Oregon Coast road trip - Part 2

October 27, 2015


Driving down Highway 101 is a pretty spectacular sight, worth many stops. After starting our adventure in Cannon beach, discovering the stunning Nehalem Bay State Park and surviving Cape Perpetua, we were off further south than I'd never been on the coast, and I was amaze to discover how beautiful it was, how soft and white the sand was. 

Oregon Coast road trip - Part 1

October 20, 2015


If you were to ask me to pick a destination, I would probably first tell you that I'm dreaming of Morocco and Bulgaria. While they are strong contenders, far away, longer trips are on hold for the moment, and to be honest, it's ok. Because going back to the Oregon Coast is already pretty high on my list. It's hard to beat a getaway with a great friend, 3 dogs, and miles of sandy beaches. I always thought of the PNW beaches as pebbled, and most often grey and foggy, like this. Which I do also love, but hey, a little sun is always nice for a change. We couldn't have asked for better weather for this camping trip. It was perfect, except maybe for my air mattress dying on night 3 of 4. Turns out, sleeping on a dog bed isn't that great. Now you know. A few weeks ago, my friend Emma and I packed up the car (I mean, she did), all 3 dogs, and we headed south on Highway 101 for a few days of running on the beach. We left on a Wednesday, after Labor Day, and so we assumed for sure that we didn't need any reservation for camping. Right? 


Happiness

October 06, 2015

Living room update

August 26, 2015

Things are moving turtle pace here, except for the carpenters knocking things off our list non-stop today. I'm seriously considering asking them to move in, since they are so polite, hardworking, and their job seems to be going around making everything better. It's pretty amazing, especially after messy plumbing and electrical work. Not that these contractors weren't great as well, but they left holes everywhere, so it felt kind of worse after they were done, except for the fact that we can now safely shower and flush the toilet at the same time. Noodle seems to have missed the company, which he expresses by extreme wagging and excitement when they first show up, before resuming his contest of who can spend the most time on the couch today. He always wins. In all seriousness, we are excited to add some finishing touches and functionality around. Like that built-in cabinet we never managed to open before. 

Round placemats

August 19, 2015

We are finally done with electrical, plumbing, asbestos abatement and plaster repairs. We are moving onto carpentry and chimney, while trying to plan paint colours and fix cracks around the house, so we can keep spiders and other bugs out. Most of our home improvements so far have been geared towards preventing problems and improving safety, and cosmetic fixes have been relegated to the bottom of the list. It makes a lot of sense, and some rooms, particularly the fully pink tiled bathroom (I mean floors, walls, ceiling) are growing on me, but a lot of the time it drives me a little crazy. So I'm trying to go around and make things a little better. I'm also trying to keep up with crochet, since I'm at the stage where if I don't do it every day or so, I feel like I completely forget how it's done.

Crochet coasters

August 11, 2015

I have to tell you, I'm not a big fan of bugs. If they are outside, ideally in a foreign country, and they look exotic, I might be interested. I might even go on a night walk to find them, and take pictures. Until I reach the point where it all seems more creepy than exciting, and then I'll want nothing more than crawl into a bug free bed, in a bug free room. But at home, and especially in my house, I really dislike them. I don't care that spiders eat other bugs. They can go eat somewhere else (and please, bring their feast along with them). A giant house spider in my kitchen sink, not cool. A green cricket jumping out of my underwear drawer at 6 in the morning as I'm getting ready for work, not ok. These are just a few things we are dealing with right now, and they should probably be the least of my worries. We now have spider traps set up everywhere in the house, and this morning, I found one stuck in the trap, RIGHT NEXT TO THE HEAD OF THE BED. ON MY SIDE OF THE BED. I'm not sure if I should be grossed out or thankful. It was a big one. You know, I really wish that Noodle would chase them. I'm told he killed a giant house spider at my friend's house last year. Why didn't he kill the one we got? Graham warned me that I'm not allowed to put Noodle in the sink if that happens again and he's not home. I don't know, seems like a good strategy to me. The other night, he ate a giant mosquito, frog-style, just following him with his head along the wall, and then snap, getting it with his tongue. It was kind of amazing, and he totally got a cookie for it. 

Chevron baby blanket

August 05, 2015


I'm usually a pretty organized person. When I started this blog, I set a goal of posting once a week, and kept an organized list of ideas and projects, making sure to have some banked up if we were going on vacations, as to never miss a week. My system didn't fail until this spring, in the middle of this housing business. It does kind of feel like a business. I suddenly inherited the job of Head of Human Resources. A lot of my time is now spent researching various contractors, conducting interviews and hiring people. Resumes come in the form of bids, and the price range at times is shockingly wide (and perhaps sometimes wild).