Outdoor decorations

On Saturday, my mom came over for a full day of painting and decorating. (First things first: thank you for all of your help, Mom!!)

In between coats of paint in the bathroom—I'll tell you about that later—she gave me a primer on outdoor decorating for the holidays. First, we wanted to replace the summer windowbox arrangement that the previous owners had designed with a festive winter windowbox. She also pitched the idea of setting up some little pots for the front step, which I liked.

Mom tackled the windowbox while I slowly started poking pine boughs into one of the pots. She used drapey pine boughs (they smell wonderful!) with artificial red berries, and she reused the summer arrangement's sticks. (I think she arranged the whole windowbox in the time that I worked on one pot.) In the pots, we stuck a different kind of pine bough vertically (very precise language here, I know) and then added more drapey boughs, pine cones, and red berries. The weather was good for working outside: temperatures were near 30, and the sunshine was surprisingly warm.

Mom at work:



And voila!



One more view of the windowbox:




And me with the little pots!






At the start of the morning, I had no idea how to even articulate what kinds of arrangements I liked best. Mom was so helpful in walking me through the steps, patiently advising me, and presenting different options. I like this new touch of cheer.

Snowy Monday

A new season stampeded into town this morning with snow, sleet and cold wind. A few inches of snow fell in my city, but sixteen inches fell just over an hour north of here. With colder temperatures predicted for the next week, I think this snow cover is going to stick around for awhile.

Other tidbits to begin the week:

1) This weekend included a first birthday celebration, a 31st birthday celebration, and a dinner-meeting with some of my TCM friends. Josh and I also went to the Gophers game against Iowa, my first visit to TCF Bank Stadium in a couple of years. (It was a big win for the Gophers!)

2) I got a few miles in this morning as the snow was falling. I had a lot of snow in my face by the time I was done, but I'm glad I did it.

3) We bought a shovel yesterday - just in time! I shoveled light snow this morning and Josh cleared an icy and snowy sidewalk this evening.

4) Wish has been scrambling across our living room coffee table's lower shelf when he's running after a ball, but I think this weekend was the first time I noticed him using it as a place to rest.

5) We're hosting a big group for dinner tomorrow. Tonight I made brownies for tomorrow's dessert and I had to cut off an edge to make sure they were okay.

Onward to Tuesday!

Home work

In between watching football games this weekend (two key wins on Saturday for both our alma mater and Tennessee!), Josh and I worked on a couple of house projects.

First, Josh installed a light on our back porch. There were wires involved, and he navigated them all. There was a ceiling fan on that fixture when we moved in, but now there is a light, too, so we can spend evenings out there.

Later on Saturday, I decided to assemble my latest Craigslist purchase on my own, since Josh has been putting together plenty of furniture lately and I wanted to practice that skill for myself. I bought an Ikea Expedit bookcase from a woman who was moving out of state, and she was kind of enough to break it down for me so that it could fit in my car. Putting the Expedit together turned out to be a surprisingly fun task, not unlike assembling a jigsaw puzzle.

Just getting started:

Almost done, before getting the drill out for a few bolts to stabilize the whole thing:

The Expedit's home will be in the room we're using as our office. Last week my mom turned this room from bright blue to grayish-periwinkle, a touch more muted than it looks in the above pictures, and we are so grateful for her help, painting skills and enthusiasm.

Today we bought our first ladder, and Josh used it to clear out the gutters.

Then I rented a lawnmower from the local hardware store and Josh mowed the yard, likely the last time we'll need to mow this season. (That rental gives us the chance to do our research over the winter before buying a lawnmower of our own.) You couldn't ask for better weather on the first weekend in November for this kind of project: for one stretch during the sunny afternoon, there was yardwork going on at three consecutive houses on our block. The leaves are falling, another season is on its way, and we're trying to check off most of these little projects before that colder weather arrives.

A new view of Halloween

The candy is in the bowl. The porch is even a little festive. (Thank you, Pinterest!)

We are ready for the trick-or-treaters!

(Author's Nov. 1 update: We had seven trick-or-treaters, including four teenagers in halfhearted costumes. The porch garland was too scary.)

