Wrapping up my To Do List

Our kitchen remodel has been so gradual that we almost forgot exactly what it looked like when we moved in. So check out the refresher course. This was a huge item on out To-Do list this year and while it's not totally complete, we are so close that we moved it to the complete list. We need to paint one more coat of paint on the walls, re hang the already painted cabinet doors and nail on the trim that will go on the outside of the big gaping hole. That almost looks like a real breakfast bar.

Not bad for a couple of novice carpenters!

Now for the goods:

Before:

And After!

Wow. We love the after! The horrid memory of the fake chair rail has almost left our minds.

Now for the items that didn't get done.

See a play at the Shakespeare Theater in Central Park this summer
Take Tim on a camping trip
Complete 3 5k races
Build a new deck
Visit the Bronx Botanical Gardens
Attend an Opera
Complete the 5 Boro Bike Tour
Train for and run a half marathon

The 5 Boro Bike Tour fell on Mother's Day weekend this year, so I was happy to miss that in favor of a wonderful brunch celebrating my Mother in Law with Tim and his family in Boston.

I didn't make it to the opera or the Central Park Summer Stage, but I visited The Great White Way several times. I saw Nathan Lane star in The Addams Family and watched Paul Reubens bring Pee Wee's Playhouse to the stage. I took myself on a birthday trip to see West Side Story, one of my very favorite musicals of all time. S and I laughed our asses off at Chelsea Handler and I listened intently as Anthony Bourdain talked food, travel, and politics in a small auditorium in Kingston, NY. So although I didn't make it to Lincoln Center, I have been unbelievably enriched by all of the theater and culture I have been fortunate enough to experience.

I realized that my running goals were pretty ambitious as the year went on. I learned to love to run. I love the feeling of freedom that comes with it. I love the grit it took me to get through those early runs. How my mind screamed at me that I couldn't do it. That my lungs were burning and my legs would give out. But they didn't. Each day, I did a little better. Each run, each step became easier. Then suddenly, my body took over. I ran faster and further. And I felt better and better.

In choosing my running goals way back in January, I figured that the 3 5k races would prepare me for the longer runs and help me be more comfortable with race day. Life has a habit of getting in the way though and we were so busy this year that the beautiful summer weekends when I would think of doing a 5k were taken up with travel, and time with family and friends. A welcome trade!

Despite our hectic schedule, I trained for and ran 2 10k's. That almost the same distance as a half marathon..right? :)

I'm so proud of my running accomplishments this year and although they are not what I originally set out to do, in some ways I think that I surpassed my own expectations. Looking back on this past year, I don't think that I was ready to run a half marathon. To complete that length race takes a mental and physical strength that I didn't possess this year. But I do now. I'm ready to move that goal into 2011. And I will complete in. I'm ready.

I love making this big giant list of things that I want to accomplish with the next year of my life. I don't want to call them resolutions, because they're more of a guide. A way to get us off the couch and out into the world. To live the best and fullest life that we can. I dream of new travels and exciting projects. Of learning new things and stretching the boundries of who I am and who I want to be. This is what my list is.

I absolutely love the idea of a new year, where we can look forward to all the promise it holds, knowing that we made the most of the year before. This will always be my only real resolution, to know that I didn't waste any opportunities and grabbed onto everything that life threw at me. That I enjoyed every bit that I could, kept my loved ones close, and continued to be grateful for all of the wonder in my life.

"Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can." ~Danny Kaye

The Great Blizzard of 2010!

Tim just made fun of this title, given that he grew up in Massachusetts and was a wee little lad during the great blizzard of 78'. That storm dumped 2 feet on top of the two feet from the day before. Add in hurricane force winds and you have yourself quite an event. Our little storm still managed to snarl the roads and gave a lot of people an excuse to extend their weekend.

Tim got up early and shoveled out our cars so we could go to work. I can't lie; when I walked into work and all the guys wondered what I was doing there and how I made it in, I felt like a burly northeasterner. Ladies and Gentleman, I have arrived.

Massachusetts Christmas!

