A good-bye to the house that started it all

News alert: I'm bidding farewell to my little house. It's bittersweet, friends. There have been moments in this house where I've felt overwhelmed by the crushing weight of all the projects that needed to be done. (That's just old houses. They need TLC in all the nooks and crannies.) And then there have been all the moments that I look back on now with what I can only describe as a sense of reverence. I spent the better part of my twenties here and those were some seriously formative years.  

Dave and I have been on the quest to get a house of our own since we got married. One that we could call "ours". It took for.ev.er to sell his place. 14 months. Ouch. And then it took just about as long to find a house with the right kind of stuff in our preferred part of town. But, find a house we did. So, now, we're moving in about a month.

By some stroke of fate, my house sold in a day. We're still in the process of buttoning up the inspection requests, so it's not a done deal yet, but if all goes well, I'll be saying my sweet good-byes soon enough. We worked hard to get this place show ready, and I'm pleased with how things turned out. Here are some photos from our real estate listing, if I may. (Photo credit)

The living room

The living room again

The dining room and a glimpse of the kitchen

Our teensy hallway looking big and mighty

Our bedroom and the spare room that has had so many names over the years (remember when Brian lived with me?) and is now simply known as "Room 2".

 Until next time...who knows when that will be.

Salt and pepper

Just when you think a blog is dead, it's not. What has propelled me from hibernation? Salt and pepper shakers. And I want you to know about them because I think they are so smart.

They are made by Oxo and have a pour spout. Why don't all salt and pepper shakers have a spout? It makes cooking and baking easier and better.

Also, since my last post, unfortunately titled "Learning Garage" instead of "Leaning Garage" (which, by the way, has given my sister Lola immense joy. That lady knows how to appreciate a good typo.), I've been up to a few things. I took some more trips to satiate my travel bug.  Standouts include Jordan, Poland, and South Africa. I got married -- we're now nearly four months in, and so far so good. :)
And Penny is doing quite well, thanks for asking.

Learning Garage

Two people brought up my blog today and I had to confess I hadn't updated since June. So, here I am.

Back in June, the month when updating ceased, my dad came to town and helped straighten my garage. It was leaning and stressing me out every time I pulled my car in the garage. This project was handled just like every other project with my dad — I took pictures (and sent him this link); he did the dirty work.

After the garage was pulled back in place, Dave and my dad replaced some rotting boards, and a week later, Dave and I slapped a fresh coat of paint on it. Done.

Oh, also, there's this neat stuff called foam backer rod. Write that down. You can use it when you have extra wide gaps that need to be caulked.

Before

During

After

Lost and Found

I did a good deed yesterday. I found a dog wandering my neighborhood around 6:30 a.m. with a collar but no tags, so I corralled it in my backyard while I debated my next move. Since I couldn't call the owner, I ended up calling our local humane society, but they weren't open yet. Their phone system gave me another number to call for lost and found dogs. So I called that number...and it turns out it was for the police department! Did you know you should call the police for lost dogs? I was totally caught off guard.

I'm happy to report the dog was returned to its owners. 

Found!

 P.S. Heather -- thanks for helping me with the dog!

Streamers

Back when Dave had a birthday, I made a dozen of these streamers. Then, I left them up for a week and a half. When I took them down, I intended to throw them out, but that seemed like a waste of paper cuttery, so I stuck them in my spare bedroom closet. It's very festive in there.

Bonus – Penny Friday!

A funny thing happened

I got bangs. I feel like I'm wearing a Halloween costume. It's startling every time I look in the mirror, because I'm not so sure about this new fringe of mine.

I cannot smile with bangs; something frightful happens to my face.

Time Management, part 2

And then I went to China. My brother, sister-in-law, and I made the trek to the middle kindgom in early April. We dropped in on our aunt and uncle in Hong Kong, got yelled at in a Beijing subway station, and cruised the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

Here are some of my observations:

• The bikes in China are old. The cars are relatively modern, so why are all the bikes rusty and old looking?
• Asian bakery pastries are so tasty. We went to one almost every day, sometimes twice a day.
• I'm terrible at bargaining (because I hate it so), but still ended up getting good deals.
• To get anywhere took a lot longer than we expected.
• Cars do not yield for pedestrians. Cross the street at your own risk!
• Pizza Huts are fancy.
• When we would finally work through language barrier issues with waiters and ticket counter agents — through a combination of Chinese, English and hand signals — it felt like a huge victory for mankind.



Hong Kong city shot.



On the street in Hong Kong.





Making our way up to the big buddha in Hong Kong.





Greetings from the Great Wall.





See?! Old bikes.

 



In Tiananmen Square -- out of all the places we visited, just milling around the square is what felt most like China to me.



An Asian bakery. My true love! They all look something like this.



Colorful shot of Shanghai. So sci-fi.

Time Management, part 1

Hello? As it turns out, time management has not been my strong suit during the first several months of this year. No matter. I'm here now to delight you with my lack of home improvement projects, pictures of Penny and miscellaneous news since my last post two months ago.

First up, in early March, my mom and I tagged along with my sister to San Francisco where she was attending a conference. While Lola learned defensive programming in Java (thrilling!), I marched my mom all over the city. I have a very purposeful stride. 

 I scored a half-off Segway deal on Yelp. At one point, my mom got stuck in the mud.

Lola, my mom, and me with a classic San Francisco backdrop.

You've all seen the Golden Gate Bridge, but this shot's not too bad, right?

