half kitchen

5 updates!

2012-01-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

Life has gotten really busy since we've gotten engaged. I've gone on daily happy hours sharing all the juicy details with friends and we've been looking at venues and trying to figure this whole wedding thing out.

Here's a few non-wedding things that have been going on at the half kitchen.

1) I woke up to this

2) I went on a 2 day Dr. Oz Cleanse. It wasn't the kind of cleanse where you drink an obscene amount of juice and have to ease yourself back onto solid foods. It was 48 hours of all gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, meat free foods... It was refreshing. I got an instant headache the first time I had sugar after the cleanse.

3) Boyfriend attempted the 48 hour cleanse. He made it about 4.5 hours before he caved.

4) I've started to take the "easy route" at the gym and have become a regular in all the yoga classes. Cardio will come back into my life soon, but for now I'm enjoying my mat time.

5) Drake dog has also picked up yoga. He can do downward dog on command. I know, this warrants a video.

Engagement

2011-12-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

After boyfriend popped the question, he opened the door to the back porch which he had decorated with outdoor lights, had a fire started and had purchased a heater just in case it was too cold. He had picked up Thai food from the place we went on our first date and we sat on the porch and talked about life while eating nostalgic first date food and drinking champagne. I wanted to freeze time in that moment.

Somebody's Getting Married

2011-12-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

... It's us!

We've kept the exciting news on the DL for 2 weeks while we just relished the moment for awhile. We're over the moon and so happy to finally share the excitement.

It's Christmas Time

2011-12-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

I am on top my Christmas game this year. I have my shopping nearly done. High five to shopping online and drawing names. The tree is up and we have a DIY advent calender hanging in the half kitchen. Now, we have time to do the important stuff like eating dozens of cookies and washing them down with a countless number of holiday cocktails.

Fauzdenza Storage

2011-11-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

Last month our Fauxdenza appeared on Ikeahackers. I received a couple comments asking to see the inside and how we were using it as storage. I procrastinated because my storage space is never styled and it's usually borderline embarrassing to see how much stuff I try to pile in. But, I love my fauxdenza so I don't mind showing you guys more of it, even if it's a hot mess.

One of the cabinets is filled with boots. I like it because I can easily see everything and there's room for quite a few boots.

Boyfriend installed a towel rack to utilize one of the cabinets as a coat closet.

There you have it.

Europe Tour. Part 2. What we ate

2011-11-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

Hello, Internet friends! I need to do a bit of virtual catching up. Things have been a little teeny bit hectic lately. I've been the kind of busy where I throw my clothes on the bathroom floor and don't pick them up for over a week, but hardly notice them because I don't have time to do things like pee and shower anymore.

But, now that things are slowing down a bit, I need to pick up where we left off... Europe. Which is where I wish I could be right now. Actually, I would rather be here for Thanksgiving, because Europeans don't understand the whole Turkey and cranberry sauce like we do. Then, on Friday, I'd be pleased as punch if someone would ship me off to Europe until the crazy holiday shopping craze is over.

One of our favorite parts of Europe was eating our way through it. At one point I thought it would be a good idea to take a photo of every pastry we shoved in our mouths, but sometimes it takes waaaay too long to pull the camera out and turn it on when there is a delicious baked good in front of my face.

Warm gooey chocolate and churros. I'm pretty sure this is banned in the states because people would abuse it and we would have an even bigger fat epidemic than we already do. This is why I cannot live in Barcelona, oh and the fact that I would probably die from lack of sleep.

Boyfriend is selfishly devouring a chocolate croissant in Barcelona, which according to a French tour guide we had are, "CRAP!" Apparently the Spaniards make their croissants with animal fat and the French use butter. Therefore, we were advised to stay away from Spanish pastries. Boyfriend and I weren't hearing that crazy talk. We ate on...

Welcome to Portugal. When it comes to pastries, the Portugese know what's up. We were told to go to a specific town called Belem and find the pastry shop that sells the Pasties de Belem. It sounded like a wild goose chase, but when you get to Lisbon, everyone is bragging about these custard morsels of deliciousness. The thing about Portuguese is they like to introduce you to Portugese culture by saying "This here is the BEST..." or "This is the BIGGEST..." or "That right there is the WORLD'S GREATEST..." So, of course these pastries were introduced as the best pastry in the world, and I honestly have no reason to argue otherwise.

This right here is another piece of Portugese pride which have to be purchased from the bakery in Sintra to be authentic Quijadas de Sintra. They're made with cheese, but they're sweet. I could eat a couple dozen of these babies.

I don't even know what this is, but I know it was savory and delicious and made me consider moving to Lisbon.

Meet and cheese and bread all in one! Brilliant. Those Portugese people are the SMARTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. Also, boyfriend ate one of these every day.

I was a little sad leaving all the uneaten pastries in Portugal behind, but then we headed to Germany and celebrated my birthday. My dear friend, Maxi, baked me her famous birthday cake. This cake was coated in melted chocolate and quite possibly the best birthday cake in the world (take that Portugal).

And, if my friends weren't amazing enough already. I got this Weckmann bear for being a sad pathetic sick girl in bed all day. Weckmann is traditionally shaped like a gingerbread man and eaten on Nov. 11. Listen up America, could we please declare a pastry eating day?!!? Let's work on making that happen.

Travel Europe. Part 1. Street Drinking

2011-11-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Boyfriend and I took our first international trip together. We visited 4 countries in 10 days. I was sick for 5 of the days. Then, I managed to get anyone who got within 5 feet of me sick as well. Incidentally, boyfriend was sick for the last two days. We managed to power through on beer and Portuguese cold medicine, but seeing as how we don't speak Portuguese, we're just going to go ahead and assume that was cold medicine.

Before we were sick, we were insane. Which probably lead us to being sick. On our last night in Barcelona we stayed up all night with an old friend of mine who we met up with for "one" drink. But, if you don't know this now, Spaniards don't go to sleep. "One" drink turns into three drinks, which turns into bar hopping, street drinking and dancing until 7 AM... consider yourself warned, people.

But, let's talk about street drinking. Such a great concept. While waiting at a meeting point for my friend, we were approached my numerous street beer vendors trying to sell us beer. Weird we thought. We're just waiting here and everyone wants us to be drinking while standing here, don't they have bars to drink in? We looked around and couples were on benches with beers in hand. Groups of friends were gathered around drinking street beer and we were the only empty handed bodies in the area.

Later, my friend explains that it's cheaper to street drink than to go to a bar to drink. The current economic crisis in Spain has caused high percentages of unemployment and many people who are lucky enough to have jobs only have temporary jobs, some only working an hour per day. 46% of young Spanish people are unemployed. So, when you have a gregarious culture that loves to party, they find a way to drink. Enter the new "street drinking" culture. For 1 euro you can buy a beer from a street vendor.

Although, street drinking wasn't in our plans that night, somehow we just kinda fell into it.

The Circus is in Town

2011-11-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Halloween is and has always been my favorite holiday (whether it's a real holiday or not). With my birthday only being 5 days from Halloween, I always had Halloween parties as a kid. Looking back, it's really unfortunate that all those kids who came to my Halloween party had to celebrate my birthday on a day that should be just as magical for every kid. These days, I'm all grown up and still dress up, but I now have a boyfriend who always steals the show.

About 6 months ago I decided we should dress in a circus theme. My costume took a lot of planning, sewing (thanks, mom), glueing (thanks again, mom), online purchasing and face painting.

Boyfriend literally had to stick a fake mustache on and slip into a singlet and he was done.... and all I heard all night was HOW AMAZING he looked and "WHERE DID HE FIND THAT COSTUME?!?!"

I've decided it's not what he is wearing but the personality he takes on while he is wearing it that makes him the best dressed every year. But I admit, my strongman does look pretty impressive in a singlet.

I love that our friends take Halloween just as serious as we do.

Sliding Barn Door Part 2

2011-10-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

The sliding bathroom barn door is up and functioning, but the window film we installed is not going to cut it for privacy. It's perfect for when the lights are out, but unless everyone potties in the dark, it might be a little awkward for us to have guests over. The solution is in the works, but before we do that, we have to go to Europe and get our travel on.

The old hardware is just for looks. We've installed a new pull handle and a lock on the bathroom side that makes it possible to lock the door, which just seems silly if people can see you doing your business. You can watch, but you can't come in.

