Hallway

So I have been working like a dervish on the entry way! And now it looks so beautiful!
So you have seen the before pictures, now for the after pics! Yeah, that's right...its done.


This is the hallway and stairwell, with the new trim.



This is next to the stair well...also with new trim.



Here is a comparison of the old paint and the new paint...much better now!

The bathroom is far from done, and far from begun. We are squarely in the middle where it is easy to rest, complacent, without progress, satisfied in good enough. What I mean, is that the bathroom is functional. We have a toilet that flushes, a sink that runs water and a tub that fills up….wait, it is true. We finally put a faucet in the tub! I bought this great Pegasus waterfall faucet we even got a matching diverter valve for the shower….which is still not actually installed. Well the piping is, but not so much the shower head.

This faucet is so luxurious!

Even though I am surrounded by drywall and plywood and have to use a step ladder to get into the tub (because someone hasn’t built the step he promised)…I feel like a queen when I shave my legs to a cascading wall of water! Soon we will have a new water heater so I can stop heating my tub roman style, by heating pots on the stove and pouring the boiling water in the tub. Though yes, it is very 19th century, and matches the house in tactical age…not the level of authenticity I have been going for.

What a girl will do for a hot bath!

So if you have been wondering what I have been doing with all my free time (Ha Ha)...well, I have been making a huge mess. I have been redoing our foyier. That has entailed, finishing the mudding on the dry wall next to the stairs. You may remember from when we first moved in, but that wall was a doorway, and we ripped that out and turned it into a wall. But it has been covered in hanging coats for so long, that we all forgot that it wasnt actually a finished wall....oops. So I finished the mudding on that. I patched the plaster. It wasnt too bad actually, just some small, fine line cracks...well most of them, there were a few that were more substantial...but they are much better now! I also had to strip off the old wall paper trim. I took a picture of that to show you what it looked like. Of all the wall paper in the house, this stuff is not the ugliest by a long shot! But it was trimming entire entry way. So I took a razer to it...there was something satisfying about that.

So now that I have made a huge mess...I will have to post the pics of the finished product. It looks beautiful.

Curtains

So we finally got curtains...it only took 2 years. But wait, they are special curtains...they are thermal curtains..oooooo
At least the blankets over the windows are gone!!

New Dishwasher

I was finally pushed to my limit! I had to buy a new dishwasher, ours was actually making our dishes dirtier. So I broke down and got one...and wow is it beautiful! It cleans, it looks pretty, it matches our fridge, it even has wracks to hold wine classes! For the first time ever I can wash my china NOT by hand! I am in love and his name is Frigidair pro! Le sigh!

Toronto Trip pt. 1

Yeah, I know I have been a huge slacker. But I am finally getting up some of the pics from toronto. We had a great time! These are the pics from hanging out at Carrie's house and then Josh and Kristina's place. They have a great place, by the way, and as you can see from the pics, we had way too much fun!

NYC with Dana

In September Dana and I finally got to make a trip to NYC! For the first time since I have started with Disney, I got to visit our NYC office and meet the Prepress. The Prepress are the people I work with everyday. We talk on the phone multiple times a day. Dana use to joke that she spoke to them more than her own husband! HA! Yeah, sometimes I feel that way too. =)

Visiting the office was great. Everything was in boxes because the office was moving to White Plains two weeks later...no I haven't been to White Plains yet. Give it another 2 years and I will be allowed to leave for that trip! LOL! I finally met Tisha, who is AWESOME!, and who is the NY side of the production department. I met Kelly, who use to be my prepress contact person, but who abandoned me for a different prepress. =) I do miss her cynicism. (Love you kelly!)

We went to lunch with the girls and had a great time. Tisha took us to a really good Mexican restaurant in the city...best guacamole I have ever had! They had this funny wall of water with little diving guys . I had to take pictures.

After lunch we went to prepress. They live inside the ESPN magazine office. Wow, is EPSN different than our office in Noho. First it is way more manly. Sports and trophy's and testosterone everywhere. They have basketball hoops on the wall and a score board that I assume is not actually keeping score of anything. But you never know, those sports types are pretty competitive! So after being blown back by the world of sports magazines...let me put it this way, Socktopus and Fun Finger Food for Four Year Olds would be topics that need a glossery. So after walking through ESPN, we went into the cave of prepress. It is this tiny little room filled with computers and scanners and people..and I am pretty sure a colony of Gnomes lives under one of the desks! But I finally got to put a face to the people I talk to every day. Jackie is my primary contact person. She use to be known as the "new Kelly." But she has her own identity now. Most of that was PTSD from Kelly's departure. We have had some therapy, heart to heart talks, some prozac and we have all adjusted. Ha ha....seriously though Jackie kicks ass!

