Stuff I like

Part of the fun of buying a new house is buying things to fill it with like this turtle footrest from the 1970's that I scored off of e-bay. I mean, how cute is this guy?!?

And this sea-salt lamp, which totally reminds me of those stones in Indiana and the Temple of Doom.

And this beautiful duvet cover, throw, and pillows. I wish you could see the colors better - it's a cool combination of maroon, gold, and green.


And this Tiffany-style dragonfly lamp that Lew found on Overstock. An amazing find that looks great in the bedroom!

And this trashcan. I loved the pattern so much, I decided to decorate the bathroom around it. I think the black, white, & silver theme looks pretty classy.

My Clean House

Finally, after much ado, we found a cleaning service. We were pretty scarred after the last round of “cleaners” (who were less than cleanly) so it took us a while to find someone. Ultimately we decided to go with Monica, a woman who came highly recommended by about 6 people at my firm. Although she doesn’t speak much English & you have to speak through her teenage kids (which makes me feel a little like I’m supporting child labor), it’s totally worth it.

So, Monica, her husband, and their son came over last Sunday and cleaned from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. That’s some mad cleaning! Cleaning doesn’t even explain what they did to my house. They literally transformed it. They rearranged all of the furniture in our guest bedroom and put headboards on both the master bed and the bed in the guest room. Both of our studies, which were still full with unpacked boxes, ended up beautifully organized. The little touches were so cool – they folded the corner of the toilet paper into little triangles and fluffed our Kleenex. Seriously fluffed our Kleenex. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated their hard work. I even hugged them when they left. Hope that didn't freak them out too much!

Below is a pic of our clean living room which, as you will notice, after a mere 3 months, is finally sporting something on the walls.

Here's the master bed with the new headboard - a brown plush faux suade nailhead headboard from the Company Store. It's really soft! There's also a matching bench at the base of the bed.

The dresser in the guest bedroom. Another much appreciated hand-me-down from Susan & Brett.

The new bed in the guest bedroom, which is sporting the beautiful quilt my Mom and Grandma Bates gave me for my wedding. The main pieces in the quilt were originally sewn by my great-grandmother. What an amazing piece!

An Open Letter to the Phillies

Dear Phillies,

You guys ROCK! I must admit, I didn’t think you could do it. After the first game of the World Series, I finally let myself believe that you could, in fact, win the whole thing. But honestly, I never really cared if you won. (Although I enjoy the bragging rights.) Lew says I’m about the only person who can enjoy watching a game in which you lose. Not that I enjoy watching you lose, but I enjoy watching you play – win or lose. At the end of Game 5, when we were 3 strikes away from clinching & the whole city was on edge, I thought that it wouldn’t be the WORST thing if you lost because then I’d get to watch you play another game. Of course, I’m glad that you won! Watching Carlos Ruiz man-hug Brad Lidge and watching Ryan Howard tackle them both was so touching.

I’ve got to thank you for playing so well all year. Not only did you play well, but you played well with others. You showed kindness to each other & respect to other teams. I nearly cried when Shane Victorino told the Dodgers’ Furcal to “keep his head up” after Furcal made two errors in their postseason match-up. That’s the epitome of good sportsmanship. Also, each of the players supported one another, through the good and the bad. Ryan Howard, who had an amazing year, had a difficult first half of the postseason…couldn’t hit a ball to save his life. He could have sulked & felt bad for himself. Instead, he reveled in the success of his teammates.

Each of the team members had a shining moment during the postseason. It wasn’t just one person that carried the team. It was the team that carried the team. Pitchers Brett Meyers and Joe Blanton made unexpected (and unbelievably exciting) game-changing hits. Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz really stepped up and took leadership roles when the rest of the team was struggling in the early rounds of the postseason. I couldn’t help but get that mushy feeling in the cockles of my heart when veterans Matt Stairs (pinch hitter) and Jaime Moyer (pitcher) gave once-in-a-lifetime performances. And I was just so happy for Ryan Howard when he got his groove back in the World Series.

The city has been on fire for the last few weeks. Occasionally, I have a twinge of regret that I no longer live in the city & have missed some of the revelry. But I have enjoyed watching it all go down in my quiet suburban home. Actually it’s not that quiet. My darling Lew gets really pumped up when you play. He could be a professional commentator. He thinks the worst is going to happen with every single play, and then is pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t. It’s like the old saying goes – if you keep your expectations low, you’ll never be disappointed. Lew was on top of the world when you won on Wednesday night. He kept saying “Did that really just happen?” Thanks for making this guy so happy.

