State of the Union

Well people, it is official....I Moved!! I know what your thinking, " Are you nuts?" The answer is yes, I am, clearly. 


SuperMoto and I are fine and dandy for those of you who have been wondering. I am just in desperate need of moving forward in my life. Ever since my hand surgeries and therapy I have been stagnating. 


Well, not anymore my friends. I took a giant leap of faith and here I am, on the island with the wonder dog unpacking. Can you believe this? I can hardly believe it myself. 


The one negative is that SuperMoto has a few more years of work to go before he retires so we are going to have to find ways to connect alternatively until then. Shock of shockers we are doing something weird. We will do it though because we can and we are determined. 


Already I have dates for music in the park, some possible work, and a BUNCH of social engagements. My calendar is filling up. YIPES!

Do We Really Want TV? Part 4 WE GOT IT~!

Ok people, in case I forgot to update you, we got tv finally. I don't want to tell you the secret incase direct tv googles themselves, this blog comes up, we are associated, and then the local business that hooked us up and broke all the rules will be exposed. 


Bottom line...WE GOT IT! WAHOO!!

Do We Really Want TV....Part 3

So, we still don't have tv. The dude came Friday, busted ass, left defeated, said he would be back and didn't come back. UUGGHH!

We have to take more trees down or have more topped. Not sure yet which it is as the tv dude and tree dude have to time it right and get back to the house together. Hmmm...

I am getting IRRITATED!

Do We Really Want TV? Part 2

Option #1 Topping the Trees

See those two tall trees in the middle there. Well, they are no more. Now they are missing 15 feet at the top of each. A lovely young man came by this morning, literally hopped up one tree fast as a bunny, hacked off the top of the one that he had climbed, had his buddy/partner person pulley up to him a pole saw, and then hacked off the top of the other tree. Apparently the satellite that is associated with the HD needs to look exactly where the tops of those trees were. So, they are no more. It cost a tad bit less than what I quoted you yesterday but not much. SO, there goes our savings. I suppose the HD for life will pay for the tree topping someday. Someday in the far distant future, when we are old and grey and have forgotten all about this ordeal.

Now we have the trees topped, the 8 foot pole in the ground and tomorrow the dude is coming to install the dish and the dvr etc. SHEESH! I hope we like tv. We better!!

Do We Really Want TV? Part 1

Did I tell you that we were thinking about getting TV this trip. I am not sure about in the tiny town of Friday Harbor, but out here on the West Side (as they call it) we only have satellite options.  We have two options...

Clearly those are both satellite tv options. We have cable in California. Now we need not only satellite but HD satellite. Did you know that instead of hitting one satellite HD has to hit three. Have I mentioned that we are in the middle of a forest and up against a ridge? 

Direct TV was offering such a great deal. Super Duper Discount! YEAH!! FREE HD for a LIFETIME!! YEAH!! $100 off something or other! YEAH!! REBATE this or that. YEAH!!

When the gentleman came out from the little local  wireless/satellite tv store to do the free site evaluation, he said that we were in a super bad spot for satellite tv and that we had one of three options. Option #1 is have one to three trees topped at the cost of $200 per tree top. Hmmmm, there goes our super deal. Option # 2 is put up a 20 foot telephone pole and put the 35lb. HD satellite dish on top of it in the middle of our yard.  Doing that would mean bring in equipment, digging a 5 ft. hole, having the heavy equipment lift the huge telephone pole and put it in the ground, etc. Hmmm, there goes our super deal. 

Option #3 was to not have HD tv ever and hope that the site for the regular tv satellite worked where it was at already. 

So, there we are with our options. #1 $600+ in tree topping, option #2 $1000 in equipment and man power and days to put in the telephone pole or wasted $$ on HD tv's when we can't have hd service. What did we choose? Tune in to see!!

It's Time To Load Up...

The time had come to fill the cabinets. As you can see I still have a mess on my hands. No worries, it will all be put away before I go. 
I am going to have to order more shelves for my cabinets. There are too few shelves for as tall as they are, both in the upper and lower sections. I am having fun placing things in the cabinets and dreaming about all of the different dinners and parties we will have over a lifetime here on the island. 

