Katy Streams Her Consciousness

Breaking the Radio Silence

2011-07-24T22:06:00.005-04:00

Hey! Here I am!

It's shameful how long it's been since I've posted here. Since early April — yikes!

Well, here's a quick snapshot of what's happened in the last 3.5 months:

I got a new job. In mid-June, I was recruited away from AutoTrader.com to work for a big public relations agency. (Yes, my degree is in PR, but I actually have a passion for corporate communications and employee engagement, which I will continue to do at this new gig.) I'll miss my peeps at ATC and my responsibilities there, but I'm welcome to this new, exciting opportunity.
Just a month into my new job, I bonded with coworkers over a terribly tragic event. On Friday, July 15, a gunman shot and killed a woman from my building in the parking deck adjacent to my building — then opened fire on a group of girls walking across the street for lunch. Two of my colleagues were shot, one of whom still has a long recovery ahead. It turns out the gunman was a security guard from our building and the shooting occurred on his lunchbreak. We don't yet know if the deceased victim was at the wrong place at the wrong time, or if she was targeted. No matter what, that Friday was a terrible, sad, senseless, disturbing day. I am proud of everyone at my new office. The victims have been strong, positive and encouraging. Everyone else has come together in this tough time to be honest about their fears and expectations: better security, our right to trust security, etc. We're all reminded that life is short and your plotted course can change within the blink of an eye. Give all your friends and family a hug and tell them how much you love them. (News story here: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/midtown-shooting-victim-was-1018502.html)
I've been blogging semi-regularly to my other blog, Savvy in the City. Most posts focus on being able to dress well without spending a fortune (Goodwill FTW!), eating, online shopping and things to do around Atlanta.
Dan and I got a new, sod lawn! I shouldn't put the exclamation point here because as of right now, it's been more of a frustration then a triumph; we found out right as the sod was being laid that we don't have enough water pressure to power the sprinkler system we had installed... so while we wait to have a second water meter installed, my sweet (and did I mention handsome?!?) husband has been manually watering the grass in the wee hours of the morning.
I've been playing tennis. Tennis is fun — it's one of the few things that gets me off my tail and sweating. AND, in the league I joined, you pick your own schedule. It's called T2 Tennis. T2 is a "flex" league, which means you and your opponent e-mail and discuss a time that works for each of your schedules. No matter what your skill level, there's a T2 league that fits with your play experience/ability. I didn't play so well this season, but I'm enjoying it, and I'm enjoying Dan playing, too. (Ultimate Tennis is a similar deal-io).
(Nothing I've accomplished lately is earth shattering or exciting, but I can't say that I mind.)

Things I'm grateful for today:

Family:

Upcoming weddings (my friend Julia's, and my brother Ben's):

Fresh fruit ripening on the window sill (from the Your Dekalb Farmer's Market, which always puts me in a good mood):

I won't be so long 'til next time... promise! But remember to check Savvy in the City for more regular updates.

Maybe Not Sexy... but Popular

2011-04-06T17:26:00.003-04:00

What the heck am I talking about?

I'm talking about Ranch-style homes... popular in the late 1940s - early 1960s. We live in one now. We lived in one before we bought our current house.

So the hubs and I were good candidates for a local online article about ranches.

Here's one of the things I said that made the article:

“I think what’s fun about ranches is that you can do about whatever you want,” Katy said. “Some people go really modern inside and make it like a mid-century modern. But you also see people go very classic.”

Read the full Virginia Highland-Druid Hills area Patch article here.

Giveaway on Savvy in the City

2011-03-02T07:27:00.002-05:00

Pssst....

To celebrate my birthday, I'm giving away a beautiful 40-inch onyx necklace and some fun/flirty pearl and crystal earrings (courtesy of dolma jewelry).

Go check it out! www.savvyinthecity.com

(Giveaway drawing will be Wed., March 9)

The Grand Reveal

2011-02-20T21:50:00.007-05:00

Before.

After.

And from the back. Our mixed materials (brick on top, wood on the porch and cement on the whole basement floor) now blend a little better.

We are again very happy with the work of Miguel of Angel Painting. He and his team pressure washed, reglazed our windows and painted the whole exterior (brick, trim, metal poles under the carport, door, flashing around the chimney, etc.). Long gone are those green shutters with light yellow/beige trim accents.

Paint is Sherwin Williams (shade is called "Argos"). We used semi-gloss white "super paint" for the trim.

Miguel: (404) 438-3623. Really reasonable pricing and they're always done on budget and ahead of schedule. If you call him, tell him Katy Mallory referred you.

A Teaser...

2011-01-31T13:04:00.001-05:00

(Exciting Things Going on at Mallory Manor)

A Life Fulfilled: Atlanta Becomes Savvy In The City - with a $100 Giveaway!

2011-01-25T07:23:00.007-05:00

Most of you know by now that I have two blogs: this one and another that focuses on thrift store shopping, restaurants, fun places to shop online and a little wardrobe remixing thrown in there.

I'm excited to announce that "A Life Fulfilled: Atlanta" is now Savvy in the City. You can access the new blog by visiting www.katymallory.com or www.SavvyintheCity.com.

Even more exciting is the fact that CSNstores.com is giving away a $100 gift certificate to one of my readers! Check out all the details here, and if you were a reader of my other blog before, remember to update your bookmarks!

Katy

Home Makeover: Exterior Edition

2011-01-23T14:42:00.009-05:00

Back in September I posted about an affordable renovation we did on our hallway/guest bathroom.

Now I have my sights set on an exterior makeover.

While we know it will be a while (as we have some other, less-glamorous projects to work on — such as improving drainage in the yard), it's fun to think about how to change and improve the outside look of our home. Currently we have red brick, cream/yellow trim and hunter/kelly green shutters. This look has got to go!

Now. Also note how we have a mix of materials: some brick, some siding, etc. Around back (the exterior of the walk-out basement) is a stucco/cement type mixture. Of course the current landscaping (or lack thereof) also leaves something to be desired...

Better Homes and Gardens' Web Site has a neat tool called "Color-a-Home." While you can't upload a photo of your house, you can choose a house like yours and switch out the trim, door, brick/trim, roof and shutter colors.

In my dreams. ahhhh....

Wow. Isn't that better?

Peer Pressure: Snow Pics

2011-01-11T20:25:00.002-05:00

Everyone else is posting pictures of our Georgia winter storm, so I might as well, too... :)

Cute neighbor

Another reason I love our realtors!

2011-01-06T21:45:00.004-05:00

This helpful reminder about applying for Homestead Exemption from Lesley (of The Peters Company). They are on top of things, despite us not being active buyers/sellers at the moment:

Dearest Clients,

Happy New Year! Thank you so much for leaning on The Peters Company in 2010 for all of your real estate needs! And, welcome to 2011!

With the start of the New Year, it’s never too early to begin thinking about tax season. As you know, buying a home can be a huge tax advantage, so I want to be sure that as a homeowner you know you may be eligible for a Homestead Exemption.

Georgia allows homeowners to claim a Homestead Exemption as a tax benefit that could amount to considerable annual savings. To qualify for the property tax exemption the Homeowner must occupy the residence and file for Homestead Exemption at the county Court House or Tax Commissioner’s Office in person, by mail or on the web, depending on the county in which you reside. Filing deadlines and requirements vary by county.

For your convenience, I have attached below the contact information of most major Atlanta county Tax Commissioner offices, so that you may file for exemption.

At The Peters Company, Andy and I consider providing these types of value-added services to be both an honor and a privilege. We thank you for allowing us to serve your home-investment needs. If you know anyone that is interested in buying or refinancing, now is the time! Property prices are a bargain and rates are STILL at an all time low although they are slowly rising.

Fulton County – deadline is April 1 404-612-6440
http://www.fultonassessor.org/Forms/HtmlFrame.aspx?mode=content/Exemptions.htm&taxyear=2007&ownseq=1&jur=&LMparent=180

DeKalb County – deadline is March 1 404-298-4000
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/taxcommissioner/index.asp?pg=homestead

Gwinnett County – deadline is March 1 770-822-8800
http://gwinnetttaxcommissioner.manatron.com/Tabs/Property/HomesteadExemption.aspx

Cobb County – deadline is April 1 770-528-8600
http://www.cobbtax.org/Forms/HtmlFrame.aspx?mode=content/Exemptions.htm&LMparent=189

Forsyth County – deadline is April 1 770-781-2106
http://www.qpublic.net/ga/forsyth/faq.html

Best Wishes for 2011!

Sincerely,

Lesley Peters

Real Estate Consultant

The Peters Company at Keller Williams Realty, Peachtree Road

3925 Peachtree Road, Suite 200

Atlanta, GA 30319

mobile :: 770.634.9969

office :: 404.419.3500 x3619

fax :: 678.302.9477

email :: lesley@thepeterscompany.com

web :: www.thepeterscompany.com

blog :: www.thepeterscompany.com/blog

The Peters are the bomb!

Give New Life to Wrapping Paper Tubes

2010-12-31T15:10:00.009-05:00

The hubs asked me to take the lights down from the tree.

I wanted to get out of it somehow (I can only imagine how disorganized they'll be next year — lights always end up a tangled mess).

But.

I had an idea... and it worked!

1. Find a few empty wrapping paper rolls; cut slits on one end. (Wait until later to cut a slit at the other end.)

2. Start at the bottom or top of your tree. Slide the cord end into the slit, then wrap the light strand around the tube (starting at the top and working your way to the bottom).

3. Wrap until you reach the end of the strand. Cut a slit at the other end of the tube so you can slide the end of the strand's outlet in.

Voila!

Crossing fingers for untangled lights next year!

Keeping Christmas lights from tangling. Organizing Christmas lights.

Quote of the Week (Atlanta Housewives Style)

2010-12-29T21:51:00.004-05:00

Sisters

(At the nail salon, getting pedicures)

Me to my sister: "Hey! We're just like Kim and NeNe [of The Real Housewives of Atlanta]!"

Sister: "Why? Because we don't always get along but we have fun?"

Me: "ummm.... not exactly what I was thinking. I meant because we are out getting pampered on weekday..."

Recapping Christmas in Raleigh

2010-12-27T13:50:00.014-05:00

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Raleigh gave to us...

12 Jello Shooters

11 curling rod ringlets

10 place settings (2 parents, 7 kids, 1 husband)

9 ounces of mustache wax

8 inches of snow

7 varieties of dessert (cookies, coconut bars, chocolate pie, pecan pie, danishes, cinnamon rolls and peanut brittle)

6 strands of baubles

5 hours of dancing (Paul's party!)

4 idiots watching a turkey fry

3 new watches (Anna was one of three that received a new watch from Santa)

2 sisters named Katy/Katie (I have a stepsister named Katie!)

And 1 cod fish face!

What a great Christmas holiday! Thank you to my dad and Susan for hosting an awesome Christmas week gathering.

(Hope all your holidays were fabulous as well!)

- Katy

Story Time: Holiday Edition

2010-12-12T21:29:00.008-05:00

Being in that I'm a semi-new employee at my company (eight-ish months in), I felt compelled to make an appearance at our corporate holiday party.

The hubs and I suited up in our best cocktail appropriate attire and headed up to the Cobb Galleria (big events facility in metro Atlanta).

We followed other cars and the parking attendants' light sabers to a parking deck flush with the facility. I left my coat in the car, making the executive decision that a coat check might be more trouble than it's worth.

We entered the party and double-checked with a banquet employee to make sure we were in the right place. Check. We quickly made friends with the photographer, the wife of a company structural engineer. She was hilarious — encouraging people to take photos in front of the Christmas tree and telling people they ought to come back after a few more drinks. The photographer, who's name I can't remember (Lisa maybe?) introduced us to her husband. I learned he works with the Facilities department on waste water and building management projects. I shared with him that I'm in a semi-small part of our organization that sells advertising to the car manufacturers (Ford, Toyota, etc.). I asked him if he'd moved to the new office yet. So we talked for a few minutes about the new building and how nice it is and about an interior fountain that's not going to be installed after all (I didn't know there were plans for an interior fountain!).

