Lessons Learned at the Beach

In the days, weeks, and well, even months leading up to our vacation this year, I've felt overwhelmed, haggard, and tired.  In addition to relaxing last week, I tried to take some time to consider how I might be able to feel a little more peaceful and energetic in my everyday life.  Now, I was on vacation, so I didn't really think that hard, but here are some things I figured out on vacation:

• Go when you have to go.
• Plan ahead so you have room to be spontaneous.  

• Live in the moment.

• Go to bed early.
• Take time to think about yourself.

• Stretch in the morning.
• Take time to think about nothing!

Engineer at Play

Kevin's mom went on a childhood toy binge at Five Below before leaving for vacation.  I can imagine what happened.  She went in with plans to get decorations for Mr. Ulmes' surprise 60th birthday party (which was a huge hit), and got swept up by bargain and nostalgia, walking away with water guns, Silly Putty, jacks, and model airplanes.  I tried to put my model airplane together for approximately 9.2 seconds before declaring that the boys were welcome to use it for spare parts or tricking out their own planes.

Kevin test flew his plane indoors (a big no no!)
:

Ok, I'm really embarrassed that I ended up shooting it sideways, but can't for the life of me figure out how to turn it.  Any suggestions?

Summer Goings-On

Finally, we're on an honest-to-goodness vacation that has given me some time to update this blog!  We're down in the Outer Banks on the annual Ulmes Family beach vacation - my first as an "official" Ulmes.  We rent a house for a week with Kevin's parents, brother and fiance.  Next summer, it will be her first vacation as an "official" Ulmes.  :-)

This picture is from last summer, when I was still "unofficial."

 Lots has been going on in our world!  In the weeks leading up to July 4th, we were working feverishly to get our house to look like, well, a house, and not a storage unit.  Although it's certainly not as homey as I'd like it to be, yet, it does finally look like a place where people live, and not where they store stuff.

Kevin was particularly concerned about getting the pool and the pool area ready.  This ended up being a huge task.  It appeared as though the previous owners did pretty much nothing to maintain the pool or pool area.  The pool was essentially a pond, complete with tadpoles and croaking frogs, surrounded by overgrown bushes and grasses.  Kevin worked valiantly for what seemed like weeks trying to clean that pool out using the skimmer and a variety of chemicals (his favorite part), but finally relented and emptied the pool.  Then, he just jumped in with a power washer and scrubbed up the sides.  We actually have a pretty cool time lapse video of this, which I'll have to post after a little processing.

We then cut back the overgrown foliage around the pool.  I've been really bad about remembering to take "before" photos, but here's some of the work in progress:

Kevin

Bryan

Sarah

Unfortunately, although we have a ton of pictures (to come) from our July 4th Housewarming BLAST, we don't really have one that really shows the transformation.  I'll have to take one when we get back to show you.

Bryan and Sarah, pictured above, were invaluable indentured servants helpers  house guests over the past two months.  Another thing that's being going on is that these two have been staying with us since their house sold until they were able to move into a new one.

They don't always look this nice.

This was originally only supposed to be a few weeks, but their original contract fell through, so it ended up being a little longer.  The good news is that staying with us just a few weeks lured them up to our area, and they found a charming place for much less than where they were originally looking.  So, now we have more friends up north with us!  They were also super, super-helpful with our home projects, and while Sarah insists they are "forever indebted" to us for letting them stay with us, we can assure her that the feeling is mutual!  The house will be empty when we get back from the beach, and we will miss the weeknight dinners and weekend bacon!

We also spent a few days in San Francisco and Monterey, CA, while Kevin was out there for a conference.  I have a lengthy post about it that I started on the airplane ride back that I'll post soon.  Here's a preview:

So, sorry for what has essentially ended up be the equivalent of a mid-summer Christmas letter.  Consider it your Christmas in July gift! 

