Well, this has been a busy past couple of weeks! We had a 'free' week after our trip to the States to get everything packed away. And by packed away I mean that not only did we unpack our trip items, but we also packed up, recycled, and did away with the old stuff from our basement to make room for.. the renovation!
It could also be called the finishing, depending on how you look at it. My parents came over for a week. Mom cooked and babysat, while Dad and I started in on the reno. We framed in a storage room, did a bit of wiring (outlets, lights, and switches), and drywalled the hallway and family room. I'm really pleased with how it's coming along, and super excited to see it get finished. We can't afford carpeting for now, but we'll get paint up.. and maybe trim if we're lucky. We'll see how the finances go. But either way, it's exciting exciting! I really love design, art, and visual stuff, so getting our home to be 'ours' in style is really a big thing for me. It's going to be great! We'll have more liveable space, which will be great for those winters where we're stuck indoors for months at a time (minus the 'run to the car and back' for groceries and such). Gotta love living in the north!
It was great to see my parents again. It had been about 5 months or so since we'd had a chance to visit, and I really enjoy spending time with them. We chatted, projected, played dice, cooked, and just hung out in each others' general vicinity. There's nothing like spending time with someone who is comfortable enough with the way you are that you don't need to explain why you do things.. because they understand. It's lovely.
Oh yeah, and if anyone can recommend a mud & taper for our drywall, I'd love to find someone!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
The anniversary of Two(s)
We just got back from a week in San Francisco and area. It was a lovely get-away vacation, a great time to revert to 'dating us' instead of 'married with a kid us'. We really enjoyed spending the week together, checking out some of the sights of San Fran.
The trip started out with a visit to Maker Faire. We spent both days there, and J said it was even better than he thought it would be. He got to meet the makers with the online robotics equivalent to rockstar status, and felt encouraged to keep on truckin' with his making. There were some amazing exhibits, from steampunk (I loved it, Jer didn't at all) to a life-sized Mousetrap game, lots of electronics things, a few bands (we missed OK Go, who I would have liked to catch), some awesome cartoons, and a great local crafty-type market. I loved the market, and splurged on an original silkscreen print, a hat, a vintage-look feather headpiece, and some really well-designed cards that I'll keep in my trunk for inspring me on a gloomy day. I got to design and crafted a mini-treehouse, which reminded me strongly and pleasantly of making dioramas as a kid. I also sat out and learned how to knit (of all things) while Jer hit up an electronics session.
We checked out the SF MOMA. I was awed and dazzled and inspired by the architecture of that building. You can just feel the loving craftedness of the whole building, and everything feels like a seamless, planned whole from the benches and elevator buttons to the stairwells. It's an amazing building. That doesn't even get me started on the art, which I really enjoyed checking out & learning about. There were a lot of cool pieces, but my favorite was a photographic one of 101 photos, each of 101 gumboots in different locations, doing different things. It resonates with me because it felt like a grander-scale of the spoon photos I took one evening a few years back.
We checked out some of Golden Gate Park, and went into the Conservatory there. I must say that I think the Muttart had a better exhibition, but the SF building had a lot of lovely character. Plus, it's always fun to take pictures of pretty flowers. It rained while we were in the park, so we didn't check out any more of the exhibits there.
We caught two movies in theatres: How to Train your Dragon (which was really good, even for those not totally enthralled with animation, like me), and Date Night (really funny, and a bit inappropriate)
We went surfing twice. The first time Tommy was our instructor in a private lesson, and showed us the ropes. I found it really hard to do, and was exhausted after an hour of battling incessant waves. J caught on faster, like I thought he would. The next day we went out again for about 45 minutes or so, which I found a lot more fun. I had a general idea of what to do, and was rested enough to show that ocean who was boss. I'd definitely like to try surfing again if I get a chance.
We checked out the redwoods at Muir Woods. They were smaller than I thought, being the 'merely tall' type, rather than the 'drive your car through this' type. That being said, the trees were often too large for me to reach around (read: big compared to what I'm used to) and were quite lovely.
And with that abrupt end, I'll leave you to dream away about your perfect surfing trip, flowers, redwoods, and modern art.
