Solicitation For a Good Cause

One of our friends, Alex Schaefer, is spending two years in Kenya working with the Peace Corps. The work he is doing is very worthwhile and making a big impact in the village of Mbumbuni where he is living. One of his biggest projects is working with the the local primary and secondary schools and encouraging the students to dream big, set goals, and problem solve. Because of the poverty in Mbumbuni, the school cannot afford books for the library. The library, literally, is an empty room. Alex has taken it upon himself to raise funds and transport books to Kenya for the school's library.

You can read about all his work on his blog here:

http://www.aosinafrica.blogspot.com

If you feel so inclined, please visit the Wings of the Dawn website and make a donation for Alex's project.

http://www.wingsofthedawn.org/NdulukuLibraryKenya.html

Home Improvements

I'm running out of time tonight so I will try to be brief (yeah right). In between everything else we have found time to do some things around the house. Mainly we did some yard work and completely unpacked and decorated the second guest room. And installed a new toilet. Here it all is:


The second guest room had been a catch all for everything we weren't sure what to do with over the past 6 months. It had furniture but there were boxes and bags and junked stacked up everywhere and the closet was so overflowing you couldn't close the door. Here are a few before pictures.

Ugly brass ceiling fan

Closet o'crap

After! This room inherited some of our Virginia Tech paraphernalia.

The closet where you can actually hang clothes and shut the door!

Less obtrusive ceiling fan

I spent MANY hours going through boxes and boxes of mostly junk that we have been lugging around from house to house. I don't know why I am such a pack rat, but the past week has been great for purging. We also donated tons to Goodwill; lots of clothes, shoes, an old tv, a lamp, and a million old VHS tapes. I threw away things that I probably should have thrown away ten years ago but couldn't let go of. It feels go to have downsized and eliminated clutter as well as free up a lot of closet space.




Here is a short play by play of annoying yard work. The previous owner decided it would be great to put a post in the middle of the yard to hang a wind chime on. WHAT? Anyway, in case there was ever an earth quake or an elephant that wanted to hang from the post, they dug a two foot hole and filed it with cement to support the post.

I really thought Andrew might break his back trying to get this thing out of the ground. I was no help at all, so I just took pictures.

Hole to China

After a trip to Home Depot, we filled it in with some dirt and grass seed. Thanks previous owners for that awesome idea!

We also did a lot of raking and general clean up around the yard, and spread grass seed in a lot of bare spots. I didn't take pictures of this because it was not exciting (as opposed to all the really exciting pictures that I take).

One of my house plants died. We gave up on each other.

So I replaced it with a lovely fern. Hopefully we will have a more fruitful relationship.

And last but certainly not least, we got a new toilet! All this came about because the toilet in our downstairs bathroom was SO AWFUL! It was always having problems flushing and nearly overflowing and I was so fed up with it. After a run in with the toilet today, I just about lost it and decided it was time for the thing to go. Next week we have a bulky trash pick up which is great for us because we have LOTS to get rid of. Bulky pickups are a perfect opportunity to get rid of large items (like a toilet) because what else do you do with an old toilet?? With the bulky pickup looming and more company coming to town in three days, I decided this was the time for a new toilet. If we didn't do it now, we'd have no way to get rid of the old one until the next pickup in 6 months. So did I ever mention that I love the City of Austin?!? A while back I talked about the free toilet program that they have, but today I realized its even better than I thought. Previously, we submitted an application for a free toilet and about a week and a half later received a voucher in the mail. You would then take the voucher to a designated retailer who gives you a free High Efficiency Toilet (HET) for you to install. Today after doing some online investigating, I realized they also have a HET Rebate Program which allows you to pick our your model and retailer. All we had to do is go to Home Depot, pick out a HET model from an approved list, pay for it, and now mail in our reciept and application, and in a few weeks we will get a rebate check for the full amount. This cuts out the wait time for the voucher, although you do still have to wait for the rebate check. Anyway, I figured we could install the new toilet some time in the next few days. I went out for a little while to run some errands and when I came back, Andrew was already half way done with the installation! He is so great! I LOVE THE NEW TOILET! This is another dorky homeowner moment, but seriously, who knew it could be so exciting! Other than the fact that it will save us money on our water bill, and is ultimately free, my favorite part is that it doesn't have the nasty tacky wooden seat! YAY!!!

I did not succeed in being brief. Time to take out the trash and head to bed! Thanks for reading!

SXSW & Friends in Town

For those of you who haven't heard of South by Southwest (SXSW) it is a big film, music and interactive festival that takes place in Austin every year. A lot of what goes on is for people in the industries- premieres, panel discussions, record deals, artist showcases, etc.- but there are some things open to the general public so we took advantage of many of the free events. Along with SXSW came some out of town visitors, so we've had some company at the house over the past week and a half.