Organization

All is right with the world my friends. I am starting to organize. Did you know that I have an obsession with drawer organizers? Well, I do. I am not the neatest person in the world but I do love organizational tools! 
Today is the first day of organization here at the new house. The cabinets are all in. The drawers and cupboards are ready to be filled. 


I found these nifty draw organizers at the container store that you cut down to size yourself and that divide out the drawers to your exact specifications. I realize as I am organizing that I had best wait to 'organize' all of the drawers as it would be best to have all drawer items here to get the exact specifications. I am looking forward to cooking in this kitchen. I can just picture it now. I will try to open every beautifully organized drawer needing something from every space in the kitchen. That might be a challenge but I think I can do it. I will attempt to make a meal opening every storage space in the kitchen and using at least one item from each space. 
YEAH RIGHT! 

The Mess & Who Get's To Clean It Up...

After taking SuperMoto to the ferry late last night this is what I awoke too. 


A BIG
FAT
STINKIN'
MESS!




There was no time to put anything away before he left,  so this is what it is. I am the putter awayer. 


I want to sit here and bitch to you about it but really I feel good about it for the most part. I get to see the fruits of our labor while he is out of town. I get to work more on the house. I get to live in this paradise. (minus the nightmare piles)


What more could I ask for?


What's a little clean up now and again? 


I am also pretty sure that if you asked him he would tell you that he would take clean up over what he is doing any day. 

I will methodically put things away and only gently complain as I am lucky to be here.

Splash Away...

Well, not yet really, but close. 


As you can see we have begun to lay the back splash tile. To date, it was the most fun project we have worked on together. SuperMoto and I started out the Sunday morning knowing that he would have to leave that night on the late ferry and be up all night. We had two potential projects, the back splash and the lighting that we were considering attempting. We went for the tile and boy was I glad that we did. 


We had so much fun. He did the corners and all of the cutting and I laid the long rows where I could reach and where no cutting was required. When I got to a spot where we needed a cut I moved on to a different spot and he came in behind me and did that piece. We worked like a well oiled tiling machine.


It went so fast. We got the big wall done and half of the small wall. All told we got about 75% of the tiling done in one morning. I am so happy. 

Now remember, this is tumbled travertine tile so it has to be grouted and then sealed with a seal enhancer. The sealing will take away the chalky white part and leave a right, varied, brown variety. I would say that the photos don't do it great justice but this isn't about you liking everything we are doing, it is about you seeing what we are doing as it really is. :)


These tiles are extremely rustic and uneven and it will give us a varied look to the grout line along with the variations in the stones themselves. We are so please! If I get brave, I might consider finishing the tile but I doubt it. After watching him do all those intricate cutes I have nearly given up on that idea. 

Knobs & An Engineer

DISCLAIMER: Are you an engineer or happen to be married to one or do you know my husband, SuperMoto? 


If you answered yes to any part of that question skip this blog and go on to the next one. PLEASE! I am not intentionally trying to offend anyone. Normal People Read On...


So, as you can see our knobs are on. The thing is that a NORMAL person would have zipped sipped and all 50, count them, ahhh 47, knobs would have been on with no problem. 


If you are an ENGINEER though this is like a life altering process with measurements and markings and adjustments and then measuring and marking and adjusting until you have marked all your fingers, measured to death and adjusted until your personality has been adjusted and then finally, you might drill. Or maybe you scratch your head and hold your chin in your fist and mutter, "hmmmmm," and start all over again. Maybe you will mill over the measurement vs. line intersection process to see which is more accurate. 


Ok, so in the end the knobs are installed perfectly. I think if there was some perfect way of measuring a perfectly straight line, like how the exact time in an atomic clock works, some perfect line measurer would certify my knobs as being in a perfectly straight line. There would be a ticker tape parade in SuperMoto's honor.


I am happy. It looks pretty!

Hanging Out & On

Look at what is 'hanging' out or should I say 'hanging on'? 


We worked until 12:30 am this morning getting these fine cabinets installed. 


The Uppers Are Installed!


I have to say "we" loosely because SuperMoto worked his bageezer off and I read a lot and assisted when it was time to do the hard labor. Well, I did mow but that is a story that you already know about so I am going to give up the mowing sob story in lieu of talking about the upper installation. 

