise to put batteries in my camera and take lots of pictures.

I also promise to update more than once a week. Happy 3 day weekend everybody!

Fun in the Sun

I took the day off yesterday to take Jacob and Jonah to Wild Waves. It was the perfect day for it - sunny and 76 degrees. In the Pacific Northwest, we try to keep these days a secret by moaning about how much it rains here, but when they come, they are perfect.

I always get caught short by my own selfishness when I take my nephews for the day. It is amazing to me how many times I have to stop myself from doing what I want to shift toward their needs. I'm really glad I moved here so that I could have them in my life to learn this lesson over and over again.

Hannah came with me and we did our favorite - divide and conquer. She took Jonah and I took Jacob. Even though they are really close in age, Jacob is way more willing to take risks and go on "fast" rides/slides while Jonah will just tell you he is too scared. We all ended up wiht a tiny bit of sunburn, and we rolled into town exhausted, but it was a great day.

After dropping them off, I went with Josh and Jeremy to see Little Miss Sunshine. It was an absolutely perfect movie. Without trying too hard, it was funny and poignant and a perfect ending to the day.

Tomorrow we are going to the Fair so there should be more pictures. Today I am taking a break, doing laundry, working on a puzzle, listening to my iPod on shuffle, going out for a little shopping and then a nap. I still love Saturdays the most.

Mid Week

I have not been good about posting because I am having too much fun. Tonight, Josh's mom made ribs for dinner and they were great. This is really not mid week for me since I am taking Friday off to take Jacob and Jonah to Wild Waves. I keep promising pictures, and I will definitely have some then. I promised them at the beginning of August that I would find a good time to go and it looks like it might be 80 degrees on Friday. Wahoo!

Hannah has been driving back across the country and I've been thinking about travel and getting out on the road. I have some good trips coming up so I will post more pictures. Hope August is treating everybody well amidst all the chaos of our lives. Robb and Reba are going to start their renovation on September 5 and it looks like my friends, Toben and Joanne, found a great house in Denver.

So much joy for everyone. I couldn't be more grateful - it is really amazing to see what kinds of changes one little summer can bring.

Mid Week

I have not been good about posting because I am having too much fun. Tonight, Josh's mom made ribs for dinner and they were great. This is really not mid week for me since I am taking Friday off to take Jacob and Jonah to Wild Waves. I keep promising pictures, and I will definitely have some then. I promised them at the beginning of August that I would find a good time to go and it looks like it might be 80 degrees on Friday. Wahoo!

Hannah has been driving back across the country and I've been thinking about travel and getting out on the road. I have some good trips coming up so I will post more pictures. Hope August is treating everybody well amidst all the chaos of our lives. Robb and Reba are going to start their renovation on September 5 and it looks like my friends, Toben and Joanne, found a great house in Denver.

So much joy for everyone. I couldn't be more grateful - it is really amazing to see what kinds of changes one little summer can bring.

Legacy

Right before I moved, my Grandmother moved into an independent living apartment. She has had her own house for many years, but she felt like it was really time to go to a place that provided some meals and on-site medical care if necessary.

As part of her moving process, she gave up a lot of her furniture and other things that would not fit in her new apartment. I got these two great pieces of furniture and the crystal and china that now fills the china hutch. It is really important to me to have family legacy and I have loved these pieces of my grandmother's furniture for many years. I love having them in my new house and carrying on tradition.

The hutch needed a little work, so my dad fixed it and then my parents brought it over this week, but I didn't have a chance to unpack all of the china and crystal until today. This unpacking brings me to the dreaded "almost" finished state. Everything I have left to unpack is stuff I don't want to deal with. All of the little things. Therefore, because it is hot and I have done some work today I am going to go camp out on the couch in the basement where it is cool. Many happy weekends!

Why is it so hard to work on Fridays

As you know, I have been working on budgets and trying to stay ahead of the next couple of things that are coming my way at work. I have also been doing a lot of shopping lately. I must say that I am distressed by several of the trends as follows:
1) Really short skirts. It is very difficult to keep up professional respect by wearing a really short skirt. It makes it seem like we all should be going to nightclubs. And then there is the difficulty of sitting down.
2) No good jackets. I used to wear suits all the time, but now I can't find any good jackets. Either they are too short or too boxy. Why, I ask you, why?
3) I don't like enough of the shoes. I used to love shoes, but I walked through the entire shoe department at Nordstrom and only found one pair of shoes that I wanted. Am I just getting over shoes?

Here are links to all of the good stuff I have been shopping lately.

Cool Wool dress from Banana Republic - I bought it in the darkest of dark browns.
Sweaters from the Gap - Vests and long sleeved and cable vest
Jeans from the Gap
Shoes from Aldo

Have a great weekend everybody!