After a truly wonderful weekend with Tim's family, we are home with the hatches battened down. The snow started about noon and hasn't stopped yet. It's a belated White Christmas! We are warm and toasty in our little house and fortified with the huge bag of leftovers that my fabulous mother in law sent us home with. Tim and I are feeling so loved and want to wish you all a wonderful belated Christmas!

A Christmas Prep Weekend!

Merry Christmas from our sad little tree. I have a weakness for the Charlie Brown trees. See it, right behind the wine bottle?! It's so small that it wouldn't hold any of our ornaments. I hung one.

The Christmas cookies are baked...I brough half of them to my work party today.


The Oreo Truffles are done...

And S and I had our third annual night out in NYC to celebrate the holidays. We had a wonderful dinner, tried a square peanut butter and jelly donut (yum ) and drank vodka tonics out of sippy cups at the Pee Wee Herman Show. I know you are but what am I?!

Bring on the holidays...I think we're ready. :)

Cupcakes!

Tim helped me with a batch of cupcakes last week.

Note the finished drawers behind him. When we find hinges that fit the cabinet doors, our dishes won't have to be on constant display anymore. Finally, I can see the kitchen coming together!

A blast from my (distant) past

My theatre buddy Shannon and I are going to see Pee Wee Herman on Broadway. It's a stage version of Pee Wee's Playhouse, one of my favorite childhood shows. I annoyed my parents for years with my Pee Wee laugh. I can't wait to see this!

Date night tomorrow night for my BFF and I! Chelsea, we are ready for some laughs!

A little bit Martha and a little bit Bob

We had a Martha Stewart/Bob Vila weekend.

The Martha in me whilled up these Guiness Cupcakes and Baileys Buttercream frosting. I was curious to try this new recipe and also really wanted to try out my new cupcake stand. Huge rave thumbs up on both the recipe and the stand.

Martha was on the ball and dragged the tubs of Christmas decorations out of the basement.

Then the Bob got in on the fun and decided to sand and prime the kitchen drawers. This cabinet project has been going on for what feels like years. I think I can see the finish line though.


And..back to Martha.


Putting up Christmas decorations this early is a first for us. I even started my (online) shopping!

The million dollar question: Will the kitchen projects be done by the end of the year?

Black Friday Shopping Deal

$7.99 for a bottle of BV Cabernet. This is my kind of Black Friday shopping.

Happy Weekend

This was a fabulous weekend. We had no plans, and yet lots of cool things to do. We had no to-do list of chores, just fun, kids and celebrations. We snuggled babies, attended a warm and loving pre Thanksgiving lunch with a friend's family and drooled over the gorgeousness of Tim's brother's wedding photos. A few happy tears leaked out as I laid eyes on my BFF's engagement photos. I saw an April bride trying on her newly cleaned wedding dress. I saw Anthony Bourdain speak. Tim and I went on a Saturday night date. And I just polished off the last of the holiday cookies that we were sent home with today. I am feeling spoiled with love.

4am wake up call

Tim and I were jolted awake the other day by a sound we couldn't actually remember but it had us sitting bolt upright at 4am. When we got up to investigate, it was too dark to see much. We only heard the gusting wind as it rushed past our windows at 40 mph. When we got up in the morning, we saw the source of the giant crash. Roof, meet trees.

Tim swears that a tornado touched down which caused the tree to be ripped out of the ground, but I can't find any mention of a tornado in any local weather reports.

Thanks to Tim staying home to make a dozen phone calls to roofers, the electric company, and tree folks, the roof is patched, the tree is cut down and chopped into neat pieces for firewood. This home ownership stuff is a blast. :)

Big Day!

Christmas came early this year to our kitchen!

Come on Giants!

My fingers are crossed tonight that the Giants can win tonight and close out this series before the weekend. Otherwise, I'll be THAT wedding guest who keeps needing score updates on Saturday night. :)

The horse and I are enemies tonight.

After One Coat...

Road Trip!

