The comforts of home : )

I feel like staying in a decent hotel is like getting a big hug, it's relaxing and serene and quiet and the stress of day to day life isn't around - but I'm glad to be home and have a kitchen and the pets around and do laundry whenever I like!

I have a sneaking suspicion that somehow I've turned into a high maintenance traveler.  It's a big deal for me because I used to pride myself on packing light.  Six years ago, I took a month long trip to Australia and New Zealand with only a school backpack and a messenger bag.  In college, my friend and I were quite pleased with ourselves for packing only a small rollerbag and carryon for our three week trip to London in the middle of winter, while some of our classmates had brought suitcases that were taller than they were!

I came to this realization while packing to leave Boston as I was placing a duvet cover and set of clothes hangers into my luggage.  Why was I packing up clothes hangers and a duvet cover, you might ask?

I like the idea of triple sheeting, but in practice, it annoys the #$%@ out of me!  I love down comforters and will always choose to stay at a hotel with those instead of the polyester coverlets given an option... but the sheets inevitably slip around and expose the comforter and it makes a big mess to fix when you make the bed in the morning.  I just don't want to have anything on a hotel bed touching me that I know for sure couldn't have been washed between guests.  After my first week, I decided that I would just scope out the duvet cover options at TJ Maxx... lo and behold, there was a yellow one for $30!  I was sold (with 3.5 weeks left, I thought it was worth $10 a week!)  It was so worth it.  Come to think of it, this wasn't my first offense with hotel bedding purchasing.  I got sheets for our two weeks in Cincinnati last year (I wish that hotels would use fitted sheets so that the bed wouldn't fall apart and expose the mattress the minute you sit down!) and a pillow for our hotel in Toronto last summer (another 5 week stay and I still use that pillow at home).

Most hotels seem to have fewer than a dozen hangers and when you're in a place for 5 weeks and sharing a room, you'll probably collectively have more than 10 things to hang up (especially if you're a girl... dresses, shirts, jacket, skirt, etc.)  I ironed my shirts and dresses and then ironed my husband's shirts - and I don't play around with my ironing.  I work in wardrobe, so I'm used to getting paid good money to iron, and I have yet to find someone to pay me for ironing my own clothing!  So I headed over to my old friend TJ Maxx and bought a set of 18 of those skinny felted hangers for $10.

On a side note - even though I haven't dressed a show that involved me prepping button up shirts in a year and a half, I timed myself while ironing my husband's shirts and I can still iron a long sleeve shirt in less than 5 minutes.  I haven't lost my touch!  One of our favorite touring wardrobe heads, Mike, used to put signs up saying "If you spend more than 5 minutes on a shirt, you're not ironing it, you're making love to it."  I was always a decent ironer, but after working Jersey Boys for a month and ironing over a dozen shirts every night and even more during work calls twice a week, I really got really good.

I wouldn't go to such lengths for comfort if I traveled for just weekend trips a couple of times a year.  When I travel, it's for a good amount of time and my husband is working the whole time, so it feels more like we're living there, not vacationing.

I've been back home for a few days now, and I've been really struck with how much I like our house.  I've always liked it, but didn't realize just how glad I'd be to see it again!  I can't get over how awesome our skylights are in the kitchen and bathroom and just how BRIGHT our house is!  I'm soaking it up, not having realized how dark our hotel room in Boston was.  I'm actually enjoying the sunlight so much that I haven't stopped to notice that I'm back in the southern summer heat!  My first night back, I was also surprised by how loud the insects and critters are even when you're in the house... it only took a month to forgot what nature sounded like!

Catching Up: Hartford, CT

Conveniently, my sister's graduation weekend in VT lined up nicely with my husband's stay in Hartford, CT.  The day after graduation, I took my sister's car and headed to Connecticut.  Originally, I was going to take a leisurely and scenic train trip, but since the lake was flooded and my sister's restaurant wasn't open for the season yet, she decided to spend the week in Maine with my dad and then they would head down to Hartford for an extended family get-together on Saturday.  Naturally I already had my train ticket in hand and the night we got to Burlington, VT, my sister realized that I ought to take her car to Hartford so that she could drive it back up to VT.  How tidy!

