If you don't think I'm sweet enough already, well just go right ahead and pour some sugar on me.
The Wedding
May 14, 2005
The Honeymoon
Alaska & Victoria ,BC
We did a 7-day Inside Passage
cruise on the Sapphire Princess, making stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and
Victoria BC.
It was a fantastic honeymoon, and
don't hesitate to page me with any questions or recommendations.
Helicopter tour of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau:
The glacier:
Landing on the Glacier:
The following were all pictures taken
on our AMAZING shore expedition in Skagway. We did the all-day Yukon
Trail/White Pass Rail tour, whereby we rode the White Pass Rail train up the
mountains of Canada, had lunch at a ranch, and then took a charter bus back down
the Alaskan Highway for our return trip, making several stops along the way.
This tour really gave us a feel for the true natural, amazing beauty that is the
Alaskan wilderness, and I don't think our cruise would have been the same if we
had not chosen this tour.
Views from the White Pass Rail train:
Train entering the tunnel in the mountainside:
Train Tracks...
See all the snow? During this trip, we traveled through 7
different climactic zones. We started out at a temperate rain forest, went
all the way up to SubArctic Zone, and finished back down at the dock, which is a
coastal zone. Alaska is crazy!
We made many stops for photo ops during the charter bus ride back
down from the Yukon area.
The water was so amazingly clear and still that day.
Yes, a desert. In Alaska. Carrcross, the world's
smallest Desert. I TOLD you about those 7 climactic zones, but you didn't
believe me!
On the trip back to the boat, the weather got a little cloudy:
Taken from our deck on the boat:
Distant rainstorm at sea...
The boat docks at Victoria, B.C.:
The Empress Hotel:
Married Life!
Me!
The Husband:
Us:
Yes, we're laughing at you. No, I can't tell you why.
The Mongrels
The Chihuahuas - Ren, Chase, and Hector
Ren keeping his Pimp hand strong:
I love this picture. Ren's tongue looks so huge.
Hector and his favorite toy, his
stuffed alligator 'Juan':
The Midget aka Chase aka Chasey
Chaserton:
The gang's all here!
Sleeping piglet:
Awwwww.....
Our Home
est. June 2004
The front of the house,
when we moved in:
The front of the house,
Now (still hate the metal overhang, damn its practicality!):
(thought I had a pic, will
update later)
My new
favorite piece in the house:
Dh and I bought this piece recently at an antique store. It's a candleholder made from a 400-year-old Spanish roof tile from a monastery in the Pyrenees mountains. Hey, even if the dealer was lying to us, it was a good price and dh and I really love how it looks. So feck off ;) This is also the old wall color, Soft Fern by Benjamin Moore.
Our mini-makeover of the Living Room: Wall color - Water's Edge by Benjamin Moore. 'Nisha' Rug and dupioni silk drapes by Pottery Barn. Beat-up old coffee table a true bargain at $50 from Target (still shopping for something else that catches my eye!) Entryway table from Bombay Company. Print above fireplace - 'Narcissus' by Caravaggio (a favorite artist of dh's). And yes, I'm fully aware that the ugly torchiere light next to the fireplace has GOT to go. Yick.
The Dining
Room:
Before:
After:
Top half painted Brandon Beige,
bottom half painted Tapestry Beige, both by Benjamin Moore. Trim and
corner cabinets in Cream. LOVE the chandelier, we got it on ebay.
Love our wrought iron wine bar, too.
The Kitchen
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Before:
During (OMG do you believe
that RED TILE WALLPAPER???):
After:
Taken without the flash, you can
see the warmer colors of the cabinets and walls.
Information about our
kitchen renovation:
The whole process consisted of
essentially gutting our kitchen to the subfloor and plaster walls and starting
over again. The walls were so badly damaged by the *cough* red tile
wallpaper and such that instead of trying to repair them, we decided to cover
over them with 1/2" drywall sheets, which turned out very well. Our
flooring is 13" slate tile, which was purchased in February or March 2006 from
THIS STORE. Yes, the tiles
are quite dark, and it was a risky choice to put such a dark floor in a small
kitchen that gets no natural light, but I'm very happy with how they turned out,
I think the light cabinets balance the dark floor nicely. In real life,
the tiles are dark charcoal with beautiful light brown highlights, which play
nicely off the other colors in the kitchen. Our cabinets are by Kraftmaid,
and they are 36" tall maple cabinets with a 1/2" overlay and raised center
panel, in a Bisque glaze, purchased for an amazing price from
Just Cabinets (about $3300 for about
12 linear feet of cabinetry, would have been $2700 without the special glazed
finish). I shopped around at all the major stores (HD, Lowe's), as well as
local stores, and Just Cabinets had everyone beat by leaps and bounds. If
you're planning a large cabinet order, it might be in your interest to at least
call them and get a quote, maybe they can arrange for delivery outside the
PA/MD/DE area. I love the warm color and somewhat distressed finish of the
cabinets, and the quality of Kraftmaid's cabinetry is excellent. Our walls
are painted Bridgewater Tan by Benjamin Moore, which is a nice toasted
almond/coffee-with-cream color in real life. Sink and faucet are by Moen
in brushed nickel. Countertops are Formica laminate in Labrador Granite
finish. Laminate was definitely not my first choice, but countertops are
very easy to replace and upgrade at a later time, and I would have rather spent
the money on nicer appliances and cabinets. That said, the laminate colors
play nicely off the slate floor and bisque glaze of the cabinets. In
total, including labor costs, the entire project cost about $7,000. I
shopped around for some serious bargains for our cabinets and new stove and
dishwasher, and we think it was worth every penny!
The bedroom:
A little blurry, but oh well.
Bed and side tables by Bombay Company. Definitely not investment-quality
furniture, but we've been very happy with them and how they've held up so far.
Definitely a nice, solid bed for the price.
The Back
Porch:
Before:
After: (can you spot the
chihuahua in the picture?)
Random funny fact.
DH hate hate HATES the candleholder to the left of the tv. HATES it. To the contrary, I bought it on clearance from Bombay Company a few years ago, and have quite a strong fondness for it. The reason he hates it is because if you jostle it, even a little bit, all the candles start wobbling and fall over. I used to have it situated behind 'his' chair on the porch, and he'd bump into it ALL the time, and the candles would always fall on his head.
Hah.
What we did:
This room was super-easy. We
removed the disgusting orange carpet drapes, and replaced them with inexpensive
bamboo roll-up blinds from Ikea. They let plenty of light filter through,
but give us a little bit of privacy (even though our backyard is pretty
private). We replaced the disgusting green shag carpet with Pergo
flooring, and the whole process from beginning to end just took one night to lay
down. We also polyurethaned over the Pergo because of the dogs. I
hate that stand that sits below the tv, but it'll have to do for now until I can
find a small corner unit that I like.
