the clanking of crystal, explosions off in the distance

2009 was a bit of a slow year for us. Slow is a relative term as our definition of slow, is most people's normal.

We went to Ohio for Josh & Lisa's Wedding, Jodi came to visit, Ava was born, we visited Michigan in the early fall, Paul took me to Europe and then it was time for the holidays. There were no large milestones (other than our niece's birth) and travel was relatively light for us. We cooked lots of food, ate out too much and enjoyed family and friends. Looking back on the events listed above, it was a great year.

The year flew by and I am still struggling to believe that we are back to the point where resolutions should be made. I just made some and now your telling me to do it again?! I have started my list and plan to have it  ready by the time I have my mimosa in the morning. Plans are already being made for three large trips in 2010 and there are tons of plans to improve our home. I'm getting excited about tomorrow's arrival.

Thanks 2009 for being what you were, my hats off to you and 2010 - you've got my attention.

a caffeinated kick in the pants

I am on a tea kick right now. I've always liked tea but we are talking about some serious cravings here. I don't drink coffee anymore and I forgot how great caffiene in the morning was until I started this habit. I love what it does for my metabolism and the energy it gives me in the morning. Starting my work days with green tea and ending it with some chamomile I think may be the only way to have a happy life.

From top left to bottom right:

Organic Spearmint and Sage loose leaf tea from The Loose Leaf. I love the way tea smells in tin cans!

Turquoise teapot and cups from Stash (a new favorite for teas).

Letterpress artwork from the talented Jackson Creek Press. Who doesn't love a poster with good typeface?

I know my sister-in-law begged for no one to buy her any more kitchen towels or tea towels but if I lived in Cincinatti like she does, I'd want this printed towel from Etsy.

Um, ok. I want this in every color. I'm not joking. You can buy them for me. I would love you forever.

Ah, the LeCreuset whistling tea kettle. We own this one in cherry (since every other small appliance and pot in our kitchen is cherry) but I am a bit jealous of the other sister-in-law's caribbean collection because I love the color on this kettle.

Don't like LeCreuset? Well, you are nuts, but here's another tea kettle from Mighty Leaf Tea that I've seen great reviews on.

I had this tea for the first time this morning and loved it. You should try it if you run across it at your grocery store!

Last but not least is a matcha bowl from Teavana. I'm not a huge fan of matcha but liked how clean the bowl and whisk looked. We have a Teavana at our mall and I plan to go check it out with my brother when he gets back into town. Apparently he's on a tea kick too. Oh, and Teavana has a free iPhone app that I downloaded today that gives you a tea timer so that you don't over steep your tea and get that acidic flavor when it has been in there too long! What's your favorite kind of tea?!

kitchen inspiration

Here are some of the photos I've been holding in my back pocket for a while. There's one missing but as soon as I find it i'll add it!

Oh and this next one makes me want to do back flips. I mean seriously?! If I owned the house that this kitchen was in I'd be lucky if I ever slept in my bedroom. We're talking, "sleeping bag in the corner so I'd never have to leave" kind of obsession.

I found a place north of Chicago yesterday that sells the Tolix chairs and stools shown in the last picture (both vintage and new). I about had a heart attack when I found it and plan to go visit the store in May when I'm up there!

merry modern christmas

oh, it's on. it's on like donkey kong.

That's right, our kitchen remodel is going to happen! I'm feeling very very gung-ho about the undertaking and if Paul would let me be in there for more than 15 minutes by myself there would be some serious demolition happening. But he's been a good restraint. I am planning for this to take some time because the next three months of our lives are going to be quite hectic but I've already selected 99% of the things to purchase and have already figured out our sequencing. I'll just need to sit down with that and put it on a calendar but I think we'll have it all done by the end of March (and that's just working on it on the weekends)!

Our kitchen is currently a 3M scotch tape color of yellow. It's cool but a bit much. The original plan was to leave it yellow (probably a new shade of it) because I had found this fabric by Duralee that I was madly in love with. Is it not such a great print?!

Well yesterday when I realized we could pull off doing our kitchen remodel I got myself in there with the fabric and everything felt so forced. The plan for the kitchen didn't really go with anything else we had in the house and it didn't accent the reasons why I love my kitchen now (original red brick oven chimney and our red Le Creuset and Kitchen-aid).

So I took the fabric in the other room so I wouldn't be reminded of it's fabulous-ness and started over. Even though I'm not using the fabric anymore I am beyond thrilled with what I came up with and am giddier than I was before.

The ceiling is a bit beat up so we are going to fix it up and put 2" bead board up (painted white) with two new schoolhouse light fixtures from Rejuvenation. These will be on order soon. We'll put the pendant over the sink and the flush mount in the center of the room.

The trim in our kitchen is currently white (which is how I am going to leave it) but needs some TLC and a fresh coat of paint. For the walls I'm going to paint them a gray by Behr for Home Depot. I've got it narrowed down to two colors, Elephant Skin or Ashes. The color shown here is Ashes and it's currently in the lead. Sexy right?

We're going to put 3x6 white subway tile as a back splash on our wet wall but instead of a typical 18" band, I think I'm going to go to 30-36". We've decided to get new cabinets, as that is what our kitchen needs the most, and are going to stick with white cabinets with satin bin pulls and knobs.We're also adding some base cabinets by our oven.

