My Hands are My Heart

I've been up to some things

2010-01-31T22:37:00.003-05:00

I can't believe January is over. Time flies faster and faster, I think. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately with so many obligations and projects going on (and this is my personal life I'm talking about; I won't even get into the business of my day job). But I've accomplished 3 major things this month that I'm glad are over. The next two months will still prove to be pretty busy but it's all fun and exciting I suppose. So here's what's new.

1- Spent most of this month studying for my personal training certification, which work paid for and wanted me to have mostly for PR purposes. Although I have tons of other fitness certs and a degree in that field, they're mostly fitness instruction ones and I guess reporters and other people who ever want us to comment on things ask if I'm a "certified trainer" so that is mainly the reason I got it. Whatever! It took most of my evenings after work and weekends to study since I was on a fast track to get it. I took my test yesterday and passed with flying colors. I feel SO relieved and glad to have a little more free time each week that's not devoted to studying.

2- In the midst of that, I also took my fourth pilates instructor training out of the five I need to sit for my national certification exam. That was one long grueling weekend last weekend (9 hours Sat and Sun--ugh). I enjoy it and like to learn new things, but man, not having that weekend break is tough. Glad that is out of the way. I have on more weekend training like that to do. Trying to decide if I'll go to the one offered in March or wait til later in the year or next year. I don't feel ready to sit for my test until maybe next year anyway (plus I don't have all my practical hours of instruction, personal practice and class observation/taking done), so I might not rush to get it this year especially with everything else that is going on (more on that coming).

3- We also met with, hired and got custom kitchen cabinets made, which were just installed Friday (yes, during my final day of studying for Saturday's certification). I am THRILLED with the results. We went as green as possible and went with a local carpenter. He used untreated FSC-certified wood, kept all our "boxes" and hinges from our existing cabinets and just refaced them with new doors (and water based paint/sealers), built a new section of cabinets on a wall where there were previously none, added a crown to them, installed our new microwave (above the stove), and finished them all off with toe kick trim (previously our cabinets had these disgustingly yellowed/discolored rubber things). Take a look at the before pic (not much to see in this one photo I guess, but you get the gist--basic cheap particle board cabinets that don't match the style of our bungalow) of our kitchen from the initial photos I took when we moved in. Nothing bad, just not the greatest. Now look at these bad boys--upgrade! Our next step within the next few weeks or months is to get new countertops and sink. Don't now what I want yet but I am hoping to find something made of recycled materials.

Which leads me to what is next. So we went into our favorite furniture store yesterday and the owners who we're pretty good friends with had some BIG news and were hoping we'd stop in. Turns out Missy's cousin owns a mid-century gem in the neighborhood where we used to live in our apartment before moving to our current house. This house is actually just a few blocks from the other mid-century one we scoped out last year or so and were seriously considering buying b/c we loved the house and the location. This is a coveted area that is nice, safe, pretty centrally located AND expensive to buy into. Her cousin is selling her house on short sale--she cannot make the payments on it and short sale is sort of this option to do instead of foreclosure and she said we should check it out asap. We went today and it needs tons of work--BUT it is completely livable unlike the previous one that had a tree through its roof. We are entertaining the idea of offering low and swooping it up and slowly fixing it up as we can afford to. More updates to come on that for sure, but here's an exterior photo. So many things would have to fall into place for that to happen: selling our house, getting a loan, finding out how much it might cost to fix some of the major things in the house, her lending approving her short sale and the amount we'd be willing to pay, and not getting outbid by someone else, so we will see.

Did I mention I'm also trying to plan a wedding, train for 15K, and organize myself (and buy a ton of expensive shit) for my Grand Canyon hiking adventure at the end of March? This Feb. I will also do another weekend training certification in PiYo (a Pilates-yoga fusion type class). Somehow I have to also train for my hiking trip (5 straight days of hiking and camping and I have never done either) and find all the random crap I need, whether borrowing it or buying some. Needless to say, these next two months are going to be NUTS!

New Year Update

2010-01-03T20:28:00.004-05:00

I am so bad at this. I am so jealous of other people who can journal or blog on a regular basis, yet I don't make much of an effort myself. UGH!

Anyway, another year gone. Now what?

Currently, we are just beginning a kitchen remodel. I love my kitchen and I spend a lot of time there. It's pretty small, but I also feel like it's extremely functional. However, the particle board cabinets and laminate countertops (which have been falling apart and glued and reglued since day 1) are not my style and not fitting with the rest of our house, which is so amazingly cute and charming. SO, a kitchen renovation begins.

This is going to be quite simple, really. We're not tearing down walls or moving plumbing. And I'm trying to keep it as green as possible. Over the past couple years, we upgraded our dishwasher and our refrigerator to newer models that are also MUCH MORE energy efficient than the old ones. We've just hired a local-ish carpenter who is going to reface our current cabinets, keeping the exact footprint and build us some new cabinets on one wall where there are none. He's using, upon request, FSC-certified wood that's formaldehyde free, water based paints and sealants, and all of our existing hinges and hardware. So basically, the current cabinets will get a new coat of paint and new doors, and we'll have a new section of cabinets on another wall to match.

From there, we'll EVENTUALLLY replace our laminate countertops, get a new sink and faucet, and do a tiled backsplash. Floors, lighting, everything else will stay as-is. I am very excited for the whole project--and the fact that our kitchen will not be torn up or out of commission AT ALL during the process. Yay!

I've set some goals for the new year, giving up one possession per day for a year being my main goal. Beyond that I also want to run a 15K race, do more strength training, reconnect with friends and make more new friends and get hitched. I'm basically planning a wedding...not sure if Evan is going to actually propose officially or not, so I guess it is hush hush for now or something. Don't care much about diamond rings or rings at all for that matter, but if we get one, it will be used, antique or heirloom or something like that. Another goal I have is to take more photos. I've realized that I have almost no photos from the past 10 years of my life!! So I'm making an effort to take more pictures when we go places, even though for some reason that makes me feel like a weirdo or a tourist I guess. I'm not sure what. Part of not taking photos, I think, is related to me not writing or blogging regularly. I just feel like everything is so ordinary and nothing is really worth talking about. But I guess that is how day to day life is. I have a really poor memory that only seems to be getting worse. Seriously, it is so bad that I think that if I was in my 70s, people would think it was early signs of dementia. I may have written about this before, but I think that taking the time to update my journal/blog every few days, even with the basic "here's what I did today" stuff would really help me retain things better.

Here are a few more random thoughts of the moment.

Wedding date I hope will be 10-10-10. Is that totally nerdy? I guess I don't care because I like it.

I saw a lot of movies over the holidays, some new and some out on DVD: Up In The Air (good, but more sad than comedy I thought), Funny People (not what I expected and a little longer than necessary, but OK), Milk (OK, kind of drawn out, but I'm glad I learned about Harvey Milk, a pretty incredible man in his short life), , Invictus (didn't want to see it and didn't like it much), and Avatar (loved it and it made me want to escape modern life--an urge I often have actually--and feel like a total tool for just leaving the theatre to look at kitchen countertops). Two quotes I keep thinking about from that movie:

1- "All energy is only borrowed; at some point you have to return it." Love this on so many levels.

2- "Thank you for this Brother, as your journey ends. Your soul will return to Eywa, but your body will stay here, so i will take it to nourish the Na'vi people." (or something like that.) When he killed that animal/creature for food and said this, I cried. I only wish that every person who actually does eat meat would think this way or appreciate it on this level.

