Owl you need is LOVE

Over the summer I received a request from a good friend, and former colleague to make an owl hat for her very adorable baby girl!  She had seen pictures of the hat I'd previously made in purple (posted here), and thought it would be adorable on Elsie.  

 

Thankfully she's a patient and understanding friend, cause it took me about 4 months to get Elsie's hat in the mail!!  

 

 I just LOVE this pattern from Sarah over at Repeat Crafter Me!!  It's easy to follow, provides sizing for newborn through adults and looks totally different (at least to me) with each new color it's made in

I can't wait to find some "free" time to make a few in adult sizes.

 

I am happy to say that the finished product made it's way to Virgina before Christmas and the DC metro region is getting all this cold weather (along with basically everyone in North America!) so there are still loads of opportunities for Elsie to get lots of use out of her new hat.

Her mom sent me this picture yesterday and I just can't get over how CUTE she looks!!

Hop on over to my Facebook page today, and help me caption this photo!!

And a big thanks to her mom for letting me share these pictures with you.

Inaugural / Valentine's Crocheting

My Inauguration Day crocheting last month was fueled by my desire to get some Valentine’s Day packages sent out prior to Valentine’s Day.  I had also finally taken down my Christmas tree and decorations late that Sunday night, and decorated for Valentine’s at the same time (yes, I was a bit of as mad-woman that night – I have my moments).  By Monday, I was just in the mood for MORE HEARTS around the apartment!

For those of you who don’t know, in 2009, Jonathan and I had tickets for the Inauguration, and were lucky enough to stand [in the freezing cold] on the Capitol lawn and watch history being made LIVE.  That weekend 4 years ago, Jonathan had also just returned from a 2-week trip to China so between the jet leg, and how bitter COLD it was, there was NO WAY I was getting him to stand outside again in 2013!  Since 2009 I have changed jobs, and I now work right on Pennsylvania Ave – along the parade route.  Coming downtown and watching the parade from my building was an option, but neither of us were 100% sold on the idea of dealing with public transportation (couldn’t park in my building that day)/security/waiting around all day.  So, instead, from the comfort of our warm apartment, we invited our friends over for brunch!

 This is right outside my office building.  President Obama is looking up into what I can only assume is my office suite (we’re on the 2^nd & 3^rd floor). 

This is what I’d call “the lazy girls way to document history” – a photograph of my television!  I hope you are more impressed with the pictures from 2009 that I linked back to above.

Anyway, the entirety of January 21, 2013 was spent on the couch, in sweats, watching another big day in America’s history.  Sounds to me like the perfect conditions for some serious crocheting ;-)

By the end of the day, as the parade was finally winding down, I had this:

Thanks to Pammy Sue for the inspiration and Lucy for the pattern –
I just LOVE these!!

After inspiration had struck weeks prior, I was in AC Moore while the front of the store was overly saturated with the smell of Roses thanks to those $1 pouches of home scent/potpourri stuff.  I picked up a couple pouches with these hearts in mind, and when I stuffed the hearts I just added a little bit of the potpourri throughout the batting.  Each heart has a lovely rose smell now too!  I doubt these will go away with my Valentine’s Day decorations (this year at least) – they’re just too cute! 

Besides, we all know how I feel about ROSES these days ;-)

*Side Note*  The weather in DC was incredibly spring-like on Tuesday afternoon of this week.  After a lunchtime doctor’s appointment, I decided to walk back to the office (Metro trains run less frequently in the middle of the day, so if I get a good pace going, I can usually walk from the “doctor offices corridor” back to 1001 Penn in the same about of time!)  I made a point to swing by the White House on the last of my walk and snap a couple of pictures. 

I leave you with shots of the White House with the least amount of tourists I’ve ever seen in this location, and what’s left of the Presidential viewing stand that the Obama’s and other lucky guests used to watch the Inauguration Parade.

Jury Duty

Yes, I heard that collective sigh associated with the thought of serving Jury Duty! 

I had to report to the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville on Tuesday morning.  I spent the entire morning (until about 11:30 a.m.) sitting in the Jury Lounge with ~80 fellow MoCo residents until I was called up to a Court Room to partake in voir dire for a Civil Trial.  I was going crazy just sitting around “waiting” (patience is not my strong suit)….but I was able to crochet up the following:

I’m using Red Heart with Love and one of my favorite crochet stitches for scarves [and dish cloths].  I probably got 12-15 inches completed that morning….but haven’t touched it since.

