i guess i've let some time pass without updating. so bear with the long post ;) its been an incredibly busy 2 weeks. i was in erie last weekend, then out of town for some freelance work late last week, so i feel like i haven't been at home in ages. this past weekend was spent catching up... it involved *lots* of shopping and money spending, along with a little housework. over the weekend, we managed to buy a new sofa at ikea [i love that as-is section; ended up getting the sofa we wanted for about 1/3 of the regular price, once i add in the cost of the slipcover i'll be making]; a much-needed gas grill; some solar lights for the front lawn; and starting to price out a new tv setup. hmm... plasma or lcd? we're going for a flat-screen wall mount model to free up some floor space. any suggestions would be appreciated :)
the past few rainy weekends had set us back with all the landscaping plans, but we finally were able to get started on sunday. i spent the morning digging out a broken gutter drainage pipe in the front lawn. ian replaced the pipe while i mowed the back lawn and finally planted the vegetable garden. i just need to put up edging to keep those pesky squirrels out. this week i'm planning on replanting hostas in the front yard to hide the new underground pipe and install the solar lights as well. next step is putting in the retaining wall and planting the rest of the flowers. ian and i have decided to put the back landscaping plans on hold in favor of repainting the house and remodeling the front porch. its that whole curb appeal thing ;)
we also now have lights installed in the dining room and over the space where the kitchen island will be. everything is starting to come together... its looking great. more major purchases will be made this weekend including the remaining kitchen appliances [dishwasher, disposal, hot water dispenser, range hood]; kitchen flooring [still debating the slate tile]; dining room and living room floors [laminate or hard wood flooring]; counter laminate + backsplashes; plus a few more items we need for the front landscaping.
check back soon, photos will be added to the post as soon as my camera finishes charging :)
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
friday the 13th
the first post that doesn't involve home renovations! this weekend was way too busy to even try to get anything done on the house. friday morning i spent working at blattner brunner, finished up another freelance project, then went up to meet ian, his boss, and a client for dinner. had an amazing mexican meal and a very tasty margarita at the franklin inn in the north hills. i had been debating on hitting the ryan adams/rachael yamagata show at mr. smalls, but this made the decision much easier. plus, i didn't really want to spend 50-some bucks on a show that when i really only wanted to hear 2 or 3 songs. i *am* looking forward to the stars show there in june, plus the pixies and a few other good shows this summer.
the rain on saturday ruined lanscaping plans again. we're getting a little behind on that, so hopefully the weather will cooperate soon and i can build that retaining wall in the front yard. we ended up catching up on laundry, cleaning and making room for more stuff. we reorganized the back 'shed' and installed another shelving unit for ian's tools and some of my gardening supplies. that evening we ran out to monroeville for some errands and dinner, then met up with some of ians friends for karaoke.
sunday was devoted to the big move... packing up the remainder of ian's stuff and moving it over. we still need to pick up a few items of furniture and empty out a storage space. his mom gave us some beautiful pieces of antique silver along with a vintage modern dining room set that belonged to his grandmother that we'll need to pick up later this week. we've started to rearrange things and unpack but took a break to go grab some indian food with some friends later that night. last night we were completely worn out after the big weekend so we relaxed with a small batch of chocolate chip cookies and watched law & order and crossing jordan.
this week looks pretty busy so far... freelance work during most of the week; lots of unpacking; ordering laminate for the kitchen counters and starting to assemble those; and depending on weather... the vegetable garden will be planted and landscaped started. i also need to figure out which gym to join... bally's in penn hills or the one conveniently down the street, edgewood tennis and fitness. ian is currently a ballys member so he'll get a discount if i join, but since he's moved outside of his membership radius-thing, he can cancel with no penalties. hmm... what to do...
the rain on saturday ruined lanscaping plans again. we're getting a little behind on that, so hopefully the weather will cooperate soon and i can build that retaining wall in the front yard. we ended up catching up on laundry, cleaning and making room for more stuff. we reorganized the back 'shed' and installed another shelving unit for ian's tools and some of my gardening supplies. that evening we ran out to monroeville for some errands and dinner, then met up with some of ians friends for karaoke.