I am still alive

Just so nobody thinks I dropped off the face of the Earth, I am writing to say I am still alive. Right now, we are doing budgets at work. This means that I am poring over spreadsheets all day long and by the time I get home, I no longer wish to look at a computer screen.

I love budgets, I really do. When I first moved to Seattle, I intentionally took a job that had no budgeting responsibility (after 5 years, I needed a break). My hiatus did not last too long and now I am back into the fun part of planning for the year ahead. When I was a child, this was not what I imagined I would be doing with my life. But, to be fair, when I was a child, I had absolutely not idea what I would be doing with my life. (See, all of this craziness comes from staring at spreadsheets).

I took a break last night and did some shopping. I have a business trip to NYC in a couple of weeks and I am trying to find good clothes for my meetings. It was much needed retail therapy. I liked it so much, I think I am going to do it again tomorrow night.

But for tonight, more budgets. Happy Tuesday!

Books

Last night, Josh asked me "How do you decide which books to keep out of all the books you read?" I don't have a good answer for that question. I am now finished opening up and unpacking boxes of books, but I still have several tote bags full and (again) no shelf space. A couple of years ago, I weeded out my books and I keep doing that, getting rid of books I will never read again, galleys I thought I would have time to read, books I can't remember bringing home. But, it is an enormous task to go through all of them and decide what to give away.

One of the reasons I have a hard time getting rid of books is that I keep thinking I will have time to read them one day. Case in point, two books I just pulled off my shelf as I was unpacking, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham. I started reading Case Histories when I first got it and then got distracted by another book. Now that her new novel, One Good Turn, is coming out, I want to read this one so I can get a basis for all of the characters.

I was a big fan of Michael Cunningham's The Hours. My senior thesis in college was on Virginia Woolf and I loved the idea that he was going to follow an interwoven story involving Woolf and her novel Mrs. Dalloway and characters in two different eras. I loved it and I was intrigued by the idea of this book as well, I just didn't get to it last summer.

It is such a nice day that I am now going to sit in my backyard and read. Sunday afternoons should be time to recuperate and slack off just a little. Hope all your Sundays are lazy as well.

I have reached an impasse with my books where I need another shelf. I have unpacked everything save two boxes and there is just no more room left. I am about to head our to buy shelves, but I thought I'd sit down and write up a quick update first.

I haven't been blogging due to having no progress to report on the house. Today was my day to get things done, so I tackled the big job first - the errant plumbing. It was not as difficult to fixed as I feared it would be. I unhooked the elbow pipe underneath the sink and drained out all the water. Then, I ran a snake down the pipe and it pulled out a rubber glove that I had used during all of the painting madness. Once the glove was removed, the pipes functioned perfectly and I am now able to do laundry. Yay!

Now I am undertaking the task of moving things around and unpacking. It always surprises me to see how much stuff I actually have. It makes me want to simplify more. I keep throwing things away, but never seem to get on top of knowing what to keep and what to toss.

Off to pick up bookshelves. Happy weekend!

Bookshelves

For Hannah's sake and for the rest of you that know me, here is a picture of books on shelves in my new house. It has been said that I have too many books. But, really, can you have too many books? I'm really happy to be working in the book industry and around books all the time. I'm pretty blessed to have an hour every morning on the ferry where I can read my book. And, I get to work with a lot of other people that like books as well.

I got home too late to post last night after a business dinner in Seattle. Seattle has some of the best restaurants. I grew up near San Francisco and there were always great places to eat there, but since I get to sample a lot of the great dining in Seattle, I am of the opinion that this is one of the best places to live if you like food.

Speaking of liking food, I've also gone back to the gym this week as I mentioned in my last post. It was nice to take a break for a while, but I am really enjoying getting back into the swing of it.

I'm already thinking about weekend projects, even though it is only Wednesday. Since the laundry sink won't drain, that will probably take priority. Wish me luck. Happy Wednesday!

Quick Post

We came back from work and went to the movies tonight with a bunch of people. We saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I would love to be the kind of classy person that didn't find any of these movies funny, but I laughed really hard. It was the right kind of way to kick off a week.

Hannah came along as this was her last night in town before returning to New Jersey to pack. Afterward, she called and shared great news, but if you want to know what it was, you have to read her blog.

I'm beat. I went back to the gym after letting myself take a break during all of the house prep and moving. It was great, but now I need my sleep. Happy Monday!

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

It was absolutely beautiful today and I couldn't help but take advantage of the lovely day to forget about unpacking and just have a nice day. After church, there was lunch on the docks with the kids playing in the fountain. Then, I took a brief Target run. Lately, I have been forgetting what I need when I go to Target so I end up not buying anything, but wandering aimlessly, hoping that inspiration will hit. Today was no exception. So, I came home and took a nap.

