Sorry friends and fam and stalkers. The owner of this blog has been really bad about updating due to some new endeavors. She’ll be back soon. Promise. Can’t let it go too long. After all – we’ve got a royal wedding to talk about.
PS. William’s not wearing a wedding band?! What the?
Back in high school, my friend Gabe and I used to sit in Mr. Durbin’s Latin first section and flip through the JCrew sale catalog. Gabe called it JPoo. And we got a ton of work done in that class. This was back when JCrew was old school preppy and super basic and known for pea coats and clogs. We loved it. I don’t think I ever actually owned anything from JCrew until college because St. Mary’s County was (is?) a little lagging in the retail area, but that’s beside the point.
Things have definitely changed. For one thing, I got myself a pair of those dang clogs. They were wooden and suede and made it impossible to walk up the 316 stairs in Sellinger.
Yes. The hot jam in college.
My roommate also had a pair and we really rocked it. Stef had a pair too. In maroon I think? Stef, please confirm. People need to know.
Whoa.
The point is, JCrew I love you. I love you for your basic things, your pretty dresses, and your trouser jeans, but you’ve really gone off the deep end this time. Sequin harem pants for approximately 1 million dollars? Socks with heels on every single page? Telling me I wear a size triple zero one day and a 10 the next? I don’t care if Katie Holmes and Fergie’s husband are splashed across your pages. It’s not ok. And JCrew, don’t think you’re fooling anyone with this “Ask Jenna. Jenna will help you.” malarkey. Jenna, if you’re really out there, and you’re reading this, please send me some sequins to wear. And please tell me what size to order. I’ll post myself and a select number of friends on this here super popular blog, and people will go nuts buying all of your special things. Promise.
Wait, those harem pants are already SOLD OUT. Here’s what “Jenna” just told me: We’re sorry. This item has been so popular, it has sold out. We’ve got other great ideas.
You can't have these.
Jenna – Since your popular harem pants have been snatched up by the popular kids, I’ll accept whatever else you can scrounge up. You know where to reach me.
Friends – If you want to wear sequins (Nurk) and socks with heels, get ready. Now’s your chance.
PS. Speaking of clogs – Todd and I went to a cooking class a few weeks ago. Preview…
Today marks the first day of fall. And while I’ll miss the long days of summer, I’m ready for the cooler weather and other fall excitement.
Here are just a few of the fun things we did this summer.
We drank wine outside on the dock at the Pier 6 pavilion during Counting Crows, Backstreet Boys, Train, and a few others.
We went to Mackinac for the Fourth. And I only cried (happy tears) 3 times.
We stayed here at Grand Hotel
We worked on a house for the Extreme Makeover Home Edition show. (It airs this weekend. You should watch!)
We went to an engagement part in upstate NY - winetasting, wiffleball, bbq, lakehouse, and swimming.
We shopped for and gushed over gorgeous wedding dresses.
We attended the Best of Baltimore party.
We went to two beautiful weddings. And danced like maaaaniacs.
We ate dinner outside in Florida on our mini summer vacation.
Happy Fall Everyone!
Today is a sick day, so I give you this
which Kate Spade herself sent to me this morning.
And that will be all.
Oh PS. Lindsay (Who is proudly the queen of all things Christmas…I swear the Mariah Carey holiday CD will be played at her wedding in May.) just informed me that there are 115 days until Christmas. It’s not too early to start shopping. Get to it.
And now a little break from the house tour to talk about something else near and dear…running! I usually need to sign up for a race in order to get motivated to run, so I’m often training for something. Right now I’m preparing for the Baltimore Running Festival on October 16th.
I’ve done the 5K and the Half so I’m excited to be doing the Relay this year. The whole festival is a really fun event and a great day for the city. The streets close down and everything is devoted to the race. I’m running the last leg which means I get to cross the finish line. Hooray. The other members of the team are my friends Stef, Amy, and Maggie.
Stef and Amy were division one athletes in college and Maggie is a super accomplished marathon and triathlon gal. We signed up as the Pink Ladies and we’re planning to wear all pink for the race. October is also breast cancer awareness month, so it’s fitting. GO TEAM PINK!!
The thing about the term “foodie” is that lately I feel like it’s used to describe just about anyone who has ever eaten or seen food in their lifetime. And that’s ok by me. I’m constantly cooking things, thinking about cooking things, reading cookbooks, watching the food network, yelling at Padma for her monotone judging, and dreaming about meeting Paula Deen in person so she can say something like “Hey Y’all! Come on into my kitchen and we’ll whip up a pure butter and bacon pie. Doesn’t that sound dell-ishes?!” Yes, Paula. It does.
Look out Oprah. I'm 'bout to crank this baby up.
Anyway, the kitchen is an important room for me. Maybe that’s because I grew up sitting at the breakfast bar in my grandmother’s kitchen while she cooked for hours upon hours. I credit her with introducing me to the importance of the classics – meatballs, Saturday breakfasts, and homemade desserts.
Even though our kitchen is not done, it’s come a long, long way. If you remember from this before photo – we started with yellow appliances, wood paneling, and some fruit filled Willy Wonka wallpaper. Hey, I have nothing against yellow appliances and jazzy wallpaper. They certainly had their day but, it was time to say goodbye.
Kitchen Before
Originally I thought – white cabinets. Then I was convinced that since we were keeping the white tiles on the floor in the kitchen it might be a bit much. So we decided on the nutmeg color shaker extra tall cabinets. I think they look just dandy. They also brought in some shiny appliances and voila. So fresh and so clean. Next up for the kitchen will be: installing the hardware, the countertops, and painting the walls.
We have full use of our kitchen now, which is great, so we continue to cook almost every night. Once I learn how to take pictures of my dinner without it looking like I picked it up from a seedy buffet, I will post some photos and stories. In the meantime, send me recipes. I like things with no more than 4 ingredients and that I might cook while wearing a tutu. Like this skinny girl.
Just don’t call me a foodie.
First Post! Get excited.
Our leases were up in June so we decided we should start looking for a place of our own. The search was centered around the neighborhoods of Canton and Fells Point in downtown Baltimore. The requirements were: two bedrooms, one bathroom, some outdoor space, and some updated features. Since a lot of rowhouses in Baltimore have been updated, we thought – no problem! Exciting, right? Well, it was, but then we realized everything we liked was out of our price range and we weren’t willing to shell out too much money for a rental and buying wasn’t really an option. Todd had thrown around the idea of renting a house owned by a friend. It was two bedrooms, one bath, had a huge outdoor space in the back and was located in the area we liked. Sold. The only problem – it was in the process of being completely rehabbed and wouldn’t be finished in time for our June 1 move in date. We were able to work with our old leases and ultimately decided that moving into the “in the process of being rehabbed” house would be our best (and most fun) option. We knew that it wouldn’t be completed but it would be at least “liveable” and we would get to help pick out some of the aesthetic features as the house was being completed. That meant choosing counter tops, cabinetry, hardware, and paint colors. Say what? I’m down with that. We moved in mid-July.
Since then we have worked on a ton of projects and while it’s been stressful and I think I’ve turned into quite possibly the craziest version of myself, we’ve had fun. Here are some before pictures of the house – about a month before we moved in.
Front of the House
Kitchen
Guest Room
Master Bedroom
Bathroom
The "Backyard"
Here's one of us!
So there you have it! All of the before pictures. Except that last one. That’s not a before picture – we plan on staying pretty much the same, just a little more…creative?
Stay tuned for the afters. We’ll have a bunch.
aboutabackyard.wordpress.com 