New Office in a week!

Well we have been busy once again working on something around the house. This time it was the office. We were planning on selling the futon to make more room to move around and to be able to have a bigger desk for both of us to work on (which I still need to design and build). We have a temporary table in place until I finish it. We bought a "Craigslist Special" chair for $25 and covered it with a slipcover from Pottery Barn by using a gift card that we had since the wedding. I refinished the floor and installed new base and crown molding and managed to complete it all in a week. It turned out pretty well except the floors are a bit too shiny. We bought a gloss and it just happened to look like glass when I was done. Oh well. I am sure it will dull up with walking on it and with the pup running back and forth on it. I could always dull it down a bit with some steel wool but we will see. Right now you can really see a difference where the old meets the new.

Here are some pictures of the floor and room before and after.

The Windows are IN!!

The window installation went well. I somehow managed to measure right on all the windows and they fit without any trouble. Normally on most of the projects that we tackle, we have one thing or another that comes up but this was by far the easiest project. It was pretty much taking the old out and fitting in the new. I installed the last window on Sunday morning and later that day we went to the dump to get rid of the old windows and trim. I enjoyed tossing the windows into the mass piles of debris and watching the windows shatter. Emma wasn't that into it but I enjoyed myself. I admit, it was a little sad to see such old windows be broken but then again they were so old and pretty much run their course. Plus we are enjoying our new windows so much already. Just having screens on the windows is wonderful.

I started on the window trim on the inside Sunday night. It turned out pretty well. Of course I had never done anything like that before and was mainly going off a picture I had seen on Flickr. Here is a few pictures of the before and after. I also put up more pictures here.


BEFORE (Old window with trim removed)


AFTER (New window and trim)


New Look!

Windows and Weather

Fall is here! And with fall comes cooler weather. Oh and the rain! But its a nice change and the colors all around are always amazing to see. I recently took Puma to the park and on the way back I stopped to take a few pictures of the St. John's Bridge. It was a very foggy morning which makes it fun to take a few pictures.



We also recently special ordered some windows for the house. We are installing them on our own which is turning out to be not as bad as we thought. Luckily I measured correctly and they fit just right in the old frames. They will be a nice change from having original single pane windows that pretty much had no temperature control at all. They also had no screens so when they were open.....they were OPEN!! I have 4 of them installed and hopefully will have the rest done by the end of the week.

Run Pete Run!!!

Pete coming in for a drink
Originally uploaded by ryan_nowell

So on Sunday Emma and I went went down to join Jen and her family in cheering on Pete in his run in the Portland Marathon! It was fun seeing everyone running and the families cheering them on! Pete completed the race in 3:50:50!!! Great job Pete!!!

After the race and later in the day, Emma cooked a wonderful dinner for Pete and and the usual crew. She made Lasagna and salad and an Apple Tart desert. It was a great way to end a Sunday.


More pictures can be seen here.

Also, mom and dad pointed out that GoogleMaps has completed a good portion of StreetView for the Tucson area. I then went to see if they had done anything in the Portland area. Looks like they didn't miss much.

GO Cubs!!!

Let the Games begin!!!

Not much to report

So nothing exciting has been going on with the Nowell household. Emma is working a lot and we haven't had any projects that we are working on either. Only thing we do have planned is putting in windows as soon as we get enough money saved up and take the time to install them.

Puma is doing well and he is his normal self. Playing of course is his main concern in the morning and when I get home from work.

The new house numbers are up to replace our neon light that was smashed. Hopefully it will not be touched but who knows.

John and Ben went to the coast last weekend and took his jeep on a nice drive on the beach. Check it out here.

I promise to update this more often!

GRRRRRR

A couple of weekends ago we had the pleasure of watching some pups for some friends. Nina was one guest that was a little angel.......until.....this happened!!!!



Just kidding. She was just particular about holding her a certain way. Here she is being her normal self.

Bye Bye Neon Sign

Apparently not everyone is a fan of our neon sign out front for our house numbers. Last night during the night someone decided to remove a portion of our sign with a broom!! Not that its a huge deal except for the fact that someone would actually do something like that but I guess the "hood" we live in its not that out of the ordinary. We got upset at Puma last night because around 2:30 in the morning he went nuts barking....which he rarely does. I didn't get up since I thought it was just someone walking outside, which I heard but didn't think anything of it. Maybe a nice flood light will go in its place.

Our Cruise to Alaska

Our recent trip to Alaska on our Cruise was really amazing. The weather could not have been better and it was so nice to relax and just hang out. We ate too much but I suppose thats what most people do on a cruise where food is always being served!