Dan and I mostly hung out on the periphery. We were nervous to sit down at a table and get engrossed in conversation because we could only stay for an hour or so. After all, we didn't want to miss my bro and his girlfriend's annual tacky sweater party. Keeping to ourselves wasn't challenging, as I didn't really see anyone I knew. I mean, I heard that a lot of people opt out of this party for other Saturday night plans, but I was hoping to see a colleague or two.

Xylophones were chimed and dinner was served. The long drink line prompted a good idea on Dan's part: me go stand in the drink line while he went to grab a plate of food for us both. While Dan was in line, a woman asked him, "So, do you work for Arcadis or does your spouse?" Dan took a moment to reply but said, "my spouse." The woman replied, "Oh, what group?" Dan found the answer that made the most sense at that point in the conversation: "National Accounts." The woman seemed like she wasn't familiar with the department but didn't ask questions.

Dan and I found each other then found a vacant table where we could sit down. He told me about his conversation in the food line — and we promptly inhaled our food, hoping that no one would talk to us or that no one would ask me anything else.

And that's how we found out we were at the wrong holiday party... for 45 minutes. That's right... my employer's name also starts with an "A" but it's definitely not Arcadis.

Traveling = Invitation for Murphy's Law

2010-11-27T22:26:00.009-05:00

Murphy's law has its way of descending on me when we have well-intentioned plans of traveling — and getting out of town on time.

Here's a little recap of Wednesday afternoon:

I cannot locate my husband's great aunt's china that we were supposed to bring to Nashville after looking everywhere possible — and spot a leak from under the water heater
I call husband who tries his best to instruct me on how to inspect the leak, which is frustrating for both of us because I can't really describe what I'm looking at very well and he's not there to see it in person
Husband walks me through how to turn off the hot water valve and gas line; he texts our tenant to say we won't have hot water for a few days
I start loading up the truck with my stuff, husband's stuff and the dog — in the rain
I drive over to husband's office to pick him up with dog in back of truck in hopes of continuing on our way... only to see that our dog pooped in the bed of the truck sometime on the ride over
I scrape up most of poop using a Kroger plastic bag
We drive to the closest gas station (2 miles away); husband tries to get dog's poop from in between her toes and under her toenails
In the mean time, I go to wash my hands and buy a hotdog because I didn't eat lunch
Husband asks me to wipe the bed of the truck using baby wipes while he continues dealing with dog poop in between dog toes
I set down hotdog in its packaging on console in truck
I miss husband putting dog into cab of truck
After some light scrubbing, I open truck door to sit down and eat my hot dog... only to see hotdog has been eaten by dog
Husband finds some humor in this while I do not; I toss the hotdog bun in its box at husband and get ketchup on his shirt (I thought the packaging was closed)
Husband is not amused
We each apologize
We get on road to brave traffic to Nashville
Sister calls and says she is locked out of our house, where she planned to spend the night (whoops... I forgot to leave the key out for her)
I coach sister through breaking into our house, hang up the phone
I announce to husband, "why don't we just rear end someone to really put a bang in our travel plans?"

All that being said, we finally made it to the Nashville area and had a great time. With 30-plus of Dan's family members, 8 large dogs, great food, precious kids and karaoke, how could we NOT have a blast?

Pictures:

Halloween 2010 Costumes Revealed

2010-11-05T18:47:00.005-04:00

At work on Monday, I told people we dressed as an airline pilot and a flight attendant... though as a couple we had a different name for our costume. Can you guess?

Friends were:

Kat Von D and Bret Michaels

The rabbit from Monty Python and a Ghostbuster

A peacock (or showgirl - you decide) and The Joker

Sorry for the delay... I killed my laptop charger this week and had to wait on another one to arrive.

Lurve me some Halloween...

5-Minute Funny Break

2010-10-28T07:30:00.000-04:00

This has been cracking me up since I watched it last weekend:

I mean, the lyrics to Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter are pretty hard to understand... watch the video... hilarity ensues.

Enjoy!

(Kudos to James Wiersma at the basically now defunct "The Anthology of James Wiersma" blog for passing this link along to my hubs)

p.s. Safe for work. I think.

Domestical

2010-10-10T18:47:00.010-04:00

I'm still here!

I've just been busy traveling for work, traveling for fun/family and being domestical.

Aside from racking up frequent flyer miles, I finally made one set (two panels) of curtains using that fun brown and creme-colored print fabric I bought a while back. (And oh, Erica and Julia, Hancock Fabrics never contacted me after I filed my detailed and mostly polite complaint...)

Fabric from www.fabric.com.

Note to self: buy a new ironing board pad. Yours is looking a little sketchy.

The bedroom. As you can see, it's rather neutral and plain, so I wasn't afraid to use a bolder pattern in the curtains. And brown and cream go well with the light celery walls.

About these drapes:

I used a liner/backing material for the first time. This helps block out more sunlight but creates a little more work when hemming. With the first panel, I tried to do lose running stitches between the two fabrics to hold them together. That didn't work so well... I used pins for the second panel and that worked much better.
Fabric is by Waverly and feels very durable/substantial. And it arrived in less than a week (double points!).
I didn't do it purposely, but using a geometric pattern made cutting and measuring easier than if I'd used a solid print. I could pick a line and follow it across
For consistency (okay, I admit it... laziness and lack of sewing skills), I used the O-rings with curtain clips again for these. The alternative was creating tabs or folding over the fabric so the rod would slip in. Unfortunately the rings I bought didn't match the curtain rod/hardware so I spray painted them with a metal-friendly spray paint (Rustoleum, I think, from Home Depot).
Overall, I'm happy with how they turned out. Scratch that — how they've turned out so far. I still have two more panels to make.

Butterscotch Chocolate Martinis

2010-09-27T21:25:00.003-04:00

I hosted a few old — and a few newer — girlfriends for a grown-up slumber party a few weekends ago.

We played games, told stories, enjoyed a tasty dinner out (Iberian Pig in Downtown Decatur) and stayed up 'til the wee morning hours giggling and chatting.

I also tried out a new drink recipe. Ever since I tried Pinnacle's smooth and affordably priced whip cream flavored vodka ($12 for a 750 ml), I knew it would be a great addition to a decadent martini.

Girls' Night Butterscotch Chocolate Martini

1 ounce Pinnacle Whip Cream vodka
1 ounce butterscotch schnapps
2 ounces milk (I used 2%)
teaspoon chocolate syrup (or to taste — I used light Hershey chocolate syrup)
(Combine in a martini shaker with ice; pour through strainer into chilled martini glasses)

Another thing I liked about this recipe is that it doesn't break the bank. For about $30, you probably have 20 martinis' worth of makings.

Yes, I am perfectly aware those are margarita glasses... I couldn't find the martini glass box in the basement.

Long live girls' nights!

Giveaway on my other blog

2010-09-19T22:21:00.002-04:00

I'm doing a giveaway on my other blog for a $80 gift certificate to CSNstores.com (retailer that offers all kinds of things ranging from furniture and decor to shoes and kitchen gadgets).

Check out all the details here.

Neighborhoody Excitement

2010-09-19T20:52:00.006-04:00

We had a little excitement around "Mallory Manor" on Friday.

I drove up to our house after work and thought to myself, "weird, I don't remember Dan doing any yard work — specifically pulling up any bushes — in the last few days."

Then it donned on me... "that's not yard work refuse..."

Someone totally plowed over our wrought iron mailbox, the shrubbery next to it — and our official City of Decatur road sign (our only claim to fame for having some Decatur property). That Decatur road sign was about 8 feet from our mailbox, so the person must have been ALL up in our yard. Yikes. Good thing no one was parked in front of the house right there; the rogue car would have nailed it.

In addition to her Carolina front license late, the woman who accidentally ran over our mailbox left a note saying she wanted to pay for the damage. We called her, and it sounded like she was having a tough day (trying to bring a friend to Cerebral Palsy rehabilitation when she had the wreck), so we told her not to worry about paying us back. (Not to mention our mailbox arrangement really needed a forced makeover anyway).

Traditional Ranch Extreme Bath Makeover

2010-09-15T22:49:00.020-04:00

Okay, extreme may be a massive exaggeration — but we did just make over our hallway bathroom in our little 1949 Decatur brick ranch.

We reglazed our yellow tile to white, took down the wall paper and painted the walls light grey, installed a new slate floor — and put in a new light sconce, fan/light, vanity, sink faucets, shower turns, etc., etc.

Both our styles are rather traditional (but not stuffy traditional) so we went with what we would picture in a 1940s bathroom but not quite so retro. I hear the word "transitional" thrown around to describe casual, traditional with a hint of modern — maybe that's us.

This has been probably the biggest transformation in our little casa. Over the past two months, we spent about $3,000 on updating this bathroom (in our minds, less than if we had gutted it and re-tiled it).

BEFORE

Yikes! We had the toothbrush holder and soap holder tiles taken down when we had the tile reglazed from yellow to white.

AFTER

Vanity cabinet and medicine cabinet are from Lowe's. They weren't part of a set but felt right together. I believe the vanity was $250 or $300 — and medicine cabinet/mirror was about $120. Chrome faucet is Moen and was $92. The new vanity cabinet is shorter and narrower than the old one, which is good since the bathroom is small. We had wanted a faucet with the same turn-style knobs we have in the shower — no luck. One negative to keeping the original tile is that the mirror has to be really high to be above the tile. Folks 5 feet and under probably can't see their reflection.

BEFORE

Because I couldn't be there when he worked, I left our painter Miguel sticky notes with what I would like done ("e.g., sand, skim and paint").

Wallpaper was a shiny dark yellow and cream damask. I doubt it was original to the house but it was probably here for at least 30 years.

AFTER

Can't remember the exact color of the paint, but we chose another Martha's Stewart color from Home Depot (a light blue-ish grey) but had it matched at Sherwin Williams because we really trust their paint. Light sconce is from Lowe's (maybe $15 for the chrome hardware and $10 for the globe).

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

New shower fixtures are Price Pfister via Amazon.com. Including the "rough in" (or behind the scenes parts), I think these were about $250.

BEFORE

I was SO over this white hexagon bathroom tile. I mean, it's neat and retro, but it looked dirty and dingy all the time (even right after cleaning).

AFTER

Replaced the floor with dark grey slate tile (12 x 12 inch). The actual color is darker than what the photo shows. I LOVE the tile. Dan's still not sure that navy is the right rug color choice — but we're working through it.

Lastly, two custom-framed watercolors we picked up in Italy on our honeymoon. (In case you you don't remember, I lost our camera so we have no photos). Got these framed at Hobby for about $110 total including frame, matte and glass.

We used Porcelain Innovations to reglaze our tile and install the new floor. We are really happy with the most important part: the tile reglazing. However, there were some little things that lead me to say I wouldn't recommend Porcelain Innovations. The owner was tough to get in touch with sometimes and they had excuses for some things that didn't get done the way we wanted them. For example, the work was done while we were out of town, and we were excited to come back to a finished job. Porcelain Innovations neglected to tell us they messed up our towel racks (took off the plastic coating and tried to paint them) and accidentally ripped our new, professional paint off the walls because of taping off the tile for reglazing. Granted, it may have been that the paint wasn't dry enough just yet — but they could have sent us a quick e-mail while we were gone to say, "hey, wanted to let you know that..." And they were the ones who recommended we have the painting done BEFORE they come to do the tile. They also said they would install the threshold but decided not to. I don't know... I just left the whole thing with a kind of bad taste in my mouth related to customer service, communication and having to convince them to come back and fix things. Anyway, they did come back to fix most of the things we weren't happy with so we still are overall satisfied. Including the old floor being demo-ed and the slate being installed, the tile work was $1,800. It does look good.

Sorry for the rambling.

Angel Painting (Miguel!) did our painting. We spent about $300 with him in the bathroom — but well worth it. The walls were raw plaster and needed to be smoothed with mud and sanded down to be even. He also patched holes where the medicine cabinet and light fixtures once were. I should also mention that Miguel came back out to re-do where the paint was messed up without excuses or requesting additional money.

Corey with High Priority Plumbing has done our plumbing work (installing new fixtures). High Priority is so easy to work with because their office folks are very communicative — and the prices are reasonable and and the work is quality. Angela at the office responds quickly to e-mail communications, and they're always able to give quick turnaround time appointments. Corey (the technician we use) is friendly and courteous. He calls on his way over to let us know he'll be arriving soon — and he calls following his appointments to tell us how they went. My favorite thing is that he sent me a text message photo of our new faucet before he left our house. Love it!

