These are a few photos that our inspector took that aren't of the utilities, bottom of the stairs, insulation, etc. So, I'm passing them on to you with some descriptions to give you a better idea of the condo.

This is the right corner of the back deck. The part of the house you can see on the right is the back of the garage. The stairs lead out to the side yard and if you walk towards the right you'll end up at the front of the house by the garage.

This is the internal stair from the garage to the kitchen. I'm hoping we can do a bit of a project here to create more space on the landing to have a mini mud room of sorts for dirty boots, coats, etc. especially in the winter time! Through the door is the kitchen. Literally. So, I'd like to avoid the dirty boots in the kitchen :-)

This is one side of our living room that shows the wood burning fireplace. To the left of the fireplace are the sliding glass doors leading out to the deck. You can see the light coming in from the double window too.

This is the beautiful kitchen with black granite counters! In an earlier post I showed the 'fridge we are hoping to get which will fill the hole to the left that has floor paper in it. You can see a bit of the bar on the right side of the photo. The taller counter overlooks the dining area making the kitchen open to the dining room AND the living room.

If you turn to the left from the last picture you will be looking at this view: down the hall to the front door. All the doors on this hallway lead to: the garage, the half bath, the coat closet, the stairs to the basement AND to the right of the front door, is the staircase leading upstairs.

The last picture..... is our mast bath. yes that is a granite counter with an under mount sink (weeee!!!), yes there is only 1 sink. Our bathroom also has a linen closet, along with the tub/shower and toilet.

Next up! I found fabric to make curtains for the first floor!

More backyard inspiration: Yard Lover

So I was trying to find more photos to show you of my thoughts for the back yard and meditation room and I cam across this awesome website! YardLover.com. They are based out of Canada but will ship anything except for their live plant collections. Those have to be picked up.
While the website has more than just flowers, here are some picks that I completely fell in love with!

I just love the colors and variety of their flower collections.

Makes it easy for us beginner gardeners!

My heart flipped a little bit when I saw this fire pit. So elegant and contained - it can sit anywhere - including the deck! It is powered by gel cans which aren't the most romantic thing in the world, but it certainly makes setup and cleanup easy!

Day lilies have to be my favorite type of lily. I just love them! The greenery also makes them perfect for naturalization which is a goal of mine for the yard. I think these would make a lovely transition piece from the grass to the woods.

Hostas have to be one of the easiest plants to take care of. And look at all the colors they come in!! I hope to plant this collection on the front walkway that leads to the parch along with a few other plants.

Phlox are another all time favorite for me. The blooms get so big and so stacked together that all you see are the flowers with no stems.

This is exactly what I was looking for in terms of the front porch railing! They come in white, which I will get (although they have 6 other colors too!) I want to get some trailing flowers to go in these so that over the spring and summer we will end up with flowers all over the front porch!

I have always thought that sunflowers would be fun to grow. I had a neighbor who grew them every year down the tiny strip of grass that was between two paved driveways. They would turn with the sun and created this sort of flower fence for the summer.

I'm thinking maybe along the back deck or in the wildflower section of the yard that doesn't have any grass?

Doesn't this look like a mini-blueberry topiary? I just love it! How much fun would it be to keep them in pots so they can be taken inside during the winter months!

What I have been referring to as the wildflower section currently doesn't have many wildflowers. It's mostly tall grasses. I'm going to get a big container like this one ever year for a few years in order to turn the tall grasses into more of a wildflower mix. I think it will be lovely and much prettier than looking at tall grass every summer.

This is what they call their woodland mix. I hope that the soil in the woods will allow some ferns and wildflowers to grow. I know that means I have to deal with the leaves rather than letting them just sit for years and years, but I think it will be worth it to see ferns and flowers on your way to the meditation space rather than trees and dead leaves.

These are bright and fun!

This flower reminds me of the Scottish thistle with its colors. It's beautiful!

My mother has always had a clump or two of chives under neath the back porch. They peek their purple flowers out every spring! I'm seriously contemplating a small herb garden on the deck railing. Decorative, fragrant and useful!

This begonia, with its dripping flowers! I think this is something that will go in the porch railing boxes on the front porch.

This lovely water bell feature I found and couldn't stop staring at. Wouldn't it be absolutely perfect in the meditation space? How awesome would it be to walk on a flowered path (maybe with some moss on the stones?) towards a meditation space with the beautiful sound of bells?

LOVE IT!

1 Month to Moving!

AAAAAH! 1 month left in our apartment!

