Sunroom

We've been slowly working on improving our sunroom.  The far wall had what looked like a coffee stain dripping down the sheetrock, there were sap stains coming through the paint on all of the trim work, and the bead board ceiling was cracking pretty badly. 

The prep work on this room took days.  In fact, I took off a whole week of work for the painting part of this project.  First, we washed everything really well.  Then we re-caulked between every other board on the ceiling and around most of the trim work.  We also primed everything to lock in any remaining stains. 

Our original plan was to paint the bead board ceiling the same blue that was used on the cabinet in our kitchen, but we decided to just go with white incase the caulk ever cracked again.  We used the same white on the ceiling and trim that was used for our kitchen cabinets.  By the way, I had never used oil-based paint until this project, and other than the nearly impossible cleanup, we loved it!  I would highly recommend Sherwin William's oil-based ProClassic.  It went on beautifully and self leveled, removing most brush and roller strokes. 

We also used left over light yellow/ cream paint from our kitchen walls for the walls.

As far as putting the room back together after the painting was finished, we took a little different route than what we previously had.  Since our house only has two bedrooms, we have been contemplating getting a pull-out sofa for extra room when guests come.  But, we came up with the idea to add a daybed to the sunroom.  Plus, the way it was previously set up, only one person usually wanted to be in there at a time due to the sitting situation.  A daybed would allow for extra seating as well.

I watched Craigslist for awhile, and was able to pick up an antique iron daybed frame for only $60 since it was missing a few parts.  Luckily, we were able to find parts elsewhere to make it work. 

We also replaced the old white ceiling fan for something a bit more cute.  I'm a huge fan of the new light. 

Now the view from the kitchen into the sunroom is so peaceful.

New England

This past week I visited one of my college roommates whom now lives on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont. I flew into Boston on Saturday, rented a car, and drove about 2.5 hours to meet her.

On the way out of Boston, I stopped by a local seafood joint, Moulton's, for a lobster roll. Since it was mid-afternoon, I was the only person in the place other than the guy who served me.  I think he thought I was so odd for dining by myself mid-afternoon.

Once I met up with my friend, we headed to a BBQ competition at the Harpoon brewery in Windsor, Vermont.

Once we had our fair share of BBQ ribs, we headed back to my friend's cottage.  Can I just say how adorable all the farmhouses are in the area?  My friend is renting the below guest cottage and it is full of charm.  The view from the back porch was breathtaking!
 

The next day was packed with activities. We woke up and grabbed coffee and scones at a beautiful farm, Cedar Circle Farm.

 

Maybe someday I'll have a garden as beautiful as theirs.  

 

 

It even backed up to the Connecticut River.  Just beautiful.

After breakfast, we hiked for about an hour and a half on the trails through the woods behind her place. In typical New England summer fashion, there were tons of insects to deal with, but it was still a nice hike. 

 

 

It was interesting to see all of the stone walls in the area, sometimes in the most random spots.  My friends says that the land is rather rocky, so when settlers would till the land, the rocks were just stacked in a convenient spot. 

 

 

After the hike, we quickly stopped to say hello to one of her friends at a horse barn.  Then we headed to another farm, Sugarbush Farm, in Vermont for cheese and maple syrup tasting. I came home with plenty of goodies.  :)

 

 

We also stopped by Long Trail brewery so I could grab Jason some local craft beers (which he attested were quite delicious).

After that, we toured a couple cute small towns, including Woodstock (in the first picture below) and Hanover (where Dartmouth is) and then grabbed a quick dinner at a ice cream/ snack stand, Whippi-Dip, in Fairlee. 

 

 

The next day, I took it pretty easy, mostly relaxing/ reading on her friend's porch. 

 

On Tuesday, I headed back to the Boston area to meet Jason who was in the area for work stuff.

