Friday, April 29, 2011

26 Easter

See how I did that there?

The Easter Bunny brought Alex a hula hoop. Combine that with it being Friday, add in a little
sunshine, and voila! You've got a party!



TGIF!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Here we come springtime!!!

Round one:  Team 26 East = ONE, terrible landscaping = ZERO!!  :)

After a year and a half of waiting for our baby spruce trees on the porch to come out of "dormancy"...we declared them dead on the scene last week and upgraded to some fuller, more alive-looking guys.  These boys came from CostCo's garden section and were a real bargain!


After we installed the beefy new dwarf spruces, we thought the end of the porch was awful bare so we picked up three 5' tall Arborvitaes...again from CostCo.  These guys were full and a deep green...and again, a bargain at less than $20/each!!!

Shot of the new/improved corner...notice the front flowerbed currently covered by weed barrier...ready and waiting...almost begging for some new shrubs or flowers.  Your turn is next!!

And finally a shot of the triumphant Queen Cherry Blossom!!!  Using our neighbor's yard cart, an old patio chair, a cherry tree limb downed by high winds (luckily the day before the city's springtime yard waste pickup!!), and a scrap of lumber (a.k.a. "wand") Queen C.B. assembled her chariot before being paraded around her kingdom (our house) by her humble servant (yours truly).  She was pretty darn pleased with herself.  :)  

Royalty or not...we think she's pretty dang cute!  ;)

Sunday, April 24, 2011

April Showers

The gals in my family threw me a really incredible bridal shower last weekend.  The food was amazing, including some of the most delectable desserts I think I have ever had the pleasure of devouring.   The cake pops --- OMG.

Check out this beautiful party that I feel incredibly blessed to have been the guest of honor for....



D-lish!!!!


okay, these desserts were ridic! 



Mom and her babies.


Me and mine.


The Lynch Ladies.


Jill, Me & Stacey


Iris & Natalie


Alex and her cousins; Avery & Christian


Shannon, Cindy, Debbie, Me, Janelle, Ali & Marlene


Mom & Char


Ali, Deb & Marlene


Avery :) 


Mom, Me & Aunt Martha



Noah. :)





Just wanted to give a shout out to the lovely ladies who made it all possible and share a few shots from this fantastic day!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Back Up the Party Bus

Before we blink and it's the month of May, we wanted to back up a bit and talk about March.  I had a big birthday this year.  You may have caught that in a previous post; and while I was dramatic about the milestone, I have to say it was one of the better birthdays I have had the privilege of celebrating.

You know what we like: Good food. Good friends.  And when those two things come together, we really, honestly couldn't be happier.

This story has a happy ending, but as dramatic as I was feeling, there was additional drama for the evening in store, or so I thought.

As we prepared to leave the house to eat, we got a frantic call from our friend Rochelle.  Rochelle is the mom of a little guy in Alex's class and we met her and her family this past summer before school began.  Meeting and making new friends is always pretty rad, and Rochelle and her fam totally fit the bill.  So when she called to let us know that her basement was flooding and she couldn't get the water turned off we didn't think twice about postponing dinner to race to the rescue.

Evan --- what a guy.  He raced around the house looking for the proper tools and with those in hand we raced out the door.   When we got to Rochelle's and there was no water to be found, I was completely moved to tears.  Walking into their home, I was greeted by master plan that had been unfolding for days--- a surprise birthday party dinner, for little ol' dramatic and now, very emotional me.



Having never had a surprise party, I can now officially say it has to be one of the most amazing things.  Somewhere, over the course of  several days, people I love were scheming and planning and sneaking around to make this happen, taking extra time to fine tune the details. It was beyond words.  I was truly moved and incredibly impressed with everyone involved.



Suddenly turning 30 didn't seem so bad.  If this is what the year has in store (and it looks to be) then I have to say, nothing could make me happier!  Really good food.  Really good friends.  And my amazing family.  It was a happy birthday, to me.  I mean, how can you argue with a day that involves all that?  Add in some red velvet cake and snapping this next photo at the end of the evening, and it was the perfect day to celebrate being alive and all the little wonderful gifts that come along with it.


So beautiful, these two, if I do say so myself.  

We continued the celebration into the weekend when a few friends joined us to do a little more celebrating.













Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Earth Day

Around here we try to be fairly green.  We make an effort to recycle as much as possible.  All you need is one little, blue bin for the city recycling guys to stop by...



This impressive collection of recyclable goods was photographed just a couple of weeks before we moved into the house. 

We also like to think of ways to be more eco-friendly whenever possible.  Lights?  Who needs 'em?  Our home gets some amazing natural sunlight thanks to an abundance of windows.  We're thankful for that when we can save on electricity consumption.  Not so much when it comes time to replace them...or cover them with window treatments (which we FINALLY started doing --- more on that later).

Last fall we replaced a 40 ---yes 40!---year old furnace with a high-tech tankless hot water heater and hydronic air handler.  What's a hydronic air handler you ask?  I'll let Evan explain that one at some point, I am still trying to figure it out. :)

But word on the street is, it's cool. And it kept us warm all winter long.

You already know about our (my) obsession with all things secondhand.  Craigslist has become a staple for furnishing everything from amazing chairs to amazing partners.  It might be a small effort, but it many ways, it feels fab to find a great deal and give things a second life.

Either way, we know there are a million more things we could be doing to help protect the environment and minimize our global footprint, but these are just a few small ways we practice being green in our yellow home. 

In an effort to celebrate Earth Day, we thought we'd share this pretty amazing video, shot from our front porch, last spring.  It incorporates a strong shout-out to mother nature and her impressive natural abilities all the while cleverly keeping the message of recycling......well.....afloat!

Enjoy!

 


We should mention that we did go after and recover it eventually...two blocks up.  :)

Happy Earth Day!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Jenna Jellyfish

Alex wants to change her name. 

I think all little girls go through this at some point.  I know I did.  Ellie.  I wanted to be Ellie.  Then Stephanie for awhile.  Then I was happy with Kelly.  At some point, I think she'll be okay with Alex.  At no point will I be okay with Jenna Jellyfish. 

She cried.

"Why?"

It's a tough question to answer in terms a 6 year old would understand.

"Because." 

More tears.

Okay, Jenna Jellyfish,  Can we call you JJ?  JJ, I can deal with. 

She nods. Then falls asleep. 

Phew. 

  



 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

We're Alive....

...we think. 

We've been so busy lately it's as if we have ceased to exist!  We have touched base with friends in the last 2 days that we haven't spoken to since the Super Bowl!  So not okay! Anyway the hustle and bustle of everyday life has gotten the better of us and in the past few weeks we have traveled to New York City, traveled to Chicago, held some babies, taken apart the staircase to our third floor guest quarters, began reassembling said staircase ---oh yes that is currently happening!--- ordered wedding invites, bought a wedding dress (!!!!!), bought a smart phone (life is forever changed) interviewed a few more caterers, drank a keg of Boulevard Irish Ale, planted trees, painted quarter round, worked, worked and worked some more, fed some cats, learned to sing a few Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga songs in French, and done about a bajillion (real word alert!) other things. 

Needless to say, it's been a busy month so far and time just keeps flying! 

We of course know that we owe an update on all the items mentioned above and ---here it is again--- a bajillion other things and we assure you dear readers, those updates are coming!  So, just stick with us as we catch our breath, scratch a few more things off the to-do list and take a few moments to see what we've captured pictures of, so we can report back and share them all with you. 

It's already April!  Did we miss something?  It seems like we did - yeah, March!




So break out your sunglasses folks, spring is upon us and we barely saw it coming!
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