As I’m writing this – I’m watching the parade on TV. We wanted to come celebrate with you in person, but the train thwarted our efforts. There were so many people traveling from the suburbs into the city, that the trains couldn’t hold everyone. After waiting for an hour to catch the train this morning, watching 3 trains zoom by, and watching the crowd at the Villanova train station swell to over a hundred - we finally gave up & headed home. Here’s a look at the madness at the station this morning…

Although I’m kind of bummed I didn’t make it to the parade in person. I’m glad I avoided the crowds (there’ve got to be 2 million people there) and the cold weather. Plus, I’ve got an even better view of things on my TV (and I get to wear my pajama pants, which I can rarely get away with in public).

Phillies, as I sign off I would like to say - thank you for this awesome ride, thank you for reenergizing this city, thank you for reminding us all what teamwork means, thank you for turning my husband into a loveable maniac, and thank you for the memories.

Forever Yours,

Sarah

Busy, busy, busy

Sorry it’s been a while, dear readers (all 5 of you); however, the cord connecting my camera to the computer was MIA. And I didn’t think you wanted to hear me complain about my job without at least providing you with some modicum of entertainment (surely you are entertained by my pictures).

So, I’ve been insanely busy the last couple weeks. I keep reminding myself that this is a good thing. In today’s unstable economy, being busy = job security. Also, I’d rather be busy than bored. But, I’d really love it if there were some sort of a knob that allowed me to lower the stress-level on my job down from a 9 to a 4. I can’t even relax in my sleep - I woke up about 5 times last night because my shoulders were so tense. On a very positive note, I engaged in some serious shop therapy last weekend – more on that later.

Finally, after 4 weeks, here are some new pictures of our place.

The new (and clean) kitchen. I wish it always looked this way! Usually it only does after Susan stops by for a visit. (Thanks Susan!) Also, note the new (and also clean) microwave/convection oven, which was a birthday present from the in laws.

Lew's study/music room/laundry room/Colonization-playing room.

Our dining room table, a hand-me-down from Judd, with a beautiful view of our backyard.

Finally - a picture of the secretary's desk that Lew bought me in Cape May for my birthday. I can't tell you how much I love this piece (although I have done a pretty thorough job at trying to convey how much I love this desk)!
A couple antiques from Brett & Susan's attic - a school desk & a typewriter. The typewriter even predates the word "typewriter". It is actually called a "printwriter."

A few more hand-me-downs from Judd - a couch, seat, and coffee/end tables. Yes, Lew & I really just stole all of this stuff from Brett & Susan, which is why they are never invited over to the house. It's a pain to hide this couch when they visit.

Obviously, the fireplace. I'd like to get it hooked up to gas sometime next year. Although wood burning fireplaces smell wonderful - if you haven't guessed - I'm not a fan of all of the upkeep required to keep one clean.
The powder room on the first floor, with a print given to me by my father. The background of the Van Gough matches the paint in the bathroom perfectly!

Rememberance

A friend of mine from NY captured this moment on film on Thursday night. Incredible.

Vroom, vroom...

The day after closing on our house, Lew & I decided to commit ourselves to another [insert obscene amount] worth of debt in order to lease not one, but two cars. The experience took soooo long, but the end product was worth it. After dinking around with the junior salesman for several hours, we almost walked out of the dealership because we figured we should be able to get some sort of deal for buying two cars. Then “the closer” stepped in. He asked us how much we wanted to spend for a down payment & what we wanted our monthly payments to be. Amazingly, he made both of the numbers work, so we walked away proud owners of a couple cars. Actually one car & one SUV. Given the sky-high gas prices and, therefore, the flood of SUV’s on the market, they nearly threw it in for free. So, Lew has a manly vehicle that he can drive to-and-from the train station.


And I have the practical (but cute) sedan that we’ll take most places. Both cars drive & ride really well.
I didn’t realize how much I missed driving for the last 4 years until I got the car again. Actually, I have never liked driving because I’ve always had cars that have required an inordinate amount of duct tape. So the Altima is a nice change of pace.