Weekend update

Saturday morning seems like a long time ago!

Yesterday my mom came over to help with some house projects. While Josh was tackling his own set of house-related projects, Mom helped me prepare the vegetable garden area for winter and plant some tulip and crocus bulbs for spring. I already can't wait to see them bloom in a few months.

Then we shifted full-speed into painting. (This was the second round of painting - on move-in weekend, Mom and I worked on the kitchen and guest bedroom.) First: the dining room, which we changed from a rich, bright yellow to Butter Up, a more mellow yellow. Mom is both a strong and merry painter, which is a marvelous combination. She makes painting fun, and she makes it look easy. We are so grateful.

In between two quick coats on the dining room walls, we turned our attention to the basement wall I wanted to paint. In hopes of pulling out one particular shade of orange from the basement rug, I had tested samples of four shades of paint on the green wall before deciding on Autumn Haze. Mom did most of the first two coats, and then I topped it off with a third coat today.

Then: back upstairs to finish the dining room. Later, I put away the rest of the boxes and cleared off the table. The dining room is done!






This weekend wasn't just house projects, though. Yesterday Josh and I attended the beautiful wedding of a friend who I've known for almost 15 years (!), and it was so nice to celebrate my friend and her new husband and get a chance to catch up with some of my other friends from high school.

Today continued the streak of stunning fall weather in Minnesota, and we went for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Because of how our work schedules overlap, Josh and I are typically solo on our walks with Wish, so I loved today's stroll.

And Tennessee did not manage to upset Ole Miss yesterday, but we're closing out the weekend with what looks to be shaping up to be a good Broncos win. I'm looking forward to the week ahead.

The back porch

Our back porch is one of my favorite places in our new home.

We liked it in the photos online before we even walked through the house, and we moved the little couch, a futon, and the dining room set onto the porch as soon as we moved in. I had plans to eat breakfast there all the time, but during a stretch of cooler weather this month, I didn't spend many mornings out there. We may need to get a little heater eventually, I think, to really maximize at least three seasons of use. But sunlight streams into the room later in the day, and as soon as the first touch of afternoon sun hits the space, it warms up beautifully. (It will be a good spot for a weekend afternoon nap.)

This morning, I peeked my head into the porch and was surprised and happy to find it warm enough to bring my breakfast and Kindle out there. (Wish also loves this room because of the view outside, especially when I pop open a window to let in a breeze, so he trots in whenever we do.)

And then the light started to change, and I liked it even more!



I'm looking forward to plenty of mornings on this porch—maybe, maybe even year-round!

Back to books

Two weeks after moving into our new home, we are mostly done with the initial phase of unpacking—literally, the unpacking of boxes—and are more focused now on actually setting up rooms. It's tempting to jump around from project to project, so I scribbled down a To Do list to focus on one task at a time, which has been so helpful. Between the progress on that little list with the process of setting up a cozy reading nook last week, I realized I haven't sat down to read a book in our new house yet!

Now it's time to get back to my books. Over the weekend I reserved and downloaded a figurative pile of library books for my Kindle:

Per recommendations:
Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine)
Attachments (Rainbow Rowell)
Looking for Alaska (John Green)
Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand)

Stumbled across while browsing:
Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo)
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams (Ben Bradlee, Jr.)
Upstairs at the White House: My Life With the First Ladies (J.B. West)

And two more for good measure:
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), because I haven't read it in ages
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein), because Josh and I listened to part of it as an audiobook and didn't finish, for no good reason

It's not likely that my name will reach the top of the reservation lists all at once, so I really hope I get to read them all. (And you know I love to hear recommendations based on what you're reading. Share, if you'd like!)

A visit to the garden

My mom came over to help us with some yard work last night (read: teach us how to do yard work) and our hydrangea bushes (among other areas around the yard) are now ready for colder weather. We also cleared out the raised bed that will turn into my vegetable garden come spring. (Many, many thanks to Mom!)

All of this reminded me that I needed to spend some time at my original little garden plot, so after work today, I headed over there.