While I am totally thrilled about being in the new house, I have so much more I want to sort through, organize, clean out, etc. There's just so much going on between now and then in addition to what I want to get done it will be a challenge to fit it all in. Actually, to be a bit more honest, it will be hard to get my body off the couch after work, commuting, P90X, making and eating dinner!

My new veggie/vegan diet has meant that there is different food that needs storing. So I'm looking into more containers for the counter and cabinets.

And I really would like to get a stainless trash can so it matches the stainless steall appliances. I'm that means it will blend in a bit more and scream less "I'M A TRASH CAN!" but we'll see.

This little baggy holder has gone under almost every kitchen sink we've had and is just a simple fix-up for all those floating around plastic bags. Did you know you can now recycle them at certain grocery stores? How cool is that!

This is just perfect for our compost can. Our wonderfully green condo has no garbage disposal so I figured, what better push do we have than to start a compost? And this little guy is so clean and classy looking I won't mind having him sit next to the sink!


This little space saver I've seen in so many hotel rooms but never used until we were on our honeymoon cruise. It became a total sifesaver and a great way to wash out bathing suits and let them drip dry. I think I'm going to get two, one for each of the upstairs bathrooms.


I must confess I already have 4 black big ones of the following item. I love them! What a great way to not only organize, but you're able to dump projects in different boxes and you can always go back and sort through the box later. But in the meantime, you look snazzy and organized!

Happy organising to me!

PS - all of the above can be found through The Container Store. ie one of my FAV places ever!

inspiration rooms pt 4

So around the condo is a fabulous yard that leads to a bit of woods. I have been dreaming of planting flowers and window boxes along the porch and deck railings, lilacs along the long garage wall and having a small path that leads from the edge of the woods to a small meditation space inside the trees where I could do yoga, sit and read or Matt and I could just meditate.

I have a fairly distinctive picture in my head but when I tried to find some pics similar to show, it was really hard! So here are some lovely, charming pics (all found through Google) that might give you an idea.

My basic idea is to find a natural break in the trees and plant bulbs and woodland flowers under the trees on the path to the round meditation space. The round space I would love to be defined by flowering dogwood trees and more flowers. The pathway and space, I'm torn with leaving it natural ground or putting down some paving stones with moss in between to help hold the ground in place.

My thoughts are still working on the details of the space but since I've never been into gardening this much .... I'm thrilled for spring and can't wait to get my hands in the dirt!!!

Do you know anyone who has an outdoor meditation spot?

Inspiration Rooms pt 3

So this kitchen post isn't really relevant to our new house as the condo has a brand new kitchen with black granite counter tops which make me drool - just a little!
These are pictures I have saved from earlier in our house hunting where the kitchens weren't so great and we thought we'd have to redo the kitchen. In most cases the cupboards were perfectly usable but utterly hideous to look at which is why these are mostly painted cabinets.
I still love the painted look and if we ever have to move to a house with a crappy kitchen that we can't immediately gut and re-do I will most definitely be turning back to these photos for inspiration!

I love how the white edges shows off the cabinets details so that you don't loose that texture and detail in the semi-gloss black. Without the white accents those moldings on the faces of the cabinets and drawers would be lost - well, unless you were opening the drawer and had your hand right there.

The glass fronted built in is just GORgeous! and reminds me of an older home. Again, the black cabinets are classic in their style and shape (LOVE all the moldings!) while looking very contemporary in the black color. The white/grey granite (possibly marble) counters balance the black as do the wood floors, wall color and vaulted ceiling.

ABSOLUTELY adore this kitchen. Clean lines, great storage, beautiful light and again a balance between the black cabinets and the white counters. The only thing I would change are the ugly light fixtures that look like they belong in an office building not a lovely kitchen.

This picture and the one below are dark stained cabinets. I realized AFTER I fell in love with the black painted cabinets that my husband prefers a wood stain that shows the grain and lends warmth to the room. So these are compromises between my love of dark cabinets and my husbands desire to SEE the wood.

All of these pictures were saved months ago which means I don't remember where they came from. But I do know that I found them through the miracle that is Google. I have no idea what we all did before Google came into our lives to consolidate all our email, schedules, pictures, blogs, documents, cell phone, etc etc etc.

What do you love about your current kitchen OR what do you wish it looked like?

Happy dreaming!

Sweet Sticky Brown Rice

I'm currently trying out a sweet sticky brown rice recipe - I will be sure to share it once I've figured it out. I enjoyed it for the first time at my Yoga Retreat (see earlier post) earlier this year and decided I had to try and make it. I mean how hard can it be? (lol)

Ok. So my first attempt, I figured go exactly by the recipe. And not even 20 minutes in I had burned (black) rice stuck to the pot as it ran out of water. The next attempt kinda worked. Well, I'm eating it. It didn't burn. But I tried to exchange a few ingredients which made it tasty, but not the same or 'right' in my opinion.

