So what's the next project?

The month of August might be a bit slow on the renovating front. I'm taking another trip out to LA (I'll certainly send "postcards") to visit my daughter and it's just too flippin' hot outside to think about doing any heavy lifting even if it's indoors.

Phil and I have decided to hit the master bath (literally and figuratively) in September. This will be a total gut job (down to the studs) and undoubtedly will lead to learning through mistakes and possibly a trip to Urgent Care. My initial budget will be $3500 and it will be tight as I think a plumber or two might get involved. This budget will include everything new including a walk-in shower as opposed to shower and tub.

Words cannot describe how much I abhor this bathroom, so I will let the "before" shots do the talking:

It's like walking into the 1980's. UGH!

Double UGH!

Bathroom designs for small baths that I will use as inspiration:

Love the glass door and small hex tile in the shower.
I plan on using subway tile on the walls as well.

In this design, I really like that window in the shower. Hmm possibilities...

I will definitely need a corner bench in the shower or something like that, unless of course
Phil doesn't care if I ever shave my legs! 

Nice paint color and I may even opt for a dark vanity. The marble top is classic.

The final product will be a mixture of different design ideas that will ultimately fit our space, taste and budget. The fun part is coming up with a plan. The hard part is making it happen. 

Greetings from The Garden State! Where's Guido?

 For those of you not familiar with state nicknames, "The Garden State" refers to New Jersey. I have to tell you that when I first met my husband Phil and he told me he was from New Jersey, I had a picture in my head of dreary skies, smoke stacks, and a whole lot of Guidos standing around on street corners. I could not have been more wrong.

Oh sure - is Newark like my original thoughts? Yep. It's dingy and industrial - I'm not sure about the Guidos though. However, the other parts of New Jersey are surprisingly beautiful. I mean, really beautiful.

We are staying with Phil's nephew in a small, shore town called Avon-by-the-Sea (pronounced with a short "a" - not a long "a" like the cosmetic company). For those of you that think life at the shore is like the TV show Jersey Shore, you are sorely mistaken and really should rethink wasting your time on that trash (personal opinion - besides , who has a first name "The" (Situation)??? Ridiculous.)

Avon boardwalk

Avon-by-the-Sea is like a wonderful slice of Americana apple pie complete with a scoop of ice cream. It's a small, idyllic town where the worse crimes inflicted are a pilfered bike or a possible jay walking. It's a town where every other, lovingly restored, early 1900's house proudly flies the American flag, and lawns are manicured with pride allowing the flowers to burst into an artist's palette of color. Children walk to school and visitors and residents stroll down the sidewalks making their pilgrimage to the ocean seeking their little piece of sand and sea. It's a very special place that I'm sure Norman Rockwell would have

Beautifully restored home in Avon

painted.

We also traveled to Phil's niece's house, which is in a more western part of Jersey and just as beautiful only in a different way. Where Avon is a seaside town with the houses taking the space of every parcel of land close to the sea, 

Bucolic backyards in Millstone

Millstone Township has vast, wide open spaces where each house has at least two and one half acres and where wildlife is a part of daily life. This is a community where children play in the open spaces, where you have to search hard to see your neighbor's house from your yard, and where it's likely you have acres of farmland across the street. His niece and her husband have

Not quite what I first imagined

taken up the hobby of bee-keeping and harvest honey and who also look out their back yard to see wild turkeys, foxes, and deer. Not quite the picture television portrays of this topographically diverse state.


Yesterday we traveled to Princeton, home to one of America's premier ivy league universities. It didn't disappoint. I think my IQ grew 20 points just walking around the picturesque campus.

History is palpable as you amble through the open areas and admire the architecturally diverse buildings that are centuries old. It is a university with a 400 year past and some pretty impressive alumni, where higher learning is kicked up a notch (x 10!). This incredible university and the enchanting town of Princeton are further examples of the surprising, under-appreciated beauty in New Jersey.  

Princeton Tigers standing watch over this incredible campus

All the wonderful scenery has been terrific, but truly the best part is the array of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends with whom food and drink was shared. The setting is just icing on the cake. And...

we have been here for a week and I have not met one Guido and not a Snooki was in sight. The Garden State rocks!

Who does drama best? Streep or the middle school girl?

Sorry Meryl. Middle school girls have you beat - hands down.

Since I made a bit of fun of middle school boys in my last post, I felt it only fair to pick on the girls a bit. Gender equity and all...

This particular excerpt is from the chapter entitled "Drama Queen":

ACT I

Curtain up

In this particular scenario, we’ll call this female student Jessica Itsallaboutme. She arrives at the dance in an outfit that would make her grandmother swoon. She is strutting her stuff because she believes she looks HOT – make up, hair gel and all. Jessica, the unofficial leader of the group of girls, has a crush on Andrew Hornyguy whose alien works overtime during events such as dances. Andrew sees Jessica out of the corner of his eye and starts jokingly hitting and slapping all the boys around him for no apparent reason. Jessica hangs out with a large clump of other moody, PMS-inflicted, females who are giggling and applying their tenth layer of lip gloss. The girls move as a pack whereas, the boys just run from friend to friend making sure they continue to punch and kick each other because, well, they just can’t help it.

Jessica finds out from Sarah Busybody that Andrew has texted Brittany Femfatale that he really wants to go out* with her which, by the way, may or may not be the truth. Telling the truth is a concept sometimes lost on a middle schooler, especially when telling a lie has the potential to start an avalanche of drama.

*For a moment, I need to review what “going out” means in middle school. Trust me – they don’t actually go anywhere. Going out with someone means you “like” them. Many times, while I was chatting with students and they would use that term, I’d purposely ask them, “So, where do you go?” They would just look at me with a perplexed expression, like I had three heads or something. Complete waste of good sarcasm.

Act II

Now the plot thickens. The pack that is friends with Jessica all move to the girls’ restroom while Jessica is crying her eyes out thus making her first attempt at wearing mascara become a total disaster, which makes her cry even harder. It’s a fact that at any given time during a dance 50% of the female population will be in the bathroom either crying, primping, gossiping or, of course, texting. All of Jessica’s friends have decided to hate all of Brittany’s friends and pretty much Andrew has now been pushed out of the whole affair. This has now turned into the War of the GirlWords. When everyone gets home, they all end up texting each other throughout the night which probably involves some profanity and maybe even a threat or two, such as “I’m going to kick her ass at school tomorrow”. Cell phone towers are lit up after middle school dances. This is a known fact.

Act III

Guess who has to sort through this whole mess the next day at school? Yep – the assistant principal. Parents will be calling about the texts and Jessica will continue to wallow in the drama and still remain in the bathroom 50% of the day. Brittany, who will also be crying all day, will be ostracized and, Andrew, god bless his little alien heart, won’t have a clue. After it has taken hours and hours to sort through this mess and all the dust settles, the following day Jessica and Brittany will be best friends and someone else is crying in the bathroom because they have now been pushed out of the pack. Just shoot me now.

Curtain down.

A day in the life of middle school... who needs the theater when you've got a front row seat to drama like this?