Sliding Barn Door Part 1

2011-10-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

We've been hitting up the rebuilding center for the last few weeks looking for a door that we could install as a sliding barn door for our bathroom. The problem is that the doorway is so narrow that it's been hard finding the right size and we were looking for an option that wasn't all glass so we wouldn't feel like we were on display when we were trying to you know, poop.

So what do we do... bring home a door that's half glass. Imagine how uncomfortable guests are going to feel when we're watching them you know, poop. Kidding, that would be my worst nightmare. We'll end up adding window film or some type of fabric to the glass so it can remain a mystery as to what's going on behind the door (but it's probably pooping).

But, before we get to that, we have to get this old door sanded down and ready to prime/paint & stain.

SURPRISE!!

2011-10-17T01:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we threw a surprise party for boyfriend. First off, do you know how hard it is for me to keep a secret for months?!?! It was pretty tough, but apparently, I'm an awesome con artist. He had no idea that his whole family flew in and that all our friends were in on the secret. bawaha. We had an great time celebrating with friends and family and got to show off the city to boyfriend's siblings who were first time Portlandia visitors.

Muddy Mutts

2011-10-16T00:08:00.000-07:00

Let's pause for a moment of silence in memory of clean floors and

dry dog paws.

It's rainy season in Oregon which means I'm chasing the dogs dog with a towel and they are devising little schemes in their little dog brains on how to paint the floors with paw prints.

DIY Ikeahack bedframe

2011-10-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Feeling inspired by this beautiful and way out-of-our-price range ($2200) bedframe on fab.com we decided to pay a visit to our friend, IKEA, to see if there was anything similar we could settle on .Yeah right. But, we did end up taking home the blah $49.99 Fjellse bed to morph into a one-of-a-kind sexy bed replica.

IKEA $49.99 FJELSSE Bed Frame

Yes, we sleep on a full size bed. Don't judge.

Just look at the bed frame mmmkay.

After staining the Fjellse, we cut two slabs of pine, stained them and screwed them onto the Fjellse, coated it all with Osmo and bamm the sexy bed replica was complete.

The new bed set us back about $60.

Fauxdenza!

2011-10-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to show you guys our little spare bedroom project.

Goodbye, big awkward armoire, hello sexy fauxdenza. I can't stop saying it, fauxdenza fauxdenza fauxdenza.

The cabinets are IKEA kitchen cabinets. The top and side are pine slabs that we stained and coated with Osmo. Since these are the same cabinets we have in our kitchen, I wanted to do something different to the handles so they didn't look too kitcheny. Small, leather pull tabs did just the trick.

The top is perfect height to stand and work on craft projects, and all the extra storage is perfect for my shoe hoarding problem. I bet you had no idea I had 4,876 pairs of shoes in there.

Now, I'm in the market for some art to hang above it. I'm thinking about just framing a gigantic poster of boyfriend and writing "I kick ass" across his face, because he is doing some major ass kicking around the half kitchen. In the last year and a half he's gone from not knowing how to use a level to building shit like this in the amount of time that it takes for me to dry my hair. I'm impressed.

Fauxdenza Frenzy

2011-09-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

We've had this big ass armoire shoved in the corner of our spare bedroom since we moved in.

It weighs about a gazillion pounds and it's bigger than our entire house, but it served as much needed extra storage in the room that has a closet the size of a tic tac box. I can't complain about the armoire because it's been a chivalrous beast holding all 80 pairs of my shoes and 40 coats at the same time, but there comes a time when a girl just needs change. Unfortunately, for me it's about every two and a half weeks.

I've been researching solutions to our lack of storage/small bedroom space, and I think the best thing for us would be to build a fauxdenza (term coined by the brilliant Anna @ Door Sixteen). I want something that leaves the room feeling open, but also has room to store things. Double points if we can display stuff on the top of it. Triple points if it can function as a table top for projects. In our tiny house, we're all about things that have double function, like our laundry table that's also a dog crate.

Even the people at IKEA were like, "uhhhh, Fauxdenza...what?!? Did you just make that up? Why would you do that when we have dressers that come with directions that you can just piece together?"

Luckily, I have the internet and trusted bloggers that are smarter than Ikea employees.

Fauxdenza #1:

via Morgan @ www.the-brick-house.com

Fauxdenza #2:

via Anna @ www.doorsixteen.com.

Fauxdenza #3:

via Matt @ www.woodandfaulk.com

Everything Matt touches turns into a crafted work of art. I don't think his intentions were to build a "fauxdenza" when he was creating floating kitchen cabinets, but it's the same idea and a beautiful example.

Fauxdenza #4:

via Kimi @ www.fieldpapers.blogspot.com

Knoll Eero Saarinen Craigslist Score

2011-09-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

It started with a call to boyfriend saying, "what are you doing right this instant. You have to go pick up this Craigslist chair. Don't ask questions, just go."

12 seconds and $20 later, I had a confused boyfriend wondering why I wanted this ugly ass heavy chair.

He doesn't necessarily see the beauty I see in a Knoll Eero Saarinen Armless Executive Chair.

Not sure about its authenticity. What it doesn't have is a Knoll tag on the bottom, but it does have a "Property of IBM" sticker on it. Eero Saarinen designed IBM headquarters which was supplied with Saarinen furnishing. That's enough for me to feel like I hit the CL jackpot.

Cool Bar Alert

2011-09-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you combine good beer, great design, sustainable business practices and a bike friendly atmosphere?

Hopworks Bike Bar. Decorated with wall to wall beer displays, growler lamps and equipped with stationary bikes that produce energy for the bar. I admit, after a few beers I wasn't the most energy productive rider, but I contributed the last little bit of energy I had left in me.

Cheers to cool new bars in our hood.

Engagement Party T+M

2011-09-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that I am MOH for my friend's wedding next summer. To kick start the wedding festivities we planned a casual park picnic engagement party. The unpredictable Oregon weather rained us out, luckily a friend's condo has a community indoor/outdoor party area that was open for the day. The city views were fantastic and the location was better than we hoped for. A good reminder that sometimes things literally just fall in place.

I made custom invites and cookie favor bags. Michelle's mom created adorable pennant banners to match the invites.

Clean Showers. Before and After.

2011-09-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

Looking back it's kind of embarrassing that we've been showering in this tub for over a year. It's the original cast iron clawfoot tub so we wanted to refinish it, but the task seemed a bit daunting for us to do on our own and I wasn't ready to give up using our one in only bathroom for a couple of days.

Until we decided we wanted to put new tile in the bathroom, so we'd have to take the tub out and the bathroom would be out of service for a couple of days anyway.

This is Nic. He stayed with us for the weekend to help us tile the bathroom floor. Which is incredibly nice, but also makes us the absolute worst hosts ever. With only one bathroom, and it not being accesible for 72 hours, it was more like we invited him over to camp. There were a lot of trips to 24hr fitness to shower and Starbucks for potty breaks. I'm not gonna hide the fact that there were some squats popped in the backyard. Obviously, if you look at our tub, you'll know we aren't the classiest crew.

I read a billion different reviews on different diy tub refinishing kits and settled on the Homax refinishing kit. From all the reviews it seemed the spray was easier to work with than the paint. The woman at lowes seemed a little worried about me and pulled out the instructions and did a play by play with me before I bought it (high five to customer service). I admit, she scared me into thoroughly reading the directions and completing each step. I'm more of a read the instructions after I screw it up type of girl. It was relatively painless, the worst part of the whole project was going to the gym late at night for showers and realizing I forgot my towel.

Finished tub.

Scrub a dub dub

PAINT!

2011-09-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

We've struggled with our paint colors since we moved in. I originally wanted dark, bold colors throughout the house (what was I thinking?). I think it was the renter in me, finally having free rein and wanting to do something crazy, over the top.

The home depot orange and matador red made me feel like I was living in a box of crayolas, and it wasn't long before I fell in love with the simplicity of white walls. The intense color was making me slightly insane. Every room in our house has changed colors at least 2 times in the last year. But, our color problems are OVER. I've discovered a new, local paint company called YOLO. YOLO Colorhouse is an environmentally responsible paint company. How is that even possible?? I don't have the answer to that, but this stuff fume-less, no gross paint smell. It's amazing. AND I love every color in their Earth Color Collection. We picked out one sample and the color was perfect, no running back to Lowe's for 100 different swatches and none of them being quite what we were looking for.

