I Need to Call the Fashion Police

For myself.

Most days, I wear jeans or shorts into work when I ride the train because I don't want to walk in my dress clothes or walk in a skirt/dress and sneakers (I hate that).  Today was no different and when I got to work, I stepped into the ladies room to put on my skirt. 

Except I decided that I didn't like my outfit as much as I thought I would and was sad because I still have to wear it all day.

I just came back from the ladies room (for the third time this morning--I drink a lot of water) and noticed my skirt has pockets!  They're still stitched together, which is why I didn't notice them before.  And then, as I was feeling these pockets, I noticed that my skirt was on backwards.  For a half a day.  In the office.

It's amazing how much better the outfit looks when I'm wearing it properly.  And no, this isn't even the first time I've worn it--I've had it for a year.

Lesson: If you don't like your outfit, turn your skirt around.

Bathroom Renovation

It started with a slight leak in the toilet.

And I kind of hated the clamshell sink, plus it was cracked.

Of course all the fixtures were varied shades of almond, which didn't really go with the light sage green walls.

And the shower door wasn't quite tall enough for Dave to not hit his head at least once a week.

And in a house with one bathroom, we often struggled to share the sink for teeth brushing and face-washing at bed time.

So, yes, we decided a little renovation was necessary.

Before

After

Looks good, no?  (The floor was actually replaced two years ago--we forgot to taken an updated "before" picture.)  Dave spent quite a bit of time working on this project through the month of May, but before we left for North Carolina, it was completed.  Here's what he did:

• Took out the sink and vanity
• Reworked the plumbing to accommodate two sinks and faucets
• Replaced the vanity with a double sink version
• Added matching second faucet and towel bar
• Removed existing cabinet and light fixture
• Rewired the lights to accommodate a second light (as well as correct the mistakes made by the previous owner)
• Repaired the wall behind the existing cabinet
• Installed two new cabinets
• Installed two new light fixtures
• Installed new switches for overhead light, fan, and vanity lights, putting a timer on the fan and dimmer on the vanity lights
• Removed old toilet
• Installed new toilet
• Repaired and painted ceiling
• Removed shower door
• Repaired holes in the fiberglass tub and shower left by the shower door
• Painted the entire shower and tub unit (this was hard work and since he did it the right way with the right product, you'd never know it was painted)
• Repainted baseboard
• Touch ups and caulking throughout

It makes me tired just thinking about it.  You may think it kept him busy, but I like to think it kept him out of trouble. (oh, and the curtain was from Dave's mom--I think she made it with extra fabric she had (or it may have been a curtain she had used before she redecorated her own bathroom.  I can't remember.)

We finished off the entire project with new accessories, some we had gotten off our registry as gifts and others (like the shower curtain) were new acquisitions. We're really pleased with the finished product..  I can wash my face without risking Dave spitting toothpaste on me, so that's a win.  And it just looks so much brighter and polished.  And the best part about it is bathroom renovations like this can often cost several thousand dollars, yet we were able to do it with right around $600 by taking advantage of sales, coupons, discounts and gift certificates.

Thanks for the pretty bathroom, honey!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...Thud

That's the sound of me falling off my chair after laughing so hard. 

I'm still crying over this it's so funny.

I had a whole other post written for today, but as the blog gods have eaten the associated photos instead of publishing them in the post, I'm sharing this link to a very funny blog post a friend shared with me.  I've never read this blog before but you can guarantee I'm all over it now.

And That's Why You Should Learn to Pick Your Battles

Enjoy.

Rock Climbing

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Living Social Adventures for a Rock Climbing and BBQ night.  They had a few nights and times and I thought it would be a fun evening out for Dave and I.  Dave used to rock climb a lot in college (does this really surprise you?) but I only went once about 10 years ago and did not have a good time (I didn't go with Dave).  However, I was up for the challenge.  Plus, at the end of it all, I would get a tasty dinner from Blue Ribbon BBQ, the best BBQ joint in the area (which isn't saying much considering we went on a BBQ bender while in North Carolina, but it was still good food).

Saturday late afternoon we made our way to MetroRock, but we didn't know exactly what to expect.  The email confirmation said we'd be provided with equipment, so we just wore comfy clothes and sneakers.  The beginning was a little disorganized. They probably had about 50 participants and at the designated time to begin, they just said, "Follow the person in the yellow MetroRock or the grey Living Social T-shirt."  So all 50 of us followed the first person in the yellow shirt we saw walking with harnesses in her hand.  Turns out she only had 3 of said harnesses.  I was confused.