Decades Later: Still Hangin' Tough and Larger than Life

Two weekends ago, my friend Jessica and I went to the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys (NKOTBSB) concert at First Mariner Arena in Baltimore.  Last winter, we had talked about going to see the show in DC, but were flabbergasted that the tickets cost over $100 each.  Who did they think they were?  Elton John and Billy Joel?  So, when CBS Local offered $35 tickets to the show in Baltimore, we were in, understanding that if we were going to go to this concert, we needed to do it right.  Meaning:  We had to approach this concert as though we were flashing back to 1989.  Two eBay transactions and a trip to Goodwill later, we were ready to go:

The best thing about being in your 30's and going to and going to a New Kids on the Block concert (because that's how we were really thinking of it) instead of being 11? Is being able to enjoy a frosty cold beverage ahead of time.  And also being able to drive yourself home.

I have to admit, back in the late 80's/early 90's, I was not a tremendous NKOTB fan.  I didn't dislike them, but I had a tendency at the time (and maybe even now) to recoil a little bit from pop-culture phenomenon that others lost their minds over.  I did feel a little uncool that I wasn't gaga over New Kids (among other reasons), so, of course I selected a favorite (Jordan) that I later traded in as I read 16 Magazine a little more (Joey).  So, I think that I am actually a bigger fan now than I was then - more for nostalgic reasons.

Speaking of Joey and nostalgia, check this out:

Funny, though - Jessica and I were walking past the arena to get dinner at a restaurant before the show, and a number of people (girls) were hanging out near the busses to catch a glimpse of one of the guys.

Like this

 As we walked past, everyone started screaming, so Jessica and I were naturally curious.  Now, these guys age, like the rest of us, so we were like, "Who is that?  Is that a Backstreet Boy?" "Eh, a Backstreet Boy? Who cares?"

"NO! It's Joey!"

"WHAT WHAT WHAT??? AIEEEE!!!!"

So excited for my first (yes, first) NKOTB concert!

Despite a respectable number of painted fan shirts, we were the only people I saw that went all out 80's-style.  Then, I got a little self-conscious.  I bet people like us really get on the New Kid's nerves.  They would probably love to shed the 80's/90's pop-boy-band image.  Sorry, New Kids!  I know you grew up, but maybe we didn't! 

Interestingly, there were a number of adolescent girls at the concert, young enough to possibly be conceived to the Backstreet Boys.  I can only imagine 30-something moms dragging their reluctant pre-teens the same way I was trapped into listening to oldies music for the first ten years of my life (for you youngin's, oldies to me is 50's and 60's music.  If you suggest that 80's music might be oldies, I will throw a pie in your face).  The most unusual, however, was a woman with a mullet that was nearly old enough to be our mother.  She must have been in her 20's or 30's when New Kids came out...not their target demographic...and she wasn't there with anyone, like a currently 20-30- something daughter.  And, as you might imagine, men were few and far between.

Waiting for the show to start

The concert opened with both groups singing "Vida la Vida" by Coldplay.  I just kept exclaiming, "What!  What!"   Not only do I not love Coldplay, I was like, I did not come here for a cover concert.  Kind of an odd choice for an opening, I thought.  From there, the groups pretty much alternated each song.  We presumed this was partially so they could catch their breath and preserve their aging joints (just kidding, guys!  We know we're as old as you are!).  Kidding aside, there were only four Kids on stage; apparently Jon had twisted his knee and wasn't able to perform.  He did wobble out for a cameo during Tonight.  Remembering his former disdain for the whole boy-band thing, I did wonder how genuine this injury was.

Both groups were heavy on pyrotechnics, schmaltzy canned lines, and schmoozing the audience.  Backstreet Boys invited a young lady up to the stage for a serenade, and NKOTB ventured into the crowd. 

While I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, I couldn't help but feel that there was a little more style than substance.  And although they played some more recent releases, I do feel that they played up the nostalgia factor to engage the crowd.  But what else would you expect?  I didn't go to hear stellar musicians and intriguing new music; I went to relive my junior high and college days, when things were both simpler and more complicated at the same time, but always...interesting.  I went to sing and dance, and act like a silly teenager with a bunch of other 20/30-somethings, and that's what we did!  As the opening notes of The Right Stuff blasted across the arena, I screamed and jumped up and down like a little girl.  

Jessica's got the Right Stuff!

If you're really excited, or have some time to waste, I put a little highlight video together for you.  You can't see the guys at all, but you can get an idea of the sound and light show.  And that person you might hear singing?  Is not me.  I swear.

