Attic vs. AirBnB

It's been a quiet Saturday of work, snugged away in the Attic, which while snug, sometimes is TOO snug -- especially when the neighbors are tromping away upstairs, your next door neighbor has decided to pull out his upright bass to work on scales (I mean, why?), and you would like to escape to another room ... Except, there isn't another room to escape to.

How lovely would it be to go outside and work, or an office, or to spread out on a lounging piece of furniture that is NOT your bed? Or to indulge in your favorite decor styles, or experiment - except ... you can't because it's snug?

Oh well. Since I didn't win the lottery to make this happen, I can pull out my photos from my recent New Year's trip to Long Island courtesy of Christine's very generously extravagant Christmas present, where we stayed in an out-wardly unassuming late 70/80s split-level ranch, which had been updated to a very lovely AirBnB, basically lifted from shelter magazines, and the pages of Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and Restoration Hardware.

Look at this beautiful back porch table. 

All the light. The room. The seashells.

(It was really hard not to pocket this blue hunk of crystal!)

Even beyond the hot-tub, fancy Kohler showroom bathrooms, the chrome kitchen, 

and the downstairs wet bar that is fancier than my entire kitchenette, 

 the three bedrooms mixed with my favorite blue and white, wood, and nickel finishes,

 or vintage school desk/beach cottage features, 

A dedicated OFFICE,

my dream entry wall, color schemes, finishes, salvaged stained glass, and beach-combed chic,

there were two places that I could have willing never left.

This lounger.

Doesn't it just invite you to spend an entire Saturday on it, 

reading, blogging, and/or sleeping?

EXCEPT ...

It looked directly at this assumedly vintage wooden advertising sign.

I love the graphics, but ...

it still irritates me for one HUGE reason.

 If you don't know why it irritates me, we can't be friends.

And then there was this couch in the "basement." 

The deepest leather couch I have ever had the glory to curl up in.

Next to the "fireplace," in front of the sharpest HDTV ever.

What with an all-weekend Downtown Abbey marathon, a wet-bar behind us, a bathroom within steps, the only thing to figure out was how to maneuver to the snacks and drinks when it was so deep. 

If you ever can't find me, maybe check that I haven't checked myself back into this AirBnB, or decamped to a Restoration Hardware showroom somewhere.

Who needs shelter magazines? A lot of THIS is exactly what I wish I could afford ... 

One day.

Okay. Enough dreaming.
Back to work.

AFTER I bang on my neighbors' wall in a very passive-agressive kind-of way.
 
 
~ photos by iPhone

Train Training: January 15, 2015

Readers, if I can leave you with nothing else from your 10-15 seconds reading this entry - or even ANY reading of this blog - let it be this.

DON'T BE THESE PEOPLE!

That is a five-seater on a train, where two people obliviots* are taking up all of the seats. People are standing in the vestibule because these two Seat Hogs are spread out, 

eating a three-course meal, with bags everywhere.

I took this a year ago - and I'm STILL so annoyed I had to share it as a PSA.

 DON'T BE THESE PEOPLE.

Also - it was FREAKING COLD that day. I don't know how she sat there with her lap and legs exposed like that.

*(Oblivious Idiots)

~photos by iTouch

That Time I Saw POTUS: January 10, 2015

Sadly, my (first) trip to DC last year had to come to an end and I had to wend my way home. But no trip to DC would be complete without a sighting of the big man himself, POTUS.

I didn't say it was the real POTUS.

I just said there was a sighting... in the gift shop... at Union Station. By a very one dimensional version.

It was another beautiful sunny Amtrak train trip home, with all the free wifi I could enjoy, while texting to catch up on work, keep people apprised about half hour delays due to people falling down boarding the trains in Baltimore, and for me to stay plugged in to take pictures out the window. I did look up a few times to snap the sights.

 *President of the United States

~ photos by iTouch

Street Art: January 9, A Year Apart

Sometimes the most interesting things AREN'T in the museums. 

Washington, DC: January 9, 2015

NYC: January 9, 2016

~photo top, iTouch; bottom, iPhone

Happy Anniversary Mary and Max!

In honor of a very momentous year in the now, 48-year marriage of Mary and Max, I present their annual Christmas letter.

