... from me, (and from google - so cute!)
Wishing you all little bits of happiness today. May you all have someone to jumprope with.
And special happy wishes to my wifey on her birthday - Love you, Liz!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
let there be light! {part 2}
The bathroom. is. beautiful.
It took far longer than initially expected, but things are looking goooood now! If you remember from my previous post, the lights were off center and ugly. So my mission was to cover over the right-hand junction box (which took many layers of spackle but patience was key) and then modify the light fixture's mounting plate to accommodate off-center wiring and mounting. Here's the before:
After spackling about 5 layers (and sanding once or twice in between) the right side was looking like this:
I then started to focus on the left - the power source for the new fixture. With the help of Adam's dad, we had extra holes drilled in the left of the mounting plate to accommodate hanging the fixture skewed from the junction box. I made marks on the right for additional heavy-duty drywall anchors and mounting to the stud.
OK so there wasn't actually a stud there, but some mysterious metal strip running along the drywall which the studfinder reacted to.. hence all the extra investigatory holes. Owell more drywall anchors will do.
After some sanding and three layers of paint, things finally started looking better:
And once that paint dried, we were ready to mount! Finallyyyy the final product (sorry about the weird color balance.. taking photos of lights isn't the easiest):
And also, some long-overdue beauty shots of the bathroom, including the new towel rod (gifted from Mom - leftover from the Baltimore home renovation), newly-painted cabinets with new handles, and assorted glass containers for makeup.
If any of you remember my post about painting chevrons way back, I did try it but didn't feel I had enough continuous wall for it to really read, so I went with the solid peach / pink.
ps. Adam uses the other bathroom so the pink and large display of makeup don't bother him at all. In fact he never comes in here haha
To recap, the before and after:
It took far longer than initially expected, but things are looking goooood now! If you remember from my previous post, the lights were off center and ugly. So my mission was to cover over the right-hand junction box (which took many layers of spackle but patience was key) and then modify the light fixture's mounting plate to accommodate off-center wiring and mounting. Here's the before:
After spackling about 5 layers (and sanding once or twice in between) the right side was looking like this:
I then started to focus on the left - the power source for the new fixture. With the help of Adam's dad, we had extra holes drilled in the left of the mounting plate to accommodate hanging the fixture skewed from the junction box. I made marks on the right for additional heavy-duty drywall anchors and mounting to the stud.
OK so there wasn't actually a stud there, but some mysterious metal strip running along the drywall which the studfinder reacted to.. hence all the extra investigatory holes. Owell more drywall anchors will do.
After some sanding and three layers of paint, things finally started looking better:
And once that paint dried, we were ready to mount! Finallyyyy the final product (sorry about the weird color balance.. taking photos of lights isn't the easiest):
And also, some long-overdue beauty shots of the bathroom, including the new towel rod (gifted from Mom - leftover from the Baltimore home renovation), newly-painted cabinets with new handles, and assorted glass containers for makeup.
If any of you remember my post about painting chevrons way back, I did try it but didn't feel I had enough continuous wall for it to really read, so I went with the solid peach / pink.
ps. Adam uses the other bathroom so the pink and large display of makeup don't bother him at all. In fact he never comes in here haha
To recap, the before and after:
food from the week
I've gotten much better at photo-documenting my life - or in this case, the food I make / eat - but have not been keeping up with the posting quite as well. Here are some of the dinners from this week:
bowtie pasta with sun dried tomato chicken sausage and sauteed zucchini and onions
&
spinach, apple, dried cranberry, walnut, and blue cheese salad topped with homemade balsamic vinaigrette
&
spinach, apple, dried cranberry, walnut, and blue cheese salad topped with homemade balsamic vinaigrette
tofu fried rice with green pepper, onion, zucchini, and corn
roasted sweet potatoes seasoned with rosemary and sea salt
&
burgers topped with caramelized onions and muenster cheese on Portuguese rolls
&
baby romaine salad topped with homemade balsamic vinaigrette and crumbled blue cheese
&
burgers topped with caramelized onions and muenster cheese on Portuguese rolls
&
baby romaine salad topped with homemade balsamic vinaigrette and crumbled blue cheese
arugula and goat cheese ravioli and panko-crusted chicken tenders topped with sauteed balsamic onions and baby portabello mushrooms
&
parmesan asparagus
&
parmesan asparagus
Saturday, February 4, 2012
let there be light!
The light situation in my bathroom is sad. The fixtures that came with the place are these dated oblong glass globes mounted on the wall (read: ugly). To make it worse, they are spaced really awkwardly. Check out the spacing (minus the glass, and yes the bulbs on the right have died):
Lucky for me, my dad is just the person to provide a solution. A while back he made this mock-up for me:
Basically I can mount a single fixture that is centered on the wall (!!!) and powered off of the left electrical supply. The one on the right won't be necessary and can be killed & covered. The fixture is this one he designed:
On Monday my new bathroom fixture showed up! I am so excited to install it, and have been busy prepping today. Hopefully next week these guys will be up and ready to show off.
Oh and I think I found a chandelier too! So much exciting lighting
Lucky for me, my dad is just the person to provide a solution. A while back he made this mock-up for me:
Basically I can mount a single fixture that is centered on the wall (!!!) and powered off of the left electrical supply. The one on the right won't be necessary and can be killed & covered. The fixture is this one he designed:
On Monday my new bathroom fixture showed up! I am so excited to install it, and have been busy prepping today. Hopefully next week these guys will be up and ready to show off.
Oh and I think I found a chandelier too! So much exciting lighting
Thursday, February 2, 2012
thursday night is...
...burrito night! It's a super-delicious weekly "tradition" we really love
ground turkey, onion, baby portabella mushrooms, green pepper, corn, plus lots of spices & seasoning
whole wheat tortilla, rice, shredded cheese
anddd fresh salsa, guacamole, and bbq sauce
The extra perk is the leftover turkey, veggies, and rice turn into weekend brunch (plus eggs, extra seasoning, and lots of cheese!) yum..
ground turkey, onion, baby portabella mushrooms, green pepper, corn, plus lots of spices & seasoning
whole wheat tortilla, rice, shredded cheeseanddd fresh salsa, guacamole, and bbq sauce