First, Dan came to town for the film portion of the festival. Dan writes for an awesome website called Pajiba so he was at SXSW with press credentials and got to see and do some pretty awesome things. Most notibly, he got to meet and interview Seth Rogen who, strangely enough, is his doppleganger (or Dan is his).


They first came face to face on the red carpet at the premiere of "Observe and Report," Rogen's new film that is about to come out. You can read about it here.

Later he got a one on one interview and took a real picture together. I'm still trying to get over my jealousy. And here is a shot of Dan with someone slightly less famous, who apparently likes to make weird faces.







And since we were out on St. Patty's day, I felt compelled to take a picture of the green lights strung across the streets of downtown.


This past Thurdsay evening, we headed downtown to Auditorium Shores, a big park in Austin where there was a free concert series going on for 3 nights as a part of SXSW. We saw Cold War Kids play and a little bit of M. Ward's show. Here are a few shots from that.


Friday night we went to see The Rockeyboys play a free show at a Wine Bar on S. Congress. One of our friends, Mitch Holt, is in the band and we try to see them play as often as we can. We had a great time hanging out with Mitch and his girlfriend Lindy before the show, and then the four of us went to dinner at Guero's after the show, since it was right next door. I've been trying to eat at Guero's since we moved to Austin a year and a half ago, but have always been thwarted somehow. It was a great meal and I definitely would like to go back. The highlight of the night for Andrew by far, was that this trendy, upscale wine bar also served Schlitz in a fancy glass. What more could you ask for?



Saturday night's activity was- wait, you guessed it- another free concert. Explosions in the Sky played at Auditorium Shores, the very last act of the SXSW festival. Aubrey, who is also a bridesmaid in Lindsey's upcoming wedding, arrived in Austin just in time to enjoy the show. Aubrey, Lindsey, Marika and I hung out downtown and had a fun little girls evening. At the end of the show there was an awesome fireworks display (get it, explosions in the sky...) that lasterd forever. It was longer and more elaborate than any Fourth of July display that I had ever seen. Also, I had some old, old family friends come to town so their kids could go to the Explosions in the Sky concert so we had a house full of Cukrowskis and friends. Ken and Karen Cukrowski have known me since I was three, and I have known their girls since they were born, so it is crazy to see them as sophomores and juniors in high school with boyfriends. Ken didn't come for the whirlwind trip from Abilene, but Karen came with Katie and Krista and both their boyfriends. It was fun to hang out with all of them even though the trip was short. I was dumb and didn't snap and pictures while they were here :( I guess there are plenty of other pictures for you to look at :)

Catching Up

I haven't had a good long post in a while, but honestly, we have been busy and I haven't had much time. This week will be even busier coming up, but it's going to lots of fun. Lindsey's wedding is THIS FRIDAY, and if you haven't been keeping up with my blog over the last several months, I am the "MOH" along with her sister. I'm about to go into full on wedding mode this week so don't expect any posts after this for the rest of the week. I'm sure I will have lots of pictures and news from the wedding to blog about afterwards.

I'm going to do a couple of posts here in the next few minutes just to divide everything up. Read away!

I Think I'll Keep Him

I had kind of a crappy day today and when Andrew came home from work he brought me a surprise! Isn't he sweet???

65 is the new 21....

Last weekend was "Aunt Pat's" birthday and boy did we celebrate! Sam and Pat drove in from Arkansas to spend the weekend with "Cousin Chip" and the rest of us, and to celebrate the birthday right. I was not going to reveal her true age in this post but then I realized all the pictures with the cake would have given it away anyway. Besides, she's got nothing to be ashamed of, she makes 65 look good!

Basically we ate the entire weekend. Here is the run down:

Friday night: Dinner at the Salt Lick Barbecue in Driftwood. It's in Texas Monthly as one of the best in the state and they aren't lying. You can eat yourself silly there.

Saturday night: Dinner at Chip's house. Delicious appetizers, grilled steaks with sauteed onions and mushrooms, grilled squash and asparagus, loaded baked potatoes, garlic bread, and red velvet cake for dessert.

Sunday brunch: UNBELIEVABLE brunch at Moonshine, my favorite restaurant in town. We have eaten dinner there on several occasions and had always heard the brunch was fabulous, but now we can attest to that. The variety and quantity of food was so great, no human could eat a portion of each thing and live to tell about it. The mimosas aren't bad either! That champagne will sneak up on you! We left the restaurant and I couldn't even stay awake for the car ride home between the food and mimosas.