With a couple of frosts on record in St. Paul already, it's not surprising that the garden is fading. I think this flower captured the feeling gracefully.




I collected a few green tomatoes and cleared out a couple of the tomato plants, but I need to go back this weekend to finish cleaning up and transplant some of the herbs into pots to keep at the house.

We've been spending most of our evenings lately unpacking and assembling the rooms in our home, and I hadn't visited the garden in ages, so it was nice take a few leisurely minutes outside today in the sun. Also, the clouds today were magnificent.

I'll miss my little garden plot this winter but am excited for more garden adventures in the yard next year.

Pause

Tonight, after Josh and I unloaded a Craigslist purchase from our car, I looked at the pile of boxes lining our dining room wall and instead flopped onto the couch to watch playoff baseball. Josh wasn't home at that time - but I still had company.

But now said company has run off into the guest bedroom, one of his favorite places in our new house, and I'm about to browse some magazines that seem to be filled with fall-themed project ideas. Twin Cities Marathon weekend kicks off tomorrow afternoon (I'm volunteering, not running!) and I'll enjoy this evening at home before those wonderful festivities begin.

In a new place

We're here!!

The past five days have been a whirlwind of signing papers, getting keys, painting, carrying boxes, unpacking some of those boxes, and making trips to the hardware store. Of course, we haven't done that all on our own. We are very grateful for all of the people who helped us get here.

I handed over the keys to our apartment tonight and unpacked one more carload full of odds and ends. Now I'm sitting at the table in our dining room. Wish is curled up in a little ball next to me, tuckered out after these days full of new hallways and corners and smells. Josh is putting together a bookcase in the adjacent living room, and we've got playoff baseball on the TV. Two of our neighbors dropped by last night to say hello.

It's pretty wonderful how quickly this house structure can begin to feel like our home.

Moving along

This morning I went for what I expect to be my last run starting from this front door. Cardboard boxes are the sole decoration in our apartment right now. (Wish only likes them when he's leaping over them.) Over the last month, we've been looking back fondly over the last four years at this address (four years!) and making plans for the next one.

In the next few days, we'll be in our new home!

Monday notes

Much like last Monday's post, I'm here to report that Josh and I spent big chunks of Sunday packing and organizing and preparing for our move in a couple of weeks. We get more and more excited about our house the more work we do, and just the simple task of labeling each box with its destination in our future home builds on that feeling. Soon we'll be in our new house!

Other Monday updates:

1) I ran eight miles on Saturday, my longest run in a few months! Molly nudged me to sign up for the 10-mile option of a great local race, and it's this weekend, so I've been slowly bumping up my mileage to prepare. She's running the 20-mile version, so I'll get to run one loop with her before she's on her merry way for 10 more miles.

2) This dog:

3) One year ago this week we were getting ready to get married! I love thinking back to the days leading up to our wedding.

4) Some autumn weather is swooping in later this week. I dug out my sweaters.

5) Chilaquile casserole tonight for dinner using tomatoes from the garden, fresh sweet corn and a farmers market zucchini - a big departure from how I assemble this dish in the colder months!

I'm off to pop outside to see if the clouds have cleared enough to reveal tonight's harvest moon.

The start of September

We've spent big blocks of the last few days getting ready for our move later this month—packing, prepping, organizing and cleaning—and feel good about the progress!

Five other notes:

1) I did start the weekend with a run: On Saturday morning I ran with Molly, two of our former cross-country teammates and one of their partners. I haven't run with a group that large since I was part of the running club a few years back, and I loved it. I was only with Molly and the crew for six of the 17 miles she eventually covered, but those miles flew by as we talked both as a large group and in pairs.

2) We took a break in between errands on Sunday for lunch outside at Anchor Fish & Chips in Northeast. The view from my seat:

3) I said before that our home projects were on hold, but we wanted to do one more: recovering four chairs for our new dining room. I read several tutorials online, but the one I recommend most is a Martha Stewart video on the topic. Josh used needle-nose pliers to rip out the staples on each seating pad's previous cover while I cut fabric, fit each piece to the chair and stapled it back on. This project was easier than we thought, especially once I got past the first chair's first corner.