Which reminds me. I had this dream last night where I could fly. It's the first time I've ever had a flying dream, and it was pretty cool. I had this rune of light etched into my hand one day, and I had to open my hand to lift off, or close it to go down. I turned my hand to steer. It's a crazy way to fly, but it worked for me!
The trip started out with a visit to Maker Faire. We spent both days there, and J said it was even better than he thought it would be. He got to meet the makers with the online robotics equivalent to rockstar status, and felt encouraged to keep on truckin' with his making. There were some amazing exhibits, from steampunk (I loved it, Jer didn't at all) to a life-sized Mousetrap game, lots of electronics things, a few bands (we missed OK Go, who I would have liked to catch), some awesome cartoons, and a great local crafty-type market. I loved the market, and splurged on an original silkscreen print, a hat, a vintage-look feather headpiece, and some really well-designed cards that I'll keep in my trunk for inspring me on a gloomy day. I got to design and crafted a mini-treehouse, which reminded me strongly and pleasantly of making dioramas as a kid. I also sat out and learned how to knit (of all things) while Jer hit up an electronics session.
We checked out the SF MOMA. I was awed and dazzled and inspired by the architecture of that building. You can just feel the loving craftedness of the whole building, and everything feels like a seamless, planned whole from the benches and elevator buttons to the stairwells. It's an amazing building. That doesn't even get me started on the art, which I really enjoyed checking out & learning about. There were a lot of cool pieces, but my favorite was a photographic one of 101 photos, each of 101 gumboots in different locations, doing different things. It resonates with me because it felt like a grander-scale of the spoon photos I took one evening a few years back.
We checked out some of Golden Gate Park, and went into the Conservatory there. I must say that I think the Muttart had a better exhibition, but the SF building had a lot of lovely character. Plus, it's always fun to take pictures of pretty flowers. It rained while we were in the park, so we didn't check out any more of the exhibits there.
We caught two movies in theatres: How to Train your Dragon (which was really good, even for those not totally enthralled with animation, like me), and Date Night (really funny, and a bit inappropriate)
We went surfing twice. The first time Tommy was our instructor in a private lesson, and showed us the ropes. I found it really hard to do, and was exhausted after an hour of battling incessant waves. J caught on faster, like I thought he would. The next day we went out again for about 45 minutes or so, which I found a lot more fun. I had a general idea of what to do, and was rested enough to show that ocean who was boss. I'd definitely like to try surfing again if I get a chance.
We checked out the redwoods at Muir Woods. They were smaller than I thought, being the 'merely tall' type, rather than the 'drive your car through this' type. That being said, the trees were often too large for me to reach around (read: big compared to what I'm used to) and were quite lovely.
And with that abrupt end, I'll leave you to dream away about your perfect surfing trip, flowers, redwoods, and modern art.
Which reminds me. I had this dream last night where I could fly. It's the first time I've ever had a flying dream, and it was pretty cool. I had this rune of light etched into my hand one day, and I had to open my hand to lift off, or close it to go down. I turned my hand to steer. It's a crazy way to fly, but it worked for me!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
My pears!
It's been a bit too long since my last post. A lot has happened! I've been wanting to creative it up the past while, and have done two paintings and sewn a new duvet cover for our bed which I'm absolutely in love with.
The painting shown here is the first one, of pears. It's the first painting from my Intermediate Oil Painting class. The next is a rooster, which is currently drying downstairs. I'll want to do a few touch-ups, and then can share it with you as well. I'm really happy with how my paintings have been turning out.
Yard Sale day was great, as expected. I didn't really buy that much - just several different toys for Cade, since he grew out of his old ones, and some face wash and such from a BeautiControl host who was selling out all her product for really cheap. I just love going around and looking at possibilities in everyone's stuff, regardless of how much or little you actually take home.
Jer went to the Western Canadian Robot Games last weekend, and won 1st in the innovation category for his metal-detecting robot, built out of an Xbox case. You can check out his youtube if you want to see more.
I got my hair cut recently, it's now short and platinum blonde, with bubblegum pink parts. It's cute and girly, and I'm really loving it.