It was perfect having a car in Hartford, because there were a lot of things outside the downtown area to do. We took a drive out to visit my cousin and her family, and I was able to get out to my uncle's house as well.  Most exciting though, was the easy trip to West Hartford and the discovery of yummy gluten free hamburger buns... and subsequently the discovery of which bakery they came from (obviously we drove out there too!)

This kooky polka dotted house was next to the gluten free bakery.  It seems to be some sort of gift shop and girly party place.

Great view from our hotel window.  It was a suites hotel and we lucked into a corner room, so we had two windows in the living room and one in the bedroom... and they all opened!

Hartford has a lot of roads in need of line re-painting... half the time I couldn't figure out if it was I was driving in one or two lanes!

Many insurance companies call Hartford home, including Traveler's Insurance who has this super cool gigantic umbrella in their plaza.

Mark Twain Statue made of legos.  Love it.

This is the carriage house at Mark Twain's home - there was a lot of interesting woodwork, I really liked the dragon in the eave

Mark Twain's house had really fancy brickwork too

Catching Up: Vermont family trip

In May, my dad and I drove up to Vermont for my sister's college graduation.  The drive itself wasn't too noteworthy, other than getting to meet my friend's brand new baby.  The time in Vermont was a whirlwind of graduation activities, minor sightseeing, and packing up my sister's room!  We had a great trip and good weather mostly.   

The drive through New York State and into Vermont was a funny mix of beautiful sunny skies and threatening clouds.

Whitehall, NY is the birthplace of the US Navy thanks to the wartime significance of defending Lake Champlain.  This is the hull of the USS Ticonderoga from 1812.  

This sign was tacked to the inside of an old covered bridge at the Shelburne Museum

You can never have enough specialty planes!  This is inside the woodworking shop at Shelburne Museum.  We certainly take our factory carved moldings and millwork for granted these days...

This Ticonderoga was a major ferry boat running the Lake Champlain routes.  Sadly, luxury ferry boats became a thing of the past and it was moved across land very slowly by a specially built railroad track to the Shelburne Museum.  It's really snazzy on board and there were 6 staterooms even though the passage was just a matter of hours.

Vermont has lots of old round barns.  This one, at the Shelburne Museum, has a great collection of carousel pieces inside.

Remember how I said the lake was flooded?  Yikes!

Loving the covered bridges!

Enjoying a relaxing moment with my parents and sisiter at 6pm on May 21st the day of the supposed apocalypse.

The whole state was covered in lilac blooms.  bliss!

Trust the University of Vermont to be so forward thinking and progressive with their water fountains!  Can we get these in all public buildings and airports please?

My favorite doorway in Burlington, VT

My sister's senior year apartment was in this house.  Remember what I said about being jealous of the college kids living in cute Victorians?  

Catching Up: Projects

It's been a month since I last posted anything... time to start catching up!  I've been to Vermont, Connecticut, back home for a couple of weeks, and now I'm midway through my monthlong stay in Boston.  With so much going on, I think I'll break it down and do a few catch up posts.

I haven't done a whole lot of projects, so I'll add in some pictures of my flowers and new garden! 

I finally finished the "wallpaper" backsplash which needed to be done after the cabinet/fridge switcharoo left that wall piece exposed.  Also up for admiration is the new shelf above the stove.

I had to replace the old shelf because it wasn't long enough to reach the cabinet we hung (remember the fridge used to be there).  It went to good use though, we cut a piece off to fill the gap between the two cabinets (you can barely see it in the first picture.  I couldn't decide how I wanted the new shelf to look, and eventually decided to roll with my inspiration to match the wooden piece I used for the dog bowl stand.  I painted the exposed wood wall behind it, and voila!  

Welcome to the ice cream parlor.  I love it!