Also, I did some calculations recently, and if all goes according to plan--interest rates don't increase much and we pay exactly what we are currently paying--I will have my student loans paid off in 3 years, just about in time to have babies in my 30s.

Another goal I have for the year is to take a real vacation since I haven't been anywhere since I was a kid. I hope this will entail an actual week off of work (also something I have not taken since starting my job). I don't have any major ideas about where or when yet, but I need to get out.

Chicago Fun

2009-07-08T20:20:00.008-04:00

So, I took my version of a "vacation" (i.e. no more than 3 days away from work and within driving distance) over the 4th of July weekend. We love, love, LOVE Chicago and try to go once a year. Every time, we're obsessed with it and want to move there. Oh well I guess! Anyway, seeing how I have a real memory problem--seriously, I hardly remember what I even did today let alone last weekend--I want to recap what we did for other to enjoy (I like to pretend people read this) but also for my own memories.

We left on Thursday night from Cinci. It was a long drive--there is always construction on the main highways to and/or from Chicago when we go, which sets you back for at least an hour or more--I'm talking dead stop on the highway, moving at slow crawl for an hour minimum. I don't mind that much, really. I figure this: Enjoy the ride. So we arrived late on Thursday night (around midnight Chicago time). We stayed at my friend Regina's awesome apartment in Logan Square. She wasn't in town, but let us stay anyway--score! We also helped care for her sweet and VERY talkative cat Otto while we were there. We <3 him--he's such a lap cat and he talks to you all the time.

Friday we slept in til about 9. Then we ate breakfast that we made in the apartment and were off to an architecture tour of my all-time favorite house in the world: The Farnsworth House, which is one of the most significant modern homes ever built in the U.S. It's located in Plano, Illinois, about an hour outside Chicago.

It's in the middle of nowhere--literally. Nothing but farms for miles and a few houses here and there--very rural. Let me tell you how much I love this house ever since I first learned about it during my studies in modern architecture and architectural history.
It's by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (one of my favorite architects) and it's the only home he designed and built in the United States. When mastering our architectural design software in college, we had to build computer models of homes of our choices and I picked this one. Love love love it. So I was very excited to finally go and see it in person on the 90-minute tour. It was beautiful and so cool to see it in person and walk around inside. I'm so glad we made the trip to see it. Here are a few photos I took.

After the tour, we stopped for lunch at a random place in a cute little town called Plainfield (I think). Mediocre food--bleh, but a cute area.

We headed back to the apartment and decided to hop the train downtown. We hit up Michigan Avenue because I wanted to go to the Nike store (I still need to find a few more outfits for my DVD shoot next week), but it sucked--nothing good. I did snag an awesome little dress at H&M for just 5 bucks though! Then we went in the Hershey store--totally touristy I know, but we were a little bored--we were in there about 1 minute--just long enough to see the 3 foot long packages of extra long Twizzler. WOW. I had to get out of there. I also had to snap a photo of Mies van der Rohe Way near the modern art museum, of course!

Walked around a little more downtown, bought some groceries at Trader Joe's and the clerk recommended a nearby vegetarian restaurant when we asked. It took us a while to find it, but it was well worth the wait. Karyn's Cooked. It's actually 100% vegan and WOW I have probably never seen so many healthy, appetizing, amazing veggie dishes on a menu. We got a bunch of free samples for a super charismatic waiter and I had one of the best meals ever. I could go back there every day! And I'm definitely going back next time we're in Chicago because it is that good! Dinner was late (finished after 10 p.m.) so we hopped the train back to the apartment. It was SO crowded b/c everyone was downtown for fireworks. WE could barely get into and out of the trains--that's how busy it was.
Watched a movie of Regina's (Eyes Wide Shut--totally weird and freaky!) and went to bed.

Saturday. Slept in late--til almost noon! It was rainy and grey out, which was a bummer b/c we planned to bike to the beach that day. So instead, we went to the Art Institute of Chicago Museum (courtesy of free passes from Regain who got her master's there) to visit their newly opened modern wing. It was pretty cool. They had a good modern architecture exhibit with drawings and models from some famous architects. I bought a small postcard book of Rex Ray's work (love him!) that I hadn't seen before. Afterward, we trained back to the apartment, ate our leftovers from Karyn's. Relaxed a bit for a few hours and finally decided to drive an hour to the nearby outlet mall...what can I say, we had nothing to do and it was rainy. It wasn't bad, actually. I got a super cute dress from BCBG that was like 75% off the retail price. On the way home, we stopped by Oak Park (which is famous for having several Frank Lloyd Wright homes, including his home and studio), then went home.

Sunday was finally a sunny day so we got out our bikes and biked for about 90 minutes. It was a lot of fun--we like to bike in Chicago b/c it's such a bike friendly city and we get to cover more ground than walking, but see more than we can from the train or the car. Showered and drove home.

Even though it was short, I felt like we got a lot in for just a few days! I actually felt like we were gone much longer. However, we were SO tired and slept in and got to work a bit late on Monday, and now I'm feeling like I need a REAL vacation from work--you know, like a whole week, like real people take. Someday!

Thanks for reading!

H-O-T

2009-05-27T22:04:00.005-04:00

Met Stephen Jenkins (and Brad and Tony) at the Third Eye Blind concert in Columbus this past Friday. WOW. He shook my hand, signed my ticket, and was utterly dreamy. Mmmmmmmmmmm

We arrived at 3 p.m. and waited in line to get 2nd row, center standing spots for the show. But the pit was CRAZIER than ever and after a few songs, we climbed out. There is always so much more energy in the pit and it's way more fun, but it was so hot that day and people were pushing and shoving more than usual. Are we getting old or something? Either way, it was an awesome show, of course, and seeing the band in person at the end of the show (after a lot more standing and waiting) was totally worth it. I <3 3EB! A few more pics:

My New Favorite Room

2009-03-20T17:20:00.007-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since my last update, but that's to be expected coming from me. My life has been so crazy busy and work is taking up so much of my time that the last thing I want to do is spend MORE time on the computer. Anyway, I wanted to share some photos of the FIRST room we've actually completed in the house. I love this room so much that we are always spending time in here now. The wall color is the same as it was when we moved in, but we frosted the windows on both sides for a little more privacy (without hiding the beautiful windows). While this is mostly complete decor-wise, we have plans to rip down the tiled ceiling, add a couple outlets AND add a light switch so we can permanently hang the light fixture from the ceiling. Seeing as how it takes us years to complete any project, don't expect that any time soon. Any way, enjoy the view!

View from living room into sun room.

Window treatments at front of house (behind sofa) are IKEA shades, left there by previous owners. I plan to crop them and sew them so that they hit just at the window's ledge.

We frosted the windows with a kit from Home Depot for just $20. Bottom 3 panes on both sides of room are frosted and you can't see through them at all! They line up perfectly with the curtains on the front windows so there is an equal amount of privacy from the outside on all 3 sides of the room.

I wanted to put our computer in this room, which is the real reason we frosted the glass--so people can't see it from outside.

Yep, got that sofa I wanted from Urban Outfitters for a steal! Waiting nearly 2 years to buy it meant I got it on sale after Christmas, plus saved an additional 20%. Just $350! Back cushions come off if you wanted to use it as a small guest bed.

This stereo cabinet is vintage, from Mainly Art of course! I love it! Right not it hides lots of files and office stuff so that our office-y room stays clean and clutter-free!

