(conveniently when I am in NYC - I have the best dad EVER!)**
So our neighbourhood is full of cats...cats everywhere - I see at least 5 wandering around all the time, and a new one has decided to like my backyard. Perhaps it's because it belongs to our attached neighbours. I don't know his name, but I named the other cat Marmalade because it was orange, and this one is sort of a yellow-orange, so I started calling him Peanut Butter, or Butters, for short (which Matt laughed at because supposedly it is some South Park character?). Yes, I know I have a lot of time on my hands - it's my summer vacation! There's only two weeks left to be relaxed and bored. So here is Butters one day in my backyard. **There will be posts with more substance coming up - painting the hallways are happening on Friday
(conveniently when I am in NYC - I have the best dad EVER!)**
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Wow that title was clever. So one of my other summer projects was painting the hallways, both upstairs and down, and of course all the trim and doors and stairs and railings too. Where has the time gone? I also was supposed to paint the kitchen, build bench seating for the backyard, and stain the TV hutch (I still plan to do that one in the next few weeks). So we had considered hiring a painter, as we thought about last year too. Last year we got a ridiculous quote from College Pro, but found out the majority of the cost had to do with them painting the stairs and railways which are a pain the butt. We thought about getting another quote this year for just the walls and ceiling, and we would do the trim ourselves. The reason we were considering outsourcing was because although the ceilings are not that high, the are difficult to get at with the stairs, and a ladder on the stairs is my nighmare, and I did NOT want to be the spotter. We mentioned this when we had our family over for dinner, and my dad mentioned that he wouldn't mind doing it. I think he wants a project now that their master bathroom is done (oh yes, I was going to do a post on that too...). Anyway, he convinced me that he could do it and that he did it in his own house multiple times and that it would be fine. So he is coming over Friday and painting for the weekend while we are in NYC! YAY! Here are the hallways now: Front hall - all hallways are a beige colour Up the stairs - going to pull up the runner and paint the stairs *Benjamin Moore Cloud White for the ceiling, but probably Chantilly Lace for the trim, doors, and stairs* Upstairs hallway facing the bedroom - actually have removed the light on the right, but need to remove the light on the left - going to hang a chandelier to allow for better light eventually too View of upstairs hallways from other direction Closet and guest bedroom trim and doors are already done, luckily! So now for the paint. When we had Sabrina over last year, we talked a little bit about wall colour. She suggested two main colours - both Benjamin Moore - Moonshine and Revere Pewter. We actually ended up using Moonshine in our basement, but it looks much lighter than the paint chip because of the lack of natural light: Walls and ceilings are actually the same colour - just the lighting Looks really light here, but you can still see the difference compared to the trim What it can look like in natural light - via Young House Love Revere Pewter - via Veronika's Blushing (again, lots of natural light to bring out the grey, although the chip reads more greige) So - what to do? Well, again one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love came to my rescue with this post about choosing a grey paint. Since they decided on Moonshine, I hoped they had similar colours for me to see, and they did. They had a grey very similar to Moonshine but a bit more grey called Gray Owl. Well I love owls so it was fate. Here are some images I googled: Very soft and pretty A bit blue in this light but I don't think it will be like that with our light So I went and bought a pint of it, and painted some swatches of both Moonshine and Gray Owl on the wall - I did three swatches - one in the front hall, one upstairs, and one near the bedroom. I wanted to see it all lights, because again we don't have a lot of natural light in the hallways, and I don't want the paint to be too white or too beige. Here they are - one coat right onto the beige, with Moonshine on the left (or top) and Gray Owl on the right (or bottom): First by our bedroom upstairs - wanted to see it next to cloud white and in the most natural light Here the paints look quite similar Here they are at the top of the stairs near the bathroom in natural light Same spot but with the overhead light on Here they are downstairs in the entryway You can actually see the differences better from afar So after all that, for our house, with all the unnatural yellow light, I like Gray Owl better. Moonshine or Revere Pewter would be great if we had the natural light, but since we don't, Gray Owl it is! Let's hope Matt agrees so I can go out and buy a gallon or two! In the mean time I have to tape all the floors. I bought "Frog Tape" - we will see if it is better than the regular Home Depot green tape (I honestly hope not because it's more expensive).
One of my summer to-do activities was the clean up the rainbow bookshelf downstairs. There were too many of certain colours and they were getting cramped and messy. Easy little project that I had all summer to do, but didn't do until last week. Here are the changes, in pictures, but first, the original: Way back from the spring of 2011 Last week - tidy, but a lot of books not on the shelves and many books behind other books Everybody off! Here it is all tidied up! White takes up the most space, along with Jodi - how I love her. Matt's books are on the first two shelves, and pretty much every other shelf is filled with my books, haha The bottom shelf is filled with random textbooks A side-view *I took a lot of $5 beachy-girly books to the cottage, and eventually I'll donate them.* **You CANNOT throw books in the garbage, it's just wrong.** Here's the hobby corner - piano (I wonder what musical will be in store for this year), and my attempt at working out with Zumba on Wii - I do it a lot, but I feel like a clumsy uncoordinated idiot EVERY SINGLE TIME. Just got the water meter removed from inside to ouside behind the chalkboard, and had the gas done last year. So now no real reason for that panel in the wall...oh well. Office space - now to tackle that other "chemistry" shelf back there...geez it is packed... A bit more tidy - perfect for me to start prepping for the fall...back to school NOOOOOOO!
