House Before:

As many of you know, Jeff and I are in the process of restoring an old house. It was built in 1946, so it has lots of character and lots that needs to be fixed. In our first month here we have painted 1 room, started stripping off the paint from the fireplace, completely ripped out all the "volunteer" plants that were in the front and back yard, replaced the sprinklers and have started designing the landscape. It has been a long month but we're going strong. Our goal for the year is to have the exterior done: new paint (we're thinking green?), and new landscaping. Here are a few pictures of the house now and a few pics from Phil's bible study birthday celebration. 

Funniest thing...

Dr. Horrible's Sing a long Blog might just be one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. Second only to Thunderant, of course, which makes me laugh everytime. Check both out on itunes and get a good laugh. 

Quote

As summer comes to a close I am starting to feel overwhelmed. The house is coming along, little by little, but the list of things to do keeps getting longer and longer. The daunting thought of school starting is also lingering in my mind. The summer has been lovely, but as usual, it has gone by far too fast. I'm at the point where I don't know where to start.  I was looking for inspiration and I found a pretty good quote to get me going. "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." -Emerson

Ali: 1, Yucca: 0

Today I dug up our beautiful yucca plant (a.k.a. Satan's plant) that was growing in the front yard. Luckily the roots weren't very deep so it only took me about an hour. I think it may come back, but when it does I'll be ready for it. (Insert evil laugh here). The house is coming along. We spend a couple hours a day on it, and slowly but surely it's coming together. In a bit I'll be headed off to Steph and Jerry's Wedding. Should be fun and hot. Not Paris Hilton hot but sweating in the 102 degree heat hot. 

Pictures from our trip...f-yeah

Here are a few pics from our recent trip...

Vita Cafe: Thai Corn Cakes

Oregon Cheese Plate

We're so dang beautiful

Driving forever...

We attempted to entertain ourselves

Jeff finishing his 200 mile ride

Stumptown Roasters

Best Breakfast of My LIFE!

Portland Adventures

Enjoying every minute of our long awaited vacation. Jeff is in Seattle, gearing up for his first big ride. Tomorrow morning he starts his trek to Oregon via bike, he is going to love it. Meanwhile I have been soaking up this beautiful city, and falling more and more in love with it as the days go on. We're staying at a fantastic hotel (Kennedy School) and the food here is fantastic! Today was a fabulous day pack full of wonderful happenings. It was wonderful to see Sean and Mckay, and to realize just how much I miss Mckay and her wonderful spirit. I hope to see more of you guys in the coming years. You know we're all just a short flight away! I'm stoked for the next few days, to eat new and exciting foods, find new and exciting places and to see interesting mismatched people. While we were walking to dinner Mike commented that being here is kind of like being transported to another planet. I'd say a good planet. Ciao for now.

Sloppy Phils Tonight

We had two of the most lovely people to dinner tonight, Phil and Des (excellent adventures). They are two of the most interesting and wonderful people we have come across in a long time. Phil is a vegetarian and Jeff and I are not big meat eaters anyway so I made a delicious concoction out of ingredients that I had in the fridge. I call them "Sloppy Phils", a vegetarian take on sloppy joes. Instead of ground meat I used firm tofu and added spices and dice tomatoes. I served them on left over hamburger buns from the 4th of July, that I toasted with garlic butter. Then I topped them with grilled onions. They were quite divine. I keep forgetting that I have a camera or I would have taken a picture of them, dang. Eating like this makes me forget that it's 106 out. 

A New Week

Greetings. 

Well we survived our first week in the monster house. I was trying to think of anything else that could possibly go wrong and I think that everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. But, the plumbing is fixed ($300 later). The broken sprinklers are fixed (thanks to Jeff) and we even painted a room. Jeff thinks that the 2 cans of paint didn't quite match up so there are a few darker spots, but I think it looks lovely. Now I'm trying to plan my day so that I don't have to stay in this hot house. I'm thinking of going to the library,  Norstrom, the tailor and maybe just hanging out in a coffee shop with a couple books. I love being a housewife! The reason the house is hot is not because we have no a/c it's because I'm afraid our old a/c unit is going to cost us a ton of money to run. The way the a/c was put in was very dumb, it takes about 12 hours to cool the house down. So I think I'll just tough out the 106 degrees elsewhere. Can't wait to go on our vacation to Portland on Tuesday! Mckay and Sean, see ya soon!

One good thing: New CSA

Lots of Potatoes, Apricots, Lettuce, Red Onion, Cantaloupe, etc. Going to attempt to make the grilled potato salad, should be delish! 

Home Ownership Lesson #3

Don't turn on the sprinklers...ever. Should we start calling this cute little place monster house?

Home Ownership Lesson #2

Always buy a home warranty. They come in handy when you decide to do laundry and your tub and toilet over flow. It's ok I probably didn't need that shower anyway. Ah the joys of an old house. 

Home Ownership Lesson #1

Cast iron is not as forgiving as porcelain. Don't believe me? Just ask my poor glass... :(