Cape May Days

A couple days before our closing, Lew & I took a mini-vacation to Cape May, NJ. I seriously thought it was a fantastic idea to go on vacation the same week we closed on our new home. I even boasted about what a wonderful idea this was – I figured I’d be all rested, relaxed, and ready to handle anything life could send my way. Ummmm…not so much. In retrospect, perhaps taking off the week AFTER closing (the week we moved in) would have been a better move. (No pun intended.) It was insanely difficult to work last week between the exhaustion of the move, the pain in my body from unpacking, and the desire to shop on-line for absolutely every new thing I “needed” for the new home. You’d be amazed at how much time I can waste searching for the perfect shower hooks.

The Rusty Nail Bar & Grill. How about that for tantalizing advertising! Speaking of tantalizing - a vending machine outside of the local 7-11...

Despite all of my complaining, the 3 day vacation to Cape May was wonderful! Lew spent most of the time at the arcade, where he used his mad skillz at the grabber machine to win a dozen sports watches. He has a serious addiction…er…talent. I spent most of my time shopping & lounging on the beach. The weather couldn’t have been any better – it was in the low 80’s every day.

Here are Lew's winnings from the arcade - 12 sports watches and 2 stuffed toys.

We stayed at the Mainstay Bed & Breakfast – the oldest Bed & Breakfast in Cape May. Although we’re usually not huge fans of B&B’s – the rooms are usually garish & small, the t.v. non-existent, and the owners too intrusive – this one was a nice surprise. All of the antiques in the house were cool, there were always fully stocked jars of chocolate chip cookies, and there were lots of nooks & crannies to hide in. Most importantly, the Inn was located right in the middle of the town – two blocks away from the Boardwalk & two blocks away from Washington Square (the shopping district).

I LOVED this tete-a-tete at the Inn!

The food in Cape May is pretty awesome. I had amazing blueberry pancakes at Bill’s Pancake House, delicious vegetarian risotto at the Washington Inn, and tasty spicy beef stir-fry at the Black Duck. Mmmmm…. Unfortunately (and this is a huge unfortunately), the vitamins I had just started taking wreaked havoc on my stomach. Spicy Beef + Already Upset Stomach = Not fun!

Lew & I at the Washington Inn.

(Funny sidenote - At this very ritzy restuarant there was a sign in the women's restroom that read, "WARNING - Drinking while pregnant can lead to serious birth defects." Do they seriously have a problem with this?!?)

The trip also reinforced the fact we never ever want to go on vacation during the last couple weeks in August. There were so many people at the beach and so many (screaming, whining, annoying) kids. I considered getting my tubes tied on more than one occasion.

The major highlight of the trip was when I found this 1890’s secretary’s desk at The Whimsical Mermaid. The owners, Terry & Stephen, really loved the piece, but no longer had space for it, so they were happy to sell it to a grateful new homeowner (yes – I had to tell everyone in Cape May that we were days away from closing on our first home). They ended up selling it to me for about half the amount they had it on sale for, not because of my unbelievable negotiating skills, but because they were just that nice. The secretary’s desk is now sitting majestically in our living room by itself because I spent all of our extra cash on the desk instead of any useful furniture. OK, so it might not have been the most brainiac idea of mine to buy a secretary’s desk before getting a couch. But, hey, it’s not called an impulse buy for nothing.

Lew and I took a couple of interesting side trips while in Cape May. We went to the old firehouse that’s been turned into a museum. The old fire truck is really cool! Then, we wanted to get tee-shirts, so we stalked the poor firefighters inside the new firehouse until they noticed us peeping at them through the windows & got us the shirts. Additionally, on our last day, Lew & I visited the Cape May Lighthouse. We both made it all the way to the top (yay)! It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful mini-vacay.

The Cape May Lighthouse.

At the top of the Lighthouse.

We're In!

We're in! Which was no small feat given that we were locked out of our new house a few hours after taking possession. Oh yes. It was epic. We had to call a locksmith to break into our house on the very first night.

So, who's to blame, you ask? (Well, even if you don't care, I'll tell you.) It was truly a convergence of many unfortunate events. First, although Lew & I were handed a huge key chain full of keys during our walk-through, unbeknownst to us, the keys to all of the deadbolts (which are on every door) and the key to the front door were NOT on the key chain. Hence, we had one key too few for each and every locked door. Nice. Second, the front door key was left on the kitchen counter. There is some debate over who did this; however, the bottom line is that neither Lew nor I knew of the existence of said key. Third, during the closing we realized that we were missing the front door key. At this time I naively commented that we didn't have to go back to the house immediately because we had keys to all of the other locks (of course, I was unaware of the deadbolt situation).