S.B.

2010-09-12T22:27:00.012-04:00

Dear Steve and Cath —

Thank you for treating us to one of our best vacations in a long time.

We...

Did a little of the "tourist" thing
Ate (and ate like kings — the food you make at your house is better than any restaurant... and the cheese, oh god, the cheese!)
Drank (wine and micro-brew tastings were fun outings)
Pacific coast kayaked... complete with dolphins that swam up around us
Had our first acupuncture experiences
Rummaged (successfully) for thrift store treasures
Lusted over (and later enjoyed) beautiful produce at the Saturday farmer's market
Admired and bought unique pieces at the Sunday "art walk"
Took amazing walks on that amazing Pacific coast beach, complete with gorgeous cliffs to one side and surfers to the other
Enjoyed the cliffside hot tub
Talked and laughed about life, memories, those loved and lost, favorite fonts (?), books, movies and more
Got to know each other better (I married into a fab family)

Steve, I definitely can understand how you met Cath and immediately followed her over to the West Coast — what a lady.

Such an amazing trip — and I feel like — a good taste of California. Santa Barbara is beautiful and you have such a wonderful life there. Thank you for having us into your home and entertaining us for four days straight. Somehow you managed to keep the days busy but relaxing and carefree, and I'm already planning our next trip out. :)

Love,

Katy and Dan

Confession

2010-09-08T20:59:00.002-04:00

In my mind, one benefit to having dinner guests is that they give you a reason to spruce up around the house — and put small scale renovation projects in high gear...

I Usually Don't Give Money to the Homeless

2010-09-01T19:50:00.008-04:00

Sorry for my absence. Out of town work training + 'lil vacay to California = extreme lack of posting.

But I had to give it to this guy!

(Click for full-size images)

Part installation, part arcade game — these three pieces encouraged us to chunk out some coin.

What Says Dog Lover More Than A... Well, You Decide for Yourself

2010-08-16T22:29:00.005-04:00

I woke up early the other morning with a headache.

I looked in a few intuitive places (my toiletry basket, the medicine cabinet, the linen closet) for some Aleve...

No luck. So I talked myself into waking my sleeping husband to ask him where it was.

"Dan, where's the pain reliever?"

(without missing a beat) "By Roxxi."

You've seen Roxxi. If your memory is escaping you, here's a photo:

So I go back out of our room, into the living room — near where Roxxi sleeps. I have no idea why Aleve would be "by Roxxi," but I keep looking (on the built in cabinets, the mantle, the coffee table). Still no luck.

I go back to husband.

"Dan, I hate to ask you this, but can you show me where the bottle of medicine is?"

He gets up and walks directly to it:

Oh, stupid me! I should have known he was referring to the ceramic Rottweiler that's temporarily hanging out in the kitchen.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

2010-08-11T07:30:00.001-04:00

We live on a street that's often a cut through to other parts of Decatur and Druid Hills. It's not a busy street but a decent number of cars come by.

Sometimes we leave things out for the garbage truck that disappear within hours — long before the garbage man comes by.

Sometimes, Dan and I make fictional bets about how long it will be before items are lifted from the trash pile.

This time it was the old/traditional ceramic chandalier that was up for grabs.

Merchandised atop a stack of empty ceiling fan boxes.

I put this out at 7pm yesterday — and gone this morning when I woke up to get ready for work.

Other treasures that people have taken from our trash pile:

A yellow ceramic sink (circa 1950)
Dusty/dirty/old off-white carpet, removed from our living room
An old, painted wood door (removed from the entrance to our daylight basement)
Possibly asbestos ceiling tiles - yikes!
A framed black and white photo of the Brooklyn Bridge

$20 Drop Cloth Drapes

2010-08-10T12:00:00.003-04:00

While Dan was installing light fixtures this weekend, I decided to tackle my Lowe's drop cloths drape project.

I didn't realize the drop cloths had horizontal seams halfway down — but I don't mind them so bad.

The look I was trying to replicate:

This particular photos is from The Lettered Cottage.

The process:

Iron the drop cloth (using steam) to eliminate deep wrinkles that could impact cutting or measuring.
Cut to desired width and length, keeping in mind that your hem will reduce your final length and width by about an inch. I made each panel about 27 inches wide* by 7 feet, 2 inches tall.
Fold over hem twice (ironing each time), about 3/4 inch (pin if you're an amateur like I am).
Use your sewing machine (regular stitch) to hem the edge, removing the pins before you get to them so you don't break your needle.
Hand sew the really thick folds so you don't break your needle (or your sewing machine).
Total time for two windows: about 3.5 to 4 hours (maybe 1.25 hours for the first one, then 30 minutes per "panel" after I got the hang of it).

What went well:

Only having to sew on two sides! The drop cloths come pre-hemmed but I had to make mine narrower and shorter than the original drop cloth (6 by 9 feet) because the windows I was working with were 36 inches wide — and about 7 feet off the ground.
The price. How can you beat $10 per package? I used two packages, cutting out two 27-inch panels per package. (Curtain rods were about $21 each plus shipping on eBay. Seller is Browns Linens).
Using curtain hooks — so easy.
The clean finished look. Dan commented that he likes the minimalist look of the new drapes.
In general, this is a great first project for someone who's never done drapes before (inexpensive materials, simple sewing). I would recommend giving it a shot. I know my learnings here will help me with sewing our master bedroom curtains.

If I were to do it all over again (which I might since the materials are less than $20)

Get needles made for sewing heavy duty fabric (I broke two needles over the course of my sewing).
Be more cautious about the lenth. These ended up about 1.5 inches off the floor. I wish they were a half inch off the floor.
*Think deeply about the width. See how The Lettered Cottage's curtains have nice pleats and folds? It's because the panels are wider than the curtain rod. I made mine just as wide as the curtain rod (which I regret).
Consider getting a double curtain rod so you can hang an airy/light fabric behind the drop cloth curtains (like what's shown in the Lettered Cottage photo above)

Any other questions? E-mail me at lifefulfilledatl@gmail.com.

Light and Breezy

2010-08-09T22:30:00.017-04:00

Dan was a busy dude this weekend.

Hallelujah. We now have ceiling fans in all three of our upstairs bedrooms. Ahhh... the fan is such a welcome addition to our master bedroom especially.

We bought Hunter brand fans from Home Depot. This is the 52'' Augusta fan, which we used in two of the three rooms. (We bought a slightly smaller version for our smallest bedroom). Larger fans were $99/piece (more expensive than I'd hoped to pay — but they're so much more sharper looking than some of the other options we looked at).

Here's a reminder of what our bedroom looked like five months ago. I can't believe five months have passed already!

And the dining area chandelier... Dan gets extra points for this one because it required spending about 30 minutes in the 100-degree attic.

He slightly relocated the light fixture above the dining room table in our living/dining room combo room. And he switched out the old porcelain chandalier for a more "transitional" fixture. Even though we only moved the fixture back by maybe 15 inches and over 6 inches, it's now in a much better place (centered above our dining room table).

Fixture is Hampton Bay (from Home Depot). It's not exactly like this one but it's similar. Was reasonably priced at $88.

See the original hole? That'll be patched up soon.

Before.

But, womp, womp... one of the globes was broken. The broken piece wasn't even in the box... Now to figure out where to get a replacement piece...

Champagne Dreams, Tile Wishes

2010-07-31T10:39:00.000-04:00

Photo from Tile.net

We're getting closer to making our bathroom mini renovation project a reality!

Painting (light grey/blue walls and white high gloss trim) will happen the week of 8/23. Tub/tile refinishers will come shortly thereafter. We'll go pick out a sink/cabinet combo, a mirror and a dark stained medicine cabinet in the coming weeks. I can't wait!

And we'll go pick out floor tile next weekend. I'm voting for dark grey or black slate tile -- would be a nice combination with the 6 x 6, newly glazed WHITE wall tiles.

New Drape Plan

2010-07-21T07:30:00.003-04:00

Buying fabric at Hancock Fabrics (Church Street/N. Decatur location in Decatur) turned out to be a giant bust*, so I'm starting from scratch on my path toward making my own curtains.

With the $276 I got back from Hancock's, I took my frustrated 'lil self over to Lowe's to buy some drop cloths to use as drape panels in the larger of our two spare bedrooms. If the gals over at Knock Off Wood and The Lettered Cottage can easily and stylistically do it, so can I... dammit. And each "panel" (or individual drop cloth) was $9.99 — SCORE! No sewing required? Sign me up!

Drop cloth drapes ($10/panel) from Lowe's. Photo from The Lettered Cottage.

For our master bedroom, I considered shopping Hancock Fabric's drape sale online — then I realized that would be dumb considering the disappointing customer service I've received over the past few weeks.

Instead I headed over to Fabric.com and picked up some slightly contemporary chocolate brown/white geometric material. See below.

Waverly's Parterre Walnut Designer Fabric - $15.98/yard at www.fabric.com. I bought 8.5 yards.

So that's about $185 for the same amount of fabric that I'd bought "half off" at Hancock. Fingers crossed the online fabric arrives in a timely fashion — and madame clutz-a-lot (moi) does okay with this project.

*I ordered fabric for two bedrooms (four windows total) at Hancock Fabrics a while back — half off, totaling $276. The employees there were friendly enough about taking my order. They told me the orders would take 2 to 3 weeks to come in, 3 weeks at the latest. This sounded fair enough.

Three and a half weeks pass, so I decide to call and check on my order. I tell the employee who answers the phone my name and why I was calling (to check in on an order). Employee is quite snappy with me, saying, "Umm... did we call you?" I responded saying, "no, you didn't — but the order is later than the 'at the latest' time you all mentioned to me when I placed the order." So I was instructed to call back in about a week.

So a week I waited. This time another employee answers the phone. When I'm asked if I have been called yet, I say, "no, I haven't received a call — but at this point, I'm alarmed about my order." She goes to look for the order, comes back and says, "uh, can you call back later? We're, like, really busy."

I'm obviously annoyed at this point but want to give these folks another chance. I call back the next day, ask to speak with the manager. Manager and I play phone tag for a day. When we connect, I mention my disappointment. She says they can't guarantee delivery times but will refund my shipping ($40) anyway. She promises that day (a Thursday) that the fabric will be sent two-day to the Decatur store for me to pick up Tuesday at the latest.

Yesterday (Tuesday) rolls around. I try to call the store various times during the day, only to get a busy signal. Argh! I decided to drop by after work because the store isn't too far out of the way on my way home.

Upon entering the store, I tell an employee that I'm swinging by to check on the status of an order — and that the phone seems to not be working. She asks, "well, did we call you?" OMG. No, you didn't call me — but someone promised the material would be here by today at the latest — not to mention it's 3 weeks late. She asks me to retrieve my "pink slip" (carbon copy of my order form) from my car so she can look up my order.

Employee sees my last name and says, "oh, I know exactly which order is yours!" Then she goes on to say she doesn't think the whole order has come in yet (WTF!?). She goes to the back and comes out with only one of the two orders. Out of control! That's not even the best part... the order that HAS come in has black grease stains all over it.

The employee then says they were so disappointed when the order came in and it had these black marks on it, considering all the time I've been waiting. I'm at that point wondering why I hadn't been updated — or why she hadn't stopped short of bringing the fabric out — and offered me a full refund instead.

I politely said, "I would like to get all my money back. Can I do that?" Without any argument, the employee says she doesn't blame me — and escorts me to the register where she refunds the full amount. She also said my experience was the exception, not the rule.

Sorry for the rant — frustrated!

P.s. To my father-in-law, I'm sorry for another post about textiles!

Barely Under $10: Accomplice Shiraz

2010-07-20T21:12:00.004-04:00

I've been sans car for the past five days, so I haven't been able to casually drive to the store to pick up a bottle of wine like I sometimes do. (Yep, with the car in the shop, I've been racking up my frequent MARTA points — and MARTA doesn't exactly drop you off in front of a nice wine shop).

The car's headlight is fixed as of this afternoon — glory, glory Hallelujah.