Today is the 'get everything done before we leave' day. I'm doing laundry and dishes, vacuumed, am working on a 'baby manual' for Cade, who's staying here with Jer's mom while we take off for a week. It's fun to go on a trip, but sometimes it's a lot of work before and after to get ready!
We also went to check out Spring Lake the other day. It's pretty enough, but had some really bumpy gravel roads to get there and not too much in the way of amenities. I don't think we'll head back there, but it was still fun to go check out somewhere local that we hadn't been to before.
Anyway, I'm off to pack my suitcase and get ready to go!
The painting shown here is the first one, of pears. It's the first painting from my Intermediate Oil Painting class. The next is a rooster, which is currently drying downstairs. I'll want to do a few touch-ups, and then can share it with you as well. I'm really happy with how my paintings have been turning out.
Yard Sale day was great, as expected. I didn't really buy that much - just several different toys for Cade, since he grew out of his old ones, and some face wash and such from a BeautiControl host who was selling out all her product for really cheap. I just love going around and looking at possibilities in everyone's stuff, regardless of how much or little you actually take home.
Jer went to the Western Canadian Robot Games last weekend, and won 1st in the innovation category for his metal-detecting robot, built out of an Xbox case. You can check out his youtube if you want to see more.
I got my hair cut recently, it's now short and platinum blonde, with bubblegum pink parts. It's cute and girly, and I'm really loving it.
Today is the 'get everything done before we leave' day. I'm doing laundry and dishes, vacuumed, am working on a 'baby manual' for Cade, who's staying here with Jer's mom while we take off for a week. It's fun to go on a trip, but sometimes it's a lot of work before and after to get ready!
We also went to check out Spring Lake the other day. It's pretty enough, but had some really bumpy gravel roads to get there and not too much in the way of amenities. I don't think we'll head back there, but it was still fun to go check out somewhere local that we hadn't been to before.
Anyway, I'm off to pack my suitcase and get ready to go!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Totally bummed.
I'm totally bummed. The hosting company I use had a big mail server blowup. And their backups were corrupted. Since I was using IMAP, I lost all of my stored emails. Most of them I don't mind SO so much, but I had saved all the emails Jer and I sent back and forth while we were dating. And those are no more. They were my favorites. :(
Friday, April 30, 2010
Best design book I've read in ages.
I read the "more not so big solutions for your home" this evening. I took it out of the library today and only planned on skimming it, but ended up reading 90% of the copy as well. It had a ton of great ideas on how to use the space you have better, how to make rooms that feel 'too big' feel like the right size, and some great suggestions for trim & built-ins. Love it. I just might have to scrounge up the others in the series now, to see if they're as good!
This past week my favorite band, Hanson, has been playing their past 5 studio albums, one per night, at a club in New York. And streaming the shows, live, for the fans who can't travel there. I was impressed with the show I did watch, but sadly enough somehow forgot to tune in tonight to catch the new album. Which hasn't been released yet, so the preview would have been awesome. At least Maria said it was!
On the upside, I'll be checking out some yard sales with Jos in tomorrow's AM, which should be really fun. And to make it that much better, Jer will be watching Cade, so I won't have to drag a 1-year-old in and out of the car every 10 minutes. I'm really looking forward to it!
I booked our surfing lessons yesterday, for when we're in San Fran. It's made me really excited for the trip. Hopefully I can swim some before we go to work out those muscles so I'll be ready to hit the waves. I'm already nervous and excited, all in one!
This past week my favorite band, Hanson, has been playing their past 5 studio albums, one per night, at a club in New York. And streaming the shows, live, for the fans who can't travel there. I was impressed with the show I did watch, but sadly enough somehow forgot to tune in tonight to catch the new album. Which hasn't been released yet, so the preview would have been awesome. At least Maria said it was!
On the upside, I'll be checking out some yard sales with Jos in tomorrow's AM, which should be really fun. And to make it that much better, Jer will be watching Cade, so I won't have to drag a 1-year-old in and out of the car every 10 minutes. I'm really looking forward to it!
I booked our surfing lessons yesterday, for when we're in San Fran. It's made me really excited for the trip. Hopefully I can swim some before we go to work out those muscles so I'll be ready to hit the waves. I'm already nervous and excited, all in one!
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