Speaking of ice cream parlors, a friend and I were inspired to paint little pop art ice creams to hang in the kitchen above the hallway door... these two are in progress, we still have to put on the finishing touches and paint the third canvas.  Mine is the one with the blue background - I still have to add the cherry!  We had a great time painting.  The project started around 11pm and while I swear no alcohol or drugs were involved, we ate tacos, mini pizzas, and other munchies as we painted until we looked at the clock and saw 3am!  Hence, the missing cherry and unfinished whipped cream!

Before the great drive to VT, I made these two little sundresses for my friend's baby.  Naturally, I do lots of things backwards... notice how one pair of straps buttons inside and the other buttons on top.  These are great little dresses to throw on a kid.  They stitch up quickly too since it's one piece! 

As of June 7th, the butterfly bushes are blooming, the cosmos are coming up,  canna lilies are up, zinnias are on their way, and the redbud tree finally has its leaves.  Before I left for my month in Boston, I was frantically trying to lay out an irrigation system on my 3 main flower beds.  I got 135' of drip hoses and am hoping for the best.  I will be so excited to see how everything looks when I get back in July!

My next door neighbor has the most lush, plant filled yard.  It's truly enviable.  He's always trying to give me plants and it's awesome!  Except when I'm about to be gone for 8 weeks during the hot dry summer! I told him in no uncertain terms that while I was really excited about doing a garden, it just wouldn't be a good idea since I wouldn't be around to take care of the plants.  Within 30 minutes, he had brought over 3 tomato and 4 pepper plants and they were in the ground.  I also finally installed the trellises and planted the morning glory seedlings that I had started a couple of months before.  Also in the leftover and neglected seedling tray were a number of shasta daisies which I planted too.  As if that weren't enough, I figured since I had a garden started, and our friend/housesitter would be watering it anways, I might as well throw in my seed packets... nothing to lose!  However - if it works out, it will be a SUPER crowded garden - I put in a pack of zuccini seeds, a pack of corn, and a pack of pumpkin seeds.  

Here's one of the morning glory babies as of June 7.  I'm hoping that by the time I get home, they'll be all over the trellis!

New England, I've missed you...

I've run off to New England and I don't want to go back to the South!  I'm on day 7 of an 11 day trip to Vermont and Connecticut.

It started with a trip up to Vermont to see my sister graduate from college, and now I'm enjoying a week long stay with my lovely husband in historic Hartford, CT.  I absolutely love New England in the springtime, and it's even sweeter to see since our spring at home in the South has already wound down and the 90+ degree days have descended upon us.

I'd show pictures, but I've already gotten kicked off of the hotel internet twice in 2 days - once for checking my email (apparently my email program offends the internet gods at this hotel) and the other time either from using too much bandwidth looking at CNN or my friend's craft blog.

The drive up was long but enjoyable.  We like to take the scenic route (a family trait) so we take the interstate through the VA mountains and western PA, no I-95 corridor for us!  The small town of Clinton, NJ was the overnight stopping point, and I really have to suggest stopping there if anyone happens to go through.  The downtown area is really cute and I can't get over all the gorgeous Victorian houses.

The highlight of NJ was stopping to see a friend and her brand new 3 week old baby.  It was so funny seeing a tiny baby (I haven't seen one that new or that little in a really really long time) and I can't wait to make lots of cute little dresses for her!  Her baby was a perfect little angel while I visited, just sleeping and making cute faces while I held her for almost an hour.  The thing about babies is that even though they're cute, they do an awful lot of crying and projectile pooping.  That's important stuff to keep in mind.

