Four Girls, Two Ukuleles, One Lake

I had an amazing girls weekend in Pollock Pines. And despite the fact that it was hard for [most of] us to go without proper phone reception or internet, it was for the best. Considering how much time I spend on my computer and phone for work and blog surfing, the break from constant distraction was necessary.

Plus: Nature!




And we found butterflies! They were friendly, like puppies, minus the barking and licking and caring about our feelings.

But they were cooperative.



Getting out in the beautiful weather and exploring the trail around Jenkinson Lake was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. The sun was just the right amount of hot, with the shade providing the ideal amount of relief. The trail was clear, albeit a little rocky, and it was certainly not crowded. I was even a bit sad that we'd decided to stay in a cabin rather than a campsite.

Either way, being silly and enjoying the outdoors after spending quite a bit of girly time cloistered away with food and booze and movies and gossip was refreshing. This was certainly aided by our decision to bring along refreshments.

Don't worry. We were totally not at all obnoxious.



What started out as a little outdoor excursion to explore the local park eventually turned into a mini ukulele concert/rehearsal session for Cassie and Lindsey, and photography practice for me.

Back in April, Jon got me a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II camera lens, which is a great starter lens for taking portraits. I've been wanting to upgrade beyond my basic EOS Rebel T3 camera body and lens for some time, so this seemed like a good place to start.

It does a lot of the work for me.



I'm still getting used to discovering what works best for me with taking pictures. I have no interest in being a photographer, but I enjoy the way great photos look and I like having beautiful ones of my friends, family, pets, environment, and life to share with you here.

One of my favorite blogging photographers, Ashley Ann of Under the Sycamore, makes me yearn to take naturally stunning pictures of my life the way she does. Eventually, I'll probably take one of her photography classes to learn how. How to capture details and know intuitively when something will look good on camera.

For now, though...



Shooting on Auto in great light and with willing victims will have to do.

Cassie was a good model to practice on.

And with some coaxing from the rest of us, Lindsey agreed to let me snap pictures of her and her ukulele too.




I was just getting into my groove when we noticed that a flock of geese were swimming right for us.

There's something horrifying about geese. I mean, aside from the fact that they're notoriously mean and aggressive, they really just look like they know something you don't.



Amirite??

It's OK though. Marisa taunted them with a little dance and a bag of Stacy's Pita Chips.



Maybe they liked the sound of the ukuleles or are fans of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. Or, you know, the smell of pita chips.

Ah well.

The rest of our weekend was very relaxed with loads more refreshments and silliness, and we managed not to bother any other living creatures. A swarm of butterflies and a flock of geese were enough.

Oh, I guess there were those people out on the lake the next day who had to endure our escapades when we decided to rent a paddle boat, station ourselves in the middle of said lake, and film Cassie and Lindsey singing "Screw You" by Kate Micucci.

You're welcome, World.



And have a pleasant evening.


* images property of The Sleepy Peach

Those Sleepless Nights

For a while I blamed Daylight Savings for my suddenly-out-of-whack sleep patterns. I would get up groggier than ever for work and declare to my co-workers: "Daylight savings is taking a serious toll on me; I've been exhausted and sleeping terribly all week and if this meeting wasn't being held over the phone, I'd probably kill you all in an insomnia-induced rage."

Or something to that effect.

Well, it's been almost three months and try as I might, I am having a hard time using that as an excuse anymore.

I haven't had this much trouble sleeping since college, and even then I wasn't hounded by terrifying dreams like I have been lately. Maybe it's my age? Am I more stressed than I originally thought? Am I dying?

Jury's out, but I do know that I've been over-worked and over-caffeinated; I've spent my last two weekends doing hard labor in my parent's house, doing prolonged projects at work, and eating the bare minimum of calories. But still... I find it hard to believe those things are the root of the problem.