I am a big fan of Sunday naps. It seems like the ultimate luxury to me. I think it would be nice to have naps every day, but I don't know if corportate America agrees with me.

We headed to my parents for a barbecue and after dinner, my dad gave my nephews some pointers on baseball. All in all, a lovely day and one that makes me wish for much longer weekends.

I must now pay the piper by unpacking 3 boxes of books. It shall be my concession to unpacking today. Happy, lazy Sunday!

Washing Machine

One of the joys of having an old house is that hooking everything up here involves a lot of time, patience and wrenches. Fortunately, Josh was able to get the hoses hooked up and I now have a functioning washing machine. Okay, almost. Everything works, but the drain is currently a little overtaxed which means it is time to get the plumber back out here to install a new utility sink. Otherwise, I have to wait 24 hours between loads for the sink to drain.

I got a lot of pictures hung and some books unpacked and I put a lot of stuff in storage this morning. Things are starting to come together, so maybe there will be more pictures tomorrow.

The rest of the day was reserved for sun and fun and it was a beautiful day here - 81 and sunny. Sorry to all my friends who are suffering through the record temperatures everywhere else. It is time for all of you to move to Seattle.
I love Saturdays.

Friday - finally

I'm trying to put in more pictures to keep up to date on what things look like. Tomorrow I have good intentions to unpack, so we'll see how far I get.

I'm going to pick up the washing machine in the morning and then I plan to have a little bit of fun tomorrow as well.

I don't often write about the opportunities my job affords me, but I want to recommend a couple of books by Rory Stewart. He came and did a talk/reading for us at lunch today and I think his narratives about life on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq are really insightful when it comes to getting a clear picture of what is happening over there. Too often, we get caught up in the political rhetoric and lose sight of the more interesting discussion of what we can really expect next out of everything that is happening there. His writing is great and he uses stories to illustrate and depict the history and current lives of people living in these countries and cultures.

The books are The Places in Between (about Afghanistan) and The Prince of the Marshes (about Iraq).

Good day. A very happy Friday indeed. As usual, I am writing at 1 am, so I will say it is time for me to sleep.

I keep trying to upload this and having no luck, so I will just write a little in hopes that it will survive. Hannah arrived yesterday and we had a nice dinner downtown with Mom. She is job interviewing right now and it is really good to see her here. Because this is the summer of moves, she will have to move back here in the next month. I think our entire family is required to move at least twice more before we are done. :)

I am told that I am not including enough pictures, so here is one of my breakfast nook. It is great to be moving in and feeling cozy in little places like the entryway. I will do more unpacking this weekend - including some books unpacking. I'm still attempting the relaxed approach - not killing myself by unpacking everything at once. I hope to be done with everything by the end of August.

I am up way beyond when I wanted to be since it took me so long to fix my internet connection. But, now, all is well with the world. I am going off to bed, content.

Sweet dreams and happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday, Noah!

It's Noah's third birthday today and we had a barbecue at Robb and Reba's to celebrate. Reba made a car shaped cake with Oreo cookie wheels. My mom and grandma came and Robb's parents and sister and brother in law were there as well with their kids.

Robb's dad built a sandbox for Noah since he loves the sandbox so much. He was very excited about all of his presents and the kids had a great time tearing around. It was a truly beautiful afternoon and I was really grateful, once again, that I moved up here so I could be here for events like this.

A note on the comments on my last blog - my mom finally read the blog AND left a comment. She gets the big award for the day. And, I promise I will post more pictures of the house as I progress on the decorating. I have big plans to unpack boxes this weekend, but I'm trying to be reasonable during the week and give myself some time.

That's all for tonight. Sweet dreams everybody. I'm going to turn on the TV and go to sleep.

Checking out

I had to go to my old place after work to meet up with my landlord and walk through the apartment. It was a little sad. My first year in Bremerton was a good one and I loved living downtown and very close to the ferry. The views of the sunset were good and I like a little city noise (and there was plenty of that). I love my new place and I'm so glad to be back in a home that I own, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for my old apartment.

My mom did an incredible job of cleaning, so my landlord was very happy and I'm going to get my entire deposit back. It was a full Monday and I am going to try to catch up on some sleep tonight.

Tomorrow is Noah's birthday so there should be plenty of family pictures to post. Also, a shout out to Hannah who is coming to visit this week. I'm really excited to see her and I'm really happy that she may be coming to live closer to us in the near future.

Happy Monday!

Everything works!