Fun fact: I once performed as Jordan with a pared-down version of NKOTB in a college drag show.  We "sang" Hangin' Tough.

Goldilocks and the Three Greens

Three greens?  What about six greens?  Or maybe even nine?

This is why it took us three weeks to paint our kitchen.

And that three weeks doesn't count the previous two weeks, when squares of green pranced across the wall above the counter, revealing whether they were too bright, too light, too dark, or too blue.  No green appeared to be "just right."

I wanted an apple-y bright green kitchen with red accents.  Something sort of like this, as far as the colors go, but not so modern:

Here's an inspiration board I created through Polyvore:

Kitchen Inspiration by GloWorm59 on Polyvore.com


I know there are some folks, mostly men, who recoil with horror upon seeing the green on my inspiration board. And I will tell you, I learned that if this was the vibe I wanted in kitchen, the color(s) that I intially thought would provide it was far too flourescent.  When I painted the sample square (or three) on the wall, it looked my kitchen might be the studio for an eighties workout video.  I pondered mounting black lights under the cabinets.  I knew that that was not the vibe I wanted for the kitchen, so I had to figure which way to go on the color wheel. 

First, I tried lighter.  The pale green I selected looked like a sickly white once up on the wall.  Then, I reasoned - if the color I thought I wanted was too bright once it was up on the wall, then I needed to choose a shade that was slightly duller than what I thought I wanted.  With this approach, the colors I chose ended up having more of a blue hue than I wanted - more of a sage than an apple.

I was ready to abandon green all together.  Could I go back to yellow after swearing it off?  Maybe some shade of aqua or teal?  Match the dining room with Lilac Whisper?  Exhausted, yet determined, I tried one more round of greens.  This time, I took the "too blue" greens and looked for something a little more yellow, without getting the whole way to "flourescent."

BINGO!  I found our happy medium with two options:  Summer Field and Inch Worm.  Inch Worm was slightly darker and more blue.  I was torn, but since Kevin preferred Inch Worm, we tried it.



Inch Worm



Summer Field



I know the Summer Field looks almost yellow, but it really was more of a green on the wall. 

Over Easter Weekend, my dad helped us put on the first coat.  Once it covered the kitchen, we were very skeptical.  It was still a little dark and a little blue.   Painting halted while we hemmed and hawed for two weeks, trying to decide if we should keep it.  We considered switching to Summer Field, and I painted two large sample squares for our consideration.

We ended up deciding that Summer Field looked a little pukey, and that Inch Worm had grown on us enough to try it.  Once we did the second coat last weekend and removed the painter's tape, we are finally satisfied. 

I learned a lot about selecting a paint color through this process.  I've done it before with relatively little trouble, but this was especially challenging.  I would say that I took three lessons from all this:

1. If you want a bright color, realize that the color that looks as bright as what you think you want might be too bright.  Try it anyway, but select a few more subtle samples, as well.
2. When selecting samples, start with a few that are quite different.  I ended up with almost a dozen samples because I started with about four that were too bright, then two that were too light, one that was too dark, three that were too blue, and then two that ended up being real options.  I should have gone with one of each of these categories initially to see what would work, then maybe buy a few more samples within that group.
3. If you're unsure about a color, remove the painter's tape and sit with it for a few days.  It's amazing how different your impression can be once that blue outline is gone.  Also, use your normal lighting so you can get a sense of what it will normally look like.

This isn't the greatest picture, but it can give you an idea:

I do plan to replace those stained "glass" windows, as they don't really go with look I'm going for.  I'm considering replacing them with punched copper, or hand-painted stained "glass" with flowers that echo the curtains (those flowered ones on the inspiration board). I'm anxious to get it all together so I feel like we can start enjoying our home!

Care for a drink?

As I've mentioned before, my cat Snuffles has quite a personality.  Although she certainly does stereotypically "cat things," I would argue that she is not a stereotypical cat. 

One thing she does that is a stereotypical "cat thing" is enjoy what my friend calls a "sink drink."  This is actually a fairly new development.  At my old apartment in the city, Snuffles always loved a drink from the tub, so much that she stopped drinking from her water bowl and would just wait for me to turn on the tub.  She would DEMAND it, standing in the tub, yowling until I turned the faucet.  For whatever reason, though, it never occurred to her to jump into my bathroom sink for a drink.  It was a free-standing sink with no counter, so maybe she just didn't have a place to stand.