Their website is pretty rad too. I love how they showcase local business owners in their spaces.

$2 Chair Reupholster/Refinish Project

2011-09-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

We've been making things happen these last few weeks. Things that have been sitting around for over a year that were getting close to never getting done are finally happening. We've been pretty busy. We have lots of new stuff to show you. Starting with the chair.

We bought this chair at a thrift store for $2 over a year ago. It's been sitting in our living room looking all nasty this entire time. I tried covering it with pillows, but there's not enough pillows in the world to muffle the loud, desperate cries for affection this chair was emitting. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, but it was one of those things I thought would be a fun project when all the important stuff was done, but I got sick of looking at the ugly thing and brought it out back for a makeover. I ripped off the back before I thought to take a picture, so with it half way dismembered, I snapped a photo of it in its extra sad and unfashionable state.

I found some fabric I had laying around that I picked up at SCRAP for 2 bucks, and used some extra stain we had from a previous project, then sealed it with some left over Osmo, an eco-friendly finish that makes it look nice and smooth without being plastic looking like poly. Too easy, right? I can't believe it took me so long to do this. It's so nice not to have the vinyl stick to my thighs on hot days, and our house is looking less and less like a dorm room.

All combined it took about 2 hours to beautify this 2 dollar chair. I even impress myself sometimes.

VOTE!

2011-09-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Call your kids, call your wife and call your husband, cuz we need errbodys help.

About. me is having a contest and the winner will have a billboard at Times Square in NYC…and Dressing on the side is in the top 5%, please help make DOTS the grand prize winner!

1. click here

2. then click "vote for the profile" in the top right hand corner.

3. repeat daily until 9/20

Shed Project

2011-09-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back boyfriend decided to get all Dexter on me and wanted to have his own separate shed. At first, I was a Debbie Downer and wanted to finish other half complete things we had started on the house, but that boyfriend is a persistent man and once he has something in his mind he's determined to make it happen. Truth is, he's pretty smart too. Our house has zero storage, so the shed is stacked with extra clothes, bikes, snowboard gear, art supplies, party stuff, extra dishes that won't fit in the half kitchen and anything else that doesn't get used every day.

Now that we have the Dexter shed there's a separate space for tools and gardening equipment, and we can keep the large shed for all the other stuff. Not only was it a brilliant idea, it looks pretty cool too.

The process:

After the shed was up it went through an awkward stage of looking like an outhouse for about a week. We decided we wanted the door to have a rustic barn look, so after building the door, we removed the big shed's door and built new doors to match.

We put up peg board to keep tools organized.

Wine Country

2011-09-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Reason number 47,826 why I love where we live: we have great WINE... and we have the best beer too!

Oregon is a boozer's best friend (BBF). I take full advantage of our close proximity to a gazillion different microbreweries, but we have barely explored Oregon's vineyards. Breweries are easy, I can walk 12 feet and run into a half a dozen of them in Portland, but Vineyards require a little driving to the country side.

Over the long weekend, we took the fam out to a BBQ and Bluegrass festival. The festivities took place right in the middle of the vineyard. The food was amazing, the weather was perfect and the wine was flowing. I fell asleep approximately 3 hours earlier than normal, fully clothed with dirty vineyard feet. I'd say it

was a successful night.

Chalk of Fame Chalkboard

2011-09-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last summer we made a chalkboard in our kitchen. This summer I decided we need to stop being sissies and go big our go home. So, we turned the board into an entire wall. It's all about baby steps around here. We've graduated from timid homeowners to ballsy DIYers. Kinda.

See above photo, this is the FIRST time I have seen boyfriend use tape when painting. Normally he's a "who needs tape when you're perfect" kinda guy (we end up doing a lot of touching up afterwards). But, we still haven't figured out how to paint without getting it on the ceiling, our clothes, my hair, the dogs, etc.

Each and every friend, dog or family member that comes over ~~is forced to~~ gets to strutt their stuff in front of the chalk of fame, so now they have a bigger canvas to work with.

Don't mess with Summer

2011-08-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we walked around with our heads down thinking summer was officially over. It was chilly and our plants are starting to die, but that could honestly be from a lack of watering going on. I decided to make soup, because it seemed appropriate to drown our sorrows in a bowl of piping hot liquid.

Then, the sun came out and said, "bitch, summer ain't over yet!" And an entire pot of potato leek soup exploded on my arm.

I yelled at boyfriend to grab the camera...

(notice Drake patiently waiting to come report for clean up duty)

...then realized my skin was melting off.

Porch Project Part 2. Before/After

2011-08-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

In Porch Project Part 1 I mentioned that the vinyl siding on our house makes me a little irritable, well now we have a little less vinyl and we have a hole-less porch overhang.

This project was relatively painless (especially for me since boyfriend did all the labor). Lately, I've been more of an inspector than a builder. I tend to get in the way when I try to help and I've been temporarily shooed off the job-site for being too high of a risk / too "chatty." So, now I'm more of the inspector type. I stop in with cookies, get a status update and do a final walk through where I get to unleash my inner meticulous side.

see that lovely (barf) rose wrought iron railing? Got any ideas on how to remove or cover it up? It has got to go, just haven't figured out how yet.

Kickball for Big Kids

2011-08-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

We played a lot of kickball this weekend, and by a lot I mean 7 games of seriously intense tournament style kickball. The thing is, I have no photos of us actually playing kickball. I have pictures of us braiding each others' hair, drinking on the sidelines, drinking in the bar, drinking in the dugout, drinking on the party bus...but no actual proof that we even kicked or caught a ball. But we did, and we were awesome, or at least our hair was pretty enough and we were intoxicated enough to feel like

we were awesome.

Eating and Drinking in Portland: Salt and Straw

2011-08-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

There's a new kid in town, and I'm pretty sure we're going to be BFFs. After all, we're neighbors and I have an affinity for two things they do so well: good design and good ice cream.

Photos from: salandstraw.com

Thrifty Midcentury Finds

2011-08-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sadly we're not the wild kids that we once were, but the benefit of less vodka in my blood stream means that I can wake up early enough to hit up the Saturday morning yard sales. It sounds even sadder reading the words, but when I look at these sweet finds it kinda makes it worth it. a little bit.

Triple Dog Drool

2011-08-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

We've got a couple of house guests. Cosmo has been on an extended staycation at our house until my parents buy a house locally, and Tulip is spending a few days with us while my brother is on a trip. Feeding time is always chaotic when we have all three dogs, and there is always an extra pile of dirt (extra as in addition to the pile of dirt we typically have) they bring through the doggie door and spread throughout the house. Luckily, they're all really ~~scared of me~~ well behaved and stayed on their beds while I did some serious sweeping.

I also should mention our house is 900 sq. Ft., so we're having a pretty cozy doggie slumber party.

Eating and Drinking in Portland: Puffed Pastries

2011-08-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

If you ever see these:

BEWARE! They call them Chouquettes but they're the devil in disguise. If you don't believe me, go to St.Honore', buy a bag and tell me how right I am after you selfishly devour the entire bag

Screen Printing. Attempt #1

2011-08-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

With our upcoming trip to Europe I have been searching for Portland stuff to bring to my friends, but I've been really underwhelmed with what I've found. If I see one more "put a bird on it" shirt, I might have to hurt someone. Please stop making these, people.

In a fit of frustration / a sudden burst of creative energy, I decided I would learn to screen print and make my own Portland gifts. Nothing gets more Portland than me covered in fabric ink and yelling at the dogs to stop licking me while I'm screen printing tea towels on the back porch. Oh and because I'm so indie, this is a limited run, one of a kind design.
My life is so Portlandia.

Porch Project Part 1

2011-08-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the thing about vinyl siding. I know it has its benefits like being durable and low maintenance, but its so damn ugly and unnatural looking. Also, we've learned that it melts if the grill gets too close. So, maybe I take back that part about it being durable.

Vinyl wasn't around in the 30's when our house was built, and I feel like the vinyl stripped the house of its 1930's character, but that's something we're going to have to live with. We've attempted to paint parts of the trim, but realized it's a bigger project than we can accomplish over a weekend, so it's going to have to wait until we have more time on our hands. But by the time that happens, forest green might be the new "it" color.