So I swung by a cute little shop in Inman Park/Lake Claire called The Mercantile to pick up a bottle of something red and tasty. It was between a $10 granacha and a $10 shiraz.

Feeling like I heard once that shirazes are especially tasty in the summer, I went with the latter. I also must admit it's bottle design was cute — and the screw top was also part of the persuasion.

Specifically Accomplice Shiraz (2009). This Australian shiraz is smooth, simple, fruity and a little oaky... though it doesn't taste as bold as the cabernets Dan and I usually go for.

See what Deal's Direct has to say about the vintage here. (Too bad we don't live in the AU, or else we could buy this red for $59.99/case).

The Battle is On

2010-07-20T09:21:00.005-04:00

Here's the cute and creative e-flyer my Aunt Vera released this morning to promote her appearance on Throw Down with Bobby Flay.

Tune in!

Aunt Vera: Throwing it Down with Bobby Flay

2010-07-19T07:30:00.002-04:00

My Aunt Vera has been very busy lady lately!

Tune in Wednesday night (July 21) to see Very Vera take on Bobby Flay on the Cooking Network's "Throwdown with Bobby Flay."

Vera is contractually obligated to keep mum about the competition's outcome -- but I have a feeling she's going to be the victor in this carrot cake championship.

See details about the episode featuring Vera here.

Beginnings of a Bathroom Makeover

2010-07-05T21:33:00.014-04:00

We just left our neighbors Vica and Adam's place. We went over there to see their stunning new bathroom renovation. Vica's dad is quite the handy man, so he helped them gut their bathroom. Check out the before and after photos here. Doesn't it look amazing? Such a smart blend of modern and traditional styles -- and I love the colors and textures!

So naturally we have bathroom remodeling on the brain.

Okay, so if you follow this blog, you've seen "before" photos of our main bathroom. It's about the length of a standard tub, and about just as deep.

The bathroom has "biscuit" colored wall tiles, an old cabinet, a dated vanity and lights, white hexagon floor tile and probably original damask wallpaper. When I walk into our bathroom, I imagine it looked exactly the same 30 or 40 years ago.

When we purchased the home.

Now. We took down some of the extra towel hangers and shelves. Hope to replace this cabinet with a dark wood one.

I almost love this metallicy wallpaper. Unfortunately it's a little antiquated looking and and starting to peel off the walls.

Current tile floor. Can't wait for this not to be white.

Well, this bathroom is going to be our next project. Our "minimal" remodel plan:

Switch out the tub fixtures (done - see below. Love those guys at High Priority Plumbing)
Remove wallpaper; skim walls to make them even; paint light grey-ish blue
Remove old floor tile (or tile over existing) with a medium to dark grey slate tile (12 x 12 size) -- I am soooo ready to NOT have a white floor
Reglaze wall tiles in white (the tile itself is in fine shape... it's the color that's the problem)
Reglaze tub (already white but it needs a refresh)
Install new cabinet, sink and water fixtures
Install new lighting fixtures
Add an outlet (we don't have one currently!)
Hang flat, simple mirror above vanity
Hang medicine cabinet above toilet
Frame water colors from our honeymoon trip to Italy

See some of our original bathroom inspirations here. Maybe we'll do that beadboard in another bathroom...

So on to our first step: replacing the leaky/tough-to-turn faucets in the tub:

Before.

After. Gah, this is going to look so much sharper with the tile reglazed white. Faucet/fixtures seen here are Price Pfister from Amazon.com ($128 for the fixtures/valves plus $46 for the "rough in" or body materials required to install). The most expensive part was the three-hour installation ($285).

And if you didn't see our AJC article about our house hunt that was published this weekend, check it out here. We had fun being a part of the article, though I never mentioned the word "disaster" in describing our new place. Even in the shape we found it in, I never considered it to be a disaster.

And Small Guest Bedroom Before/After

2010-06-25T16:00:00.002-04:00

And the smaller guest bedroom (I guess the one that would be, errrr... a nursery if we ever got nuts and decided to have kids):

Before (it's obviously dark in this photo -- so I'll tell you that the paint was a cream color with a slightly lighter shade of cream/off-white for the trim). Floors were carpet.

After. Most everything from Ross, TJ Maxx and Home Goods. Thanks to the stepmom for the gratis curtain panels, which match perfectly.

I'll upload new photos of the master and second guest bedrooms after I go through the adventure of making curtains for them...

Built-ins: Before and After

2010-06-24T18:00:00.001-04:00

I realized I forgot to post "before and after" photos of our built-ins and living room:

After (just kidding!)

See info about our painters and paint colors here and here. I forgot to mention that the white is high gloss white interior paint.

Katy's Soapbox: Networking

2010-06-22T21:31:00.004-04:00

I try to keep my blog light. However, every now and again I feel compelled to jump on my soap box and share something that irks me.

Today's topic: networking.

I still keep in touch several professional contacts I respect very much. I had mentioned to one of my contacts a few months ago that I "owe him" for all the good feedback and recommendations he's given me over the years. Since he's a busy guy, I encouraged him to send me any young, hungry marketing or communications professionals or students who want to network or get some good advice.

Earlier this month, I agreed to meet up with a recent grad (Marketing) to discuss her career. After all, I am eternally grateful for the many professionals who met with me when I was a college student -- many of which I'm still in touch with today. I feel inclined to spend some time with young professionals and recent grads because I remember how tough it was to meet people and find jobs.

So the recent grad was perfectly nice, albeit a little clueless about what one does at an informational interview. Of course an informational interview means that there's not a job opening -- but it's a chance for a job seeker to make a good impression on a working professional. Informational interviews are a great way to add people to your network who may have job openings in the future or fantastic other connections to introduce you to. It's also an opportunity to explain your strengths, talents, interests, aspirations and more.

So based on how that convo went, I've compiled a list of informational interview "musts..."

People, for informational interviews, please, I beg of you:

Bring your resume to the conversation (for both discussion and for critique)
Bring your portfolio (even if you don't have professional writing, project management or design experience, your classwork is still a good read on your style and work quality)
Spend more time asking questions of the person who agreed to meet you versus talking about yourself (you'll get more leverage out of these conversations if you seem interested in the person you're meeting's career; in other words, flattery goes a long way)
Write some interview questions out before you meet ("What's your career path been up to this point?" "What do you enjoy most about your job?" "What suggestions would you offer a recent grad?")
Know what you're looking for in your next job
Take notes during your conversation (If I tell you the name of some companies to look up or resources to check out, act like you care and plan to research them)
WRITE THE PROFESSIONAL WHO TOOK TIME TO MEET UP WITH YOU A FREAKING THANK YOU NOTE (preferably handwritten, but e-mail is better than nothing... I'm still waiting on mine)

Follow these tips and you'll keep from looking like a total goober. Who knows? Maybe you'll impress someone.

Katy

House Progress: Blah Blah Blah

2010-06-20T23:08:00.016-04:00

We finally had a 'lil open house of sorts at our "new" (old) house. Like I said in the evite, if we waited until we finished renovating, it might be 15 years before we had a housewarming party!

We used the little gathering as reason to get a few more things done around the house. Dan trimmed many bushes and shrubs, cut the grass, laid some mulch, dusted off the house's exterior, installed light switches and electrical outlet covers, cleaned the grill, replaced three old light fixtures with more modern ones and hung about 15 picture frames. I'm sure I've missed about five things.

I did what I do best: not much that was especially useful. As I mentioned two weeks ago, I've been pining to fill our built-ins with interesting and personal items. So I bought stuff for the built-ins and ordered photos to put in picture frames.

My other contribution was grocery shopping for the party. We bought hotdogs, hamburgers and baked beans but also made a few homemade items. The coleslaw was especially a hit (see below for recipe).

Wall of photos in the hallway — frames ranging $7 to $22 from Target, Ross and Home Goods. Thank you, Chiara for the Home Goods gift card! It's been put to good use.

Wedding photos - finally! We never put up any at our old house because we knew we would be selling (didn't want to put holes in the wall — and we wanted to keep our photos on the wall rather impersonal for potential buyers). Wedding photography by Cariad Photography.

Small guest bedroom. This room needed the most work a month ago. We've since bought a bedspread (TJ Maxx - $40), throw pillows (Ross), pillow cases (Ross), a framed picture ($40 - Home Goods). I also hung some curtains that my stepmom didn't need — they worked perfectly!

Left side of built-ins. That's Dan's mom in the photo on the bottom shelf. We already had the little lamp — and the candle and candle holder are both from Home Goods (about $8 for the stand, $4 for the candle).

Left side of the built-ins. Perfect time for a photo.

Left side (again). You see that I won the globe!

One of many fam photos. Frame from Ross ($7). Love the frames at Ross but I hate the sticky residue each price tag leaves behind. Note to readers: Home Goods' stickers come off MUCH more easily.

Distressed painted frame from Pier One ($11). Purchased it with a gift card from our wedding (thanks, Sarah and Will!).

Handcarved wood vase (gift from my friend Lauren's dad maybe two years ago); filled with peacock and ostrich features from Hobby Lobby ($4.50)

Gilded looking frame from Home Goods. Gah, I could do so much damage in that freaking store ($7).

Another Pier One frame ($11).

Oversized vase - $15 at Target. Individual globes (wicker, acrylic, etc.) were between $2 and $5 at Pier One.

Bronze mouse bookends were a gift from my Uncle Harry years ago. Love them. :)

Signed platter made by That Pottery Place for our wedding (used in lieu of a guest book). pocket watch clock was a wedding gift that we didn't register for but I love very much (Pottery Barn).

Some of the fam. Not sure where Ben (brother) and Becca (brother's gf) were when we snapped this one.

You can't tell too easily from this photo - but there's a wall in between the built-ins. It's a hollow/thin wall, meaning we can't trust it to hold our TV. Eventually we'll get the wall recessed and framed out so we can hang the TV there.

Combine in a large bowl or aluminum roasting pan:

2 bags pre-shredded cabbage for coleslaw (with the pre-cut salad bags)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice (fresh squeezed is best but not required)
2/3 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup light mayo
1 jar mandarin oranges (drained)
2 packages ramen noodles, crumbled into small pieces (no need for the seasoning packet)
Fresh cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste

(Thank you to Anna and Lauren for helping prep for the party, too! Also, even though no one should have - we received some very nice housewarming gifts Saturday. It was great to see friends and family!)

I know what you're thinking. What happened to when Katy used to occasionally write funny blog posts?

Back to High School

2010-06-17T18:00:00.001-04:00

I forgot to mention something to you guys.

I've decided to bite the bullet... and plan my high school class' 10-year reunion.

Our class president will still be involved, but it would be tough for him to plan the whole weekend from California and with a new baby. I've created a facebook group, a blog and an e-mail address.

Now it's on to an itinerary, booking venues and deciding on ticket prices. It will be a good chunk of work... but I'm honestly looking forward to it. I enjoyed my high school years and have so many great friends I look forward to seeing.

If anyone has suggestions from their own high school reunion experiences, I want to hear! What did you enjoy? What was stupid and lame? What would you change if you had been in charge?

Thanks, y'all!

Katy

Filling the Built-ins: Worldly Touch

2010-06-06T10:54:00.003-04:00

Around the same time I saw Hiking in Stiletto's post about being obsessed with maps, I started thinking about what we're going to do with our living room built-ins.

We've never had built-ins before so I've been perplexed about how to handle them. I don't want the built-ins to be junky or cluttered but I want their contents to be interesting and appealing.

In the last two days, I've been hell bent on finding a globe to put in the built ins.

I'm also hunting neat picture frames to space out on the shelves. Lastly, I may have to find a spot for Dan's grandfather's cuckoo clock. I think the vintage clock will look more endearing on the shelves versus on the wall.

I'll take pictures when I'm done!

Here's the antique 8-inch globe I'm bidding on ($9 plus $9 shipping on eBay). I hope I win!

Vote for My Aunt Vera

2010-06-04T09:57:00.005-04:00

My very talented and very spunky Aunt Vera (of Very Vera fame) is auditioning for the Your Own Show contest sponsored by Oprah.

Remember when I worked with her for her Costco Road Show a few months back? Vera has a highly successful mail order cake business out of Augusta, Georgia, and she's on the fast track to even more success with her southern style casseroles and other tasty treats. She's been featured on Oprah's favorite things and graced the pages of Veranda, Southern Living and many others.