In between eating there was time for a few other activities, but not many. We did take a trip out to the TDS game ranch so Uncle Sam and Chip's friends Gum and Molly could see the animals. It's always fun to bring new people out there and see their reactions to the animals and hand feeding a giraffe.

Here is the weekend in pictures!

Runnin Fool

Last week I decided it was time for me to start running. I have been talking off and on about taking up running for a couple months now but last Monday on my way home from work I decided it was the day. My motivation was two fold: exercise for myself and exercise for Beamer. Austin is an extremely dog-friendly city and everywhere you look someone is eating at a restaurant with their dog, jogging with their dogs, hanging out in the park with their dog, etc. Those of you who know Beamer know that he is a bit of a spaz, but a really good natured dog. I'm kind of jealous of the people with normal dogs who can enjoy those activities with their canine friends. I thought if I could run with him it would be good bonding time for us and a good way to wear him out so he doesn't drive us crazy.

The first day didn't go so well. One mile was a bit of a lofty goal. I did discover, however, that one mile was just a tease for Beamer. I think he would glady run ten. The first day I ran the first half, walked the next quarter and made myself run the last quarter. On day three I actually completed a consecutive mile. This is week two and I have gotten into a decent workout routine. I'm walking a half mile warm up, running a full mile, and walking a half mile cool down. I still feel like I might die during the mile run, but it's getting a little better. I'm amazed at how much better I feel after walking a cool down than if I just stop after running. I also think doing 2 full miles wears Beamer out a little more.

I'm thinking about getting in shape to run a 5k in a few months. I wouldn't be running to be competitive, just running to do it. Having something like that in mind would give me some motivation when running on my own. I've been looking up races online to see what one I would actually want to do and can do based on my schedule over the next few months. I also need to give myself some time to actually get in shape to complete 3 miles. I think Beamer could run a 5k tonight.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

All in a Weekend's Work: The New, Blue Bathroom

The bathroom is done and I LOVE IT! Is it weird to want to spend all your time in the guest bathroom? Here is the run down of what we did:

• Took down all the old wood fixtures (towel bar, towel ring, toilet paper holder), spackled the holes, and in some cases used joint compound.
• Added knobs to the vanity drawers and cabinets, and the cabinet above the toilet.
• Painted with Behr "Blue Fox" and I am SO happy with the color!
• Installed new faucet, worlds better than the ugly old one.
• Installed new light fixture.
• Put up new brushed nickel fixtures and over the door towel rack.
• Put on new brushed nickel face plates for the outlets and light switches.
• Installed curtain rod and hung curtain.
• Added new towels.
• DONE!

This list is pretty concise, but it doesn't include all the roadblocks we encountered along the way. One thing we have learned, if anything, is never under estimate the amount of time it will take you to do a home improvement project. Also, when in a bind quick runs to Home Depot are usually necessary, even if you have already been twice that day. Even though we had a few hiccups, we still got the project done in one weekend and as far as I'm concerned, never have to do another thing to the guest bathroom as long as we live here.

One small side project Andrew worked on while I painted was changing the ceiling fan in one of the guest bedrooms. We bought the fixtures for the whole house before we even moved in but left a few unchanged when we ran out of steam. For the two guest bedrooms we bought pretty much the cheapest ceiling fans Home Depot sold, so we were interested to see how well they would actually perform. After getting it installed we can honestly say it is a great bargain!! They are about as plain as a fan can come, but they create a great breeze, give off good light, and don't wobble or make any noise. What more can you ask for in a $20 fan? I really hated the light on the old ceiling fan in this room because the glass cover had an etched criss cross pattern that cast weird shadows on the walls. It drove me crazy! The old fan was HUGE with shiny brass hardware and was really obtrusive. The new fan is smaller and neutral colored so it doesn't have to be the focal point in the room.

We did go over the $75 budget that I had in mind, mostly because we decided to change the faucet. If we hadn't changed the faucet we still would have come in around $100. The faucet was one of the cheaper models they carried, but one that we still liked. Again, I guess you should never underestimate the cost of a project. Several of the materials we already had so I'm not including those in this weekend's total. But all in all, I think the end result far exceeds the the cost involved. We didn't go over the top, but we made the room look really nice and ultimately added value to the home with just a few small upgrades.

I'm kicking myself because I didn't take any good "before" pictures of the whole room to compare for afterward. You can just trust me that it was pretty blah with very basic hardware. In fact, on one of our Home Depot trips I saw that they sell the whole set of oak fixtures that were previously in our bathroom for $10!! I obviously like a good bargain, but these looked so crappy you could tell they were worth $2 a piece. Sometimes it is worth it to pay a little extra. Enough blabbing, without further adieu, here are the pictures!!

And to think one week ago this bathroom was home to a turtle!!