After 3 hours of voir dire, seven Jury Members were selected out of thirty sitting in the gallery….guess who was number two to be selected?

If you’re stumped as to who you should guess first, I’ll save you the trouble, it was me.  The trail started on Tuesday around 3:45 p.m. with opening statements from both parties.  We resumed with the first witness on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. and weren’t settled in for deliberation until almost 5 p.m.   It was an exhausting couple of days, but yesterday morning as I drove downtown to return to work, I realized how neat it actually was to be a part of this process.  I’m sure this isn’t the last time in my life that I’ll be summoned for Jury Duty, and I do hope that I remember enough of the positives from this week’s experience to not moan and groan too much the next time I’m headed to the Court House!

Anyway, back to “Jury Duty crocheting”.  I selected the scarf above as my take-a-long project to go with these fingerless gloves that I started on Sunday or Monday night.

On my drive home from Rockville on Tuesday night, I stopped by the craft stores I was passing and with the knowledge that I had another day of civic duty ahead of me, I decided a deserved a little “treat”.  I picked up some chunky baby yarn that I loved the colors of, and started a “spring” accessory

I started with a chain of 50 [I think], and it wasn’t until I laid it out this morning to photograph that I realized decided that it’s not wide enough for what I was envisioning….I haven’t decided yet if I have it in me to frog 2 nights of work and start over!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great first full week of 2013 and that you all have at least one fun thing planned for the weekend!  I will be spending most of my weekend finishing the pick-up/put away routine for the mess known as the month before Christmas/traveling for the holidays, and working around what I hope isn’t too big of a mess being left in our Master bedroom due to a water leak that’s lead to 20 feet of pipe in 3 apartments (us, the one above us and the one below us) being replaced…leaving a giant hole in my bedroom wall, and half of my bedroom and bed covered in plastic!

I’m positive that I’ll still find some time for “fun” and will continue to work on the MANY half-finished crochet and sewing projects littering our living/dining room space!

Here’s hoping for a crafty re-cap on Monday!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas season and New Years with your family and friends!  Sorry to be away for so long, but between the projects I was finishing for gifts [which couldn’t be shared at the time], and the hustle and bustle all through the month of December there just wasn’t time to write anything down!

What have I been up to you ask?

December 6^th – Jonathan had surgery on his wrist

December 7^th-9^th – weekend trip to Colonial Williamsburg, VA with our friends Aimee and Grant

December 14^th – our 8^th Annual Christmas/my Birthday party at the apartment

December 15^th – Jonathan took me to see “White Christmas” at the Kennedy Center for my birthday

December 18^th – Happy Birthday to me!!  We went to see the National Christmas tree after work, and then returned home where Jonathan made me a very yummy steak dinner

December 19^th – Jonathan and I did a Holiday Tour of the White House

December 21^st – drove home to WNY for Christmas (including the final stretch in Winter Strom Draco)

December 23^rd – family birthday dinner for my Grannie and I

December 24^th-25^th – traditional Christmas Eve/Christmas Day running around and general holiday merriment with our families

December 26^th – finally succumb to all of the flu/cold germs I’d been around over the past month.  Spent 4 days with a fever and chest cold doing next to nothing.  Thank goodness my Momma was there to take care of me.  No one can take care of you when you’re sick like your Momma.  By December 28^th, Momma was sick with me L

December 31^st – NYE dinner with Jonathan at Peek ‘n Peak Resort (where we had our wedding reception)

January 1^st – drove back to Maryland

January 2^nd – returned to work

Yes, I really did find time in all of that to crochet, and sew, and do a teeeeeeny bit of baking!  Even with a fever I was crocheting (I had to do something, I hated that I was “wasting” vacation days being sick!!)  It was a little slow going due to the napping and snotty/coughing situation, but I still managed to make 2 large cowls and started a scarf.

Every night this week when I have gotten home and I have pretty much crashed out the couch for the night.  My very sweet husband, as always, really knows his audience when buying gifts and he got me a Roku box for Christmas.  We set it up on Wednesday night and I just lay there nightly now flipping through everything we have access to watch [thanks to Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime]!

