One Month in Photos.

Backtracking.

Candlepin.

Inexpensive Furniture.

Mr. Lizard. One of many.

Favorite place in the world.

Door reconstruction.

Tiling. Still.

Brimfield.

Hoping next month is just as much fun...maybe with a smidge more house work thrown in. :)

Well Hello There.

So I guess I took a little accidental break from blogging? I won't bore you with any excuses like Thanksgiving, or changing jobs (not me) or the fact that I've actually had some progress pictures to share for the past week, but I can not seem to find my camera cord. You know, the one that connects to the computer at work to upload photos because you can't do it at home because you don't have the internet at home? The one that is, of course, different from the other hundreds of camera cords in my possession or anything that I can find at work? Yeah, I can't find that camera cord. Nope, no excuses. Anyway, in the meantime I will share what we have been up to in the past month (can't believe it's been that long) around here with my lovely writing skills. In bullet form.

-Drank a lot of coffee
-Went to see Harry Potter...maybe more than once (me, gonna take some flak for that one)
-Visited Georgia (me) and Alabama (P) for Thanksgiving
-Watched Auburn pull out a victory over our arch-nemesis
-Did some more framing
-Consulted our structural engineer about the permit implications of removing part of another load bearing wall (this time upstairs)
-Realized that our washer and dryer would physically not fit into the basement
-Made new plans to install them in the addition (this would be location #4 for the washer/dryer, if anyone is counting)
-Visited Martha's Vineyard for a day (P)
-Signed an affidavit saying that we are not loud, terrible, horrible people, so that our landlord could take it to his court date (looooong story)
-Christmas shopped (me) Online only though, I don't like crowds.
-Got another official stamped drawing from the structural engineer so that an amendment to our permit can be filed
-Hired our contractor to come back in and install more LVLs upstairs
-Decided that framing is over rated and got the contractor to finish up the last wall for us (bums)
-Watched the Tigers scoop up an SEC championship. I actually felt a little bad for those Roosters...or whatever they are called.
-Tried not to freeze while working in our house without heating.
-Plugged in my brand new shop light and then jumped out of my skin five minutes later when it exploded.
-Demoed the addition so that plumbing could be run for the washer dryer (and because it was nasty), because, you know, I'm not tired of demo yet

There was more in there of course. I think I hit most of the highlights...pictures will follow for the house stuff. Right when I find that damn camera cable. Maybe Santa should an an extra one of those little guys in my stocking.

Behind the Scenes...and Bedbugs

There has been a lot more going on around here behind the scenes than actual work getting done. This has included harassing the building permit office and scouring Craigslist for a temporary rental that is 1. cheap 2. close 3. allows dogs over the size of a small rodent. A small step was taken when we finally got the building inspector in our house to "confirm occupancy"...sometimes I don't even want to know why they have to do the things they do. I wasn't present for this visit, but P tells me it consisted of building inspector entering our house, walking down to the basement, looking at the power meter and then saying "yup, looks good". Ummmm, ok, so our permit has been in limbo waiting for that?!? Thanks again Boston. As far as the rental search goes...not so much luck. The closest we have come to finding a place was after a visit to a....ummmm...well....vintage apartment. That....well...smelled like an Indian restaurant. The best part?, we were totally ready to take it. Yeah, we are that desperate. I googled "how to remove curry smell from apartment" and had geared myself up to go to town on the place. That is until we realized there was a slight communication with the listing and that unless our two dogs were actually only cats then we would not be welcome. Awesome. Two separate buttons for cats and dogs on Craigslist my friends...only push the appropriate one please. The search continues.

In the middle of the struggle to get this party started around here we decided to take a super last minute trip down to NYC for a friend's birthday. Yay! We were barely there for 24 hours, but had so much fun. I guess sitting around this place all the time has really turned us into lazy old fogies, cause we were exhausted! I mean wiped out. Can't keep up with those New Yorkers.

Hello NYC!

That's right...we dragged our friends to Times Square (or rather made them drag us)

Went to check out this restaurant designed by Sebastian Mariscal

Street art outside brunch

No takers? Anyone?

A trip to Green Village in Brooklyn, found via Manhattan Nest. Can you spot the monkey? Sadly we were not as lucky as Daniel. Seriously people, stacked TO THE CEILING with stuff.

Want some crazy art?

Ok, that was intense. I itch, why do I itch? Am I going to get bedbugs?

From what I could tell there might be some cool stores/cafe's behind this corten screen.

Bye bye NYC!

I hope next time we get to stay for even longer and see even more long lost friends!

ps. I bet ya thought we had bedbugs from that title? Didn't ya? Nope, we managed to escape good old NYC without any...although a friend tells me they will be taking over the world soon, so we better all watch out! Ugh, itching just thinking about them. Yuck.

And We're Back!

This is where I've been for the past two weeks. Ok, so maybe we got back to Boston last Saturday. For seven wonderful days (minus a few that I had to go back to the city and work, boooo) we staying in this cute little cottage steps from the beach, and it can all be yours for a modest $485,000. It was great. The cape is everything every local tells you it will be, cute, quiet, peaceful, expensive. Haha, ok, I added that last part. It was a trip full of family (mine and others), seeing new places, eating good food, and driving all over the state...literally. I am so glad my mom was able to come up here for such a long stay, I wish our families lived 30 minutes away instead of 1200 miles away. But no matter how much I tried convincing my mom this would be a great idea...it just didn't work. It was a great 10 days, sadly ending with mom coming down with the ick and spending her whole birthday laying in a Courtyard Marriott bed. Booooo. I can only hope that the next visit will be much more fun for her and will also include more hanging out at the Dog House...possibly with a kitchen to make yum yums in?!? Fingers crossed!

ps. Sorry for the lack of pictures...I managed to leave my camera in the car on every outing...major fail. I hereby vow to get better about this. For now, please enjoy these lovely pictures borrowed from the real estate listing of our vacation spot.

pps. Time to get back to some serious work on the Dog House!

Can't hardly wait

Not a whole lot has happened on the house since last weekend's festivities. My hands are almost back to normal (the pinky is still a little sore, why, I do not know). Other than a failed attempt at fixing the slowly draining shower (thank goodness it will be gone soon!) no house work was done. We did attend a wonderful birthday dinner for a friend with many of the ingredients from their very own urban garden! So impressive (and delicious). We also have spent a lot of time trying to get all of our IDP hours logged before they expire. yikes! For those of you who know what I am talking about, it sucks, right? If you don't know what I am talking about...you are soo soo lucky.

Hopefully we can wrap up the IDP stuff tonight because my mom gets here tomorrow!!! I am so excited! We are going to go down to the Cape for one week...well I only get to go for four days, but then I am going to "commute" back and forth to work for the rest of the time. It is going to be great. Along with my mom my godmother and her entire family will be there. Even though I haven't been working particularly hard lately (minus last weekend, which totally was hard work) I feel like I need this break. Get some fresh air and relax...just in time for real construction to begin on the house. Perfect timing right? Plus, this will be my first time on the Cape...so excited. T-minus 31 hours until we kick off over one week of fun with this!

In other news, I must have slept all bunched up last night because I totally feel like The Princess and the Pea this morning. Did anyone else love that story when they were little? I remember LOVING it. Reading it again now, it's kind of silly. Oh well.