In Need of a Vacay...

It was so pretty here for a good week or two. This week...not so much. It's been raining. Really makes me want a vacation. Tal and I have plans to go to Texas the first of June to visit these two amazing individuals (my sister and brother in law):

We cannot wait!! Last year we visited them around the same time (no vacations for us until after April due to Talon's busy season). Here's some photos of us in Texas last year:

Yep, I am wearing a camouflage cut off sleeve shirt. We went on a guided hog hunt at night. By far, one of the coolest things we have ever done. Here is a not so rednicky photo of my sister and I after dinner in Austin....

While we are on the subject of vacations here are some other vacation highlights of 2010:

On our way to Yellowstone.

Finally made it after TONS of driving.

Visiting Mt. Rushmore. It was SUPER cold up there. And just to clear things up -- there is no lake behind Mt. Rushmore like there is in the move National Treasure. Liars. We also went to Colorado for almost two weeks over Christmas....

We skied, sled, played, drank lots of wine and had tons-o-fun.

And just to kill you with cuteness....

Spring is Here!

Okay, so it's not exactly warmed up yet, but the snow is off the roads.  Which means biking is a lot more fun again.  I actually like this time of year, because cool temps are more comfortable for riding.  Though in Boston, the wind can really get stirred up in the spring time--today, riding up Commonwealth Avenue, up Beacon Hill, the wind was definitely not my friend.  Nor are the potholes, which can get pretty serious after a long winter like we just had.

Oddly, the main challenge for me in biking isn't from winter, it's from spring gardening.  I just can't effectively carry some of the more serious loads of compost, soil, or long poles/trellises with my bike.

I'm also looking at a farm business training class that starts next fall, up in Lowell.  The good news is that I can get there by commuter rail, and I can ride my bike to the train station, and bring my bike on the train, so I can get to my destination at the end.  But the trip is still going to eat up a lot more time (probably) than it would if I had a car.  Luckily, it's not that long of a class, about six weeks, so I can swing it.

If, however, in the following year, I wanted to rent one of their incubator fields, to set up a mini-farm, I'm not sure if I could manage it.  It might be possible to do it without a car, but it'll take some serious planning.

I've got to see if I can find any blogs about farmers who aren't Amish and who manage to do without a car, if that's even possible.   I think the guy who writes the Tiny Farm blog didn't have a car for a while (but he has a tractor, or borrows one).  Or I just need to find ways to keep farming close to home (like I have been, but land in Boston is very hard to scrounge).

Goodwill Yes.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered the Goodwill store in Birmingham. Yes Please. I found this table for $8.03. Steal? I think so. Now that I've finished this one...I cannot wait to go back. Here are the before shots. It was in rough shape. Someone obviously didn't know how to use a coaster.... Step 1 in the revamping it process, CLEAN. It was pretty dirty so this took some time.

I forgot the in between shots but the jest includes painting with oops paint I got at Home Depot for $1.00. Then heavily distressing with sand paper....

For a second I considered leaving it the stark white before the distressing was done. I think it has a lot more character now....

This is one of several projects that got completed this weekend. I can't wait to post about the rest later this week (including our new cabinets mentioned here)....

Yard Sale Score

I scored this beauty at a yard sale last fall for 10 dollars. Isn't that crazy?? A couple of months ago Talon had the pleasure of re-covering it. It started out as a joint effort but pretty much ended with him doing the entire thing.

My contribution to the project was re-staining the wooden legs and arms. I chose a really dark stain that I think looks great against the white fabric.

It's current home is in our master bedroom where it is getting daily use from all family members...including Tils, unfortunately.

I think it turned out great for our first "real" upholstery project. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Weekend Re-Cap

The weather this weekend was pretty much the bomb. Tillie and I did lots of laying in the sun....


and went for lots of walks....

While we were playing around...Talon was working on these:

This is phase 3 of "pimp our garage" mentioned earlier here. The cabinets still need doors and paint. Thus far to the garage, we have painted the walls (you can see a glimpse of the color in the photo) and re-done the concrete floors. You can say it...we are insane...who paints their garage walls? I hope to have the complete project up very soon. Happy Tuesday!!

Sunrise Wallpaper