Dana and I had a great trip. We spent a lot of time talking about what my world will be like without here....sad, but manageable. I miss her terribly, but doing fine. Thankfully she comes into the office periodically, so I get to see her. =)

Well, check out the photos, sorry they were so long in coming.
Oh yeah, and if you are wondering about the random Grand Central photos....it was my first time there. So I was being a total tourist! I just couldn't help myself.
=)

Pics from ASU Orientation

Ok, here is my group! Starting from me, is Kyle, Ryan, Matt, Mike and Seo. This is the group of people who I will be working with for the next two years....and what is even better is I really like them! They are all smart and fun and I had a great time with them in Arizona and they have all already proven themselves to be invaluable team memebers.

This is our team picture. If you are wondering what we are doing, well, we are stepping on Kyle. Well, Seo and I are stepping on Kyle. If you are wondering why we are doing this, we are simulating the time when Kyle got escorted off a plane by the TSA. It was our unusual fact about our group that we shared with the class. But it was a really fun picture! Plus I get to step on Kyle, I am sure he did something to deserve it! LOL! just kidding....or am I????

Now these pictures are from our team building activity. Uh, yeah. So we had to come up with a musical medely and dance and sing to it. We did sing "We like big butts" by the always wonderful, Sir Mix-a-Lot...hence the booty shaking picture. We of course screamed "you gotta fight for your right"...hence the emphatic fists in the air. There was some Britney Spears, I think that is the "coy" finger on the cheek pic of me. Hey, it may not have been our finest hour, but at least we didnt sing nursery rhymes like most people! LOL!

These are some pics from the class room. All of us working together...yes on the floor. Honestly, it was the best place to be! Me asking, what I am sure is a brillant question * wink * And of course our group working fabulously together!

This is us at the closing lunch, wearing casual clothing again and being far too relieved that our case competition was over!

Here is a class photo. This is the gold group, which is half the class. The other half is called the Maroon group, but since I am not in that pic I didnt post it. Its my blog and I can be vain like that if I want to * wink *

You can always go back and read the Arizona blog from July to get some other details, but these were the pics sent to us from the school. Fun stuff! And now I am off to study for my first final!

Adam and Jen's trip to Mass

Adam and Jen's visit was awesome! We had such a good time with them, I just wish it could have been longer. Oh well, we will see them soon for Thanksgiving!

On Sunday night, Cassie and her parents (who were visiting) and her boyfriend Nick all came over for a BBQ. It was a lot of fun. We ate, we drank and we were generally merry...especially once we broke out the marshmellows!

On Saturday we took them to the Ceilidh House (pronounced Cay-lee). This is an Irish pub started by one of Dave's professor. The food is amazing and the atmosphere is great! We also ate, drank and were merry! Very Irish of us!

While we were at the pub, we were entertained by the strangest group. So I made a little video, because words can't really describe this band. Enjoy...

From Crackle: Irish Band

Oh yeah, Adam did some work too. He did an amazing job on our tries. Now they are all healthy and happy and you can even walk underneath them and not have to duck! What a burly guy!

After a little bit of tree trimming, we decided to eat, drink and be merry..in front of a fire. Do you see the theme for the weekend! We had a great time! I wish we were doing it all again this weekend!

Thor and Janet in Salem

Friends of mine from NM, Thor and Janet did a trip up the east coast this summer. So while they were on my side of the world, I met up with them in Salem. With them came their daughter Kari,whom I adore, and there friend Peter. He is from England and came over to spend time with them and make this trip. I really enjoyed meeting him.
It was so much fun to spend time with them walking through the Witchey mecca! We had great food and a great time. I wish they were here now. Well...at least I have the pictures.

How could we not go to the witch museum? I have expected to see wax effigies of me and my friends!

Ok, so neither Thor nor Janet were thrilled that I took these pictures, but at least I got pictures of them! Until now, my picture of thor was him with his hand in front of his face!

See, the new one is a much better likeness!

This is Kari in front of a very cool, and spooky, train set.

We went and ate at a great restraunt on the harbor called Finz. So we had to be silly with the fish out front...but the food was very yummy!