Bundle of joy

Penny Fridays have gone by the wayside, but that doesn't mean Penny has! Here she is all bundled up. When I took this picture, I had the day off from work so I exercised my right not to make my bed.

Kale Chips

I can't stop eating kale chips! They are so tasty and good for you because kale is a powerhouse vegetable. I've been eating them every evening this week and have said "Mmmm!" out loud every single time.

According to the Internets, these are so a year ago, but, no matter, I'm always behind trend. I started with this recipe (only four ingredients) and made my own modifications. Here are the two things I do differently in case you want to follow suit: Use lime instead of lemon (or experiment with various vinegars) and change the oven temp to 325 and cook for 12-14 minutes.

This just looks like a bowl of salad greens, but I promise you these are kale chips. I would have taken another picture, but by the time I realized this one was lame, I had already consumed all of the chips.

2011 Calendar

I'll just out myself before my brother does in the comments — my 2010 calendar only consisted of months January through April and October and November. I got lazy. This year, I went the pre-made route with the My Owl Barn calendar. Done.

Unlike 2010, I will acknowledge all the months of 2011.

Where's Bee?

One of my Facebook friends had posted this video. Since I'm too chicken to re-post stuff on Facebook, I'm sharing it here. This little lamb is crazy cute.

Monday Off

If I were to make an un-scientific guess, I would say that about half of the working adults in the U.S. had the day off today.  I was one of those. Dave was not. So Penny and I got some quality time together. I also brought my car in for an oil change, which is my first ever oil change that my dad or brother has not done for me (we're talking 11 years' worth of oil changes). I may become an adult yet!

Here's Penny. You know you missed her.

New Old TV

After a long weekend away for Christmas, I return to find an old TV dumped in my yard. What the heck? Who dumps old appliances on residential lawns? Now, I'm eyeing some of my neighbors suspiciously and dreaming up retaliation schemes that I would never actually carry out.  

My options for disposal include paying $5 for it to be picked up or taking it to Best Buy for a fee of $10, but then receiving a $10 gift card.

I need to stop looking at this picture, because my annoyance is turning to shades of rage.

The Warby Parker Bandwagon

I would like to jump on the Warby Parker bandwagon. All the hipsters are doing it. And I want/need new glasses. For $95 you get lenses and frames, plus before you buy, you can do online try-ons and in-home try-ons for free. My cheapy glasses from Zenni Optical have treated me well, but now it's time to upgrade.

One of the issues with ordering glasses online is that you need to know your pupillary distance (PD), which is not often included in your prescription (and I'm too chicken to ask my eye doctor for it). Back in the old days, I had to measure my PD with a millimeter ruler. This time around, I found an awesome online measurement tool from One Specs in the UK.

57.5 mm...4.5mm more than what I'd measured by hand.

Here are the five pairs I'm planning to try on at home. Based on online reviews, some of the proportions on the virtual try-on can be a bit off — with glasses appearing smaller than they actually are. It's a good start, though.

Warby Parker Finn - virtual try-on. I like these best so far.

Warby Parker Zagg - virtual try-on

Warby Parker Roark -virtual try-on

Warby Parker Nedwin - virtual try-on

Warby Parker Langston -virtual try-on

I've been doing this stuff

In addition to not updating my blog, here's the other uninteresting things I've been up to lately.

I've been using up my supply of hotel and sample toiletries. This is just a fraction of the supply. I have an entire gallon-sized Ziploc bag full of these.

I read the fifth Harry Potter book really, really fast after going to see the seventh Harry Potter movie with my neighbor. (Pic)

I've made several variations of this pasta. If you make it, add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the pasta water when you add the greens. You'll get a creamier sauce when it's all done.

I shopped for new glasses, but didn't make a purchase.

I took some pictures of Penny.

I hosted a little dinner party a month ago and have finally uploaded a picture here to prove it.

I stressed myself out over shopping for the perfect gifts for my office's gift exchanges. This is an annual occurrence; I'm too indecisive. I considered buying some Pottery Barn ornaments, but then succumbed to the almighty indecision.

I've been doing Facetime with Dave (I won an iPod Touch a couple months ago, which has made said Facetime possible).

 

Clearly, I have failed my 2010 New Year's resolution to re-purpose my blog.

Bark Test

Speaking of Dogs Decoded (clearly, it spoke to me). Try this test to see if you can identify the meaning of different dog barks. I got four out of six.

Dog Pile

Dave and I recently watched an interesting little NOVA episode called Dogs Decoded. One thing the program mentioned was that petting your dog releases oxytocin in your brain and your dog's brain, giving both of you neurological warm fuzzies. Can you imagine the amount of oxytocin pumping out of Penny's brain as a result of this dog pile?

Fake Flowers

Real flowers, move aside. The next generation of fake flowers is here and they are awesome.  I found these in a random catalog (Signals. Never heard of 'em.) I received in the mail.

1. The coffee table book to end all coffee table books: Paper Blossoms by Ray Marshall. It's pop-up art for the adult set. Please give this book to someone on your Christmas shopping list this year. 




Pics from Amazon where these books ship in 1 to 4 months. Months! Try a different retailer.

 

2. Felted wool bouquet. Cozy and no watering required. I found some similar bouquets on etsy, but none were quite this pretty.

Red cat

One night last week, Penny suddenly took an interest in the red wooden cat on the top of my TV. She stared. She whined. She tried very hard to reach it by stretching up on her back two legs. Alas, in true cat fashion, the cat showed no interest whatsoever in Penny.