Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Halloween 2010

Just a quick post on Halloween.

It was really a last minute effort to put something together this year. I ended up going as a tennis player. Bill went as a certain movie character with the last name Diggler. I thought he looked like Marky Mark the entire time, but he didn't believe it until some people at the front door of the PDX party we went to screamed out, "DIRK"!!! It was funny.

There are also pics of Des as Medusa and Zach in his PeeWee outfit. Halloween is definitely his night.

Until next year....






What a cutie!

basement happenings.....

So......my basement continues to be a work in progress. My original goals were to quickly make it livable and rent it out ASAP. Turns out, that is much harder than one might think. I did drag my feet on getting the electrical work completed, but even more of a problem was my interest in making it a desirable place to live. Since I started the remodeling project, several things have happened. My partially employed neighbor has been re-framing and drywalling for very cheap. This has made a huge difference in the feeling and appearance of the entire basement. There are also two new windows, one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. The big projects have included reframing, new drywall and taping, electrical updates and the plumbing. I finally got the electrical stuff done and am also feeling very thankful to Mr. Bill who has ridiculous handyman skills. He plumbed the kitchen/laundry area. Words can not express my appreciation for his time and efforts in this area.

Here are a few pics from around the basement.

Bill working on the plumbing. Notice my free craigslist cabinets in the bottom of the pic. They have been primed and will be painted a nice, clean white very soon. Butcher block countertops, new stainless steel sink and faucet to follow!

New window in the bedroom. There is also a new centrally located light, new outlet and new convenient light switch. I'm wondering why I didn't become an $$electrician$$?

The newly framed closet and door.

The bathroom- which thankfully was done when I moved in. I just had to have the ceiling drywalled.

This is a view of the kitchen/entry/bathroom area from the living room.

This is the living room/bedroom side of the basement.

Bill finishing his work.

Braya and Baby hanging out in the basement.

I'm feeling really good about the basement. Thinking I wouldn't mind living down there myself! I will have a Basement party when it is all complete. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Crabbing turned stormy beach weekend

About a month ago, I had plans to crab with Bill. For those of you who are reading from afar, Bill is my boyfriend. I won't go into details about how cool he is in this post (I wouldn't want to embarrass him too much), but I will list a few things that contribute to every second of fun we share when we're together. 1) He is brilliant, 2) He loves all things outdoors 3) He's hilarious, 4) He plays amazing music, 5) He's an artsy photog, 6) He loves to travel- everywhere 7) He loves the snow and 8) He has an insatiable appetite for life. I think we will have lots of fun together!

Back to the crabbing weekend. We had reserved a boat and tried to crab in Netarts Bay, when Mother Nature decided that it was time for a huge storm to hit the Oregon Coast. Instead, we enjoyed all the cozy comforts and had a great weekend in Pacific City. Geez I wish I had a piece of land in that little city. I Love IT!

We slowly made our way back to the city, stopping to enjoy Tillamook Ice cream, rustic photo sessions and local art galleries. Not sure it could have been better.

We are not done with the crabbing. A boat has since been purchased and we WILL get back out there so I can make my crab bisque. yum!

A few pics from our lazy weekend...












Monday, November 22, 2010

houseboat life

I continue to be really busy. I have been able to pack in some fun things too, not just work. I will have more time for commentary in the future, but for now, I'm posting mostly pics.

These pics are from a few months ago at the floatclub (Bill's house) in North Portland.





Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Enchantments (from early October)

I have been really, really busy lately.

It feels like I have been downloading pics from this trip for weeks! It was hands down the best backpacking trip I have ever had. I rented a wide angle lens and took a lot of photos. It was hard to narrow the pics on this blog, so I just included a ton of them.

Honestly, this trip went perfectly. We hitched a ride to the upper trailhead and began what was an epic backpacking trip. It really was like hobbitland up there! Highlights included the mountain goats, the stars, the lewis and clark photo in this post and of course beer at Oktoberfest after completing the 20 mile loop. Betty and I had a blast as always. I'd give more commentary, but it is 1:05am and I have to get up in 5 hours. too much work these days!