My House

I had a nightmare last night. It involved us selling our wonderful 1920's Midtown bungalow and buying a new brick house in a suburban new development in Florida. There were so many things wrong with this. Let's list them:

1) I love my house and never ever want to leave it. (Unless it means we're moving some where cool like Europe or Boston.)
2)New house
3) Suburbs
4) Florida... I love the beach, but I'm not sure if its for me. I could be wrong on this point though.

I don't mean to step on anyone's toes or insult anyone or their house. But new housing (unless I get to work with the architect and help draw up the plans and design) is not for me. I hate neighborhoods where all the houses are nearly the same.

Here is where I should pause and admit that yes, most of the other houses on my block are also bungalows, and yes, they all have a similar (but not the same!) floor plan. BUT, over 90 years each house has taken on a life and personality of its own. No house in our neighborhood is the same. And I love that. I'm willing to be that my 90 year old house has more charm and character than all of the new homes in one development. Trims, old knobs, scary basements, exposed brick, small fireplaces, all of these and more make our house a cool place to live.

Suburbs are great. I grew up in one. I understand why people like them, but its not for me. I love living in the city, walking to my favorite places, and being close to my neighbors. If I want to go anywhere outside of Midtown, it only takes me five minutes... unless its one of the outer-lying suburbs... which I hardly ever go to.

I love my house. From the moment I first walked into it at an open house, I knew it had to be mine. The high ceilings and big rooms had me at hello.

All of the above being said: we're experiencing some major plumbing problems. Like, we can't use any water until the plumbers get here tomorrow. No showers, no flushing toilets, can't finish the load of laundry, no washing dishes... Hmmm... it actually sounds like a vacation.

Anyways, despite our current situation, I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

But ask me again when I receive our plumbing bill.

How about them Knobs...

One of the things on my household updates to-do list has been to add hardware to the kitchen cabinets. When we bought the house only the four upper cabinets had knobs. Some of the drawers and cabinets were difficult to open, but I survived.

Something came over me the past month or two and I got around to purchasing knobs. We put them on all the drawer and cabinets.



Its so easy to open things now! I can't believe we went so long without them. Its really sad.

The Guest Bedroom, redo

We spent much of last weekend painting. Which wasn't too bad as our paint spot was on the front porch and the weather last weekend was phenomenal.

Our guestbedroom was looking a little sad. Here's a before:



Lets recap: random broken chair on far left, mismatched linens (especially the pillows), broken side table. Also this room has become a collect-all for items that don't really have a home and/or need to go up in the attic.

Solution: new bedding and two new tables.

I purchased two side tables from antique stores and we proceeded to paint them an off white.



And... Here's the after:



Ignore the glass on the bed, that is being put away. Also, for the sake of testing things out, making final decisions I did not put the down comforter in the duvet yet. I wanted to see how it would look without going through that hassle yet. Plus, I want to keep Bosco off the new things as long as possible.



This is my favorite table. Its the perfect height and is much more interesting than the previous table. Plus it adds a place to put a glass on that side of the bed. We are planning to put the dog crate away before guests come to stay. Isn't the new lamp perfect in here? It makes the room so much more home-y.



Here's the other table. I like that it offers some hidden storage. It relives the closet of some of the overflow.



I still have a little more styling, putting away, and finishing touches to make. But at least you are able to get an idea of our progress. What do you think?

Ebay Lessons

I consider myself an internet savvy person. Yet somehow I made my very first Ebay purchase last week. It was a vintage mailbox. It was perfect! Norman Rockwell-ish for Bry and asethically pleasing for me. However, I failed to take note of the dimensions.

Turns out its a penny bank. Yes, a PENNY bank. Oopsy. Oh well, it will look really cute added to our kitchen hanging collage.

NOTE TO SELF: Please take note of dimensions and other features before any online purchase.

Dreams

Ever feel like you have a 100 different dreams for you life? I do. A few things I've been thinking about doing lately:

- become a tambourine player and join a band
- Open my senior project business: Get Organized
- Open a classy, fun women's underwear store in the neighborhood, name it something like Skivvies
- Open a build your own burrito/taco place in the neighborhood.
- Open Bryan's idea for a restaurant. Home.
- Quit my job and stay at home.
- Move to Europe
- Move to the beach
- Own a boat
- Operate a "burger barge"
- Cook more

Those are just a few. I don't consider this a bucket list, just my changing whims. But I'd like to really do at least a few of these.

Does anyone have any money they would like to invest?

Restaurant Review: The Villa

Bryan and I went out the other night and decided to try the Villa, what was once Le Chardonnay. We never went to Le Chardonnay, so we can't tell you how it has changed, but can offer a fresh view on a new restaurant in our neighborhood.

We live in the Tucker Jefferson neighborhood, just two blocks away from Overton Square. It was one of the main reasons for buying our house, the ability to walk just about anywhere we need, specifically some of our favorite restaurants.

Excited to try a new restaurant in our area, within walking distance, we walked into The Villa on Friday night. Maybe its been a while since we've been to Overton Square on a Friday, but it took us a long time to find a parking spot and it looked like all the restaurants had a wait.

When you walk into the Villa there is a sign greeting you at the door to see the bartender for a table. Its the first time I've seen a sign like that. I stood at the crowded bar for several minutes before someone even acknowledged me. She didn't even give me a guesstimate on how long it would be to get a table. We found a place at the bar to tide us over until we got a table.

It actually didn't take long to move to a table, 10-15 minutes. However, it appeared that the bartenders played hostess and waiter. I didn't see one employee that seemed like a real waiter/waitress. Everyone was a bartender/runner.

While our food was good, the service was awful. Its not the employee's faults... they are understaffed by at least two. It took a full hour to get food. We had to wait five minutes after receiving food to get silverware. We were never offered bread or appetizers... even though we saw other tables getting free bread.

The atmosphere is great, although rather loud. They could use a bit more fabric in the place relieve some of the loudness of the space. But otherwise a well decorated and appropriate.

Maybe we were there during their busiest time ever, or maybe that's just how it is. But the service was awful and I probably won't be back unless we hear the service has vastly improved.

Recent News

Recent news in our lives:

1. I went to Minnesota for the first time ever.



This is as much as I saw of the city. But I met a ton of great people. And didn't hear one "dontchaknow", which I found very disappointing.

2. We have decided to go to Europe. First to travel and get a feel for it. If we decide we like it, we'll consider moving. We are focusing on Spain, Italy, and France. And will probably be traveling next February and/or March.

3. In lew of #2, I've decided not to buy more "stuff". We will be asking ourselves before any purchases, does this help us get to Europe?

4. Also in lew of #2 and #3, we're prefer money for any gift giving occasions in the next year.

5. I've got herbs! I need to do a whole seperate post on my little front stoop garden, but its now majorly hot outside and I can't bring myself to go out there.

6. We got Instant Netflix on Wii! The amount of time spent in front of the tv has now quadrupled. But we're mostly watching documentaries, so does that even count?

7. We took Bosco to the lake yesterday for a swim. She loved it. She also loved mud.