My insomnia was easier to deal with in college—that is, after I learned how to push away all of the horrifying images and fears that plagued me the moment the lights were out. ("I'm so comfortable right now. Oh no, but someday I won't be this comfortable... I'll be lying on a gurney with a broken body and excruciating pain and I'll watch my life goals come to a bloody and paralyzed end!" and so on.) Eventually it wasn't my over-active imagination that kept me awake, but rather a body and brain that simply wouldn't turn off with the lights. There was stuff I wanted to do and write and watch and read. So I did, sometimes. Other times, I just thought about doing those things. Every night. It was kind of nice, actually.

I rarely had to be awake—much less be anywhere—before 10am, and if I did have class to attend, I could just phone it in and plan on figuring out what the hell that lecture was all about at a later date and time. I had no qualms and no guilt about drinking loads of coffee at 9pm for dessert, then stay up browsing the internet / watching infomercials / lying in the dark with my thoughts until 1, 3, 5 in the morning. I learned quickly that there was something soothing about being the only person in my apartment still awake; something magical about watching the clock strike 4 o'clock a.m. and deciding "Well, I guess I'm not going to sleep tonight," and then getting up, making another pot of coffee, and sitting warm and dreary-eyed as the sunlight slowly crept through the windows.

One time, I actually decided to go for a run to Campus Point on the opposite side of UC Santa Barbara at 5am after having not slept a wink, just to watch the sun come up. I walked half of it, but I still rewarded myself with a peanut butter-covered slice of toast.

I miss that.

Awesome #5 by Cheryl Frey Richards

Insomnia, now, is not like that. Now insomnia is cold and boring and void of all enchantment.

I sit at my laptop and visit the same dozen sites—including this here blog—as if anyone has updated in the last five minutes at midnight on a Tuesday. Twitter is quiet, Facebook is boring, there is no new news, no new recipe, no new DIY project to peak my interest.

I lie in bed with my phone playing Jewels Star until my eyes start to blur and I'm forced into a restless sleep.

Then I sleep horribly. I sleep as though I have post-traumatic stress disorder, except all I really have is a mind and body glutton for punishment. It does not care that I have a full-time job that requires I be alert and active from 8am - 5pm every weekday; it does not register that it's 3am and I've already been up for nearly 20 hours; and it does not respond to my humble pleas for just one night of rejuvenating sleep.

I'm in an insomnia-stupor as I write this. Can you tell?

Awake, Asleep, Dreams by Satchel and Sage

This coming weekend I am taking matters into my own hands and rejuvenating my sleep-deprived soul. I'm going away where there is no computer, to be with friends where it is warm, beautiful, and relaxing; where no dieting exists and no one at work can contact me.

My friends (Cassie, Lindsay, Marisa) and I are going to a cabin in the woods where there is a hot tub, fire pit, and lake access. We're going to cook, color in coloring books, swim, and make cocktails. We're going to focus on ourselves and each other's company.

Most importantly, though: we're going to sleep in.

Amazing What a Little Paint Can Do

The first major step in my parent's kitchen makeover is done: kitchen cabinets have been painted!

It was a long and tedious process, in addition to being a learning experience for all of us. Much like my first building project that I did with my friend Shane back in December, I just can't seem to do small projects before tackling big ones. This was my first time refinishing anything and, while it isn't perfect, it sure made one hellova a difference.

Wanna see?

If you remember from two posts ago, my parent's kitchen looked just like this when Jon and I moved in at the end of last year.



For some reason I decided to take the above picture at night instead of during the day. Oh well. Can't retake it now, since—as of this morning—the kitchen is looking more like this:



Zing!

I knew that a simple coat (or 3!) of beautiful white paint would make a serious difference, but it's almost unbelievable how different the kitchen looks. It's like a completely new kitchen!

And as you've probably noticed, there's a part of the cabinets that still looks a lot like its old self.

That would be the undersides of the cabinet surround. We chose to leave those bare because it won't be too long before the floors are replaced. When that happens, all of the baseboard fronts will need to be removed, then put back on, then refinished and touched up with paint. We figured we'd save ourselves the trouble and leave them be for the time being.

In case you're curious, here's a list of the design investments we made between the "before" and "after" pictures—aside from, of course, the latter being taken in the daytime after the kitchen's been cleaned!