So I have some ingredients on order from Amazon (brown rice syrup) and once it arrives and I try again I will be sure to let you know and share the (succesful version) recipe!

Friday Night Surprise was....

The Lion King!!!!

First we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants on Moody St - Asian Grille. It was delish! (here's a small note for you: if you aren't sure about being veggie, try out veggie Asian food as its easy to have in restaurants and the flavors will never disappoint you!)


Then, off the the theatre district to the Boston Opera House to see The Lion King.


I was shocked! Not at all was I was thinking (Blue Man Group.....) and was thrilled. Our balcony seats lined up straight with the aisle all the way down to the front of the theatre which meant...... when late people weren't being seated (grr!) we had a PERFECT shot of the stage!

The costumes were African inspired and blended with the masks and puppets. Above are the lionesses.
The use of puppets were amazing! Sometimes they were pushes, other times worn on actors heads and sometimes the people were inside! See above giraffes and elephant!

(All photos found with Google and the Boston Opera House)

Update on Miso Soup

I made this again last night only this time I toasted the tofu first, I added baby spinach leaves, I added more miso paste, more garlic and more ginger.

I have to say all in all - everything was good aside from the more miso. It made the color a little dark and the water wouldn't hold all the miso making it cloudy and a bit clumpy at times. I have leftovers, so I will be adding a bit more water before reheating it.

Good Eatin'!

News!

So, I have been a bit lazy with the blog this past week. My original goal was 1 post a day. Well, that didn't even last a week. Alas, life continues to get in the way. But! It's a good life!

My husband Matt got great work news this week and we have both started P90X which is so incredibly tough. They say not to eat an hour before hand.... I say don't eat for more like 4 hrs before hand! It works the heck out of you until you're a pile of shaky limbs unable to do anything but flop on the floor and then hit the shower.

The last (and maybe the most thrilling) piece of news is that Matt is taking me out to Boston tomorrow night for a surprise. Now, anyone who knows me will say I am not a big surprise person. It's true. I'm a planner. And being a planner, I always like to be prepared. Which is hard to do with surprises. So, knowing me, he told me as much as he could without giving anything away.
Boston, 7pm, a little dressed up, and dinner at one of our old favorite Asian restaurants.
That's it! So wish me luck! Matt's promised I'm going to love it!

(picture of us from our wedding)

16 Bean Soup

So while in the grocery store a few days ago, I went down the international aisle and picked up some lentils, barley, green and yellow split peas, and a mixed bag called 16 bean soup. The back of the bag has a non-vegetarian recipe which included sausage, chicken bouillon, etc. But I googled 16 bean soup veggie and got a whole page of hits. I ended up using the below recipe which I found on a cool blog called Tofu and Cupcakes.

1 bag of dry 16 bean soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 vegetable bullion cubes
1 onion, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1-2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
salt and pepper to taste
water

1. Pick through and rinse dry beans. In a large pot cover with water ad let soak overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain in a colander and rinse (now is when you’ll see a lot of air bubbles coming off the beans, keep rinsing because you don’t want those air bubbles in your tummy, if you know what I’m sayin’).
2. Put the Beans in a large pot and cover with 4 quarts of water. Break “sausage” into bite-size pieces with your hands and add to pot. Add all other ingredients, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer stirring occasionally for 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaves before serving.

This was delish! I have to say, I didn't put enough spices in the soup. I seem to be a bit hesitant on that side of things. Matt keeps telling me to just go for it, but I keep hearing this voice in my head say "you can always add more, but you can't take it back out" so I only put in a bit at a time.

I think I might split the recipe next time and add some turkey meatballs or sausage to half for Matt and Oliver and keep the other side veggie for me.

Warning! This soup is yummy, but beware how much you eat as it will fill you up faster and better than oatmeal!

Miso Soup

So, I want to say first off that I made this from scratch before any other big veggie soup because I figured this one would be the easier thing to do. And it was. REALLY easy. And SUPER delicious!!!
I found this particular recipe on allrecipies.com and just plugged in miso soup.

Cure-all Miso Soup

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 scallion, chopped
2-3 oz baked tofu, cubed
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger root, minced
1/4 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons of white or yellow miso paste
1 lemon wedge

Directions:
Heat water as for tea. Put all ingredients except lemon into a bowl and stir until miso paste is dissolved. Squeeze lemon into soup and eat.
I use Wildwood Organics baked tofu, but you can certainly bake your own...but who wants to when sick? Also, if I don't have fresh garlic or ginger, I used powdered. Just a sprinkle of each.
Makes: 1 serving, Preparation time: 5 minutes

Now, I have to say that Matt and I tried it both with the lemon and without and we felt it was better without. Matt did mention that he missed the kale or spinach that is usually in it so next time I will add that.

