Shiny happy Subaru people!

We spent a hectic day being mega super duper adults yesterday. An enormously sleep deprived co habitant and I set out for Route 17 and bathroom faucets at 7 in the morning on saturday. The plan was to visit some upscaly places and pick out a shower. We gave ourselves a crazy deal on a bathtub after much research. We found one that will do us good and it's cheap mainly because of the size and shape. Which would give us the opportunity to splurge a little on a shower instead. The fancy place didn't open until 8.30 so I suggested just wasting some time at Home Depot up the road. Where we ended up just doing our shopping...

This is Kohler's Archer suite and I think it's pretty darn nice.....  and the right price. The sink we picked out is also a Kohler sink. 

Aaaaaand theeeeeeen....

Off to Midhudson Subaru to buy a car. Just like that. 

But not really.... It's been a hot topic since we moved up here. We need 2 cars. The Pathfinder is crap on gas and ready to be retired to an around the town car. My Cali Jeep was beyond repair and ready for the dump basically. 

R.I.P. Ebba Grön.

So what do we commute in? 

Which brings us to our meeting with Silver Bullet. 

She's a 2008 Forrester and the 2nd car I've ever owned. She will do us right. We are now Subaru people which still seems a bit cult like to our ears, but we are learning that Subaru people are happy car people.

My country week

I'm really too tired to write but the J's are back and I gotta keep up with them. They come through like tasmanian devils and just get sh*t DUN.


I'm working in Monroe this week and have been commuting from the house. Whatta great thing. Getting a dangerously sweet taste for living here all the time. 


So while I have been doing this:

Aaaaahhh duuuuuuuh it's not obvious? It's a stoner-civil-war-spoof by the Whitest Kids U Know. It's very funny and spirits are high even though we're dealing with humid heat in the 90's and a treacherous field, low man power and limited time.

They've been doing this:

New door in place. That like just happened like today. I ordered a door handle and lock from The Door Jamb, a nice, simple black lever that sparked my Scandinavian aesthetic. 

When Bruce built our front porch he pulled the shingles off to anchor it and today the J's covered it back up so that we can get ready to paint. 

Tyvek is gone from the baywindow! Yeah J-boyz!

We have ordered the fixtures for the new upstairs bathroom and they will be delivered this sunday. I have decided on a black and white theme in there, with white subway tile around the tub and 2 white walls, the one with the window and the one with the door. The wall that goes in towards the house will be a charcoal accent wall and will have a vanity the length of the wall with one drop in sink. 

First, the J's were going to build a custom vanity, but this past weekend we found this at Lowe's and it will do just fine! We are going to tile the top with subway tile.

And finally - black slate floor. 

The inspiration for the whole bathroom look is this mirror that will go over the sink. Yum.

Gagagagaga. So. Much. Happening.

But it's all fun stuff!

The countdown to my sis and Giz's visit is another exciting thing!!! 3 weeks today! And then it's tubing, soft serve, miniture golf, Gunk Haus dinners and wine on the patio for 2 1/2 glorious weeks. It's gonna be a great time to visit - hint hint city friends! There will be sightseeing as well, and some city fun and a Martha's Vineyard finale. Now that's brilliant!

Inspirational plant of the week. The lovely trumpet vine! It's essentially a weed and grows all over but the flowers are strange and beautiful!

And last but certainly not least - the hosta!

My my my you are looking fiiiiiine!

New door and do

Picked up the door at Door Jamb in Shokan today.

And here is where it is going to go.

And this is my new summer do inspired by Miss Mia Farrow! I feel liberated!

Happy sunday!

Sommartider hej hej sommartider!

Today's yummy summer menu consists of shrimp ceviche and Gazpacho. 

I peeled the shrimp (about 1/2 pound) and cooked them for about 30 seconds by putting them in a colander and dunking them in boiling water.

I cut them up in quarters and squeezed about 5 limes on top. Then chopped cilantro and thinly sliced red onion. 

We will enjoy it on tortilla chips with avocado on top.

My first Gazpacho in the house was last fall and I followed the recipe again today but I made a smaller batch. 

Make it right in the blender:

3 tomatoes - deseeded

1 red pepper

1/2 red onion

1 big garlic clove

1/2 cucumber

fresh oregano from our herb pots!

olive oil

red wine vinegar

salt+pepper

And with this we drink Micheladas - of course!

Just ask the poster boy. (One addition since that last post - Old Bay seasoning and we got E! to thank for that little oh so important detail.)

The tiger lilies are poppin! 

And I am very proud of my morning glories who supposedly thrive in dry soil and that's no joke!

I'm sorry - these are my berries? OMG! These are MYYYYYY berries!!!!!!

Weekly hosta update - happy, healthy transplant.

This is the newest addition to the Maple Ave family. 