We started to figure out the uppers the day before yesterday. Turns out, as all things have that we have some challenges. This EuroStyle cabinet doesn't have the frame to hide the undermount lights so SuperMoto had to rewire the wall at the last minute to accommodate them in a different manner. There are going to be four transformers hidden in upper spaces, some in cabinets and some in cubbies so there were challenges with wiring and outlets there as well. 


Then there was the fact that the top of the cabinets are out there in mid air without a ceiling to mask them. From the landing above you look right down on this space and would be able to have a keen view of the perfections or imperfections of the height and alignment in general of the cabinets. Not to mention how heavy they are and how hard it was getting them into place to secure them on the wall. Super Moto made a little stand that was close to the height of the cabinets that we lifted each one onto and that carried the weight of the cabinets while we fussbudget around and got them level and straight and all that mandatory stuff. 


We are behind schedule and happy that what we have accomplished looks good and is done right. Now if only we could achieve looks good and done right faster....that would be grand.  

The Legend of Weedy Hollow

So, I know, you must be thinking that we gave up and sold the house to the highest bidder and are drinking margaritas and eating quesadillas in Mexico by now. You couldn't be more wrong, but we have been busy. 


We are at the house now. SuperMoto has been here a week and is leaving tomorrow night for a venture out for work and then will be back in a week and a half. I will be here working in the Hollow attempting to de-weed. 
Yes, you heard me right, de-weed. (if there is such a word) 

We are overrun with weeds. When we got here our drive was almost completely covered over with tall weeds. There are sections of our property where the 'natural grass' is five feet high. Of course that is just a high spot. The majority of it looks like this. It is about three feet high, super thick, and wet. 


I started mowing a few days ago and there is so much of it and it is so wet it takes me forever, not to mention the rocks and the tiny pieces of wood that I am mowing over. That is an entirely different story for sure. 


The one good thing to come out of this is that SuperMoto generally does different yard-work than mowing because the mower is the only outdoor tool that I can pull the starter cord on. So, by default, I am the mower. If I mow as much as is going to be required on a seasonal basis I will lose the extra and then gain some muscles as the terrain is a challenging and it is basically like climbing up hill repeatedly pushing a weight belt in front of you instead of wearing it! Wahoo for weeds!!

Let There Be Light...Literally

It is finally time to really address the lighting. We have been in process for a while now, much to the dismay of the lighting designery person. Well, I shouldn't really say that, as he isn't complaining at all and has shown us nothing but patience. But, if I were him I would be frustrated. 


We are going with Tech Lighting. Months ago we realized that there weren't any other options that would work in our kitchen, in terms of consumer products and looking for industrial fixtures proved to be complicated. We landed on Tech, which we had avoided for a while because of the price last year but  decided was our only reasonable (in terms of styling) option. 


All that being said, we are getting ready to place the order and after going over it a few times this weekend have started to get excited. You are looking at it here for the first time. 
We will have a cable lighting system going across the island with these modern cones dangling from the cables. They are ultra modern looking but small and quiet. They won't impede the view or really impact your sightline from anywhere in the room. 


We are going to have wall mounted lighting like in an art gallery for the rest of the kitchen and the desk area. They will look similar to this with a decorative screen over the backs of the lights. Over the cabinets they will stand out from the wall as pictured and over the desk they will stand out about 9 inches or so. The entire room will have this wall monorail system and the same lights. 


Now, all that is left is to figure out the light over the sink and the light over the dining table. I am certain that once we have placed these lights and the furniture the room will speak to us and we will be able to figure out the perfect lighting solution for the space. This is the last big thing for the kitchen to be completed and it is the source of much anxiety. I am ready to see it all come together! 

Ok people, I have been super busy, as many of you know. I am getting ready for the next trip, which is coming fast. Since the trailer is here in California we are taking a huge load up to the house. 

This is the first trip where we are 'moving.' What does that mean? Well, I am taking a bunch of new stuff, but also am going to start to pack up the kitchen. When you pack the kitchen you are getting much closer to living somewhere, ya know? Since we are going to completely remodel our kitchen here in California, it is a good place to start moving and a great room to empty in preparation for future work. I am nervous about packing up my kitchen. 