Later that evening, I escorted Lew's grandparents to the house for a looksie. And that's when the other shoe fell - right before we were about to eat this fabulous meal prepared in our honor by my mother-in-law, Susan. This, of course, ruined the dinner. Lew & his dad, Brett, spent most of the evening at the house with a locksmith (named Adam Adam, seriously).

To add insult to injury, the next day we got a phone call from our real estate agent. Apparently, the cleaning crew (I use that term liberally since poor Susan spent all day cleaning the kitchen, again, on Saturday) saw the front door key lying on the kitchen counter & figured they'd lock up the house & place the key under the door mat. Of course, that's the one place that none of us thought to look. And, of course, the cleaners forgot to call anyone to let us know that's where they put the key. Ultimately, many hours, many gray hairs, and several hundreds of dollars later, we resolved the situation.


Here's the new pad. Unfortunately, this is an old picture (from the day we first saw the house.) But, hey, it looks pretty much the same. The yard is much greener though. Brett has spent countless hours preening our yard. Brett is amazing with yard work. He did, however, pull some vines off of our tree out front & threw them onto the road. I keep nagging Lew to remove them before we get the reputation of being the dirty neighbors. No one wants that!








Here's the Master Bedroom. Unfortunately, once again, this is an older picture (hence, not our stuff). I'll post some new pics once we get everything settled.







Susan has also been a God-send. While Lew & I were out shopping for cars, she spent all day Saturday cleaning and kashering the kitchen. (More to come on the car situation soon.) On Sunday, Saint Susan drove all the way to Cape May, NJ to pick up an amazing vintage Secretary's Desk that Lew bought me during our recent vacation. It's absolutely beautiful! (More on the desk & the Cape May trip soon.) Also, Susan spent a good chunk of time Sunday & Monday helping me unpack. Thanks to her help, we're about 80% unpacked. Yay!

Here's the fabulous deck & the back yard. It's heavenly! You can hear the birds chirping & the crickets cricketing. (Sidenote - Speaking of crickets - I was almost named Cricket because my mom went into labor while stepping on a cricket. The reason they went with Sarah? Because I was too quiet to be a Cricket - HA!) Speaking of heavenly, I've been sleeping like a baby (BTW - whoever came up with that expression is crazy) since I moved in on Monday. Part of it might be because of the exhaustion of moving, but I think it's also because the traffic noises in the city always interfered with my sleep. Yay to sweet, sweet sleep!

I'd better sign off for now. Many documents to review and many boxes to unpack before the day is done.

Craft This

Being crafty is definitely a double-edged sword. On one hand, you feel an amazing sense of accomplishment when you finish a project. On the other hand, you often feel an intense desire to procrastinate, and the subsequent guilt procrastination causes, throughout the duration of the project (unless you're one of those people who finishes a project promptly - if you are - you're no friend of mine).

After beginning and (temporarily) abandoning a photo framing project (but only after I bought about 100 frames off of Ebay), I decided to turn my attention to repainting the trim of our kitchen table & chairs. Little did I know how llllooooooonnnnngggg this type of thing takes. Because I'm going from a dark green to a white, it takes 3-4 coats of paint, plus 2 coats of varnish. So it takes me approximately 4 hours to paint one chair. Fab-u-lous. Needless to say, given that my days are already filled with work & packing, I haven't had an abundance of time to complete this project. Consequently, we now have 1 white chair, 1 semi-white chair (only 2 coats of white paint), 2 green chairs, and a green table.

Classy...

Here's my work in progress. It does look nice though, doesn't it?

Well, I'd better run - lots of packing to do...

What it feels like to be in an Alfred Hitchcock movie...

Sorry it's been a while. I've been working like a maniac this week. In addition, I've also felt the urge to make a trillion appointments: with every doctor I've ever had in the city and every friend I haven't seen in more than a couple weeks. If you didn't know any better, you'd think I was moving across the country, not just to the suburbs. However, I'm sure that accomplishing these little things will be a tad more difficult when I move to suburbia. It's sooo easy to walk to the doctor's office a block away on my way into work. Anyway, now it's 7 a.m. & I'm already procrastinating. But, since I haven't posted in a week, I feel like this is a worthy waste of time.