The one thing that bothered me the most about the vinyl is the low porch overhang. It wouldn't be so obviously ugly if they didn't decide to cut a square out for the cheap-o screen door to freely open. Now that we don't have a screen door we don't need a hole in the porch overhang, which gave me a good excuse to rip down the vinyl and stomp on it in the front yard like a 2 year old.

Front Porch with Vinyl and useless wood hole cutout:

Close up of the ugly vinyl/wood hole:

Porch overhang post vinyl beat down:

Pictures of the update coming soon.

Eating in Portland

2011-08-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

There is something like 2,000 restaurants in Portland. From the food carts to 5 star restaurants, we have some of the best food there is (take that, Seattle). We have our favorites, but we don't frequent any specific spot since there are so many good places we haven't had a chance to try yet. On Friday night, we wanted to try something new and to check another place off our list. We ate on the patio at Bernie's, a southern bistro with a killer patio. The patio was reason enough for me to go back, but it was also a perfect place to get my fill of nostalgic southern comfort food. If you're craving fried pickles and blackened catfish but don't want to head to the dirty south, Bernie's Southern Bistro is your place.

Dressing on the Side Photoshoot

2011-08-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

Boyfriend's Mom stopped in for a quick visit for a photoshoot for her adorable t-shirt company, Dressing on the Side. I gathered up some of my sexy friends and we posed for Blue Lily Photography. Good friends + cute shirts + amazing photographers = winning

Summa Summa Summa Time

2011-08-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

Last summer consisted of trips to Home Depot followed up with a stop at IKEA then hacking away at whatever it was we were working on, waking up sore the next day then doing it all over again. We finally got our yard at a point where we could have guests over, then Portland laughed in our first-time-home-owner faces and rained consistently for something like 300 days.

But laugh no more Portland, because we're rockin summer in our cut off shorts, sipping wine on the back patio and eating veggies that we grew ourselves. Seriously, we're a couple of home owning bad asses.

Also, we put a hammock in the back yard and now all of my childhood dreams have come true. And, it's neon and I look like a giant cocoon when I lay in it.

I'd also like to point out that boyfriend has put in extra safety features because he worries about stuff like that. So, If I happen to gain 800 lbs this summer or invite all my friends to hammock with me at the same time, we're good to go.

Lovely Packaging

2011-07-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I dragged my mom to a packaging 101 class taught my Sally and Joke. I am a total dork when it comes to arts and crafts. My friends know me as the "crafty one," but when I hear the word crafty it reminds me of cheesy quilts and my mom making wreaths in the late 80's, so to get together with modern day crafters making tasteful packaging made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

My biggest problem with my art projects is executing. I'm always kicking ideas around, but rarely sit down to put it into action. After the Packaging 101 class, I was feeling motivated and put together a little birthday surprise for a friend at work.

card: made at Packaging 101 class

mini canister filled with tic tacs and sealed with washi tape from etsy

On Eating Local, Supporting Local Farmers

2011-07-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last year we joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

Being a CSA member means we can always count on having fresh, local produce and we get weird ass veggies we've never seen before. Last year, I just avoided these foreign things until they turned to even stranger things in the veggie drawer, and then eventually they'd end up in our compost. But, now that we have a functioning kitchen, and I have become a bit more confident with my cooking, I've been incorporating these new veggies into our meals.

Last week we received some fava beans. Which are a staple in other parts of the world, but I'm convinced they're just too damn labor intensive to be popular in the US. To prepare them I had to remove them from their shell, blanch them, cool them in icewater, then peel them from their waxy coating. In American time, that's approximately the amount of time it would take me to go through the drive through 4 times, but it's totally worth it to eat fresh, local food straight from the farm.

Eating and Drinking in Portland

2011-07-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'm what you would call an adventurous eater. I'll try *almost anything at least once. Lucky for me, boyfriend is not picky either. He eats all of my experimental dinners and loves to go to new restaurants and pick out the weirdest thing on the menu. Rocky Mountain Oysters, anybody?

Over the weekend we took my parent's to PokPok for some traditional Southeast Asian / Northern Thailand fare. I took a bottle of drinking Vinegar (known as Som in Thailand) home to test later. Drinking Vinegar, sounds repulsive, right? Soooo wrong. You mix it with soda water, and it has a nice sweet and sour taste similar to some of the sweeter Kombuchas out there. Don't let the name fool you, these vinegars are refreshing and perfect on a hot summer day. Although, a hot summer isn't something we know much about these days.

Wedding Season

2011-07-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

Wedding season is in full swing, and boyfriend and I have a busy summer full of weddings to attend. It seems like the only time we get to "go out for dinner and dancing" these days is when we're at a wedding reception, but luckily I love weddings and I geek out at all the design details and love seeing how my friends' vision comes to life on their wedding day.

Along with weddings come engagements. It just seems natural that all the wedding buzz creates a romantic stir, or maybe it's more along the lines of threats and ultimatums, but nevertheless, with every wedding season comes new brides-to-be. My dear friend and old roommate is recently engaged and I have been asked to be her Maid of Honor. The wedding will be next summer, but we started the planning early since she'll be in grad school this year and she wants a DIY wedding that requires a lot of thought and creativity. Pinterest has been such a lifesaver for pulling ideas together. I think we have a pretty kick ass head start and I'm so excited to help her plan from start to finish.

Hello, July!

2011-07-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

Sooo much catching up to do, but I'm a bit sleep deprived because our neighbors started lighting off fireworks on Thursday afternoon and didn't stop until sometime early this morning. Somehow the street in front of our house became the official rocket launch site. Not cool, neighbors, not cool. Boyfriend and I celebrated our patriotism by peeking out the front window and glaring at every person who walked through our front yard.

In less annoying news, I had Friday off work and decided to go to my favorite Portland Food Cart, The Portland Soup Company. On my way, my friend and I spotted the coolest thing I've seen in awhile... a real UP house.

The story goes like this,

"TriMet, Portland’s public transportation system, tried to get Acker to sell the house to them a few years back, but he pushed back, gaining public support. TriMet backed off, but they had already sold the block surrounding the house to PSU for a new residence hall.

Surrounded by construction for Portland State University, lawyer Randal Acker did what anyone with a penchant for Pixar would do: he tied a bunch of balloons to the roof, in tribute to the movie Up"

Turning Ten

2011-06-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Remember my nieces birthday that I was all jazzed about planning?

Parties are serious business with me. I had been collecting decor for weeks and even went and got us an outdoor picnic table to make my vision a reality. About an hour before we started to get things ready for the party it started effing RAINING. This Oregon weather totally bitch slapped my party plans.

At the last minute we had to move everything inside. Our kitchen table is meant for 2 people and the shoebox- sized living room isn't the most accommodating space for a party, but we crammed in and had ourselves a paaaaaartay. I'm learning to just go-with-the-flow, but the impromptu party rework totally killed my design dreams.

Luckily, cupcakes make everything better.

And on that note, I'm going to a much needed photography class this summer.

Wedding, Part 2

2011-06-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Fake Wedding. Really in love.

R O C O C O | Wedding Inspirational Shoot | Portland, Oregon from Black Label Films on Vimeo.

Black Label Films did such a great job capturing ~~how great my boobs looked~~ the "real love" moments. Even though it was an inspirational photo shoot, you can tell we're totally into each other. Don't believe me? Check out the makeout scene towards the end.

I didn't even notice her filming us, I guess that's a sign of an awesome videographer. Oh, and my family cried, so that's probably another good sign of a job well done. Bravo, Black Label Films.

Half way there.

2011-06-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

We're at the half way point in our crazy busy month. Last weekend I was at a double bachelorette party, a Portland Timber's game, threw a party for my oh-so-grown-up 10 year old niece, had the family over for a pizza party AND had an extended stay four legged guest move in.
All in one crazy weekend.

This weekend we'll have another out-of-town guest arrive, there will be more parties, kickball games, dinner with the dad and boyfriend and I are going to spend a wee bit of time relaxing in the Gorge. Oh, and 80's dancing, of course.

Hope your weekend is filled with wonderful fathers, cupcakes, disco balls and puppies.

here

Forty Weight - A web series.

