Friday, July 31, 2009
This one's for JCB
The gallery where I work has acquired a carte de visite album that was presented to a Kentucky women from her intended on the eve of the Civil War in 1862; in the course of going through the album in an attempt to identify the individual sitters, many of whom were Union generals, I pulled each cdv out from its sleeve to look for inscriptions. This handsome young man, identified as "Cousin John Steele" of Dayton, Ohio, in the album, cheekily inscribed his portrait, "Yours Guttaperchally." Hehe!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Mad World
For those of you not in the know, the new season of Mad Men premieres on August 16; this is something that Captain Husband and I are looking forward to very much. When he was training in Kansas before heading to the sandbox, and able to make regular phone calls, he would call me every Sunday night at 11 pm and I would give him the play-by-play account of that night's episode. We are nerds. So for those of you who still haven't seen it, you have plenty of time to rent or netflix the first two seasons and get caught up to speed. And for those of you with plenty of free time on your hands, or a raging caffeine addiction like myself, you can then make a Mad Men-style avatar of yourself here. Here's the one I made of CH:
Fun times!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tempis Fugit, or, One year later
Beautiful roses from CHIn other news, I spent the weekend in Western Pennsylvania attending the wedding of my cousin, A. J. and his new wife, Amy. How cute were they?!
And check out the awesome covered pool and courtyard at the hotel where they had their reception:
Vintage 60s kitsch/cool! All of the rooms had balconies that looked out over the pool and hot tub areas, and some of the rooms were two levels, with jacuzzi tubs on the second floor. I kind of want to take a trip back there with CH once he's home. The only thing that would make it better would be if some of the rooms were still outfitted with their original furnishings from the 60s. A girl can dream...
Platerazzi
My cat-like reflexes with a camera have scored me an internet shout-out. Now I'll just sit back and wait for all of the benefits of interweb celebrity to rain down on me from above.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs
I heard this feature on NPR on the drive home tonight and thought the story was worth pointing out. I really admire what these two young women are attempting to accomplish; while I was never a military kid, I am a relatively recent military spouse with a husband currently in in the sandbox with the National Guard. I don't live on a military base, and most of the members of the unit that my husband is serving with are scattered all over the state, so I empathize with what Moranda and Kaylei went through while their fathers were deployed. I can only imagine what the experience must be like when you're a young adult and to feel completely abandoned by your peers because they don't know how to handle your parent's deployment.
I've been very fortunate in that I have a lot of friends who live in the area that act as my support group, so I've been able to make it through this deployment relatively unscathed; and while I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a part of a close-knit group of other military spouses, I wouldn't trade this past year's experience with anyone. So if I haven't said it recently, I want to send a giant thank you to all of my friends. I couldn't have made it this past year without you all!
I've been very fortunate in that I have a lot of friends who live in the area that act as my support group, so I've been able to make it through this deployment relatively unscathed; and while I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a part of a close-knit group of other military spouses, I wouldn't trade this past year's experience with anyone. So if I haven't said it recently, I want to send a giant thank you to all of my friends. I couldn't have made it this past year without you all!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Fun with paint
The other day, while I was browsing Apartment Therapy, I stumbled across these gems that they had pulled from a DC-area Craigslist ad:
Vintage metal kitchen cabinets in my favorite shade of blue! The temptation to contact the seller and make an offer was overwhelming, even though I really have no place to put them (though I did try to rationalize that they could work in the garage until my dream kitchen appears for their installation). So I did the next best thing--I painted the would-be soffit in the kitchen. I had some extra time on my hands and some left-over paint from one of our projects from last year, so what did I have to lose? Nothing--except for my balance at times, especially when I was perched upon the refrigerator, getting to that last pesky corner.
As a refresher, here is the kitchen before. Captain Husband's decorative scheme had consisted of a lot of wine bottles, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I was too lazy to do anything about it:
And here is the kitchen now:
It's really not that noticeable of a change, but I have to say that I feel so much better when I look up and see calming blue rather than a line up of dusty old bottles with god knows what potentially growing inside. Trish was overwhelmed by the change, though, as you can see. Knocked her right over.
