Cabinets!

We have cabinets! We are so excited. This was the room I really visualized the whole time during this process. I've put way more thought into this than any other part of the house, and I am SO happy with the way it looks. I went in there and just stared for a while. It seems unreal to finally have a kitchen looking kitchen. We feel very thankful and happy to be this far in the process. I still think we're on to be moved in by late summer. Next is countertops and tiling the backsplash and shower. The closets and mantle are being done soon as well. Then there's still lighting, plumbing fixtures, and painting...and other stuff. Oh, the AC is on now! We could bring in sleeping bags and sleep in there now. We'd just have to walk next door for the bathroom :)

I think we're doing dark countertops on the island and light on the white.

This is a bench for the breakfast room table.

Yay, our pantry has shelving!

Butler's pantry.

laundry room

Master bathroom. 

like I said, we just sat and stared for a long time. 

I took this from sitting on the bench in the breakfast room. ahhh.

Designer Cabinets out of Bartlett did our cabinets, and we are VERY pleased! Steve Applebaum is who we used, and I'd recommend him to anyone. They are great quality, he is very patient and helpful, and the price is much less than most custom cabinet builders.

I tried to restrain

Another post about Mumford and Sons. Well, technically, Music Fest, but you will see below that M&S dominate my pictures.
I LOVED Music Fest. I was trying to remember, and I don't think I have been since either my Freshman year of college, or Senior year of high school. I remember Creed was playing, so yeah. a while ago.

Anyway, we saw MGMT, Mumford and Sons, Avett Brothers and Wilco. It was incredible. I was so dedicated to the M&S show that I didn't drink ANYTHING...no water, no beer, no nothing. That allowed me to stay in my spot near the front for the 3 hours prior to the show and make it through the concert with never leaving. yeah, dedication. It was amazing. So many people were there for Mumford and Sons (even 3 hours early), and they put on the best show. They're so passionate, you just can't help but enjoy yourself.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

MGMT. Never thought I'd like this type of music, but over the past year, I've really started to like them. Plus, the lead singer is from Memphis...went to Lausanne and White Station, and he cracks me up. They're very interesting.

More MGMT

and more

So, Jake Gyllenhal was there backstage with Mumford. I even got to see him and his aviators. But you see who I took a picture of. Obsessed, I tell ya.

Wilco. 

It was a great weekend. A weekend of music. Well, it is called Musicfest. Good observation, Amanda.

I do need to give a HUGE thank you/love/shout out/pat on the back to Matt for braving the WHOLE weekend with me and the mud. He was a trooper since he really only cared about Wilco. And they didn't even play until Sunday, so I am thankful for such an awesome husband. He didn't even complain. Not one time. That's love. :)

Addition is finished...

We finished the addition! We also have the HVAC turned on. We started with A/C...then it got cold, so we turned on the heat. We were trying to maintain a consistent temp to get moisture out and get the flooring acclimated before installation, but the weather has been wild. Thankfully, both the heating and AC work :)

View of back door area

Built in desk area in den

Built in entertainment area in den

Looking from  den into kitchen

Guest bath. Thanks to my brother for bead boarding for us!

Looking out the back door

Our backyard. It's finally sorta clean! Before there were piles of wood, dirt, sand, etc.

Back of house (addition)...We'll be putting shutters over those blank spots.

Mudroom, coming in from back door.

Yay for built ins!

Next: Flooring is now being installed.

Then: cabinets, granite, tile, paint, lighting, plumbing fixtures. 

And, closet/pantry shelving

And, more stuff we have forgotten :)

Things I love...

It goes without saying what I love most is God, family, and friends (these are the best and most awesome things in life ever)…but here are some things that just really make me happy; call them God’s little gifts or expressions that speak to my heart, whatever.


1. Friendship bracelets. I’ve loved these since I was a child. Used to make them and enjoyed trying to pick just the right colors for people. I’d make them based on my moods. I’d have pastel ones, bold ones, dark colored ones, etc. They all had themes. This may be one of the things I miss most about moving into a ‘career’ setting. They just don’t take you very seriously when you have 15 friendship bracelets going up your arm. But, let me tell you this: I did wear 4 at one time, yes 4. One I made myself, 2 leather ones, and a silly band. And, I’m still with a job, so I think pretty soon I’ll go for 5.

2. Gardening. This is therapeutic. I’ve been having what I classify as panic attacks lately, and I blame year #2 with no garden. Since we’ve been in house limbo, I haven’t had one since I can’t maintain one out in Somerville, and I didn’t want to risk my garden getting sold with the house. The last year I had one we had tomatoes, squash, cucumber, garlic, basil, rosemary, onions, zucchini, and even a blackberry bush that I later realized took like 2 years to harvest. Wellll, that one got mowed over after the other plants died.

3. Quotes. I love meaningful little quotes that give me a rush of, “yeah! THAT’S how I feel right now.” Quotes motivate me, inspire me, bring me up, down, and give me a strange and stable faith in humanity. For some reason a good quote makes me feel more part of the world. Like in that moment we all get each other.

