Bad Timing

We are notoriously late for things. For social gatherings or other appointments, we usually arrive 15 minutes late.  I know, that's really bad, right.  We lovingly refer to our chronic lateness as "hammertime." Our new year's resolution this year was to try harder to make it to things on time.

 The other night we made it to a dinner party 10 minutes late.

 Obviously, we've shown improvement.

Earlier this week, we did a little shopping at Home Depot. We've noticed that our lawn is starting to show large patches of bright green tufts of grass. We also noticed that some of our neighbors have already started spring maintence on their lawns. So, we decided to get to work too.  Besides, we could count this as the perfect opportunity to be on top of things.  For once we wouldn't be late!  We came home with a new lawnmower (a beautiful, red Toro), a blower, and some other lawn care necessities.

Unfortunately our timing was off again. We weren't late.  We were early.  Our beautiful new lawnmower was assembled and ready to go, but Mother Nature had other ideas.  Just as we were ready to try out this new beaut, it started doing this in western Washington:

The lawn will have to wait.

 Oh, and just for fun, look who was upset that I left the house to go snap some photos.

Letter

Best part of my weekend?  

Getting this in the mail from a former student.

Dressing Up the Dresser (#1)

A few weeks ago, I was shopping at one of my favorite local furniture shops, that specializes in vintage/used furniture, and I found this:

I loved the size and the lines of the piece, but the shabby chic look didn't really go with my vision for the entryway.  I have a lot of plans for the entryway, such as adding a small dresser (cue the happy dance for finding one!), putting up a large mirror, purchasing a colorful rug, getting an umbrella stand, and create an area for shoes.  Now, that I nabbed a dresser, I just had to decide how to make this gem fit into my overall scheme.  Although fun, the shabby chic looks just had to go.

 I hauled the dresser into my garage, sanded the heck out of it and painted it with some glossy black paint.  The new paint and drawer pulls seem to fit the space better and go with the rest of the house.

When I was out in Colorado, I splurged on some mercury glass knobs that I've been eyeing for months.  I finally had an excuse to purchase them.

Here's a more recent photo with the view down the hall.  We (by "we," I mean Noa, of course) hung the mirror on the wall and I put my Valentine's flowers on display.  Don't look too closely or you'll see that I'm trying to hide from being in the photo.  Eventually, a colorful rug will help liven up the space, but for now the fresh flowers gives it some pop.  Now that I look at this area more and more, wouldn't you agree that the space should regularly have fresh flowers in it?  Hint, hint Noa!  

Valentine's Day & Adventures in Thai Cooking

First of all, it's good to be back.  The blog is back in business and I've got lots to post about.  First of all, Valentine's Day, although very untraditional (yeah, the day started by meeting with our tax preparer) was great.  Noa and I decided to forgo the usual restaurant dash and cook at home.  Last time I was at Barnes and Noble, I picked up a Thai cookbook and we decided to try out some of our favorite dishes.  Considering we eat Thai food every couple of weeks, it seemed like a good plan.  

We started with the classic dish, Pad Thai.  Although it seems simple enough, there was lots of prep work, including soaking noodles for an hour....

....shelling and grinding up peanuts....

...and creating tamarind paste.  I didn't have a kitchen strainer, so I cut a piece of screening from a roll, cleaned it, and used that instead.  It seemed to work okay.

Then we mixed the ingredients (chicken, tofu, garlic, sauces, eggs, noodles, veggies, etc) in a large pan and let it cook.

Here is the final product.  I tried to form a heart with the limes.

After tasting and much discussion, we decided on a couple of things...

- it definitely wasn't as flavorful as we had hoped, although sprinkling more chilis on top helped.

- the noodles were all wrong.  I followed the recipe by purchasing rice noodles.  However, I think I need to look for specific Thai rice noodles.

- we added the roasted peppers on top and we should have cooked it in.

- I'd use less noodles and add more sauce and onions.

We also tried to make green curry with chicken.  This dish, although less complicated, still was a challenge. 

Again, it wasn't as flavorful as we had hoped.  Maybe with some tweeks, we'll be able to perfect the recipe.  Our plan is to compare our original recipe with others and hopefully make a perfect Pad Thai and curry dish to enjoy regularly.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, we did enjoy a sweet dessert of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.  Besides, toasting all the lovely-dovey stuff, we toasted to our culinary adventures of the night and those ahead!  Cheers!

Technical Issues

There comes a time in the life of a blog when things must change and things here need to change.  The free space, provided for my photos for the Team Juloa blog is all used up, and I'll need to purchase more space in order to keep blogging photos.  Unfortunately, I've encountered some technical issues in trying to do so.  Grrr.....  

I'm working on trying to resolve this issue.  I deeply apologize for the delay.  Hopefully, the blog will be back to normal soon!

Sleek Shelves

We recieved our Florida shipment (all the rest of our stuff that was in storage for the past 4+ years) recently and as the packers left our home, we realized something right away.  Our home was being taken over by BOOKS!  We had piles and piles of them everywhere.  Initially, we went through the piles and weeded out what we could, but we just couldn't part with most of them.  We were still left with huge piles along the long wall of our living room.  I couldn't live like this.  It's hard enough not having furniture to fill a room, but now we had piles of books lining the walls.  Not cool.  I knew we needed shelves that could hold all of them, but wouldn't break the bank and still be somewhat stylish.  Our solution was to take a drive over to Ikea and snag a couple of these:

Originally we were thinking of getting the larger version of this shelf to place on against a large wall, but then Noa suggested getting two of these smaller versions and putting them along the half-walls in our large (and pretty empty) living room.  This is idea worked perfectly!  They almost look like built-ins.    

