ACL Festival 2008

Festival highlights with family, good friends, and good music!!!






Me with my cousins Chip and Vance.














Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were fantastic!!
















Marika and I having a blast!















Andrew and "Cousin Vance" showing off those (white) guns



















Band of Horses, awesome show!!














Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters!!
















Mason Jennings, my all time favorite musician!


















My mom's dress for the 70s, vintage hippie!!!































Xavier Rudd, one of my favorite shows of the festival!!!





















Aubs and Lindsey!
























Andrew and Jake hanging out















Enjoying Day 1 of the festival



















We wished Kyle was here but it was great having the three of us together!!
























It was a crazy weekend but incredibly fun! ACL is always a great time of year and one of the things that I love most about Austin. Aubrey came to town for the festival, so three of the original group of four were together for the Festival. This was the seventh ACL, but only my fifth. I'm proud to say I attended the very first, but sad that I missed two years while living in Virginia. I have to say, this year was better than last in my opinion and maybe one of my favorites of all the ones I've attended. Here is the (long) list of shows I was able to see, whether it was the entire set or mid-run across the park.

Friday:
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Vampire Weekend
Delta Spirit
Bobby Bare Jr.
Hot Chip
Slightly Stoopid
N.E.R.D.
Ryan Bingham
G. Love & Special Sauce
Alejandro Escavado
Donavan Frankenreiter

Saturday:
The Old 97s
The Fratellis
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
MGMT
Mason Jennings
John Fogerty
Yonder Mountain String Band
The Black Keyes
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Beck

Sunday:
Belleville Outfit
The Kills
Mike Farris
Xavier Rudd
Silversun Pickups
Blues Traveler
Okkervil River
The Raconteurs
Gnarls Barkley
Band of Horses
Foo Fighters

The house has been neglected for several days since we had friends in town and spent 12 hours a day at the festival. One of the other weekend highlights other than the great music was spending time with our good friends Steve and Chrissy Holt who were in town from Boston. They made the drive down from Round Rock on Friday morning and we had a great breakfast and had several hours to visit before we headed out to the park. It was so good to see them! They are great friends and we are so glad that geographically we always end up in cities where we can see each other. We have been to visit them twice in Boston and always have a great time. I will start posting pictures of the house again in the next few days. It is starting to feel like home little by little. Check back soon for house updates!!

Pictures Pictures

Not a whole lot of time to write and still much to do! Last night (Saturday) was our first night in the house, but it doesn't really like home yet, mostly it feels like a diaster zone. I think we need some help from FEMA. Here are some pictures of the progress so far at the new house, and packing up at the duplex. Big thanks for Chêz for helping us pack and helping me keep my sanity for a few hours! Also, our movers were awesome and accomplished in 2 hours what it would have taken us 2 day to do! Its midnight now as I'm writing this and of course I have work in the morning and another long day ahead so it's time for me to sign off! Night!

Last Night

Tonight is our last night in the duplex. While obviously we are excited about being in the new house, leaving the duplex is kind of bittersweet. This was our first home in Austin, which marked a new chapter in our lives. We found this duplex on a "house hunting" visit to Austin before we moved, and as soon as we looked at it we knew we had to have it. I have really enjoyed living here, I like the street, of course I like the neighbors, the yard was great, and I'm going to miss it a little. It's going to be weird to come over to see the neighbors and see someone else living here.

We picked up the moving truck this evening and loaded and unloaded one BIG truck load. I feel good about the progress so far, although there is a lot of packing to do still. I keep telling people and I have convinced myself that this won't be too hard since the packing doesn't need to be too elaborate. The movers are coming from 12-3 to move all the big stuff for us, and I think after that the rest will seem insignificant. My goal is to have everything out of the duplex and over at the new house by tomorrow night. It may not look good... but it will all be there. That way we can spend as much time Sunday as we need to clean the duplex and get it looking how it should so we can get back our security deposit!!

My car is running just fine now, all it needed was a jump. It took about 30 seconds to hook up the jumped cables and get it started, so I was glad that crisis was averted. The last thing we need right now is expensive car repairs and/ or to be short a vehicle!

