Soothing Green Tea

So April has come and gone and you've probably realized I still haven't wrapped up our bathroom remodel story with a celebratory completion post. That's because we aren't quite done. Hang in there! We had a little bit of a delay when we realized that the sink we purchased was a bit too big. I had to take it back, re-order a smaller one and wait about a week to get back on track. 

The good news is that the colors we chose came together perfectly. The "heavy cream" looked yellowish at first, but we now realize that was only because it was directly next to stark white primer. After we finished two walls and the ceiling with the heavy cream, we knew we made the right choice. The whole bathroom is bright, inviting, and soothing. 

Our vanity is exactly what I envisioned in my head. I love the color and drawer detail. We chose birch wood with an espresso finish, in a "shaker" type of design. The drawers are maple with dove-tail construction, much nicer quality than the plywood and veneer finishing on some of the vanities you might see at Home Depot.

Steve had to make the base top and install the new sink before the concrete guy could come measure for the actual countertop. 

He also installed the new light fixture (which arrived with a cracked shade, argh!!) 

This weekend Steve has been putting up the tile trim (crown molding and side trim) in the shower while we wait for our concrete countertop to arrive. It should be here sometime this week! Then we finally seal the tile in the shower, install baseboards, install toilet, hang the mirror, install fixtures and accessories, and put in a new door. Shit, that sounds like a lot.

I've learned my lesson and I am not going to say when I think we will be completely done. But, I will say that a bath with candles and champagne would be the best anniversary gift ever! ;)

Sufjan Loves Potato Chips

Before the Sufjan Stevens show in LA, Steve and I met up with Kara for dinner and drinks. We headed across the street from the Walt Disney Center to Blue Cow Kitchen. We settled into our seats, ordered a beer, and I got up to use the bathroom. I am walking down the hall towards the bathroom when my eyes are drawn to this bright green hat, and in an instant I recognize who this green hat belongs to. None other than SUFJAN STEVENS himself!! There he is, just sitting with his friends having dinner, too!

I will be honest and tell you that I am incredibly entertained by celebrity sightings, but this was much more than that. 

My mind is blown that he is there. I am a firm believer in fate - that certain things in life are just meant to be. It is truly amazing to me that my very favorite musician is just a few feet away from me in this restaurant!  It is real life. It is our life! 

And I think back to when I first heard Sufjan. Steve and I were on one of our first weekend getaways to Big Sur when I was flipping through his CD book trying to pick out music for the drive. I saw Sufjan Stevens and had no idea what or who it was, let alone how to pronounce it. But, I decided to take a chance at the unknown and that decision changed everything. The album and title song, "Come on Feel the Illinoise" really got me hooked. The music was incredible. It was creative and fun, lovely and joyful. Music you could really sing and shake to.  From that day forward, I couldn't get enough. I downloaded every album available and wanted more.

Fast forward 3 years and "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders" welcomes us into wedded bliss. Those horns and hand claps just scream celebration! And now every time we hear it, we think of our wedding day and how happy we are. Sufjan made the soundtrack to our love story.

And now I am stumbling into a bathroom, bewildered that he is here. I run back to Steve and Kara and all I can say is "you guys...guess who is here?!" I don't even remember if I let them guess before blurting out, "SUFJAN IS OVER THERE". They were just as stoked as I was but all we could do was continue our conversation while sneaking peeks at Sufjan and his buds. 