2011-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

My oh-so-talented and beautiful friend, Maren, is working on her first web-series.This girl is an amazing actor, cuts a rug on the dance floor and now she's writing, directing and starring in her very own series- oh and did I mention she's ridiculously beautiful?!?

About Forty Weight:

Forty Weight was born out of necessity. Anyone who has ever had a day job in the food service industry knows what we mean. Much like having to get a job to pay the bills, Forty Weight was created because we had to tell a story. Actually, many stories in this case. Our stories are based on real experiences- we have recorded them and are reenacting them, with a little Forty Weight flair. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Just in case you're wondering where Forty Weight comes from: truck drivers might say "Forty Weight" on the CB radio. It's just another way to say "coffee". May also refer to beer.

Click here to help make Maren's series possible!

Getting Married, Rococo Style

2011-06-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend, Erica, who is an amazing photographer asked Tyler and I to model for an inspirational shoot she was working on. Hair, makeup and playing dressup? YES, PLEASE!

I was a bit anxious because we aren't exactly "models" and I thought boyfriend would cordially decline the offer, but he didn't put up a fight and I think he secretly liked playing dress up too. The shoot was featured on Style Unveiled today, and I'm so happy that all of the collaborators' (below) hard work payed off! Nice work, ladies!

Florals: Floral Designs by Alicia
Event Design: Leia of Girly by Nature
Event Coordination: Alex of Dream Day Events
Venue: Bella Via in Sherwood, OR
Dress: Lorenzo from AniA Collection
Hair/Makeup: Jodi Vaughn of The National Beauty
Desserts: Le Cookie Monkey
Hair Pieces: Jade Rose Designs
Jewelry: Madalena Designs
Invitation/Paper Goods: 1st Comes Love
Linens: Barclay Event Rentals
Vintage Items: Sherwood Antique Mall
Suit: Versace
Bride’s Shoes: Seychelles

Portuguese, please.

2011-06-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

I spontaneously bought tickets to Portugal for our fall Euro trip. And, by spontaneously, I mean, I saw this article and thought, "wtf is a Lisbon?" Then, I searched "Lisbon," and saw this:

and this:

and then was finally sold when "sweet treats" was an actual tab on the official Lisbon city website.

I know next to nothing about Portugal, but we've got an apartment booked and we were given very strict Amazing Race-ish like instructions on what to do once we land in Lisbon. We've got a few months to prepare ourselves, but I seriously can't wait for the adventure.

And... to culture myself with puffed pastries.

Stair Case Update. Before and After, but mostly After.

2011-05-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

You know what's even more annoying than wallpapering a staircase? Wallpapering a staircase and then realizing that a certain boyfriend deleted the "before" pictures so he could free up the memory card for 500 pictures of himself running in place on the floor.

and then playing with action figures. It appears to have been a busy day of Brontosaurus vs. The Grim Reaper at the office.

But, from the series of a gazillion shots, it looks like the dinosaur won and went on to live happily every after....errrr.....

..............................................................................................

I found a picture of the stairs from our original house listing, but it doesn't show the carpet backing and the overall bad condition of the cedar(?) wood.

But, it's going to have to serve as evidence since everything was lost in the dinosaur vs. grim reaper apocalypse.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The staircase was in pretty bad shape, if we had the patience and were willing to put money into it, it should have just been completely redone, but I think the wallpaper hides a lot of the crappiness, and painting the stairs conceals the beat up wood. I still have some paint touch ups to do and we really can't get rid of that carpet soon enough, but this is a big check off our list and makes our little mini stairwell look a lot less 1990's.

Summer To Do

2011-05-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

Since buying the house, I have learned that boyfriend is very project oriented. I will rattle off 20 things to do, but if I don't write it down then he doesn't get the thrill of checking it off the list. I have an inkling feeling this boy had a chore chart when he was little.

I've been blabbering about all the summer projects that I want to get done, but without it in writing we're at a standstill. So, I've compiled a full page list of our summer to-dos. At the end of the summer, we'll (hopefully) be able to look back and see how kick ass we were at accomplishing our house matters.

Are you a list maker?

What are your secrets to staying organized?

Birthdays, Summer and Things That are Pretty.

2011-05-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

June is going to be an epic month. We'll have a total of 6 guests, 2 bachelorette/bachelor parties, 1 wedding, a few birthdays, 2 out of town weekend trips and maybe we'll have time to squeeze a few house projects in there too.

My niece will be celebrating her 10th birthday with us. I am over-the-moon that not only do I get to spend her monumental double digit birthday with her, but it'll be here in Portland and I get to host her party. It has to be a drag spending your 10th birthday with your family rather than with your girlfriends, so I'm feeling the pressure on delivering a kick ~~ass~~ booty party.

It's hard to remember what I liked when I was ten, but I know glitter, glam, color and sweets were a few of my favorite things. Technically, they still are, so not much has changed.

After doing a bit of research (keyword: what do ten year olds like) and with the help of Pinterest, I've come up with some inspiration for our little lady's birthday.

Yard Inspiration

2011-05-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

One of the problems I have with planting things is that I only get excited about plants that serve a purpose: herbs (err... not those type of herbs), veggies, fruit and blooming plants are all winners in my book. But, I know nice landscaping is more than just a bunch of tomato plants and rose bushes.

I'm lucky enough to have a mom that has been a florist, has won the yard of the month in her town and owned a plant stand named Miss Petunia's. This plant loving momma has moved closer to us (yay!) so I have access to my very own human plant encyclopedia. My mom gets all giddy with the idea of designing our landscaping, so I'm giving her free reign. Here are a few inspirational photos I'm passing on to her to get her going.

We have sun in the weekend forecast (HOLLA!) so we will be building planter boxes and the labor behind the mastermind's design.

contemporary patio design by san francisco landscape architect Aitken and Associates

contemporary patio design by interior designer deborah Sommers

modern patio design by los angeles architect Koning Eizenberg Architecture

modern landscape design by san francisco landscape architect Huettl Landscape Architecture

Weeds Gone Wild

2011-05-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on house updates, but see I've had other things on my mind...like weeds taking over our house and strangling me in the middle of the night.

Our yard looks like something out of Jurassic park, only scarier and with less dinosaurs. I would post pictures, but it's not suitable for the internet and we don't need everlasting evidence of us being white trash all over the world wide web.

See, the thing is we made our yard look acceptable LAST spring.

(back when we thought this was the only time we'd have to do this)

No one told me that this was an annual thing with constant upkeep and the summabitch weeds were gonna come back bigger, stronger and all full of vengeance. Not to mention the nonstop Oregon rain with spurts of sunshine have been like steroids for these squatters.

Every weekend as far back as I can remember, we've had freakshow rainstorms which meant that we ignored what was growing in the yard as we ran to and from our cars. But, now that the sun is teasing us for a couple of hours a day it's easy to see we have turned into those people that the neighbors are going to start gossiping about. One of our neighbors jokingly* told us he's going to start cutting our grass and leave us a receipt in the mailbox. This is the same neighbor that drinks 40's on his front porch, so you know it's gotta be bad.

Does anyone have any tips for an attractive, low maintenance yard?

Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-05T22:25:00.001-07:00

We like to dress up. Especially for holidays that are celebrated with margaritas and tacos.

... And this is actually one of the more attractive shots.

We had tacos with fried pickles and bacon in them. Probably not the most authentic option, but holy hell were they delicious. Portlanders, go check out the Cruz Room.

So Many Other Things I Could Be Doing With $1500

2011-05-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

I'm suffering from the car repair blues. My humble 10 year old Honda has been a real pain in the ass lately. I've been towed 5 times in the last 3 weeks, have had 4 parts replaced on 4 separate occasions and have eaten way too many Ottis Spunkmeyer cookies in the service department waiting room. On a side note, tow truck drivers give me the creeps. If I had the mulah, buying a new car for the sole purpose of never having to ride in a tow truck driver's passenger seat ever again is reason enough to splurge.

Boyfriend has been my hero driving me around, riding his bike to work so I can use his car and even offering to threaten the mechanics. Neither of us know anything about cars, so we're feeling a bit vulnerable and now broke. Having a reliable ride is one of those things that goes unnoticed and unappreciated until you don't have it anymore. But, now my fickle beast of a ride is up and running and showing off her spendy new inner parts.

At what point is it time to give in and buy a new ride?