• Kitchen island (IKEA - Stenstorp) — $379
• 3 coats of Benjamin Moore paint in "Steam" + primer and painting supplies (OSH) — $325
• 2 new Frigidaire Gallery appliances, refrigerator and dishwasher (Lowe's) — $1,795
• a 5'x7' rug (Home Goods) — $99

     Total: $2,598


And that's it. Can you believe the difference just a few little changes make?

The cool thing is that we still have an entire, unopened can of "Steam" paint, plus 1/4 left in the first can, which is pretty amazing. There are definitely a few other projects I can see us doing in the future.

I'm so proud of my parents for agreeing to take the DIY route for painting these cabinets, because they sure weren't stoked about it at first.

About 2 years ago, they got a kitchen remodeling estimate through Sears. The makeover would have included just cabinet refacing and new countertops, and the total would have come to around $20,000—no including appliances! By doing a major part of the work ourselves (refinishing and painting the cabinets), we've saved my parents thousands and thousands of dollars. Now they can put some hard-earned money towards quality countertops and flooring that they so desperately need.

Sadly, it isn't likely that I'll be around when those next major updates happen, but (naturally) I'm fully encouraging my parents to keep investing in home updates that will bring them joy day-to-day and down the road.

We already sense a difference in how we feel because of how bright and open the kitchen is.



It's somewhat miraculous.

When we first bought the kitchen island back in January, we chose to give the space a "U" quality by making it more like a peninsula than an island. It worked fine, but it always felt a little awkward and unnatural to me, since it just didn't line up with anything; we were left with a lot of empty space between the island and the wall.

Since the fridge was so big, there was no way to utilize the chairs at the island if it was placed in the middle of the kitchen space.

Now, with the new counter-depth fridge, it isn't a problem at all.



So that's it! What do you think? Do you think we achieved our desired "modern country" kitchen with the "steam" white cabinet fronts? What kind of countertops would you choose to put in a white kitchen with (eventually) dark wood flooring? How about backsplash? Wall color?

My mind is racing with ideas. Why isn't this my kitchen?!

All-in-all, we're totally thrilled. The results are exactly what we hoped for and more, and the little tweaks we plan to make in the future will only make it a more welcoming space. The kitchen really is where my family spends the most time (cocktail hour, huzzuh!) and it absolutely functions as the heart of the home.

I don't know what you guys think, but...

Fry approves.


Psst... If you're curious as to the steps we took to paint the kitchen, refer to this post from Young House Love, which contains detailed instructions. We followed those pretty closely, minus the extensive wood filling they had to do.

Thin and Even Layers

Our Memorial Day weekend was spent waste deep in sawdust, primer, paint, and lots and lots of stuff. (It's amazing what you'll find in the back of the lesser-used cabinets!)

I wish I could say I have some beautiful "after" shots for you, but instead you're stuck with something a little less eye-catching.

Progress shots.

My parent's house is currently a maze of cabinet-covered tables. White cabinet-covered tables, to be exact.

It was a very busy weekend.

When I last posted, cabinet doors and drawer fronts were being removed and wiped down, all in preparation for sanding. The sanding process was tiring, back-breaking work, but we managed to get everything (23 cabinets, 9 drawers, and the static kitchen surround) primed by the end of the day on Saturday. This was after, of course, everything in all of the cabinets was removed and placed in various locations all over the house, the most prominent of which was our booze cabinet.

(Side note: Between my parents' collection and Jon's and my collection of alcohol, we could stock a full cocktail bar. I mean, who do you know that actually has anisette liqueur and peach brandy at their disposal? I know. We're the snootiest.)

Sunday, we were able to get the first coat of "Steam" on all of the cabinet fronts and surround, which meant the backs were done on Monday. Currently, we have 2 more coats left on the front and 1 on the back, with a necessary 24 hour waiting period between coats.



This will take us all week, but it's gonna be sooooo worth it. Next time I post? After shots. Stay tuned.