Vintage metal kitchen cabinets in my favorite shade of blue! The temptation to contact the seller and make an offer was overwhelming, even though I really have no place to put them (though I did try to rationalize that they could work in the garage until my dream kitchen appears for their installation). So I did the next best thing--I painted the would-be soffit in the kitchen. I had some extra time on my hands and some left-over paint from one of our projects from last year, so what did I have to lose? Nothing--except for my balance at times, especially when I was perched upon the refrigerator, getting to that last pesky corner.As a refresher, here is the kitchen before. Captain Husband's decorative scheme had consisted of a lot of wine bottles, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I was too lazy to do anything about it:
And here is the kitchen now:
It's really not that noticeable of a change, but I have to say that I feel so much better when I look up and see calming blue rather than a line up of dusty old bottles with god knows what potentially growing inside. Trish was overwhelmed by the change, though, as you can see. Knocked her right over.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Weekend recap
This past weekend flew right on by, but boy, was it fun! Tim's birthday was this weekend, so Julianne threw him a party at their place out in Frederick (it turned into an all-night dance party; I'm still a little sore from dancing around like a three-year-old on speed). I took the back way up and stumbled across this beauty outside of Leesburg, Virginia:
It has such a great, mellow patina--I don't think it's ever been polished, which I totally love. I hope to have it cleaned up (it had been displayed outside for who knows how long) and put together in the guest room some time this week; however, the prospect of having to completely dismantle the bed frame currently in there and move the mattress and box springs out of the way has me less than enthused at the prospect. Carrying the headboard, footboard, and iron side rails up the 3+ flights of stairs by myself was enough of a workout, thank you very much.
On Sunday I had to work at Finials, which was perfect timing because I have two weddings coming up for which I needed to find lovely, preferably vintage, gifts. I think I did pretty well; for my cousin's wedding gift I found a beautiful sterling silver angel food cake cutter from the early 1900s. It's never been monogrammed, so I'm going to take it to the silversmith in Alexandria tomorrow to have the bride and groom's initials put on it (my cousin inherited my grandmother's silver, so I thought it would be nice to add to his collection). For my friends Seth and Amy I bought a sweet pair of crystal salt and pepper shakers with sterling silver and mother of pearl tops (I think I'll write a note about the superstition of mixing salt and pepper together to avoid a quarrel--something every newlywed couple should know--in the card). And on top of all of that fabulous shopping, Barb hooked me up with a little something something for my patio garden:
Oh yeah, Captain Husband is totally going to love this addition. It really classes the place up, don't you think? Speaking of CH, if everything has gone as expected, he's in the process of completing the first step in his long, multi-step journey back to the States. So keep your fingers crossed, and hopefully in a couple of weeks, he'll be back here in Virginia, just in time for Humidity Fest 2009. Sweet.
It has such a great, mellow patina--I don't think it's ever been polished, which I totally love. I hope to have it cleaned up (it had been displayed outside for who knows how long) and put together in the guest room some time this week; however, the prospect of having to completely dismantle the bed frame currently in there and move the mattress and box springs out of the way has me less than enthused at the prospect. Carrying the headboard, footboard, and iron side rails up the 3+ flights of stairs by myself was enough of a workout, thank you very much.
On Sunday I had to work at Finials, which was perfect timing because I have two weddings coming up for which I needed to find lovely, preferably vintage, gifts. I think I did pretty well; for my cousin's wedding gift I found a beautiful sterling silver angel food cake cutter from the early 1900s. It's never been monogrammed, so I'm going to take it to the silversmith in Alexandria tomorrow to have the bride and groom's initials put on it (my cousin inherited my grandmother's silver, so I thought it would be nice to add to his collection). For my friends Seth and Amy I bought a sweet pair of crystal salt and pepper shakers with sterling silver and mother of pearl tops (I think I'll write a note about the superstition of mixing salt and pepper together to avoid a quarrel--something every newlywed couple should know--in the card). And on top of all of that fabulous shopping, Barb hooked me up with a little something something for my patio garden:
Oh yeah, Captain Husband is totally going to love this addition. It really classes the place up, don't you think? Speaking of CH, if everything has gone as expected, he's in the process of completing the first step in his long, multi-step journey back to the States. So keep your fingers crossed, and hopefully in a couple of weeks, he'll be back here in Virginia, just in time for Humidity Fest 2009. Sweet.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Fun with flooring
The stark realization that Captain Husband will be home in less than a month has finally hit me. And in that vein, I've been trying to take care of all of the little projects and loose ends that I had mistakenly thought I'd have all of the time in the world for in the year or so that he's been gone. One of the more recent tasks that I wanted to have accomplished was changing out the carpeting on the stair landing with, well, anything. Apparently before Trish was diagnosed as having diabetes, she had taken to peeing in corners...specifically the corners of this particular stair landing. No matter how many times I've employed the SpotBot, scrubbed on my hands and knees, or dumped boxes of baking soda on the offending areas, I could still smell her evil misdeeds and it was driving me crazy. Especially since the last thing I wanted greeting CH when he came home was the scent of urine wafting down the stairs as he opened the door to his house. Gross. So I did some research--and realized there was no way I could pull this little project off by myself-- and called my dad, who is now retired and therefore free to come and spend his time helping me out.