The move on Friday went well and I was really grateful that I had hired the movers. Mom and Dad and I took care of all the little stuff that was still in my old place and the movers moved everything I didn't want to lift. Mom stayed back during that part and cleaned my entire apartment. It is now ready for checkout and I couldn't be more grateful for her help.

I've spent time starting to unpack, but I decided not to be in such an all fired hurry about getting everything done. I've unpacked most of my clothes and all of my shoes. I set up my computer and today the cable guy came and gave

me an internet connection and digital cable. Now I have TV back. It was touch and go, but I made it an entire 48 hours without TV or internet. Hardly seems possible.

Tonight, Robb, Rebecca, Josh and I headed over to the Boat Shed and enjoyed a nice dinner on the water. It was great to enjoy some downtime and have good conversation. It was Robb and Reba's anniversary yesterday - 11 years. Congratulations you guys and best wishes for many more happy years.

I'm off to sleep so I can be back to work tomorrow. Sleep well and happy dreams!

All is well

I just got a lovely e-mail from Sears.com telling me that my washer is now available for pickup. It looks like I may be able to get everything actually moved in tomorrow. With all of the stuff I have, I am always amazed that I can transport it from one place to another. I will be really grateful to get in and get settled. I have all kinds of projects on my list of things I want to do with the house, but my number one priority is to get back to a semblance of a balanced life. The last month has been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, but I'd like my house projects to revert to weekend status.

I'll be offline for a few days until my cable is installed on Sunday. I'll try to drop in on a few friendly computers to post, but happy moving to all of my moving friends (Amy and Joanne) and Happy Friday to everyone else.

I took pictures

I finished the table and chairs and brought the leather chairs up from the basement and I took pictures of the whole arrangement and then left my camera at my house. So, no pictures tonight. Everything is arranged for the move in. The garbage has been taken out, the basement is cleared out for me to move my couch in, my dad vacuumed up all of the bugs downstairs and I put the lamps back in the living room. The only thing I didn't get built are the pieces that will go in my closet. I'm not feeling too stressed about that because I can always build them this weekend.

So that's it. I'll have more pictures tomorrow. Happy almost Friday to me.

Work is killing me

This week is really busy and stressful so I have to find outlets. Tonight, Chess and Cribbage. And lots of losing. I must be losing my touch.

I get like this on the back stretch sometimes, I have to let go of the house, the packing, the pressures at work. This time, I am glad that I got so much done in advance and this week I can afford to just have fun.

Hey, I'm taking Friday off which means I am halfway done with my work week.

Sweet dreams and good days, the heat has finally broken.

Putting together the furniture

It seems like a very modern thing to buy furniture and put it together yourself. I left work at 5:15 (a small wonder) and had almost no traffic, so I decided that I would build a table tonight. It took almost no time, but then I got to the chairs. For some reason, the chairs are taking longer and I was getting very hot (I just can't get the house to cool down. It is the number one thing I have to figure out when I move in.) This is my lovely table that will go back in that corner when the boxes are removed and will become a small breakfast nook for me.

I have taken a new attitude and decided to dial down the projects this week. It is so hot and I feel like I have been moving for months. So I made the rational choice - I will not work on any big projects this week.

After I finished the table, it was time to be a little social. I can never resist a good game of cards or really just any games. I headed over to my friend Josh's house and we all tried to forget how hot it was by playing Boggle, Chess, Cribbage and then a rousing game of Hearts (which I know Joanne will want to know I lost handily).

Time to sleep. Happy Monday everybody. Only 4 days til moving day. :)

I like to eat ice cream cones while I drive

I have taken the advice of smart people and decided that the only way to beat the heat is to eat cold things. I took myself off to McDonalds at 4:00 today and ordered a giant ice cream cone. I have been a fan of soft serve ice cream for a long time and for my money, McDonalds does it best. I am also a big fan of the Tully's ice cream cone - a vanilla/espresso swirl - it is my current addiction at work since there is a Tully's in my building. Ah, yes, back to my drive through today. I took a long drive out a road I had never been on before just to see where it went, but mostly to enjoy the air conditioning for a few more precious moments. It was heaven.

With all of that, you would think I didn't get much done today, but I have moved most of my kitchen and half my clothes and all of my shoes (yes, all 40 pairs) to my new house. Everything is sitting in the basement right now waiting for the floors to cure for a little while longer. Move day is fast approaching and to top it off, I have a big week at work.

Okay, iPod update is complete. Good Monday morning :)

Can I move in yet?

If the floors didn't need a couple of days before they can handle furniture, I probably would have moved in today. The floors look great - totally worth the investment of time and money. They really look like new floors.

I spent the day packing and moving things over to the house. I got the rest of my books and 1/2 the kitchen moved. I love to move like this because it makes it seem really fast on the actual moving day because the only thing that has to be moved is furniture.

