I went to Denver!
You may vaguely remember 2 years ago Sinda, Lisa & I loaded up for a mother's day trip to Houston to eat and shop (for several hours at IKEA) and overall be leisurely. I really like the idea of completely stepping out of the role of mom to celebrate it. And what better way for your spouse and children to really understand all the myriad things you do for them than to leave them?
So off Sinda and I flew to Denver to see our newly transplanted friend, sharing earbuds to watch 30Rock (with Matthew Broderick!) along the way. Those gals took all the pictures and posted almost daily about our exploits. We got little sleep - staying up late eating fabulous food and fancy cocktails (I could go for a little damselfly right now: pear whiskey, plum puree and gingerale) and then waking up early because we are just wired that way. Not even a real nap snuck in anywhere. We got to see Lisa's photo show up at the Boulder coffeehouse and a bona fide chick flick (sadly, SEX I.T.C was not yet out; we happily settled for Baby Mama.) And Sinda says I flirted with the Prahna sales chick from Tyler, but really? it was just leaving her a little note in the dressing room that we had occupied for the entire duration of a parking meter. (They had a white board in there - what else are you supposed to do with it?!)
I also got to catch up with my old buddy Liz (aka the other Liz aka Elizabeth) from high school. We stayed up late talking about all the people we'd stay up late with in high school.
You should look at Lisa's pictures of the trip here and here.
Sinda's account is here.
You will note that both accounts record the green frog wallpaper - which was my startling discovery during a slightly tipsy trip to the restroom. I was uber focused on the plastic changing table directly in front of me. There was like a novel's worth of braille on it. What could they possibly be telling the blind people about the babies? Does a blind person instinctively know where to find the braille or do they have to feel around everything and hope that they don't stumble into something gross? I was deep in the wonder of it when my gaze slowly shifted outward where OH MY GAWD THERE ARE BRIGHT GREEN FROGS EVERYWHERE! How could I have missed the frogs?!?
I wonder what we'll see in the bathroom on Mother's Day 2010!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
Since We Last Spoke... (entry #2)
MOVED.
Yes. We MOVED! Like we didn't really have anything else going on this month. Let me also say that it's our goofiest move yet. This from the folks who are used to moving across several state lines when we up and decide to change our address.
We moved across the street.
Sometime last year we bought a house in our neighborhood, tore it down (sadly it had too many little things that needed updating that it was best to just start over), built a new house and put it up for sale. She's lovely, but she has some challenges in our neighborhood (size, cost and location being just a few.) We hemmed and hawed back and forth about what we should do. Did we want to live there?
So we made the list (we are big list makers in our marriage) and ended up wanting to stay put: our house has a lovely yard, great shade and we've spent the last 4+ years customizing it to how we live and want to live. I even had the perfect plan for the veggie garden and a fence. FINALLY.
As time wore on though, the money side of the list really started to overshadow the emotional side. So POOF we decided to move into the new house and sell our old one.
HUGE thanks to my mom who came and watched the boys while I loaded up the Honda, backed it out of our driveway and drove up into the new driveway to unload. I packed not a single box. I made do with laundry baskets and the ubiquitous Whole Food shopping bags. Load after load. We did rent a trailer a couple days to move the really big stuff. Sounds tedious, eh? The upside is that when I unloaded, I just put it away in the new house - pack and unpack all at once. In two short weeks, we said goodbye to this:
The house when we bought it, in all its 1950s splendor (classic car undercover not included.)
This is the house now.
This is Nbear (!) when we first moved in. He's enjoying one of the favorite features of the house: the mail slot. Favorite item #2? The ramp. Both went by the wayside when we added on.
This is the day they knocked down the wall between the old house and the new when we added on.
This is a hug from the beloved Miss Aimee (with Nbear) on the sidewalk where they used to draw... before it was ripped out for planting things.
This is our perfect red kitchen. Smith and I were in total agreement on the color. An absolute first. Smith made the cabinets, I sanded, we stained and wiped and polished and hung. I will not miss the cabinet that opened by itself with its small piece of paper wedged in to keep it closed just so.
Here you can see the small table next to the window where neighborhood cats, birds and squirrels could be watched with intensity. It's also a spot to show off the tools. And apparently the perfect spot to plop my purse.
This is one very small kitchen. But, Smith made the cabinets big. Can you believe all of this stuff was in one cabinet?! If you look closely, you will spot my oldest.
Jbird on the non-code passing heart attack steps. (but aren't the lovely?) And that shade of green - "halcyon green" ahhhh.