Vermont has been getting more than its fair share of rain and snow melt, so Lake Champlain is 2.5 feet above flood stage.  My sister's summer job is on hold because even though the restaurant floats, the dock is flooded so no one can get to it.  I have some pictures of the lake with the crazy flooding, but again, with this extremely finicky internet connection, I have to wait to share!  Again, I was obsessed with all of the Victorian houses and even though I've been up there many times, it's still amazing to see.  It's hard to see college kids living in these great old houses with turrets and amazing trim work and slate tiles... and hanging their ugly hippie tapestries all over and having a general layer of college filth and grime on top of everything.  Maybe one day I'll live in a gorgeous painted lady with a turret and stop being jealous of these college kids... but for now I'll settle for our cute brick ranch : )

I've got big plans for Hartford too... there are lots of historic buildings to see!

rain, rain... do I want you to go or stay?

We're in the midst of a very rainy week.  I am so happy for that because of all of the plants I have recently planted... we need the water when we can get it before we head full on into the hot dry summer!  On the other hand, I'm having a personal problem this week with a leaky pipe in the kitchen wall and trying to dry out the crawlspace and subfloor is harder when it's raining!

You can't even imagine the feeling of minding your own business on the back patio painting some shelves and suddenly seeing water come pouring out of the bricks on the side of your house!  It was absolutely crazy seeing the house peeing.  Luckily I knew immediately that it was the drainage pipe for the dishwasher and kitchen sink because the dishwasher was mid-cycle, so there wasn't an emergency need for a plumber.  I just stopped using them until the plumber came in the morning.  I have no idea how long the leaking has been going on - I'm not often washing dishes while standing on the back patio.  It's a small miracle that I happened to be there to find out what's been going on!

There are a few wet floor joists and wet subfloor under the kitchen, but it only spans 3 joists and comes out about 2' from the wall - not a huge area.  We set up my dad's dehumidifier in the crawlspace and now I get to attend to the pleasurable task of going down there 3x daily to empty it!  I'm thankful that our crawlspace is around 3' high, much better than a lot of them.  I'm also glad that this was an exterior wall on a brick house that's 1 story.  It's like the least damaging scenario for a big water leak!

fun video clip of the new water feature on the back of our house!

Before the plumbing excitement, I was doing more interesting things...

Project:  Dog Bowl Cover - age 3ish years?

Our dog has occasionally gotten his collar tags stuck in the metal frame of his dog bowl holder.  I've had a yucky towel laying over the frame for a couple of years now to prevent that from happening, and I finally decided to make a proper top. 

The new wooden cover was outside while the paint dried and somehow in the 4 hours that the dog bowl frame was not protected by anything he managed to completely upend it.  I have seen this happen a few times and it's crazy - and really upsetting to our dog when he ends up wearing the frame as a necklace!  I was out to dinner and found this scene when I got home.  I have no idea how he managed to get one bowl perfectly inside the other.

The new frame.  It's so cute looking because I used the spray paint left over from our wedding table numbers!  I was very proud of my jigsaw skills.  Very disappointed that my screw for the underneath support very nearly popped through (you can see it in the front part).  Maybe if we got around to organizing the tools better (or at least into one location) I'd have used the proper length screws instead of scrounging up the least inappropriately sized screws I could find.

The new frame cover in action.  Tommy is looking on approvingly, wondering why it has taken years to make this happen!  The water bowl is too big because it pre-dates our frame.  After this photo, I finally went to the pet store and got a bowl that is the right size so the cats would quit sloshing it around when they lean on it.

If you think this is cute, wait till you see the shelf I made for above the stove!

April showers brought my May flowers!

The weather has been so great the past week that's I've been spend a lot of time outside - before we get hit with the summer heat.  I shared the work on the shed already and now I'm going to show off my work from the past couple of years as my perennials are popping up!  I've planted many new ones too, but they aren't much to look at yet so I'll share pictures of the new additions later.

Canna Lilies with Elephant Ears in the background

Astors with fading Daffodil greenery in between

I'm very excited about the cosmos re-seeding from last year.  It was so unexpected to see, I actually plucked a couple thinking they were weeds but then noticed the whole area had them and recognized the cosmos foliage!

Kopper King Hibiscus

Snapdragon

May Night Salvia

Hydrangeas (they will be a surprise since I forgot what the blooms look like thanks to being gone last spring and summer!)