We aren't able to get our cable hooked up at the new house until Thursday so after Sunday I will be without internet at home:( :( :( I will still have internet at work and will be able to post some, but I won't be able to post pictures from work. I'm kind of sad about this since I've kind of gotten in the habit of writing on here all the time. Next weekend is going to be another busy weekend for us, Aubrey gets in Thursday evening and then we have 3 days of Austin City Limits Music Festival!!! This is the best time of year as far as I'm concerned and I can't wait to take it all in and not think about the house!! It's going to be a great festival this year because the line up is awesome!

Ok, well I need to get some shut eye before our long day tomorrow! Think of me and my aching back!

If it's not one thing, it's another...

Well, last night was an interesting night for sure! Andrew's dad got to town around 7 o'clock and pretty soon after that we headed out to dinner. We ate at the Treehouse Italian Grill and sat outside on the patio under the huge Live Oak. It was a really nice, cool evening and the food was great as always. After dinner we went over to the new house to give him the tour. He couldn't stick around too long since he had to drive back to San Antonio, and we wanted to get a little bit of work done, so we said good bye and he went on his way. We decided not to get involved with a big project since it was already late and we were tired. I got started on a little bit of touch up paint in the master bathroom, and Andrew hung the new vanity lighting. The master bath definitely needs a second coat of paint, which you can't tell from this picture. The paint looks thin in a lot of places and it drives me nuts to look at it. It looks like the second coat will have to get done after we move in. We are at the point where we really have to prioritze, and getting packed and moved is top of the list!

So after we got the new light up, we decided it was time to go home. When we got out to the car, we found out my battery was dead! Great!!!! We have a charger thing that you can plug in to your cigarette lighter and it is supposed to charge your battery after 15-45 minutes. Well we gave it a shot but after 15 minutes the car still wouldn't start and we were getting tired. I called Marika (it's handy having friends who are nocturnal) to see if she was at work or if she could come pick us up. Luckily she was not working and on her way home from a friend's house. Marika to the rescue! She swung by and picked us up on the way home! That still didn't solve the problem of my dead car, but at 12:30 we really didn't want to deal with it, we just wanted to go to bed. I sent out text messages to several of my co-workers who live near us to see if someone could give me a ride in the morning. I didn't hear back anything at that time of night, but this morning at 7:15 I got a message back from Jay. Jay to the rescue (again)! Seriously Jay wins the most helpful friend of the year award after helping out with several house projects and letting us borrow a ton of tools.

So now we need to figure out what to do about my car. Hopefully when we go back over to the house after work it will start, or we can jump it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's nothing more than the battery. We are planning to pick up the moving truck at 7 this evening and begin the moving process. Lots to do!!!!

The Saga of the Door

The soon to be new front door.

















Andrew began riping the trim off the inside and outside of the door to remove the old door. There were spaces where you could see daylight through.















Then our old front door sat in the front yard.....















And then we had no front door. It was around this time Andrew measured the new door and found out it was mislabeled, and in fact, too small for the opening. So then we had no front door for a long time while he went to Home Depot. Of course they didn't have the same one in the right size, so we had to make a spur of the moment decision and get whatever we could find that would fit. Of course it was more expensive.



















Jay came over to help hang the door. Here are the boys hard at work. Notice their matching shoes.



























It closes like a real door!














Here is the patch up job we had to do overnight since the trim was not completed and there were still a lot of gaps.





























And this is what the new door looks like from the outside. Not completely done, but looking sharp. It needs to be painted to match the exterior and we will put some kind of covering over the window so people can't look right in to the house from the street. I am really happy we got brushed nickel door fixtures!

THE END!

I wish I had time to write more the past few days, because there has been a lot going on and a lot to report on. Unfortunately we've been going to bed after 1 am every night and waking up the next morning to work 8-5 and then working at the house from 5:30-12:30. That's pretty much been life lately. I will be so glad when this is over!!!! I hit a wall tonight and really thought I might have a melt down. I mean literally crying while up on the ladder painting the bathroom. I'm afraid I'm going to resent the house after all this work!!

I have a lot of pictures to post, but those of you who also use Blogger know that it takes FOREVER to upload them and I just don't have the time. Andrew is still at the house working but I came home early because I really need to get more sleep tonight than I have been. I will be in bed before midnight, and I can't wait! Tomorrow night we are having dinner with Andrew's dad, who is in San Antonio this week for work. He will drive up to eat dinner with us and see the house. Hopefully we will still have time to get some work done because there is still so much to do I can't even think about it without wanting to cry again. I'm not really sure how I'm going to survive the next four days but I guess I will do it somehow. I will be so glad when everything is out of the duplex and into the new house, even if its a crazy mess, I will just be so happy to have it all behind me. Time for bed!!!