I hope to get my December/Christmas-time pictures organized on my laptop this weekend in order to order prints, so hopefully I will remember to post pictures of all the Christmas gifts I made and have now gifted and can share!

Summer Va-ca!

While I am not fortunate enough to get a Spring, Summer, or Winter break at this stage of my life (seriously, to those who want to complain that they’re breaks are over, be thankful that you have them – some of us are stuck working all 12 months!), Jonathan and I do always try to find a week during the summer to get out of town!  DC has what can only be described as an oppressively humid Summer so time on the beach is ALWAYS welcome!  We’ve spent many weeks in Southern Florida in August over the years, and have checked temperature daily – typically about 10 degrees cooler on the beach thanks to the lovely breeze off the Gulf….not to mention spending the day in a biniki and flip flops is totally acceptable!

Our first vacation together in FMB - back in August of 2005!!!

I’m happy to report that this year’s trip is quickly approaching – by this time next month I will hopefully be sitting on the beach with a biiiiiig cocktail in my hand.  Nothing better in my book!

View from downstairs

Ft. Myer’s Beach – HERE WE COME!  I am so looking forward to 8 ½ days, 8 nights on the beach with the sweetest guy I know.  Spending our days enjoying Estero, Sanibel and Capitva Islands, mid-day  naps, the foods of SOB, Doc Ford’s, and the Mucky Duck to name a few, and the gorgeous sunsets over Sanibel Island. 

I love enjoying the gorgeous sunsets from the sandbar!

The entire summer and remainder of 2012 is going to go sailing by on me at this point. 

“Why?”, you may ask?  Well –

1. Prior to May 18^th – pack up my cube and files at work in preparation for an office move
2. May 18^th – day off from work to travel down to Stafford, VA for a family wedding
3. May 20^th – Mount VernonSpring Wine Festival and Sunset Tour with friends
4. Memorial Day weekend – drive home Friday 5/25 at 2 p.m. when my office closes, spend a little time with my family (that I haven’t seen since Christmas), drive both the convertible and Jeep back to MD on Monday 5/28
5. Work May 29^th-May 31^st
6. Leave after work on May 31^st for Ft. Myers Beach, FL – see ya’ll on June 11^th!
7. July 20^th – day off from work to head home to celebrate the wedding of a couple of good friends
8. August 3^rd – IDINA MENZEL at Wolf Trap to start the celebration weekend of 1 year of Wedded Bliss (How can it already almost be a year ago that we got married?!?!?!)
9. August 23^rd-August 27^th – trip to CNY to spend a long weekend with my Mom and Dad
10. September 1^st – beginning of my “black out” period for any time out of the office through the end of the year!

See?  Now, add in the fact that this is likely our last summer in the region, and I think we’re going to be very busy!

Who's excited????!?!?!?!?!

THIS GIRL!  

This morning by 10:02 a.m. I was printing out confirmation for purchased tickets to see IDINA MENZEL at Wolf Trap this August!  Tickets don't publicly go on sale until Saturday morning, but thanks to my obsessive Facebook habit, I happened to see on my wall last night that if I was an FB fan (duh, of course I am) I could use the code on the status update to purchase tickets this morning at 10 a.m.!!!!

Conveniently, the concert is on Friday, August 3rd - the PERFECT way in my mind to kick off our 1 year Wedding Anniversary weekend!!!  This also meant that my totally awesome and extra sweet husband let me purchase the more expensive front orchestra seats :-D  We will be sitting front and center - row E to be exact and I was honestly bouncing in my chair for a good 20 min this morning.  Extremely professional at work, I know.

Who is Idina Menzel you may ask?  Well first, I'm going to try and not give you the stink eye through my computer.  Have you ever heard of the musical Rent, or Wild Party, or Aida, or Wicked, or the movie Rent, or the very popular TV show Glee?  Maybe you saw a glimpse of her fushcia dress on PBS over the past week or so while channel surfing.....still nothing?  sigh - please read here and here. 