Before:

After:

We liked the final result!

4) I might have also made a mini table runner modeled after the checkerboards in Tennessee's endzones to use up a leftover piece of duckcloth from last fall's table runner projects. And Josh and I were happy about many components of Tennessee's big win on Sunday night! I loved hearing how loud the crowd at Neyland when the team ran through the T and during other key moments. There were some great college football games this weekend.

5) As I sorted out my books, I discovered that I had two copies of Jerry Spinelli's book Stargirl, a pleasing realization. I hope this happened because I just bought duplicate copies of this wonderful book at different stages of my life, not because one copy belongs to someone else.

6) This guy elected to spend a lot of time lounging in his room (his crate) while we were packing and organizing this weekend, but he loved a long walk on Saturday.

Last night, Josh grilled bacon cheeseburgers on pretzel buns, I made Oreo ice cream, and we watched "The Way, Way Back," which I loved. We are ready for the first week of September.

Home updates

I've been tinkering with a couple of home projects lately, but before going on about furniture that doesn't really make sense for our current apartment, I'll explain:

Josh and I bought a house!

Well, we're in the process of buying a house, anyway. It's a Craftsman bungalow with three bedrooms and two porches in a neighborhood we love, and I can't wait to tell you all about it once we close next month. While we'd love to be settled in our new home sooner, it's good to have time to prepare for the move. For now, I'm having fun brainstorming furniture and room and garden layouts (and we're slowly starting to organize our current belongings).

Despite that enthusiasm and excitement, I'm sort of trying to hold off on purchases and projects until we actually are living in the home—and ideally settled in for awhile, to be able to see how we use each space. But there are a couple of exceptions, including a little cabinet that I bought off Craigslist that we're hoping to use as a TV stand (first idea), a buffet for our dining room (second idea) or in one of a few other places (if the others don't work). We also wanted to just figure out how to do this kind of project. We stripped the stain off—which we may or may not have needed to do—then sanded it and painted it white. (I've learned there are some strong opinions out there about painting over wood, but I like it on this one.)

Before:

After!

In search of knobs that tied the white and brass together, I bought a different set (not pictured) but Josh said those knobs looked like disco balls and then of course that's all I saw, too. Then I found some other knobs on Etsy (also not pictured) and I think those are actually going to be the winners.

I also wanted to add some comfortable chairs to our (eventual) front porch, and I was hoping to find at least a temporary option to maximize the number of evenings out on that porch this fall. Last month I (literally) ran by a garage sale and saw a pair of wicker chairs for $5 each. All they needed was a fresh coat of spray paint, so I hurried home and drove back to pick them up. I added some self-imposed urgency to the chair project when our patio furniture sold faster on Craigslist than I expected, leaving us with an empty patio for the rest of the summer (or until I finished the chair project).

Before:

Halfway through:

And after! (The true color is probably a cross between these two photos.)

Then our makeshift patio set-up needed some sort of table, so I looked in our basement for something to use as a side table and found an old Ikea Lack table that was already navy blue. It was a good size but seemed like a little too much solid navy when paired with the chairs, so I went in search of some gift wrap or fabric to Mod-Podge over the top. At Patina, I found a sheet of matte gift wrap that was a fun version of a Minnesota map (and incorporating a bit of blue color to boot!), and I decided to go with that. I adhered it to the table with Mod-Podge and then added a couple of topcoats to seal it.

We've since shifted our focus to organizing and packing, but we both learned a lot even from just these two projects—and we're excited to learn more in the months and years ahead.

The latest things

Lest the title confuse you, this post is not at all about new-to-the-world trends. It's just a regular old Miles and Laurel update on my latest...

Book: I am reading Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927 and am fascinated by it. It details all of the factors and storylines at play that make 1927 a pivotal year in American history. I'm not even halfway through yet, and I've already learned a lot about aviation, baseball, Prohibition and the rise of the automobile. I also learned that Calvin Coolidge had a beloved pet raccoon named Rebecca.