If chosen, Vera's show would be about classic cooking, impressing your family and friends with elegance/style and staying fit and active. She's calling her show "The School of Good Taste."

Go give her a little love!

Vote here.

The Only Thing Dan Currently Likes About Our Yard

2010-05-31T21:55:00.001-04:00

(The hydrangeas on the side of the yard next to the driveway)

The Underbelly

2010-05-23T22:08:00.010-04:00

The underbelly of our home is a dark, cinderblock, unfinished basement.

It sounds scary (and kind of looks scary, too), but the space is great for storage — and at 1300 square feet, it has amazing potential for additional living space one day.

The hubs spent the better (or worse, depending on how you look at it) part of today organizing our bicycles, Christmas ornaments, tools, wedding gifts, extra framed photos, etc. in our basement.

Now we can actually see the floor (it's been invisible for the last two months) and the space is so much more functional. I think my favorite part, however, is that Dan uncovered many wedding gifts we hadn't used and I forgot we had! It's like Christmas in May!

Wedding presents stacked in the basement. Also note the TP. To quote our neighbor Adam, "Now we know where to go for toilet paper when the apocalypse comes..."

I Took the Pledge - Did You?

2010-05-12T07:47:00.000-04:00

Dear Katy... Love, Mom

2010-05-09T16:58:00.005-04:00

The mama and her littles. Back row - L to R: Ben (25), Anna (22), Mom, Me (27), Paul (20). In front: Charlie (8) and Woody (10).

Dear Katy,

You have no idea how many things I have to say —
Because your last time as a high schooler is today.
Soon you’ll be gone far from your mother’s reach
With so many lessons left for life to teach.
From now on you’re on your own and out of site,
So, take heed of each word in this letter I now write…

Work and play hard, but always with a goal in sight.
Compliment and acknowledge others when they are right.
No matter what, black is the color that’s always in fashion.
In life, take up at least one hobby with a true passion.
Remember that forgetting is just as tough as forgiving.
Make life cheaper by doing your own laundry and ironing.
Don’t ever be sorry for who you truly are
And you can survive college without a car!
With old friends, strive to keep in touch.
But when it comes to getting married, don’t be in a rush.
Seek true love, but remember men come and go;
They say “forever;” but their true motives we may not know.
Thank God for all your blessings, several times.
To the people you love most, be especially kind.
Only try to change what you can control.
Follow your heart and don’t forfeit your soul.
If no risk is involved, you’ll never gain.
Live life outwardly and refuse to be plain.
Never turn down an opportunity to learn.
Have self-discipline no matter how hot a temptation may burn.
Learn from your mistakes and allow others to do the same.
Admit that sometimes, you deserve the blame.
Do not let others take advantage of — and walk on — you;
You’ll lose respect for those people, and yourself, too.
People may judge you by how you dress, eat and speak.
Even the juiciest gossip and secrets are most fun to keep.
Be sure to one day have kids and show them your love.
Remember that they are a product from our God up above.
Send nice notes and e-mail greeting cards.
Don’t forget to thank those who helped shape who you are.
Plan for the future, but live for today.
Travel, take bubble baths, and most importantly — pray.
No matter what the situation, don’t steal, cheat or lie.
Give in sometimes when you need to cry.
Don’t be afraid to call friends when you need a crutch.
Do things you enjoy, but never too much.
Consider others’ feelings and opinions.
Learn to live life with certain, minute imperfections.
Think back to how things were as a kid;
Remember all the silly, crazy, fun things that you did.
Above all, remember to yourself be the most true.
And, never forget the words, “I love you.”

I LOVE YOU!
Mom

My mom and I unearthed this over the weekend while we were visiting for Mother's Day. I gave this to my mom on the day I graduated high school, as kind of a thank you and recap for all the things she'd taught me up 'til that time. It's funny to re-read now, as nine years have passed since I graduated high school — and lots has changed since then. I'm married, I graduated college and have a career in a field I love. Not to mention I hope I'm a better write than I was then... My siblings are growing up, too. My mom continues to teach valuable lessons — about life and love — to me and to my five younger siblings. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

— Katy

Clearing the air: abbreviations

2010-05-06T22:54:00.005-04:00

e.g.

e.g. stands for exempli gratia. It's Latin. That probably doesn't mean much to most of us.

Or for our purposes, let's just say e.g. means "for example," or "such as."

Used in a sentence: I'm a big fan of mainstream, flannel-shirt-wearing, 90s rockers (e.g., Stone Temple Pilots or Pearl Jam).

i.e.

i.e. is Latin for id est.

Simply put, i.e. means "in other words" or "put another way."

Used in a sentence. I'm a big fan of mainstream, flannel-shirt-tastic, 90s rock music (i.e. "grunge rock").

A colleague of mine says he remembers the difference between "e.g." and "i.e." by thinking "e.g." stands for "example given."

Go forth and impress people with your ability to use e.g. and i.e. appropriately — they're misused way too often.

In-law Suite Bathroom Mini-Makeover

2010-04-27T12:00:00.007-04:00

This weekend, we also finished readying our in-law suite for posting on Craig's List. We're thinking the apartment would be great for a young professional or a student. It will be nice to have that extra income for other home improvement projects!

Beyond being cleaner, the apartment mostly looks the same as it did when we purchased the house. We did hang curtains to make the space feel a little more homey.

Most of the updating was in the bathroom. My mom and I picked out a new mirror, light fixtures and hardware. Dan installed a new toilet and over-the-toilet cabinet. I picked out the paint. It's a little darker than I thought it would be — but it still works. Dan and I took turns taping, painting and cursing (at taping and painting — not at each other).

Mirror - $16 (Big Lots), Paint - $22 (Valspar from Lowe's), Hardware - $20 (towel rack, toilet paper holder, hand towel ring - Lowe's), Light fixture - $18 (Lowe's), and light globes - $3/each (Lowe's)

Bathroom before.

Turning a Corner

2010-04-25T19:28:00.014-04:00

I feel like we turned a corner this weekend.

The nasty weather, coupled with a morning-of decision to have a pizza party at our house, encouraged us to hunker down and get some work done yesterday.

Dan and I unpacked almost all the remaining upstairs boxes (there are still PLENTY in the unfinished basement), wiped pollen off our porch furniture, decluttered the living room and did boatloads of laundry.

One bedroom (the master) is in good shape. Still need to hang our Mallory Hats advertisements like we had in our old house.

You can't see the pieces well in the photos — but we have a traditional, chestnut-colored bedroom suite. These pieces were a gift to Dan's parents when they got married.

Thrilled to find a 16-foot-long runner for our hallway ($123 plus $1 shipping on Overstock).

Here's the living room as of today. (Note: we're going to replace that porcelain and brass chandelier with something more our taste). The rectangle rug is 8 x 11, also from Overstock - $181 plus $1 shipping.

Do you remember what the living room/dining room looked like before?

Roxxi likes the new rugs, too.

Our first piece of art, picked up when we visited Steffi in July 2008. :)

We finally found something for under our dining room table. Dan was the one to find this 8-foot diameter rug on Overstock. The rug should still work even when we have the leaf in (leaf goes in length-wise so the table turns into a large square).

Perfect spot for the painting my Uncle Harry painted us for our wedding gift.

Granted we still have a long ways to go before the house is "finished" — but we feel more settled in now.

Doppleganger?

2010-04-21T22:36:00.004-04:00

So Dan (the husband) has a best friend named James. James has a blog he doesn't update often that's located here. But that's beside the point...

James had a funny story for me yesterday. It goes something like this (I'm paraphrasing, so forgive me.)

James: So I've been in a training thing all week long.

Katy: okay?

James: And there's this girl in my training that looks SO much like you. I kept looking at her through the whole training, thinking about how much she looks like you.

Katy: yeah?

James: So I know it probably sounded creepy and weird, but I asked her if I could take a picture of her.

Here's the mysterious girl from James' training.

Here I am.

Katy: You're crazy! (Okay, maybe I didn't say that out loud...)

James: I told her that she looked SO much like one of my best friends' wives that it was crazy. So, we're talking and she asked me where my friend lives.

Katy: Okay (wondering what the punch line is)

James: So I tell her that my friend lives in Atlanta. Then she asks me what my friend's name is. So I tell her that his name is Dan.

Katy: yeah?

James: And this girl says, "wait, what? Dan as in Katy and Dan, Dan?"

Katy: WHAT?!?

James: Then she says, "Well, I guess it makes sense that we look alike... because she's my freaking first cousin."

---

Yep, James randomly met my cousin Bradley, my mom's sister's daughter, who was visiting from Tampa for a training. What are the freaking odds? Crazy!

Afternoon Marta

2010-04-16T18:48:00.003-04:00

5:40 - leave my office

5:42 - arrive at Marta station

5:43 - the paper trip pass (to and fro) I bought this morning doesn't work. I all of a sudden remember it took 10 taps on the sensor to function correctly this morning when I exited the station. I buy a new fare card -- this time a legit, debit-card-durable card and load two round trips on it ($9).

5:46 - a southbound train arrives. I take David Byrnes advice from facebook today and get on the last car (David has generally found the last car to be least crowded in the afternoons). Car isn't crowded -- but then again, I'm getting on toward the upper-most part of the line.

5:51 - this train is actually pretty chilly inside. Where was this chill factor this morning when I was developing a nice pre-work layer of moistness all over?

5:56 - Lindbergh station. About 15 people get on my train car, three of which seem they've recently been expunged from mental institutions. We have two talk-to-yourselfers, one of which is carrying her Marta pass, driver's license, AARP card and wallet in a ziplock bag. She's asked, "you want some?" about four times, to no one in particular about nothing particular.

6:03 - I'm no germophobe but the number of people coughing and sneezing remind me of how many colds and flus are probably passed along on this train.

My train is now standing room only.

I hear a man ask the woman next to him, "so do you ride the train often?" I bet she's never heard THAT before.

6:08 - getting more full. Next stop - Five Points to change trains.

6:10 - time to time trains. Doors on both sides open. I incorrectly assume I can exit from either side. Nope, that's to go up to the street. Whoops. Have to walk back through train car over to other side. I go up on the escalator to snag my connection.

6:11 - score! My train is here and the doors are still open. I don't have time to walk to the last train car.

Car isn't too crowded, though there aren't any seats available.

6:14 - car frees up a little but I feel it would be lazy to sit down because only have two more stops before I get off. I hold onto a railing.

I'm seeing fewer afternoon sketchies than I was warned about.

I spy a girl with that fierce Cassie haircut. Looking good, bb! Apparently the older gentleman next to her thinks so, too. Googly eyes ensue.

6:21 - arrive at my station, wishing I had hand sanitizer.

6:22 - Heavier duty card works fine, allows me to exit. I start walking home. Typing these notes on my phone, walk into a branch.

6:29 - arrive at home in almost exactly the same amount of time it took me to get to work this morning.

P.s. Does the style of these Marta posts remind you a little of Paul's blog?

My MARTA morning...

2010-04-16T08:54:00.004-04:00

7:55 - realize it's really time to get boogying; have not yet put on makeup - whoops!

8:00 - leave for Marta with purse, book, coffee

8:06 - arrive; buy $4 ticket

8:12 - 8:10 train arrives

See that quite a few people in my neighborhood either walk to this station or park (free).

It's almost standing room only.

The train doesn't seem to have AC. I'm wearing a skirt and short sleeves but still have a little "glistening" action going on.

Observing more white collar professionals on this ride compared to when I go to the airport. Man to my left appears to be studying and making notes on a building plan splayed across his lap. Woman to my right looks like she's reviewing a meeting agenda.

Lots of people get off at the GA State station. I make a note to self that we ought to market our proximity to Marta when we list our in-law suite/apt on Craigslist.

8:21 - we arrive at Five Points; time to change trains

8:21 and 30 seconds - Score! My connecting train is just about to pull away but it's doors are still open.

8:22 - train is so full I can barely find a place to stand. Wish I had put my makeup on at home or on the last train.

8:27 - enough people get off at the Civic Center (?) that I'm able to sit down.

