Two New Favorite Things

I came home from my trip to these:


















I love my wonderful husband, and I love my peonies! Life is good, I am so lucky!

Trip to the Mid-West

So, two weekends ago I took a trip with my Dad and Brother to the Mid-West. We flew into Kansas City, MO, drove to Lincoln, NE and visited Tarkio, MO. It was my first time really visiting the mid-west other than just layovers at airports. I was actually rather pleasantly surprised with the area. The scenery was pretty.... green, rolling hills, tree groves, and of course corn fields galore. Lincoln had a cute little historic district called The Haymarket with breweries and coffee shops. Then there were the thunder storms... wow! Hours of the night sky being constantly lit up with lightning, watching the parking lot turn into a swimming pool within minutes... so cool. We just don't get that kind of thing in the good ole Northwest.

At any rate, the purpose of the trip was to attend the reunion banquet at my Grandfather's alma mater, where they also held a memorial for my Grandpa and Great Uncle. Both of them were on the basketball team and in 1940 they won the NAIA National Championship. They went to Tarkio College, a small college in a small town. It was amazing but kind of sad to see this beautiful campus in such a small farming town that now just sits there, unoccupied.

We held the memorial service in front of the school gym. The building was all locked up, but not to worry, turns out Aaron and I are pretty good with a slim jim :-) The guy who runs the Tarkio College museum even helped us. The inside was all torn up and infested with stray animals, but it was still pretty neat to see. We scattered ashes there where those two young farm boys from Indiana got to be stars for a few moments. It was so special to have that side of the family together to remember that generation of the Lewises.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Sun Break!

Last weekend, we actually got a nice day on Saturday to get a few things done outside.  The biggest thing was the lattice.  Our deck didn't have anything around the bottom of it, so it showed the ugly area all underneath the deck.  At first I thought the plastic white lattice would be tacky, but then I resigned myself to it because I just couldn't bring myself to think about painting or staining THAT much wood lattice.  Then, once we bought it, I thought it was too white since the trim of our house is more of an off white.  In the end, we put it up, and I'm pretty happy with it actually.  It just was the best choice given the time, effort, and money it would have taken to match it to the house trim.  Besides, we figure the whiteness will fade as it gets a little wear to it.  And I plan to plant more plants in front of it so it won't be as prominent.  Here's the before and afters:

To update you all on the mole situation:  The score so far is Us: 1, Mole: 0!  The underground fence seems to be working so far.  No new mole runs in the yard, and when we went back there to check you could actually see where the mole had dug toward our yard, then made an immediate 90 degree turn at the fence, went down a ways along the fence, then surfaced.  Muahaha!  That's right Mr. Mole!  Don't mess with us!  We're just hoping he doesn't get smart and dig down deeper, or go through the neighbors' yards and then into ours.  Time will only tell...  Here's a pic of where he came up (I wish I could have captured the whole picture where it shows him following the fence, but it just didn't show up very well):

I just had to share my poppies as well... they're so pretty!

June Showers

If April showers bring May flowers... then what do June showers bring?  Here in Seattle, it seems everyone is wondering when we may emerge from these seemingly constant downpours.  Granted we had a relatively pleasant winter, so maybe we're paying for it now?


Well, despite all of the rain, we here at the Gross household have been warming up the inside with lots of great times with friends and family.  For starters, my brother Aaron and his girlfriend Corinne came to visit over the long weekend.  It was so great to see them.  We took them out to Korean BBQ, and continued the tradition of making the trip to Tutta Bella for our favorite pizza, salad, and coffee.  Here are a couple of pictures of the visit.

I love my little brother! :-)

This is the first time we've ever taken pictures with the Troll... it might be this years' Christmas card :-)

I also LOVE dancing with my brother, he's great :-)

































Then this last weekend, we hosted a birthday party for our good friend's six-year-old.  It was just the immediate family, but we surprised him with a full on Batman themed party... so fun!  He was the ring-bearer in our wedding, and is just adorable.


Thanks, Rory, for the helium tank, the balloons were a hit!

The only candles we had in the house were the sparkling kind that re-light.  Poor kid, but it was pretty funny.

And what Batman birthday party would be complete without some Batman fighting.  Here's Noah getting back in touch with the kid in him :-)

Busy, busy

This week has been incredibly busy, so this will be a short post.  I started my new job (Sr. Business Analyst for Premera Blue Cross) and am really enjoying it, but as expected, there is so much to get caught up on I am a bit brain dead.

Last weekend, we decided to just go for the gold and make a last 'ditch' effort (that was a joke, you'll get it as you read further :-)) to try and keep the moles and blackberry runners out of our newly planted back yard.  What did this entail?  Well, since everything else that we have looked at that is on the market to stop moles doesn't seem to be all that effective, we came up with our own solution.  We decided to rent a ditch witch from Home Depot and dig a two-foot deep trench all the way around our outer fence, then insert 1/4" metal mesh into the trench as a physical barrier.  Guess we'll find out if we are in fact any smarter than the people that have developed these other mole-deterring products. 

