Stone Gone Awry

Short story: We had extra budget and decided to get a built-in unit in the living room. It was going to look great! Then the vent guys installed a vent in the corner - a.k.a. the entertainment center was going to look off-center. The solution was to shorten it and build a (insert correct word for vertical bulkhead here) on the other side. The builder suggested we put stone around the outside because it would hide the bulkheads. We've been waiting for the stone to go in... and all of a sudden it was.

QUICKLY GLANCE AT THE PICTURE. If you focus too long... you start to see all the bad parts. Our designer got it... "when it is fixed, it's going to look smashing!" We couldn't agree more - the idea behind it is perfect for the room. But oh... so many things are wrong with it. At the last minute, we decided to put the stone on top of the unit. The designer and I thought that would get around the awkward bulkhead on the other wall. It appears that wasn't communicated to the stone trades. [No, they're not just not finished. The house is being cleaned for carpet to come in and the boxes of stone were gone.] Also, the "illusion" wasn't fulfilled. The illusion was that the wall is made out of stone and the unit is set back in the stone. You get that illusion by having the stone wrap around the drywall, completely covering it. As you can see below, that didn't happen. It just looks like stone stuck on the wall - even I could do that! [Maybe]. Thankfully, our builder is all over it and will be fixing it as soon as possible.

Starbucks Mug Collection

When Ian and I first went to Seattle, we went to the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market. Ian bought a mug that had a picture of the storefront on it. From then we started collecting their "'08 Icon Series City Collection". So far we have...

• Barcelona
• California
• Los Angeles
• Pike Place Market
• Scotland
• Seattle
• Washington, DC
• Vancouver

We got our latest addition on Saturday. Toronto!

Why do we collect them? Good question. I'm not sure why. They hold a decent size cup of coffee or tea. They are colorful and will look good in our glass corner cabinet in the kitchen. But they are also pretty interesting... most have sketches of the city's skyline on them. It's surprisingly fun to "collect" something too. They aren't as tacky as say... Nascar Collector Plates!

We've been able to expand our collection with the help of my co-workers. If I'm lucky, I will be able to add Greece and Korea to our collection soon! Here is the list of cities that you can get. If you happen to be heading to any of these cities, let us know. :)

Aachen, Acapulco, Alaska, Amsterdam, Ankara, Arizona, Aruba, Athens, Atlanta, Auckland, Austin, Australia, Austria, Bacolod, Baguio, Bahamas, Bali, Banff, Bangkok, Barcelona, Basel, Batangas, Beijing, Belfast, Berlin, Bern, Bonn, Boracay, Boston, Bremen, Brisbane, Bucharest, Bulgaria, Calgary, California, Canada, Cancun, Cardiff, Cebu, Charlotte, Chengdu, Chiang Mai, Chicago, Chihuahua, Chile, China, Chongquing, Ciudad de Mexico, Cleveland, Cluj-Napoca, Colorado, Corfu, Crete, Culiacan, Cyprus, Dalian, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Dongguan, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Edmonton, England, Florida, Forth Worth, France, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Geneva, Germany, Gold Coast, Greece, Guanajuato, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hawaii, Heidelberg, Hong Kong, Houston, Indianapolis, Indonesia, Ireland, Istanbul, Izmir, Jacksonville, Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Kiel, Koln, Korea, Kuala Lumpur, Las Vegas, Lausanne, Leipzig, Lima, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Los Cabos, Lucerne, Macau, Madrid, Malaysia, Manila, Melbourne, Memphis, Mexico, Miami, Moscow, Munchen, Munster, Myconos, Nashville, New Mexico, New Orleans, New York, New Zealand, Niagara Falls, North Carolina, North Island (NZ), Northern Ireland, Nurnberg, Ohio, Orange County, Orlando, Pampanga, Paris, Pattaya, Penang, Philadelphia, Philippines, Phoenix, Phuket, Pike Place, Pittsburgh, Playa del Carmen, Portland, Portugal, Potsdam, Puerto Rico, Qingdao, Rhodes, Rio De Janeiro, Romania, Ruhrgebeit, Sabah, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Scotland, Seattle, Seattle (2), Seoul, Seville, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Singapore (Merlion), Singapore (Orchid), Sofia, South Island (NZ), Spain, St. Gallen, St. Louis, Stuttgart, Switzerland, Sydney, Tagaytay, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei, Taiwan, Tampa, Thailand, Thessaloniki, Tianjin, Toronto, Turkey, Twin Cities, Valencia, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Veracruz, Vienna, Wales, Washington DC, Whistler, Wiesbaden, Wuhan, Xian, Zacatecas, Zurich

State of Our Union - May Edition

It's May. Quick question - Where has the time gone? For me... the time is flying~! For Ian... not so much. It's a day to day battle to keep him from going crazy from impatience. As much as I notice that the time is flying, the anxiety surrounding the house still has its good and bad days for me. I am trying to fill the days while we play the waiting game. Here are some upcoming events...

• The House Updates: There is a list of items to be fixed or finalized. We've been lucky to have access to the house so far. It's starting to feel very familiar.

• Red Sox Game: On May 11th Ian and I are going to see a Jays vs. Sox game to celebrate his birthday. I found some cheap tickets and it should be fun!

• Ian's Birthday: He turns the big 2-5 on the 12th. But there is a bit of a hiccup. See next item...

• Ian's California/Vegas Trip: The hiccup is that the evening of his birthday he is flying to California for a work meeting. I would normally feel bad for him but afterwards he gets to go to Vegas as a sort of... "corporate retreat". Naturally he isn't looking forward to it and I'm jealous. Like I said... "they need to include spouses who miss their mommies".

• Springtime!: I'm still excited for spring. It seems to be getting warmer and once Ian is back I'm hoping to hit up some of these - Grand River Trails. Maybe even get in some Geocaching!

So that's it.. the month of May. Let's hope that it goes quickly!

Sunny Saturday

Today was one of the first spring days that it was actually warm and sunny. I normally shy away from the sun but it was pretty nice out. We got Ian's hair cut and then headed to Fireside Restaurant. Ian used to go there for breakfast when he was in college... It is a nice/cheapish breakfast place. I am definitely going to take my family there when they come here in December. We went to The House to take the daily picture. And finally went all the way into Toronto or as "into Toronto" as I can stomach.

Back in January, my company had a week long meeting in the city. They celebrated the 20th anniversary of Amgen in Canada and gave out some gifts from Tiffany. I got the Mini Bean Necklace. It really wasn't something I would wear. So I exchanged it for this - Tiffany Blue Box. I'm probably going to use it to store my wedding rings when I clean... and I think it would look pretty good on my nightstand.

Max Quacks - Beefin' Up

Blue Bathroom?

With nothing left to do but pack [extreme understatement]... we've started to think about colors. This color of blue was suggested by our interior designer. I've made the half wall blue but I think we would end up keeping that white.

Shower Time!

We checked out The House today and got a nice surprise...

The glass shower was installed! It was hard to get a good picture... Here it is with the light on... exciting! [Minus the duct tape...] =P

And here is the latest shot of The House.

Not Getting My Hopes Up

But this was a very nice sight to see...

Snowy Sunday

Gorgeous Granite

You have something in your head... You think the floor, cabinet and granite combinations would look good... but you really have no idea. Then you see it... and fall even more in love. /drama The correct color of granite was installed today. [Thank you to my awesome future neighbor, Alicia. She let me know the granite installers were at the house!] Behold! Beautiful Kitchen!

The end of the peninsula was installed... but they had to take off the cabinet door to install the granite. It still looks wonderful....