Hopefully you'll enjoy these videos - I do have a bit of a girl crush on her these days (and her husband isn't bad looking either! LOL)

Anyway, we went 2 summers ago to see her at Wolf Trap with $20 lawn tickets.  In the past we've loved going to see shows sitting on the lawn with a bottle of wine and snacks under a summer night star filled sky.  You typically need binoculars if you really want to see what's going on down on the stage, but it's fun none the less.  Well neither of us could have anticipated how CRAZY packed the place was when Idina performed with the National Symphony Orchestra with Marvin Hamlisch conducting!  Seriously, packed is an understatement, we were practically sitting in the parking lot!

Regardless of how little I was actually able to see, and how HORRIBLY hot and humid it stayed that summer night in July it was an AMAZING experience.  I remember leaving there that night thinking I’d never forget that night – after all it’s the kind of a “life changing” experience for a Musical Theatre junky like myself (similar to when I was Bernedette Peters in "Annie Get Your Gun" on Broadway my junior year of high school.  That night as Ms. Peters took her curtain call and the whole audience was on their feet I had my“ah ha” moment where I KNEW theatre was what I wanted to do with my life.  And no, the fact that I didn’t end up persuing a Professional Theatre career after my college training does not bother me, and I regret nothing.  The fact that I had to move home after graduation was meant to happen – after all Jonathan and I started dating just 3 months later).  Anyway, seeing something this amazing perform in person is still one of those life changing experiences and I’m 99% positive I will cry more than once that night (Jonathan, fair warning ;-)  I laughed when you proposed, but this I’ll cry over! LOL)  I actually texted Jonathan this morning saying "Our engagement, the wedding and trips to DISNEY are the only things that made me happier than I am right now :-)"

If you've enjoyed the videos so far - I leave you with a few singles off of her albums

And her husband filling in during a performance of "Wicked"

Oh, Springtime

I know that I've been pretty MIA lately, but I promise, I have still been reading about all the crafty things and spring flowers in your world!  Not always everyday (like yesterday when I had to go all the way back to last Thursday in my feed to get "caught up"), but I'm trying to keep up to date!  Between Jonathan's birthday weekend, family in town last weekend and getting ready for more family this week and coming to work each day, there has been very little time for crocheting, let along blogging!  I have been crocheting when I can, but have been trying to actually have something to say here vs. a 'stitch by stitch' recap of the previous night!  This weekend's company is my Momma coming into town Thursday night and staying until Tuesday morning.  I'm also taking Friday / Monday off from work (first "vacation" time used since the wedding & honeymoon - yes back in August) so there are LOTS of crafty plans for us over our 4 days together!

But today?  Today, I'm talking about SPRINGTIME!

"..why?" you may ask?  well because it's here - "officially"! Last week's highs here in DC were in the 80s each day with sunny blue skies.  I believe it was Thursday that reached up to around 85 and even broke some records at our airports.  This has made for a very hot apartment with no air conditioning, so most evenings were spent sitting on the balcony, reading on the balcony, eating dinner on the balcony......basically the balcony was the only place with a breeze!

We seem to all have spring time flowers peaking out and blooming by now. The big story down here is how the Cherry Blossoms will be at peak in the next day or two.  My fingers are crossed that they hold out until this weekend when Mom is here (would also appreciate positive thoughts for a rain-free weekend!).  

The springtime event I'd like to discuss today are the "out of no where" t-storms that pop up when it's so warm (and already humid in this "swamp land")

A severe thunderstorm swept through our area this morning.  Right around 6:30 a.m.  Now I've had friends and co-workers who have said that the first clap of thunder had them sitting straight up in bed, but me?  Well, I was already in the shower when the fun got started.  Of of the "positives" (not) of an apartment building bathroom is having no windows .  This means I missed the skies turn dark, the rain starting, and the lightening leaving me with a crack of thunder that came through the vents in my bathroom.  I have NEVER gotten out of the shower so quickly, and likely still have conditioner in my hair.  Now, please note that I do live on the 10th floor of a 12 story building with plenty of antenna's etc. on the roof so I wasn't 100% concerned that something would happen to me.  My first through was some sort of bombing or attack (we'll blame this on the vulnerability of being wet and naked, and in the shower at 6:30 a.m.)  By the 2nd or 3rd thunderclap I realized it was thunder and by then I just really wanted to SEE what the heck was going on outside to make thunder THIS loud!  I need to pay closer attention tomorrow to exactly how dark it still is around 6:35-6:40 but by the time I got out of the shower it was pitch dark, and pouring with constant flashes of lightening and extra loud thunder (pretty sure it only seemed extra loud....it was early)  At first I was amazed Jonathan had slept through it, but I asked him if he'd heard it when he finally got out of bed and his response was "I'm surprised you didn't get back into bed"  Yea, I'm a pretty big scaredy cat ;-)