A great knockoff of the real Nelson ball clock for only $40 that my Mom gave me for Christmas--finally found its perfect spot!

This Painted House, Year End Update

2009-01-01T13:21:00.008-05:00

I've been meaning to post some pics of our newly painted abode for a while now, but it had been either too cold or too dark/grey outside on many of the days that I wanted to snap some pics. I finally thought to do it this past weekend, though, when I was bored, and they turned out pretty well. Here are a couple reminders of what we started with, which was a pretty greyish-blue color, but in major disrepair (as you can see). I decided to change the color to a snazzy, somewhat nostalgic navy blue, which I think really pops with the white trim and darkly colored brick. We also had to replace several of the cedar shingles that were rotting and in bad condition. Overall, it was money well spent. It put quite a dent into our savings, but we've already made up the difference thanks to both of our year-end bonuses at work and another financial windfall (Evan's dad cleaned out his safety deposit box and found dozens of $50 and $100 savings bonds that Evan's grandpa bought for Evan in the early 80's; they had matured and we cashed them in!) I quite like it. :-)

December was a good month. I was really busy at work (but that is nothing new). I was able to "realize" a dream of mine, of creating my own workout DVD, and we did that at work and now it's for sale in our online store! It was awesome and I'm really proud of how it turned out (you'll find a shared link to it on my facebook page). I got another 10% raise this year, which makes me feel just so fortunate considering the economic landscape and difficulties that so many other families are facing. Evan also got a HEFTY bonus at work, and his job seems stable, although his company is implementing a salary freeze for the next 1-2 years. I can deal with that. We both feel so lucky to even HAVE jobs.

We've been living on one income for yet another year, and putting almost our entire second income on my student loans. We continue to make a lot of progress with that. Assuming we continue at this same level of payoff, my student loans will be eradicated in about 5 years, which is AWESOME! I can't even imagine having two full incomes to live on, although I don't imagine we'd go crazy and start spending all kinds of money. I feel like we have a good balance. We stick to a monthly budget, pay extra on the loans automatically each month, and still manage to enjoy a few fun things here and there: dinner out about once a week, 100% organic foods from the grocery store (yay!), the occasional splurge on a movie or night out equipped with a trip to the bowling alley, and even the ability to add to our furniture collection and fix up the house a bit. This year, we took a couple small, long-weekend trips, too: Evan went to Utah (for work and then an extended stay to hit the slopes) last March or so; we went to Chicago, Atlanta, and I went to New York to see my brother. I rather like taking several short and inexpensive trips each year vs. one long and pricey vacation.

We both took a full week off work for Christmas, which was mainly so I could spend as much time as possible with my brother (in town from New York for 2 weeks). It was nice, but I get bored easily. But still, I'd say the whole week was more positive than negative: no family fights, no drama, nothing major to report. I got to see my family a lot and Evan's family, too. We had a good time.

Christmas was pretty good. We didn't get gifts for each other, but we did buy a few gifts for others, which is a little uncharacteristic of me. I LOVE buying gifts, believe me. I think it's so fun to find something for someone else. But I try not to be frivolous or spend more money than I'm comfortable with, which usually means no gifts. My family isn't big into gift-giving. Really, our parents just buy us kids gifts and that's about it. But this year, I made homemade granola for all my friends, co-workers and family members. I put them in recycled glass jars that I collected from food (pasta sauce, jam, etc.) all year long. We printed and framed photos of us for our parents and grandparents. I bought my mom a book (Eat Pray Love, which I'm also reading now), and Evan and I paid for a family dinner out for 8 of us--wow, was that expensive! My brother, sister and our significant others did a secret santa gift exchange, too.

Presents from my parents were downsized this year, but that's OK b/c I never know what I want anyway. My mom donated to NPR for me (something I've always wanted to do but would never really do at this point in my life), and I got the radio bookmark and the member card that gets you discounts at a bunch of places. She got me a cool sewing book I wanted by Amy Butler, and probably the coolest thing I got were two sets (normal and mini) of silicone baking cup liners. THESE ROCK! I make muffins and frittatas in my muffin pans all the time, but they're a pain in the ass to clean. These liners are AWESOME and make it so much easier.

Last night we rung in the new year with a homemade dinner and my best friends Liza and Ryan. I'm surprised I actually stayed awake that long.

Happy 2009!

Decision Time

2008-12-07T21:03:00.002-05:00

It was hard. But Friday, we finally decided to NOT make an offer on the house. Things were already getting out of hand--the budget was higher than we anticipated. We were trying to do crazy things like sell now-low-valued stocks and cut into our savings to get the down payment, and we realized that we'd be financially strapped to carry both houses and even just the new one alone (assuming ours would sell). So while I'm glad we pursued it as far as we could--so that we'll never have to wonder "what if"--I'm a little sad to let the dream of it go. But I also realized that just because we feel a little down about it not working out doesn't mean that it's the wrong decision.

On the bright side, we love our house--really do. And we have some big plans for a few more projects that will really make it ours and make it even better. Plus we can afford it, which is probably most important of all, and still enjoy a pretty nice lifestyle while pursuing our financial goals at the same time.

So we had a good talk about it all on Friday, and today, we saw online that the property is under contract. It is 95% likely that whomever bought it will tear it down. Again looking to the bright side, at least I finally got to sneak a peek inside the house I admired for years before it will be no more.

In other news, we're heading to Atlanta this weekend to visit Evan's sister. I'm actually taking a day off work, too- woot! And tomorrow I'll spend all day long shooting a workout DVD, which means I'm also going to be REALLY sore for a few days. I'm tired and sore just thinking about it, but it's also sort of a dream come true.

Good night and stay warm!

House(s) Update

2008-12-01T21:38:00.010-05:00

It's been a while, and I've got lots of new pics to share. I call this Houses(s) Update because it's about two houses, really. Let's start with the one we live in.

First off, I finished my first sewing project (on the sewing machine my mom bought me last Christmas). I'm bad at getting started b/c I can't troubleshoot. So it gets jammed and I give up. So with plenty of help from my friend Liza who knows more than a thing or two about sewing, I completed these curtains--pretty much all by myself. I measured, cut, ironed, and sewed them. She was mostly there for moral support, and to help me when I had to re-thread and un-jam the machine.

I am SO happy with the final results. Here are a couple pics of the curtains, made with my new Amy Butler fabric. I actually bought a few different kinds of fabric for future projects--more to come later!

Next up, we have a new rug! That makes 2 for the whole house--hey, we're getting there. There was this rug from Crate and Barrel that I wanted for months now. But I wasn't sure, and I knew that the new store was going to open here in Cinci this year, so my plan was to check it out there and see if I liked it, and if I did, snatch it up without paying shipping by ordering online. So I had to work late at a fitness thing on a Friday night, and I come home to find this very rug in the hallway. Evan had gone and bought it for me as a surprise, and even saved 15% b/c they were handing out coupons for their grand opening. I LOVE it and I think it goes really well with the new paining I made for the hallway earlier this summer.

And lastly, we have drywall! Evan and his dad spent about 6 hours on a Saturday dry-walling our "construction room". A lot of the hard work is done, but there is still a lot more to go: mudding, and sanding and sanding and sanding, following by priming and painting, and then attaching the trim/baseboard. Wow, I don't even want to think about it. But at least progress is being made. I hope this will be a completed room before winter is over.

