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Powder Room

Remember when we repainted our bathroom? It used to look like this. But when we had hardwood floors installed to replace the nas-asty carpet, the wallpaper in the powder room had to go because the sink moved down a bit and there would have been a less-than-attractive strip of plain drywall above it. So we stripped the wallpaper (yay for wall-paper steamers!) and Matt textured it and we did that accent wall. I was a bit hesitant on the color (a bit darker than the photo shows) but love it now. BTW, if you love it too, give me a call because we WAAAY overbought on paint and you can have a whole (unopened) gallon of the stuff FREE OF CHARGE. We even have half a gallon more than that.

Anyhow that was like 18 months ago. Ever since then it’s been sitting there just quietly doing its bathroom thing. For my b’day I put this cute print on my wishlist. I don’t think I specified a color but my mom bought it for me and chose blue. I didn’t have a spot in mind for it when I put it on my wishlist but after it arrived all blue and cute, I knew where it had to go … my blue bathroom!! So last weekend I finally got around to getting a frame for it ($6 IKEA special) and there it is.

Makes me happy every time I look at it. Now all I need to do is replace the old black hand towels with some new ones … raspberry red maybe?

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NYC The Wrap Up

Well unfortunately, I got a bit behind in my recaps. I got some little stomach bug on Sat evening and while it didn’t wreck me, I spent most of my down time sleeping as opposed to internetting. It didn’t last long, but I never got caught up.

It will take way too long and be way too boring if I recap EVERYTHING we did day by day, so I won’t. So here are some highlights:

Continue reading “NYC The Wrap Up”

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NYC Day 3

I’m sure the NYers are going to say “duh.” But rain really sucks worse in the city.

We split up today along gender lines. The guys went to a diner and then checked out the USS Intrepid. Ben apparently had a great time splashing and climbing and running. The ladies checked out Tea and Sympathy and then did a bit of shopping around the W Village (I think). The only problem was the RAIN!!! We were all soaked. Tabby and I ended up getting wellies at Marshalls to cope.

At 5:50 we realized time had gotten away from us and we headed downtown to meet up with our friends we’ve never met before, Ani, Niel, Olivia and little Niel. It was a nice and crazy evening. They had bad traffic, the kids were tired, drinks got spilled, my dad had the diaper bag, the rain complicated things, etc. But the restaurant was nice, we got to go by Magnolia and grab some cupcakes and best of all, we got to meet these lovely people we’ve known forever, more or less.

We got back super late. The kids were exhausted. But it was a fun night.

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NYC Day 2

It was hot and humid today. Sticky humid. But oh well, lots to see. Matt and I did a superquick run along the waterfront before it got nasty. We grabbed breakfast at Sarabeth’s Kitchen. Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon was great. Then we went to the American Museum of Natrual History. Unfortunately, one of the big exhibits we wanted to see (frogs) was sold out for the day,

so we skipped through Central Park and went to The Met. The kids had an awesome time in the park. We climbed Belvedere castle, saw some turtles and enjoyed being outside. Ben really got his energy out and was pretty good while at The Met. Tabby loved the Met and was so excited to see all the amazing stuff … suits of armor, Egyptian carvings, antique furniture, etc. etc. We had a super fab dinner at The Cafeteria – the Mac ‘n’ Cheese is awesome!

Full and FUN day!

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NYC Day 1

Well we made it. Still not sure if the red-eye was a good decision or not, but the kids did sleep a good portion of the flight and we all had to have naps. For obvious reasons we did not do much today … just got pizza and rice pudding and did some shopping. We had to buy a pack ‘n’ play for Ben to sleep in (this was actually about the same price as bringing our own) … speaking of which, the Babies R Us in Union Square is the nicest one I’ve ever seen. We also checked out the Crumpler outlet store which was cool. We scored some great little backpacks for the kids.

We have spent the evening in. Our apartment is in the financial district and it’s got a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge. There’s some dignitaries in town and we’ve been watching the motorcades go through town. Also, in case you were wondering, I’ve been playing with my Bokeh kit. Cheers!

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It’s a Small Town

Last night we had an odd moment of serendipity. The first camping trip we made with our pop-up we met a lovely family with a young son. He and Tabby were instant best friends and we all had a great time chatting together. We exchanged contact information and I’d emailed and sent a photo of the kids, but we hadn’t heard back from them.

So last night we met up with my grandma and parents for dinner. Our first choice restaurant was closed and we went to a nearby Red Robin. We’d finished our dinner and Tabby had just requested dessert and we were sitting there visiting. All of a sudden, my sister, who was with us on the camping trip is pointing to the table behind ours. I had no idea what she was talking about and was completely confused and I kept hearing “pop up” … well lo and behold, it’s our camping buddies from back in August!

Well it is a small town after all … just 3.2 million people.*

 

* Greater Denver Metro Area

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Running and Such

I can hardly believe that summer is over … and also almost officially over. It was a crazy summer. We were traveling practically every other weekend all summer, except a notable 4 week stretch in which we traveled two weekends in a row and then were home for two weekends (that was when we goofed on the dates for family reunion, so it wasn’t planned).