8:29 - 8:31 - I get strange looks as I put on concealer, blush and bronzer. Sure natural light is best for applying makeup - but being underground on a transit train while applying can't have THAT different of results. I decide to wait until i get to the office to do eyeshadow and eyeliner.

8:37 - we arrive at the Buckhead station. My train car is now about half full.

8:40 - maybe I do have time to put on eye shadow and eyeliner afterall.

Two girls are talking across the train about their latest love conquests. The girl in the red shirt doesn't believe the boy she met the other night actually owns his own place. She thinks it's his mama's place. This is mildly amusing.

8:43 - whoops. Almost miss my stop: exit the train

Walk across the parking lot, thinking this wasn't so bad afterall. Grateful I didn't have to take a bus to or from the stations

8:49 - walk into my building, realizing my Marta commute time today is equal to my car commute yesterday.

8: 50 - gaze at my reflection in the in the mirrored elevator doors; hair is frizzier than usual but the trip was worth it.

Next up: the ride home...

One Line, Two Line, Red Line, Blue Line (MARTA Adventure Time)

2010-04-15T22:56:00.002-04:00

I've lived in Atlanta almost five years. While I've ridden the train to the airport or occasional concerts, I've never used MARTA (the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) to get to work.

That changes tomorrow.

Love my new job... not always loving the commute. Sometimes it's 25 minutes in the morning, sometimes it's 50. Same thing in the afternoons. There's no great way to get from our house to the office. So I figure that riding MARTA (one line to Five Points, then transferring to another line to get to my office) is worth a shot. Maybe I can read or listen to some tunes.

BTW, could MARTA not get the url www.marta.com or www.marta.org? The web address is www.itsmarta.com — which is just about as ghetto as how miniscule its reach is or how goofy its iPhone app is (it's a flat, non-interactive map of train stations).

Wish me luck!

p.s. Emily, any words of wisdom since you're a veteran to-work MARTA rider and all?

Going Away Present (Mmmmmemories)

2010-04-13T18:53:00.007-04:00

When I arrived at my last day of work with my former company (this past Friday), I had a curious gift waiting for me on my chair. With scribbly writing said, "from Scott."

"What's so awesome about this gift?" you ask?

Well, Scott and I happened to be the same age and have a class together at The University of Georgia. And most anyone (not ME, of course!) who was in our class spent a few more nights than they would like to admit at...

Uptown Lounge.

The joke was that their standards were so low that you could have a handwritten note from your mom that said, "My daughter is 21," and they would allow you into the establishment.

A few years ago, Scott and some friends made these Uptown Lounge Alumni Association shirts as a joke. Boy am I glad he had a leftover size small — I am going to wear this thing with a mix of extreme pride and shame.

p.s. To BJ the stocky bouncer from Uptown Lounge, if you're out there, Scott & Co. have a size XXL for you if you would like it.

Translate Me This:

2010-04-12T07:30:00.002-04:00

Hey Katy, Beck, so last night. What about the Democrat uppermost are not expected, but that mightwork, but I will call you when I am done and will I'd like to talk to you bye.

(Rachel's voicemail via Google Voice)

Three Seasons Porch

2010-04-10T13:16:00.005-04:00

(Aside from the pollen count) now is the perfect time to enjoy our screened in porch — and we haven't really had good furniture to help us enjoy it!

Dan talked one of the managers at Intown Ace Hardware (Decatur) into giving us a 30% discount on this set because it was the last one left and also the display. We're pumped about having morning coffee, newspaper reading time, post-work beers and dinners out here. (And there's still room for the cornhole game to the right). Score!!

It's six pieces plus a coffee table (not pictured). Furniture is Living Accents (by White Tiger Furniture).

If There Were a "Worst Logo in America" bracket...

2010-04-07T12:00:00.003-04:00

I'm sure this one would be in the championship game.

I've been wanting to snap a picture of this atrocious logo (located on I-85 Northbound just past the North Druid Hills exit) for years. When a Chamblee-Tucker pileup clogged the interstate yesterday, I had my chance!

I mean, really... what is going on here? I see WAY too many words and abbreviations, a too-small-to-read organization name, a skirt made out of As and a head that's reminiscent of a Candy Land character.

Time for a makeover, Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority.

Efficient Advertising Kudos to... the US Postal Service?

2010-04-04T18:00:00.003-04:00

Smart and inexpensive use of resources, United States Postal Service!

I consider myself "reminded."

Ed Hardy's Douchey-ness Spreads to Spamming Blogs

2010-04-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

When I scrolled to the bottom of this Creative Loafing food blog post, I saw something that made me roll my eyes and think, "you guys suck!"

It appears that Ed Hardy's marketeers have moved on from partnering with Jon Gosselin and have begun spamming high traffic blogs.

Lame!

Rug swap

2010-03-31T09:37:00.004-04:00

Rug love from Overstock.

We decided we like our newly refinished hardwoods too much to have a slightly-too-small rug under our coffee table in the living room.

So I'll be selling the 5 x 7 Home Goods rug (don't have another place to put it at the moment) and replacing it with this one from Overstock.com. The 7.9 x 11 rug was $171.99 plus $2.99 in shipping. We bought the red one.

In related news, this blog has gotten so boring! I'll try and think of some fun content to spice things up...

Katy

New Sink

2010-03-23T17:44:00.005-04:00

I'm off to buy this sink from Craig's List ($75). Apparently a Marietta man bought this sink without consulting his wife... and she didn't care for the style.

Because we bought in DeKalb County, we* have to comply with the low-flow regulations within 30 days of purchasing the house. This sink will shortly find a home in our compact master bathroom.

Toodles!

(*Usually DeKalb County sellers have to install low-flow toilets and fixtures; however, since we bought an estate sale, this responsibility falls on us.)

"How much more crap is going to come out of that house?"

2010-03-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

That's probably what our neighbors are asking themselves.

Two weeks ago it was a dumpster full of carpet, carpet padding and ceiling tiles.

Pictured here: two not low-flow toilets, new toilet boxes, a refrigerator with no doors (?), crushed boxes from moving, yard refuse and a week's worth of recycling.

Master Bedroom: Bed Makeover

2010-03-19T12:00:00.005-04:00

When I received some cash birthday gifts from family, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to buy: new linens for our bed.

Lame thing to spend birthday money on? I think not. Since we chose a celery green for our master bedroom, our old bedspread colors and pattern weren't matching the new quarters. Of course, I scoured the Internet for inexpensive linens.

Choosing something with too much green presented a few challenges: the green may not match in person, and we would run the risk of too much green in the room. Dan's main concern was not buying something too light because it would be more prone to visible makeup smudges or accidental coffee spills (he knows how clumsy I am). Considering we already have some neutral sheet sets, I decided I didn't want to spend more than $150.

I was referred to Linen Source by a colleague. Despite cute and cozy offerings, the color schemes were either too light or too green. I also scoped out Macy's, JC Penny's and Target before going back to the old standard... eBay.

Even though I didn't want to go the duvet route, I ended up falling for a Hotel Collection duvet cover and four matching pillow shams ($79.99 plus $7 shipping from eBay seller accessorypluss2008*). I found a reasonable lightweight duvet (Georgia summers are too hot for heavy bedding!) for $29.99 plus $12 shipping from eBay seller bestlittlesheethouseintx*. I decided to also pick up some colorful pillowcases to bring a little of the wall color into the bedding. Ralph Lauren paisley pillowcases were $21 plus $4 shipping from eBay seller jjcv*.

Ta da! Randomly, all three packages arrived Wednesday.

Old bedding that no longer matches (photo taken at our old house).

Wrinkled, but at least they're on there... I plan to get two more pillows so we can add the larger pillow shams into the mix.

Close-up of the pillowcases.

Hotel Collection manufacturer's photo of the complete set.

I'm relived to have this project out of the way! And I only went over budget by about $5.

*I'm in a bit of a hurry today - so I'll have to add the eBay seller links later!

Quick Pic: Floors

2010-03-15T07:30:00.009-04:00

With moving and no Internet all weekend, I haven't been able to generate much content for the blog!

Here's a quick snapshot of the refinished floors. Dan and I are both amazed at how clean and consistent they turned out. Beyond the slight gaps between the boards (from age), the floors look brand new!

More photos to come. For now, we have PLENTY of unpacking to do, as well as some little electrical and plumbing issues that cropped up over the last few days. Home ownership is an adventure, right?

(FYI, we used Scott Loudermilk, an independent contractor, for the floors. His phone number is 770-826-8778 and his milkboy30157@yahoo.com. We found Scott to be professional, reliable and very quick to respond to e-mails and calls. The only potentially negative thing I have to say is that the quarter round, which was stained using the same stain as the floors, doesn't match the floors as well as I thought. Scott is going to come out and look at the floors and see if the match can be improved upon. If what's currently there is the best they can do, I will still be a happy customer. Scott typically charges $1.75 per square foot for sanding, staining and three coats of polyurethane. $1.50 for two coats of poly. Quarter round is extra.)

One Rug Down, Four to Go

2010-03-11T14:49:00.006-05:00

I stopped by the Cumberland Mall-ish location of TJ Maxx Home Goods during my lunch break.

Wow! I should shop there more often. Rugs, end tables, chairs, patio furniture sets, mirrors... they have it all! On that note, maybe I ought to stay far, far away!

I decided to bite the bullet and buy this 5 x 7-foot tan rug with various shades of brown and red incorporated (marked down from $129 to $90). I envision this one under our coffee table, surrounded by our copper leather loveseat, brown woven sofa and end tables.

(Forgive the iPhone photos)

Now I'm on the lookout for another rug for our living/dining room combo (something to go under our dining table). I also would like to get 4 x6-ish sized rugs for the three bedrooms. I'm thinking solid colors: tan (master bedroom), black (smaller guest room) and brown (other guest room). We'll see. With the good recommendations from you all, I'm sure to find some great items! Thanks for the suggestions!

Wanted: Rugs for Updated Traditional Home

2010-03-10T21:56:00.010-05:00

So, I would LOVE to find some reasonably priced and gorgeous rugs for our new house. You know, some like this:

Surya Area rug from Macy's.

Pottery Barn "Evan" rug. Holy outta our price range.

Fieldcrest Luxury Tapestry Rug from Target.

Unfortunately, I'm finding things like this... Apparently rugs are not only expensive and taste-specific, but often ugly. (These are some Craig's List offerings in the $75 to $125 price range and 5 x 7-foot size range.)

Just no.

This one seems like it should come with a complimentary lava lamp.

Like a bad piece of modern art...

This one wasn't only billed on Craig's List as "Egyptian." It's also described as 100% velvet. Are rugs ever made out of velvet?

Wood floors: stained and first coat of poly

2010-03-10T07:30:00.001-05:00

Wood floors: stained and first coat of poly (pictured here: foyer). Can't wait to see the finished product!

If we are happy with our contractor's finished work, I'll be sure to post his name and contact information along with the finished floor photos.

Midway Into Painting

2010-03-04T22:31:00.009-05:00

Dan and I stopped by the house last night to check out the wall-patching and painting progress. Our friends at Angel Painting* have been rocking and rolling.

So far, they've:

Hung drywall ceilings in the bedrooms (where we once had ceiling tiles)
Patched the cracks and uneven-ness in the bedroom walls
Painted and primed the ceilings in the bedrooms
Started painting the bedrooms walls and trim — and prepping the living room and hallway for skimming and painting

Living/dining (where most of the supplies have been hanging out); this room is next up for painting ("cityscape").

Small guest bedroom ("salt glaze").

Other guest room ("sisal"). This room will look more sharp once the trim is painted semi-gloss white.

Master bedroom ("timothy hay"). This room still needs one more coat on the walls.

*Miguel and his team at Angel Painting are fantastic. Talk about some nice, hardworking, reliable and detail-oriented guys. While there can occasionally be a language barrier, working with Miguel has been very easy and low-stress. One thing that we appreciate is that they under-promise and over-deliver, always coming in ahead of schedule. We were happy with him at our last place — and we've been happy with the work he's done at our new place. 404-438-3623.

Out with the old (carpet)

2010-03-01T07:15:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend, we pulled up the carpets in the living/dining room, hallway and all three bedrooms (thanks for the help, Ben and Becca!).