 

On my way south, I stopped at Monadnock State Park to take a nice hike.  I figured it was a 3-4 mile roundtrip hike up and down the mountain, so maybe I'd be able to complete it in 2 hours.  Boy was I wrong.  It quickly got steeper and steeper the further I went.  About half way up, a man who hikes the mountain daily (yes, he even moved within biking distance of the mountain so his schedule could accommodate daily trips) said I still had about an hour to go to the top.  That's when I figured for timing (and my knees) sake, I'd head on back down.  Fortunately, I still got some great views in.  They say that on clear days you can see all the way to Boston.

This was the trail up:

 

No joke.

 

Once to Boston (mid-afternoonish), we took a speed trip through the MFA.  Luckily, the docent pointed us straight toward our favorite style, Impressionism.  (Not pictured below.)



 

We also ran by to get a peek of Fenway Park.

 

 

Then we hopped on the train to Harvard, where I enrolled in grad school.

 

Just kidding. 

I did that at Dartmouth.

Okay, okay.  Maybe not.

Overall, it was a nice trip.  I'd like to go back one day to do more exploring, especially in the countryside.  Maybe next time I could go during autumn to see the leaves changing.

Good Times

My brother and sister-in-law were in town this weekend for a wedding.  They trusted us with this little fellow for a full 24 hours.  We had tons of fun, and as always, took a trip to the park.  He played on the swings, rode the "tractor", and slid down the slide.  I'm also pretty sure he talked the entire time.  It's like he verbalizes all of his thoughts now, and he wants to make sure that you provide affirmations to what he's saying.  If you don't, he'll just continue to repeat it until you do.

 

He's been going through a, "No pictures!" phase, but he was nice enough to let me take a few.  He said, "You're working with your camera."  I thought that was a good explanation.  

 

Anyhow, it was a fun filled 24 hours and I'm glad we had the time to spend together.

Paint Your House

Last year for my birthday, Jason got me a gift certificate to Pinot's Palette.  I finally cashed in the certificate and went to the Paint Your House class.  It was a lot of fun.

They took this picture of my house:

And printed it on a canvas:

And I turned it into this:

Neat, huh?

Now we have a painting of our house in our house.  Kinda funny.

Free Press Summer Fest

I know, I know... two years ago I declared us Too Old, Too Crotchety for Hot Music Festivals, but after seeing this year's Free Press Summer Fest lineup we decided we had to go.

Day 1 

On Saturday, we got to the festival just after 2 pm.  Although everyone complained about last year's line situation, we walked right in.  I was glad they didn't make us throw out the ice we brought in our CamelBak and water bottle.  It was nice to have cold water for a few hours during the hottest part of the day.

We headed to the furthest stage to pick up a nice, refreshing glass of Saint Arnold's White Noise (the so-called "official" beer of the festival, even though it was only sold at one booth for us General Admission ticket holders) and watch Paul Banks from Interpol.  After that show, we caught Alabama Shakes and then the Arctic Monkeys at the Mars Stage. 

Alabama Shakes

 

Arctic Monkeys

I realized that this was our 8th music festival over the course of 10 years.  After being to so many, we've picked up a few lessons.  For instance, this year we took our Coleman stadium seats that we had originally picked up for our Alaskan camping trip.  We brought an umbrella for shade and we snacked on trail mix through the shows.  A girl sitting behind us asked, "Do y'all go to a lot of these things... y'all look like pros."  Jason responded, "We used to.  Now mostly hiking has taught us to always be prepared."  Hehe.

After those two shows, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and sat in the shade for a few minutes.  Then we headed back to the furthest stage to watch Iggy and the Stooges.  I think that was probably the best show of the evening.  He definitely had the best energy.

Iggy and the Stooges

Our final show of the night was Postal Service, whose first and only full album came out 10 years ago.  The show was packed, but I was still glad to see them.  I told Jason that the difference between us watching them now vs. 10 years ago is that 10 years ago we would have been front row.  Now that just seems like way too much work.

Postal Service

 

Day 2

 

On day 2 of the festival, we only planned to watch 3 acts, all of which were at the same stage.  We set up our towel and seats around 3 pm, so we had awhile before our first show.  Our friends Paloma and Mike needed some help collecting recyclables (their business got the recycling contract this year), so we got a few extra bags from them and picked up cans and such before and after the performances. 