Tim and I are leaving our crime scene of a kitchen behind and cheering on the Giants as they take on the Phillies this weekend. Cheesesteaks, The Liberty Bell, and a baseball game starring two of the best pitchers of our day. We're Philly bound tomorrow morning! Have a beautiful weekend!

Goodbye Masking Tape Chair Rail!

The cabinet project that just won't die...

Busy Busy

We were busy little bees on this beautiful fall day. We finished spackling the hole...
Attached the new drawer pulls on my refurb dresser...

Hung this...

And shopped for this....

Tim is napping on the couch and I'm settled in to watch the Giants. Let's go SF!

Yay and Boo

This is the Yay. The sample of granite is what our new kitchen counters will be made of! We're having the templates made 1 week from Thursday, and the completed counters will be installed the following week. I'm in love with the granite and Tim is thankful that it was such a good price! We're trying to choose the paint color now.

Close up

And the giant Boo. This is the last you'll see of our refrigerator. It started making an obnoxious clicking sound last week, which turned out to be the throes of it's death. Tim had the thankless and smelly job of cleaning everything out of it today. We're shopping for the replacement now.

Saturday in the yard

Tim digging out the flowers...er weeds.

Cleaned out and edged. Waiting for next spring's plantings.

Check out the beginnings of the changing leaves. I love the fall.

Look Ma, No Beams! We finally took the terrifying plunge and cut out the beams in the way of our breakfast bar. We also have two fantastic new lights that were installed today. It's starting to come together! The next steps are to cover the beams with sheetrock, break out the joint compound and smooth it all out.

Then we can finally paint the kitchen and get rid of the fake chair rail.

Ultimate To-Do List Status

At the beginning of the year, I created the list to the right, things I wanted to accomplish before the end of 2010. There are some easy things and some long shots. Now that summer is winding down and the air is becoming the tiniest bit crisp, I figured it was time for an evaluation. I don't have photographic evidence of all of them, but you'll have to take my word for them. :)

Item #9: Remodel our kitchen. This is clearly still a work in progress but we hope to have all the elements completed by Christmas. Here is Tim working hard on the hole for our breakfast bar.

The first half of the cabinets. This project alone

is a time eater.
Item #2: Attend a Red Carpet Event! I was fortunate enough to be the date of a dear friend at the Writer's Guild Awards in NYC. There was enough star power to impress a celeb stalker like me and I got to cheer on Shannon as she won an award! It was an amazing night.


Item #10: Complete a CF run/walk. Tim and I signed up for the Middlebury Half Marathon Relay without knowing that it was benefiting Cystic Fibrosis. I was thrilled when I found that out and I'm convinced that the air in my lungs that allowed me to complete the run that day came from Amanda, one of the loves of my life who has battled CF for 31 years and coming out on top. She is an inspiration.


I've completed Item #1 last week when we saw Tom Petty in New Jersey. The man is amazing. Our Italy photobook, Item #7 arrived two weeks ago. #20, Read Voraciously has been successful. See the list to the right! I just started working on #19 and am hopeful that I can keep up the training and run the Manchester Half Marathon in November.



I still have some things I want to do in the last quarter of this year but I'm proud of all I've accomplished thus far. On tap for the fall and winter: Visit the Bronx Botanical Gardens, see an opera, and start in with my yoga and meditation. That is more of a cool weather workout for me.
I missed the 5 Boro Bike Tour but I was with our family celebrating Mother's Day so that was a great trade off. We have yet to go camping, but have been doing so many other fantastic things that I don't mind skipping that one. And I once again missed out on the Shakespeare in the Park.



The big two on the list though were to live a full and happy life and to build my relationships. Both of these have been great successes and the two things I feel the most proud of. I am so in love with my life and the people that I am surrounded by. Tim and I are beyond lucky to have so much support and love around us.

Our Horrifyingly Expensive Custom Frame..

Is here! And it's horrifyingly beautiful. I'm in love. First, my inspiration:

Here she is!

One more view. Did I mention that I took these photos? They're my love letter to NYC. From the left, random building in Midtown, Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center, and Grand Central Station, one of my favorite buildings in NYC. I can't wait to hang it up in the living room!