What a tremendous difference! The floors aren't even refinished yet and the room already looks more fresh, open and warm.

Living/dining room (about 14 x 26)

The carpet removal job in the back, right bedroom wasn't quite as glamorous. That spot on the left side of the photo is the only stain we've seen in the house (not bad, considering the condition of the hardwoods was unknown when we purchased).

Picking Colors

2010-02-28T17:21:00.008-05:00

While we were at Home Depot perusing the wood stain options, Dan and I also decided to pick out paint colors. I was VERY excited about choosing paint colors, as we kept the colors at our last house very neutral for selling purposes.

While Dan went to check out drywall options for the ceiling, I explored paints. I gravitated to the Martha Stewart collection immediately. What's nice about her paint colors is that she doesn't have EVERY color in the rainbow; instead, Martha offers almost exclusively crisp, clean and beautiful colors. I mixed, matched, held paint samples in different lights, etc. — then I finally landed on four colors that seem to be good fits for our new house. (While not yet shown online, Martha Stewart HOME paints are now available at Home Depot as well as Lowe's.)

To my surprise and additional excitement, Dan liked all four of the colors I chose. They are:

Sisal (a warm khaki)
Cityscape (a neutral khaki-ish with gray/cool tones)
Salt Glaze (a super light blue)
Timothy Hay (a lime verbana type)

We'll do the trim, doors and built-ins in semi-gloss white.

I'm sure Martha wouldn't be happy with me for this... but we took her colors over to Sherwin Williams for color matching (SW has slightly better paint, in our opinion and in our contractor's). The folks over at the North Druid Hills Sherwin Williams (by Target) are always nice and incredibly helpful.

And after reading feedback, evaluating our color preferences and considering that we have a (large) pet, we decided on English Chestnut for the floors. This color is also very similar to what's already on the floors, so that makes us even more comfortable with the choice.

The place is going to look leaps and bounds different in two weeks. By that time, the floors will have been refinished and more than half of the rooms repainted. Weee!

Choosing a Wood Stain

2010-02-26T07:16:00.004-05:00

(click to enlarge)

Tonight or tomorrow, Dan and I will head to Home Depot to look at wood stain samples. Our contractor prefers to use Minwax, so we'll look at the colors they offer. We have about 950 square feet of hardwoods to be refinished (three bedrooms, hallway, foyer and living/dining combo).

Dan likes the Red Mahogany and the Gunstock. I like the Special Walnut and Dark Walnut. We do need to be wary of going too dark though, as darker wood stains show scratches and wear

more than lighter stains.

I'm thinking we'll likely settle on Provincial or Early American, which are good compromises between the reddish mahogany and the rich browns of the chestnuts.

What do you think?

Bringing Down the House

2010-02-25T17:45:00.007-05:00

It's official! Dan and I closed on our "new" house this morning. We're both very excited and couldn't be more appreciative of all parties involved. The sellers were easy to work with and Andy from The Peters Company was stellar as always. We felt very secure with Scott Meldrum of Bank of America (our mortgage officer) -- and Zach McElveen of Campbell and Brannon was a true professional with the closing. Andy's wife Lesley provided great support as well.

10am: we meet at Campbell and Brannon for closing

11:30: closing wraps (no hiccups), I head back to work

1:30: Dan e-mails me to say he's already taken down the ceiling tiles in the master bedroom ("good news - they come down easily and the existing planks can be used for drywall!")

And Dan's already hard at work.

Master bedroom ceiling, sans 1970s ceiling tiles.

Oh, and he also managed to remove all the carpet from the master bedroom. (We're grateful the floors look to be in good shape.)

Closing Time

2010-02-24T22:53:00.016-05:00

Tomorrow's the big day: closing. We'll sit at a table with lawyers, our realtors, our lender and the sellers. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Tonight we had our "final walk-through" of the property. I'm not sure exactly what is supposed to happen in a final walk-through (maybe walk away if something is crazy array?), but ours went fine.

Since the last time we visited the house, the sellers (the son and daughter-in-law of the woman who passed away) moved out all the furniture, items in storage in the basement, pictures on the wall, etc., etc., and did a general clean-up of the space. There was nothing to sign so we verbally told our agent the house seemed satisfactory.

Seeing the house tonight was mostly exciting, but also a reminder of all the projects that lie ahead. Luckily the "income property" (walkout basement apartment) will need very little work to be in rentworthy condition. In fact, one of the projects my mom and I will tackle in early March is giving the apartment a mini cosmetic facelift (painting, replacing the bathroom mirror with something more modern, hanging curtains, etc.). We're hoping the space will garner us about $600 a month that we can cashflow into improvement projects.

Our realtor (Andy of The Peters Company) and I scoped out the place while we

waited for Dan to arrive.

Kitchen. Note the counter left of the oven. If put a rubber ball on the counter, it would roll off (to the left) faster than you could say "yo mama."

View one of the living/dining combo (screened-in porch is to the right).

Living/dining from another angle.

The even left us the fancy above-toilet organizer!

The ceiling tiles we'll be pulling down (or Dan will be pulling down) this week.

Masks will be worn.

Master (in our dreams, we could combine the adjacent bedroom into

one big master suite). Of course this is only when we build another

bedroom in the basement... 20 years from now.

Back bedroom. I hope there's nothing sketchy hanging out behind that mirror.

Back bedroom shot 2.

This bad baby is currently hanging out in the kitchen (likely so that the older woman who previously lived here didn't have to go downstairs to do laundry). It will soon be relocated into the apartment so we can advertise with "includes washer/dryer."

This looks about the same.

Stairs from basement up to main floor.

Buyer's remorse? Nah. :)

Drawing inspiration: bathrooms

2010-02-21T22:50:00.011-05:00

We're five days out* from being the proud owners of a late 1940s estate sale home in Decatur — with LOTS of room for updates. (I may have neglected to mention up to this point that the house will be the first place Dan and I picked out together — exciting!)

Even with a list of 35 bazillion things to do immediately (closing in the gaps between the chimney and the roof, rerouting the front yard drainage, skimming over the cracked walls in the bedrooms, etc.), I can't help but start dreaming about the purely cosmetic updates down the road.

I'm thinking: bathrooms and kitchens.

I got a good piece of advice this week from my good friend Megan (by way of her cousin): "The parts of the home that people invest the most money in are also the parts of the home that begin looking dated the quickest." That's something to consider.

Here are some of the bathrooms that are inspiring me lately. I like that these looks are classic and traditional but have notes of early-to-mid 20th century style. I love love love elements like wainscoting or beadboard, subway tile, black and white hexagon tile and pedestal sinks — especially with contemporary touches mixed in.

Just imagine it... we could take this:

and transform it along these lines:

From My New Digs.

Image from Beadboard.com (I like how the simple white mirror and the

granite countertop make this beadboard bathroom just a bit more modern).

Photo from the A Little Busy Blog.

Ahhh beadboard bathrooms. Be still my heart!

One question I have is: What kind of tub does one put in a bathroom like this? Hmmm.

Katy

*Fingers crossed everything pans out for Thursday's closing!

Baby Shower Decorations

2010-02-15T12:00:00.001-05:00

Slow your horses. No babies for us just yet. I wanted to share some photos from my childhood friend Lindsay's baby shower. Lindsay and her husband Allen welcomed a happy and healthy little girl named Hanna Louise into the world this morning.

I'm no Dawn Gahan (see some amazing wedding shower, baby shower and rehearsal dinner decor by the talented Dawn here, here and here), but I tried my best! Luckily I was one of several gals hosting Lindsay's shower/brunch — so our powers combined created a personalized, dainty and fun baby shower.

Lindsay's sister Charlene asked if I would coordinate decorations. She already planned to bring a clothes line (and tiny pink clothes to pin to it). Another cohostess volunteered to make a yellow gingham table runner for the food table (Lindsay decorated the baby's room in pale yellow, light pink and light green).

So I started brainstorming, considering the following:

The baby's room color scheme, especially since it would play into the shower colors as well
I would be driving the decorations three hours south, from Atlanta to Eufaula, Alabama
A budget of about $40 to $50

White flowers seemed to be the logical choice. I spray painted vases green and pink to complement the yellow gingham table runner. (Note: I'm bummed I couldn't find a lighter green paint.)

The flowers. Photo taken at my office (I left straight from work for Alabama).

Since Lindsay and her husband were such cute babies — and this baby was their first — I thought it would be cute to frame several baby pictures of each of them. I also wrote a little poem that begged the question, "Who will baby Stanton look like?" I like the different shapes and textures created by the hodgepodge of vases and frames. (Frames and vases were all picked up at Goodwill.)

Wasn't Lindsay the cutest little girl? (Click for full-size image)

My attempt at baby poetry.

To keep the costs fair, we six hostesses each brought a food item or two.

Mmmm blueberry coffee cake, breakfast casseroles, fruit,

spinach and artichoke dip and more.

Charlene coordinated the games, which were cute and different than any I'd seen at baby showers previously. We did Hum That (Baby) Tune (participants hummed a tune that had the word "baby" somewhere in the song — and everyone else in the room tried to guess the song. Examples include "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" and "Baby Love"), a worksheet with scrambled words and other baby-related puzzles and a game where we had to guess baby items that started with the letters B-A-B-Y S-T-A-N-T-O-N. (Charlene wrapped 10 little gifts that corresponded with each letter, and Lindsay got to keep them after the gift that related to each letter was revealed.)

My mom, trying to get the hang of the games.

Deep in thought, trying to unscramble words like gyerist (registry) and ledcra (cradle).

The gorgeous mom-to-be, surrounded by her hostesses.

The shower came together well, especially with the backdrop of Ms. Theresa's gorgeous home.

If I could lend any advice for someone who wants to take a crack at this craft project, I would recommend finding rough-textured (or wood) vases and frames so the paint sticks a little better. Also, I had to replace the hydrangeas with other white flowers last minute because they started drooping just hours after putting them in the vases.

Congratulations, Lindsay and Allen!

Three Teeny Updates

2010-02-09T22:59:00.002-05:00

Since the house was being sold as-is, we knew we couldn't ask for much. We did, however, decide to ask the seller to have the home fumigated, exterminated, etc., etc. — and he agreed. We're very relieved, as it will be nice to have the "tenants" evacuated before we move in.
We received the bank-mandated appraisal today — and we're in good shape.
Due diligence ends tomorrow — and we have no plans to back out at this point.

Fingers crossed for an easy closing on 2/25.

Katy

Inspection time: the good, the bad and the ugly

2010-02-04T21:54:00.026-05:00

Our (potential) home inspection was yesterday. And Norman from Stellar Inspections turned the 35-plus page inspection for us in nearly 24 hours. Right on, Norman!

As to be expected with any inspection, we received feedback of a few major issues, several medium-to-moderate ones... and a slew of this-isn't-an-emergency-but-you-should-probably-take-care-of-it-soon items. Dan experienced the entire inspection firsthand, as he crawled along around on all fours in the attic, traipsed around the unkempt exterior and inspected for water damage — all by Norman's side.

I took the opportunity to take more photos of the house and evaluate the space. When you visit a house on a house-hunting trip, it's easy for everything to mix together. E.g., I remembered a formal living room area in addition to the informal one at the back of the house... yeah, I made that up!

While I was thinking about silly, not-so-functional tasks like playing with my camera, Dan decided to really maximize our time at the house. He scheduled a contractor to swing by to evaluate a few potential projects and give us his feedback. Dan also measured the hardwoods that could be refinished (about 900 square feet when you tally up the three bedrooms, hallway and large living/dining space).

On to the photos I snapped (some capture "issues" while others are just for perspective):

So, here she is. Built to last in 1949.

The kitchen (bead board wall), complete with hunter green laminates. It's a galley kitchen but with lots of counter space.

We were a little concerned concerned about this cracking in the kitchen ceiling. It appears the previous owners closed in a sunroom adjacent to the kitchen. Phil, our contractor friend, is fairly certain all this needs is a little mudding/skimming.

The long wall running between the kitchen and the living area. The wood paneling appears to be in mostly good shape, though we'd likely want to update crown molding (you can see about eight layers of paint crudded up on the molding).