Dad came down on Sunday and the two of us headed out to Lowe's to do some shopping. I spared every expense on my purchases and managed to get out of there with enough "wood" laminate flooring, molding, and padding to do the landing for under $100. With our fates rather up in the air, and having no idea what's going to happen to the house if we are PCS'd (permanent change of station...one of the only military acronyms that I know that doesn't involve swear words), it didn't really make any sense to spend a lot of money on a real hardwood floor. Besides, it's only a landing.
Monday was the grossest part of the entire operation; removing the carpeting and the padding, which had definitely soaked up more than its fair share of cat pee. Normally I take before, during, and after shots of these kind of projects, but I was so embarrassed by the nastiness that I had to abstain this time around. Dad cleaned and prepped the surfaces so that there would be no lingering scent issues.
Tuesday was, as my dad said, "the fun stuff," as in figuring out the flooring configuration and making the proper cuts, etc. When I left for work that morning, he was measuring out the cuts he would have to make, with his trusty helper, Sandy, by his side. Sandy was pretty much my dad's shadow the entire three days he was down here; every time he left a room, she would follow. If he went out to work on something in the garage, she would wait for him by the door. It was pretty cute, especially if you know just how much my dad generally dislikes cats.
Sandy, waiting for my dad to finish up with the tape measure
By the time I got home from work though, he was completely finished and this was what I saw:
A new "wood" floor! And the best part--no cat pee smell! It had been finally banished from the house! To celebrate, I took my dad out for dinner at the local sports bar where we played paper football while waiting for our meals to arrive. He tried the "Pittsburgher," an ode to Primanti's, and thought it was pretty good; after we finished eating, we stayed and talked for a bit. I honestly think it was the first time my dad and I had a for-real adult conversation; we talked about Captain Husband, my brother and his various issues, mom, and so on and so forth. It was really nice and I'm glad that we were able to spend so much time together and hang out, while getting some work done around the house.
Dad came down on Sunday and the two of us headed out to Lowe's to do some shopping. I spared every expense on my purchases and managed to get out of there with enough "wood" laminate flooring, molding, and padding to do the landing for under $100. With our fates rather up in the air, and having no idea what's going to happen to the house if we are PCS'd (permanent change of station...one of the only military acronyms that I know that doesn't involve swear words), it didn't really make any sense to spend a lot of money on a real hardwood floor. Besides, it's only a landing.
Monday was the grossest part of the entire operation; removing the carpeting and the padding, which had definitely soaked up more than its fair share of cat pee. Normally I take before, during, and after shots of these kind of projects, but I was so embarrassed by the nastiness that I had to abstain this time around. Dad cleaned and prepped the surfaces so that there would be no lingering scent issues.
Tuesday was, as my dad said, "the fun stuff," as in figuring out the flooring configuration and making the proper cuts, etc. When I left for work that morning, he was measuring out the cuts he would have to make, with his trusty helper, Sandy, by his side. Sandy was pretty much my dad's shadow the entire three days he was down here; every time he left a room, she would follow. If he went out to work on something in the garage, she would wait for him by the door. It was pretty cute, especially if you know just how much my dad generally dislikes cats.
Sandy, waiting for my dad to finish up with the tape measureBy the time I got home from work though, he was completely finished and this was what I saw:
A new "wood" floor! And the best part--no cat pee smell! It had been finally banished from the house! To celebrate, I took my dad out for dinner at the local sports bar where we played paper football while waiting for our meals to arrive. He tried the "Pittsburgher," an ode to Primanti's, and thought it was pretty good; after we finished eating, we stayed and talked for a bit. I honestly think it was the first time my dad and I had a for-real adult conversation; we talked about Captain Husband, my brother and his various issues, mom, and so on and so forth. It was really nice and I'm glad that we were able to spend so much time together and hang out, while getting some work done around the house.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