Crunch Time

It's getting down to the nitty gritty and moving day is just 4 days away. Last night we rented a U Haul cargo van to begin moving some stuff, and to pick up some large items from Home Depot. Tonight Andrew and our friend Jay are hanging a new front door on the house. I think it's going to be a pretty big project and I imagine they will be up late. There is a lot of packing and organizing to do in the next few days, and not much time to do it in. Work is really getting in the way of my personal life! That's all I have time to write for now, hopefully I will find some time in the next few days to update. If not, just know that I'm really busy! I will be glad when this is all over!

All You're Gettin' Tonight

I'm not going to write a whole lot tonight, since most of what we did today can be summed up in these pictures.




Andrew installed several new light fixtures today. He put the vanity lighting in the half bath downstairs, and the pretty new towel ring! With the fixtures and the new faceplates for the outlet and light switch, everything looks really pretty! Too bad we didn't have enough of the right kind of light bulbs to put in the light!




































Andrew also hung the chandelier for the breakfast area. I think it is a really cute chandelier for casual dining and it will look even better with a table under it!















I spent the entire time today painting in the master bedroom. I got the whole first coat done of the gold color and will do the second coat tomorrow. I haven't started the one accent wall that will be white, but I will do that tomorrow also. I'm really happy with this color and I think it will look really cheery when the furniture and curtains are in the room. Andrew also installed the new ceiling fan in here.


Well that's all for tonight!

Organization is the Key to Success

We had a very productive night at the house last night, even though we didn't work on any major "projects." Over the past couple weeks as we have been doing work, we have been creating quite a mess behind ourselves. Tools have been scattered across every room of the house, packaging left lying around instead of being thrown away, and a layer of dust and debris has settled over many areas as by-product of various projects. It has been driving me crazy. I'm not especially a neat freak, but I hated that every time we went over to our new, beautiful house it looked like trash. I also hated when friends would come by to see our progress, they'd have to step around and over everything, and probably wondered why the place looked like such a dump.

Yesterday after work I told Andrew I wanted to buy a shelving unit for the garage so he could store all his tools and home improvement items in one place (we've been building quite a collection over the past few weeks). There is a little nook in the garage that is just perfect for putting a shelf into. This was a great project for him, because it was like picking out a toy box for all of his new toys. We went over to the house to measure the space, then he went on to Home Depot and I stayed behind to begin cleaning. This is what the kitchen area looked like before I started:






















I got to work throwing away trash and packaging, stacking things up in one area, and organizing all the tools. Once Andrew got back from Home Depot, he put the shelving unit together and began organizing his things out in the garage. I did a pretty good amount of dusting since the project of cutting the groove in the bottom of the stone hearth had produced more dust than a desert storm. Ceiling fans, window ledges, counter tops, every flat surface had a thick layer of dust from the stone cutting. I swept the floors and wiped down the counters. After all the work, it looked like this:






















Much Better!!! Andrew's tools looked like this:




All in all it was a productive evening, and makes quite a difference when you look around the house. It actually is starting to look livable, instead of just a work site. We did a little tweaking with the family room to try and fit the computer desk in there, and this is what we came up with:







I am thinking now about trying the desk on the left side of the couch to see what that looks like. That would really be the only other option. While I think it looks better to have the couch more centrally located on the wall, I want the desk to fit bad enough that I'm willing to live with it this way. A lot of people like to have a separate office area or use an extra bedroom as an office area, but I'm kind of the opposite. We spend so much time on the computer in the evenings that I like it to be in a public area, not upstairs closed off from everything else. I like to be able to be at the computer and watch TV at the same time. Call me technologically dependent, but I like the computer and TV to be in the same room.

Well that's all for now. We slept in this morning and now it almost noon. We need to head over there and get to work! Bye!

Good News!

Two pieces of good news:

1) Our landlord found someone to lease the duplex. Hopefully he will take down the sign in the frontyard soon and the lockbox off the front door. I'm just glad to not have to worry about people walking through the house anymore. It was a pain, especially with the dogs. It's also good he found someone because that means we can get refunded for part of our September rent. Yay for money back!