A few minutes later, the fire alarm goes off. The kitchen is full of smoke and everyone is looking around but no one is budging. We look over to see Sufjan's reaction and he is just plugging his ears, waiting for it to stop like the rest of us. Well, it didn't stop and our server comes to apologize for both the alarm and our delayed dinner. The alarm still doesn't stop and Sufjan and his friends head out to the patio and I am so bummed that he is gone. Steve asks our server if she knows who she just forced to leave and she says she has no idea. We tell her that he is a musician who is performing across the street tonight, and that we played his music at our wedding. She is freaking out now and asks what band he is in (haha) and what kind of music he plays when all of a sudden, here comes Sufjan. I am not even kidding he is walking right over towards us. He keeps coming and I pray the waitress stays with us at the table so that he has to come even closer, but now that she knows he is "somebody", she steps away to talk to him. In the most sweet, shy voice ever, he says to her, "Excuse me, I ordered some potato chips and haven't gotten them yet". She explains and apologizes for the delay and they seem to be talking forever, all the while we are trying to listen and that's when we noticed the funniest part of the whole ordeal.  A few moments prior when he was enjoying his meal and conversation with his friends, we could only see him from the shoulders up. He looked like the most normal, well composed person, wearing an average tank top and green ball cap.....one would never know he was a famous musician.  But now we could see the whole package - unlaced combat boots, denim jacket, tight jeans - and the stature he assumed while talking to the waitress was quite striking! Picture a cross between a confident Steve Urkle and an awkward rock star.  It blatantly revealed a very eccentric man. He was the enigma I always dreamt him to be.

The waitress eventually came back with a free beer for Steve and his freshly re-made food - yes it was Steve's sammy that caused the fire alarm and all of this craziness!! She told us to go say hi to Sufjan and tell him about our wedding song, but we couldn't. We soaked in the memory of this night, laughed some more about that crazy stance and compared notes on how hot we all thought he was. Steve, included.

And then, for the second time that night, a gigantic cockroach ran across the dining room floor and we got the hell out of there. 

photo credit

They will see us waving from such great heights

Three shows. Two weeks. That's a record for me and I have enjoyed every moment to the core of my being. Although, I must say, I am completely exhausted!! Late nights, alcohol and dancing are  outside of my normal routine and this old lady just can't hang! 

They say that variety is the spice of life, and oh boy, our earbuds are on fire! All three shows were very, very, different. We went from an indoor expo center in the middle of SLO, to a remote countryside outdoor oasis, to downtown LA at a fancy classical concert hall. Each event brought with it a unique crowd, choice of footwear, and ambiance. But, all of them filled my soul with glee (and my tummy with beer!)

The Postal Service was all about college nostalgia. I danced and bounced around to each song, letting the music fill me up with sweet memories of a road trip to Las Vegas with my best girlfriends for Heather's bachelorette party. And how Clark Gable got me through so many long, late night work shifts. This is my go-to music - the kind of music where you can't help but get up and dance or at least bend your knees to the beat. The Postal Service rocked and it was a privilege to see them live, ten years later. 

Passion Pit played at the Pozo Saloon about 20 (curvy and narrow) miles off of the 101 from Atascadero. Quiet little Pozo is absolutely gorgeous and the warmth of the sunshine mixed with comfy sneakers, relaxing lounge chairs, and ice cold beer made the afternoon a delight. The opening band, Capital Cities, put on a great show (even better than Passion Pit!) They all wore matching neon green blazers, syncing perfectly with the intensity and crispness of their sound. If you haven't heard of them before, look them up. Their music will lift you up. (Safe and Sound is my fave).

And lastly, it's difficult to describe Sufjan Stevens' performance in LA at the Walt Disney Center, so I will copy the excerpt from the website because it describes the show so beautifully:

With the West Coast premiere of Planetarium, The National’s Bryce Dessner, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, and composer Nico Muhly come together to consider the cosmos. For the first half, a string quartet performs each artist’s classically informed compositions. In the second half, Stevens’ voice anchors a planet-by-planet song cycle that melds the collaborators’ distinct creative contributions into a harmonic whole. The cycle unfolds against the backdrop of a giant orb that morphs to reflect the characteristics of the sphere being celebrated.

The string quartet was simply breathtaking - I literally held my breath as they moved those bows so rapidly you could barely see their hands! The musicians were insanely talented and brought some of Sufjan's songs to life in a brilliant way. 

