happy halloween!

Truly the only scary thing around here is the condition of my closet (a mess to rival the most haunted of houses). And maybe all the political ads for the two jerks running for Governor of Georgia. OK, and how many episodes of Guiliana and Bill I watched this morning. Other than that, we are having a pretty mild Halloween. I'm making this for dinner tonight, I actually have everything on hand and plan to throw in the shiitake mushrooms I've had in the fridge for a while (ok, that, too, could be scary).

No costumes for Brett and me this year, so I thought I would share some disguises donned at our family camping trip this summer. Cuz they're just fun. What? All families don't play cards wearing fake mustaches?

Donnie and Steve

Darryl and Lloyd

Merle and Adolf

Happy Halloween!

Weezer!

Tonight we headed out to relive our teenage years with an all-time fave. It was a fabulous show! So much fun; I knew all the words and so did everyone else. But there were a few instances of feeling, um, old.

• The woman who sold us our beer telling us we look "really good for the year we were born."

• Rivers Cuomo made multiple references to 1994, which of course makes sense, but still :)

• The kid in front of us was young enough to be our son but incredibly well-versed in all things Weezer.

• As we got out of the truck, a teenager pulled up in a golf cart and asked if we wanted a ride to the theatre, a whopping .25 mile (tops) walk. Admiring his entrepreneurial spirit, we obliged and I slipped him a ten spot because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

• I cared absolutely not at all what I wore.

• They announced an upcoming show during which they will perform their first two albums in their entirety (awesome). The name of the tour? Memories. Ouch.

• The best? They threw tp rolls out into the crowd and when I snagged a piece the thought that immediately went through my head was, "I am so going to frame this and put it in my new bathroom..."

And now we're off to bed at a very reasonable, responsible hour. Say it ain't so!

let's be friends...

In an effort to make nice with at least a few of our 200+ condo neighbors, Brett and I are planning a chili cook-off. Hopefully it will be more than me, him, brother-in-law and the lady with the really barky dog, because I'm pretty sure I don't want to be her friend. Here's to building community with theme events and cash incentives! I love adulthood.

splish splash : bathroom on the brain...

1-2-3-4, tell me which one you adore

We've decided to try and redo the bathroom before we have company at Thanksgiving. Our contractor said that means we need to start asap! He's coming over on Thursday to discuss the specifics and I am having trouble decided on exactly what to tell him... starting with the sink. I love all 4 of the above options. I know it is kind of a no-no to have a pedestal sink in your only bathroom, but I just love the look. We are planning on having some floating shelves for extra storage and we are not Costco shoppers so I don't forsee a need to house 47 rolls of tp.

I was sold on the simple look of white subway tile about half way up the walls and white penny tiles with black grout on the floor. (Or, depending on how hip I was feeling the day we place the order, black penny tiles. Take that, Parisian chic!) But today at lunch I snuck out to Restoration Hardware for inspiration and saw a display bathroom with grey subway tile, oooh... So pretty, kind of a game changer. So, I am now on a hunt for that.

Onto the fascinating yet vitally important subject of toilets. I either want something really cool, or don't really care. What constitutes really cool in my book? Industrial chic. Tankless (a.k.a. Sloan valve, I just learned), like what you see in every rest area, department store, and, actually, many boutique hotels! What do you think? Too much? Too truck stop? Or too cool? I just love the extra pop of chrome, not to mention how fun it is to flush with your foot. We were at Lowes tonight and I am astounded to see that while No, they don't carry classic penny tile, that is special order, ma'am, they do have an abundant selection of padded, embroidered toilet seat covers. You know the ones... Why?

which flush makes you blush?

Other than that, I'll paint or wallpaper above the tile, add some simple and inexpensive chrome fixtures and find a pretty vintage mirror to hang. Thinking about closing off the door to the bedroom closet to make more wall space for a proper towel bar (and more space inside the closet, too, desperately needed), but that might add a lot to the pricetag, so we'll see. We have a shower curtain similar to this one (in Kate Spade's guest bath), I think it will stay for now. Maybe someday I'll get it together and learn to do some of this myself...

image now appearing on blog number 2,567,453...

And they say Irish food is bad...

So not true! We had great food there. While not everything we ate was traditionally Irish, it was interesting to see how passionate about fresh, local food the Irish are. I've never had greens as diverse and delicious and all the menus listed sources for meats and fish, most coming from farms in the area. I miss the brown, dense soda bread with Irish creamery butter (one of my true food loves), creamed vegetable soups and the official vacation license to eat fried fish and mash, um, often.

Some Dublin restaurant highlights were the Tearoom at the Clarence Hotel (I had the lamb pie, amazing. I couldn't even come close to finishing it, and our cute waitress from Lithuania kept insisting that I eat more), Avoca Café (vg cappuccino, charcuterie plate and sparkling lemonade), Nude for breakfast and Davy Byrne's for drinks our last night there. In Galway, we had an super fresh lunch at the Galway Museum café, perfect curry at the House and a really memorable family meal at Ard Bia's. Irish coffee and biscuits welcomed us at our B&B in Doolin and then more fish and chip gorging at Gus O'Connor's. We ate there the next night, too, I opted for mussels and there were plenty for the family to share. One last indulgence at a cafe tucked away in the Clare countryside included a HUGE tuna melt, more bacon all over everything and homemade ice cream. Too too much. But so good. We realized after a few days that you will never be just handed the check, you almost have to get snippy to get it. But it made for some relaxed times. So fun.

sew cute!

I would love to have window treatments like this in my bedroom... We have really oddly proportioned windows in there, so maybe I should try my hand at sewing? Although, making Roman shades from scratch sounds like an engraved invitation to disaster town for a beginner seamstress... Mom? You busy? My mom made us beautiful things as kids. I remember my Halloween bunny costume from 1983, it had wired ears with pink satin lining and I can still picture the hook and eye closure under the chin. Time to apply that craftsmanship to a new fall project! Pretty please?

Moments in time...

This time yesterday, we were getting dressed up for a wedding in Michigan. This time tomorrow, we will be having a pint and celebrating the first anniversary of our own wedding in Ireland. At this moment, we are enjoying a post work out tuna sandwich, watching football and getting ready to walk to the train. Suffice it to say, leisure time is my dear, dear friend...