 

I had been looking forward to the Cat Power performance since I heard she was on the lineup.  I've really enjoyed her latest album, Sun.  However, I think she was battling a cold or something.  I still enjoyed watching her, but I almost just felt bad that she had to perform out in the heat if she wasn't feeling well.

 

Cat Power

 

The second act of the day, Of Monsters and Men, was really incredible.  I'd call it my favorite performance of the weekend.  The Icelandic band had plenty of energy and the crowd danced along to most songs.  Jason and I were surprised how many people knew all of the lyrics.

 

Of Monsters and Men

 

In between this act and our last scheduled show for the day, we happened to catch a few songs from another one of the bands, Milo Greene, on a smaller stage.  Neither Jason nor I had heard of the band before we saw the lineup, but we were really impressed by what we heard.  Jason caught them performing a cover of a Sufjan Stevens song and he thought they did a really good job.

 

We ended the night with TV on the Radio.  I'm usually not a huge fan of their music, but they were really good live.  It was a nice way to end the weekend.

 

TV on the Radio

 

All in all, it was a really great festival.  I am beyond tired today,  but it was worth it.

 

And since I like to take trips down memory lane, here's a picture of us at our first music festival in 2004...

 

And here's one from this weekend...

I think we're faring pretty well.  Hehe.  We look so hot and tired in the first picture.  You can definitely tell we've improved our strategy of dealing with the heat and crowds at these things.

Gallery Wall

I recently got the urge to add some new art to our living room wall.  Jason has long wished to change out the Italian landscape prints we got from Kirkland's when we first got married.  I started thinking and had the idea to make a gallery wall using frames made out of different woods and wood tones.  Our furniture is still transitioning from hand-me-downs and garage sale finds to pieces we actually have bought for ourselves, and as a consequence, we have several different shades of wood in our living room.

 

We made a quick trip to an antique store a few weeks ago and were able to find 7 frames - all of different sizes and styles - for $30 total.  Last week I searched our house for art we already had to see if it would work in the frames.  Sure enough, I was able to scrounge up enough to make it work. 

 

Here's a before picture of the Italian landscape art:

 

 

And here's an after picture of our new gallery wall:

 

Don't mind Jason and the dog.  They are too lazy to move out of the picture.

 

Here's a close-up since it's kinda hard to see in the previous pictures:

From the top left, clockwise:

The first piece is an owl by local artist, Janice Cookston.
The sunflower is a photo print by Jason's mom.
The next is a wooden moose we got in Alaska, which just happened to fit perfectly in a 5"x7" frame.
The long vertical frame has some homemade art using book covers.
The larger framed photo is of my grandfather when he was a child with his grandmother.
The small photo is a picture I took of the old Kennecott mine in Alaska.
The shadowbox includes pictures from our camping trips.   I made this piece for Jason last year for our 5 year anniversary.
The painting of the water well is something Jason got me last year for our anniversary as well.
And the small flower painting we picked up at the antique store when we bought the frames.

Now we have the option to add to the collection whenever we find something neat or switch out pictures whenever we want.

Since I borrowed some of our art from other areas of the house, I printed out some of my photographs from the past few years and put them up.

It was a fun and easy project and I'm looking forward to enjoying it.

El Chupacabra

Last weekend Jason participated in the El Chupacabra de Houston 10k night trail run at Lake Houston Wilderness Park (about an hour north of town).  I decided to sit this one out.  I can hardly stay upright running on trails during the daylight.

 

Even though it was a night race, we got there mid-afternoon to set up our camp. 

 

Shortly after dark, the race started.  The runners ran with headlamps and glow sticks.

 

Jason was the first person to cross the finish line for the 10k.  The girl you see in the picture ahead of him was running the 5k.

The best part of the night (for me anyways) was the beer and BBQ afterwards.  It was a fun race.  Maybe next year I'll participate rather than being a spectator.