Failures... and one success

So, I wanted to make our front room a "pub room." Its the perfect size for a pool table, and we plan to have a bar in there someday. Pubs are usually dark, so I choose an olive green that I've loved for awhile. But it turned out to not be a good choice because our house is too dark. All our windows have sunscreens, which help keep our house about 10 degrees cooler than outside. Unfortunately, it also makes everything dark. I then picked out an orange, thinking it would be dark, but bright for the room. But that didn't turn out so well either. So this weekend I went and picked up paintable samples to get some ideas for the room. I like the terra cotta orange, but its still not the look I was going for. What I want is a color I saw at my salon in Iowa City. I called them today, and they knew the color, but it was made by an Iowa paint manufacturer. So I called the paint store, and they do not carry the color anymore. Furthermore, they didn't have the color on file from her account. Sigh.... will I ever get the color up I want?

The olive is the first color. Looks ok in the pics, but too dark in person.

The four stripes on the wall are colors we were thinking about.

Also tried an orange I really liked. Too bright, although I still like this color. Not the pub color I was hoping.

What to do....

Todd spent some time this weekend putting together a misting system for our patio. The misting system will keep us cooler outside in the summer. Todd tested it Sunday (after curing for 24 hours) and there were no leaks! Its ready to go. I just need to paint it to match the house!

Adding on a splitter from our hose spiket.

Going up the side of the patio.

With the misters on! They all work!

Dad always taught me to buy the right tools, the first time! We purchased this PVC cutter for $13 at Home Depot. Totally worth it! Cut the pipe perfectly and without any plastic saw chips to worry about getting in our pipes!

Random day in April

A couple of old friends, Andrea and Kris, from KC came to Phoenix for a vacation to see their family. Because of that, I got to see them and they got to meet Todd. Although my friend, Kris, had already met Todd in KC years ago (a few times), he just didn't remember. I officially met Kris my second weekend in KC, on New Years' Eve. He was at a party I went to with some people my age that my sister worked with at Cerner. I met his now wife, Andrea, a year or so later, when they started dating long distance between Iowa City and KC.

We took Kris and Andrea up to South Mountain in Southern Phoenix. This was the same mountain Todd took me to on my first trip down to Phoenix. You can see the most of the whole city from up there. Its best to go at dusk, so you can see the city lights come on. We didn't get to stay that long because dusk came later than we thought.... and we were all getting pretty hungry!

We then took them to an Arizona brewery, Papago. Todd took me there a few weeks ago, and I learned of the amazing original brews that can't be purchased anywhere but at Papago. They have a small menu, but all their food is amazing as well. In particular, I love their coffee stouts they brew, and their chipotle chicken salad! Go delicious! Kris and Andrea throughly enjoyed their "night out" from the family =) It was great seeing them! Although, we are headed to KC next weekend, so we might end up seeing them again very soon. 

Andrea and I at the top of South Mountain

Todd and Kris on a bench.... that didn't have a seat!! 

 Todd and I at the top of South Mountain

Valentine's Weekend 2010

Todd once again gave me a surprise. He planned a trip to Seattle for us for Valentine's Day. To be fair, this was a little easier for him than the average guy since we get free flights and cheap hotel rooms.... :) Nonetheless, he planned and organized everything. He had talked to one of my co-workers and asked her to ask my boss if I could leave early on the day of our flight. He set up the dogs to go to the kennel for the weekend, etc. Luckily he told me two nights before leaving that we would be going somewhere so I could do laundry and pack! He had been trying to get me to do laundry all week, but I don't do laundry on weeknights. So I kept brushing him off. He finally had to let the cat out of the bag so that I could pick out my clothes and make sure what I wanted to bring was clean.

He did give me some hints about the mystery place; he told me was that the average temperature would be in the 50s, that we were flying, and that it was west of the Mississippi River. And then proceeded to torture me about not knowing where we were going for the next two days. I technically guessed the place the night before while we were packing. Only because I found out that we would be seeing one of his friends that lived in the city. For some reason, I was thinking it was his friend, Brianna in Seattle, because I knew she lived there and he had never been there.

So off we were Friday after work. The flight was wide open leaving. It was a long flight of 4 hours, and we got seats next to each other. Upon landing, Brianna and her husband, Brian, picked us up at the airport and took us back to our hotel; the Marriott on the waterfront.

We spent the weekend sight-seeing and walking the fish market and downtown Seattle. We ate so much great seafood! Below are some pictures of our trip.

Todd and I each in front of the waterfront near our hotel. This was actually a platform for a street elevator that went from one block where our hotel was, to the next block "up." The city is steep and all different levels.

The Pike and Western Wine Shop. This was just a few blocks from our hotel, on the corner by the fish market. We ended up buying a couple of bottles of Washington wine to bring back with us, from this store.

The fresh food market.

In front of the Pike Fish Market. I asked my cousin to edit this picture for us so we can blow it up a bit and frame it. In the new version, the letters are red, but the rest is black and white. Instant art!

More Cityscapes.

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM)

Me in front of what we thought was the "Original Starbucks." I really wanted to visit this place, but turns out, the "original" is on the next block up! We actually passed it a couple times and never noticed it! Oh well....

Us in front of the Fish Market.

We went to lunch at the Pike Brewery and Pub. We had beer flights to try a bunch of original Washington brews, crab chowder, and fresh clams and mussels. Above is the chowder. Below are the clams and mussels. Yum!

We took a cab over to the Seattle Space Needle to see the views from the top and learn about some history.

A view atop the Space Needle.

Another view.

Space Needle from the ground.

We went on a tour of the "underground city." Seattle was a city built on top of a city, after a fire struck and wiped out the whole downtown. This is below ground, but at one time was the level city street.

A "sky light" when the city was rebuilt after the fire. The stores were at the old level, and the streets were a level above. These skylights were used as lights.

What the "skylight" looks like today, from the street level.

The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Not very original, but I love the architecture of this building.

Us at dinner Saturday night at the "Salmon House." We went to dinner with Brianna and Brian, and enjoyed fresh salmon and oysters.

A view of the city from the waterfront piers.

More views. You can see the Space Needle in the distance below.

We are one block away from what is at the top of these stairs. Crazy!

More Fish Market

More fish market pictures. I could stay by the fish market and watch the activity all day.

It was such a great trip! We almost didn't make it home because the flights miraculously filled up on the return. Somehow we both made it on. I wasn't expecting that, and was actually planning to spend another night. What do you know? We seem to have good luck flying standby.

Thanks to Todd for surprising me!

More Painting

Vicki and I (mostly Vicki) have spent the last couple of weekends doing some more painting at the house, among other things. While she mostly does the painting, I do the other random small things around the house. Most of what I do doesn't need pictures (cleaning out the shed, spraying the yard and house for bugs and weeds, etc), we always like to take some before and after pictures of the painting. First up is the downstairs bathroom!

Looks good huh? =) We also painted the archway off the living room, at the opposite end of the kitchen, the same color as the kitchen. For the record, this was my idea...

Every weekend we seem to have a project to work on for the house. I'll keep posting pictures as we get them all done...