Uh, long time posting, eh?

It's been ages since my last post. Sorry. Super crazy at work and normal crazy at home. No time to get online. No time to take photos. No time to upload them if I did get around to taking them. Then I joined Facebook after a buildup of peer pressure. Ugh. But...

We went on vacation! (finally) We went on a cruise with Celebrity Cruise Lines——Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, Dominica, Grenada, Tobago, and Barbados. There is nothing in the world as lovely as the sand in Barbados. Nothing. Here are a few pics:

"Before" Pic

Here's the "before" picture of the bedroom. This is from the sales flyer when we originally bought the house, so none of furniture or decor is ours. They also took the curtains, which was quite alright with me.



It really wasn't all that bad, but the floral border and green trim/doors really started to wear on us after a while. So we stripped the border off, which had pink paint underneath. Surprise! So for several months, we endured white walls, six green doors, green crown and chair rail molding, and a dirty pink smear of paint near the ceiling and through the middle of the walls. We are VERY happy to be done with this project (see "after" photo, two posts back). Except for the door magnets. Then we'll be totally done.

Next stop on America's Slowest Home Makeovers? The living room...ugh. Below are the former owner's pic (sales flyer, striped furniture) and our current pic (maroon furniture, that's Ladybug chewing a rawhide bone on it, which is gross). And yes, the carpet is absolutely going to the curb. We've got the Pergo flooring already stacked and waiting.

Never ever...

...shop for auto insurance quotes online. One stinkin' form and I've received no less than 10 phone calls (home, cell, and office) and about 15 emails. The lesson here? Pick three reliable companies and call them directly.

Best Gift Ever!

It's not the money spent that counts, but the time and thought that went into it. DH gave me THE BEST gift this year. New curtains and pillows. We needed them anyway, but the "gifty" part was that he bought them and hung them, without me having to participate or think about it. That totally rocks :-)

And check out the new paint job? Rate my space! (and check out my new profile photo--I made the mask as a secret santa gift for a co-worker, but couldn't help trying it out first).

Soon!

Seriously, I have not given up on this blog, but I've been really busy. Nothing bad, just the usual craziness, accelerated by the holidays and a few home projects.

We've almost finished renovating the bedroom. Officially the slowest project ever. I'm not kidding when I say I painted that room for two months. No idea what my problem was. 2 coats of white ceiling paint, 2 coats of khaki wall paint, take down and paint 6 doors, paint inside closets, paint crown molding, chair rail molding and floor molding with 2 coats, retouch walls, retouch all the molding, rehang the doors, reinstall the Elfa closets...Oh yeah, and work full time and volunteer every weekend. It's all becoming more clear to me as I type and vent.

BUT! It's looks fab and will be complete once we find the perfect curtains. D-O-N-E. And then we start the living room. Aaargh!

(I'll post pics once the curtains are up.)

We finally got most of the Christmas decorations up and we're down to just cleaning up. I even had the sofa slipcovers dry-cleaned (yep, we're pulling out all the stops this year). We also swapped out some furniture so that we have real, honest-to-God end tables in the keeping room, not just old apple crates turned on their sides with a cloth napkin over them. One of the Ikea lamps broke, so I took it as a sign that this was the time to upgrade the space a little.

Anyway, I'll let y'all know how Christmas goes with the folks staying for about 4 days, hubby working night shift until February (oh, I forgot to mention that before--it's totally sucking), and the dogs driving me batty.

See you in a week or so ;-)

Field Trip

This afternoon our entire office closed for a few hours and we took a field trip. First stop was the Gallery Place metro station where we designed "station domination" ads for one of our clients. This means that every ad space in the station was purchased--over 150 locations, I believe. Next stop was a tour of the Verizon Center to view the interior signage we recently designed, including the jumbo-tron panel art. Last stop was lunch at Matchbox. Not a bad way to spend a Friday workday.

An Audience with the King

Do you know that feeling you get when your in the middle of something and you just know that, when it's over, it's going to have been a once in a lifetime experience, so you better suck up every moment of that experience, commit it to memory, and hold onto it tight? We saw B.B. King in concert last night and I am just awestruck. Without a doubt, his was the best performance I have ever witnessed. At 82 years old, B.B. and Lucille have withstood the test of time and, like a true legend, B.B.'s light has only grown brighter with the wisdom of experience.

Best song of the night? When Love Comes to Town, written for B.B. King by Bono when they toured together in 1987.

"I ran into a juke joint when I heard a guitar scream
The notes were turning blue, I was dazing in a dream
As the music played I saw my life turn around
That was the day before love came to town

When love comes to town, I'm gonna jump that train
When love comes to town, I'm gonna catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town

I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice when they pierced his side
But I've seen love conquer the great divide

When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that train
When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town"

B.B. King’s comment to Bono in Rattle and Hum? “You a mighty young man to be writing such heavy lyrics.” At the concert last night, he added, "I am Love. This is my story."

Protesting Poor Protest Posters

Who's marching outside my window this lovely afternoon? No idea. They are dancing down the street to some amplified (distorted) music. They are carrying signs. One reads "SDS". One reads "I-69". There are longer 4-person banners, but the people are all jumbled up so it's unrecognizable. They are such a small group, that they are completely surrounded by police on bike patrol, like a blue snow-fencing on wheels.

They're really young, so maybe their civil disobedience skills will improve with age. Seriously, they could take a lesson from the Falun Gong folks who protest down K Street in formation with a fully uniformed (with hat feathers and instruments) marching band.

(BTW, here's a link about SDS and I-69. The signs were good enough for me to Google, so maybe I'm not giving them enough credit: Funk The War)