September 2008 Archives

I am starting to get a little tired of painting.  I don't know how anyone could do this for a living.  I think I'll wait a little while before tackling the guest bedroom. 

A little artwork, courtesy of The Boyfriend:

I have been trying to watch what I eat a little more closely the last couple of weeks, and for them most part I have done well.  I have been eating lots of soups and salads and fruits and vegetables.  It's been difficult with the plethora of birthdays to celebrate during the month of September, but I've been doing ok.

Today I was supposed to have a birthday lunch with some friends at work.  When I go in to work this morning I discovered it would have to be postponed.  No big deal, but it left me without a lunch.  I had a craving for a nice slice of pepperoni pizza so I rounded up a couple of people and off we went to one of my favorite pizza places.

I was highly disappointed.  The slices were smaller than I remembered.  It was overcooked.  The cheese had started to coagulate.  It was barely lukewarm.  So it was a disappointing trip, but I should try and look on the bright side -- I will probably not have another strong craving to go there for a while and therefore help me stick to the healthier eating. 

I spent the entire day today, painting.  The Boyfriend always meets his friends to watch football on Sundays so I thought painting would keep me occupied for the day.

When I first bought the house (10 months ago) I painted the master bedroom before I even moved in.  There was no way I could sleep there with it painted the blue color that the previous owners had it painted.  Blue is one of my favorite colors, but the color they had on the walls was the same color as the painters tape you use for edging.  It was pretty bad.  So I painted the room Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige.   I had never painted before so it was quite an experience.  My boyfriend and I did it just the two of us.  It took close to a week from start to finish.  All of a sudden a couple of months ago I decided I needed to do the rest of the painting RIGHT NOW.  I have no idea what came over me or why. 

So next to be painted was the hallway.  We picked a nice green color called Woodland Mystery.  I liked it so much I decided to continue with that color and paint the bedroom at the end of the hallway.  That was a new adventure since that room happened to have wallpaper in it.  I took a week off of work and tackled that project.  To my amazement, the wallpaper was easy to remove.  Apparently I got really lucky because I've hear it can often be a real pain.  I was very proud of myself since I did everything in that room 100% myself.  Before I moved into the house I did not have confidence that I would even be able to paint a room myself, let alone take down wallpaper. 

After the far bedroom was finished I decided to tackle the dining room.  Picking a color proved to be a very difficult task for me (I am not known for my decision making skills).  I made countless trips to multiple paint stores and had little paint chips everywhere.  I ended up buying two gallons of two different colors that I did not like once they were on the wall.  I bought several of those little samples from Benjamin Moore.  I think i had a total of 13 different swatches on the wall before deciding on a color.  I finally picked Sherwin Williams Simplify Beige.  I got that finished 2 weekends ago and am now on to the living room.  Since the living room and dining room are open to each other I decided to use the same color in that room.  I did all the prep work (moving furniture, taking down window treatments, washing, spackling, sanding) and almost all of the priming.  I still have the main part of one wall left to do and part of another.  All the trim, the pain in the butt part, is done. 

After the living room is done, the guest bedroom is next on my hit list.  Unfortunately it has wallpaper, but I am hoping the removal of it will go as smoothly as it did in the other room. 

I am excited to have my family and other friends come over once it's all done.  I want them to see what I've accomplished these last several weeks. 

Well, the birthday festivities are officially over.  They started last weekend a little family party thrown by my parents.  I got some really nice gifts from my sisters and my parents.  The two that stand out the most are a beautiful sapphire necklace from my parents and a book called "the condition" from one of my sisters.  My other sister bought me some really nice swarovski crystal figurines.  They were three small penguins and very, very cute.  Steve bought a chocolate cake with twice whipped cream topping.  Everyone ate it, even Sister #1 and mom, who almost never eat sweets.

When I went into work on Monday there was a little container of 4 cupcakes, each with a cute star candle.  There was also a large container with 12 MORE CUPCAKES, each one decorated as a butterfly.  They were the cutest cupcakes ever and I can only imagine how much time and effort went into them.  They were almost to pretty to eat.  Almost.

On my actual birthday many of my coworkers made me feel very special.  A bunch of them brought me out to lunch and then we went to coldstone creamery for some delicious ice cream.  Not a very productive afternoon after that.  The entire QA department sang Happy Birthday to me.  The Boyfriend wanted to take me out to a nice restaurant for dinner that night but I was too full to enjoy a nice meal so i decided to just go to a nice pizza place and get a slice of chicken parmesan pizza.  It wasn't fancy or expensive or anything terribly special, but it was exactly what I wanted.  I decided to save that for the next night.

So last night we went to a nice steakhouse with 3 of our other friends.  I got a filet mignon and enjoyed every bite.  We then all went out to a pub and met my sister (Sister #2), her boyfriend, and another friend from work.  Sister #1 and her boyfriend were supposed to come as well but canceled at the last minute.  Another friend and her boyfriend were also supposed to meet us but never showed up.  I really enjoyed myself and hadn't realized how long it had been since I had been out to a bar/pub like that.  It hit me as I was getting out my ID preparing to give it to the bouncer.  It was an expensive night and I didn't have to pay a cent.

So bring on the thirties.  I am ready.  I am looking forward to seeing what this decade has to offer.

Cheers!

One thing that I did not do much of in my twenties, that I would like to do more of in my thirties, is cook.  Another thing is bake. 

The first time I ever baked a batch of cookies entirely on my own was when I was twenty-six years old.  How pathetic is that?  I baked a pie for the very first time earlier this year.  The new house came with a garden which came with lots and lots of rhubarb.  I didn't know what to do with it, but didn't want to waste it, so I decided to try making a strawberry-rhubarb pie.  Surprisingly, it came out really well. 

The boyfriend and I usually eat out several nights a week.  This is hard on both the wallet and the waistline.  I'd like to limit going out to maybe once or twice a week.  I also think I would enjoy it more if I did it less often.  Right now I am attempting to make some sweet potato fries, which really aren't fries at all.  I cut up a sweet potato (I had no idea they would so difficult to cut!), brushed it with some olive oil, added some sea salt and ground pepper, and have it baking in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  I guess we'll find out shortly if it is a success or a disaster.

My birthday is in 2 days.  My 30th birthday.  For some reason it gave me the crazy idea to create a thirty something blog. 

I know it's not much to look at right now.  I still need to learn how to tweak it to my liking.