I have too many lovely kitchen things and not enough space to store them or ability to use them. I have to take care so as to not take certain things up to the house and then turn around and need them in California, and buy something else. I know SuperMoto would literally have a coronary if I do that so I must be diligent about this process! 

Taking A Break From Life

     Today we took a day off from our daily life and ran away. 
     SuperMoto had a holiday today so we got up early and hit the road. We started out having breakfast in Glen Ellen. We had a delightful meal. We then headed towards Santa Rosa to pick up SuperMoto's KTM seat from Renazco, a company that makes custom dual sport motorcycle seats. Once we inspected it, admired it, smelled it, licked it, fawned over it and hugged it a couple times, (*might be slightly exaggerating there*) we had the rest of the day to ourselves to wander Sonoma County. 
     We wandered around the town of Sonoma. We had such a relaxing enjoyable time eating espresso covered ice cream, having barbecue, tasting cheese at the cheese company, watching the ducks in the park, and wandering into and out of the lovely shops and galleries. Let me just tell you this. We have both been in the Bay Area our entire lives basically and Sonoma on a weekend can be a super busy place. Sonoma on a Monday is AWESOME!! It was easy to find parking, it was quiet, the streets were open, there were tables and benches available anywhere we wanted to sit down. We had a blast.
     During our journey home we went in search of Bacchus Glass. It is a place we have wanted to go for a long time but they aren't open on the weekends so we never get to. Today we did and we were blown away. We are lucky to have two Bacchus pieces hanging in our current home and are hoping to acquire a few more for our new house. This was an inspiring visit to say the least. The owner couldn't have been nicer and although he was just running out, he stopped everything, gave us an incredibly informative tour and let us have all the time in the world looking around. Again, a magical experience. A fun time was had by all.

Sugar Cookie Fantasy

I am doing it again. 
Another one of my baking fantasies...


I am alone in my kitchen. I can hear SuperMoto outside
running a chainsaw or something noisy that makes me aware that he is outside working. All of my beautiful pans are stacked up on the island. I can hear the tink of the ovens preheating. The mixer is whirring away creaming butter and sugar. Stacks of sprinkles and cellophane bags are everwhere. There is a dusting of flour on the counter that makes a path between the bag and the bowl of the mixer. The GeoDog is asleep on the floor by my feet. Close enough to trip me but not. (This is my fantasy after all) (In real life I would have fallen already and been at the ER having x-rays) I am preparing to make my first sugar cookies in my new kitchen. 


Isn't this the most beautiful fantasy in the world? Well, ok, for me anyway. I get it, you probably don't dream about baking in your kitchen, but you know me and
I DO!! 

Our Commute

Our commute home is a Scenic Byway. It is the first marine scenic byway in the state of Washington. 

There is only one other state in the nation that has a scenic byway. 

When you get on the ferry, and it pulls away from the dock, the view takes your breath away. Literally. There hasn't been a time that we have sat down on the ferry that I am not made speechless by the beauty of the view. 

A direct ferry takes about 70 minutes to get from the Anacortes to Friday Harbor. If you have the time and want to really get the million dollar view you can jump on a ferry that stops at all four stops, Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan Islands. I would recommend this to anyone who hasn't explored this area as it is the most lovely views. 

City vs. Island #4 The Restaurant Situation Revisited

Do you like a good hamburger?

Do you like a gorgeous view?

Do you like to feel the warm sun on your skin?

Do you think you might like all three of those things at the same time?

Well, if you would you might want to go have a hamburger at Friday's Crabhouse.

I am pretty sure you are supposed to want to eat fresh cracked dungeness crab, steam clams, mussels, clams, and oysters, homemade crab-cakes, fresh grilled salmon, fish and chips...get the picture? If you asked SuperMoto, he would tell you all of these things are to die for good. They have this fantastic homemade sauce that they smother their shellfish with. When we eat here he grins and slurps and is in shellfish lover heaven!


The view of Friday Harbor and the Ferry Terminal is so amazing. Sitting there with the sun beating down on you while you watch the ferry pulling up to the dock is unbelievable. I have sat up on the top deck with the GeoDog waiting for SuperMoto to run off the ferry with his suitcases. During the summer this is the most wonderful spot in the world!

