Cabinets!

Here is a view of (left to right) the mini desk area (cookbook shelves above to come later), the dry bar, the pantry, and the hole for the refrigerator.







This view is of the corner where the sink will be. On the far left will be the cooktop and on the far right will be the dishwasher.









Where the double oven will go! Lots of storage above.







And finally, the island! The hole is where the trash compactor will go.

Red's 30th

This weekend we went to NYC for the surprise 30th birthday party of my dear friend Laura ("Red"). I have to think she was utterly surprised that about 10-15 of her best friends (most who have known her more than 20 years) and spouses made it to NY to celebrate with her. Her parents and sister threw a marvelous dinner at Beppe and we toasted Laura well into the night. She and her three friends from the Manhattan Chorale Ensemble even graced us with a spontaneous rendition of Danny Boy, which I caught on video. It was a great time catching up with friends and celebrating the woman we all know and love.

Earlier in the day P and I also got to catch up with our friends K & R who moved to NYC a year and a half ago... it was so much fun to see them but made me sad we aren't close to them anymore! Here are K & R at the hotel bar (we stayed at the New York Palace) after lunch.









Kitchen update: Here's a picture with the drywall they put up last week. This picture is taken at the same angle as the one below in Moving Right Along. The appliances came too! Cabinets come today (I'm at home waiting now)...

Moving Right Along

I know all my faithful readers are wondering what our kitchen looks like now. Well, here it is. Monday morning the guys ripped it down and by 7:30am Tuesday everything was out of there and down to the studs. The rest of this week they've been working on the plumbing and electrical, preparing for tomorrow's drywalling and Monday's cabinet installation. The appliances come tomorrow as well. It's moving along!

Things also moving right along include: my knitting expertise. I spent this past weekend in Tawas City, Michigan visiting with my grandma, aunt, and uncle. My cousin Karen drove up with baby Isabel from Kalamazoo, and my cousin's wife Emily who also lives in Boston came too. We had fright-inducing flights every step of the way, but somehow endured. It must have been the flight pattern. We literally thought we were going to need the "motion discomfort" sack provided in the seat pocket. Yuck.

Aunt Pat spoiled us to no end. We arrived to a toasty pot of curry and black bean soup and crusty bread, and a welcoming plate of chocolate chip meringue cookies. We settled in and caught up on another year. We played with Isabel, Karen's 9-month-old baby. She is a doll. I showed them my knitting problems saved up over the past several months, and my aunt led me down the road to conquering my worst fear: sewing together a sweater! Over the course of the weekend she succeeded in teaching me not only this technique but also how to knit a buttonhole and how to "pick up and knit," both very useful bits of knowledge. Saturday night she served a delicious dish (I swiped the recipe) of chicken, peppers, and asparagus over orzo. This was topped off with a homemade Oreo crust strawberry cheesecake ice cream pie. I think I gained 10 pounds.

Sunday morning we went to their church, then out for a greasy yummy breakfast in town. While Emily and Uncle Jim were out for a cross-country ski, Grandma and I caught up on family history. We talked about her grandparents, who (every last one of them) all came over from Sweden when they were young, and about her parents and other relatives. I am so fascinated by all that. She has so much valuable information in her head--it is amazing. More knitting, more perfecting my newly learned techniques, and we finished the day with a hot bowl of beef stew and a screening of Desperate Housewives (my grandma is the one who got me hooked!).

Thanks for a wonderful weekend.

The Arctic Tundra

I don't wonder anymore what it must be like to live in the arctic tundra. I'm currently living there. Despite the slow start--an unseasonably warm December and early January--winter has hit Boston like a ton of bricks. Make that a ton of ice chunks. Ice is everywhere. I can no longer wear normal shoes outside--one needs turbo traction to navigate the sheets of chunky frozenness. Days like these make me so thankful for my relative nimbleness and youth. I don't know how the infirm, young, old, extremely pregnant, and handicapped are getting around the city. It has been reminding me of the long recovery period after my achilles tendon rupture, how I had to be so careful with each step so I wouldn't fall.

This weekend I'm heading to an even colder climate--northern Michigan! It's my annual Presidents' Day Girls' Weekend with my grandma, aunt, cousin(s),--and uncle (although he tends to make himself scarce when the knitting gets underway). This year my cousin Emily is coming too, and my cousin Karen is bringing her baby Isabel up from Kalamazoo. I'm really looking forward to the quality time with family.

Renovation update: We unplugged the fridge last night and emptied all the cabinets. Our living room now looks like a kitchen supply store. The demolition starts Monday! Stay tuned.

F^4

P's parents came to visit this weekend from Ohio. The four of us had a few adventures worth blogging about. Friday night we "entertained" them in our formal room over cocktails, and cooked up a yummy dinner (thanks to the CLC women, I had some freezer meals to pull out!) of honey soy chicken thighs, and assorted side dishes. Then we retreated to the living room for a movie, compliments of Netflix-- Raising Helen. I don't think they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Saturday morning we got up and I made homemade pancakes with wild blueberries (yes, from the 5-lb box that's still in my freezer* (*side note, who wants to inherit these when I have to defrost my freezer next week!?!), and we went out to Waltham to pick up our new sink! Now for the adventure part: there's this place called Blue Hills Reservation near Milton that I swear I've been talking about wanting to go to for months now. P was sick of hearing me go on about this place so he finally acquiesced when his parents came (he wanted to look good, probably). So we bundled up, although it wasn't that bad outside, probably 35F, and made the trek down there to Houghton's Pond. We hiked the super easy yellow trail, but it was still really refreshing to be outside, and in nature! We are somewhat deprived of nature being in the city all the time. Again, I don't know if everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did, but oh well. I'm definitely going back.

We were still up for some more adventure, but of a different kind, so we got back in the car and drove up to Gloucester for some lobbies -- at a place called Gloucester House. They were juicy, sweet, and boiled to perfection. We rolled out of there... and retreated to the couch for some R&R.

Sunday after church we tried brunch at 75 Chestnut, where we had been before for dinner. Yum. They had live jazz and hot buttery pecan sticky rolls upon arrival. (Then of course the Superbowl. But I have to admit that was the least exciting part of the weekend.) My FIL (father in law) and I took a side trip to the aquarium while P and his mom watched pre-game.

All in all, a great weekend. Thanks for being great PILs (parents in law). You're not pills (at all).