The concrete countertop that Smith made THE 5 days prior to our house being on the cool house tour. You can even see the impressions of the sycamore leaves from our yard.
We've have good holidays and get togethers here.
We will miss the yard with its incessant leaves and pure shade.
A glimpse of the foyer - one of my favorite spots in the house. It made me feel welcome with its shiny mirrors, egg shaped light and its umbrellas (and shoes. there were always a lot of shoes in here...)
And here's the namesake of this very blog... the front porch. It's huge, completely shaded with the perfect hint of a breeze.
It also had one of these:
Yes. We MOVED! Like we didn't really have anything else going on this month. Let me also say that it's our goofiest move yet. This from the folks who are used to moving across several state lines when we up and decide to change our address.
We moved across the street.
Sometime last year we bought a house in our neighborhood, tore it down (sadly it had too many little things that needed updating that it was best to just start over), built a new house and put it up for sale. She's lovely, but she has some challenges in our neighborhood (size, cost and location being just a few.) We hemmed and hawed back and forth about what we should do. Did we want to live there?
So we made the list (we are big list makers in our marriage) and ended up wanting to stay put: our house has a lovely yard, great shade and we've spent the last 4+ years customizing it to how we live and want to live. I even had the perfect plan for the veggie garden and a fence. FINALLY.
As time wore on though, the money side of the list really started to overshadow the emotional side. So POOF we decided to move into the new house and sell our old one.
HUGE thanks to my mom who came and watched the boys while I loaded up the Honda, backed it out of our driveway and drove up into the new driveway to unload. I packed not a single box. I made do with laundry baskets and the ubiquitous Whole Food shopping bags. Load after load. We did rent a trailer a couple days to move the really big stuff. Sounds tedious, eh? The upside is that when I unloaded, I just put it away in the new house - pack and unpack all at once. In two short weeks, we said goodbye to this:
The house when we bought it, in all its 1950s splendor (classic car undercover not included.)
This is the house now.
This is Nbear (!) when we first moved in. He's enjoying one of the favorite features of the house: the mail slot. Favorite item #2? The ramp. Both went by the wayside when we added on.
This is the day they knocked down the wall between the old house and the new when we added on.
This is a hug from the beloved Miss Aimee (with Nbear) on the sidewalk where they used to draw... before it was ripped out for planting things.
This is our perfect red kitchen. Smith and I were in total agreement on the color. An absolute first. Smith made the cabinets, I sanded, we stained and wiped and polished and hung. I will not miss the cabinet that opened by itself with its small piece of paper wedged in to keep it closed just so.
Here you can see the small table next to the window where neighborhood cats, birds and squirrels could be watched with intensity. It's also a spot to show off the tools. And apparently the perfect spot to plop my purse.
This is one very small kitchen. But, Smith made the cabinets big. Can you believe all of this stuff was in one cabinet?! If you look closely, you will spot my oldest.
Jbird on the non-code passing heart attack steps. (but aren't the lovely?) And that shade of green - "halcyon green" ahhhh.
The concrete countertop that Smith made THE 5 days prior to our house being on the cool house tour. You can even see the impressions of the sycamore leaves from our yard.
We've have good holidays and get togethers here.
We will miss the yard with its incessant leaves and pure shade.
A glimpse of the foyer - one of my favorite spots in the house. It made me feel welcome with its shiny mirrors, egg shaped light and its umbrellas (and shoes. there were always a lot of shoes in here...)
And here's the namesake of this very blog... the front porch. It's huge, completely shaded with the perfect hint of a breeze.
It also had one of these:
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Since we last spoke... (entry #1)
Wow. No posts since May 5! And geez louise! posting pictures from EASTER!!! What HAVE I been up to?
Firstly, I'll say that my eye is MUCH better, and without the $100 eye drops. Thanks for all the input and advice in the eye department.
Oh! Look! It's Doraguy! I'm all about the random pictures today, aren't I?
In this one, you can see her spectacular tank and the water plant that has taken it over. You can also see the most beloved backsplash that Smith installed. (I did blog about that, didn't I?)
Secondly,We finally got a new bathroom!
The bathroom that we've limped along with since we bought the house - the one with the leaks, the cracked and falling off the tile and the toilet that can't flush by itself --- sad that my 2 year old instinctively goes to lift the lid off the tank to manually flush all toilets --- she's finally gotten her face lift. We found a lovely Scot to fix her up and make her worthy of bathing in. Which I will never get to do since we...
wait for it...
Here's a little shot of my mom while you hold your breath. She's showing off her ladybug tattoo. (relax! it's temporary. It's HER mom (my late gram) who had the real tattoos.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)