A Royal Affair, but not THAT kind of affair

2011-04-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ok... yeah, so I got a little sucked in to the wedding. Loved the dress and the simplicity of her look. But, was most impressed with their ability to spit out the right words when a billion people are watching from around the world.

Mazel Tov!

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These are a few of my Favorite Things

2011-04-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

All of which will come together beautifully this evening. I used to go to games for the cotton candy, then I graduated to the overpriced beer and now a combination of the three makes for a perfect evening. Boyfriend's work gave us ridiculously close tickets for tonights' game. I am beyond excited to ~~selfishly eat an entire bag of cotton candy~~ cheer on the Blazers!!!

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The Creepy Bunny Chronicles

2011-04-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm finally starting to shake my diabetic coma from sugar overload this past weekend. I'm a wee bit late, but I have to share this picture courtesy of boyfriend's momma.

Creepy bunny that looks like he has some candy stuck to the side of his grin and pre-inked mini boyfriend. I just want to yell, "Run!!" at the little guy, albeit the damage has been done.

Meet my new Friend, the Sun.

2011-04-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

With record breaking rain and cold temperatures, Mother Nature and I haven't been on the best terms lately. I gave up mopping the muddy paw prints off the floor and I've decided that rain boots are appropriate to wear to work. I've threatened to move to Florida and California, daydreamed about being on an island somewhere and drank a couple margaritas with the heat turned way up to try to beat this nasty weather funk... but nothing does the trick like some straight up Vitamin D in your face.

We got one day. That Mother Nature bitch can be a real tease. We got one sunny, 70 degree day, and now it's back to rain drops hitting the mud puddles and wet dirty paws running across the living room floor.

Our one day of sunshine was spent riding bikes, walking on Alberta street and sitting OUTSIDE drinking ICED coffee out of mason jars.

A cute little mobile vintage shop on Alberta

City Chick

2011-04-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

I have this thing where when I want something, I become borderline obsessed. No matter how unrealistic my "wants" are, I usually don't back down. Luckily, I am not easily wooed by diamonds or luxury cars, my wish list mostly consists of puppies, shoes, vacations and chickens. Yes, chickens.

The chicken thing started about the time that we were searching for our house. I fell in love with "our" home which was a loft style house with vaulted ceilings, a big backyard and complete with a chicken coop. This house was another one of those "I have to have this" kind of things. I was so sure that it was the ONLY house for us, and that we would have a mini garden, chickens and that the open and airy space would be perfect for parties. I was already planning our parties where I would presumably send friends home with farm fresh eggs. But, chances are they would never leave because "our" house was just that cool.

Reality Check #1: That was not "our" house, and never will be. The house ended up being swooped up by an investor paying cash, but then went back on the market after the foundation was found to be bad in the inspection. Our home search continued, and chicken friendly backyards was secretly added to my requirement list.

Reality Check #2: My chicken raising knowledge is not exactly what you would call extensive.

Reality Check #3: Drake, the chicken eating monster came into our life. The only reason this sweet farm pup was at the pound was because he "ate" a chicken.To be fair to Drake, I should mention that I have never seen him kill a chicken, and he was probably framed by a much older bully dog. Regardless, it definitely put a halt on my chicken raising scheme.

I might be naive when I think Drake has matured and can be trained to coexist with a chicken sibling, but I am definitely throwing around the idea. I know that if we were to get a chickity, she couldn't just chill in the backyard with Drake while we were at work. I'm not expecting them to make each other friendship bracelets and stay up late telling ghost stories, but if we could just avoid chicken murder, I would call it a success.

Portland is the mecca of city Chickens. There are resources galore, tours of homes with coops and even our Governor raises city chicks in his back yard. It almost seems un-Portland like for us not to have a hen or two. And, on a design note.. seriously, look how cool these coops are. I want!

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Lazy Weekend + Stylish Pup

2011-04-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

We had another rainy, lazy weekend. After a couple hectic weeks at work, it was nice to do nothing but spend some time with friends, pick up some goodies at the farmer's market and play with the Drake man.

Drake is really starting to turn into a gentleman. After a rough morning workout (note: for him, not us), he'll spend the day lounging on his bed. He'll get up to help clean the floors anytime I'm in the kitchen and he's always making sure we don't need any help with our meals, what a considerate little man.

He's been so cordial, that I got him a little present. A new "duvet" for his bed. I'm sure every dog is just dying to get their paws on an eco-friendly designer duvet.

But, seriously, I'm a little jealous of his new Mr. Roboto bed. I'm going to have to request that Molly Mutt make one in a human size.

Kickball

2011-04-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

Kickball season is in full gear. One might ask, does kickball really have a season? And, the answer is no, it's basically anytime you want to get overly competitive grown ass adults together to take part in a play ground game. There are always winners and there are always losers, and no one likes to be the loser. That's why we posed as if we had killed our opponents, when in actuality our kickball skillz were put to shame. We're still working on our strategy, we'll surely bring da bajina (yes, that is our team name) heat next weekend.

Don't mess with Winter

2011-04-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

Friday was beautiful. We came out of hiding and played kickball in the park with friends. I gave winter a giant high kick to the face and started planning our summer outings. I already had June weekends fully booked when Winter decided it wasn't leaving without a fight. Damn that winter. It's back and just like it never left, it sucker punched us with another week of rain in the forecast.

source

Boyfriend and I are so ready to do house projects on the outside of the house and spend some time soaking up some rays while gardening and maybe just laying in the beautiful Portland parks doing nothing at all.

Spring Has Sprung

2011-03-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

Guess what is popping up in our front yard?

Little green claws!!

I'm no flower scientist, but I'm pretty sure this means sunshine is on it's way.

It's Like Rain on your Fake Vegas Wedding Day

2011-03-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we "raced" in our annual Urban Iditarod. The Urban Iditarod is not your typical dog sled race, It's best described as:

"teams of 'dogs' lead by a musher will pull their sleds (shopping carts) through some of Portland's most scenic areas. These teams of barking humans must negotiate through the unrelenting and unforgiving dangers of Portland's urban frontier. As an incentive to run, dogs and mushers alike will have several 'rest stops' to replenish lost fluids and discuss tales of mayhem. The course is over four miles, so dogs and mushers alike need to be ready and able to run their tails off."

but to sum it up, it's an eclectic group of belligerent people taking over the streets of Portland with refashioned shopping carts and group costumes that are so outrageously amazing that it puts Halloween to shame.

This year we had two combined teams (because we're just that awesome), Vegas Wedding and Vegas casinos. And, this is where I start feeling really sorry for myself for my camera completely dieing in the first 2 minutes. It could've been the downpour, it could have been the beer splattered on it or maybe it just gave up when it saw me dressed in a cut off wedding dress. Of course, there are a gazillion pictures on facebook that are quite embarrassing to look at when sober, but even if I did want to share those with you, facebook doesn't allow the whole copy/save anymore. However, a friend sent me a few shots so I could have something to remember this glorious day by.

Shopping cart #1: The Alter. The minute this baby hit the open road, it was basically demolished. The rain/wind/running drunk people were no match for this romantic piece of art. Unfortunately, this camera phone shot is the only evidence of our glorious masterpiece.

Shopping cart #2: You can't go to Vegas without a little gambling. Amazingly enough, this tricked out poker cart made it to the very end all in one piece.

A few more shots from the day:

Taking over downtown

Everyone piled in a club for a dance party at noon.

The "oh-so happy couple"

Don't our showgirls look amazing?

Just like a real wedding, I had expectations of what our big day would be like. I was planning on champagne toasts, the chicken dance, a bouquet toss and before I knew it my veil was missing, my oversized 1980's bow was hanging on by a thread and my groom was drunk.... and I couldn't have asked for more.

The Anatomy of a Cupcake

2011-03-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

This little baby was originally created as a birthday gift for the creator's friend. I love when people put extra effort into making an original gift, and lucky for me they are now selling prints on their blog.

I've been looking for the perfect piece of art to add to our kitchen. I love the simplicity of this with the pops of color, so excited to frame it and add it to the blank wall in our half kitchen.

I Love This City

2011-03-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse of three separate events that all happened in one weekend.

Shamrock Run

source

March of Brides

source

Urban Iditarod

source

Keep Portland Weird!

Happy 1 year, Half Kitchen.