Psst... In addition to the new cabinets, my parents actually took the plunge this weekend (taking advantage of yet another Memorial Weekend deal—this time at Lowe's) and bought a Frigidaire Gallery refrigerator and dishwasher to match their existing microwave and stove/oven. That means the "after shots" will be all the more beautiful. I can't wait!

Kitchen Revamp is Underway!

I never thought this day would come, but it actually has. As I type this, my father is downstairs unhinging and cataloging all of the kitchen cabinets. This weekend, we're actually starting to paint them!

This is huge. I can't even tell you. As of yesterday, my parent's builder-grade kitchen looked a little bit like this:

Helloooooo, 1991! Yep, those are good ol' reliable oak cabinets circa the early 1990's, and also some lovely (read: disgusting) white tile countertops. My parents have lived in this house in Livermore for about 8 years now, and one of the main conditions of agreeing to live here (yes, I had conditions) was that they had to let me assist them in painting their dark and overly wood-y cabinets white.

And you guys? They actually agreed.

Granted, this isn't nearly as dark and dank as it used to be. See that lovely butcher block-topped island? That's from IKEA and I convinced them to get it back in February after I heard my mother utter the phrase, "You know, I'd really like to have a kitchen island right here," for the millionth time. The kitchen used to look like this:

(Please forgive the very lived-in mess. Don't judge us.)

Yes, the island is a small change, I know. But it's made a world of difference in how we use the kitchen and using it as a place to gather. (The table was never used by anyone other than the cats, who were fed on it because the dogs would attack their food if it wasn't off the floor.) Now, though, the cats have a little perch inside the island, which has (despite my initial reservations) been totally invaluable; it hasn't inhibited our use of the space at all, unlike when they owned the old kitchen table, those fiends.

My parents and I have discussed painting the cabinets for years; it's always been on the agenda. We knew early on that the cabinets—while a little old-fashioned and country—were in really great shape and refinishing them in a simple white would be a significant improvement for not a lot of moo-la.

Ideally, with a large budget, my parents would prefer not to DIY the update and simply have custom cabinetry installed that makes better use of the space. Something that incorporates a large island with ample storage and a better overall flow into the family room.

As with most homes built in this time period, rooms tend to be broken up with carpet and tile, which can really make the space feel small. And for people like my parents (bless their hearts) who have a hard time seeing beyond what's in front of them, this kind of visual division of space makes it difficult to decorate.

But floors are not what we're working on this weekend. New countertops, new wood floors, updated paint and maybe some backsplash—this is all on the agenda. One step at a time. First?

Remove cabinetry to reveal extremely messy interiors. (And a surprising amount of alcohol.)

Baker's helping.

Last night we took a trip to Orchard Supply Hardware as a family to look at paint and identify all of the things we'd need. We chose OSH for two reasons: 1) they sell Benjamin Moore paint, unlike Lowe's; and 2) they're having a "no sales tax" event for the Memorial Day weekend. Score!

We decided on Benjamin Moore paint (even though, in the past, we've almost always used Valspar) based on the recommendation of pro-DIY bloggers, Sherry and John of Young House Love. In order to convince my parents that we were, in fact, capable of taking on this project ourselves, I sent them this link to a tutorial on cabinet refinishing/painting that YHL posted in December when they revamped their kitchen.

Naturally, we avoided having to make a decision in the store. Jon grabbed every sample color of white that BM had, which we brought home and looked at in various areas of the kitchen. We narrowed it down, then narrowed it down some more, until we were left with three choices:

We nixed any color that had too much pink or green as an undertone, as well as any that were just WHITE. We were definitely drawn to the whites that had a bit of gray; they refracted light in the right way and didn't absorb the blue from the walls, which was good. Sherry and John on YHL chose cloud cover for their cabinets, which is why my mother was most drawn to it ("It worked for them!"), but Jon and I simply weren't fans. In person, it was just a little too gray for us.

In the end, we unanimously agreed that steam was the way to go. It had a subtle gray hint, but looked most like a soft white at every angle, in every intensity of light. So this morning my dad went back to OSH and got two gallons of Benjamin Moore's Aura Waterborne Interior Paint in "Steam" with a Satin finish. (Paint is so complicated.)