That's about it for the house. We also installed a new dishwasher that's super sleek and has those hidden buttons on the top instead of on the front. It's been pretty nice, seeing as how the old one didn't even work (and we basically went months without being able to use the dishwasher). I wanted to get this one in and finished by Thanksgiving (we hosted 11 people this year), and boy, am I glad I had it!

On to house #2: We met with an architect and took a second look at the dream house. We got a rough estimate from him to fix the house, and it's pretty involved: new roof structure, masonry work, re-doing all interior walls and finishings, remodeling the kitchen and baths, replacing windows, etc. Yikes! However, the estimate was pretty well in line with our thoughts, but a little high. I'm super nervous about the whole thing, but I think we are going to make an offer within a week. Our offer is low, no doubt about it. But it could very well be the only offer they get, so maybe they'll take it. Who knows? I flip flop every day. It's very risky--after all, construction and remodeling usually goes over budget and estimates, and then we'd have to carry our mortgage and pay on a construction loan, and then sell this house--it's crazy. I think I'd actually feel a large sense of relief if they don't accept our offer or if something stops it from happening. I am not a risk taker, and I don't like feeling "this way". Things sure would be tight for months, maybe years, and we've be paying a mortgage near the top of what we could afford. I don't like that idea, but I'm trying to think long-term. And in this case, the long term investment is excellent if we can remodel and purchase this house for the price we have in mind. Still...

Larger than Life

2008-11-16T20:21:00.008-05:00

So we checked out the dream home yesterday (there I am!). It was cold and pouring down rain when we arrived for our noon showing...and I'm talking about the inside of the house. I'm sort of glad that I got to see it during this bad weather, otherwise I think that I would have glossed over the extent of the damage. But the heavy rain wouldn't let me ignore it: puddles throughout the house, even in the areas without the wall/roof damage. And those large puddles leaked through the subfloor and into the underneath garage and basement, too. I thought that the house looked bad from the exterior, but boy, I had NO idea just how bad it was until we got to this showing.

The realtor let us know that this house has had many showings in the last few weeks, and that two people he brought through were "crunching numbers" and would likely make an offer soon. I asked, and yes, both of those two parties had plans to level the house and rebuild something else on the lot. How sad!! He also said that the price was about to drop again (probably another $20-25K I'd guess), and that the land value alone is probably worth $125K. Not sure if that's his way of encouraging us to offer soon and to offer high or what.

We brought our architect-trained (turned landscape designer) friend Ryan with us, figuring he'd have a good sense to the extent of the damage. He actually said that it wasn't as bad as he expected from his first (exterior) look a few weeks ago. But I was overwhelmed! I figure there is just no way we can take on a project like this. I might be more inclined to do so if I really loved the interior. I see it has GREAT potential. The public living space alone is pretty cool and quite open and large. But it has just 2 VERY TINY (about 10x10 ft) bedrooms and is very cramped in that area. To me, the cost of fixing the damage PLUS the cost of renovating the house to be larger or more livable sort of makes this not worth the money. In the end, we might as well just build a custom home for what it'd take to save this house's shell. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but still. I was dead set on giving up on this after that look.

But I woke up this morning with the house on my mind and I still keep thinking about it. Not sure why. I think it's just my emotions taking over, b/c it's sad to me that people would level a house as unique and beautiful as this one--even when it's pretty much beyond repair--and also b/c I can just picture us living in a home like this. But I need to not be irrational. Something else will come along, and our house is pretty sweet as it is. Well, it was fun to think about. I'm going to share some of the interior photos Evan took. Of course, he didn't think to take a photo of the front room of this house, which is gorgeous and still in perfect condition. So all you'll get is the mass destruction for the most part. Note the large puddles throughout. Descriptions are BELOW the photo they apply to.

Cool fireplace in the front-most room that you see on the exterior shot of the house. This is the only shot we got of that room, but it's got a wood, angled ceiling with large exposed wood beams, built in bookshelves, and large wall-to-wall-to-ceiling windows. The hallway you see in brick here leads to the front door of the house.

Me in the open living area (lovely candid shot). I'm facing the front room (in the photo above). This is an L-shaped, open living area you see me in. To the right of this photo would be the large, busted out window in pictures below. To the left and behind the paneled wall is the kitchen. Behind the furthest paneled wall is the front-most bedroom of the house.

Living area at the side of the house, directly behind (and open to) the front room. The very large picture window is completely gone and rain is pouring in (that tarp is like a too-small band-aid).

The kitchen is fairly large and in very good, mostly original condition. Very little ceiling/roof damage in this room, but lots of water on the floor.

Kitchen, another view. If you're standing and facing the kitchen like this photo was taken, the busted out living room window is directly behind you.

Full bath (there is also another half bath). This is actually the best room in the house (in terms of damage), believe it or not!

Front-most bedroom, just behind the living room with the busted out window.

Front bedroom ceiling again.

Back-bedroom at the corner of the house. This is the worst ceiling/wall damage. Hello outside world!

Back bedroom again.

My Dream House...Within Reach?

2008-11-12T21:05:00.005-05:00

The photo you're looking at is a photo of one of my all-time favorite houses in Cincinnati. It's in Mt. Lookout, where Evan and I lived before buying our house in Pleasant Ridge, and we just LOVE the neighborhood. Problem is, we couldn't afford the houses there now, or anytime in the near future--it's pretty upscale and pricey.

This might seem really weird, but I think it's smart. I set up google alerts for the addresses of 3 or 4 houses in Cinci that I love. I figured that if they ever go on the market or anything like that, I'd know. I never expected to afford them, but I thought--at least I could take a look or visit an open house and see the interiors of these houses that I admire so much.

Well, what do you know--I got an alert for one of my faves. It's on the market (has already dropped another 25K in price so far) and it's priced to sell. Problem is, it was severely damaged in those Hurricane Ike winds a few weeks back--and it's not even livable in its current condition. It needs total renovation--we're talking an entire new roof and truss system, new windows (some are knocked out and missing), and more structural fixes to the exterior walls, etc.

Crazy as it sounds, we've set up a showing with the listing agent this Saturday! We think it's totally possible to offer low enough to afford the estimated 80-100K renovations. I sort of figure that stranger things have happened in this world, and we're not going to lose out on anything if we try for it. At least seeing it will help us find out if it's fixable, if we like the interior, etc. But if things go the way we're thinking, it could end up being one of the BEST investments we'd ever make, and our chance to not only live in a house that is a mid-century design icon, but also to buy into a neighborhood that we otherwise would never be able to afford.

The other part of this, is that I'm really scared and nervous that someone is going to swoop in, buy the property and level it to build some McMansion. That would be SO sad--houses like this just don't come along anymore, and not very many people appreciate their aesthetics (and history) the way we do. Anyway, I'm excited to see it on Saturday...more to come later (hopefully some photos from our visit, too!). :-)

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T11:16:00.003-04:00

I'm not into Halloween. As far as adults go, it seems to like like another excuse to party (drink) or for women to dress up as slutty [fill in the blank with any costume here]. However, for some reason I got a simple and fun idea for a costume just two days ago. It seemed easy and inexpensive and I had an incentive--a costume contest at work, where the winners (decided upon by everyone's votes) will get Chipotle gift cards. I should know within a couple hours if I won or not, but I think I have a good shot. What do you think?

ETA: I won the contest "by a landslide"! Sweet!

What Have I Been Up To?

2008-10-26T20:27:00.002-04:00

Not much. At least I don't feel like it's been a lot. I know it's been a long time since I last posted, but with a desk job where I'm on the Internet all day long, posting another blog is sort of the last thing I ever want to do. So here's a short list of what I've been up to over the last few months.