Tomorrow I am going to pack up all of my clothes. That should be a challenge since it means I will have to pick out what I am going to wear for the whole week and I like to have lots of options. Speaking of options, I went through and weeded out more clothes tonight. I am going to have such limied space that I don't want to move things I am just going to end up giving away once I move in. It has really made me think about how much "stuff" I need in my life. When you actually have to pick up all of that stuff and move it around, it seems amazing to me that I have accumulated all of these things. I'm back up to almost 25 boxes of books. Must weed out.

So hot again today which made the packing and moving so fun. I'm headed off to my cool bath and my book.

Grooving to Snow Patrol Eyes Open - love my Brits.

Reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Started it at breakfast this morning, so I am looking to some time to get into it tonight.

Hot Hot Hot

Business dinners in the 21st century are a little different than they used to be - they are quite informal. I know they still have more formal dinners in New York, but here we like our laid back approach to things. Tonight I dined at the Black Bottle on 1st Ave in Seattle. The food there is all small plates to share and the coctails and wine are quite good. The conversation was interesting - we talked about books and discussed moving and the joy that it brings and we were all finished by 8:30. Perfect.

I got to drive home at my perfect time of day. The sun was just starting to dip behind the mountains when I left Seattle so I got treated to a gorgeous array of blues, purples, oranges and pinks the whole way home. Driving over the Tacoma Narrows was simply stunning. I let out a "wahoo". And I made it home in record time so I can enjoy a few minutes of writing and then go off to a cold bath.

Yes, a cold bath. No one here invests in air conditioning for the 10 days a year that the temperatures top 90 so the best way to get cool is a bath. I'm going to try to finish my book before I fall asleep.

Pleasant dreams and Happy Friday.

Patience and the definition of toxic

I couldn't wait one more day to see my floors. They still need one coat of finish and I knew I couldn't see them for long, but I went straight to my house after work to check them out (and to turn on the water - I'm still trying to save my lawn). They look gorgeous. The floors in the bedroom had been stained darker than the natural wood, but I opted for a natural finish and now everything has really lightened up. Amazing. The other amazing thing is just how toxic the finish is. When I entered my house, my eyes started burning and watering profusely and I could only stand to be in there for one minute. Worth it? I'll let you know when my eyes recover...

It has finally turned warm here and I am sitting at my desk enjoying the view from my second story window. At this point, I am trying to determine how early is too early to go to bed. Since I was out so late last night, I think it will be okay for me to go to sleep in about 3 minutes.

Goodnight!

At least I got home before midnight

This post is late because I stayed in town tonight for a business dinner and then ran into horrible traffic on my way home. Now I am off to bed after a small update...

The floor refinishing began today and the sanding should be done. They are going to put the first coat of finish on it tomorrow. :)

9 days and counting to move day.

Fearless

The house is ready for floor refinishing. There is nothing left on the hardwoods. For the past week or so, I have had a bunch of stuff hanging around - table and chairs in front of the window (for McDonalds/Arby's/Taco Time meals), shop vac, lamp, tool box, step ladder, ladder ladder, drop cloths. Before I got there tonight, my parents cleaned up a major part of it. Then, my friend, Josh, came over and helped me install the shelf in my bedroom closet. Thanks to Josh I now have a very level shelf (thanks, Josh!). While he was there, my electrician, Kelly, came over and installed the outlet for the microwave. So, everything that I wanted to finish before the floors were refinished is pretty well done. I can't wait to see what things look like on Friday.

I've been meaning to write a little about fearlessness for some time. My friend, Joanne, always calls me a fearless knitter because I am not intimidated by new things or new patterns. I've been thinking about this for a while (especially last night when I was putting up blinds). If you don't try things, you never know what you can really do. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail and there is always someone who can fix it - especially on housing projects. So, while things don't always go as smoothly as I wish (see back to my first post about plumbing), I always end up learning something. I get a lot of this thinking from my parents who are fearless about housing projects (Dad) and computers (Mom).

Time for me to take a break from house stuff and pack. I really don't like packing. I'm looking for ways to make it as painless and easy as possible and I am currently considering the option of shoving everything in plastic bags so I won't have to pack and unpack boxes. That's me, fearless, but always looking for the easier way.

Sleep now or forever hold your peace - Happy Tuesday! T-10 and counting til move day!

The Y in DIY

Tonight I started the process of clearing everything off the floors and did all of the other projects that had been back burnered in favor of painting and appliances. Sometimes I am the kind of independent that needs to do things on my own and tonight was a little like that. I put up the curtains and curtain rod in the kitchen and the blinds in the spare room. Now that I see them, I am wondering if I should install blinds in my room instead of curtains. Hmmmm....

