We are SO excited about Green Pea Press, a community print shop in Lowe Mill. One of Andy’s favorite mediums is screen printing, and we are both thrilled about the letterpress. We spent a whole day with Rachel playing in the shop!
We finally got a leak fixed that was coming in through our vent hood. The problem went way longer than it should, but hey – ce la vie sometimes, say la vee. In fact, the day after work was done there was a huge rainstorm and while facebook showed most of the city complaining, we were doing leak free happy dances in the kitchen!
First photo shows the former problem area. The second photo proves we finally hung the chandelier Andy found at an estate sale…however it still needs a bulb cover. And to work. That’s right, a spot we were told was hot was really not. We plan on calling our electrician soon to get a quote on the upstairs so we can start planning. Hopefully he can take a look at the kitchen light and realize it’s a simple fix. I’m not an electrician, and neither is Andy…and that’s one area I’m not comfortable with “let’s try and see”.
******************in other news******************
awesome floor patterns from an estate sale
Speaking of awesome floors…I was helping friends of mine find a home (shameless plug: I’m a Realtor, y’all!), and we saw some incredible houses. I happened to have my camera on hand during the excursion! The first house we saw was so interesting! We found out from the neighbor that it originally was a trailer, and the couple just kept building on to it and adding all these alcoves and “rooms” and then finally broke down the trailer, and pulled it out piece by piece. They had built this awesome housefort thing. It was such a personalized space. Needlesstosay, building codes did not apply where we were, which also meant neither did their financing. We all realized pulling up to the property that it wouldn’t work for them, but we were all so intrigued we had to go inside. I’m so glad we did!
(that’s the kitchen sink!)
garage and green house
The second house we went to wasn’t as exciting, but it was a neat log cabin. Unfortunately, a poor layout and decomposing siding was a total turn off. But there was some great light and little details here and there. Oh, and there were two kittens at this house so that’s always a bonus!
The past three days have been snow days! Technically, schools are still close tomorrow, but we’re going to go ahead and open the store. Hopefully people will want to get out and we’ll have some customers.
The snow fell during the night, and we actually experienced Thundersnow! It was pretty rad! I was not even aware that was a phenomenon…now lightning and snow are my favorites together. It was so silent outside that night with the snow dampening the sound. We got about 6-8″ over the first night!
The next day Andy and I got up early to walk around the neighborhood before meeting up with Dustin and Ashley Carlton. We all went to a hill downtown to go sledding! It was my first time! There were about 30 people there – kids, parents, grandparents – all sledding and having fun. It was awesome!
our house!
Sledding videos!
my first time!
Dustin and Betty!
Since we normally have Mondays and Tuesdays “off” it didn’t really feel any different, until today (Wednesday) because the mill was closed. So we actually got an off day! The snow has been pretty, but honestly, I’m ready for Spring!!!
Our friends across the hall (from our store) got a new kitten, named Padme! She’s so sweet, and it reminds me of when we had Tiny at the store. Look how cute she is!
*wink*
The other night Counterclock Wise played a show at Crossroads. It was a really fun show, and they played a lot of new songs among our favorite older ones. The band sounded incredible, and Casey was super cute with her already famous pregnant belly. Man, that family has talent inside and out. They played with Holy Ghost Tent Revival, but we didn’t stay too long cause we had an early morning the next day.
We weren’t really sure what to do for New Year’s Eve as there were several things planned among a few groups of friends. We actually almost stayed in, until a friend offered us a ride to a neighborhood party. It was a huge keg party, but most of our friends hung out on the back porch, under the pavilion. It was raining off an on during the night, with occasional lightning. About an hour or so after midnight, Andy and I noticed it wasn’t raining, so we decided to walk home. It was about a 20 minute walk home, and halfway there it started pouring on us. Luckily, it wasn’t cold that night so it was a fun way to welcome the new year – playing and kissing in the rain!
Oh, and before I totally move on to 2011, I keep forgetting to post my Pummelvision video! Basically, it’s a mash-up of all of my photos on flickr from 2010 in under 5 minutes.