Team sport: I have joined a softball team. Our first game was scheduled for this week but the rain thwarted those plans. I haven't actually played on a softball team since eighth grade (my grandma laughed and laughed when I told her this update) and am a little bit nervous. Mostly, though, I am excited because it will be one set evening each week where I'll be outside with friends who I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Wall update: Our household recently purchased a Minnesota Historical Society membership, and a recent mailing caught my eye. I liked the travel map so much that I wanted to add it to our gallery wall, which features some of our favorite places. On one rainy day this week, I shuffled some frames around, then shuffled some more, and then Josh and I set up the new nails (including some very high ones) to make room for a new vertical piece. See it?



The two biggest images, the Minnesota map and the old Twin Cities Marathon poster toward the left edge of the wall, both incorporate that pretty, vibrant red color. I like how they play off each other.

Salad discovery: I have a couple of friends who are so good at whipping up beautiful salads. I do not have this skill yet. But recently I did discover a game-changing recipe for healthy green goddess dressing from A Couple Cooks via Em for Marvelous. (I just made the dressing for the second time and realized I completely accidentally omitted the olive oil the first time around, so it's good with or without it.)

Craft: I'm finishing up a little makeshift cover for my Kindle. One of the earliest steps, courtesy of some leftover scraps of quilting batting:

May project: This week I attended the first meeting of the year for our community garden group, and despite this week's gray skies and rain clouds, it's time to start brainstorming about this year's garden plan.

What projects are coming up this month for you?

Marvelous Monday: Week 11

I hit "publish" too soon on Saturday's post about bubbly ice! Look what I saw on Sunday's run:

Okay, let's start off the week with five tidbits for Marvelous Monday:

1) I tried a new recipe last night for Thai chicken curry, with red curry paste instead of yellow because I had a jar already in my cupboard. Thumbs up from me, especially with cilantro on top. (I didn't buy basil but I think the combination would be pretty good.) I think this is the first time I've actually trusted the chicken to cook during the simmer instead of cooking it separately and adding it in later, and that made everything a lot easier!

2) Josh and I have a list of about eight household chores that we try to do weekly, which means that everything usually happens on Sunday. Josh was out of town over the weekend, so we did most of them on Friday instead, and it was fun to enjoy a clean(er) house all weekend instead of just starting the week with one.

3) Last week's purple tulips are hanging around!

4) Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise. Fitzgerald wrote his debut novel in St. Paul and I heard a lot about it on the walking tour I took awhile back, so it's fun to read it with some context from Fitzgerald's own life in St. Paul. (Also, remembering that tour reminds me that spring and summer bring more neighborhood walking tours, and I need to do some research.)

5) I'm signing up for a 25K trail race with Molly and am very excited about working back up to a longer distance and running in a new-to-me trail system next month.

And I'm still thinking about my D.C. friends as they wait for their baby. Soon!

Hope your week is starting out in a marvelous way!

The fireplace

Josh and I currently have a nonfunctioning fireplace in our living room, and a functioning fireplace is definitely on our dream wishlist for a future home. We love the idea of a working fireplace on a cold day.

We're a step closer...

This week I made it a little more functional...

Okay. This has nothing to do with a functional fireplace. I made a fake fire out of paper - and I love it.

With a Young House Love project way in the back of my head as initial inspiration, I got up during a Friday Night Lights marathon on a particularly chilly day last weekend and started making wavy "flames" with my rotary cutter and some red, orange and yellow scrapbooking paper, then taped each arrangement onto the fireplace doors.

Later in the week, I looked over at the fireplace and had to laugh. It looks like our "fire's" "flames" had actually sent little reflections dancing across the floor.

It's totally goofy, but the "fire" 1) makes me happy whenever I see it and 2) truly makes the room feel a little more cozy. We may have also talked about it like it's a real fire. It's not a home project I ever expected to take on, but it's definitely providing a little extra warmth (yes!) this week.

Marvelous Monday: Week 51

It's almost Christmas!

Five marvelous tidbits to begin the week:

1) Our washing machine broke down over the weekend, and Josh did some research, tinkered with some machine pieces, and fixed it successfully himself!