And then more yellow and grey T-shirt clad people began appearing and the lines started to shorten.  Slowly I began to understand.  We weren't there to learn to rock climb--we were there just to run up the walls.  Each T-shirted staff member would belay the participant, and we would cycle through the allotted harnesses at that particular climb, and then move onto another staff person.  It took a while to figure it out, but once we did it made more sense.  Although I did question why they sold more slots than they had harnesses available.

On the first climb, I made it up to the top without too much problem.  Admittedly, it was a pretty easy climb.  Although when I got to the top I did remember that I'm not a huge fan of heights.  Oops.  Dave of course did very well, since he actually knows what he's doing.  (Please excuse the blurry pictures. I forgot the camera and had to go with the phone for these.)

The second wall we climbed was tougher.  It was almost twice as tall as the first and took a sharp right turn partway up, so if you didn't use the right path or got yourself twisted, it'd be tough to stretch over to the right course and get to the top.  I made it most of the way up before my legs started shaking in fear.  From the floor Dave and the staff person were cheering me on, encouraging me to just stand up on that leg to reach the next hold.  Easier said than done.  I would be more confident standing on that leg if it wasn't shaking so bad I thought it would give out.  But I made it and although I had to do a little stretch jump at the end to hit the target, I still made it all the way up.

After a short break, we found another wall that didn't seem too scary. Technically there were two logical routes to take, one being very short, the other taller and more tricky that would require jumping from one wall to another. 

Small world story: Dave and I were standing in line and two women were behind us. Dave had on a Fat Heads T-shirt (bar in Pittsburgh) and one of the women asked if he was from Pittsburgh. He said no, but I was.  Turns out I went to middle school with this chick.  She was a year ahead of me and we even road the bus together.  Neither of us recognized each other's names, but we played the name game of who you know and knew a bunch of people in common.  How weird is that?  I can go to Pittsburgh and never run into anyone I know.  But at a random rock gym outside of Boston I come across someone I apparently went to school with.

Dave let me go first and I made it up the short one quickly, so I decided to go for the big one.  I made it over to the other wall and slowly and thoughtfully climbed the big one.  I was doing reasonably well when I went to grab the next hold and it moved on me.  AHHH!  Dave hollered that I was doing good and I looked down (WHY???) and told him that it moved on me. It made me nervous to continue to use that hold, but I needed it, so I persevered.  I was pretty close to the top (although going slowly on shaky legs) and then I just had to hang out for a while.  The holds were not in a useful place anymore.  And because I'm short, I didn't have the wingspan to stretch.  I made to attempts to jump and hit the target, but failed at both.  I needed to hit the next hold.  So I chalked up, and gave it my all.  I was able to grab the next hold, which was super small, just long enough to propel myself to the target.  Not easy.  Dave went up and agreed that it was a reasonable course until you got to the top and had to use a lot of strength to finish.

We started watching some people doing more challenging climbs and came to an area that apparently was challenging everyone.  As we got there, a guy went up and became the first one to make it to the top during our session.  The difficulty was an overhang at the beginning that you needed to get over and then climb across the wall, away from the target, and then work your way back.  A few more people went, some successful and others not so much.  I convinced Dave to do it, though.  (I knew I would never be able to figure out how to get around the overhang.)

Dave was pretty methodical about his path and he did really well.  He wasn't the fastest, but he figured it out and didn't get twisted or have to backtrack like a few other people did.

After the last climb, we went up to get dinner.  They didn't have any seating, so we got our BBQ and beer and pulled up a piece of floor to chow down.  The food was good, which was a relief considering the amazing BBQ we'd had the week before.  And we were starving because it was already about 2 hours pas tour normal dinner time, adding to that the activity portion of the evening.

Overall we had a really good time.  It was something completely different for us and we probably wouldn't have done it had I not seen the deal.  It also encouraged me to get back to working out.  There's no excuse to being this sore after only 3 climbs!

Taco Adopted!

This was a tough one for me.  Taco is such an awesome dog.  And I worked very hard asking Dave if we could keep him.  While I understand it would be unrealistic given Dave's job prospects I still didn't like it.  I also worked on my in-laws because they loved Taco and going to their house was literally like going to Grandma's with all the treats and related spoiling he got there.  Taco even came with us to Pittsburgh when my grandfather passed away and I'm pretty sure if my brother's girlfriend had come, Taco would be living in Chicago right now.