Window Coverings

Well, we never did talk about the new window coverings. We decided to go with a woven wood with a liner. We chose a woven teak called Corban Teak. 


They are super gorgeous and still in the box. Currently our windows are adorned by the most lovely black sheets you have ever seen. 


The next trip to the house is a finishing trip. We plan to finish a bunch of projects that are still uncompleted. It is so easy to get started on something, get most of it completed and then never put the finishing touches on it. 

So, hopefully in a few weeks we will be able to post pictures of the actual Roman Shades hanging in our windows. Don't hold your breath! 

Hardwood Floor and the Dog Hair Issue

Awwww....

We have this adorable, sweet thing, that sleeps like a baby. Isn't she adorable? I know, makes you want to coo and caa and give her bones and cookies and take her for walks and pet her endlessly hu? I know, I know, me too! But I am lucky because she is mine, all mine. Well, actually I do share her with SuperMoto and she shares herself with all who tread through our home?

Think I mean she is loving?

Think I mean she is friendly?

Well, she is all that, but she is giving in a far more generous way too...

She generously leaves her hair EVERYWHERE!

It is disgusting!! Don't EVER wear black in our house because you will be covered in it. We have carpet in our California house and are constantly vacuuming up the fur. Here, at the San Juan Island house we have now hardwood floored almost the entire house. Turns out her hair flows across the floor only stopping to ball up with the other hair on the floor, that she has already left there, and then move on. It is the grossest thing I have ever seen! We have an old vacuum here but it wasn't designed for the hardwood floor and isn't removing her hair in the way it should be. So, don't go barefoot. At least you couldn't until the other day. Now you can go barefoot all you want. Why you might ask? Because we have been saved by this...

YELLOW BE GONE!

If you look closely you can see on the left of the hall there it is the new Barely Beige color and to the right is the old yellow color. The beige color reads a bit greyish when it is dry and done and we love it. We like how the yellowishness in the room is slowly disappearing and in it's place is a more neutral.

Oh, I can hear your whispers. I know it isn't cool to do neutrals. I just love neutrals. Some of you might remember me from my black dishes phase or my fruit dishes phase and my white dishes phase. As you might remember the white took over so many years ago, 10+ and has stuck. I NEVER go for colors now. You also might remember my obsession with black clothes phase. That went on for years but once I started wearing khaki you couldn't get me out of it and that too was a long time ago. Why do you give a crap?

Well, because this paint color dealy, it is the same as those other phases. I have gone bright, printed, massive art, and have settled down and I am neutral girl now. It has been building over the last ten years but I am all about the browns.

Neutral Girl!!

Able to roll in all colors and still come out brown.

So, the color you see to left there is the lightest color we are using.

The yellow wall in the picture, tomorrow will be the middle shade of tan. The alcove that is next to the front door that is going to house Roy's antique writing desk is going to be the darkest shade.

Haven't we discussed this before? The colors I mean? Somewhere here? Many moons ago? Maybe before I got started painting even?

Hummm, I guess I am the Repeaternator! Sorry!

Look closely. What do you see?

A mess? NO!

Three glow balls? Yes but NO!

The sunlight!!

Yes people, we have sun in the living room! Can you believe it? You might not remember but we had that tree work done last year. We had it done in September and then came back in the winter. The sun's trajectory in the winter wouldn't allow for sun in the living room so we couldn't know if our tree removal worked and when I say worked, I mean allowed for some sun and light to come in.

Turns out it did work and this photo proves it. I agree that it isn't a lot of sun but it is still winter. Wait until you see it in July! I am going to be wearing sunglasses in here.

WAHOO!!

1st Dessert...Chocolate Mousse Dreams

I was invited to a birthday party that took place today. The minute I heard about it and was assigned dessert to bring for 8-10 I knew I would make chocolate mousse. I dreamed about it and decided that I wouldn't tempt the fates, and would make the mousse.

I so often times make things based on my mood and for some reason I felt very connected to this mousse. As I started whisking over the double boiler I realized that this was to be my first dessert in my new kitchen.

When we left the house on the last trip the cook top gas had just been hooked up the afternoon before we left so I didn't get to cook on it even once.

This trip that has changed. I have created on my new cook top a bunch of times. I have mastered the dinner but but a successful dessert was still pending.