As you can see, I'm a big fan of arranging all those books in rainbow order.  I've always loved this trend.  It makes a shelf look so happy.

The other shelf has the books with brown, gray, black, and white spines.  I got to use some of my Okinawa and China treasures on this shelf (well, at least have them decorating a space instead of sitting on the floor).  Please excuse the empty frame and the stuff next to the shelf.  It's a work in progress.  I'm sure I'll be changing the decor over and over again.

I'm happy that all our books now have a place to call home!  And, now our living room finally has a couple of pieces of furniture.  Yeah!

By Popular Demand

Proof that retail therapy is extremely helpful....here's the truck after our shopping day in Denver.  Thankfully I had saved my Christmas money for this very day!

Comfort in Colorado

Our pal, Mike, recently left for a deployment with the US Army.  In order to ease the stress and sadness of him leaving, I traveled to Colorado to spend some time with his wife, Jess.

Although Mike's departure was sad, the trip had many highlights to keep things happy and enjoyable.  Jess got to open her "Spouse's Deployment Kit" full of goodies.  Presents always help keep things happy!

There were spa treatments, including massages, manicures and pedicures.

Plenty of shopping ensued in downtown Denver.

We enjoyed time with friends, like dinner with Rob.

Shopped, ate, and chatted with Jen.

And of course,  hung out with Sargy, who is always a big cutie!

As usual, the trip ended much too soon.  Isn't it great when friends can be there for each other in good times and bad?  

Welcome Wreath

Remember all those wreaths that were left in the house when we bought it?

They looked like handmade wreaths.  I couldn't justify throwing them away, but I just didn't know how to incorporate them into my decor.  I finally decided how to best utilize them.  One went to Goodwill.  One got mailed off to Jess.  The last one went to my workshop in the garage for a makeover.

I grabbed this.

Sprayed the front...

....and then the back.

After it dried, I popped it on the front door for a little bit of sparkle at our entrance (the picture doesn't really do it justice...it's actually a nice, sparkly silver and pops against the blue of the house and the door).  Now I just need to get some colorful planters and the front is complete!

The Great Couch Debate

Wanna know something sad?

We don't own a couch.  Never have.

We have a giant armchair with an ottoman and then a futon.  Yeah, that's right, a FUTON.  As in boy-isn't-college-great-why-don'-t-you-sleep-over-on-my-futon futon.  Okay, okay, it's not that bad.  It's actually a pretty nice one, compared to others, with a solid wood frame and a high-quality mattress.  We originally bought the futon when we were newlyweds and living in a one-bedroom apartment.  It was a smart choice and has served us well throughout each of our moves. 

But, it's time for us to grow up and invest in a real couch.  For one thing, the futon doesn't work so well in our space.  Even though it's comfortable to sleep on, the futon is not a good substitute for a couch and we prefer sitting in the chair instead since the futon isn't as comfortable.  The new couch will go in exactly this spot in our "den" (not to be confused with the giant furniture-less room, that will now be referred to as the "living room").  

We decided on a few important details right away:

- the couch should be a dark, neutral color so that it will pop against the light color wall and work with different decorating schemes in this house and future homes

- Noa insists on comfort

- I want a stylish couch, not the overstuffed variety that sucks you in and makes it impossible to get out of.

- It needs to be reasonably priced

The hunt began.....first  with some cheaper couches at World Market, like this one, that caught my eye...

....but were extremely uncomfortable.  And, I'm not a big fan of microfiber.  I realize that the material makes cleaning a breeze, but I don't like seeing the "scuff marks" all over.

We checked out a furniture store in Bremerton called Arnolds, which was recommended to us for quality furniture.  They did have some nice pieces and we both loved this couch (I'd cover the large pillows, as those aren't quite my style).

But, the $1300 price tag was a bit steep and the couch is kinda on the small side.  

Another local store called Port Madison Home, on Bainbridge Island, sells some beautiful pieces.  This one was not only styled nicely, but also extremely comfortable.  And, bonus: there were lots of fabric choices to select from.  I especially love the nailhead trim on the bottom.

Sadly, this one is priced around $2,000 on sale.  I think it's a pretty high-quality couch that will last a long time, but I don't think we can afford that right now.....especially with other big items in the budget right now (like a washing machine...sigh.....).  

It's too bad, because I'd like to support the local businesses, but the larger, chain stores seem to have the better prices.  Like Macy's, where there is a sale on pretty much everything right now.  We like this one, especially the clean lines and the great price tag.

But, I think it's too modern for our space.  It'll clash with our fireplace.

Macy's also has this one, which I love in the green, but would most likely order in a gray fabric.  Makes me think of the 1950s!

I love the lines and the vintage, cute look about it.  It's pretty comfortable, although not the most comfortable couch on the market.  The price is right.....but I just can't decide!  I think I'll be visiting these stores a few more times this week before making the final decision.

Winter Wonderland

We are getting a little snow today.  At times it was coming down pretty hard, with big, fluffy snowflakes.

I love it because it reminds me of living in New England.

The dogs love it because it gives them an excuse to spend the day in front of the fire.

I'm hoping we get some accumulation, but so far, it's not looking like we'll get much more than a dusting.  Too bad, because I would love to spend the day in front of the fire too!