2) I hot-glued our holiday cards on to sparkly gold ribbon and they're all hanging up now on the pillar in our kitchen, and I love looking at them. They may stay up for months.

3) We had a fun visit last night with our friends - the new parents! - and their great family.

4) Today's high temperature struggled to get higher than two or three degrees, which didn't exactly buoy my spirits for the run I had planned. I cut it short - three miles or so - and ran errands around the neighborhood, and it did feel good to get out there and trot around a bit.

5) With more snow on tap for Christmas Eve, it will definitely be a white Christmas in our part of Minnesota. It seems like a light snow has been falling a lot lately, that glittery snow, and it's really beautiful - especially at night under the streetlights. I love to watch Wish run/hurdle through it, and I'm looking forward to getting my snowshoes out sometime in the next couple of weeks!

Are you traveling this week, and is it snowy where you are and/or where you're headed? We'll be in Minnesota this year, spending time with family here and also thinking of family in Colorado.

Runners

Ha, ha. A different kind of runner than what I usually write about: table runners!

It all started at Halloween. Remember my proud, tall pumpkin?

I don't mean to be too gross, but in the interest of full disclosure, the pumpkins went downhill really fast - literally over the course of, like, 36 hours. I have no idea what happened, but it was disgusting.

I don't think his big old grin helped his structure. Anyway, I'd rather not ever think about that pumpkin again. The point is, I was in the mood for some new table decor after that fiasco, and I was intrigued by the idea of table runners.

I'll pause to apologize quickly to my mother, who has been a fan of table runners for many years. My siblings and I used to wonder why one would ever need a table runner, unless that person needed something to wear as a scarf or shawl. Mom! I'm sorry we poked fun at your runners!

Anyway, I got a couple of yards of fabric (thanks, Joann Fabric coupons!) and googled tips for making a table runner. I started with a gray chevron print, and I'm not sure why, because making the zigzag edges look even made this particular project harder than my first runner probably should have been. Really, it is mega-easy and the assembly took me about 20 minutes. I sewed two edges together, flipped it inside out (so the seam was inside the runner), and folded the short ends in about an inch and sewed them shut, too, before sewing a seam along all four edges to finish it. I didn't want the runner to hang over the table (though that seems to be how most look) so I kept the entire length just shorter than the table.

Here's how it turned out:

This link shows you how to do it without sewing at all. I was browsing that link when I got to page 2, when the author wrote, "Since I was planning to paint my table runner, I chose a thick white duck cloth, also known as sail cloth or canvas."

What? Paint a table runner? Duck cloth!?

I had been searching for a print fabric that incorporated that orange-red-purple combo of which I'm so fond - but now it turns out I could just paint my own runner! I got some small tubes of acrylic paint and a couple of sets of Martha Stewart stencils and got to work.

Stenciling is satisfying largely because of the moment just before you pull the stencil away to see how your work looks. See? You really want to know what's underneath the stencil! (I did, anyway.)

I tried a table runner with a random hodgepodge of designs on it.

For awhile, it wasn't quite working out. I like it now, but I think I might like more pattern or just less white space. It was definitely fun to practice using the different stencils and see what application techniques worked and which ones smudged.

Then, with half a yard left of duck cloth left, I decided to try a more regular pattern. Ready for the before and after for each one?

Red:

Orange:

Purple:

You get the idea. I should note that most of the stenciling was done with my faithful Canine Craft Loather by my side.

I should also note that the stenciled runner was not a super quick project. If you are stenciling designs in close proximity to other designs (like both of my runners), you have to let the paint dry or at least set before putting another stencil on it. I did most of the second runner on a leisurely weekend day, when I could swoop by the table and do 10 minutes of stenciling at a time, and then finished it up in little windows over the next few days.

Then I ironed the edges and sewed those down, and it was done!

I still have fabric for a gently holiday-themed runner that I'm planning to tackle soon. Stenciling a runner makes it a longer project, but if you're just working with plain old fabric, I learned that it's a quick, cost-effective way to change up and add some color to a room. (Next up: white duckcloth and more orange paint for University of Tennessee checkerboards!)