Bookcase/built-ins at the "living" end of the large living/dining area. Phil the contractor suggests recessing that drywall area in the middle so we can comfortably hang out TV there. The lady who lived here obviously had a thing for yellow. I love the idea of having that storage under the bookcase.

Good-looking fireplace. Our inspector encouraged us to use gas logs instead of wood to keep this in clean shape. I'll have more to discuss re: the fireplace and chimney below.

View from the living/dining room to the "three seasons" porch, which is about the size of the main room (12-feet by 26-feet)

(Now, onto the basement apartment. The basement runs the length of the house but only about a third is finished. The unfinished area has giantly tall ceilings and is mostly used for storage. The finished area is in the form of a studio apartment, which we hope to rent for the first year or two of owning the house. Thankfully the apartment seems to turnkey, with an exterior entrance and fresh paint and carpet. That income isn't vital — but it would make a big difference with cash-flowing improvements.)

Kitchenette end of the basement studio apartment. The sink, stove and vent work fine.

One angle of the apartment.

Opposite view/angle.

Apartment vanity.

Apartment throne. Again with the yellow.

Apartment closet.

Apartment fireplace.

(Okay, back upstairs. You still with me?)

Phil the contractor measures the hallway.

Hallway/main bathroom tub. Surprise. More yellow.

What felt like the smallest of the three upstairs bedrooms. This room is the most likely to be the office/small guest bedroom... or maybe one day, a nursery (and anxiety takes over...).

Second guest bedroom.

Master bedroom (about 14 feet by 11 feet — close to same size as the other bedrooms)

Master bathroom with stand-up shower. We found out later this bathroom renovation may be one of our first projects (the shower drain pan has been patched once and has little life left in it).

(Back downstairs to evaluate some issues... are you still with me?)

Stairs seem to be supporting weight just fine; however, our inspector recommends we add some base support (versus just letting them hang) to make them more structurally sound.

Storage in unfinished basement area. Some of this area could be finished off later.

The good news in this photo: The drain appears to be in the right place, and the furnace seems to be operating fine. The bad news: It appears we have some little friends (namely mice/rats).

Are you ready for one of the most massive finds of the inspection....?

(wait for it)

Oooooooh. Bad news. This giant poo shot was taken in the attic. It appears a raccoon is living amongst the wharf rats. eeeek! Thank goodness we can deal with this before we move in. I wish you could see how big this is. It's the size of medium dog poop.

As you would expect, I didn't capture every issue above. So in the interest of keeping "pros" and "cons" in these posts, here we go:

Some PROS of the inspection:

No structural or major water damage issues (or as Dan put it, no
Roof is 7 to 9 years old
AC is 10 years or younger
Electrical seems to be mostly in good shape (note: we do need to make some of the outlets GCFI compliant, and a breaker needs to be replaced)
No termites
There's tile underneath the main bathroom carpet (hallelujah)
Hardwood floors under the carpets
The yard is mega deep (the whole yard is two-thirds of an acre — and no one would ever build in the backyard)
Late 40s/early 50s were known for good/solid construction
Addition seems to be well-constructed
Nothing freaked out our inspector, contractor friend or the pest control guy — in fact, they all encouraged us to proceed

Some CONS* of the inspection:

Gaps exist between the chimney and the attic. This has led to some water damage (none active) around the chimney. We'll need new flashing (the protective material around the chimney) as well as some preventive measures (added pitch to keep water rolling down the roof, new boots, new chimney cap, etc.) to keep this in good shape.
During this visit, we realized there's quite a bit of cosmetic work needed (painting, moldings, kitchen work, floor refinishing, bathroom renovations, etc.)
The age of house means there may be some asbestos (e.g., in the bedroom ceiling tiles)
Some subfloor issues need to be addressed, namely where a floor joist was cut in half to make room for a new pipe.
"Tenants" (a.k.a. some pests)
While it's not structural, the drywall paneling in the bedrooms is showing its seams, which means we'll want to have new drywall laid on top or have the current drywall mudded and skimmed.

Due diligence ends on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

*Note: few houses, even new ones, come without issues.

Georgia legislators must have heard my left-lane driver rant

2010-02-04T11:59:00.003-05:00

(From the Athens Banner-Herald)

Lawmaker's bill would fine left-lane slowpokes

By Morris News Service - Athens Banner-Herald

Published Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Buzz up!

ATLANTA - Drivers who hog the passing lane and refuse to yield to faster vehicles could get fined $75 under legislation introduced Tuesday.

State law already requires slowpokes to move over from the passing lane as soon as they notice a faster car behind them, but it carries no specific penalty - and the sponsor of House Bill 1047 says a $75 fine might give officers more of an incentive to issue tickets.

"I don't think I'm alone in thinking this: There are so many times when you're on the interstate ... and people will get over in the left-hand lane, which by law is for passing, and just sit there using it as their own personal driving lane," said state Rep. Mark Butler, R-Carrollton.

Neither the state Department of Driver Services or the state Department of Public Safety could say Tuesday how many tickets police have been issued to left-lane dawdlers.

Bob Dallas, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, likes the bill because it gives motorists a clear signal about which lane they should use.

I find it shocking... but it turns out not everyone agrees with the legislation. Check out the comments to the linked article.

(Thanks for sending, Kate!)

Clementines are even better when...

2010-02-02T16:35:00.005-05:00

A colleague steals them and returns them with smiley faces.

Playing in the street with sticks

2010-01-31T19:59:00.002-05:00

"We need to get our kids back outside, playing with sticks in the street like I did when I was little," she said. "Expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like."

- Caressa Cameron, Miss America 2010-2011 (formerly Miss Virginia)

I can't wait until next year when a Miss America contestant has to take up "Public Safety/Keeping Kids from Playing the Street" as her platform.

U/C stands for...

2010-01-28T12:30:00.006-05:00

UNDER CONTRACT!

We are excited to share that we're "under contract" on one of the homes I blogged about this month. The negotiation process was a little stressful and full of ups and downs, yet somehow we came out on top. Can you guess which house it is?

Click here and see if you guessed right.

So, needless to say, we're very excited... yet nervous about the inspection process. The house is being sold "as-is," so we're crossing our fingers for a good inspector. If all goes as planned, we'll close on February 25. This is good timing, as we'll have our apartment until February 28 and can move in little-by-little. We're trusting the fantastic folks over at The Peters Company to finish us through the buying process.

This house has great bones, a fantastic location, lots of space -- most everything we'd hoped for in our next place. As I told my parents, this isn't a "next five years" house, it could be a forever house.

So what to do first? See if we can refinish the hardwoods for a reasonable price? Put some (temporary) laminate over that bathroom carpet? Grill out on the screened-in porch (okay, maybe grilling inside a screened-in porch isn't such a great idea...?).

A Public Service Announcement [to left-lane drivers]

2010-01-24T20:06:00.004-05:00

The left lane is for passing.

In a little more detail: The left lane is for passing, not for cruising. The left lane is for passing, not for people who think they might be the fastest car on the road. The left lane is for passing, not for getting a better view of traffic on the opposite side of the interstate. The left lane is for passing, not so you can have your random pick of lanes for the hell of it.

And if you are passing multiple slow cars all at once and see someone coming up behind you going much faster than you, get over to the right lane for a minute to let that person by, then finish your passing.

I thought we were all taught this by our parents and by drivers' ed — apparently not.

That is all.

(We just returned from a little road trip to Raleigh, with a combined 13 hours of driving over the weekend.)

(p.s., Dad, sometime I'll post something about people who think they're too good for turn signals...)

The House Hunt Continues: Northeast Decatur

2010-01-20T12:00:00.003-05:00

This 4/3 (with a big bonus room!!!) split-level house was a late addition to our recent Sunday house hunting trip.

Dan saw it pop up in our gateway (an e-mail service that alerts you when new houses within your criteria come on the market) and asked if we could work it into the schedule. What a great find! The house needs very few changes (changing some linoleum to tile, maybe fancy-ing up the bathrooms a bit, etc.) and we could easily see ourselves living here.

This house is probably my #3, Dan's #1 or #2.

Cute split level.

Nice hardwoods, interesting beams, beautiful fireplace.

Updated kitchen with colors that go with our style.

Another one of those formal living rooms (nice space though).

One of the guest bedrooms.

One of the full baths.

El gigante bonus room! Can you hear the Rock Band?

Sunroom with view of the backyard.

Backyard, complete with a little storage shed.

Pros:

Priced within our budget
Reasonable taxes
T-O-N-S of space (2,500-ish square feet?) — four bedrooms plus a bonus room!!
Family-oriented neighborhood
Convenient to grocery shopping and my fave Goodwill (Northlake/Lavista Rd.)
Cosmetically updated (granite counter tops, nice kitchen, neutral paints, etc.)
Structurally well-maintained
Neat exposed beams in the living room — and a beautiful fireplace
Good-sized backyard
Two-car carport

Cons:

Ever-so-slightly more northeast than I'd like (note: still a great area that I would be happy in)
Street is nice but property values aren't quite the same as the Toco Hill-ish neighborhood we also looked in
A few of the rooms need new flooring (totally understandable)
(Honestly, not a lot of cons here)

Four-sided Brick in Established Decatur Neighborhood

2010-01-19T12:00:00.003-05:00

My blog title reads like a personal ad for a house, doesn't it?

This casa is a 3 bedroom/2 bath with a lot more space than we expected. In addition to a good-sized formal living room (sidenote: what does one do with a formal living room?), the house has a HUGE second living room that flows into a nice sunroom. This will make more sense when you see the photos. The house is located in the same nice neighborhood as this cute 3/2 we looked at last weekend.

This place is currently sitting in second or third place on my list.

View from spacious formal living room into dining room.

Main living room/sunroom. It's H-U-G-E.

The kitchen has a similar layout to our last house — but the footprint is

a little bigger. We would want to update this.

"Vintage" (euphemism for "ugly") pink tile in one of the full baths.

View of her backside. Can't you just see a basketball goal back there?

Part of the (unfinished) basement. This basement has potential for growth.

Cozy backyard, complete with birdhouse.

Pros:

Convenient location to Toco Hills, downtown Decatur, the Virginia Highlands
Established neighboorhood
Lots of space
Priced within our boundaries
Our investments in the home would be supported by the neighborhood — and we could cash-flow the improvements over time
Room to finish part of the basement (one large room, a bedroom and small family room or some kind of in-law suite)
Deep and wide two-car garage
Optional swim/tennis club membership

Cons:

Bathrooms, kitchen need updating
Screened in porch downstairs is accessed via the unfinished basement (awkward for now — but will be nice if we finished part of the basement)
High taxes (more of this $6,000/year-ish stuff. ugh!)
House sits slightly below street level
Front porch slopes downward slightly (though this may be by design so it doesn't collect water)
Curb appeal is better than the photos show — but it's not the "looker" from the street that this one is

Another potential house

2010-01-18T14:00:00.006-05:00

This 4/3 house is one of our favorites, though we know from experience with selling our own house that we shouldn't get prematurely too excited about anything as it relates to real estate. We stopped by this house last weekend and again today.

This estate sale house is in a prime location and has lots of potential. See below for my pros and cons.

I think that's one groovy couch! Dan disagrees.

Galley kitchen (not great but not bad).

One of the guest bedrooms.

Full bath, complete with canary yellow tile. Ow ow!

Large sunroom on back of house.

In-law suite/apartment.

The "Happy 90th birthday, Grandma" quilt was kind of sad... :(

Pros:

Killer location (biking/walking location to downtown Decatur)
Good footprint with lots of square footage
Finished in-law suite/apartment in basement
Additional basement area to finish if we wanted to
Good school district
Did I mention fantastic location?
Two-car carport
Well-maintained exterior
High-end neighborhood would support whatever renovations we wanted to do

Cons:

Top of our price range and still requires some work (though we think Dan could do some of the work little-by-little, and we could cash-flow it)
Higher taxes (I'm talking like $6,200/year high — yikes!)
Carpet needs replacing (including the carpet in the bathroom — WTF? — needing to be replaced by tile)
Kitchen could use some updates (though it seems livable) — and it's a galley kitchen (not ideal but definitely do-able)
Dated bathrooms
Seems to have some water damage in the kitchen (in the ceiling)
A little bit seems too good to be true