And more pictures here of course.

Destination Alaska!!!!

We are off to our Honeymoon!!! Have been waiting a long time to go but its finally here! A real vacation with lots of relaxing!!! I will update with pictures and stories when we return!!

Lincoln City Beach House

This past weekend Emma and I were invited by Pete, Jen, Ben and John to go stay at a beach house in Lincoln City. We had a great time and relaxed as much as possible.

Our trip started out a bit crazy! We were told the house was located at 1812 N Mast St. We were the first to arrive since both of us get done with work earlier then most. So we printed out directions and went on our way. We were also given the key so we could start dinner and have it ready by the time everyone arrived. So we drove around looking and looking for this address. After a while we started to realize that this address was just about the hardest place to find!! The street it was located on stopped short of each street that ran east and west. So we kept driving up and down and never saw any address that came close to it. We gave Pete and Jen a call and they tried to look it up with GPS but could not find it. After an hour and a half they arrived and started with the search. They had been there before so were mainly going off of landmarks. They of course found it right away!! Turns out the address was 3018!!! Not even close to 1812. So if it were 1812 it would be close to 18th street...but no it was near 30th. Turns out the owner has some memory issues and has a good reason for it so I couldn't be mad.

Oh well it was still a great trip!
Here are some more pictures....mostly of the dogs...Puma, Hope and little Capone

Donut Sunday!!!

So we went on over to Paul and Kristin's for the Sunday Donut fest! Was sooooo good! They made all sorts of goodies to eat and eat we did!! We made sure we had a small dinner that evening!

IKEA OPENS!!!

So today is the big day for Ikea to finally open in Portland. Of course we will probably not be heading out to the store for a while until the madness calms down. They showed some people that started to line up on Monday morning for todays opening. They had tents and blow up mattresses and portable TVs. I guess they were giving away some chairs and other prizes to the first 100 or so people in the store. It's so nuts that they are warning people to stay away if they are not going to the store because the airport and the highway near by will be a mess. It's close to home which will be nice since we will not have to drive to Seattle to shop. I can't imagine how many people from Washington will drive down and shop since Oregon doesn't have a sales tax.

I still think it's interesting how people in Oregon hate big stores but Ikea had no push back at all. And the place is 280,000 sq ft. I suppose its just specific stores they like to hassle.

Rain

This pretty much sums it up!

Diamond and Crater Lake

This past weekend we decided to head on down to Diamond Lake and Crater lake in southern Oregon. We both took Friday off so we could have more time to explore.

We ended up finding a nice spot to camp near Diamond Lake. The main campsite near the water was full but we had plenty of other places to choose from a little further south. It was called Broken Arrow Campground. It was a really nice location. The sites were large and had lots of room in between locations which is always nice. They also had showers that were close and I believe they were fairly new.

The mosquito's were a little on the annoying side and then at night it got down below freezing but the rest of the time the weather was amazing. On Saturday we headed out early to Crater Lake near by. We got there early enough before the park had even opened which was nice. We ended up being the only people for a while at the viewpoints. It was extremely quiet and really beautiful. We drove to a few other places along the rim road and then ended up at the lodge. Its a really old building with wonderful woodwork inside and out.

After we left the lodge we wanted to keep going around the rim but ended up driving down the other side of Crater Lake to Mazama Campground. We didn't realize that the other side of the rim was closed still for the season. It actually turned out to work out going down to Mazama because we were close to being out of gas and they had a self-serve gas station....which you never see in Oregon!

Diamond lake was really a great spot to hang out and enjoy the surroundings. There was a nice bike path the went all the way around the lake which we rode part of one day and walked it on another. We found a really great meadow and creek for Puma to swim in.

On the way home we took the long way through Bend and Sisters and many small towns east of us. I was very happy we took this way since neither of us had been to Bend or through those mountains.

Here are a few pictures of our trip. You can also see more pictures here and see where we drove and stopped along the way here.

Opal Creek

Opal Creek
Originally uploaded by ryan_nowell

This past weekend we decided that since we chose not to go camping because the weather was not going to be too much fun, we decided on a hike. Emma found an article in a magazine about this place called Opal Creek. It's about 40 miles east of Salem Oregon. We didn't really look at the details of getting there and ended up being longer then we expected but the drive was really nice.

When we finally arrived we parked at the end of the trail head. The hike was about 4 miles up to Opal Creek and an old mining town. The old town was really great. Lots of old buildings and equipment from when it was a busy little town. The old buildings have been converted to cottages for people to rent out. They are very rustic but have everything that you would need.