Tomorrow I have to finish getting everything put away and off the wood floors.

I also called the movers about my piano today and ended up booking them for all of the furniture. It turns out that you have to hire them for a minimum of 2 hours, so I might as well get the full 2 hours worth. That means I am roughly 10 days from the big move. I'm not sure I quite comprehend that yet. I think I will feel it a little more this weekend as I pack up and move the kitchen and the rest of the books and the book shelves.

I took a moment tonight to enjoy the sunset. Lots of pink and purple. It is going to be a nice week here. Happy Monday.

Sundays in the Park

Yay! All of my appliances are in and the cabinet is remounted. Installing the microwave was the only thing on my to-do list today because I knew it would take a lot of time. After church, Mom and Dad came over to help with the installation. It took about 3 hours to get it all done and there was only a little swearing. Perhaps you did not know that cabinets are heavy and hard to hold up for long periods of time while holes are being drilled and screws are being put in. Yes, it was a challenge. Comparitively, the microwave was easy since it came with such good instructions.

I'm thinking about installing blinds and curtains tomorrow night since all of the trim painting is done. I have only a few things left to get done by Wednesday when the floor refinishers come.

One Sunday tradition in my family is to go down to Illahee State Park and barbecue. The kids were dying to jump off the dock, but there was rumor of a shark caught earlier in the day and the kids were reluctant to jump in with the possibility of sharks lingering. No explanation that these are small sharks that don't bite humans could coax them back in the water.

We enjoyed our barbecue and afterward we roasted marshmallows over the coals to make the traditional S'mores. I can only eat one s'more, but I love roasted marshmallows so I had many many more - hot off the skewers.

I had the perfect Sunday. This morning, I had coffee and spent an hour reading the latest -Water for Elephants. I will write more about it when I finish it, but I will say that I started it last night and I am already 125 pages in.

I forgot to review the last book I finished on Thursday, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It is a take off on fairy tales and involves a young boy who goes into the fairy tale world. I loved the way he twisted traditional fairy tales and I am a sucker for a young protagonist. This book didn't discover any new territory as much as it made me once again appreciate the transition from childhood to adulthood and the way we give up some things to gain others.

I'm off to sink back into my book.

I had a really good name for this post, but I forgot it

Lots of pictures today. I went over to my house early. It is a sad story, really. I was so tired last night that I accidentally turned my alarm on. After I hit the snooze button about 4 times, it occurred to me that I could just turn it off. At that point, I had already gained consciousness and noticed that I was a little too warm and a little too awake. So, I got up and headed out.

The good part is that I got all of the doors and doorways painted. My dishwasher is installed and my dad is going to help me install the microwave tomorrow after we put the cabinet back up. I think it is a good Sunday project. We should be able to get it done in plenty of time to go have a barbecue tomorrow afternoon at Illahee state beach.

Since it is Saturday, we had to give the kids some entertainment. Tonight, we took part in an American classic - the monster truck rally. I'm not sure I imagined I would ever attend something like this, but it was a blast. Jacob (on the right) is really into it and he cheers and says, "This really rocks" a lot. Totally worth it.

Such a good day. Still my favorite day of the week.

Friday nights are my nights off from house related things. Tonight I went to see the Seattle Storm take on the New York Liberty (WNBA). I went with my friend, Amy, pictured here and Tara and Maia (who took the picture). I am not the most knowledgable person when it comes to basketball, but it is one of my favorite sports to watch. I like all the action - lots of running up and down the court. Plus, it is a great thing to do on a Friday night.

Robb and Rebecca's move is done and they sound tired, but happy. There is a time after you finish putting things in your new house when you feel the sheer relief that you are done with the transporting.

On that note, I was thinking on my way home tonight about how caught up I got in my own schedule when I first got my house. It was almost too much to bear that I couldn't move in right away. Now, I am grateful for the extra time and my floors are going to be redone next week. It seemed like it was impossibly far away and now it is almost here. Must learn to be more patient.

Happy Bastille Day!

The first move

Robb and Rebecca (my sister and brother in law) are moving tomorrow. Their move will kick off all of the moving weekends we have forthcoming. I think my grandma is going to move next weekend and I am moving the weekend after. By the end, I expect everyone to drop from sheer exhaustion.

Tonight, we loaded up their U-Haul. Robb's roommate from college, Tim, came up to help. After wrestling with furniture and getting the truck mostly full, we headed over to the local pub for some sustenance (aka beer).

On my home front today, I had the plumber come in and install the garbage disposal and the fixtures in the bathroom. I will post some pictures of the bathroom this weekend. The fixtures make a huge difference - all of the gold pipes are gone. Then, the electrician came and began the process of wiring up the garbage disposal, the microwave and the light in the living room. All should be done by tomorrow. Saturday is dishwasher installation day! Can't wait.