That's my story of the other side of springtime - I hope that if nothing else I put a smile on your face this afternoon :-)

Oh!  I was going to show a full progress picture of a current project, but opted for a sneak peak instead.  I'm fairly certain that this is going to so gosh darn cute that I'm keeping the "whole picture" (get it? LOL) for when it's finished!

SUPER Weekend!

They’re never long enough, but what a fun weekend!  I think all this fun is going to equal a very looooooooooong post, so grab a cup of coffee and brace yourselves ;-)

I sadly woke up with a migraine on Saturday morning, and while it slowed me down a bit, it didn’t stop me from crocheting at least a little bit while enjoying my coffee.

I’d planned to venture out and find the closest Hobby Lobby to me this weekend.  I’d only ever been to an actual store once and I just don’t find shopping online the same:

1.       You don’t get to “take in” all the wonderful yarn colors, textures, etc online, or wander the aisles

2.       You have to WAIT for your order to arrive vs. driving straight home to use your purchases

3.       You often pay shipping costs

Jonathan’s comment to me as I was getting ready to leave was, “aren’t you going to pay just as much in gas as you would in shipping?”  ……Even if that were the case, my lack of patience for much of anything, really, made the decision for me J

Off I went and I thoroughly enjoyed Hobby Lobby while trying to not spend TOO much money.  As I sat at a red light waiting to get back out on the main road, I happened to look up and see something that in 7 years of living in the DC area I haven’t been able to easily access – WALMART AND SAM’S CLUB!  I was forced to make a left hand turn at this point, but quickly got across 4 lanes of traffic and turned myself around!  I know there are a lot of bad things said about Walmart, but I’m a girl on a tight budget and I really have take the discount where I can find it.  I only picked up two things (make up and cake mix) quickly in Walmart before walking across the ENORMOUS parking lot to the Sam’s Club.  I picked up some of my favorite things at Sam’s (that I always have to stock up on when I’m back home in WNY) and then stood in line FOREVER.  Seriously – I must have been out of my mind to think either store was a good idea at 2 p.m. the day before the Super Bowl…..

I look forward to future trips where I can justify the drive up to Laurel to go to Hobby Lobby (because I need something at Walmart/Sam’s)!  Besides the drive took less time than I was anticipating….and I’ve already realized something I forgot to get at Hobby Lobby!

The reminder of Saturday was spent picking up a bit and crocheting through the evening.  I’ve fallen in love with my Raspberry blanket and can’t wait to start using it!

 It’s been named, but I’ll be saving that for a bit of a “reveal” later on.

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day getting ready for our Super Bowl “party”.  This was the party for those who either aren’t big football fans or their team wasn’t playing but felt they should be doing something.  It was a nice get together (8 total including us) with LOTS of food and have a good time watching the commercials (and the Giants WIN!)  I’ll take any win that isn’t Boston J

I had found recipes from the Brown Eyed Baker for Polenta Pizza (which is perfect for Jonathan as it’s already gluten free) and Stovetop Mac’n Cheese (which is easily made GF). 

The pizza didn’t go all that well, but I’ll definitely be trying again in the future.  I needed to double the printed recipe to have enough crust (I was confused as to whether or not it was already doubled when reading the post/recipe).  I made two separate batches but in doing so ended up with a pizza that was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too salty.  My friends were nice enough to at least try it, but the rest had to be thrown last night.  Oh, I used mushrooms, onions, broccoli and feta cheese for my toppings.

The Mac’n Cheese was quiet wonderful and came together very easily.  I used a little more cheese than the recipe calls for and added about ½ cup crumbled bacon, because really you can never have too much bacon!