Ok, now onto the New Year’s Eve pictures!
I totally almost forgot to share my favorites of 2010 over here. I posted about it on Hi-Fi Weddings and Vertical House, but I tend to neglect this blog…I’m trying to get better about that. But anyway – here are my favs, complete with a song (if it was available).
Top 20 Albums of 2010
1. Sonny & The Sunsets – Tomorrow Is Alright (Soft Abuse)
Too Young to Burn
2. The Parting Gifts – Strychnine Dandelions (In The Red)
Keep Walkin
3. Nobunny – First Blood (Goner)
Live it Up
4. Harlem – Hippies (Matador)
Be Your Baby
5. Fresh & Onlys – Waterfall (In The Red)
Waterfall
6. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam / Roc-A-Fella)
Power
7. Strange Boys – Be Brave (In The Red)
Dare I Say
8. Hunx & His Punx – Gay Singles (True Panther Sounds)
Hey Rocky
9. Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot… The Son Of Chico Dusty (Def Jam)
Shutterbug
10. Das Racist – Sit Down, Man (Mad Decent)
Puerto Rican Cousins
11. Happy Birthday – Happy Birthday (Matador)
Girls FM
12. Magic Kids – Memphis (Goner)
Superball
13. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (4AD)
Bright Lit Blue Skies
14. Best Coast – Crazy For You (Mexican Summer)
Crazy For You
15. Flight – The Lead Riders EP (Zoo Music)
Turns to Blood 16. Diamond Rings – Special Affections (Secret City) Wait and See
17. Personal & The Pizzas – Raw Pie (1-2-3-4 Go!)
I Don’t Wanna Be No Personal Pizza
18. Thee Oh Sees – Warm Slime (In The Red)
I Was Denied
19. Girls – Broken Dreams Club (True Panther Sounds)
Thee Oh So Protective One
20. Ty Segall – Melted (Goner)
My Sunshine
I also thought it would be fun to make a list of bands that kept on spinnin’ on the turntable – “classics,” if you will. The grooves on these records were dug a little deeper over this past year. I guess that’s what happens to your favs!
Top 10 Most Played
1. Sparks
Eaten by the Monster of Love
2. Boney M
Daddy Cool
3. Sam Cooke
What a Wonderful World
4. Big Star
September Gurls
5. Felt (track not available)
6. The Clean (track not available)
7. The Replacements (track not available)
8. Nancy & Lee
Lady Bird
9. Wanda Jackson
Funnel of Love
10. Orange Juice
Three Cheers for our Side
11. Tennis
Marathon
2010 was a whirlwind of excitement! Our store expanded (twice!), we had a great run with Crash Boom Bang/Dead Workers, saw some awesome bands, and continued to fall even more in love with life. You can check out the review of 2010 for more details.
2011 Resolutions
Today we were greeted with a winter wonderland! After waking up early to meet up with Andy’s family, we decided to go on a walk before all of the snow melted. It was a wonderfully relaxing day and we’ve spent the afternoon staying warm and cuddling with the kitties…and after this entry, I’m finally caught up on posting! Happy Holidays to you all!
crazy shot of Andy while we were with family
Just in time for Christmas, I found a table cloth that matched our little Santa ornaments perfectly! We didn’t get a chance to decorate our house as much as we had hoped this year, but the good news is I racked up on a lot of vintage Christmas decor at recent sales…so next year…next year should be awesome!
We also decided against getting a big tree because last year Tiny pooped behind it just about every day. Granted, she was still a little kitten so we couldn’t get too mad. But it was gross…and we didn’t want to bring in a tree and her to be like “oh hey a new place to poop!” Another bonus of the small tree is that it’s real and we’ll plant it in our backyard!
Recently we decided to try our hand at making candles! I’ve been hoarding tins to eventually turn into planters, but now I found another reason to collect them! I don’t have any final shots because my battery died, but we still need to finish quite a few anyway.