We go to church with a granite installer and I'm going to have him slap on some spare black granite that he has laying around his shop. With new counters comes a new single basin large stainless steel sink and faucet. Basically we are going to have a gray and white kitchen that my pots, plates and small appliances are going to pop off of!

I am more excited than you can even begin to imagine. I cannot wait to get it started and finished!

Chickasha Festival of Light

Last week Paul and I made some hot chocolate and hit the highway to go see the Chickasha Festival of Light. I have been there probably 6 or 7 times but Paul had never been (and he's lived here for 4 years)!

It was just as beautiful as always and it was actually chilly. Made us feel like we were somewhere that actually had good cold winters!

a jumbled mess of a post

Where have I been you ask?!? Right here....but here's the situation: We own three laptops. Paul has an HP laptop he had in college, I have a Dell from college and when it started freaking out I took my brothers almost brand new Gateway. But I broke the Gateway and we were down to just Paul's laptop. It's not that we don't share well but when you are both used to having your own computer, sharing is just strange. The Dell is now fixed and I should get the Gateway back tomorrow. Now I have no idea what to do with three computers...

I really am sorry for the lack of posting lately. I miss writing. The sharing of the laptops made for a less than desirable writing atmosphere. We've also taken quite a few photos lately but the fact that the computer we typically download to was out of service - they are just now getting downloaded. I may have to do just a post on photos from the past three weeks.

I feel like there is so much to update on here but the thought of it all wears me out. Lazy? Yes.

the history of my first home, chapter one

Yesterday Paul had training at the Oklahoma History Center for a good portion of the day. While there he checked out the research library that is located inside. He didn't mention until late into the evening that he had found some of the previous owners of our home. My heart about jumped out of my chest. For four years I have wondered who lived in this home, what they did and what they were like back when the house was first built. I often sit in rooms and look at the walls and the book cases and wonder who these people were. I've known the last 15 years of history or so but Paul found four of five of the older owners. While searching for a few of those older owners through Google I ran across the blog for one of the great granddaughters of one of the old owners. How unbelievable is that?! She lives in Washington but her great grandfather James and his wife Olive lived in this house in 1920 and 1921.

I was so excited, I begged him to take me to the research center this morning so we could do more research.  After two hours of digging through old city directories, microfilm and a few photos we found the original owners (possible builders of the home) and just about every resident that lived inside of the house or the old carriage house apartment in the back. I still have not found an old photo of this house but have the Gilmore's great grandchildren looking for me. I am almost positive that they were the third owners of the home (the house would have been about 5 years old).

It was amazing to me how much I could know about people's lives from the City Directories. For example, I know that in 1937 Gottlieb & Jessie Kueffer moved into the carriage house. Gottlieb was in insurance with his brother, Gottfried, at Kueffer & Kueffer. I also know that Gottlieb left Jessie in 1939 and that she remained in the carriage house through the next two owners of the home and didn't leave until 1963. Gottlieb's brother Gottfried was married to Carolynn and also lived close by. Gottlieb also remarried later (his secretary 30 years his younger) but I finally had to move off of the Kueffer family to continue researching the house!

Now that I know who the owners were, I just have to find out more about them to see if I can find some old photos. We've had so many different people with different professions living in this house including machinists, insurance agents, pharmacists, bank clerks and more. Wish me luck on continued research!

We also went shopping for our niece Ava (who we are being way too entirely picky about), got my eyebrows waxed and Paul went and checked out Deluxe. Now were spending the evening in the warmth of our home and enjoying each others company.

if i could be wasting my time with you...

 

via littlebitsandblogs

my head band is pinching my head a little too tightly...

Sorry for the lack of posting. I have been feeling very out of my skin over the last few weeks and cannot seem to pull together a cohesive thought for a post. Quite a bit has happened over the last few weeks but nothing earth shattering or necessarily blog worthy. I’ve had multiple parties to attend (and host), church, travel, and many other things occupying my time. The next few weeks are going to be just as busy with doctor’s appointments, a haircut, luncheons, more Christmas parties and then holiday travel!

I seem to be spending a lot of time inside of my head lately which I think has been a bit dangerous. I am allowing myself to think and feel a little too much about EVERYTHING. Today I am running on some major sleep deprivation thanks to a dear friend (who after the last week, still remains a dear friend). The combination of the lack of sleep, good music, thinking, a knot in my neck and a lack of caffeine is making for a terribly long afternoon. What I wouldn't do for my sweat pants and my sofa right now.

This too shall pass, right?

namaste

I am so behind on blogging and reading that I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I may just need to glaze over the last few days and move forward full steam ahead.

I had a good night talking with a friend over some wine last night in my living room. We stayed up late (and with the wine) I expected to not roll out (or be dragged out) of bed until 7:30 this morning. Wrong. I woke up before Paul's alarm and was ready to get moving. He got up after a couple of snoozes to the alarm and so since I was up (with nothing to do until he got out of the shower) I thought I'd start back at yoga. I forgot how fabulous yoga was. Especially the morning vs. evening yoga. I was so awake after twenty minutes of stretching, it was great. I do remember how rested I would feel when I did the PM yoga so i'll be starting that this evening too. I'm glad I started doing it again....it had been too long.