2) The other day we pulled into the driveway of the new house and there were what appeared to be workers walking around the "blue" house next door, holding hundreds of paint samples and walking around the house pointing things out. We were so happy! The neighbor had mentioned to Andrew when they met that they were planning to paint the house a "normal" color, like some kind of brown. We hoped this was true but didn't put too much stock in it until now. It looks like it really might happen! It will be so nice to live next to a normal colored house, although the neon blue house was a good reference point when giving directions!



We didn't spend too much time at the house last night, which was a good thing. We needed a break. Pretty much all we did was spray the grout a few times and assemble some furniture pieces from Target. We did rearrange the furniture in the family room and found a layout we like better. I'm still going to try and tweak it some because I really want to fit the computer desk into that room. I dont want the room to look crowded or silly so if it can't fit we will come up with something else, but I'm hoping we can find a way to do it. Beyond that, we didn't work on any "projects" or get dirty, so that was a nice change of pace.

I spent most of the evening out with the neighbor girls because we were in desperate need of some girl time. We left the boys at home and went to Chili's and stuffed ourself with food and delicious margaritas. It was great to just hang out and laugh and NOT WORK! Hopefully we can continue to do things like that even after we move. Don't forget about me!!

Hurricane Ike is coming to Texas this weekend, but it's sounding now like it won't affect us as much as they had once thought it would. I hope we still get some rain (now that I'm a home owner I care about green grass!) but hopefully we won't have to deal with any aftermath or power outages. A lot of evacuees from south Texas and the Houston/ Galveston area are expected to be in Austin this weekend to escape the storm. It should be interesting to observe, but for the most part we will be holed up in the new house painting and what not.

Have a good weekend!

This One's For You, Dad!

The grout is done!! Now we have to babysit it for a few days and keep it wet, which means taking turns going to the house to spray it. After a couple days of keeping it wet and letting it set, then we can let it dry. By this weekend the tile project will be done, and I will be glad! The grouting went pretty quick; Andrew spread it and I went behind and cleaned up after him. It wasn't too bad of a job, but it was kind of like trying to wipe up an unending supply of mud off of a slippery surface. Anyway, once its dry we can go back and do more cleaning, but for now we think it looks pretty good. This project was really my dad's baby and the cause of his lack of sleep for several days. We are thankful for all the work he put into it, and hopefully we finished it right! Here are some of the pics!


























After finishing up the grout job we decided to play with some of the furniture in the family room. I think this is how we are going to leave it, but there are still a few more factors to consider, like tv placement and where the table will be placed in the adjoining breakfast area. Anyway, it was fun to look at it and really start to feel it come together. The furniture is big and the room isn't really big but I knew that going in to it. It has a cozy feel and it will be good for relaxing.




















In other news, Melanie Larson is coming to Austin! I haven't seen her since January and it's about time! She is coming to Texas for Catherine's wedding in October, and I had the genius idea of her flying into Austin and riding up to Dallas with us! I'm so excited that we will get extra time to hang out that weekend before the wedding!

Well I have to go over to the house in the morning before work to spray the grout, so it's off to bed for me! Thanks for reading!

Look Mom! I Can Use Power Tools!

Here I am cutting some of the last pieces for the family room! IT IS FINISHED!!!!



The biggest challenge in this room was figuring out how to lay the wood around the stone hearth, since the stone is not straight. Here is the step by step picture tutorial!

























































































It was an interesting process; we learned a lot and we now own some new tools, but all in all it looks great and we are really happy! There are a few gaps that need to be filled in, so we are going to use a tinted caulk the manufacturer sells that should match the wood color pretty closely. I'm so glad to have this room done and I love the way it looks!

The duplex is officially for lease and it has already been shown three times. It's kind of annoying having strangers walk through, also the house is kind of messy, but hopefully someone will sign on soon and we won't have to deal with it anymore. We feel pretty optimistic since everyone who has looked at it really liked it, and we sure liked living here, so it shouldn't take too long to get leased.






And lastly, a couple of the new light fixtures Andrew installed tonight! They look so much better than the old ones, and the light is so much brighter now! Speaking of... time for lights out! Goodnight!