Elephant Seals

Each year, Alex and I take a May-cation. Last year's trip was a road trip in California. We started in San Francisco, drove South down the coast, turned East around Cambria, went to Sequoia National Forest, up to Yosemite, North to Sonoma, Napa, and Point Reyes, then ended back in San Francisco. We did almost no planning (we were still planning accommodations while on the road...) so we came across many wonderful surprises - like the elephant seals!

The California May-cation was our best trip together so far. I thought a picture from this trip would be a nice addition to our memory-filled walls. I just ordered a 2'x3' print that I imagine will look something like this once framed:

I started this project thinking this picture would end up over the couch in the living room. The blues and greys match nicely with the rest of the room and the yellow highlights play on the yellow dashes in our connecting dining room. However, I worry it's not quite big enough for the space. I don't think I have the scale right in this mock-up:

 

Another option is above our bed. I'm not sure this is the right spot either. The trip was romantic but the elephant seals are not...

We're planning to paint the downstairs den this weekend. Maybe it will make it's home down there. Any votes?

A note on the pillow cases, Alex's side of the bed is closest to the door and mine is on the window side. I have the "his" pillow because I'm his, and he's mine. (geeky smile)

Kitchen

I frantically run out the door each morning - I'm late! Why am I always late?!. I get to the end of Sheridan and no one seems to want to let me turn onto Central. I finally get on and the light turns red. Four red lights later and I merge onto Independence, except it's not independence - I'm trapped in bumper to bumper traffic. Five deadly merges later and I get onto Wilkinson. Things slow down a bit. Camp Greene approaches and I see Kitchen.

I hope for the red light

For a brief moment I stop hearing about the atrocities in Syria and I stop seeing the brake lights around me and I stop thinking about the meeting I'm 10 minutes late for and I stop. I like the calm, faded mint green paint. The way it looks against the bright blue or soft gray or eerily white or still dark sky. The way it suddenly comes to a halt when the corner turns to bright orange inexpensive brick. I like the steps up, up, up - where's it going, where's it been?

That sort of explains how I feel about our kitchen. It has potential but getting to it will be a chaotic journey.

Our kitchen is far from my dreams but it's better than where we started.

We made five significant improvements that may end up being all we get to before moving.

1. Doors closing it off to the rest of the house were removed
2. Wallpaper was removed and replaced with cheery blue and white walls 
3. Fridge was moved to achieve the desirable kitchen work triangle
4. Old, low-quality desk and sideboard left by previous owners were merged to create additional (tall person!) counter space
5. Pot rack was added over the sink

Some additional photographic evidence is below. There are no photos of the whole kitchen yet because it's never clean enough long enough for a photo shoot - but maybe our new cleaning lady (woot!) will help change that.

Also - the garbage disposal was replaced by our home warranty after Alex tried dutifully to fix it using YouTube videos, Tim (our summer roommate) installed our ice-maker, and Alex had a mustache. Each of these were scheduled for their own blog post but considering they all happened in 2013 I thought it was time to spill the beans.

Bling! Bling!

There's a whole lot of bling happening around here.

First, the big news:

Ahhhhhhh! It's been over a week and I'm still grinning stupidly.

Now for news that is significantly less exciting, but still pretty blingy:

We finally got a chandelier in the bedroom. We love it. Yes, we. Alex is totally digging it. It makes a significant difference in the feel of the the room. The best part - it was only $100 because it's acrylic. Fooled ya, didn't it?

Here is what the bedroom looked like on Saturday:

And what it looked like on Sunday: 

Magic! Not really, I just have a really awesome fiancé that makes things happen. <----fiancé!!!

Living

As mentioned in our Christmas tree post, we love our living room and spend a lot of time living in it. We made early progress with a simple paint change but then the room sat for months with free mismatched furniture. The rearranging we did to accommodate the Christmas tree brought renewed energy to getting the room done. Here is our progress:

The always fun before and after shots:

And here's what we're still hoping to accomplish:

I mentioned the idea of a new couch to Alex today (the one we currently have is technically a friend's)...he responded with a groan. It took me a year to find the right rug and chairs, so he's probably got a year to warm up to the idea.

26 Years of Alex

Our $200 electric bill from January would suggest it's been cold here. True, it has. But, there have been many warm days mixed in. On one of these warm days we celebrated Alex's birthday. A keg of beer, corn hole, football, Settler's of Catan, cake, pizza, and friends. Alex was a happy man.