Last Friday night I went to see KT Tunstall in concert at the Borgata in AC (that's Atlantic City, NJ for those of you who are not "up" on the East Coast lingo). She was a really entertaining performer - very funny in between songs, energetic on stage, and theatrical. She changed guitars in between each song (loved, loved, loved the rhinestone guitar). And, she did this cool thing where she would record the first part of her song, and then sing the rest of the song with herself as back-up. (Also, one of her band members came out with a washboard tie which he played throughout one of the songs - sooo funny!) Although I didn't take any pictures because, come on, no concert pictures turn out very well, I found a couple of her on the web.

Here she is on her most recent album cover (Drastic Fantastic) with one of her flashy guitars. She wore these same ankle boots for her show.

Here she is with her band. Her fiance, the drummer, is the one with the pencil moustache to the right.

Although KT put on a good show, it was an odd scene. Instead of standing up & dancing throughout the show, everyone sat politely in their seats. Bizzare! I felt like I was in some sort of a lecture hall.

After the concert, my lady friends (Colleen & Kristina) & I crashed at the tres chic Days Inn. Nothing like sleeping in a smoking room with questionable sanitation. But, it was the right price & right next to the Boardwalk, which gave us the chance to walk on the beach before heading home on Sat. morning. Unfortunately, our walk was cut short when we were attacked by seagulls. Seriously. As Kristina was enjoying her morning donut, this seagull swooped down & grabbed it right from her hand. Thereafter we watched, in horror, as all of the other seagulls attacked the seagull with the donut. It freaked us out so much that we had to head back to Philly immediately.

Speaking of the NJ Shore - Lew & I are heading to beautiful Cape May this Monday for a mini-vacation right before our closing/move. We're staying in the Stonewall Jackson Suite in this cute little bed & breakfast right in the middle of the fun part of this quaint Victorian community. (By the way, doesn't it seem odd that a bed & breakfast in NJ would name a Suite after a Confederate General?) Hopefully the seagulls there will be a little more civilized.

Cityfied

True story. I'm on the phone with my sister-in-law, Emily, who lives in po-dunk-ville Iowa, when she suddenly exclaims - "Oh my God. There are two barns on fire!" Right as I was mocking her for living in a place where barns even exist, she passed the fire department (I use that term liberally - it's really just another barn) where - get this - there's a fire truck refilling with water. I had NO idea such rudimentary fire trucks even existed anymore. I immediately envision one of those old black-and-white movies with a line of men passing buckets down the row to put out a fire. Don't get me wrong, it makes logical sense since many people in po-dunk-ville drink well water (which, after doing environmental litigation, really gives me the heebie jeebies); however, it's still a very foreign concept to me. Apparently, I'm no longer a country girl. For better or worse, I've been cityfied.

Living vicariously

Life has a funny (and not ha, ha funny) way of screwing with you. As Murphy's law would have it, the day after I started this blog...and about a million nesting-related projects...I got SLAMMED with work. Alas, this means I may not be posting on my blog as much as I would like (to your disappointment, I'm sure). However, surely I'll need to vent & take a hiatus every once and a while.

Lew & I have postponed our summer vacation to save for the new house. (Lew might take issue with how well I have, in fact, accomplished this "saving" thing.) Therefore, I have been forced to live vicariously through others' vacations. Thanks to my friends who have posted vacay photos on Facebook, I've traveled all around the world (without any nasty jetlag). My brother, JT, just sent me these pics from his recent trip to Colorado.

Aren't they amazing?!? Both JT & I inherited our grandfather, Bus's, love for photography. JT even developed his own pictures at one point, which is pretty cool (but requires waaaayyyyy too much effort/patience for me). Given my need for instant gratification, I doubt I'll ever surpass a nice digital camera. Who else out there takes pics? Do you prefer a specific type of camera?

Opening statement...

Welcome friends, fam, & voyeurs to my new blog. Given that Lew & I are 17 days away from closing on our first home (you guessed it - in the 'burbs), I figured this was an appropriate time to start my blogging activities. That way, those of you at home, can follow along as Lew & I dive into suburban bliss. Here's a little preview of what's to come at 135 Drakes Drum Drive (yes, even the address is adorable).

The (soon-to-be) New Schlossberg Home

Lew in the kitchen - you may now ooohh and ahhh over all of our new appliances!

And the piece de la resistance...the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.