For dessert I made cookies from a NEW RECIPE that’s now a new favorite!  I didn’t make these gluten free as Jonathan was concerned that they wouldn’t turn out (have had some bad experiences in the past!)  Seriously though, THEY’RE SO GOOD!!!  Go buy a boxed cake mix, and a tub of Cool Whip and TRY THESE OUT!  My Wegmans did not have regular Cool Whip, only Lite and it really does work just fine.  I added 1 tsp. of lemon extract because I wanted to make sure they were extra lemon-y.  They’ve got a great lemon flavor without it being over powering.  I’ll be making these again, probably pretty soon either with a different flavored cake mix (I’ve been thinking about my favorite Funfetti all day) and/or gluten free. 

I, of course crocheted during the game.  I rarely watch football during the regular season but I always turn on the Super Bowl.  I find it to be a perfect “crafty time”!  Between watching the game and the commercials I didn’t get loads done.

 I’m using Yarn Bee Enchantress(that I bought on Saturday), and am almost out of yarn…I’m a little concerned that I should have purchased a 2^nd skein….at $5.99/skein though I was really hoping that one would be enough!  We’ll see, I may just be able to make it work, but it’s gonna be close!

Thanks to Meg and Laurie I also have THREE new patterns to try out!!  Only problem is that my storage tub of cotton yarn got a little buried in the study this weekend so I might have to wait until things are a little more in order before I can try them out.  Thanks ladies!!!

Debi recognized me with a very nice award today as well (feeling QUITE popular!)  I’ll post a little later about that though…give you all a chance to nap or something – this is, if you’re still reading at this point!

RIP and another snowstorm

Over the weekend my mom and I lost a close friend who was near and dear to our hearts.  Cindy passed unexpectedly on Saturday evening so it was a shock for all that were touched by Cindy's kind heart and warm smile.
Her son made this wonderful tribute to his Mom which was shown at the viewing last night.  Thure did a wonderful job and I cried and laughed through all 6 minutes of it.

We love and miss you Cindy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lAXJwtbnwc

We are gearing up for another snow storm here in DC.  We've had no where near the snow we had last year but this one looks to be the biggest yet.  They're calling for snow totals anywhere from 3-8 or more inches of snow depending on where in the metro are you are, and where the "snow bands" end up sitting!  Coming from WNY and those of you reading this in WNY are thinking "that's not a storm!!"  Well it is in DC.  Most drivers down here can't handle rainy conditions so all hell really breaks lose when it snows!  This morning we had gotten around 3" over night, but it has started to rain on the snow early this a.m......they schools shut down for the day.  Between what was still being treated on the roads and the pending doom of the evening commute tonight they didn't even do a 2 hour delay!  Around 11 a.m. OPM announced that the Federal Government is urging people to leave work 2 hours early and many offices have already made the decision to close down at 3 p.m.  This means we have also been given this option and I plan on taking them up on it and am leaving at 3:30.  They're calling for around 2" per hour starting at 4 with 1/4 mile visibility.  Not something I want to commute 8 miles uphill in!  Leaving work early and the fact that there is a possibility that the city shuts down tomorrow means everything has to be packed up and brought home with me today.  Laptop, paperwork, contact phone numbers, etc.  I'll spend more time packing it up to take it home and setting everything back up once in the office again that I will spend on my computer at home I fear.....

Safe travels to all those on the East coast who will need to drive over the next 36 hours!

Snowmageddon 2010

Ok, so no this isn't the pictures I took from all our snow in February. I just wanted to say that they're still coming, and in light of the fact that we're now not going to get anything from "the big monster" dumping on the Northeast the end of this week I just got to thinking about my pictures and my lack of posting!

They're even on my computer too. I uploaded them to show Mom over the weekend. Now to just get online and post! There's a better chance of it happening if I was going to get a snow day this week, but I might try afternoon. Probably won't happen tonight because there is a brand new digital video camera sitting waiting for me that I'm gonna wanna play around with tonight :-)

New apartment pictures

Not a lot or report on, spent some time in the new place last night getting cleaning supplies unpacked (and used) and most of the Master bedroom got painted. We unfortunately had some small hiccups with the edging supplies that we purchased so we only got the large mass of the walls painted last night, after a trip to Home Depot tonight, we'll edge then. I think we left around 11:45 p.m. to head back to the Promenade, so I've been keeping my eyes open with toothpicks for most of the day.

