It’s Groundhog Day. The day we’re supposed to (superstitiously) find out how much longer winter is going to last. And the snow in our yard is at least 3′ deep. Groundhog or not, winter is here, and she’s not leaving anytime soon. Our Family Bath project looks like it might not end any time soon, either. Which is starting to really bring me over (you’ll have to watch Better Off Dead for that reference). Sigh.
But let me rewind a bit.
Each year, in January, stores have their annual “white sales” where they discount sheets and bedding, towels and bath items to make room for… something. Anyway, amid the sea of white that we have been surrounded by in one of the snowiest Januarys we’ve had in a long, long time, I, too, participated in the deals of the white sale. Discounted shams and a duvet cover for the soon-to-be-redesigned guest room (the purple room), a lightweight blanket and towels (from The Company Store), and just yesterday, a new lightweight quilt-type blanket from Target at 50% off (locals take note: Holyoke store has bunches of clearance bedding, FYI). So, white was the order of the month, by me and by Mother Nature. But it didn’t end there.
As winter tromps along, with seemingly no end in sight, so does our Family Bath Project. Brad’s been fitting in bits of the project between winter storms, while Dave and Jonas have been giving us time on the weekends to fit us in amid their busy (weather-altered) schedule. We knew that the wintertime project would be inevitably affected by the weather, other bigger jobs (this is, after all, just a tiny bathroom compared to the whole houses all these dudes are working on), and colds and flus. So far we’ve been incredibly lucky, and the scheduling has worked out very well for everyone. Until…
Welcome to the first ever (and hopefully monthly) installment of Cupcake Monthly! Recently I came across a site filled with the most beautiful looking, delicious sounding cupcakes ever… so I decided to try my hand at a few. At first I wanted to bake a new cupcake each day in January (especially since all my Teams will be in and out all month long), but decided that might not be the wisest move (I still need to fit into my clothes, after all). So, once a month (or so) I’ll be making some of these delicious little cakes, sampling them, photographing them, and sharing the delight that is The Cupcake.
Who knew that blogging could make the world so small? But in a great way!
When Jeff and I started designing the kitchen and bath renovations we looked for inspirational images in magazines, books, on TV and the internet. It was then that I discovered (quite late, I’m afraid) the entire world of design blogs out there. Of course I had come across some while in design school (thanks to my lovely school peeps, you know who you are), but I hadn’t really found all the cool DIY ones, or the really homespun ones. Initially I discovered Rambling Renovators, a really great blog for inspirational design ideas and DIY stories (her husband HandyMan is, well, really handy) based in Toronto, Canada. It was where I got the inspiration for our floors in the half bath. But the tale doesn’t end there.