So, after a weekend of backbreaking work, we are now just sitting back and waiting to see if they return.  We'll keep you posted.

In other news, my vegetable garden has been producing delicious salads and arugula pesto so far.  Yum!  I'm excited for the sugar peas to come.

A Good Home

"A good home must be made, not bought." ~Joyce Maynard

Noah and I believe in this tenet and in the last ten months since "buying" our house, we have begun the journey of "making" it our home. This process has involved not only tangible projects, but also opening up our home to friends and family in order to allow experiences that will fill our home with memories full of warmth, love, and laughter. In Danish there is a word that encompasses this whole concept of warmth, comfort, and belonging called 'hyggelig' (pronounced: hoog-uh-lee). We want our home to be hyggelig.

The tangible projects are intended to take all of the potential that we saw in the house when we first stepped in the door, and realize it. As we do this, we make it our own and turn it into a place that reflects our personalities, interests, beliefs, and character. By no means would I presume to say that it is or ever will be perfect, but it is us (for better or worse :-)). We are on a budget, and have been/will be doing most of the work ourselves, which will result inevitably in instances of not-so-professional results. But in a way, by doing much of it ourselves, we are accomplishing both of our objectives in building our "home" - the tangible and the intangible. Both the end product of the project and the memories gained by going through the process.

So, to give you an idea of some of what we have done so far...

1. The Deck:

• The Project - Re-laid about 700sq ft, replaced warped boards, and built/installed benches and planter boxes.
• The Goal - To have a reliable, long-lasting outdoor space that will be able to host large barbecues and get-togethers.
• Lesson learned - Get the right sander the first time! Home Depot didn't have one that would work, but United Rentals did. Only the vibrating ones work, do not even attempt the circular kind!

 

2. Painting:

• The Project - Painted the formal living room and the kitchen/dining room.
• The Goal - To have a warm and inviting space for smaller, more intimate gatherings.
• Lesson learned: Caulk edges of crown molding (or really edging of any sort) to cover shabby installation and gaps. Another tip from our house inspector that has turned out wonderfully for us is to use tape while caulking just like you do for painting to get a straight edge.

Living Room Before:

  

Living Room After (still have a ways to go on the decorating, but I love the color!):

Kitchen Before (didn't have a good before pic, but you can kind of get the idea, and it includes my very handsome brother visiting for Thanksgiving ;-)):

Kitchen After:

  

 3. Furniture (bought off Craigslist for a steal):

• 
  
  The Project - Refinished/painted bar stools, painted/glazed an entryway bench, restored/scrubbed a neglected patio set.
• 
  
  The Goal - Have unique and functional furniture that fits the space and accommodates guests at a reasonable cost.
• 
  
  Lesson learned: Spray paint can be your best friend! The bench I painted took MUCH less time than the stools which I painted with a brush. Some of the other blogs I follow (listed on the left) give great tutorials on spray painting and glazing.

Hello!

So lately I have gotten hooked reading some of your blogs, and it is such a fun way to keep up with you all that I have decided to attempt to write my own. My good friend Rory encouraged me to do so as a way to document and share the ever-constant projects that my wonderful (and very handy) husband, Noah, and I have been taking on as new homeowners and newlyweds. I am currently in a time of transition as I will be starting a new job in a week, so I figured what better time than now to start?

Now, to begin... a little history for any of you who may not know us so well, or may just have stumbled on this blog:

Noah and I both grew up in the same rural area of Idaho along the Clearwater River. However, I didn't meet Noah until his Senior year of high school when he transferred to Kamiah in 1997 (I was just a Freshman). So, we were friends for a time in high school, but long story short he left and went off to college in Arizona, and I went on to finish high school and college at Washington State University (Go Cougs!).

Fast forward 9 years (to 2006), and I was working for a consulting firm in Seattle, and Noah was living in San Diego working for 24 Hour Fitness as a Sales Manager. My work sent me to San Diego for a couple of months on a project, which reunited us. Four months later Noah moved to Seattle, and two years later we married (July 2009). The same month that we got married, we also bought our first home and moved out to the 'burbs.

Which brings us to today. We have been married and homeowners now for ten months! The travel schedule and demands of my old job just got too much, so I found a new job which is close to home that will allow me the time and energy to invest in my home and community. I am so excited to settle in and feel connected again! I hope you will enjoy following along with us as we work to establish our home and contribute to our community.

Noah's High School Graduation:



Shish-kebabs in Turkey:



SCUBA Diving in Mexico:



The Proposal:



The Wedding:



The House:



Cheers All!