If you didn't know it yet, the movers come tomorrow at 9 a.m. to move us out of the Promenade! We won't have Internet at home until we buy a TV (silly to have them set up Internet and not cable while they're at the apt), so after these pics there will be no updates until I return to work on Monday. Hopefully by then I will have amazing "finished product" pictures to share!

Looking in from the front door - living room on the left, dining room on the right.

From the dining room (actually I was standing on the Balcony, looking through my dining room windows) to the kitchen.

right side of the kitchen, including the fridge (obvi) and the oven/store that I'm super excited about because it has a timer and self-cleaner built in. Seriously it's the simple things some days.


left side of the kitchen with a tiny sink that I know will make me miss the sink I'm leaving and our lovely blue recycling bin - GO GREEN!


Looking to the front door from the balcony door


Our view of Silver Spring from the balcony (also the view from the dining room, living room and both bedrooms)



Looking back into the living room/front door from the balcony


Down the hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms (3/4 of the way down the picture on the left side is the door knob to the open front door)


Bathroom at the end of the hallway.


There was nothing of great excitement to show off in an empty picture of the 2nd bedroom (to be Jon's study and my craft room), but here are the first of my indoor plants that got brought over! They are sitting in the 2nd bedroom for now, hopefully out of the way of the movers tomorrow.


Second bathroom off the Master bedroom.


Master bedroom, looking from bathroom towards windows. The entire wall on the right is my closets :-)

Jonathan painting the BEAUTIFUL "warm brownie" on our bedroom walls! I am officially IN LOVE with this paint color and can not WAIT for our bedroom to be put together and see how it's all gonna look!!!!

Oh! So a funny story, at least to me. Yesterday morning when I got up at the Promenade, we didn't have hot water. Obviously I did not find this funny at the time of taking an ice cold shower. Yesterday afternoon when we went to pick up our keys and did a walk through of the place, we were told that they were working on the water in the building but just for that afternoon. When we got there last night, no heat and no hot water! Seriously, it was like it was following us around! Apparently they had to replace the boiler like 2 weeks ago and somehow water leaked and did damage to the electrical system for the hot water and heat! eek! I realize that things happen and while it was an inconvenience, I don't feel that it was necessary to bitch out the front desk people/manager on duty because of it! They were being really great and offering empty apartments in the other complexes for you to take a hot shower in and put up updated notices at least 3 times while we were there! By the time we left there was hot water again, but a part had to be ordered for the heat and it wouldn't be restored until morning. I've lived through many a weekend at the Promenade w/ no air conditioning when it's 100 degrees out, I would much rather be w/o heat when it's only a low of 51 like last night was.......I would have been even more ok with this if I had not just had shorts and a t-shirt with me!

Oh, we did have heat and hot water at the Promenade last night and this morning though so it looks like my curse might be over :-)

Start of the move to Silver Spring!

So we haven't officially started moving yet, we actually go and pick up our keys in 1 hour!!!, but I have spent most of the past 2 weeks packing up our "worldly" possessions so that when the movers arrive at 9 a.m. this Saturday we are ready to go! The pictures below are what I captured around 10:30 last night (Wednesday).

Here is looking towards the front door, the couch is over there to the left behind all those boxes.....

Here's another view of the living room from the stairs, so you can kinda see where the couch lived (Jon is hiding on the couch sleeping, yelling at me that I had him in all these pictures lol)

Please note Jon's toes in the right corner :-)

Kinda the same view again, I was sleepy and wasn't really sure I was getting all the boxes in these shots!

The bedroom and wall of boxes by the windows.

All the boxes lined up on my side of the bed (by the windows), including all my show boxes tied together because we were never gonna have enough boxes for all those too!!

Looking down the hallway from the bedroom - everything that I'm attempting to not trip over and break toes at the end of the night, an early every morning.


It looks like my boxes are wearing a hat! :-D

I'll continue to add pictures on here throughout the weekend as we see our new place for the first time this afternoon, paint the Master bedroom this evening and as the movers empty TH 7 and fill up our new place! Keep checking back for more updates! :-)