California Dreamin’

We spent the majority of our honeymoon in a town called Bolinas.  It’s about an hour north of San Francisco, on the coast between Stinson Beach and Point Reyes. 

Ryan had read about it the New York Times travel section and deserves full credit for finding the gem of a spot.  We’ve decided it’s the California version of West Glover, Vermont.  Lots of aged hippies, farms, dogs, organic food shops, a general store, art galleries and instead of mountain bikers, surfers.

While in Bolinas, we stayed in a little cottage we found on a website that Ryan’s aunt and uncle recommended to us – Vacation Rentals by Owner.  We also recommend it.  The owners of our cottage were highly responsive and the whole rental went off without a hitch.

Red Heron Cottage was the sweetest little spot, and I went a little bonkers with slight (okay major) tinges of jealousy/envy of the owners.  Very much our style, with a bit of California/Boho infused into it. I really admire the owner's mixture of patterns - I can appreciate in other's designs, but that I am still working on pattern layering myself.

Ryan overlooking the view from the upper terrace.

We got hitched!

… And I must admit that I’m suffering from a wee bit of post-wedding depression, a condition I pish-posh’ed when my married girlfriends warned me of it. I suspect it is a combination of the post-wedding let down, along with re-entry after a glorious week in Northern California (most of which we spent in the most darling seaside cottage ever – more to come on that).

Our wedding was… the most wonderful day ever – more to come on that, too.

That all said, we’re so excited to get back to work on the house!  Our washer has officially won the race to the finish line (read: leaks inexplicably every run, every load, small, medium, or large).  With the replacement of that rather essential appliance looming on the horizon (hooray?), we may shift around some projects (remember when we were just going to raise the ceiling height in the kitchen?).

And though a shiny new appliance is in our near future, A#1 priority remains finishing the front room and kitchen. We are so very close - painting trim, cabinet, one window replacement and the gas fireplace are all that stands in our way. And once the trim is done, we will be rewarded with window treatment upgrades, a wedding gift from my new in-laws. (Apparently single white sheets held up by pushpins doesn’t exactly scream “finished product.”) Nothing like a little incentivized motivation to kick you into shape!   

We're back!

Dads Rule!

Over the course of two days, our two dads helped Ryan get a new layer of roof shingles over the mudroom, kitchen and bathroom.  Whew. Dodged. A. Bullet.

After two years, we wised up and ordered our supplies from Tedford, the True Value in town. They deliver in town for free and saved us a lot of time (and backache) by dropping off our supplies the day before on a pallet.

Ryan started early on day one pulling back enough shingles along the main portion of the house so that he could properly replace the flashing.  Since there was only one layer on the roof, he then just ran the ice and water/roofing felt and new shingles right over the old ones. Instead of replacing the shingles with more three-tab shingles, Ryan sprung the extra $6/square for the architectural style shingles that match what we have on the main house roof. It makes a big difference.

Mom and Dad came on day one.  I was off doing some wedding errands, so missed some of the fun, but when I came back Dad and Ryan were in full swing and the (not-so) Phantom Gardener was hard at work.

At day’s end, I had some new plantings and we had half a roof complete. I was left with orders to keep the delicate plantings in the barn until the frost warnings had passed (!) and Ryan was feeling a whole lot better about life.

On day two, Rick and Denise came to lend a hand. Denise and I spent the day working on (surprise, surprise) wedding projects. Rick and Ryan got to it and finished off the job. 

Michael T also “helped”.

Our ugly side of the house is starting to look a lot less ugly.  

Before...

And "After"...

We’ve been mulling over some (inexpensive) low planting options to start really pulling it together.

We might be days away from getting married and 30 years old, but gosh it feels good and is very appreciated when your dads come in with a much-needed assist.

Ryan had been concerned about weather, so took a three-day weekend.  That meant we had Sunday to do some exploring in our own backyard. We bopped around Magnolia, Mike’s new ‘hood (a borough of Gloucester, but don’t tell anyone who lives there that) and then went treasure hunting in Dogtown. Here’s two of my favorites on one of the “inspirational” boulders of Dogtown. 

You can read more about that (and a whole lot of other interesting stuff) here.

Rain On Our Parade

As we like to say...

What happened?

We got cocky.

After an uncharacteristically snow-free winter and a very dry start to the spring, the heavens parted yesterday and it rained overnight and into today. When we came home, we had a nice puddle between our breakfast nook and our freshly finished kitchen.  Well, crap.

The sheetrock Gods were on our side and there actually isn't any visible damage - yet. But the water worked its way through the shingles and roof boards and found the one spot where there wasn't fiberglass insulation to sop it up (also not ideal) - the header between the two spaces. Which is all a long way to say that it looks like we (Ryan, mostly) will be getting in a little roofing before the wedding.  What a bummer.

I must admit, two years of (old) homeownership have hardened me a bit. Back in 2010, I would have freaked out. Now I'm mildly annoyed. Maybe it's also that we have so much going on right now, there's no point in stressing. But 'tis the constant cycle of owning an old house, especially our wee one that had a whole lotta deferred maintenance when it came into our care.

Ah, what can you do... it's been too long since I've done a good roofing post.  Stay tuned, readers!

Pardon the Interruption