Happy (almost) Friday everybody.

Yay! Tonight I bought my leather chairs. I've wanted leather chairs for a long time and I have the perfect place to put them - right in front of the fireplace. Costco had a super deal on these and they come with the ottoman. How could I resist?

My parents have been really helpful this week. Obviously, I cannot lift these chairs by myself nor could I have put them in my car. So, they picked up a couple of other things for me (a table for my breakfast nook and the lights for my living room) and then helped me get the chairs. I can't wait to see these in front of the fireplace after the floors are refinished.

So, all of this time waiting for the floors to be refinished has given me the opportunity to really get a lot done and for all of my complaining that they couldn't be done faster, I am glad I got the extra time.

Tomorrow, the plumber and the electrician are coming to get everything ready for new appliances to be installed on Saturday.

Fading a little so I better get some extra sleep tonight. Good day.

Of vocabulary and music

I feel I must respond a tad to the comments on my last late post. It seems that spiders elicit reactions on both sides and have both their supporters and detractors. I am especially appreciative of my policy being categorized as draconian. (Good word.) So, I will reconsider. In order to eschew obfuscation, I must say that the circumstances that prompted the post were thus: I walked out of my office and down the hall to drop exhaustedly into bed and there was a spider dancing around and taunting me on the floor. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. Perhaps the spider was just being still in hopes that I would not notice it. But in my slightly giddy, tired phase, I had nothing left for spiders last night. Therefore, I will amend the policy slightly to one more tolerant of spiders when they are not terrifying me after 11pm.

Obviously, I am really tired and slightly over the edge tonight as well.

I did get all of my bills set up to come electronically and to be paid automatically. I love the internet. It was actually really easy and I am surprised that anyone writes checks to pay bills anymore.

Last night I started realizing that I am listening to the same albums over and over again. My favorite bands (Coldplay, U2, Death Cab for Cutie) all released albums last year, so there was going to be nothing new from them this year, so I had to try a few new things. I bought 3 new albums last night. Here I shall give you my reviews of them:

Angels and Airwaves, We Don't Have to Whisper - You know how you hear a song in a movie or on a tv show or commercial and you just feel like life has all of these great possibilities. You will walk out the door in the morning, the sun will be shining, you will have the perfect day, etc. That is how this album makes me feel. Happy and kind of like I want to dance (great for painting trim).

Dashboard Confessional, Dusk and Summer - Very Dashboard, all about the girl that got away or the chance you never took and how all of those things held so many possibilities and next time you should do the right thing and just take a chance. Love it, but not as much as the first album.

Postal Service, Give Up - I love the electronic keyboard that feeds the entire album. Pretty, listenable music. I failed to find one song that I wanted to go back and listen to over and over again because they are all smaller songs that make me want to listen to the entire album again from the beginning and straight through.

I also put the following back into rotation:
Snow Patrol, Eyes Open - I loved Final Straw so much and I listened to it over and over again and this is not the same album. But, I am the kind of person that likes a band to branch out and do different things from album to album. I love his voice and I think Snow Patrol could be the next Coldplay.

Time for a little reading and sleep! I'll try to be nice to all small, crawling things...

Late Post (for Hannah)

I've gone back to my old policy - death to all spiders indoors.

Many hands

Short post tonight - I just got my first bills so I'm going to set up my house payment online so that I can continue on the path to NO MAIL. I try really hard to pay everything on line and to get as many bills as possible that way. I only end up shredding them - which is annoying.

Mom and Dad brought me a sandwich from Arby's tonight and we got started on all of the projects. My dad pulled out the dishwasher and discovered that there is no plug back there. The thing is wired down through the floor to the junction box. We did this because my electrician is coming tomorrow night and I wanted to know what I need him to do. Apparently, I need him to wire an outlet up there.

My dad also painted the closet tonight which makes it look so much better. That way I don't have to be stressed about getting the doors in there before I move in. Mom and I went after the trim paint. We got 4 more windows and the mantle painted and they all look great. Tomorrow I only have two more windows to do and then I will start on all of the door frames.

Only 19 days until I move in! Happy Monday.

The most stunning sunset is taking place ouside my window right now. (I typed that and then ran and took a picture.) It is also stunningly hot in my townhouse. I keep forgetting to leave the windows open all day while I am gone. The bedroom window is open, but I left the downstairs all shut up which makes it very stuffy. In a few minutes I will run a cool bath and that should make everything better.

