walking

We had a snow fall yesterday. I took a shot of this on my walk to work...

And after yesterday's post, I thought this happenstance was rather funny... I was in the local market and I ran into a neighbor from down the street. One Sunday a while back, Hawk and I were walking around the neighborhood and paused in front of his house to admire the color of their front door. I guess we stared at it for quite a while because when I began up their front walk to knock on their door, he and his wife were opening it in expectation. Perhaps slightly nervous expectation. We explained what we admired about the house (porch, brick, colors, door, everything). They were extremely amiable.


Flash to last night. I walk into the market and see him and his daughter checking out. I say, "You're Burt, right?" Not, "Excuse me, but is your name Burt?" or something more mature and tactful. No, I just blurt out his name. It took him a good 5 seconds to respond. I thought I had the wrong guy. When he finally said yes, I had gathered my wits about me and was better able to explain how I knew his name. After a brief, friendly exchange, he said, "Stop by our house anytime."


SO, I'm going to do it. I am going to go over there soon and ask them if we can post about their house. And by soon, I mean when I have more courage. But that will be soon.


And Hums commented yesterday that I should put a little postcard in people's doors explaining what we want to do. That's exactly what I was thinking! My only hesitation is that it's a small community, and I don't want my clients to find the blog. So the courage will raise up as soon as I figure out how to highlight area homes and still keep the blog relatively obscure within our village.


But that's exciting, eh?


If you haven't commented on yesterday's post, please do so! We'd appreciate your thoughts.


icj,
~j

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"well, that's what YHL does"

Hawk uttered this phrase almost a dozen times this weekend, and now a new phase of our marriage and home-ownershipping has begun. When we were engaged, I spent practically all my leisure time scouting DIY wedding websites (and, of course, etsy). After the wedding had passed, I realized I had no avenue for creativity and DIY ideas. I started scouring the web for good new-homeowner blogs, which led me to the list you see to your lower right: "what helps us make a home."


One of my all-time favorites is Young House Love. It's the blog of a young married couple as they transform their house one room at a time. All DIY. And for the past 6 months, as Hawk sends me links to mandolins, I send him links to YHL and theletteredcottage.


Well, last night as we were painting the blue room from 9:30-11pm, we discussed whether or not the deep blue hue was gender neutral for future offspring. And Hawk mentioned that "YHL is making their room girly because they're having a girl." See posted swatches below:

younghouselove

Then, we got in a debate about who reads YHL more thoroughly (he thinks they're going to name their daughter Claire--I find no evidence of this).

What all this comes down to is that we feel a sense of kinship to this couple from Virginia. We're in similar life stages, and all of John's get-down-and-get-dirty-myself projects give Hawk the confidence that we, too, can accomplish a bathroom renovation ourselves (and a new bench, and parts of the basement...) 

younghouselove

And Sherry goes above and beyond in her communication--she always responds to my emailed questions anywhere from 3-12 hours after I've hit "send," and this with multiple magazines, shows, and bloggers after them. 

So here's where we're going with all this: Hawk is going to let me take more photos of his face as we tackle our housework, and we're going to start planning out the next few years of DIY work we want to accomplish. All because some cute couple in Virginia can do it--happily. 


Oh, and this picture gave me a great deal of hope:

younghouselove

Why? Because it seems that they've entirely renovated their home, and it was nice to see that something hadn't yet been redeemed. Gives the Hawks a little hope that we, too, can work bit-by-bit to transform our home into the "our" part.


icj,
~j

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an early Christmas present

No, we did not have a child. And no, this is not the face of a friend's progeny. 


Per a previous post, Hums has agreed to be the ghost-cynic. So this is a laugh pic (she would kill me, from Seattle, if I ever posted her face without a GlamourShot session first). She's too funny (and yes, I do mean "too") and she's the only person I've ever met who can make the act of walking up stairs--without tripping--absolutely hilarious.


Thus, at the end of most posts, she'll be adding a little wit. Or just cruelty. Either way, it makes me laugh.


Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.


icj,
~j

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wordle

My dear friend, Hums, is in town from Seattle. She was in our wedding and is the only person I can stand constantly for more than a day. We took a trip to Prague in '05 on a whim, not sure where we'd find shelter or how we'd get around, and it was one of the greatest weeks of my life. I didn't stop laughing for 6 days straight, and not once did I consider leaving her side. She's probably the closest thing I have to a woman soulmate. 


On Sunday, we sat around the house catching up and she directed me to Wordle, a site into which you plug your blog address and it creates this for you:

Neato, eh?

icj,

~j

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