Day 3 and 4

Yikes! A late movie did me in on crossing off items from my monster list yesterday.

1. Run 25 miles: 14 more miles to go!

3. Organize master closet: Done!... for right now, an Ikea trip definitely still needed to finish her off... maybe a crazy color of paint... okay, okay, done for now, will revisit over summer break for sure.

10. Finish half bathroom: Done! I'm in *love*, pics to come

14. Try a few new recipes: went browsing around online for some great ideas, stocked my kitchen yesterday, can't wait to try them out

15. Prep backyard for vegetable garden: um, yeah, if it stops raining (we have gotten like 2 inches in the past couple of days...)

16. Set up compost bin: the instruction manual for how to compost is a little overwhelming, but I'm sure it can't nearly be as hard as it seems (knock on wood)

17. Prep front yard for grass seed: see item 15

21. Donate items: dropped off 4 large boxes that were beginning to take over my living room!

Asparagus with baby carrots

Yet another veggie I have never bought: asparagus. I think I've only had it a few times in my life at all, but with Easter next weekend of course it was all over the end caps in the produce section. Wanting to make a quick (which often means vegetarian as well) meal, I mixed it with a few other veggie staples.

Saute with olive oil and a dash of water:

1 bunch of asparagus spears, cut in halves

2/3 pounds baby carrots

1 yellow onion, chopped into wide slivers

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Severed with mashed red potatoes with chives and cottage cheese with strawberry slices. I have been more frequently making dinners sans meat for a variety of reasons, but the best reason I've come to realize has been time and ease. Not having to defrost anything nor worry about cross-contaminating the cutting board has been a great surprise feature of going vegetarian.

Day 2

A bunch of little things got done. Of course, also a lot of other things not on the list got done. Sometimes don't you just want to add them retroactively just to have the visual gratification of crossing them off too?

5. Organize under-the-stairs closet: Done! (not too much in there right now, but still much neater!)

11. Set up guest bedroom: cleaned out, just need to set up bed and make it

12. Finish unpacking and organizing remaining items in the garage: down just to two boxes.

19. Steam clean couches: Done!

20. Order moving announcement: Done!



Not on list

Replant giant palm that lives in our living room

Hang living room artwork

Organize hall linen closet (man, I thought this one was on the list! Darn it!)

Clean out and organize "important papers" filing cabinet

Day 1

Not a bad start.

1. Run 25 miles & 24. Try a few new running loops: 19.5 miles to go

10. Finish half bathroom: completed touch-up painting, want to install hardware tomorrow

13. Assemble barbecue and try out: half assembled, think they included the wrong screws, project on hold (darn it!)

17. Prep front yard for grass seed: oh boy, going to have to put in a few more hours than just an afternoon

19. Steam clean couches: one down, one to go

22. Get library card and set up online request list: check!

9 days, 20 projects

As with every break, I spend the weeks leading up to it dreaming and planning of all I want to accomplish. Having just moved into our first home six weeks ago, this spring break is no different. Especially with our first house guests coming into town next weekend! I always seem to make overly ambitious lists, but here it goes:

1. Run 25 miles (crazy I know, but this will help keep me motivated for everything else)

2. Register for 1/2 marathon (I'm excited, it's going to be an women-only event!)

3. Organize master closet

4. Install new towel bars in master bathroom

5. Organize under-the-stairs closet

6. Install under-the-sink pull-out trays in kitchen (love, love, love little features like this)

7. Install hall lights (there's three of them; I'm going to hope they don't warrant their own line item)

8. Install dining room chandelier

9. Finish demo of hall bathroom and clean out (I'm going to have to be realistic with this project, as much as I can't wait to start tiling)

10. Finish half bathroom (only a few things left- touch-up paint, hook up sink, install backsplash)

11. Set up guest bedroom

12. Finish unpacking and organizing remaining items in the garage (those last few random boxes are always the hardest to unpack, aren't they?)

13. Assemble barbecue grill and try out

14. Try a few new recipes

15. Prep backyard for vegetable garden

16. Set up composting bin

17. Prep front yard for grass seed

18. Wash both cars (praying for an afternoon of sun sometime this week)

19. Steam clean couches (wanted to do this right after moving... yeah, didn't happen)

20. Order moving announcements (WAY overdue...)


Okay, I've thought of a few more...

21. Donate items (amazing how many things you pack and move, but unpack to realize you really don't need it anymore)

22. Get library card and set up online request list (yes, I'm one of those who hogs up all the hot new releases before they hit the shelves :)

23. Update iPod running playlist

24. Try a few new running loops

25. Take before and after photos of all these house projects to aid in the shameless bragging that will occur in this blog in the coming weeks:)


Okay, now I'm really done.

Fresh basil, tomato, and tuna over penne

One of my favorite things about spring is all the fresh veggies to buy not available (or not ridiculously priced) during winter. Herbs are one of them. Here's what I cooked up with the season's first batch of basil.