2011-03-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a year. Really it's been a year and 6 or so days... which pretty much sums up the last year, I've been constantly running about 6 days behind schedule. Which also made this year seem to go by faster than normal. In all my 26 years, this one has been the most emotional, somewhat frustrating, humbling and ultimately rewarding years of my life. For the last year, the home has pretty much consumed most of our lives, but I mean that in the best way possible. We heart you, home.

A year ago (and some days) we spent our first night in our little home. The next morning we put our coats on to keep from freezing to death and cooked 2 sausages and eggs on the only pan we owned. We couldn't find utensils and boyfriend had to leave the kitchen so I could open the refrigerator. We were dealing with some serious kitchen spacial issues back then. About 2 seconds later our toilet was clogged and our neighbors were yelling.

Home Sweet Home.

.......................................................

Our biggest project in the house has been renovating the kitchen.

I just want to point out a couple of really brilliant features in the old kitchen:

- Please note the only electrical outlet in the kitchen under the kitchen sink. UNDER THE SINK..where running water comes out of. Brilliant.

- Take a moment to appreciate the fake flowers sitting on the purple crocheted doily. This is called "staging the house"

-Imagine yourself opening that refrigerator. Bonus points if you can figure out a way to open the refrigerator while the oven door is open. Hint: it's impossible

-Number of heat sources in the kitchen: 0

Enough. I can't stand the sight of it anymore. Let's rip this bitch apart.

.......................................................

New kitchen is still a half kitchen, but it's functional. The refrigerator has more counter space and now we can fit maybe 3 people in it, 4 if they're skinny and don't move their arms around very much, probably 5 if they don't have arms at all. Unfortunately for us, we don't have armless friends. We now have a dishwasher- Hallelujah, and our chances of dieing from accidental electrocution have dramatically decreased.

Our refrigerator found a cozy new home on the opposite wall. We had a contractor take part of the adjoining spare bedroom closet out so we could use the space for a refrigerator nook. It instantly opened up the kitchen. When we have friends over (the kind with arms) people always end up lingering in the kitchen. It must be because we keep the booze there.

Now, they can lean up again the kitchen counter, sip their wine and talk without having a fridge up in their face. Putting the fridge on the opposite wall also helped utilize the space that we weren't using. In our house, every square inch is crucial.

The chalk board is one of the most utilized things in our house. It's perfect for grocery lists, letting each other know that drake had the craziest poop today and leaving passive aggressive insults ..errr... I mean love notes before we go to work. I'm contemplating painting the entire wall in chalkboard paint, but thought it might create a chalk dust storm in the kitchen.

Long Time, No Blog

2011-03-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

Hello, Internet. It's been awhile. I have had trouble finding time to give you updates since we've been so busy making updates. Funny how that works.

Last weekend, we went to the Wine and Seafood Fest on the Oregon Coast. We cooked dinners with friends, played on the beach with the dogs and drank bottles and bottles of wine. It was my idea of a pretty perfect weekend.

Drake is officially a beach dog. He'll probably develop arthritis at a young age, but for now he loves to jump and dive after balls. He's pretty entertaining and always puts on a good show. You can catch his mad skillz at the dog park daily.

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At the house, we've been busy painting and repainting. The people at Lowe's now know us by our paint colors and call us "the sweet couple."

Saturday marked the one year anniversary of our move in day. I'll start posting picture updates of our progress over the last year. That way you guys can enjoy all the pretty pictures sans the meltdowns.

House Identity Crisis

2011-02-18T16:02:00.000-08:00

If our house was human it would be a confused, self-doubtful person at the brink of a midlife crisis. It wouldn't know if it should embrace it's age or bring on the botox and try and pass as a young, hip modernista. We are the ones imposing this new style on our old house. Sorry house, but you're going to have to deal with us while we sort things out.

Our house was built in 1934, but looked like it was last updated in the 80's. Boyfriend and I tend to gravitate toward mid century modern design, but with our house having Victorian cream colored rosette molding, the clean lined mid century look doesn't really flow. When we think of our dream home, we imagine high ceilings with wood beams, crisp white walls, a few eames pieces and put up some Mad Men wallpaper and we'd be set. The problem is, we're trying to mold our house into something it's not. We've been dreaming of a bright white-walled living room like The Brick House:

(i'm so jealous of everything in this house)

But now that our walls are white, it just feels like something is missing and things aren't quite pulling together. It's like the 70 year old woman wearing a shirt meant for a 17 year old- it just doesn't look good. That's probably not the best visual to give our house, but the point is, we're trying to find the right style that will flatter our house and also reflect our personal style... and it's a mighty difficult task.

My question is, should we adapt the house to our style, or stick to what best fits the era of our pad?

Bathroom Sink Ikea Hack

2011-02-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

So.. here's the story. I come home from work and as soon as I get in the door boyfriend anxiously announces, "You can't use the sink, I broke the sink."

I go to assess the damage, and the sink looks fine, no cracks, no massive clogs, no signs of foul play at all. It was just sitting there looking blah like it always does. Then, boyfriend had to explain that it's more of an "internal" problem because he needed to lean closer to see his face in the mirror and with all his fierce manly strength, he pulled the sink right off the pipe. Now, if you are me, this story will start to raise some questions, but really the main question is HOW COULD YOU GET ANY CLOSER? The mirror is basically touching your forehead when you're at the sink. But, I will just go ahead and be proud of having a very well groomed, pour-inspecting man in my life.

The truth is, we hate the sink anyway. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but like everything else in the house when we bought it, it's the most basic, inexpensive version home depot has to offer. But, to be fair to the sink, I do like that it doesn't take up a lot of space and it leaves the area near our feet open. This is our one and only bathroom and it's smaller than most people's closets. There is no storage, there's no counter space and without a place to set makeup or a hair dryer, it's like a circus act trying to get ready in there.

But, before we get a new sink, we have to take the old one out.

Flashback to the wood paneling in the house when we moved in. I pretty much ran at this thing with a paint brush as soon as the sink was out of there.

Then, after some more Saturday IKEA insanity, we tried to install this:

We were really psyched about having a small sink with some storage space, but even though I swear we measured and measured and remeasured in the store, once we got it in the baby bathroom we realized that only people under 5'5" would be able to sit on the toilet. I can see this as a potential problem.

All of our storage space dreams were crushed and our pedestal sink wasn't looking so bad. Just kidding, it still looked bad. But, we've learned with this house that nothing is as easy as it seems and sometimes you just gotta make your own damn sink. Well, not exactly. We didn't make a sink, but we did make a floating vanity sort of deal.

Now, we can sit on the toilet and wash our hands. Probably at the same time too.

Sink: IKEA

Wood: Ikea Quater round desktop on clearance ($30)- cut to size and stained.

Coated with OSMO for water resistancy

Original Bathroom:

now you see me, now you don't

2011-02-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

I mentioned our glass window in the door kinda freaked me out when I had unexpected knockers, or I caught a glimpse of my own reflection. I love having the extra little bit of light shining through, but I don't like getting the heebie jeebies if I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Oh, and our Dexter marathon nights have really turned me into a gigantic wuss.

The solution: Some window film does the trick.

Now, I can go back to avoiding solicitors and no need to army crawl

to the bathroom at night.

note: this picture was taken with my iphone because it's the only thing in my life that I can locate right now. We've got projects going in the kitchen, the guest room and an unexpected bathroom sink mishap has sparked a little sink remodel.

Guest Bedroom: Just a Peak and Ikea Rules

2011-01-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

Boyfriend and I spent our weekend with our besties, Ikea and Lowes. Ikea is one of those friends that has like a gazillion other friends and every time you go for a quick trip to say hello, you get stuck weaving yourself in and out of Ikea's other friends that happen to show up on the same day as you.

And then you spot what you're looking for and you're so close, but you're being blocked by a family with like 19 kids and the pubescent one is having a breakdown right in front of the fabric section and all you need is TWO FREAKIN YARDS of fabric until you make it to the end of the maze where you know you'll be rewarded with delicious ice cream and an automatic door that leads you to fresh air and sanity.

Seriously people, stop going to Ikea when I need to go to Ikea, and if you're going to go on a Saturday, walk on the right side of the aisle and move at a reasonable pace. And for the love of Swedish meatballs, NO CRYING or WHINING. Ikea is a place of joy, so stop ruining my Ikea experience with all your teenage hormones that come pouring out at the happiest place on earth.