  ~ photos by me, by iTouch in August 2015, DC area

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

December 2015 finds us back in Utah after a very rich and fulfilling time in the Washington D.C. area as missionaries at the Washington, D.C. temple. Our service in the temple was very spiritual. The people we met there will be eternal friends whom we miss daily. The "hundred-things-to-see-and-do-in-the-D.C.-are" list that we received when we arrived was not completed, but we did explore some places we had not seen in our thirty plus years on the East Coast--the Baltimore Inner Harbor and Ft. McHenry; Gettysburg; Hershey, PA; Ocean City, MD; Assateague Island and the wild ponies *, to name a few. In July we got permission to go up to Palmyra, NY to see the Pageant and then to Niagara Falls, which was on my "Bucket List." I was not disappointed. [So, you can now assume that Mary is writing this.]

The temple closed August 8 for some major renovations, a month earlier than our original release date. So, we took our time coming home with detours to NC to visit relatives and a week at Topsail Island and to CT and the Cape for a week. ** (No, I cannot get the Cape sand out of my heart.) We then headed West via Interstate 90 with Moscow, Idaho as our goal to meet our newest grand daughter [Jaime]. We made it as far as Mt. Rushmore when we got a call that brought us home by September 13.

The call was to inform us that the water pipe bringing water from the street into our utility room had burst above the shut-off valve for the house. (That valve was closed). Our neighbor who walks his dog discovered water coming from under the garage door on the afternoon walk. He called our friend who had keys. She rushed over and called our son [Jed] who drove quickly from Mesquite [Nevada] and then called us as we sat enjoying Mt. Rushmore. We told him to call the insurance company and ServiceMaster was here in an hour. We got home to torn out carpet, twenty fan/heaters roaring, and major decisions to make. Three months later, new flooring throughout and a clean house. Now, to convince Max to go on another mission!

The grandchildren grew and thrived while we were gone. Drew is nearly 11; his twin brother and sister are three. The Moscow kids are nearly ten, eight, and six, and Jaime is one. We did get to see her at ten months when we left the mess here for ten days. FaceTime is a farmily-connecting tool we love.

So, what do we do now? We started our service at the St. George temple December 3 and submitted our paperwork to serve for another year at the Home Storage Center the first of January. We need to be busy with enough time to explore our beautiful area, work off the weight we gained from all the missionary parties, and help our neighbors. We are grateful for all our blessings, you being one of them for enriching our lives. May 2016 be good to you.

Love, Max and Mary

~photo by me, November 2015

* Hey, that's on MY bucket list. No fair
** And, hey, I visited for a few days in August to help clear out a lot of stuff. A LOT of the stuff. A CAR FULL OF STUFF. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MANY PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING ALL THE STUFF.

43 Ideas for Birthday 43: Passage(s) on a Private Plane

Yo fat cats!* You need to use up your share on your private jet? Need to make your private pilots earn their keep? Need to use the plane to justify its purchase? Want to just be an all-round mensch?

I may have need for some trips from NY, to DC for a pickup, and then out to West. When? I can't tell you until I have to tell you. That's the way of these things. Just being able to pick up the phone, place an order with you, your plane butler and/or pilot(s), zip down to the private hangar at the local(ish) airport and get in the air and get to my destination(s), that would be really helpful for me and my family. Like an eternal blessing kindof helpful.

Oh Birthday Fairy, please connect me to those peeps.

Plus, it would be my way of getting to get a ride in a private plane.

Hey, a girl can put this out into the universe, right? No harm, no foul.

 

* I am sorry. What IS the appropriate terminology with someone with deep, deep pockets who can float multiple private plane trips without it impacting them one bit? And don't expect anything in return from me and mine?

** No insult to people with higher than average BMI or cats with the same issue.

*** What do normal people do? Stress out!

43 Ideas for Birthday 43: Teleporters, Tardis(s) & Travel

When people ask what I'd like for my extra-sensory or super-power, I always answer:

Teleportation

I spend so much time in transit, from one place to another, and my family lives so far away, I miss a lot of birthdays, milestones, parties, anniversaries, and just the little daily things.

Since I'm not suddenly going to come into my powers, and teleport myself places ... 

It's 2015. How are those teleporters coming along, secret government scientific research agencies?

If someone could get me a Tardis or a Teleporter for my birthday, that'd be grand. 

 Beam me up, anyone!

 

 

 Oh Doctor, my doctor!