Planetarium was a mix between strange and lovely. Sufjan sang each piece, but switched from using a strange robotic microphone to his regular singing voice. I preferred the songs with his normal "angelic" voice (as Steve put it) to the synthesized version. But, the fun part of the show was trying to guess which planet they were "celebrating". Between the lights, lasers, orb, and lyrics, it was like putting together clues until after each song when they revealed that yes, we know Pluto is not considered a part of our solar system but dwarf planets are planets too. 

The best part of the Sufjan show happened BEFORE the show which deserves its own post, so stay tuned for a story about cockroaches, fire alarms, and potato chips!

Hoppy

We' ve really expanded our garden this year, but one thing of note is the incredible hops planter and trellis that Steve built. A friend if ours is a home brew extraordinaire, so we will grow the hops, and he will use them to make beer (and then share!) :) 

The trellis is my favorite part because it stands out like a pagoda at the entrance of our yard. It's artistic and functional..my favorite combination. 

The hops just poked their little hoppy heads up through the soil, and will soon be stretching their arms up the trellis and if all goes as planned will provide shade for our water tank. That's Steve's thoughtful planning for you.

Apron's aren't just for the kitchen

Steve finished the tile work on the front of the tub, also called the apron of the tub. We seriously had JUST enough tiles to do the apron, so he only had one chance to get it right, and after only a few cusses, he did it! And it looks amazing!! We decided to wait to do the apron until after the floor was in, so that the entire tub unit appears as if it is sitting on top of the floor, rather than behind it. 

Originally, we were going to use the same surface for the top of the apron as the vanity top, but since we decided to go with concrete (rather than granite or marble) we decided not to do that after all, and filled in the top with the travertine tile as well. I think this was a good choice so that the entire bath/shower area looks cohesive and simple. There are countless decisions to be made during a remodel and as you can tell, we learned as we went, changed our minds a thousand times, 'slept on it' many nights and I think so far all of our patience and thoughtfulness is proving worthwhile!

After all of the work Steve did up to this point, he decided to let a professional tackle the drywall repair and prep for painting. We are so happy we hired help because it was done so quickly, and through conversations with the contractor we decided to re-texture the walls to a more modern look. So the entire bathroom was re-textured to a smooth finish with a rustic flair. 

You know you are getting close to the end of a project when you can start picking out paint colors!! Here is what we decided for our color palette. The wood sample is the actual wood and stain of our new vanity (arriving any day now!!) It is a birch wood with an "espresso" finish. I think it will give a nice modern look, while keeping with the outdoor, ranch feel. The dark swatch is representative of our concrete vanity top. So the paint colors we chose are soothing green tea and heavy cream. We with with green because through the extra large window, you can see trees, plants and rose bushes, so the green will really bring the outdoor element in. The wall behind the vanity will be the light green, and the other walls and ceiling will be heavy cream.

Last night we slapped on one coat of green and it looks gorgeous!! It is bright, cheerful, and it really is soothing! The heavy cream may have more yellow in it than we hoped for, so we are testing it out tonight and will see how it goes from there. 

The light fixture should be in any day now too and you should look forward to seeing it because it is divine (for a light fixture!) Once the vanity gets installed, the concrete guy will come make his template and it should take about 2 weeks to finish. In the meantime we will be busy putting up last minute touches to the bathroom...the tile trim/molding around the shower, re-installing the toilet, installing our fixtures in the shower, and picking out towel racks, towels, and accessories! 

I am still hopeful for a Dwight Hotel reveal at the end of the month!!! Fingers crossed!

Passion Pit!

Passion Pit at Pozo Saloon?? Strange, but I'll take it! That's three shows in April!!

Spectacular Succulents

A few weeks ago, we helped our good friend Michael celebrate his 40th birthday at his mexican fiesta! It was such a rad party complete with a Mariachi band, two piñatas, a lucha libre server, and a bicycle-powered margarita machine!! To see some photos from the party (including me working for my margarita) check out Michael and Maren's blog! To thank him for being born (because we are all so lucky he was!), I made him a succulent terrarium straight from our garden. 