Today I worked on the little stuff, the detail things. My favorite, right. I took down the tape in the kitchen and the spare bedroom, cleaned all of the trim around the windows to get it ready to paint took down the rod in the closet since I am going to use a wire shelf that doubles as a place to hang clothes. For installation, I will get to use my drill, and a leve and a stud finder (insert joke here). Then, I spackled in the closet to fill the holes and get it ready to paint. Finally, I painted the trim around the kitchen window and the spare bedroom windows. Once I finish the window trim, I can put up the blinds and curtains I bought. Tomorrow, I have to call the electrician so that I can get an outlet installed for my microwave and another one for my garbage disposal. Yes, truly the fun stuff.

I did give myself the night off, though. I figured I should get to see at least one of the big summer movies. I met my parents and we saw Pirates of the Carribean. Wonderful, great adventure and sword fights and at least twice I jumped and may have screamed a tiny bit.

A couple of book notes:

The book I finished on Friday night: Him Her Him Again the End of Him - which was funny and fast and not as much of a murder mystery as you might imagine from the title. It was written by a former Saturday Night Live writer so there were moments when I laughed out loud.

Tonight I will be reading: The Book of Lost Things - which is a dark story about the world the imagination creates when reading and how sometimes that world can be more real than this one. I can't wait to get into it.

Good sunsets everybody!

Derby!

Tonight we went to the Kitsap Destruction Derby. I went last month with some friends and thought the kids would just love it. They really got into it. They loved it when the cars slammed into each other. They also loved the rollover competition. This event is truly one of those summer things that you have to love. Hot Dogs, Cotton Candy, Nachos, Sno Cones and loud cars.

On the house front, I went over this morning and started making lists of things I needed to do in every room. Then, I went shopping to get all of the supplies I needed. I had a grand shopping spree. The biggest things I bought are being delivered next Saturday - a dishwasher and a microwave to go over the oven. They are going to install the dishwasher, but my dad and I will put in the microwave.

My mom and I spent the afternoon looking at everything from curtains to towels to kitchen tables and all things decorative. I now have my week ahead cut out for me. Of course, I decided to repaint all of the doors and doorframes in my house. They have been painted before, but they need a refresher coat and in a lot of places, it looks like they only got one coat in the first place so they do not really look finished.

It was a full day and again, one of those great, summer days in Washington where the sky is blue, the water is beautiful and you can see Mt. Rainier. Truly breathtaking.

Happy Saturday (my favorite day of the week).

Bliss

Today was a great and glorious day. Let me count the reasons:

1. It is Friday.
2. It was perfect today - sunny and 75 degrees.
3. I left work in time to catch the 5:30 ferry so I got to ride home with friends instead of trying to beat the traffic.
4. I just had the most wonderful dinner at my favorite new place.

A few months ago, my neighborhood restaurant, Cafe Destino, decided to close. Now, the food at Cafe Destino was great and I absolutely loved going there for that reason, but I also loved that it was close enough to my townhouse that I could just walk over. I am also a fan of the view which looks out across Evergreen Park towards the water.

When I passed by tonight, I noticed that a new place had opened there, Augustino Obrigado. So I dropped my car off at home and took myself down there. I mentioned that the weather was just about perfect and there were tables outside, so I ordered some Osso Bucco and a glass of red wine and finished my book as I waited. Lovely. I think I may make this a regular habit on Friday nights. I like giving myself a night off - no projects, just a good meal.

Happy Friday everyone!

Painting accomplished

It feels really nice to say that I have put the final coat of paint in the kitchen. I may now proceed to other fun projects.

This weekend = doors and shopping for trim. And maybe appliances.

Time to sleep.

I like my coffee

Every day, as soon as I get home, I set up my coffee for the next morning. It is the hardest part of my day because I am usually so tired that all I want to do is crawl upstairs and go to bed. But, I use it as a transition time to let the day go and then, when I am done, I feel like I can do a few things (like blog and update my iPod and maybe some laundry).

Almost done with the painting. My dad came over and we put the first coat of paint on in the kitchen. You can't see it, but the walls are texturized which looks really cool, but makes a second coat of paint very necessary. This is the last of the big painting projects and now it is on to the details. We measured the closet for doors so I will get over to Home Depot on Saturday to start looking at options. I also need to look at some of my trim options including the moulding for the ceiling and some of the finishing touches in other areas. Everything is starting to really come together and feel like my space. After all of the painting is done, I am also going to cut back on some of the weeknight house projects so I can get some time to pack my stuff and also to have a little bit of down time. I think there is a limit to the amount of time I can spend working.

On the other hand, summer is a little bit of a slow down, so I might have a few extra days here and there that I can dedicate to home improvement. We shall see.

As I suspected, there are still a few fireworks going off tonight and the witching hour is about to begin. Better go start that laundry.