We just booked a trip to New York City, leaving the 23rd for 4 nights! Matt and I have both wanted to go for a few years, and so we finally decided to do it! Got a pretty good deal on Hotwire and are staying in midtown. We are definitely going to try and see "Book of Mormon", and perhaps "Nice Work if You Can Get It". We also may try to get tickets to either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert on the first night we are there. We'll do some bike riding in central park, and wandering around all the different areas in the city. We also want to each some great food, so please recommend some places, and even things to do!!!
Here are just a few more that were on my camera (not my phone), and aren't directly wedding-related. Catch 122 in Gastown for brunch The birthday boy! Random photo moment on a brick wall, haha Picture that Emily took of the post-wedding brunch A few of many coffee places around Vancouver (Matt wants to make some sort of arty collage out of them)
Last night we had both our parents over plus our siblings (minus Meg, she had to work and we missed her!). Just wanted to have a simple barbeque with everyone, and celebrate Matt's birthday last week, our anniversary, and here all about Adam and Jessica's honeymoon and Jamie's wedding planning and house hunting. Lots of things going on with both of our families, and it was nice to catch up. I didn't really take any family pictures (I was busy playing hostess I suppose), but took a few pictures of the decor - had a little Olympic theme going on. Medal count as of yesterday (although today's soccer bronze puts us at 15!) Olympic Ring M&Ms...I ate all the orange ones that were left over... Canada loves hummus Flag of flags Even the condiments were in the Olympic spirit (there is really very few blue foods...) I also cleaned the house (except for the basement)... Two year anniversary cards Olympic fruit (kind of sad rings, haha) Dessert table, including the stout cupcakes (pretty much basic spice cupcakes with Guinness used instead of water, and the glaze is icing sugar and beer) Dining room shot with the anniversary flowers Matt got me (love the late summer sunflowers)
I didn't take a lot of pictures this day - didn't have a good viewing angle during the ceremony to get clear pictures without standing in front of everyone, but here are a few shots from the night at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club: Beautiful bride Emily with her dad The vows Their colours were navy and white with a bit of pink, plus polka dots! The rings Mr. & Mrs! The legal stuff Beautiful music The music was obviously conducive to dancing... During cocktails there was a bald eagle (Stephen Colbert - is it yours?) Great seating chart! There's the bit of pink! Listening to speeches Jack was the emcee - he did an incredible job! Who wants cake? He was nice and didn't squish it in her face (like my brother did at his wedding) First dance There has to be a finale dip! Father-daughter and mother-son dance together The one picture of Matt and I (SLR selfies are hard to do!) Matt and Steve (two of the three roommates of Adam's - Cable is nowhere to be found) Personalized napkins - great little detail Grandparents getting into the music Beautiful mom-to-be Christine getting some practice Best picture - three children getting candy, haha Indeed it is.
*On that note, happy anniversary (yesterday) to my husband of two years!* Row 1: Getting nails done in preparation for Vancouver at Tips Nail Bar, first pretty leaf latte from Coffee Bar in Gastown, and amazing porchetta sandwich from Meat & Bread - all on our first day out west!
Row 2-5: Shots of the Grouse Grind - 2.9 km straight up a mountain - took 89 minutes and it was pretty hard - another first day activity! Row 6-7: "Hell" sign from Bin 941 - great tapas place we went to on the first night (also went here on my birthday in March), rest of shots from Stanley Park and along the walk to 3rd beach (where I spent Friday while Matt was golfing with the boys). Row 8: Cable playing jenga at Guilt & Co on friday night, other two of us each getting ready for Adam & Emily's wedding. Row 9: Shot from my SLR at the wedding at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club (the only one of us together that night), the "Love is Sweet" candy box filled with salt water toffee, swedish berries, and navy M&M's that I ate the day after, and Matt relaxing at Chill Winston's Sunday evening. Row 10: The water drop down by the water, last latte from Cafe Medina on Monday, and belated birthday cupcakes from the Cupcake Girls shop on Thurlow! **Not pictured Vancouver activities: dinner at Revel Room on Friday night, brunch at Catch 122 on Saturday morning, dinner at La Casita on Sunday night, and some anniversary shopping on Robson for our 2nd year (the gift is cotton) at J. Crew and Banana Republic on Monday before we left. As you can see we did a lot of good eating but also a lot of walking and hiking to try and balance it all out between!** *Wedding post to come for Adam and Emily's wedding, though I didn't take that many pictures* Happy 29th to my wonderful husband. We are in Vancouver celebrating both his day and Adam and Emily's wedding day!
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KathleenAdventures in married life, cooking, teaching science and new home renovations in the city! LinksArchives
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