This weekend will be full of sanding, degreasing, and priming, with the goal of being ready to start the first coat of paint on Monday. I'm getting pumped. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I don't want to mess this up. This is my first refinishing project, ever.

My current mantra: Thin and even layers, thin and even layers, thin and even layers... 

Wish me luck.

The Peace of Routine

While I work, my animals sleep. All morning long and into the afternoon, after their lunchtime potty break. It's quiet, except for little doggie snores. Am I weird for finding this soothing? Perhaps it's because—though certainly not loud—these little snores remind me that I'm not in the house alone. It's odd the comfort that the mere presence of animals can bring; I can't imagine how lonely it would feel without them.

With my parents gone for the last week and a half, Jon has risen early for work, taking care of letting the dogs out and feeding them while I'm still 3/4 asleep in bed and warding off having to sit down at my computer for another non-stop 8 hour day. He leaves for work, and the dogs and cat come back to bed with me. When inevitably I roll out of bed, they drearily follow me to my computer and return to sleep. And now that I'm on a strict, regimented diet (Medifast again, and this time it's working!), my weekdays tend to move like clockwork. It's monotonous and routine. I kind of love it.

Working at home has been a blessing I do not take lightly, and every day it becomes more and more work that I am both grateful and nervous about. It's getting hard, but after 8 years of entry-level jobs and duties that bore me to tears, it finally feels like I'm part of something special, exciting, and new. Being "needed" feels sensational, and while it may not be my dream job, it's allowing me some great opportunities to learn from great people.



Being an adult is weird. I wonder how much longer I will feel that way?

What excites me most about this little work/life/food routine that Jon and I have found ourselves developing is the idea of moving to Orange and creating a new routine, together, in a brand new place. A place just for the two of us. And if I've realized anything over the past two weeks, it's that when you get yourself into a cozy (maybe even boring) day-to-day routine, there's nothing quite as exhilarating as breaking it.

A spontaneous drive to Sausalito perhaps.

A day-long outing just to window shop for furniture.

A leisurely hike with the dogs in a previously undiscovered local park.

Evenings and weekends are more vibrant when the weekdays lack excitement. It's like seeing the sun after months of clouds and rain. What other things beyond the purr of a cat on my lap and the drone of typing fingers lay in wait as summer approaches? As we move on to discover someplace unfamiliar?

Hopefully, whatever it is, it will influence more blog posts.

Fly Away Home

Child's Airplane by Michele Nicolette of Diesel and Juice

My travel days for work have ended, at least for the immediate future. If there is going to be another in-person work meeting next month, or the following, I have yet to hear about it. I'm enjoying every day that passes when I don't get the official "Make Your Travel Plans Now" email from the company higher-ups.

If I can make it until July 18th (which is when Jon and I will be heading to New York City on vacation) without having to step foot on a plane, I'll be one happy clam.

The next couple months are jam-packed with to-do list items. We're moving in August. There are about five dozen things of ours to sell before then. There are places and things in the Bay Area that I want to enjoy before the OC becomes our home for the next two years. There are birthdays and a wedding for dear friends; I want to be present and available and energetic for all of that.

It's going to be hard work for me. Hard work, because all I really want to do sometimes is curl up in bed with my cat, my dogs, and my beau.

My weekdays are dedicated to working a job that is changing in exciting ways. Change means that there are a lot of new things to learn, and I want to have the energy to accept new responsibilities with open and capable arms. I'm nervous about not being good at my job. I'm nervous I won't be able to hide it.

There's a lot going on in my brain right now. I'm trying not to shy away from new challenges, which—as it happens—is something I've always struggled with: a lack of confidence that I can succeed, so I sabotage myself. I take the easier, less frightening route.

I so dislike this about myself.

It's the beginning of May, and summer is just around the corner. There's a lot to be done, and I plan to tackle it all with the utmost dedication. If I seem like I'm slacking, friends, I've heard swift kicks to the head are quite effective.