Went to White Plains, New York to visit my brother. He's been living there since June (and will continue to live there for another 4.5 years as he finishes his residency). It was a whole lot of driving (about 9 hours each way) over 3 days. I don't think I'd ever drive it again unless I was staying much longer, but I'm glad I got to see his new stomping grounds.

Practiced a lot of Pilates. I've been working on my Pilates Reformer training/certification for several months, and beginning next week I am going to teach 2 classes a week. I feel a little nervous (like I do teaching any new format), but also very excited. It's sort of my new favorite thing.

Ran a 5K race. Here we are after the race, all sweaty and proud. You can read about it here. It was my first race ever and it was surprisingly fun. I'm really into running right now, although my weekly mileage would prove otherwise. Evan and I are thinking we'll do the Thanksgiving Day 10K, too. That's something to work up to though.

Developed a crush on Billy Corgan. Who knew he'd turn out to be hot? Case in point:

Painted a room in our house! I actually just did this Friday and Saturday of this weekend. I have wanted an orange room for as long as I can remember, and this is the first "real thing" we've done to our house since we've moved in. I think it turned out awesome. It's the darkest room in the house b/c it gets very little light and is also shaded by trees, so I like the warm color. It's a little shocking at first, but it really grows on you. I think that once the room is complete, with stuff on the walls and everything, it'll tone it down just enough. Also, I got Mythic brand ZERO VOC paint that's completely eco-friendly and non-toxic. It barely had a smell.

Went to an Obama rally, and volunteered for the campaign. Evan and I spent 5 hours one night going door-to-door to canvas for Obama. I'm not a very social person, so I was really nervous. But in the end, I had a lot of fun! And by volunteering, we got a free yard sign and some stickers, as well as "preferred seating" tickets to the Obama rally that was in Cincinnati. We both took half days off to go. It was pretty cool and I got some good pics. More over though, it's something that to me is pretty historic and memorable--I'll always remember having done it. Someone stole our yard sign this weekend and we are not happy! Also, I've already voted early by absentee. I'm glad it will all be over soon, as all these ads are driving me nuts.

Put a deposit down to paint our house. We've hired a painted to paint the exterior of our house and do a little more exterior repair (repair missing/rotten cedar shingles, etc). We've needed to do this for a long time now, but couldn't decide--it's quite expensive. We finally bit the bullet b/c we figure that waiting longer would be worse and could cause some serious (and more expensive) damage. Painting starts tomorrow and should take about a week. We're doing all the cedar shingles, trim, doors, garage, railings--it's going to look like a brand new place! We've also decide to change the color from the greyish blue to navy blue. I think it will look really sharp with the white trim and dark brick. In the photo here (besides seeing how badly we need a paint job), you can see the color we're going with--the darkest blue (top left block). Before/after pics to come soon!

In other news, I'm going to try to sell a few more items on Craigslist so I can save up to buy this, which I've wanted for over a year. I want to put it in a room upstairs, and the little couch can double as a twin size guest bed. I have a couple art commissions coming up--one for a co-worker's second baby (I already painted her 4 paintings as a gift for her first baby, and she wants to pay me for more), and friends of hers who are also having a baby and want some custom art work done. I think that between these "extras" I'll get enough money to buy it! I like both this "natural" and the charcoal color, and it also comes in different wood colors. I think I like this better than the darker one they have. Any thoughts?

Also, I've become a fan of "Boston Legal," which we've been checking out from the library. It's quite a funny and odd show--my favorite kind.

That's it for now!

Enough Said

2008-09-22T19:48:00.003-04:00

I don't have time to post right now (yes, I know it's been a while), because something important is about to happen: The new season of Dancing with the Stars! Woot! But I just had to share this:

!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-08T22:33:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it! I just sold my first painting on etsy, which is also my first sale EVER!!
WEEEEEEEEEEEE
...Now I just have to figure out how to ship a 3'x3' painting...

Birth (the play)

2008-08-30T07:46:00.004-04:00

Last night Liza and I saw the play "Birth," which was recently a part of a Mothering newsletter (Scroll to the bottom "BOLD" story). I don't subscribe to their newsletters, but I do love to read the occasional issue now and then. Anyway, I didn't really know anything about it but Liza invited me to go so I was in! (Babies, birth stories, midwives, natural birth...I'm all about it.)

It was long--started at 7:30 and we got out of there at 10. But it was SO amazing! It depicts the true stories of 8 different women's deliveries, as told by actors. I don't think I can adequately express in words just how wonderful this play was. The writing, the acting, the stories shared. It was empowering, emotional and educational. I want to see it again (I'll probably bring Evan, or anyone else who wants to go)! They have two more shows this weekend in Cinci (tonight at 7:30 and tomorrow at 2pm). I highly recommend this play to every woman, regardless of what your views or opinions on labor and delivery might be. Of course the audience was mostly women, but there were men, too and I loved that. Flanking us in the front row, there were pregnant women on both sides of me--one with her mom and one with her husband/BF. At the end of the show, these elderly women in the front-center row stood up to clap and were both crying. I just thought it was amazing--this group of strangers who got to experience this whole show together.

Although I've never been pregnant or (obviously) had a child, I know what I want when that time comes. My brother (the doctor) and my parents are often worried when I talk about homebirth and the like. Evan is even into anything (water birth, midwives, etc.) but against homebirth "because you never know." Or "why take that chance?" After showing my mom (who had 3 natural hospital births herself) the film "The Business of Being Born" she told me that she now gets it and doesn't think homebirth is a bad idea. She didn't realize how well-trained midwives were, or that they monitored things like fetal heart rate and that they had back up plans in place.

What I'm trying to get at here, is that I think it's hard for many men and women to grasp the idea of maternal-centered health care and/or WHY the experience of labor and delivery matters to a woman. "If your baby is healthy, who cares how it got here?" Part of what I loved about the play was the way they were able to describe that desire so articulately and in a way that I think would make others "get it." (SMALL "SPOILER" ALERT--SCROLL TO NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS TINY PART: The most moving and unforgettable part of the play, was a women talking about her C-section after it happened. She didn't want a C-section, and her description of all the pulling, pushing and roughness her body experienced during the surgery, which she could feel the sensations of, was horrifying. But the last part she described was how her body experienced the birth of her baby as a death, because her body never got to labor or deliver. Her mind knew that her baby was safe and healthy, but her body was one day pregnant, the next day stabbed with a knife and then no longer pregnant. It was so sad and moving.

The only Ohio city Birth is playing in is Cincinnati at the Know Theatre. Last night was sold out but tonight and tomorrow's shows still have them available (at least for now!). If you get a chance to go, it will be WELL worth it, even if you have to drive a ways. It's playing in other major cities across the country during September, too.

Visual Repulsiveness

2008-08-27T19:41:00.001-04:00

Words cannot describe how giddy it made me feel to see this video. It's hilarious and it makes me feel validated that maybe I'm not the only one who feels this way after all. Enjoy

Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

I'm a Liar

2008-08-26T18:10:00.001-04:00

I guess I forgot that I hadn't put up photos of our recent furniture pieces from Mainly Art. We acquired these a few weeks ago. Enjoy ;-)

Eames Lounge Chair. Since I ever knew anything about anything (i.e. went to design school) I have wanted this chair. To me, it was always something so unattainable, and I used to think that I could not imagine ever having enough money to buy one. Well, we got an EXCELLENT deal on this collector's piece. It's from the 70's and made out of Rosewood, which is no longer available and was the highest-end option at the time. The ottoman is jacked up to say the least (two major tears in it), but we're told we can find a replacement vintage cushion fairly easily on ebay. We've been looking and no such luck so far. But ottoman or not, boy am I happy to have it.

