Happy Birthday to Jamie

Jamie turned 33 on June 21st. Thanks to some birthday $ from the parents on both sides, she decided to get a new bike to ride around the neighborhood. After careful consideration of some various styles by Electra, she decided to drop the cruiser and go with the Townie, a 21-speed bike with a little more go than a cruiser, but still a leisurely, comfortable rider. The biggest dilemma? ORANGE or BLUE? Ohhhh, so difficult to choose. But in the end, they didn't have any orange in stock, and Jamie liked the blue the best anyhow.

Jamie went on her first ride tonight to survey the neighborhood and figure out how to set the bike for maximum comfort. It's not part of the house, but it's such a cool bike that she has to share.

More Rock!

With the first phase of the big landscaping more or less done, this project was much smaller comparitively. This time the project was done in one day. The goal? Fill in the 3x30' edge on the left side of the driveway with some rock. We picked a hot one to do it. Almost hit 100 here in Denver; while it isn't abnormal anymore, it's still not what you would hope for (today the high was 79, less than a week later).

My friend Steve, who owns a studio in town that my company frequents for its audio needs, was kind enough to lend me his sweet 1985 Ford F-150. For those of you in Texas, it's similarities to my dad's truck in Carrollton are uncanny. Just a little bigger, a little taller. Alas, only AM radio, so between that and having to use those little weird windows that turn wind into the cabin for AC (no AC in this truck--even the my dad's has that!), it was pretty nostalgic.

Jamie's friend/coworker Bonnie from Integer had a bunch of extra 2" river rock that she needed to get rid of, so between Steve's truck and Bonnie's free rock, this was the true meaning of adding sweat equity to the house. Other than the cost of gas and the loss of a Saturday (though we were done in time to grill on our grill for the first time and then go to Punk Rock's show later that night), this upgrade was about as "free" as a house project can be.

But I digress...about 8 hours later, two truckloads of rock, and two trips to northeast Denver, the project was completed:

Work Commences

We are Adults: Part II

I'm not sure when we turned the corner. I think it was somewhere between the ages of 28 and a half and 30, some weird things become exciting. New silverware, mowing the lawn, learning how a swamp cooler works, painting baseboards (ok, we still haven't gotten to that yet--I think we might pay someone to do it because I'm really dreading that job), and new furniture.

But I have to say, we're pretty excited about this addition. Our first, real, adult, kitchen table that we can actually use for eating, entertaining, and well...we're still just gonna put stuff on it when we walk in like we always have, but nevertheless.

We went with the zebrawood top and the stainless steel base (from the "make your own table" series at Room & Board if you're interested). Modern, but not cold. And it will look good with any chair we choose, whether wood or with color. Dinner parties, coming to a house near you. Oh wait. I don't think that was included in that whole 28 and a half to 30 transition. I think that comes in two or three more years.