My latest addition

Ugh, I know I completely dropped the ball on posting decorating updates. I went crazy after we moved in the house with ideas and purchases and paint and collages and ideas and then BOOM. Reality jolted me back into my normal life of work and travel and little time for much else. Well now it is five months later and I'm finally getting to a few more finishing touches.


On my short list are the dining room and living room. This lovely Prairie School inspired piece fit the bill exactly: we needed dining room storage for our wine/martini/margarita glasses and other such pretties that were crowding the regular kitchen cabinets, but our dining room isn't big enough for a sideboard or hutch. Plus I am terribly afraid of overcrowding the space (clutter-induced panic attacks, anyone?). I wasn't sure I would find anything that worked.


But this baby, made of solid walnut, has glass sides, making it look and feel much lighter. As you turn the corner, you can see right through it. Works for me!


It is still standing empty, but this weekend I hope to organize it and re-hang the pictures above it. Then the dining room will be complete! *Happy Dance*
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Travel Spectacular, Canadian Rockies Edition: Continued

On our first (and last, since we stayed only 2 nights) full day at Lake Louise, we woke up bright and early (9 AM!) and hit the trail. I picked the Lake Agnes Trail, which takes you up ~1200 feet in elevation over the course of ~3.5 KM or so. At the end of the trail, way up in the clouds, is Lake Agnes (shocker, given the name of the trail) along with the Lake Agnes Teahouse. The first part of the trail is actually quite steep, and I got winded and had to rest a few times. About 2/3 of the way to the top, you turn the corner and are confronted with this:



A bonus lake we didn't know we would see! It is called Mirror Lake. It was lovely. This is where we crossed paths with people on horseback from a local horseback riding trail company. Let's just say those horses made Mirror Lake a stinky, albeit picturesque, experience.

We continued hiking up to Lake Agnes. My husband took this picture of me with the wide angle lens (usually not flattering to people - kind of like a fun house mirror) and it made my legs look 6 feet long. I love it! Haha.



And we finally reached Lake Agnes roughly 1.5 hours into the hike. It did not disappoint!



At this point, Dimitri said "I have to get in the lake! I can't come all this way and not get in the water." And I was like "You're outta yer mind." I was wearing long underwear, internet, and it was cold, and he wanted to get in the 32.5 degrees Fahrenheit water. If you can call it water. It was thisclose to being ice. Glacier-fed?! Doesn't that mean COLD!?? But that didn't faze him.


Though once he felt the water temperature, his plan quickly became "wade into the water ankle deep, pose for picture, get the hell out". It went well.

Since we're gluttons for punishment and/or suckers for a challenge, we kept hiking another kilometer up to an amazing lookout point.


Do you see the 3 lakes? Lake Louise is the giant one on the left, then Mirror Lake, then Lake Agnes. Gor-geous.


On the left, you can see the Chateau at the corner of Lake Louise.




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Travel Spectacular, Canadian Rockies Edition

We recently visited family in Alberta (eh) and took the opportunity to venture out for a few days on our own to Banff National Park. Lake Louise was our primary destination but we saw plenty of other (amazing! spectacular!) stuff along the way. If you've visited the photoblog lately you are already familiar with the (crazybeautiful!) scenery.

We stayed at an adorable little lodge called the Paradise Lodge & Bungalows. They were fan-freaking-tastic and the location was ideal. It is only one kilometer from this:


And not nearly as expensive as this, which is located right at the lake:




[The chateau is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but the Paradise Lodge is more my style and is more bang-for-your-buck. I did spend some time on a rainy, chilly morning walking through the chateau as if I were a paying guest, though. Methinks this is a time-honored tradition at Lake Louise.]

Our accommodations in Paradise looked like this:




Yeah, it was kind of fabulous. Fireplace and everything!! Which we used every night, since late June in Canada is FREAKINGWINTERPEOPLE. I wore long underwear and layers upon layers of fleecy items. I rest my case.

We made the special trip out to Lake Louise for our fifth wedding anniversary, and as such, we did cheesy, lovey-dovey things like take pictures of ourselves by holding the camera out in front of us (instead of asking German tourists to take our picture constantly).




We had a grand old time. More trip recap to come.
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Nancy the Navigatress

We have a GPS. Her name is Nancy. Usually she gets me where I need to go on time and with less stress than I would experience were Nancy not in my life. But today... well, let's just say that after today Nancy and I may be broken up.

I got up early this morning to drive to Huntsville, AL and while I briefly consulted Google Maps, I pretty much left my route up to Nancy. I trusted her. We had a rapport. She took that trust and rapport and sent me on a wild goose chase through middle Alabama. Instead of taking the interstate like I would have preferred, I went through every small town and 1-stoplight village between Atlanta and Huntsville (Hi, Section, Alabama! Go Lions! See ya at the Piggly-Wiggly!). By the time I realized what Nancy was doing to me, I was far enough away from I-75 that I was at her mercy. It seemed more trouble to backtrack than to just follow her instructions. So I made the drive, my speed constantly fluctuation between 35 MPH and 60 MPH, depending on my proximity to the next town, and I arrived at my destination only ten minutes later than expected. That is the only saving grace - while Nancy took my on a rinky-dink route, it was the shortest route, geographically-speaking. So I didn't actually lose time.

However I did suffer a few mild panic attacks when, in the middle of the sticks on a 2-lane highway, on a perfectly clear day, Nancy announced Lost Satellite Reception! and I was like OHSHIT, NANCY, YOU FIGURE IT OUT BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM AND THIS IS ALABAMA AND GOD HELP ME, I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM AND I AM SUPPOSED TO BE AT WORK, SO NANCY, YOU FIND THAT SATELLITE, EMKAY?

She did find the satellite. And I found my way to work. And with some therapy and trust building exercises, Nancy and I may find a middle ground in our relationship. If she takes me to a Starbucks tomorrow on the way to work, that will be one step in the right direction.


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Five Years

Five years ago I married my best friend, and as they say, I'm still waiting for the honeymoon to end. We are very lucky. The best is yet to come!

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Stay of execution

I have mentioned before my behemoth, amazon-esque backyard. Now that we've lived here full time (both of us) for 2 months, give or take, we have approximately 8 weeks x 2 trash bins per week x 1 Monday per week = 16 trash bins less of amazing jungly debris in our back yard. [The city picks up lawn refuse once per week.]

Just the tip of the iceberg, folks!

I decided I couldn't take the jungle feeling any longer, and even though we don't have grass per se, I was going to mow the yard. The vines/clover/random clumps of stuff that looks like grass but not really was just WAY to yucky. It wasn't uniform enough to be regular lawn "growth" but the space is to HUGE to not do anything about it. I was afraid we would be swallowed in the night by the overgrowth if the situation was not handled.

And then I got out there with the lawn mower, chopping down anything in my path (including some sticks and dog bombs, whoa!). My yard may be overgrown but it will be UNIFORMLY SO!!

Until I got to the clover patch. Did you know clover blooms? It does. Little purple flowers. They were beautiful. How had I not noticed this before? I bet most people don't let clover grow unattended in their yards long enough for it to bloom, but I had a freaking clover party going on. I couldn't mow it. The clover lived, and just because I am a sucker for purdy flowers. The End.

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