Interestingly, the former owners of our house had the same chair and in the same spot. I like to joke that eventually our house will look exactly as their did.

Next up, we have a 3-drawer chest by Paul McCobb. Notice the golf tee shaped pulls (drool), which are common among our other McCobb pieces. Although he made a few different drawer pull options, these are by far my favorite. I have wanted this exact piece of furniture for almost a year, and they're a little harder to come by. Again, Mark at Mainly Art gave us an awesome deal, and for now, I put this in the upstairs hallway, which is rather large and bare.

And lastly, we bought a Paul McCobb bookshelf. I think this piece is beautiful and well-made. It's solid wood, has golf-tee pulls and provides ample storage for...well, I don't know what yet! I put it in the construction room for now, but once that room is fixed (we have to put a drywall up on the non existent ceiling), I want to put this shelf, my desk and a soon-to-be purchased daybed/couch of sorts in that room. I have big plans. :-)

We think it's funny that we keep buying storage types of furniture (dressers, chests, shelves, etc.) and yet honestly, we have almost nothing at all in them and no objects to store! I figure we'll acquire more in our lives anyway. I don't mind them being empty for now. Who says it must always be functional?

I wish I could title this Gingerbread in July

2008-08-26T17:37:00.000-04:00

Every evening for the past few weeks, I leave my office and drive home only to see a person dressed in a head-to-toe fabric gingerbread man costume (it's either that or a brown bear with an oval head and no ears), holding a sign that yelps "Free Rent" and waving to passers by. This is the oddest thing I've ever seen and every day it makes me laugh. Yes, sometimes I do wave back.

I haven't updated in a while. Probably because I haven't bought any furniture ha! Nothing has caught my fancy of late, but we are also saving some money. You know for treacherous and ungodly school loan debt repayment. Still, the summer is nearly over (yay, I hate this heat) and I can't wait for fall. Come October or so, we are going to paint the exterior of our house...ourselves. That's the price you pay when you spend your painting money on furniture. But I think it's worth it. We already got some paint samples to try out. We're going for a navy blue color, which I think will look SHARP with our white trim and dark brick.

Last week I harvested my first green beans (delicious!), copious amounts of cherry tomatoes and jalapeno peppers, and it looks like we'll have red bell peppers and ripened roma tomatoes any day now- yay! I think my first garden experiment has gone quite well. I'd like to expand next year, and maybe do some fall/cool weather lettuces, but I'm clueless.

Our rain barrel is empty, too, and there has been no rain for weeks! But my veggie plants are holding strong.

In other news, my dad and his wife Monica are visiting this Saturday, bringing with them my dad's parents. This will be the first time my paternal grandparents have been to Cincinnati since I have lived here...that's been oh, six years! My mom's mom and her husband have never visited (they don't count in my book anyway), and my mom's dad has been here a few times. Anyway, it should be interesting I guess! I'm sure my dad will be too cheap to want to do anything, so we'll surely just sit in the house for a couple hours and the they'll leave. I don't have any plans for Labor Day weekend beyond that. Labor Day I will teach Mat Pilates at noon (hopefully people will show up. I think they will) and then...it's anybody's guess.

A Day in the Life

2008-08-14T20:55:00.000-04:00

A Day in the Life of me is not very interesting. I don't know how many people actually read this thing and want updates, but most of the time I really have nothing to say. My days are busy and filled, go by quicker than I wish they would, and are mostly the same. Here's what it's like to be me:

Wake up between 7 and 8 a.m. every day--usually the former, and always feeling exhausted.
Brush my hair, get dressed, pack my breakfast, snacks, lunch and gym bag and I'm off to work.
I arrive at the office between 7:45 and 8:30, but usually closer to 8.
I work all day long doing a job that I love, and the day moves faster than I can even begin to describe, as I'm pretty much always super productive while being pulled in 1,000 different directions. I sit at my desk all day long, eat 2 meals and 2 snacks there, write, edit, correct, email, research, blog, etc. all as part of my job. It's really not that interesting, although I do enjoy it myself.
I leave work around 5:30, usually heading straight to the gym where I'll teach 1 or 2 classes from 6 pm on: Pilates, Spinning, Total Body Sculpt. That amounts for 3 weekday nights, every week. Does it get old? You bet. But I can't turn my nose up at getting paid to work out. Plus I really enjoy teaching.
Go home, shower.
Cook dinner and eat around 9pm. We only dine out about once a week, maybe 2 times if I'm too lazy to cook.
Fiddle around the house until 10-11pm. This usually means: cleaning, paying bills, doing the budget, opening the mail, tending to the cats/yard/garden, washing dishes, checking/replying to my work email at least once, but usually 5 times or so,
Go to bed and maybe read a book or magazine for a while.
Sleep, but not until I've tossed and turned for 30 minutes to an hour or more.
Repeat 5 days per week.

Really, really, it is that uneventful. I guess it's eventful, but not in a very interesting way--and every day that goes by, I can't believe how fast it left me, basically in the blink of an eye! I'm usually so busy and running here and there each day that on weekends, I prefer to do mostly nothing except sit around and just veg.

Maybe next time I'll have some more interesting things to share. I'm going to make a note of them here so that hopefully I can remember to write about them later: date night, scooter, rain barrel, cats, new house pics.

Good night!

Groundhog Day

2008-07-27T17:50:00.000-04:00

So yesterday, we found a groundhog in our backyard! The strange thing is that we can't figure out how he got in there. He seemed very lost and confused, and very scared of us. He just kept running back and forth along the back fence--onto the deck, off of the deck, over and over again. He was so cute though, so I took a video (pardon the panties):

In other news, I have bronchitis- blecht. I've been sick for a whole week now and finally went to the doctor today (and paid an exciting $50 urgent care co-pay). I got a prescription even though it's typically caused by a virus (go doctors!), but we'll see. Oh and today is our 1 year anniversary in our house. I can't believe it's only been a year! It feels like much longer. To celebrate, I spent the day in urgent care, took a nap on the couch, sold my old TV stand on Craigslist (yay!), and bought my house a gift (drool). I like buying my house gifts, as you can tell by the previous entries. It's what I like to do. Maybe one of my favoritest things. And when I'm not doing that, I often feel like this:

Bonafide Art Dealer

2008-07-24T17:04:00.000-04:00

OK so listing my paintings on Craigslist got me nowhere fast. Neither did contacting 5 local, independent shops that sell similar things. So I finally bit the bullet and listed some paintings in my etsy shop. Hopefully this will yield some sales! I'd like to do more paintings, but I already have a stockpile. If I can start selling some, then I will continue to add to the store...and I've got so many ideas, I can't wait! Wish me luck!

Sick Day

2008-07-21T16:06:00.000-04:00

I work up today with a very painful sore throat, stomach ache, and overall tiredness. I went to work for the morning, hoping it'd pass, but no such luck. I took the afternoon off. I also realized in taking that half day off that my days off of work this year (let's keep in mind this is already late July) have totaled four as of today. I still have 16 more, but no doubt I will not use them.

