What do you think?

The ear doctor and I have decided to push full steam ahead with a kitchen remodel!!!!!!!! Exciting, right? My dad is even coming to Colorado next week to help us get the demo started off right.

Our kitchen is like a wide galley kitchen...the sink, dishwasher, fridge and window run along one wall and the stove/oven combo is on the other. After playing around a bit with the layout here is what I have in mind.

Sink wall:

Working from left to right the upper wall cabinets will extend all the way to the counter top so I can hide away my toaster and other breakfast/baking stuff. Before she stopped writing it, this awesome kitchen designer used to write a blog and she said that having a breakfast/baking nook tucked away was her favorite feature in any kitchen. I'm pretty excited to incorporate it on this little project. The dishwasher will be right under it. Next will come the sink which looks out my pretty kitchen window...that also needs to be fixed. Then the fridge will but up on the opposite wall. The very top cabinets will go all the way to the ceiling, have glass fronts, and be lit inside.

Stove wall:

Perfectly symmetric with a shiny stainless steel hood right over the brand new stove. Again, the tippy top cabinets will have glass fronts and lights. The lower set of wall cabinets will only be 30" high to make sure there is plenty of under cabinet space. I foresee most of my prep/cooking happening on these two pieces of counter space so I want to have plenty of vertical area to work it. Such are the drawbacks to being on the taller end of the height spectrum.

Since the room is about 9.5 feet wide it is a little bigger than a standard galley kitchen, but too narrow for a proper island. Solution? We are also planning on making a rolling butcher block top island that we can tuck away in a corner when we aren't cooking, but we can pull out and use when we're both in the kitchen.

So that's what I've got so far. Any thoughts or suggestions?

A thing I had not supposed

Saturday night the ear doctor and I went on an honest to goodness date. And it was awesome.


I always thought that since it is just the two of us at this point (our puppy Roscoe doesn't count) that all our time together was "couple time." I figured that grabbing dinner or watching a movie at the house all counted as fun date time because, well, we were there together.

Plus we've been trying to be SO frugal since April so we could buy our house that we cut out going on formal dates.


Turns out that was a bad idea.


Because it was AMAZINGLY fun to be out on a date with my man. Aside from the near catastrophic case of dehydration I almost gave myself (FYI, working on home improvement all day in Colorado without drinking a DROP of water = a bad idea), it was the best time I've had in months.

We went to dinner at our favorite diner downtown, Sam's. Then we walked over to the performing arts complex to watch an awesome improv comedy show.


All in all, a perfect night. And a great lesson learned on my part...going on official dates is uber important for our relationship.

recreational hazard

This morning my forearms are so sore I can barley type. My hands ache and are so weak that double clicking is a challenge. And all because of the frenzied house work I did last night. I performed a killer-shoulder combo that should not, under any circumstance, be duplicated by anyone.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

In the span of an hour and a half I:

planted 200 flower bulbs in the hopes that this spring I will have some cherry yellow blossoms to great me when I enter the house.

I also:

stood on a home depot bucket and taped/painted the ceiling of my living/dining room. The previous owners had chosen a high gloss dingy white color and that just wasn't going to work for us. Now it is a crisp, clean fresh flat white. When I stand in the room I feel just a million times better.

The same can not be said for my shoulder.

Great debate

Help me make up my mind. Remember how we're doing family pictures after thanksgiving this year? I put together this little collage last month. I bought that pretty navy wrap dress and when I tried it on it was too short!

(raises fist in air while howling)

DANG YOU FORTUNE! Why did I have to be given such a short torso and long legs!

Well, now I'm trying to come up with an alternative look that will blend well with everyone else. So far I'm a bit torn between two ideas:

On the left we have option #1: Ann Taylor Loft's shirred v-neck cardigan in medium brown melange and the Ruched Front Scoopneck under for some texture. This is the combo I usually go for...colored sweater with white underneath...pretty standard for me.