But alas, he was adopted in the traditional sense.

Taco probably got over two dozen applications and inquiries.  Some of them were great.  I had great phone calls with them, but there was some issue that made the situation just not right whether timing (one applicant was planning to be out of the country for a month this summer) or not everyone in the family on board (another applicant had just put down their family dog after battling cancer for 4 years and the husband wasn't ready to get a new dog yet).  Plus there were a lot of applications that just weren't right, such as the woman who balked at his adoption fee (even though it was less than the max that we state on the application) and the college girl who wanted a purse dog (which Taco doesn't like anyway--I tried).  We even had a meet and greet with one family which went really well except Dave and I could tell the father was not interested in Taco.  I wasn't surprised when I got an email the next day stating they were going to pursue a "slightly larger" dog.

But finally we got an application for a family with a little Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix and a cat that seemed just perfect.  And they lived in our town.

I'd called Jen and had a great conversation with her, reviewing her application and going through the process with her.  On Memorial Day, she brought her boyfriend Jose, her daughter Alyssa and Alyssa's boyfriend, Giovannie, to meet Taco.  Alyssa just graduated high school and her boyfriend works nights and serves as their dog walker and sitter during the day.  They all immediately fell in love. Jose, who is Mexican, was very excited to meet Taco.  Right away he called him Taquito, which is my nickname for Taco, and said, "Taco, you're so cool. You're Mexican and little, like me!"  (Jose is a pretty short guy--barely taller than my 5'5". )  It was a wonderful visit and made me feel really good that we could adopt Taco to a great family. 

Sparky doesn't like papparazzi

We set up a time to meet their dog Sparky and their cat, Fifi.  Sparky was very excited to meet Taco.  Maybe a little too much--he tried to hump Taco a few times.  But he learned to take Taco's hints and Taco wasn't mean about telling him to stop.  Sparky is a cutie and super soft. He's very timid though and pretty much let Taco be top dog.  They played and Taco was super excited about the huge basket of toys.  He remembered meeting everyone and pretty much only barked when Sparky got him roweled up.  He left the cat alone, which is what she prefers. Apparently she doesn't really interact with anyone.  Sparky is always trying to play with her and Fifi won't have that.  Hopefully Taco can help redirect Sparky's energy away from Fifi. 

Alyssa works at the local animal hospital and will be going to school in the fall to start a degree in veterinary science.  So when I called to do the reference check at the vet, they only had wonderful things to say about the family. This put my mind at ease, since I love Taco so much and really want to make sure he's with the best family possible. 

So last night, Dave picked me up from the train and we took Taco to his forever home.  He remembered having been there and walked in like he owned the place, going straight for the toys.  He was very happy and playful.  He and Sparky got along great (less humping attempts) and played well together.  They had a cute romping session, that I missed with the video, but I did capture the following:

I am so glad that we had the chance to have Taco in our lives and experience a small dog.  He has such a personality and made everyone he met happy.  Just thinking about him makes me smile.  We were very lucky and searched very hard for the perfect home and he definitely has that now.

Taco and his buddy Giovannie

Bouncy

Last week Dave and I went to North Carolina. It was so much fun.  My sister lives there with her family (we stayed with them) and my uncle and his family live there too.  My parents also joined us, since my cousin Angela graduated high school.  We're the kind of family that travels for a party.  And yummy cake.

We also got a chance to visit our friends Kate, Andy, Brandi and Seth, which was a lot of fun.  We got to meet Kate and Andy's baby, Chad, who is super adorable.  I wish we'd had a chance to spend more time with them, but alas.

Anyway, back to the party.  Angela and her sister Nikki have a trampoline in their backyard.  This might be the only reason that my niece Abi agrees to visit them.  We were there for about 5 hours or so and I'm pretty sure Abi spent at least 3 hours on the trampoline (1 hour was spent doing Just Dance 2--so much fun!--and the other was spent being mad at her mom because she wouldn't let her on the trampoline in the dark).

Abi was bound and determined to figure out how to bounce back up to her feet if she hit the trampoline on her bum. I tried doing it myself and almost broke my neck (sorry, Dave wasn't around to take video of me).  I think it's easier for little ones because they're shorter and have less distance to travel to get into a standing position.  But eventually Abi got it.

(By the way, who knew bouncing on the trampoline was such a good work out?  If it wasn't for the fact that I drank so much water and had to pee, I might have spent 3 hours on that thing.)