Today I'm wishing I actually had a doctor somewhere here, although I don't think there's much they could do for me. I just woke up for a 4 hour nap to drink some fluids, and I'm ready to go back down again soon.

I have long known that I feel a sort of dedication to my job that is beyond normal. I want time off to relax, but I never take it. Part of it is because our vacation days are also our sick days, and I'm always scared of using them for vacation only to run out when I really NEED them for illness. But the other part is that I feel like things just can't run without me--talk about narcissistic. Although my bosses say that I could take time off for vacation and not have to worry about doing x, y or z for the week, I feel highly responsible to do it anyway, as if the site would just spontaneously combust without one brand new weekly newsletter. Oh and don't even get me started on the worst part of taking a vacation: the crazy work schedule leading up to and returning from it is almost enough to make me not want to take one at all.

We took a Friday and Monday off in late June to travel to Chicago and we had a total blast there. We brought our bikes and rode them from my friend Regina's apt. to the beach; we cooked in; and we went to the Art Institute where she works and got her Master's. It was so much fun and so nice to have a break from work (I actually only checked my email once!) that I realized "wow, I can see why people take time off." Too bad I have already made work life more important than my own life yet again.

Fun Furniture-Filled Weekend

2008-07-20T20:25:00.000-04:00

So I managed to sell everything I listed on Craigslist in less than a week (except any paintings...blah). I love getting rid of junk. Not that I have much of it, because I don't really have much stuff in general, and I keep a super-organized house. But the ease of selling some of my unwanted items (coffee table, side table, book shelf, rug, blanket, wall shelves) always makes me look around the house and see $$$$ whenever I look at random stuff sitting around. Selling that and Evan's old laptop (which was stored in a closet for the past 3 years) brought in over $500 bucks. SO we celebrated with...buying more stuff. haha go figure. But, we got some awesome deals and high-quality pieces that we'll have forever, which replaced our cheaper ikea and west elm stuff.

Friday night my friend Ryan came into town (big/tall Ryan, rightfully named by me b/c he's 6'8"). He's been coming here every 2 weeks since I played match maker and set him up with my other super best friend here in Cinci. Imagine how exciting it is to have your two best friends getting together--eee! Only problem is that he lives in St. Louis and she lives here. But if it works out, I know for sure he'd move here--and then I'd double the number of friends I have here--haha.

Friday night we saw Jerry Springer: The Opera downtown. I hadn't really heard anything about it, but we all decided to go together. The best way I can describe it is: AWESOME. It was hilarious, irreverent, entertaining--downright great! It was in a very small makeshift venue, with a small cast of trained opera singers. The funniest part about it was simply the things they were singing in opera. Picture an opera voice saying the many things you hear (without "bleeping") on the actual show like: "Chick with a dick" or "What the f---" So funny. Then we went to one of my favorite restaurants downtown: Shanghai Mama's. The have to-die-for vegetarian food (but it's not totally veg). I ordered my staple: Vegetarian Cashew Chicken (made with seitan). Heavenly.

Saturday we woke up early to hit up the Mainly Art warehouse sale. We are at this place every weekend, no joke. We <3 mainly art and here's why:

1- Awesome furniture. It's all mid-century antiques from the 40's to 70's. I'm of course into that style, but I also feel that buying used (or vintage) is always better. For one, you're not consuming new resources to do so, which makes me feel "green" all over. Secondly, the old stuff is made with better materials and higher quality craftsmanship. Plus, you never find this kind of thing new, and if you do, it's a poor imitation, usually made with particle board and veneer. Don't get me wrong--I'm all about Ikea and some inexpensive items. But I also consider them to be sort of temporary and "disposable" in a way.

2- We love the owner. This guy is fun to chat with and we always hang out with him and talk all kinds of stuff when we visit. He's always happy to see us and gives us great deals--after all, we are repeat customers and we've bought five items now I think.

3- It's always a fun place to kill time. "New" stuff is always coming in and it's so cool to see.

4- Although it may seem like I'm trying to rationalize what sometimes seem like frivolous purchases, I really do feel like we're "investing" in these pieces. For one, the quality is there and these vintage classics are collectors items that always retain value and more likely than not, increase in value over time.

So at the sale, we scored another Paul McCobb piece, which we're using as a TV stand/media cabinet for now. It was in the tag sale, all dusty and beat up, but only $100. We figured we could refinish it ourselves and save hundreds. Well, all it took was a good cleaning and polishing and it looks amazing! I've now listed our "old" TV stand on Craigslist and I hope to get twice for it than we paid for this one. I've already had one interested buyer, but they wanted delivery (no thanks).

We bought a coffee table that I've had my eye on for a few weeks now, which now replaces the one I sold last week. It's super cool. I don't think it has any designer's name attached to it, and I don't really care about that. He gave us $45 off the list price so we scored it for $190 (I sold the old coffee table last week for $100!). Sweet!

Lastly, we made a trip to the Salvation Army (Evan is looking for vintage stereo equipment), but I found this super cool side table for $11. Snagged. It's solid wood and in pretty good shape. The table top has sort of a formica/veneer, which I'm not crazy about, but overall the shape and lines are great, especially for the price.

Later we installed a new ceiling fan..sort of. And watched "Little Children" on DVD. It was dramatic, kind of gripping, and sad. The man who played the sex offender was very haunting.

Today my parents (which means my mom and stepdad) came for a visit. I haven't seen them since Ryan's med school graduation in June. They took us to Kona Bistro (YUM), one of my favorite places to eat locally, and then we went to see the movie Mamma Mia! (my choice). It was OK, but I'm not disappointed. It was fun and entertaining.

Anyway, that wraps up my weekend. Just finished a batch of lemon-berry muffins and am cooking dinner (yes, we always eat this late). Oh and come July 27, we'll have been in our house for a whole year!

Cool Money

2008-07-13T20:57:00.001-04:00

I just made a cool $200 selling 3 items on Craiglist. I listed them this afternoon, ran some errands, came home and had 10 interested parties. I've already got cash in hand and the furniture out the door. I <3 Craigslist.

So that inspired me to list several of the other items I've been procrastinating to list: some floating wall shelves, a desk lamp, a rug, a blanket. Oh and I decided to try my shot at selling some of the paintings from my art show on there, too. I've already received one email from someone interested...much easier than the Etsy.com stuff I was trying to haggle with--no shipping, no fees. Hopefully it works. Mama wants a new...everything, starting with a coffee table to replace the one I just sold. :-)

Long Time No Post

2008-07-09T20:42:00.000-04:00

Wow, a lot sure has happened since my last post in January. I really need to update this more, but I do feel a strong need to always have pictures for some reason. All my pics are on the desktop computer that is unplugged 99% of the time, so I always feel like it's too annoying to get to them. I'll start with a house update.

I planted a garden this year, and it's going well. I've had lettuce and cherry tomatoes so far, and many other things are well on their way, but might take a while for harvest (peppers, roma tomatoes, garlic, green onions, green beans, peas, etc.) See the pics of the garden a few weeks ago, including my first tomato (there have been many more since).

Last weekend we installed our rain barrel in the backyard. I do not have a picture of it yet, but plan to take one soon. A month or so ago, we replaced our showerhead with a low flow one. This one has a shut off valve on the head itself, allowing you to maintain your current temperature when you shut it off (instead of always messing with the temp. knobs). I love it and the pressure is great as well. We got it for only like $5 at Home Depot, too--can't beat it.

