more before & afters

While we're on the subject of paint jobs, do you wanna see what we did with the basement? Meet Dior Gray. We actually painted it a couple of months ago, but never took pictures. Well, here they are. Little by little, we're making this place our own.

Before:

After:

street boarding

A snowy night in Burlington sure makes for great sport. As dinner time rolls around and people hunker down at home, the abandoned streets become perfectly groomed trails for skis, sleds, snowshoes and snowboards. Yes, snowboards. We tried it out last night during the snowstorm. It was so much fun!

Well, first Col, Isaac and I went up to the country club. There's a great sledding hill there and someone had built an awesome kicker. So we took turns going off the jump. I got some good air off a couple of them and even finished one landing with a sweet butter—my first one! And then I let myself fall backward into the deep dark snow.

I love lying in deep snow at night, peering up at the pink-orange sky, and letting the icy flakes pelt my skin softy.

This powder is so good for the soul.

We finally got tired climbing up the hill, so we headed home. Not before Isaac & Col decided to do donuts in the parking lot—with the windows open. When they were done and I got in the car (my stomach can't handle those jerky movements) the entire interior was covered in a layer of fresh snow. Silly boys.

Isaac and I got out at the top of Maple Street and decided to snowboard the rest of the way home. (We live about half-way down the hill.) This street boarding is a blast—the trick is to get there before the plows come through so you have plenty of base to surf on. Maple Street is probably one of the better streets to try. It's a straight shot from top to bottom and there's not so much traffic as on College and Main. Just gotta watch out for those stop signs—but don't stop or you'll be stuck! (Next time, we wanna try Cliff Street.)

We weren't the only ones with this bright idea of riding down the street. One guy was trying to snowboard down the sidewalk (too tight!). And we saw a group of about 7 skiiers and riders getting towed around on the back of a jeep. They had rigged up this system where each person had their own rope and handle attached to the car. It kind of looked like a backwards dog sled. Those kids were crazy though and I'm surprised they didn't get hit by a car or get their skis run over by one of the wheels.

Isaac tried to copy them and hold on to the back of Col's car for some speed, but he ended up getting stuck and blocking my path. I fell in the street.

All in all, it was super fun. I can't believe we haven't done this before! And the sledding hill is definitely the place to go in a pinch. Yay snow!

In the end, we met up with Kim and finished off the night with a late-night dinner at the Daily Planet. It seems to be our go-to spot on snowy nights.

Highly recommend the eve we just had. It was one to remember.
xoxo

iced slate

That's the new color in the bedroom. I did it all by myself on Sunday when Col was on his work/snowboarding trip. I love how the icy blue sits in beautiful contrast to the molding on the archway. It totally stands out now. (And, yes that's my beautiful cutting job, and no I did not use edging tape! I learned everything I know about edging from my dad.) The cats like it too I think. Yay!

Before:

After:

I love those girls

You know how sometimes when you have a thought—you're reading a book or watching a commercial—and you have a thought. And then everything from thereon in seems to concur with that thought?

Like, for example, you see something about penguins and it makes you think about relationships. And then the next day, you're walking to work and you see a stuffed penguin in the window of the toy shop and then there's a poster for the Penguin Plunge on the place where they post posters. And then, and then... you feel like you should do the penguin plunge out of principle. Or maybe you should just work on your relationship. In any case. The world is trying to send you a message. Right?

Or it's like with my friend Elisa. Ever since we read The Picture of Dorian Gray last year in bookclub, she's noticed references to it pop up everywhere. If we never read it, would we still get those references?

I digress.

The whole reason I started to write this post tonight is because I've been feeling like half a person lately. I was kind of bummed the other night and I was talking to Col about it and he asked, "When was the last time you hung out with your friends?"

"I don't know," I said. "You're right. It's been too long. I really miss my friends."

So, at that moment, I grabbed my computer and e-mailed some of my gals and said, "Let's get together!" Within minutes a couple of them wrote back saying they've been feeling the same way. Sad, and missing the gals. My female friends.

Just give me a minute. I will get to my point.

The night after I wrote the e-mail, I went to Emi's to watch a movie. Elisa and Lauren and Heather were there too. (It was so good to see my friends!) We watched The Women. It was star-studded and kind of cute. But the most interesting thing about it was this: There wasn't a guy in the entire movie. Not even in the scenes where they were walking on the streets of New York City. Not one single man. All women.

I felt like the someone was trying to send me a message: get with your girls now.

Let me be clear: I love my man. I love my family. My coworkers. My alone time. But something about getting together with my girlfriends is so healing and so rejuvenating. We just haven't been giving each other enough attention lately.

We all hung out again together tonight for dinner. We were talking and eating and catching up, laughing and crying. So what have we all been up to? Emi's been nursing mainly and holding a newborn baby in her arms. Becky's been working hard and going to classes. Elisa's been raising a child and devising her new life plan. Lauren's been working hard and dogsitting and is taking scuba lessons and planning her next travels. I've been working and snowboarding and visiting family and planning a wedding.

But amidst all that, I've missed my girlfriends. They all left just now and we all promised to get together again next week. I really hope we do!

Some more fabulous gals:

Baby Sapphire and her mum

Mother Nature, she's been so fierce (and fabulous!) lately—that's her icing the window

Au Lait and Suki in the newly painted bedroom. I've heard female cats are harder to befriend—but look, they're sitting on the same bed now!

noodle time

There's a new noodle shop on Church Street. Colin and I are going to try it out—tonight we're going to get take-out noodles for dinner. That's what we're doing for date night. Did I tell you Thursday is date night? Tonight it's noodles. And maybe some nice wine.

I'm just waiting for Col to get home from work so we can order the noodles. La ti da. Twiddling my thumbs. Waiting for noodles. La ti da.

tree is down

We took down the tree tonight. It's funny how the magic of Christmas seems to build for days, weeks even. But after everything, it takes only an hour or so to strip off the lights and baubles, chuck the dry brittle tree on the curb outside, and vacuum up the needles. It's as if the tree was never there at all. And the magic is gone—till next year.

Sometimes I welcome a clean orderly house after Christmas. I enjoy putting things away and moving the furniture back into place. But this year, I just wanted the tree to stay forever. I'm very sad that it's sitting outside in the snow right now, cold and lonely, but for a passing car every once in a while.

I will peek outside to check on it every now and then, to make sure it hasn't rolled onto the street. Then the city truck will be by this week to carry it away—to the factory on the other side of town, I imagine, where it will eventually become the plume of smoke that we see from afar rising into the sky.

Goodbye, Tree.