Try the soup and try to tell me you don't feel happy and full and satisfied afterwards!! :-)
I want to say its my new favorite, but I'm trying so many new things right now!

Inspiration Rooms pt 2

Bedrooms. We officially have 3, but one will be used as an office for moi! I'm very excited, hence some of my inspiration pics in the last inspiration post. The other 2 are the master and the guestroom. The latter will currently be taken by our roommate for a little while; my brother who is staying with us until his fiance moves back to the area and they can get their own place!

Thus the guestroom will not be done for now, (we love having Oliver with us!) but when it is, I'm thinking a dusty grey-green on the walls, with the white trim and ceiling and neutral carpet. The curtains will also be white and the bedding will be a silver grey and white with dark grey edges which I already have. The second bathroom will also be painted a green color (I think) but lighter than the guestroom and will also retain its white doors and trim. Sort of spa themed. Relaxation. Calming thoughts. A place to stay that is neutral, fits all guests and makes everyone feel at home!

The master: I have been trying my darn-dest to find some pics online that look like the pic inside my head. But no such luck. So for now, I will describe and take pics once we move in and paint!

Our bedroom set is black and cherry colored. It's a bit of a mish-mosh but I love it. The bed was one of our first large purchases together and it a platform bed with storage drawers underneath (more organization!) and a tall slatted headboard. Our side tables are matching 4-drawers that came from my grandparents. My Papa (maternal grandfather) actually built them and they have black bodies with the drawer fronts and tops done in cherry. They are beautiful! We have my two dressers that came from my mum (lots of family furniture in our place!) and they have been or are being redone in a black semi-gloss and look fantastic!

The condo has all white everything and neutral carpet. The master bedroom walls will be painted a medium blue grey - I think the paint color is called coastal vista. Anyway, its a medium color as my first thought was to paint the master grey, however Matt thought it might look like one of my black & white photographs I love so much and he requested a bit more color. So its a blue grey and I think it will be lovely with the black furniture against it and the crisp white trim.

Holly, from In The Fun Lane, has been making me think a bit more with neutrals in mind and how they can make a single color really pop. Thus, there will be black curtains (of the truly blackout variety) and I will keep our bedding mostly white which is easy since I recently purchased a crisp white duvet from LLBean (that is softer than our sheets, I swear!).

(Picture of blackout floor to ceiling curtains. photo from overstock.com)

My Dad commented in a recent dinner visit that a blue tint would be lovely on the ceiling of the master and make the white and the black pop just a little bit more too. I've been seriously thinking about it!

The bathroom will be a lighter shade of blue from the bedroom so its not a jarring white in contrast. If we end up painting the ceiling of the master then we'll use that color as the bathroom color.

(photo from restoration hardware. I just love the blue tile!)

OH! I forgot to mention that the bathrooms have all white fixtures and cabinets and mottled granite counter tops. I know! Granite! In the bathrooms!!!! I'm so spoiled!

The first floor 1/2 bath has a pedestal sink. I'm thinking about doing wide horizontal stripes in two colors just barely a few shades apart to give it some spice. But that's still a thought process and will probably not happen until after we move in. (Actually, it sounds like a perfect weekend project in a few months!)

So the only inspiration pics I really have are for the hallway. But our hallway is fairly narrow and I'm not sure what we are going to do with the first floor. The second floor hall is large enough to put some nice pieces in it and still have room to easily walk around. But the first floor? Not so much. Sometimes when I start thinking about it too much I start to seeing it as a long skinny line with lots of doors. It does that the front door, the front coat closet, the stairs up, the downstairs 1/2 bath, the garage and the basement door before it opens up to the kitchen, dining and living room areas. What to do for storage? I'm still tryng to figure that part out.

I grew up with a mudroom. I love mudrooms. Or entryways or back halls. Whatever you like to call them, I love them. They are a separate space for coats, boots, winter garb, etc all while being a small taste of the home you're about to enter. They can be so warm and inviting you just want to take off your shoes and explore the rest of the house. That's what I would like in my dream house. Something big enough to allow for organization of 'stuff'. My husband is laughing right now. I love to put things away!

(photo from pottery barn)

Isn't that just delish! A cubby for every family member for all the day to day 'stuff' so it doesn't clog up the kitchen, dining room table, living room, bedroom, etc. I love love love love these and can't wait to have a place for them!

What are some of your favorite organizational tools?