sunday was devoted to the big move... packing up the remainder of ian's stuff and moving it over. we still need to pick up a few items of furniture and empty out a storage space. his mom gave us some beautiful pieces of antique silver along with a vintage modern dining room set that belonged to his grandmother that we'll need to pick up later this week. we've started to rearrange things and unpack but took a break to go grab some indian food with some friends later that night. last night we were completely worn out after the big weekend so we relaxed with a small batch of chocolate chip cookies and watched law & order and crossing jordan.
this week looks pretty busy so far... freelance work during most of the week; lots of unpacking; ordering laminate for the kitchen counters and starting to assemble those; and depending on weather... the vegetable garden will be planted and landscaped started. i also need to figure out which gym to join... bally's in penn hills or the one conveniently down the street, edgewood tennis and fitness. ian is currently a ballys member so he'll get a discount if i join, but since he's moved outside of his membership radius-thing, he can cancel with no penalties. hmm... what to do...
Monday, May 09, 2005
weekend recap
another busy busy weekend. [which followed an incredibly busy week... lots of freelance work keeping me busy.] friday night was fairly non-exciting, just lots of eating + shopping. ian and i headed out to robinson after a day of working. we hit ikea to pick up some home essentials and look at new sofa options; we're still undecided on a dining room light ... any ideas? after that we went over to bahama breeze for a late dinner, but at 9:30pm there was still a 70 minute wait! we ended up at joe's crab shack for a filling and relatively inexpensive dinner. stopped at walmart after that to pick up some ceiling paint and to make fun of the kids showing off their prom fashions at walmart. made no sense to me.
saturday i was disappointed with the early morning showers which put a dent in my landscaping plans. i ended up rearranging my office and doing a little freelance work while ian painted the dining room / kitchen ceilings. it looks great... i'll wait to post photos til the actual light fixtures are installed. a plain white ceiling isn't that exciting :) later in the day the weather was beautiful so we took advantage of it and finished the chain link fence and got the gates installed. sydney was in heaven! running all over the yard and rolling in the grass. very very cute. she hasn't jumped the fence yet, we'll keep our fingers crossed. i spent a few hours after that getting the vegetable garden ready... i've cleared a section about 12 feet square and have a lovely blister on my hand to show for it. i still need to do a little weed work in there, and pick up some soil to fill in some spots. i've got my coffee grounds from starbucks to mix in there, so hopefully i will be ready to plant by the weekend. i'll post photos once the garden is planted.
saturday evening ian and i headed over to former co-worker gil's in shadyside to catch the end of a kentucky derby party then joined him and his crew at doc's place for some burgers and brews. it was fun to hang out again and catch up on old times. then we hit silky's in bloomfield for drinks and dessert before meeting up with some of ians friends.
sunday was spent cleaning up and relaxing after a very good brunch at walnut grille. we ran out to the waterfront to do a few quick errands before heading out to dinner with ian's parents. we also loaded up his truck with some of his heavier furniture and had his brother help us unload it at the house. the 'cat room' has been painted and is starting to look lived in with some actual furniture.
the desk setup in that room is great.. fits right into the window nook where the former radiator was, and has an amazing view of the sunset. the cats are loving the new furniture to sleep on too :) settled back in around 8pm to finish up 2 freelance projects and getting back to designing my website for the clothing venture.