As you can see, I made dark chocolate mousse. It was so fun to make my first dessert. I loved it. Even though we have tons of work to complete the kitchen, I am loving it and enjoying it and can't wait to make my second and third and hundredth and thousandth dessert.

So, we are counting snow and dessert now. Can you stand it? I understand if you can't...I am a super freak!

Painting...The Entry

Somebody famous said that repeating the same behavior over and over expecting different results was the definition of insanity. Does that apply to prep and paint? I mean, really, does it? I go from room to room removing baseboards, removing crap, patching and prepping for painting, all the while expecting it to be fun and easy and it NEVER IS!

Here is what the room looked like when I started. Well, after I had removed a bunch of junk that is.....

It had these ugly shelves on the walls. In the corner to the right of the front door was a wall coat rack and a pine, unfinished bench. All in all this room needs some TLC.

Of course we have plans for it, as we do for all the rooms in this house. We are going to put custom made, by SuperMoto, shelves to house our art glass collection and a little desk in that nook in the corner and some pictures and a mirror. We even have some grand plans of converting a section of the closet, that butts up against my pantry, into pantry. We shall see. We have lots of ideas, let's see how tired we get.

Here is the picture of what it looked like after all of my prep...

As you can see I am all ready to tape off and paint. I am looking forward to sucking up some more of that yellow that is on every wall in this house. (Minus the walls I have already painted.) I know how exciting this is for you so please don't go far. More of the riveting entry way paint project is to come.

The Third Snow

I warned you! Proceed at your own risk. I am a cheeseball head and am going to rant for days about it snowing again and you might get bored so this is your out, right now.

There it is. See it there off in the distance past the railing and the Jeep. You might be wondering why it doesn't look like snow on the ground? It is that light fluttery snow that dances through the air but never graces the ground with it's presence. It is a lovely quiet snow that teases you and touches the tip of your head but not your toes. I am so happy to be cozy inside while it is snowing outside.

Splash Into A Pool Of Backsplash Tile

So today on Oprah someone said, "you can't have peace until you have all the pieces." I am finding that out in life and in house remodeling. So, I am piecing together my life and piecing together our house at the same time. The house is more fun. :) I have samples of both of these colors of back splash tile. I am considering just doing something simple like this for the back splash. We will see how it looks when I get there in a few weeks. WAHOO!!! A few weeks. I can't believe I am going back home. It feels like forever since I was there and more than ever I am happy to be going. Now more than ever I am glad to have this special place. I am so happy there and don't have to focus on anything but the present and future and the positive. While I am at the house I am going to paint my butt off, literally. I am going to get it together there. Things were in disarray when we left. I look forward to having a three weeks or so to just work hard and watch girl movies. That is a whole different story for a different day...

Limbo

What does limbo look like to you?

Limbo to me is my memory of being the first automobile in a row on the ferry where you can see out so much better in the cold of your car that you don't want to go upstairs and get warm and have the reflective view that happens when the night comes and the lights in the waiting area glare off the windows and you can no longer see the islands and the water.

"Limbo" is any status where a person or project is held up, and nothing can be done until another action happens. I don't need to explain it any further than that.

I am in Limbo. My limbo is a Pacific Northwest, chilly, and beautiful limbo but it is limbo just the same. I miss my heaven. I miss the brisk air, the sound and sight of the blowing trees. The sound of quiet. I can't wait until I get back to our home. I look forward to reuniting with our special place. Not too long now for me.

Happy Bouchon Birthday SuperMoto

I cooked SuperMoto a Thursday night birthday dinner because he is traveling on his actual birthday tomorrow.

We have a sort of California bucket list if you will. Replace the concept of death with moving away from California and it makes sense. Our list includes places to go and things to do in California that we know we won't do once we have moved. Bouchon, French Bistro by Thomas Keller was one of them, most certainly. We had never been there and had considered it a few times. It is a special place for treat and I figured that his birthday would be the right time to indulge.

I made a reservation for Saturday late afternoon to take SuperMoto for his birthday and surprised him.He was delighted. We had the most magical afternoon. The restaurant was so busy when we got there but cleared out into the early evening and we had such an enjoyable time. The food was incredible!!

These photos are some of the dishes that we ordered.

The desserts were unbelievable.