At one point, I tried to capitalize on her love of running water by getting her one of those pet drinking fountains.  In my mind, this would spare her the anxiety of waiting for me to turn on the tub faucet for her when I was gone for long stretches, and would relieve me of those demanding tub duties. Would you believe that she was terrified of the pet fountain?  She would just circle the fountain, and crouch and stare at it.  That $40 pet fountain provided no return on investment.  I ended up selling it on eBay.

When we moved to Kevin's townhouse, she was not permitted in the master bathroom, so the tub drinks stopped.  I was amazed at how often I needed to fill her water bowl once it became her primary water source.  It would appear that she had forgotten about the existance of the tub.

Until we moved to the new house.  Okay, maybe I reminded her.  Maybe, as she explored the upstairs, I carried her into the bathroom and put her in the tub.  And, just maybe, I turned the water to a slow trickle and watched with delight as she cautiously approached the stream and started lapping.  And, it is slightly possible that I created a monster.  Now, she bolts up the stairs at full speed, skids into the bathroom and leaps into the tub, yowling the whole way.  But look how cute she is!  It just gives me so much pleasure to see her so happy.

Since moving to the house and rediscovering the tub, she has also discovered the sink.  She'll hop up into the sink, tracking dirty footprints, and chirp for water.

Funny - Kevin and I have been so busy lately, we haven't had a lot of time for Lap Time with Snuffles.  So, when I sat on the side of the tub to video her, she actually ignored the running water and hopped up on my lap, instead.

Moving is Hard

Not to sound like Moving Barbie, but moving is hard!

It's not like I didn't know that.  It's not that I haven't moved at least 10 times in my life, if you include to and from college every year.  Until now, those were all small potatoes.  Those college moves were little baby steps, apartment moves a childlike scamper, but this big house move is surely a marathon.

Think about it - when you move into a residence hall, you really only need to worry about your personal items, clothing, decorations, etc.  In your first apartment (or three), you may or may not worry about furniture, combining "vintage" hand-me-down pieces with thrift-store and Walmart finds, figuring it's only temporary.  Even if you're in an apartment long enough to upgrade to "grown-up" furniture, it's still a much smaller space.  Plus, it's easier to be less picky with an apartment, since it is most likely temporary (even though some folks stay in their "temporary" apartments longer than others have been in their purchased houses!).

Even moving into Kevin's townhouse wasn't this hard.  Truthfully, I don't remember a whole lot of what he dealt with when he moved in, since I was only around on weekends at that time.  By the time I moved in, things were pretty much settled, and I just squeezed my stuff in where I could.

Like I said, this big house thing is truly a marathon.  Don't get me wrong - the house is in good condition.  Nothing is wrong - really wrong, anyway - with it.  There are things that  are less than ideal, quirky, and not to our taste.  And we want it all to be the way we want it RIGHT NOW.  As I discussed with a friend, I want it to be like The Sims where I can change out paint colors and rearrange furniture with the touch of a button, and undo if if I don't like it.  Instead, we sit with our kitchen in disarray for two weeks while we decide if the green is too green, and wondering if it's actually growing on us, or are we just tired of paint trays on the counter?  Meanwhile, deer are grazing on our grass because it took Kevin a week to get our hand-me-down tractor (for which we are super-grateful) in order.

So, I guess all this is to say that I'm sorry I haven't updated more lately.  I've been busy and exhausted, but I'm trying to be better.  In the meantime, say hello to the first stinkbug of the season:

 This was taken April 3rd.  We've given many more a burial at sea (toilet) since then.  They are prolific.

And you might also enjoy this:

1.  Kevin misspelled utensils.
2.  Kevin cared enough to make a note questioning his spelling of utensils on a packing box.
3.  I love that someone (I don't know who) went in and added foreign language accents.  I'm trying to figure out how to pronounce it, but don't really know what a tilde does to an "e."

Anyway, back to work!  I'm sure I have a box to unpack or a kitchen wall to stare at.