A few of the weekends we didn’t travel we had races. But despite those races, it wasn’t a great summer for running. Usually we do our long runs on the weekend and it’s difficult at best to get those in when you’re out of town. I have successfully snuck them in when we’ve gotten home on Sunday, but usually there’s so much to do I have to dive into things like laundry and putting away and getting ready for the week.

But I did do one very important thing fitness wise this summer … I got reacquainted with Robyn. Robyn is my best friend/worst enemy 3 days a week. She is the coach at Front Range Adventure Bootcamp. Three times a week at the slightly insane hour of 5:15, I arrive at her gym with a bunch of other women, mostly moms aged 26-45, and we do the workout of the day. We run. We do pushups. We hold plank for minutes at a time. We do pullups, ring-dips, squats, lunges, Romanian dead-lifts, Turkish get-ups, hand-stand pushups, and I could go on and on.

Thanks in large part to running but in equal part to Robyn’s “abuse” I am quite strong and in better shape than I’ve probably been in since high school. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not svelte or lean, but I’m smaller … a medium, not a large. And right now I’m maintaining and feeling pretty good. But long term, I’d like to really concentrate my efforts not only on my workouts, but also my food, and lose a few more pounds. I know it would help my running and it wouldn’t bother my vanity either. We can still be vain, right?

So fall is here … and it’s time to get back into a routine. More running … and more mindful eating. But first I need to get through 2.5 weeks of travel.

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Sharing Time

Saw this on Carol‘s Pinterest boards and I have been laughing whenever I think about it since. Teehee!

I just bought a backpack for our NYC trip. I got a good deal and I think I can sell it on Craigslist for nearly what I paid for it. It’s more compact than our hiking backpack. So yay. Now I just have to figure out about a pack ‘n’ play.

I am very excited to make this French Onion Chicken. Unfortunately we are negatory one lg. skillet. Ours lost all its coating in the center and we had to send it off to recycling. We need to buy a new one but we haven’t figured out which one we want. We’re trying to decide if it’s worth it to buy a more expensive one if it’ll last longer. I have my doubts.

I’m trying to figure out if Matt and I can get a date night in this weekend. We’re supposed to have dinner with some friends on Sat night and we’re getting together with my family on Friday night. Signs point to doubtful. But who can complain?

I still need to do a post about the jam I made, but meanwhile we are very much enjoying the results. The few photos I took turned out horribly and I need to redo them. It’s hard to get decent natural light in the evenings now since the sun is going down so much earlier than just a few weeks ago. Mornings are harder too I notice …

Hope your week is progressing acceptably or brilliantly.

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Thoughts on Camping

We’ve now been on two fairly successful camping trips with our pop-up. $$ aside, I’m very glad we bought it. The trips have been GREAT and I think it’s pretty safe to say we wouldn’t have gone camping without it. I can do without pretty well when it comes to camping … I don’t mind lack of electricity, showers, etc. but I LOVE my sleep and with the pop-up I finally can get sleep while camping. Yay!

Of course maybe the same thing could have been accomplished with a $60 cot from Bass Pro. I guess we’ll never know. Anyhow, here are some things I DO know so far about camping:

  • Not a fan of Campsuds dish soap … does not cut grease worth crap unless you have hot water. This trip we used plain ol’ Dawn and collected our drainage in a grey-water bucket, which can be used to douse the fire, so no worries there. Some say Dr. Bronners (also biodegradable) is better, might check it out later.
  • Just cooking alone makes plenty of dishes, so this trip we opted for paper plates/bowls for eating  … these can then be burned for kindling in the campfire. Saved us tons of water.
  • This last trip I pre-cooked the bacon in the oven and just re-heated it on the stove. So much more fit in the pan and it was so quick! It could keep pace with my frantic pancake-making.
  • I pre-mixed all the dry ingredients for recipes (pancakes, cornbread) and then marked them with the quantities of wet ingredients required. I also decanted the proper amounts of wet ingredients into other vessels to save space if needed.
  • We purchased a big sports cooler to fill with drinking water and that helped me out a lot – I don’t tend to like the taste of water from other places and won’t drink as much as I need. That was Matt’s idea and it’s a very good one.
  • Breakfast the last morning has been cereal with milk both times and I plan to keep it up – quick and easy while we pack up.
  • We have both an LED lantern and several LED flashlights. They rock. They are small, compact, take few batteries, last forever and produce a ton of light (we didn’t get the brightest ones and I’m so glad because the ones we have can half blind you!).
  • Planning and packing are super important. We found a packing list somewhere on the interwebs that we modified for our own use … if you’re interested, it is here in pdf and txt.

We’ve got one more trip tentatively planned for this year – hopefully the weather will hold! I’m sure we’ll continue to refine our camping as we go forward. We are collecting cool places to camp from friends and coworkers and I’m already getting excited about going next year. Many more places we want to see!