only 3 full shopping weeks til the big 3-2 :). we're hoping to throw a party once things settle down... but i don't think it will be in time for that. maybe in july... all depends on how smoothly the kitchen renovation goes, along with assembling some sort of spot in the backyard to entertain. we'll see how that goes :)
saturday i was disappointed with the early morning showers which put a dent in my landscaping plans. i ended up rearranging my office and doing a little freelance work while ian painted the dining room / kitchen ceilings. it looks great... i'll wait to post photos til the actual light fixtures are installed. a plain white ceiling isn't that exciting :) later in the day the weather was beautiful so we took advantage of it and finished the chain link fence and got the gates installed. sydney was in heaven! running all over the yard and rolling in the grass. very very cute. she hasn't jumped the fence yet, we'll keep our fingers crossed. i spent a few hours after that getting the vegetable garden ready... i've cleared a section about 12 feet square and have a lovely blister on my hand to show for it. i still need to do a little weed work in there, and pick up some soil to fill in some spots. i've got my coffee grounds from starbucks to mix in there, so hopefully i will be ready to plant by the weekend. i'll post photos once the garden is planted.
saturday evening ian and i headed over to former co-worker gil's in shadyside to catch the end of a kentucky derby party then joined him and his crew at doc's place for some burgers and brews. it was fun to hang out again and catch up on old times. then we hit silky's in bloomfield for drinks and dessert before meeting up with some of ians friends.
sunday was spent cleaning up and relaxing after a very good brunch at walnut grille. we ran out to the waterfront to do a few quick errands before heading out to dinner with ian's parents. we also loaded up his truck with some of his heavier furniture and had his brother help us unload it at the house. the 'cat room' has been painted and is starting to look lived in with some actual furniture.
the desk setup in that room is great.. fits right into the window nook where the former radiator was, and has an amazing view of the sunset. the cats are loving the new furniture to sleep on too :) settled back in around 8pm to finish up 2 freelance projects and getting back to designing my website for the clothing venture.
only 3 full shopping weeks til the big 3-2 :). we're hoping to throw a party once things settle down... but i don't think it will be in time for that. maybe in july... all depends on how smoothly the kitchen renovation goes, along with assembling some sort of spot in the backyard to entertain. we'll see how that goes :)
Monday, May 02, 2005
sigh...
it seems that every weekend is busier than the last. its monday night and i still haven't had a break. here's a quick recap...
friday night was relaxation... dinner at mad mex, then hanging out watching the surreal life. you go adrienne! :) saturday started with an early run to starbucks to get some fuel for the day, and then some drywall tape at lowes. we got the kitchen/dining room ceiling skip troweled, and its now ready to be painted:
i also refinished a dresser that we pulled from a dumpster about a year ago... it now matches the other bedroom dresser:
progress is also being made in the "cat" room. [for those who don't know... there is one bedroom that has been used mostly for storage.. holding the old dresser, bookshelf, etc... my 2 cats had taken refuge in that room and claimed it as their own, now referred to as "the cat room". tan cat even helped out. ]
a you can see, it had some water damage on the ceiling:
which is why it was used as a storage room :) this weekend i scraped the paint in the room, patched the cracks and got a coat of white paint on 1 wall + ceilng + trim. ian is currently painting the other walls a nice blue-grey color [how surprising ;)], as i finish up a freelance project. photos of that will be coming soon.
in other good news, even tho i turn 32 in a month.. i got carded at lava lounge on saturday. feel free to start your shopping now :)
friday night was relaxation... dinner at mad mex, then hanging out watching the surreal life. you go adrienne! :) saturday started with an early run to starbucks to get some fuel for the day, and then some drywall tape at lowes. we got the kitchen/dining room ceiling skip troweled, and its now ready to be painted:
i also refinished a dresser that we pulled from a dumpster about a year ago... it now matches the other bedroom dresser:
progress is also being made in the "cat" room. [for those who don't know... there is one bedroom that has been used mostly for storage.. holding the old dresser, bookshelf, etc... my 2 cats had taken refuge in that room and claimed it as their own, now referred to as "the cat room". tan cat even helped out. ]
a you can see, it had some water damage on the ceiling:
which is why it was used as a storage room :) this weekend i scraped the paint in the room, patched the cracks and got a coat of white paint on 1 wall + ceilng + trim. ian is currently painting the other walls a nice blue-grey color [how surprising ;)], as i finish up a freelance project. photos of that will be coming soon.
in other good news, even tho i turn 32 in a month.. i got carded at lava lounge on saturday. feel free to start your shopping now :)
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