the move to st paul

officially crossing the river to be a resident of st paul -- and live with my first ever boyfriend (ahem. fiance) and first ever puppa (aka: snoop dawg). oh, and i got to cross off the first item on my "to do" list:

• move into tim (and snoop's) house in st paul
• list my condo by september, 2014
• get it sold asap!

matthew, dad and tim were there to help me pack up. and in return, i soaked in my last day living in uptown by biking down to Jimmy John's in Calhoun Square to buy everyone lunch.

solo painting

today i painted solo, it was a rare occasion.

but i was pretty proud of myself! i got all the door hardware off (and then back on) and now the final remaining sections of trim and interior doors have a fresh, glistening coat of clean white paint.

1,322 days later

june 6, 2009: the day i purchased my new stainless steal set of appliances. 
january 18, 2013: the day all my Frigidaire appliances are officially working!

to be fair, the microwave and oven have been working all along, and the fridge was mostly working -- just not the ice cube and water spout parts -- but we got that working last month. so i was really just without a dishwasher (and trust me, i have been used to hand-washing dishes since my college years).

anyways, back to my point...that's 1,322 days i went with a brand new dishwasher just sitting there, looking pretty. i might as well have used it as a library like the old crazy lady who lived here before me did. but now i don't have to, because my awesome dad finally had time in his busy life to hook it up. thanks dad :)

tamatoe tuhmato

the day finally arrived when my tomatoes ripened and were red enough to eat. now, since i don't really like tomatoes, some people might think it's weird that i even attempted growing them. but here's proof i actually ate them! raw with some salt & pepper.

unfortunately i didn't get to make salsa with my veggie garden (which was the reason i bought the topsy turvy in the first place), because over the course of the summer i only grew about 5 tomatoes. that's probably because I started so late in the season, i'll have to start earlier next spring...

a perfect fit

 

once again my family proved how much they love me.

bright and early the day after the fourth of july (on our day off) they showed up at my door at 10am, paintbrushes in hand. and despite the humidity and the fact that i have no AC, they powered through it all: putty, sanding, taping, priming, and painting.

along the way we discovered there actually is a reason i dealt with all the short comments throughout my lifetime: i fit perfectly into the window, my ponytail just barely brushing against the top of the window frame. matthew didn't fit quite as well.

by 2pm i had four finished dining room walls, in four different colors. (well, we still need to paint a second coat...but that can wait) and now i can officially introduce you to my india-inspired opium den dining room.

up next: creating a wall-length wooden storage bench, scattered with silk throw pillows of all colors and patterns.

aussie fest reunion

some pix from aussie fest reunion, held at my place. the festivities began with a Japan slideshow, narrated by mom. we took a break, played some games, ate some grub, and crowded into the living room for the second show of the day: the Australia slideshow, narrated by matthew.

some of the gang: rachael, ryan, kristina, matthew and adam.

the group of us 'kids' who survived the second slideshow. whew, what a long day, but it was a fun one!

THAT took you three hours?

since the parents are on vaca, me and matthew decided we could put up my bedroom fan (that chad scored me an awesome deal on from the HD). anyways, it looked pretty simple. but like everything that me and matthew attempt to do, it takes an insane amount longer than it should.

case in point: three hours later and this is as far as we got.

and we had to re-do most of it since the electrical wasn't hooked up right. bummer.

garden state in my garden level

i had bought a giant roll of vinyl laminate flooring from menards a while ago. it looks like a cobblestone path, and it's dark shades of gray. i can't imagine many people would use it in their dining room or kitchen area, but i have never wanted to do what everyone else does.

we went over to the condo for what was supposed to be "just an hour" according to dad. four hours later, we made our way home, feeling accomplished. we finished fitting the last strip of flooring in my dining room/kitchen area and used the seamer and double-sided tape on the four seams.

along the way matthew thought it would be funny if i made a shirt out of my flooring, and then take a picture of me standing there awkwardly, as seen in "garden state." this was my make-shift dress:

and this was matthew's version of the photo...looks more like a happy chalk line to me.

a calm cement lake shore

by 10am we were already bringing the rest of our supplies into the living room. dad had already gotten everything set up for us: living room floor tarped over, cement mixing buckets ready, squeegee cut into slotted sections, etc.

a quick read-through of the directions, a final vacuum and we were ready to pour our 15 minutes self-leveling cement to cover the kitchen and dining room areas.

we had a whole system going: matthew would pour the cement into the pre-measured water bucket then stir it with a 1/2" power mixer for two minutes. then dad would pour a section of the floor, while i stirred it around with a custom squeegee dad made. it worked great!

it's looking so much better. and actually, it's a lot more reflective than i thought it would be. like a calm lake at the cabin.