4. Literature/music/natural art. Yeah, this is a 3 in one. I just couldn’t limit to 5. Along the lines of quotes, literature moves me. Oh wow. Not sure what I’d do without music, reading, and writing. They are my outlets to God. I see God in a picture (either by an artist or by God himself…as in a sunset or mountain view), hear him in my new favorite Mumford song or favorite book/poetry, and speak to him in writing. I need these things. I get all happy when walking into a bookstore, spending time in nature, or walking into let’s say Best Buy’s little music room which is full of all cool stuff like keyboards, guitars, banjos, drumsets, etc. To best express my obsession with music, I’ve already requested a drum set for my ‘pushing present.’ No, I’m not pregnant, but I feel that will be a time when I can demand something crazy like a drumset and actually get it. Fingers crossed.

5. An uncontrollable laughing fit. This is awesome. I tend to over laugh at things or laugh to the point of others probably starting to wonder if they missed something, but I can’t help it. Sometimes when I get going, I’m out of control. I’ve noticed it doesn’t even have to be that funny…just something that I’ll mentally take to the absurd and then I’m off. I will say, laughing fits are most enjoyed when accompanied by another person who is doing the same. When 2 or more people are laughing their heads off; that’s priceless.

I could keep going, but that’s all for now. There are other things like shampoo (I collect it to a fault—not for good hair, but stemming more from a hoarding disorder), painting, taking pictures, traveling, etc, but these 5 things are worth mentioning as some favorites in life.
Later taters.

Really wishing we had a contractor right about now...

So, we're nearing the home stretch of the house. By nearing, I mean about 2-3 months...maybe 5-6 months. Who knows, really, but it feels closer. I'm noticing with the home stretch comes LOTS more important decisions that have to do with the final product. No longer the type of insulation and wiring type decisions. Also, there's more, "this has to happen before this and this before this, etc." So questions like, "now when can we paint?, when can lighting go in?, when can we install the dishwasher?," etc are starting to drive me bonkers.

I need someone to hold my hand through this. Matt seems to not feel stressed over this, and takes it in stride, but I on the other hand, am feeling overwelmed with the final details. I just don't want to a) waste any time, b) make a wrong decision, or c) rush the process by not knowing the process.

So, anyway, having a contractor would be awesome right now. Not having one has saved lots and lots of mulah, but still. It'd be nice to just have someone else tell me what they need from us, rather than us trying to determine what we need from us.

Anyway, enough complaining:) Yay for being close to the end!

Our trip to England and France

Well, we're back! And have been for a few weeks. It has taken me a while to settle back into reality. We had such a good time. I kept a journal on my computer while we were gone for each day, and thought I was going to post pieces of that, but now the lazy factor crept in, and this will probably not really say what I wanted to say about the trip. I will try to break it down in summary. 

London was awesome, but we were crazy jet lagged. It was harder than last time. Maybe we're just getting old:) I had trouble sleeping, so I was a zombie until about day 3. Even in a zombie state, I loved London. I think mainly because it has so much history that is easy to relate to. It feels almost American, but older...well duh:)  We saw the majority of the sights such as Big Ben, St Pauls, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc. I The second day there were 250,000 protesters so public transportation got a LITTLE crazy. Then, some naughty protestors got crazy and lit fires in the street and spray painted historic sights...of course, I was paranoid--didn't help my sleep issue:) They congregated RIGHT out from our hotel which was scary! Everything ended up being fine, though.We did take one half day trip to Hampton Court Palace. It was beautiful. So peaceful.

Paris. I love it. It was my favorite. I could live there. for a while at least. I think it's a place where you'd continue to learn more and more about it, but never feel like you'd seen or experienced it all. The food the sights the language down to the dogs I saw while I was there:) so awesome. I think I really loved it because it was so "European" to me. It was what I picture a full out European city to be. The sights are just amazing, too. From the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame, I was constantly taking something in. I even loved their metro. Also, I love how the neighborhoods are sorta sectioned off. Makes you feel like you're seeing multiple cities in one. I miss it.

Chamonix. The scenery here was incredible. The mountains were so steep and distinct. It was gorgeous. It was a great peaceful place to visit after our 6 days straight in huge cities. We saw and toured a glacier, went to the top of Augille di Midi (msp for sure) to see Mont Blanc, and we skiied at Le Tour. I worried about the skiing difficulty once I saw the mountains, but Le Tour was the only mountain still open, and thankfully the least challenging.

Nice. Perfect ending to the trip. By the time we got to Nice we were getting a little toured out, and this was a city where you didn't have to run from place to place to sight see. We just took our time walking through the Old Town, through the markets, up a hill to see the city, along the beach, etc. It'd have been cool to see the other areas around Nice (Cannes, Monte Carlo, etc), but we were out of time. I loved the pebble beaches here, and the water was really deep blue. Very beautiful.

Here are some pictures:

Our bags. For 11 days. So maybe we wore our outfits twice:)

Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Thames

St Paul's Cathedral

Hampton Court Palace 

Matt being a good tourist with his headphone tour on at Hampton Court

Tower Bridge

Media picture of the protests. Trafalgar Square

Another media picture I got off the internet since I was NOT down there taking pictures. I was in my hotel room looking out the window paranoid.

Last media picture. 

Picture from Trafalgar the next day that I took before we left

Another picture from Trafalgar

Paris. San Chapelle. Loved the stained glass.

The Louvre

Oh, the bread. It was glorious.

Looking toward Concord and Arc de Triomphe from the Louvre

Eiffel Tower right when the lights came on

Seine

Notre Dame

Chamonix

Glacier tour

Le Tour

Nice

Walking along the beach

until next time!

which I refuse to believe is never.

:)