I also plucked some of my very favorites from our yard and put them into this lovely flower dish that I got for Christmas. It has spikes in the bottom, so you push the stems into the spikes, fill the bottom with water and without much effort the flowers, or in this case succulents, can simply soak up the sunlight and and brighten up the living room.

In the spirit of spring cleaning, I recently repotted a bunch of succulents in the backyard to give them more room to breathe. I rearranged all of the pots, cleaned them up a bit, and added some dimension with some pot stands, tree stumps, and painted crates (from our wedding!). Also, you can see the bottles on sticks with yellow flowers in the background - these are also from our wedding. They lined the aisles at the ceremony and I have finally dusted them off from the garage and put them to good use outside! They really give the backyard a cheerful feel.

Family Pie

Last Fall, I harvested our green apples, peeled, sliced, and combined them with some brown sugar and cinnamon, bagged up a few batches and and put them in the freezer. A couple of months ago I tried making an apple pie using a Pilsbury crust and a crumble topping but the pie turned out like apple sauce with a mushy crust. Bleh! Steve told me that his mom makes the best pie crust, so she emailed it to me, and I tried the recipe last weekend. This pie turned out divine!!! It was the perfect consistency, gooey in the middle, flakey on the top and crispy at the edges. Add a little fancy vanilla ice cream to create a party!

Here's Steve's mom's pie crust recipe:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 6 - 7 tablespoons ice water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 pinch of baking powder

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Cut shortening into mixture with pastry blender (I didn't have a pastry blender so I improvised and used a bowl scraper thingy) until pieces are about bean to pea size. Add water one tablespoon at a time and gently mix with a fork. When the dough is all moistened, gather it up with your hands into a ball. Divide in half.....roll to about 1/8" thick. If I have time, I sometimes divide the dough into two balls, wrap in saran wrap and put in fridge for a while. (Not necessary, though).

I use unbleached flour, Crisco yellow butter-flavored shortening, and ice water. The flour, be it unbleached or regular really isn't important, but I think the other two things are. The one time I didn't use the yellow Crisco, I was disappointed, so I always use it.

Side Note: I've never used shortening before and I bought mine before I read this carefully. I am not sure the difference between yellow and not yellow...is this the container color or the actual color of the shortening? Anyway, I bought a blue container of Crisco and the shortening was white, so I guess I used the wrong one, but it was still yummy! 

Okay, back to recipe! I put ice cubes in a cup with the water before I start so the water gets very cold. Salt is important taste.

This makes a large amount for a double crust pie, but I like to be sure I have enough....hate coming up short. I just throw away any extra pieces. If you want just a single crust, just cut the recipe in half.

With a double crust, I always brush the top crust with a little milk and then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it.

Bake for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees, or bake until its golden brown!

Enjoy!!

Sparkle

Got this beauty today:

And this sink yesterday:

Weeeee!

 

Food Allergy Strikes Again

I haven't had a food allergy incident for an entire year and I was beginning to think it was because I've avoided Reisling, my self-diagnosed culprit. Well, that all changed last night. I made dinner which consisted of:

• Roast turkey (breasts and thighs baked in the oven) - seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, and fresh sage, with a Knorr vegetable bouillon cube and a cup of water.
• Mashed potatoes with salt, pepper, butter, and whole milk.
• Gravy - made from pan drippings from turkey, whole milk, and corn starch.
• Salad - mixed greens, tomato, Gala apple, kidney beans, soy-ginger wonton strips, avocado
• whole milk to drink

All of this food is completely normal for me to eat. The only ingredient listed that I don't consume on a regular basis is the fresh sage. But, I have had it before and didn't get a reaction. I haven't had a glass of any type of wine in about a week.

 

My reaction started as it usually does 30-60 minutes after I eat with a bad stomach ache. Piercing stomach pain and diarreah along with nausea. Followed by an itchy throat, runny nose, hives on my chest and stomach (only three this time!), and a barely-swollen bottom lip.

 

I took one Bendryl and symptoms went away almost immediately. Then, sleep.

 

What gives?!