The views along the way were really amazing. The creek was as clear as you can get and all the huge Doug Firs were really wonderful. Here are a few pictures of the trip and of course you can see more here.

One Step Closer

So the medicine cabinet is finally done! Took a little longer then I wanted but I also didn't work on it full time. I think it turned out pretty well for never doing anything like that before. Here are a few pictures and I have some more on Flickr




I still have the other cabinet to build above the toilet as well. Not sure when I will be starting that since we plan on going camping again this weekend.

Busy Busy Bee!!

Ok so it's been a little while since I updated this. We have been super busy and I suppose a little lazy. Last weekend we ended up going on a great trip to Green Peter Lake which is just south of Salem and a little bit east. We ended up meeting up with friends on Saturday and were able to stay until Monday because of the holiday. The weather was great! A bit chilly at times but made the campfire feel wonderful. The lake water was a bit chilly as well but once you got in it wasn't too bad. I will post some pictures as soon as I get a chance.

Last week I ended up working with the folks from my old job. Made some extra money but sometimes it doesn't feel like it's worth it. On Thursday we ended up working from 7 am until 11:45 pm. Made for a very long day. Emma is working nights until August which means we only really see each other on the weekend. I ended up working most of the day on Saturday so that wasn't too fun.

We also had a nice visit from Kari and her boyfriend Gibbs. They came down on Saturday and stayed for the night. Kari was down in Albany checking out a fund raiser for the Boys and Girls club. We went out for dinner at one of our favorite places to eat Fire on the Mountain! Love that place. Best chicken wings I have ever had. Then of course we went out to breakfast the next morning to the Tin Shed. Another favorite of ours. We ended up being lazy all day yesterday which was nice for once. The weather has been warm....in the mid 80's. I know that doesn't sound like much especially since I grew up in AZ but I am really used the cooler weather.

Today I hope to continue on the medicine cabinet for the bathroom. I am still interested to see how cutting the mirror goes.

Organic!!

So this past weekend we decided to add on to our growing collection of plants growing in the backyard. We went on down to the Farmers Market Saturday morning and picked up a good amount of veggies to plant. Mainly lots of different types of tomatoes and lettuces and other yum stuff. We managed to get all the wood that we needed at the Rebuilding Center near us for $16 which was nice. Was easy and quick to build.



Saving money on the planter boxes of course gave us a nice excuse to go out to eat that night. We headed to one of our favorite places off of 23rd for some Chinese at August Moon. Love the fried rice they have.

I have also been working on the medicine cabinet some. Haven't finished as much as I had wanted. I spend most of my afternoons playing with the pup when I get home.



Plus he gets into trouble if I am working in the garage and he is in the back unattended. Yesterday I looked out the door from the garage and he was rolling in the grass. Not because he had a scratch or was being silly. He was rolling in either a chunk of compost or something dead! He sure smelled like it when I asked him to come over to me. Needless to say he got cleaned up some but Emma could still smell it on him when she got home last night.

Happy Birthday Puma!!!

So today is Puma's second birthday! It's been a year and a half since we adopted him from the "troubled" dog shelter. Ok so he was troubled and was an exception at that adoption place but we didn't have any idea either way. It's really been wonderful having him in our life. He is such a big part of everything that we do. In a couple of weeks we will be going camping with him for the first time which should be fun. We of course didn't get to do ANY camping last summer since we spent the entire time working on the front yard.


Yesterday we went on a wonderful bike ride. It was actually our first ride since we moved into our new house. Sad I know but we just haven't taken the time and ever since we adopted Puma we always chose activities that involved him. This time we took him to his favorite park and got him nice and tired so we could leave while he took a nap. Turns out some really nice paths are set up near us and go for a long distance. We will for sure have to take more trips. We plan on taking a ride each weekend.

The medicine cabinet building has begun. This will be my first cabinet of any kind. I suppose it would be easy to buy one to fit in the space where we took out the old one but I just wanted to try my hand at it. Here are a few pictures of the section that will go inside the wall.

Still Closer

So last night I finally installed the bathroom sink. Was a bit of a pain but its in. Over the weekend we installed the shower door and the rest of the molding around the shower and crown molding above. The shower door was the hardest because we had to drill 6 holes through the tile to mount it. It was slow to drill through even though we had new bits to use. Emma had to spray water as I drilled because it would get really hot. I am glad I read about that before we started. Now I have to learn how to build cabinets!!!