no hollywood for us yet...

Those of you that have been with us from the beginning (ok, it's only been like 6 months) might remember that our house was used to film a little movie called "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry." It's as stupid as it sounds.

But it appears that we won't make the movie after all if the trailer is any indication.

regular green thumb

Trying to keep some of the bulbs I dug up from the backyard alive...

on our way to zen

This past Sunday was a Lowe's and Home Depot day. We even went to Lowe's twice - just for good measure. After digging up the flower bulbs we put down some lining to stop weeds and poured down the marble chips. One side is all done - next weekend we'll finish the other side.

Soon we'll have our own zen rock garden. Now we just need furniture. More on that to come...

dead bodies in the backyard

Something serious is fertilizing our backyard. These flowers sprang up as soon as the temperature rose over 40 degrees. I transplanted a bunch of them in the hopes that they'll stay alive but not be in the way.

in honor of green

We had a small dinner party on St Patrick's day and celebrated all things green with lots of spinach, arugula and Guinness. The spinach lasagna rolls were quite tasty.

it was a packed weekend - updates to come soon!

an upgrade?

I was trying to spare all of you from the horror that truly was the old stove. I really was. But now that Barbara has commented that they perhaps look similar I feel compelled to share. Above is a picture of the old stove - true, it doesn't look so bad. But I assure you the oven would make any clean freak head for the hills.

Besides the obvious now consistent element of stainless steel in the kitchen - the new stove does not have a back control panel. A big step up in my opinion and just about the only reason I selected the model I did. (It creates an illusion of spaciousness, I swear)

Thom had his suspicions before the removal of the old stove - he saw a tail or two on occasion. I won't even tell you where - you might vomit, as I almost did. Once the stove was removed it became evident there were some unwelcome visitors hanging out back there. Thom & Tung have since stuffed every crevice with steel wool and we hope not to be seeing those guys anytime soon. Especially since the last time we lived with mice Jasper actually made friends with them and used to bring them food. I am not kidding.

We'll have none of that here.


P.S. This is a humane trap. With a little reminder from Thom to "get lost" - hopefully the mice are literate.

officially an etsy addict

I purchased this "baby head cup" from Etsy seller SusanKniffinDavidson this weekend.

This is the closest we'll be getting to having a baby in the house. But I'm excited for it to find its place on one of our mantles.

we got fire!

Our new range has arrived - isn't it beautiful? I had forgotten that a stove can light on it's own - without a match! And there's even a light so I can see the food in the oven. Wow, we're fancy now.

For those of you who might remember the delicious Polenta Pot Pies...they ended up being the downfall of the range. They leaked oil on the bottom of the oven and it's been smoking ever since. Finally, on Sunday, I decided it was time to "clean" the oven. Pushing the clean button produced some odd clanging noises and eventually a persistent beeping (in the middle of the night) - but no cleanliness. In fact, the whole range is now on the fritz. Not that I was sad to see it go. It was gross and dirty when we moved in and, appalled by the idea of what the origins of the caked on grease were, I never bothered to scrub it clean.

All in all, I'd say it died a needless death but we're looking forward to the arrival of our new, shiny range. Thom's always wanted a new stove for his birthday anyhow. Lucky boy.

still stinky

Last night we went to the Stinky Cheese class at Artisanal with Paul & Aubree. We had a fabulous time gorging on cheese and sampling some nice wines. I wish we could go every week!

are you coming?

Jasper may rush ahead of you on the stairs - but he always waits for you at the top.

the bathroom invades the kitchen

Thom and Tung are actually installing the pedestal sink in the downstairs bathroom. While it's been sitting there looking pretty for a few days now - it hasn't been hooked up. I can't wait to wash my hands there soon!

Jasper even came by to help :)

I may not be a big fan of the old daybed in the sitting room but Jasper loves it. I pick the pillows up off the floor every day.

valentines day all over again

Our daybed from Crate & Barrel finally arrived today! Now we have two daybeds facing each other and although the space is there I'll admit it does look a little ridiculous. Sigh. The old daybed will have to move on to another home someday.

In the meantime, here are some pictures so you can see the parlor level sitting room from a couple angles. Please note the Thomas Paul pillows!