all done! and it only took 45 minutes! wow. too bad we forgot to turn off those two lights...and the back door isn't even attached. hopefully we won't get any uninvited guests for a 4th of july party!

sit down and relax

we went over first thing in the morning to work...and four hours later dad finally finished that last row of flooring. wow, what a pain! meanwhile, me and mom were painting the interiors and shelves of the kitchen cabinets.

i was so proud of myself for breaking down all the boxes the wooden planks came in and bundling them into a nice little stack. they sure are a lot lighter empty than filled with 325 square feet of wood!

finally...somewhere to sit down and rest. but not for long, back to work you two!

so then me and mom took off to go shopping for condo goodies. we went over to ikea to pick up materials for my island bar that will straddle the step between the living room and dining room. sidenote: the plan is that on the living room side the counter will be at normal table level, and on the dining room side it will be at bar height! anyways, i ended up choosing a simple black tabletop and extendable chrome legs (since the legs will be at different levels). it's a little more diy than i had intended, but it should be cool.

while me and mom were out shopping, dad and matthew finished the framework for the new squared-off closet areas. they also ripped out the last of the laminate floor (in the dining room and kitchen) and that's when matthew's allergies kicked in. cat stench. he started sneezing so constantly he actually had to leave and go outside.

the moment of "home song" truth

 the day me and mom have been waiting for. the moment of truth. after all the primer and putty and sanding, we finally got to paint my living room walls...in color! i was nervous about whether or not i made the right choice buying a light pale muted green, but i think it's going to look really nice with dark hardwood floors.

let's stay fifteen more minutes

after working on primer for an hour or so, dad says "let's work for fifteen more minutes...and then we'll call it a night." well, in that fifteen minutes we got the entire bedroom pergo flooring out. wow, that was easy.

demolition derby

the boys had a lot of work ahead of them. first, they finished up demo of the old closet between the living room and dining room.

then they got started on ripping out the living room coat closet and main hallway closet.

here's the plan with that: see the right edge of the closet where dad is? we're going to cut off that extra few feet and square it all off. then we'll remodel the hallway closet and one side of the bathroom (adding a closet, since there isn't one currently). this should really open up the space.

another view. this is the hallway closet that will be remodeled once we square-off the new wall.

meanwhile...i was all alone priming the bedroom walls with killz.

now back to where all the action is happening...the boys in the living room.

lookin good! right now we're deciding what to do about that last few feet of sheetrock on the brick wall. let's take it down and see what's underneath! bummer, nothing good. we'll have to re-cover it at some point...

might as well rip off the ceiling while we're at it! just kidding. but they really did tear it down, because then it will be easier to replace with sheetrock.

all done! phew, what a long day. tons of work, but totally worth it. and a totally giant pile of debris.

glitter and pink paint

memorial day. thank goodness stores are open! me and mom spent quite a while at the home depot narrowing down light green paint for the living room wall. i ended up choosing "home song" by behr for the walls....i hope it looks good!

oh, and we decided to get ceiling paint that goes on pink and dries white -- so we can see where we have already painted. im just a little skeptical about putting pink paint on the ceiling, let's hope the pink fades away like they claim it does!

so we headed over to the condo to get started on the living room ceiling. dad rolled on the pink paint while i followed behind him throwing glitter up into the wet paint for a sparkly ceiling! who would have guess i would get sore from throwing glitter into the air.

next we ripped down the big closet between the living room and dining room. we found a sewer pipe running through the edge of the wall, so that beam will have to stay, but other than that, the demo went really well. and meanwhile, mom was priming the walls and ceiling in my bedroom.

we finished up around 5:45 and headed home for a few hours for a yummy memorial day bbq of burgers, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. then me, chad, and dad were back at the condo moving in the fridge and dryer until 10pm. phew! what a day! but so much fun!

get the party started

8:30 am: over to the home depot to buy supplies, then over to the condo. it's never too early to get started i always say...or wait...is that my dad? oh well, i was too excited to sleep anyways. like a child on christmas eve.

first up, the living room. we taped around the woodwork and lights, primed the ceiling with kilz, then took a break for lunch while the paint dried. we walked down hennepin a block or two until we saw a quaint little converted house-to-restaurant called duplex. the wait was longer than expected, but it was nice to relax in the beaming sunshine. plus, has anyone tried their sweet potato fries? three words: o.m.g.

after lunch, my gramma and aunt linda stopped over, somewhat unexpectedly. they got the tour, and even helped tear down wallpaper, how nice is that?!

last task for today: spray texturing the living room ceiling. we covered the room in plastic, beat the putty until it looked like oatmeal (i have to admit, i was pretty curious to see if it tasted at all like quaker oats), and then began spraying the ceiling...and my hair....thanks dad.