Also, we have a couple new furniture pieces that I am THRILLED about.
We got these at Mainly Art, just like the desk I posted about last year. The dresser is by the same designer (Paul McCobb), made in the 1940s. The chair is an very early production from the 1950s, designed by Eero Saarinen.
That green upholstery you see is in perfect condition and is original, too. We haven't really done anything else to the house.

In my dream world, I might by this rug for the sun room, this rug for the living room, and paint the walls...but I don't know what yet. It's been fun to slowly...very slowly...collect things. I still don't have a major plan for how each room will look--for now the goal is to simply furnish them.

I'll finish with a painting I made and recently hung in the dining room (which is where the green chair above is also located). It's one of my new favorites, if I do say so myself.

Accomplished

2008-01-13T20:34:00.000-05:00

Every day, week, month and year goes by so so fast. I feel like I blink and another week is over, then another month. This past year was the same. And every year that goes by, I feel as if I didn't do "enough" with it. So I've been thinking for a while that I need to post a list of all the things--big and small--that I did, achieved or accomplished in the last year. Let's see how it goes:

Bought a house

Didn't buy any "new" consumer goods for 7 months in a row

Gave away a lot of clothes, home goods, and more

Got a 10% raise

Made a painting

Framed my two favorite pieces of (my own) artwork, after 6 years of waiting

Got another cat

Started a compost bin

Reduced my trash output dramatically (now one small bag every 3 weeks)

Installed and used a clothesline for the first time in my life

Finally got in the habit of unplugging the computer and TV when not in use

Visited the farmer's market regularly

Cooked and hosted 12 people for Thanksgiving

Volunteered at a local food drive

Bought a bike

Learned to cook more foods from scratch

Pureed my own pumpkin (and made pies from it!)

Installed an energy efficient furnace

Appeared on live, local news to promote SP

Bought only local (or USA) produce--nothing imported

Used my working assets credit card for all purchases (donates 5% of all purchases to charity of my choice)

Probably my greatest accomplishment of the year: Paid over $20,000 onto my school loans. I don't even know how I did that! Sure lots of careful budgeting and frugality, but seeing it on paper makes me feel great. No matter how much I can often complain about things being boring or not being able to do fun things (like go on a trip, go out to eat more than once a week, or even buy things), THIS is why and it's getting me (us) closer and closer to our goals (BABIES!).

Some of the things I'm looking forward to accomplishing this year (if all goes according to plan...usually my goals are lofty):

Sewing! got a sewing machine for Christmas, so that I can mainly mend things to extend their useful life. But I also hope to make some simple projects for the house or as gifts

I want to make more things: paintings, etc. Making my brother's painting at Christmas reminded me how much I enjoy doing these things and making gifts for others

Garden! Can't wait to start this Spring

Creating new friendships. I hardly have any friends locally here, and I want to put a real effort into meeting new people.

More cooking from scratch. Doing well with eating lots of REAL food--hope to continue with more recipes.

Take more pictures. I hardly take any, but I want to document my life better...even the boring day-to-day stuff.

New Photos

2007-12-21T16:12:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted anything here for a really long time! Probably b/c not much is really going on. The house is still fun and awesome, and we've been taking our time buying a few pieces here and there for it.

So here are some photos of our new purchases: The Eames Hang-It-All, which I got at the DWR warehouse sale in November (and finally hung last night); our new Paul McCobb desk from the 50s, which we got from downtown's Mainly Art (www.MainlyArt.com), which is now my new favorite store ever. Also pictured is the painting I made for my brother for Christmas and our itsy bitsy tree.

Happy Holidays!

Unsightly Composters, No More!

2007-08-27T23:03:00.001-04:00

No one wants to truthfully answer the question, "Embarrassed by your ugly plastic compost bin?" After much waiting and researching and pricing and despair at the cost and hideousness of composters, we decided to go with the Bamboo Composter by NatureMill--but not just one--two! I was pretty well set on making our own out of plastic bins or trash cans, but hey, even though I'm nearly as crunchy as they come, I do care about aesthetics. Our little yard is so tiny that a compost heap/bin would be unavoidable, so we went the stylish yet eco-friendly bamboo route. Price-wise, you can get two of these for the price of one plastic composter, and two is always better when it comes to compost piles (for those who don't know, you'll never get usable compost unless you stop adding to the pile. Stopping adding to the pile means food/yard waste has to go elsewhere (i.e. landfills). Anyway, I'm super excited to get these started (should arrive in about a week) and then move on to our next green endeavor--the rain barrel. This one seems a bit more complicated...

House Pics--Finally!

2007-08-27T17:04:00.000-04:00

For those who haven't yet had a chance to see pics of our house, here are several!

A gift from my dad and his wife Monica--sitting on our front porch. I've managed to keep them alive so far!

This watercolor painting of our house was a gift from our realtor at our closing. We'll frame/hang it sometime.

Living room (and front door)

Evan on the couch--you can also see our new kitty Claudia on the other couch.

Other side of the living room (view from couch), which also shows our small sun room in the front of the house.

Sun room- you can see out to the front porch here.

Entering the dining room from the living room.

Inside the dining room. The wood dining pieces are mid-century antiques that we bought just for the house.

Notice how well the wall color matches my chairs--what a coincidence! (We haven't painted anything and I had those chair in my old apartment.)

View from the dining room to the living room. You enter the kitchen to your left.

Looking into the kitchen.

Kitchen, back door, and open pantry.

View out kitchen window.

Our little back yard (and my new retractable clothesline, doing its thing.)

Backyard and side of garage.

Going up the stairs (located right inside the front door.)

Bedroom view 1

Bedroom view 2

I didn't take pictures of our other 2 bedrooms--one of which is 100% devoid of furniture and...anything; the other of which has only my 13" TV in it.

New House, New Blog

2007-08-25T13:36:00.000-04:00

I decided to start a new blog. My LJ one had few entries--I mainly found it too difficult use, especially when I always want to upload photos, etc. Soooooo this one seems pretty easy. Since I'm on our laptop right now, I don't have access to all of our photos, but will upload more house pics (etc.) soon! The new house has been great so far. Luckily, it's in such great shape that we spend most of our time sitting around and sort of wishing we had "housey" things to do. So far we have...
Installed (and used) our new retractable clothesline. It connects from our garage to the fence on the other side of the yard, which is not a long distance, but long enough for us to hang dry a full load of laundry at a time (yay no dryer energy!).

I also started a small herb garden about a week ago, and the first sprouts are already up--and super cute might I say. Look at these little babies!

I've also been reusing water from washing dishes by hand by washing them over a plastic bin of sorts. Each time it fills up, I pour it into my watering can to water the herbs, indoor orhchids, and other outdoor plants to conserve water use. Speaking of that, we've been following the yellow-mellow rule for the toilet (Evan thinks that TMI to share, but hey). Sure it saves water, but it makes for a dirty toilet which needs cleaned a bit more often.

We went to the farmer's market downtown this morning. It was great. We bought potatoes, stringless green beans, jalapeno peppers, blueberries, watermelon, and green peppers. I love supporting the local farmers--so much better for the environment to buy locally and cut out the transportation costs and middle man of agri-business. I'm now reading A Long Road to a Tomaro, which is a collection of essays by a man who left the corporate world of NYC and started an organic farm. I've been trying to buy locally and visit farmers markets more often anyway, but this read is only reinforcing that concept even more. We've been talking about joining a cowshare (that also offers eggs) in Kentucky--and I think we're closer to doing that now too. Either way, life is good. I like to keep it simple.