Now that we're all clear on the IKEA rules, you'd be happy to know that I got my two yards of fabric and was able to do this.

Also, we painted the walls yellow. I'm still warming up to it. Whadayathink?

Guest Bedroom: It's go time

2011-01-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

The spare bedroom has pretty much been a glorified storage unit since we moved in. It's a hogpodge of all the things from our old place + all the things that won't fit in closets + all the things we buy and ask ourselves, "uhhh now that I bought this really ironic unicorn t-shirt that I will never wear, where should I hide it for the next 3-4 years?"

Boyfriend and I have a lot of stuff. It's something that my mom repeatedly tells me when she comes over, so I know it's true. We're both wannabe minimalists, but we're also thrift store junkies. The combination only makes sense if you have really big closets, which we do not.

But the fact that we're even thinking about decorating the spare room means we've made some progress. The spare bedroom was one of those projects that we'd get to when we had everything else complete. Of course not everything else is complete because it never will be, but I think it's time we graduate the guest bedroom from the mixed matched slob-kabob room to something a little more inviting.

The inspiration:

Drop Your Drawers Here

2011-01-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

One more project that is (almost) complete. As you can see the "before" laundry room just wasn't cutting it. The house did come with a washer and dryer, but they belonged in the museum of old and funky appliances (aka craigslist), so that's where they went. We decided to go with a stackable to save on space. BTW- why is it that every Craigslist experience is weird and over the top? Am I the only one that has dealt with the sketchiest people ever via Craiglist? Holler if you've met some freaks.

Back to the laundry room- Our house is small, so we have to make the most of the small spaces we have. Our laundry area is a high traffic area because it's where Drake hangs out during the day, we have to go through it to get outside and it's right off from the kitchen and can basically be seen from any part of the house. So, my main goals with the laundry room were:

- to have a washer/dryer that actually wash and dry- what a concept.
- to make it brighter
- to have flooring that hides dirty paw prints
- create a counter space to fold clothes, and since the grill is just right outside the laundry room, in the summer we need the counter space to set things on before they go onto the barbie.
-If possible, I wanted to find a way to make a sleeping space for Drake. He likes (i swear he actually chooses) to go into a crate at night, but I am not a big fan of the gigantic crate and our poor guests end up having to share a room with the Drakster.

(click to see larger)

Wall color: Sherwin Williams Blue Sky (SW0063) in eggshell. Inspired by the office of AndKathleen

Glass Canisters: Crate and Barrel

Vintage Bread Savers: Grandmas

Shelves: Ikea

Table top: Ikea hack. Created from a clearance desktop and two adjustable legs.

Fabric: JoAnn Fabrics

Piggy Bank: grocery store in Vancouver, BC

This is where the water heater is hiding. Sexy, right?

The light colored linoleum frankly was disgusting.

It was no match for our dirtball of a dog.

Little love notes from boyfriend on cards from Screech Owl Design

The view of the laundry room from the kitchen is now less likely to ruin your appetite.

See, I told you. High traffic area!

Drake pretty much loves it.

And so we made him a permanent man cave under the table.

Our little man is growing up!

Weekend Hotness TMI

2011-01-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

My weekend was HOT as balls. Literally, not in the exciting 20-something year-old crazy Megan kind of way where you need to spell hott with two t's, but more in the homeowner taking a break from projects to go sweat out an embarrassing amount of perspiration at a Bikram Yoga class.

Have any of you done this before? Let me enlighten you. If you can imagine exercising in Kuwait in July with some super serious radical yoggies, that's basically Bikram.

OMG I get sweaty just thinking about it. I don't know if this is standard, but my class was 90 minutes. First off, I can't do anything for 90 minutes, I can hardly sit through movies without getting bored, so to be "trapped" in a 105 degree room with 30 other people that smell like ass is probably on the very tip top of my list of torturous things that I never want to happen to me, but I went voluntarily and even convinced a friend to confine herself in the fetid room as well.

After our class I was:
a) thankful for not throwing up, passing out and/or dying

b) wondering if I peed myself, because I have never seen so much sweat in my general crotch area in my life

c) disappointed that after spending 90 minutes baking in a room that I didn't come out with a really awesome tan.

d) spent the whole car ride planning my 007 sneak attack into the shower without letting boyfriend see my sweat soaked pants. He ended up being right by the door when I walked in, so I screamed, "don't look at my vagina," as I ran to the shower.

That about sums it up, and since I enjoy self inflicted torture, I'll probably go back.

In less disgusting news, boyfriend and I found the best ice cream in Portland at Lovely's fifty fifty. Those little scoops of joy go by the names of Chocolate Banana Malt and Salted Carmel Ice cream.

And I guess that's how you mention sweaty vaginas and ice cream in the

same post.

BANG BANG

2011-01-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

On the door, baby.

But, please don't bang too hard, because it's *new and pretty.

*new: I confess, we had the door installed like eons ago (September-ish), but like many of our projects, I forgot to take a "before" picture, so there was absolutely no proof for bragging rights... UNTIL... I found some pictures where we are shamelessly posing in front of our very first home and just beyond our big egotistical heads you can slightly see a corner of a screen door. So, that lead me to believe there must be more accidental snap shots somewhere out there. And, whatdayaknow....

I present to you, Old Door Evidence, article 1:

see that offensive thing right there? No, I'm not talking about that ugly ass railing or the mailbox, or the gutters, but if you look past all that you'll see a very frightening screen door.

Then, there's this accidental shot from the inside:

I know, the picture quality is horrifying. The after picture could have been of a high resolution cardboard box and it would have made the transformation look amazing.

Things you should know about this new beauty:

-it's double-paned, hence the reflection of the light. I get scared every time I'm alone and see my reflection.

-My brother made an unexpected stop by at 7:30 am one morning. I saw the top of his head and grabbed a baseball bat. Watch out intruders, i'm feisty and armed, and I can see you.

-You can't hide from unwanted knockers.

Travel Virginity

2011-01-20T16:42:00.000-08:00

Guess where we'll be going in October?

Well. Shit.

I guess I kind of gave that away. I'm kind of bad at keeping exciting secrets. After months of going back and forth deciding on where we would blow our skymiles we've racked up on credit card charges and my college jet setting days, we decided to give all 120,000 skymiles up for 2 plane tickets to Barcelona.

Taiwan, Thailand, Greece and Iceland were on the top of our list, but we finalized our decision merely based on boyfriend's obsession with velvet matador paintings. Sometimes the sign you're looking for is hanging right there on the wall in all its smooth and velvety glory.

This is boyfriend's first major "outside of the US" trip (no, Canada and Mexico don't count). So, please flood me with your suggestions on how to pop his traveling cherry in Barcelona. What are some of the must sees and dos?

HOME

2011-01-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

I have been slightly less than good about posting since the New Year. It's not that I don't have any really awesome house projects to brag about, because I certainly do, but in between house projects and sitting around painting my nails, I took a work trip to Atlanta.

Months ago when I was told I was going to Atlanta I was visualizing it being sunny and 70 degrees and I would spend my evenings drinking sweet tea and frolicking in warm weather. Isn't it called Hotlanta for a reason? I know, I'm optimistically unrealistic, but I would have settled for slightly cloudy and in the mid 50's. But, apparently Atlanta is the new Chicago and it's miserable and cold and icy and it would be an understatement to call the city unprepared.

My first two flights out were cancelled. The third was delayed which caused us to miss our connection flight. We finally got into Icelanta late at night and took a ~~slay~~ cab ride on the sheet of ice to our hotel room.

The next few days were filled with small baby steps on icy streets and sitting in a shit ton of traffic caused by the arctic blast.

But now, I'm home, back with boyfriend and the Drake dog. The laundry room is coming together, thanks to Boyfriend going and getting all handy man-ish on me while I was gone. He probably was just taking advantage of me not standing over his shoulder asking if he knows what he is doing every 30 seconds. We are close to having the room wrapped up and displayed for all of you to gawk at... so be prepared to act really impressed.

Things I learned in Atlanta:

-sweet tea is really too sweet

- the bigger the hair, the better

-they use sand instead of salt on ice

-a good salad is not easy to find

-everyone loves to talk and they walk 80% slower than Portlanders.

-not only do they say "y'all" but they also like to have it printed on houseware items.