His name is Elliot and I'm gonna have to be a weirdo and once again take stalker photos of other people's pets here, because he's not mine but belongs in the cottage. He's half standard poodle and half great pyrenees. He's 4 months old and awesome. Like something out of Starwars.

He's quite shy still and I can get about 6 feet close to him and then he'll run away - just like this and it's the best part. I don't know who gave him those paws cause they just don't fit. Same thing with his tongue, it's like 3 sizes too big.

This has got to be the most uncomfortable dining experience of all times.

We felt pretty productive today as we went and bought a new door and did some research on fixtures for our upcoming bathroom. The door was purchased at The Door Jamb in Shokan. Never thought I'd be excited about doors but this place is pretty great! I will once again use my crappy home drawn floor plan to explain where this DOOR will go.

This is where the mudroom will be once we open up the kitchen and I won't have dirty boots tracking mud through my KITCHEN. Use the back door, please!

Aaaaahhhh.... I love a summer bouquet picked by the side of the road. Don't you?

For sale on North Ohioville road!

She's a bit of a beater but that might mean the price is right. 

This is taken from the road. The wood lined yard is really nice - green and super lush.

There's an interesting guest house in the back and a 2 car garage.

Here's a link to the location.

I love a parade!

It's about time for a new post! 

Work has been steady and good and I can't complain, but it does mean less house time, and when we get house time it means lazy time - so less to report. Finally we got some good weather so most of our days are spent in the yard.

When my parents were here we got 3 Hostas (Funkia) and planted around the house. We also transplanted a few small ones that we found back by the patio. My father - a gardener of many years - suggested these plants because they thrive in the shade. We have big beautiful trees surrounding the house, so it lies more in shade than sun.

Hostas from the store that are doing great!

Our transplants that are doing equally great!

We also celebrated the fact that we most likely have the knot weed beat in the flower beds around the house by throwing a bunch of seeds around. Morning glory, daisies and black eyed Susans. My dad and I also planted sunflowers on the south side of the house thinking they would love it there, but again, trees and shade mean unhappy sunflowers. About 6 guys are coming up though and we'll see how tall we can grow them. After all, they are Russian Mammoths so I have BIG hopes.

Not so giant yet - but just wait!

The Gunk Haus has been open for 3 days and we've been there twice. It is most definitely living up to the CRAZILY high expectations (mostly because we have anticipated their opening for so long and we've driven past soooo many times with our mouths watering) of the people round the hood and beyond. On saturday we went by for hot dogs and weisswurst in the garden and last night we brought a Sangria happy crowd for dinner and most of us went for the burger. Elizabeth's homemade Pretzelbuns are to die for! Delish! Best of luck to them and if you are in the area you have to stop in!


We spent Memorial day weekend in best patriotic style with good friends, good food and a parade down Maple Ave! TOOOO CUTE! Bagpipes, marching bands, fire trucks, tractors and civil war reenactors. C'mon! This is TOO good.

Alene, James and Taylor - flag toting and country lovin! 


If ONE more person tells us "oh the pink one eh - you got a lot work ahead of you." But looking at this picture I would unfortunately have to agree with them, grrrrrr. This is NOT her best angle. Yikes...


I thought this wet flirty cardinal was kind of cute. "Hey baby, what da ya say you let me in out of the rain and we'll take it from there."

Finally a decent picture of a red winged blackbird.

And a beauty shot of one of our beloved mourning doves.

Recovery this morning consisted of crabcake bennies. I made this sauce back in the fall and it was time to revisit THE REMOULADE. But if your clicker finger is tired and you just want the recipe RIGHT NOW here it is:

2/3 cup olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves

Mix in blender.

3 egg yolks
1 table spoon hot mustard or dijon

whisk together

Combine the 2 slowly to make mayo!

In a blender chop up:
1 red pepper
1 onion
2 tablespoons of capers (kapris)
1 jalapeno

Add to the mayo along with 2 table spoons lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of Worcester, horseradish, salt, pepper to taste.

It's time for some major changes around here, the biggest one being painting the outside of the house. I say midnight blue and James says dark green. If dark green means I get a yellow bedroom, then maybe. 
Next thing inside is wiring the pastry shop and the master bedroom and we are going to start ordering fixtures for the master bathroom. I have to stop talking about the NEW kitchen - I'm just so jazzed about it but it's still the 5 year plan. Here it is!

This is what we got going on right now. (Click on the pic to make it bigger.) Scale is 1:whatever. We got a crappy laundry room blocking all of our gorgeous view and a bathroom smack in the middle of everything. The proposed plan is this:

Moving the bathroom to the corner and opening up everything. Breakfast nook by the wall of windows, a big kitchen island and a bar window towards the dining room. 

Aaaaahhhhhh.... it would be so nice. 

It WILL be so nice.