Saute the following in a bit of olive oil for the length it take for the pasta to cook:

1/2 cup of fresh basil, chopped

4 Roma tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

1/2 cup sprouts

1/2 a cucumber, deseeded and julienned

1 can of tuna, drained

Served over whole wheat penne, sprinkled with some mozzarella. Two servings.

Cabbage over Japanese Noodles

I bought my first whole green cabbage this week, and some teriyaki take-out the other night inspired me to attempt my own yakisoba-style noodles, but much healthier.

I simmered the following with a drizzle of olive oil and a teriyaki sauce for about 20 minutes:

1/2 head green cabbage, chopped

3 celery ribs, diagonally cut

3 carrots, diagonally cut

3 green onions, diagonally cut

1 yellow onion, sliced into long pieces

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced

Served over Japanese noodles. Sprinkled with sesame seeds and drizzled with more sauce. Two servings.

Bold Stripes for my Itty Bitty Bathroom

Long before we purchased our house, I fell in love with the striped bathroom Sherry and John did from Young House Love. But before you actually have your house, all the great ideas you have mingle into one great mesh because you never know which one's will actually work with your future house.

Then here we were. With a house that didn't have a drop of color on the walls. With a complete blank slate. With an itty, bitty half bath. With a new owner a little too addicted to the DIY Network and decor blogs. I wasn't quite sure what I would do, but I wanted do something memorable (it's the bath all visitors would see, afterall). I had nearly forgotten about it until a recent perusing of their site.

The goods:

• 1 roll 1.5 inch Frog Tape (High tech painter's tape, blocks any bleeding, way better than blue painter's tape)


• 1 gallon light, vanilla-colored paint (Behr's Premium Ultra in Country Beige since it had primer built in)
  
• 1 gallon warm, sand-colored paint (Behr's Wild Honey)


• Level and straightedge (I used a 4-footer for the solid walls and a mini for behind the toilet, etc.)


• Tape measure, roller, brush, etc.

The plan:

I decided on the colors because well... they were on the same card. Big stripes in itself was quite a risky move for me, but two very similar shades would balance it out. I also plan on using these two colors in the hallway above and below a chairrail. I knew I wanted wide stripes to balance the small space and that I wanted to keep it simple. I measured the walls' height- 90 inches. I was going to paint the ceiling and walls the lighter color first then add stripes in the darker color, so I chose to have two smaller bands on the very top and bottom of the walls in the lighter color. Lastly, I kept it simple and figured I would keep my stripe widths simple, even inches (no 9 and 5/8ths for this girl). So here's what I came up with:

7 stripes each 11 inches tall (4 dark, 3 light) = 77 inches

90 inches - 77 inches = 13 inches (top and bottom band)

13 inches / 2 = 6.5 inches (each band)

Love, love, love my decision. The top and bottom bands, the extra wide stripes. We also happened to be replacing the toilet, mirror, hardware, and light, which with all that out of the way made the job much more possible.

Half Bath Before

During

Painting such similar colors forced me to be very careful. I did the corner portions first so I wouldn't mess up which stripe was which color. And as you can see I even marked each stripe with a D for darker in each corner too. Worked like a charm. No mistakes made:)

Still working on installing all the hardware and vanity. Hopefully, the true "After" shot will be here quickly with a total breakdown. For now, I am still smitten over my stripes.

A tale of two bathrooms

Our house has three bathrooms: a 5-piece master bath, a full hallway bath , and a half bath off the family room. All are teal :) The master bathroom will certainly be a large project down the road, but the other two I can't wait to get started on.

Hall bath

Redo: re-tile tub surround, tile floor, install new shower fixtures, towel rack, light fixture and mirror, install new vanity top, sink and faucet, and replace toilet. (Yikes, sounds like a lot when I list it out!)

Save: vanity cabinet, medicine cabinet, tub, and (maybe) shower doors

Design: light grey-blue walls (Behr's River Rock), brushed nickel hardware, tan tile, navy towels.

Half bath

Redo: install new towel rack, light fixture and mirror, replace counter top, sink and faucet, and replace toilet.

Save: vanity cabinet and hardwood flooring

Design: wide horizontal stripes (a la Young House Love) in cream (Behr's Country Beige) and light tan (Behr's Wild Honey), brushed nickel hardware, and tan or olive green towels.

And so we bought an ugly house

Well, not really. We love the outside. But it is definitely teal on the inside. Teal and untouched since being built in 1991. Okay, well the previous owners did adorn every single window in lovely pastel floral drapes, but other than that, not a single paint color, light fixture update, or even blade of grass.

But we LOVE it. Know why? Twenty years old + builder's grade = no guilt in ripping down and changing out things. Which we will be doing a whole heck of a lot. Oh yeah, this girl has some plans.

We really think we did the right thing and bought a house that we won't outgrow in five years, that's in a neighborhood filled with newer and bigger houses (hello, property value!), and that doesn't stretch our budget. All which made us love that teal even more because we saw past it.

We plan to attack some of the easier things first (lights, paint, curtains) before going after all that teal, so the color will be here for a few months, but I think it will make for better stories to tell years from now.


Here's a sneak preview of all that teal: