San Francisco Trip

This past weekend Emma and I went to San Francisco to meet up with family. Abdel and Suzan came over from Maui. Rosie, Mike, Camille and John came over from Reno. We stayed at a great hotel called the Parc 55. The rooms were great and had nice views of the city.

Most of the time that we were there we walked around the city. Went to all the usual places like Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 as well as the Ferry building. The weather was really great with it being sunny and cool most of the time.

We also mainly ate all the time!! I think I gained a few pounds eating all that we did but it was fun going to new places and eating whatever.

I managed to capture a good amount of photos from the trip so here are some of them. The rest are posted on Flickr.

Beer and Birthday Party

Saturday we threw a Beer and Birthday party for the gang! The cocktail party was switched to a Beer and BBQ party at our place. It went really well and we had lots of great food and beer to choose from.

Emma and I worked hard to get the house projects completed. I managed to build a table for the party as well in the morning. I was busy painting the crown moulding and finishing the moulding around the door to the mud room and the moulding on top of the back splash in the kitchen. Emma worked to get the house back to normal and clean again after being in disarray for so long.

Here are a few pictures from the gathering!

Crazy Weather!!

Not sure how warm it will really get but this was the warning that came up on the national weather service for our area. Nothing like planning a BBQ on a record warm day! Should be fun! Time to break out the pool!

...UNSEASONABLY HOT WEATHER WILL BURST INTO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON
AND NORTHWEST OREGON THURSDAY THROUGH MUCH OF THE WEEKEND...

AFTER A VERY PROLONGED PERIOD OF ABNORMALLY COOL SPRING WEATHER
...THE HOTTEST WEATHER OF THE YEAR...MORE LIKE MID SUMMER...WILL
BURST INTO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON THURSDAY...
THEN CONTINUE OVER THE REGION INTO THE WEEKEND.

THIS WILL BE THE HOTTEST WEATHER SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER.

TEMPERATURES INLAND THURSDAY WILL APPROACH 90...AND ON FRIDAY
APPROACH THE MID 90S. TEMPERATURES AT THE COAST COULD REACH INTO
THE 80S BOTH THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. RECORDS AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS
WILL LIKELY FALL...AND THESE ARE LISTED IN A PUBLIC INFORMATION
STATEMENT.

TEMPERATURES OVER THE WEEKEND WILL CONTINUE VERY WARM. A SHALLOW
MARINE LAYER MAY BEGIN FORMING ALONG THE COAST THIS WEEKEND THAT
WILL BRING SOME RELIEF THERE...BUT ANY SIGNIFICANT COOLING INLAND
WILL LIKELY BE SLOW TO TAKE HOLD...POSSIBLY HOLDING OFF UNTIL NEXT
MONDAY.

WITH SUCH A RAPID TRANSITION FROM TEMPERATURES NEAR 60 TO
TEMPERATURES NEAR OR ABOVE 90...BE SURE TO USE CAUTION IF OUT IN
THE HEAT THIS WEEK. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. WEAR LIGHT CLOTHING.
WEAR HATS AND USE SUNSCREEN TO PROTECT THE SKIN FROM THE SUNSHINE.
SEEK COOLER OR AIR CONDITIONED AREAS DURING THE HEAT OF THE DAY.

The Refrigerator Has Arrived

Just wanted to post a quick update to the kitchen. The refrigerator came on Sunday morning which great. Lowe's had free delivery which was really nice! It just fit into the space that we left for it which was a relief for sure.

Also we have used the new dishwasher a few times and the dishes come out nice and clean. Plus it takes about a 1/4 of the time to wash them.

Still have more moulding and other details to finish but it's happening slowly when I only have time in the evening to work on it.

Another Kitchen Update

Since our lives have been taken over by the kitchen for the past month, that is pretty much all I have to talk about or even think about lately. I as well as Emma spend what little free time we have in the morning and evenings working on the kitchen. But it has really come a long way for just one month of work.

This past week we have been working on a few details that need to be done as well as installing the gas range, sink and faucet. The faucet ended up not working out after I installed it. The design or my lack of patients made the install all that more difficult. To make a long crazy bad day of a story short, we took most of one day installing the faucet to find out the next morning that the head of it leaked. Wasn't our fault since it came pre-built but we took it as a sign of things to come and decided to get another type from Ikea. It went in perfectly with no troubles so that was nice.

The range went in with millimeters to spare which was nice for a change. We joke around that most of everything that we have worked on we have had to "modify" but luckily it has all worked out.

Also installed the molding around the new window that was installed a while ago. Put it off since we were unsure of the exact dimensions of the cabinets around the window.

The final steps are some trim molding for the top of the backslash, molding above the cabinets, finish filler pieces next to the stove and wall cabinet, and the final painting after marking the walls while working. We also have our refrigerator coming on Sunday so that is exciting!! Hopefully by this weekend it will be COMPLETE!!!!

Here are some more recent pictures. The last picture is a composite of 3 pictures in one. It captures the highlights and dark areas to combine and make everything stand out.