what have I done?

Well, the chair is mine. It's in worse shape than I thought and much more intricate to deal with.

I'm now interviewing upholsterers and consulting every gay I know to come up with a solution.

I may have convinced myself to go back for the sofa, attempt to negotiate further on the purchase price to gain back some of what I'm about to spend on having this in the right hands.

What on earth am I doing?

damn you pinterest

This is a little tale about what happens when I have time on my hands and Pinterest at my disposal.

I was chatting with TinyNerdMax's mother who found a great article about painting the fabric of an antique furniture piece as a cheaper/easier way to give a facelift to old pieces. We were talking about how we love the lines of antique furniture (yes, we're nerds. I know this) and searching craigslist for cheap pieces to refinish.

Lo and behold, I stumbled on the motherload.

A wingback chair and antique sofa about an hour and change away from me for a semi-reasonable price. They were posted on the first of the month so I doubted they were still available. I mean, I'm used to Manhattan craigslist, not Vermont craigslist. So I email the woman with an offer more than 50% less than what she was offering just in case the pieces were still available.

They're available and she took my offer. Yay! Shit.

They're in pretty rough shape (hence the easy negotiation), but I love the lines, style and vibe. I've now spent the majority of my day Googling the best way to fashion a fabric patch as there are quite a few exposed knuckles on these pieces and then I'm going to paint it. I'm still not sure what color and am open to suggestions. I kind of want to do the chair in a brighter, more vibrant color (maybe a plum or emerald) and the couch a more muted tone like charcoal or navy.

I'm excited about yet another new venture and am almost as scared of this as I am the half marathon. I reiterate - May God have mercy on my soul.

every day i'm travelin...

Now that I telecommute, I find myself  traveling a lot more. Not sure why I didn't see this coming. Call it willful suspension of disbelief.

I just spent the past week in the city of brotherly love enjoying Yards Brawlers, early bed times, long days at the office and meetings in Jersey and Delaware. I always enjoy seeing my Philly office counterparts. They're so sassy and fun to be around. I just can't get enough. If I can only convince them all to move to VT and start an office here. Time to start plotting...

I'm also crazy lucky that my company values the benefits of boutique hotels. While a week at any hotel is rough, a week at the Kimpton is far better than a week at the Holiday Inn Express. I truly believe that economy business travel is the root of all seemingly senseless murders. It's likely I would have ended up in jail during my 4 hour flight delay if I had spent a week suffering itchy sheets and a dimly lit bathroom.

I also find it funny that I've been in Philly now twice this year and have yet to have a cheesesteak. A funny fact that must be remedied at my next visit. I also find it very not funny that my trips are always so jam packed that I haven't had time to visit our friends who live in the Philly "burbs". A quick 30 minute train ride away lies two dear friends and their ever growing baby that I have yet to meet.

Dear Travel Gods,


Please give me a free evening to cuddle a baby, hug my friends, rekindle my friendship with their dog and meet their kitten.


Love,
Katrina

After a long week of travel that commenced with the one two punch of a snow storm induced delay followed by mechanical issues, I'm now happily lounging with my bearded husband as we watch the snow fall outside and contemplate day drinking.

Love you all

Exciting News

Ok it took a little longer to get to my exciting news than I had anticipated, but the time has arrived. At this point, the anticipation has likely built it up so much that it's not even exciting anymore. On February 14th I learned I was accepted into the Burlington City Marathon for a 2 man relay team. Yes, me, your favorite lazy bum is going to run a half marathon.

The good news for me is that the husband will be running the first half so he'll likely make up all the time I will lose for our team and will help make me look good crossing the finish line at a less embarrassing time than I would if I ran it on my own.

The race is on Memorial Day weekend, which means there are only a few months for me to go from 5k runner to half marathoner. May God have mercy on my soul.

I'll be tracking my progress, training and general aches, pains and triumphs on the blog for you all to share in. If you know nothing about me it's that I require challenges in my life to be public knowledge to avoid from regressing into a lazy haze and writing off the hard stuff.

Thanks for helping me stay motivated and for keeping me accountable!

it's the final countdown

This is it guys! Less than 2 weeks until the big move. Are you getting excited? We are! The new couchy couch gets delivered on March 1 and I'll be sitting on it as I wait for Comcast to come set up our cable and internet.

I've been doing a lot of pre-move shopping (which has been awesome) using our store credit at Bed Bath and Beyond. I won't lie, it's been a little stressful but pretty fun. I hate that I enjoy shopping so much, I just really love it. It also helps that we have a ton of gift cards and store credit to spend so while I shop I'm not physically spending money. Always a bonus.

That's all for now! More exciting news and updates to come.

It happened

We did it. We bought a sofa. Not the one I originally thought we'd get but I'm really happy with it!

I honestly was always really ambivalent about leather furniture but when I realized how much easier it would be to clean when we have dogs/kids, I became a big fan.

It's sleek, attractive and was a great deal so that doesn't hurt either. The delivery comes March 1 when we move in and then you can come over and help us wear it in.

pre-nesting

It's almost here! We're moving in 25 days. We'll be visiting family in NY for 5 of those days and I'll be in Philly for work for another 7 of those. That means we have just under 2 weeks left until we move. It's practically tomorrow!

We've really enjoyed living with my sister and her family. Seeing the kids every day, saving like crazy and getting acclimated to our new state. It's been an invaluable experience overall, but we're all ready to branch out and have our own space again. Honestly, I think I'm most excited to buy things and decorate. And the lists! My lists of things to do and buy are just getting crazy long and super exciting. I just love lists. Yes, I'm that person. Judge me.

Our trip to NY is perfectly timed with our need for a trip to Ikea. Oh Ikea. How I love thee. Although I'm not all that sad that we have to drive to Canada for our next trip seeing as I recently found out they serve booze in Canadian Ikeas(!), but heading back to our much loved Brooklyn Ikea will be a treat.

Today I'm strong arming my husband into heading to Ashley furniture to check out their buy one get one half off furniture sale. I have my eyes on a set that I think will really suit our lives, space and style well. I don't know why, but buying new furniture has been on my list of things to do for, oh, like, 5 years now. My much more rational husband has been against the idea for, oh, like, 5 years. So the fact that I've gotten him to agree to go to a furniture store is a huge deal. HUGE. Like, bigger than our wedding day. I'm kidding. Not really.

Hopefully I'll be posting pictures of our new furniture in the next post along with photos of our day spent snow shoeing! Heading out to Smuggler's Notch to break in our new shoes (finally) then heading out for some pre-nesting shopping. This day is kind of a perfect day to me. Happy Saturday!