And on the right is option #2: Again, the AT shirred v-neck cardigan on top in white, but then this pretty silk ruffle blouse in caramel chew from gap under. But I'm pretty sure with this option I'd wear a skinny belt over the outside of the sweater to keep my waist defined. And I like how there are a few different colors of brown in this one...a bit more interesting?

I think the warmer color of brown will look better with my coloring, but do you think those caramel ruffles will look strange with the cardigan? Which do you like better? And what kind of accessories should I wear? Necklace? Long or short?

Design our house round 2

Here's kind of the idea I've got brewing for the dining room:

It's actually the same space as the living room, so the paint, paneling and window treatments will all be the same, making the room feel unified and continuous.

The dining room table is the Basque honey from Crate and Barrel. I really wanted to get a table that wasn't very fancy. I wanted it to be heavy, slightly rustic and a really warm wood color. This one will fit the bill. The rug under it is the chunky wool jute from Pottery Barn. Neutral color and bumpy...to hide crumbs. Over the table will be an awesome drum shade hanging light from Room and Board. I love the subtle stripes...but I'm worried that the bottom one will end up being slightly blue? That's not allowed the the room. If it even hints at being blue it'll go back and we'll continue our search.

The curtains are from west elm and I just LOVE the pattern the introduce!

Under the window where a sideboard would be will be a cabinet that the ear doctor made. We're going to paint it an awesome color of green to tie in with our swirl rug in the other room. Inside the cabinet I'll put these woven baskets from IKEA to contain our dining linens and other dining room stuff. On top of the cabinet I'll probably put some pictures and a cool lamp...still looking for just the right one. I'd love to have something silver and shiny.

Any thoughts? or better ideas? I'm all ears!

White Knuckles

I left work a little early yesterday to pick up my dog from day camp and get to a deli to pick up dinner. We were planning on working at the new house all evening so we needed to get some food. The internet said the deli closed at 5 pm on Monday nights so I had to get over there quick.

Nervously, I screeched into their parking lot at 4:55 and noticed that the door actually said they'd be open until 8. What a relief.

I got to the house alright and started drilling out some holes. The ear doctor was supposed to meet me at 5:45 and around 6:30 he called and told me that his car refused to start and he was stranded all the way across town.

I'd have to leave immediately and make my way home to get him.

But we'd scheduled an apt with a Home Depot kitchen designer to get a quote for renovating our new kitchen.

I tried to call and cancel the apt, but they put me on hold so long that my phone battery died.

AH! I had no way to call the ear doctor and make sure he was OK!

I raced back to our apartment to charge my phone and call to check on him. He'd called a tow truck and asked me to meet him at the dealership to asses the damage. At about 8 I found myself wandering around the dealership looking for my husband getting hassled by a salesman that suggested instead of fixing his truck we just buy a brand new one.

Memo to salesman: do not suggest incurring MORE debt to a red head who has just signed a commitment for 30 YEARS of indebtedness.

I then found my husband and drove him home. We sadly left his truck behind with the hope that said salesman doesn't attempt to sell it to someone else, or that the bill for fixing the truck will not totally wipe out our little house renovation budget.

When we got home we found an express mail envelope on our door mat. The ear doctor opened it and found out that he has been awarded a $4k scholarship because he is the smartest little audiologist this side of the Mississippi!

Happy dance of joy ensues.



I then collapse into bed totally overwhelmed by the life roller coaster I'd just been on.

Something you don't want to see

Well, since Halloween is over, I can officially start celebrating the holiday season without being deemed a total weirdo. And after reading this post over on Emily's blog I knew I just had to get my bake on.


I woke up early Sunday morning, mixed up my dough and excitedly waited all day for the dough to cool in the fridge. At about 6 I started rolling and stamping the dough with the awesome cookie molds the the ear doctor got me last year.


After pulling the first sheet of cookies out of the oven I was a bit concerned. They didn't look right. They hadn't puffed up the way that I expected them to. Then I glanced over at the counter and noticed one perfectly intact, now room temperature egg innocently sitting on the counter.

Here's hoping that this is NOT an omen of the upcoming season...