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West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

November 29, 2012

Post-Thanksgiving Report

And I can report that from my standpoint, anyway, it was a great long weekend with Chris here for a visit.  We worked like Trojans when we worked, but we also did a nice amount of running around, eating, wine sipping and just general good times.  Of course, I feel about five pounds heavier than I did before he got here.  I think I was really burning calories cause I was excited, much more active than usual, stressing some about the tiling project, etc., and I seemed to be starving all the time!

So on to the projects.  I posted a picture of the tile for the kitchen on my last post and now I have some pictures of the work in progress and the finished product.  I couldn't stop looking at it the whole time we worked on it cause with each sheet of tile that went up, it just looked better and better.  Chris did most of the work - I tried to help by cleaning the grout off and never have I encountered a more stressful task.  We finally decided we should be letting it dry more before trying to clean it off cause I just kept smearing it around.

This first picture shows the old red wall covered with these nifty adhesive sheets I found at Home Depot.  You don't have to spread adhesive on the wall with a trowel (count that as one trip to Lowe's to take back trowel and adhesive...) which is really neat.  And you can see that about one and a half sheets of tile are installed with Chris fitting it very neatly around the outlet.
 Almost all the way across now, and then comes the nasty "fitting in".  But looking good, right?
 TA-DA!!
 And TA-DA again!
I just LOVE it!!!  And I love Chris pretty darned much for doing it for me too. :)

We also put up a little strip of tiles I found in the vanity on the big gap that appeared when I had the new vanity installed.  That wall turns out to be pretty concave in the middle - like over a 1/4" gap between wall and vanity top at it's widest point.  Here's a picture of the gap and you can see from the shadow on the wall how it gets bigger in the center.
 So here's what we did with that.  Quite a while ago I went back to the store to see if I could get a "side splash" to match the backsplash but no, I couldn't.  So I pondered two or three other possibilities and then came across these little tiles which are a very nice match for the colors in the top.  I still need to paint the caulking with a tan because right now it is very white but I'm quite pleased with this solution.  At least I won't keep losing favorite things down the crack!!  And my walls aren't really this color nor the color in the next picture - they're actually closest to the color in the picture above.
And this next picture is just for fun - these are the majority (but not all) of the receipts from Lowe's and Home Depot that these projects created.  I couldn't begin to remember how many trips were made to both stores, starting before Chris got here and going right through to the bitter end.

Last but not least, the day Chris got here (Wednesday afternoon) the two pictures that I had taken to have framed so we could hang them in my second hallway window were finished so we went and picked those up and that was the first task Chris accomplished.  Got that done Thursday while we waited for it to be time to cook and eat.  So here's the results of that project and again I am so totally happy with it.  Both with the framing, the way the two pictures look together, the way the big Eiffel picture ties in with the Duomo picture (which I hung by myself and that's why I was so glad to have Chris do these!) and just the whole thing.  It's difficult to get decent pictures here because of the fact that it's in a hallway, but...
And a close-up of the "Metamorphosis" which I bought from a street artist in Paris and absolutely love.
And, the whole hallway with the Duomo getting in the picture too.   It's still my all-time favorite. :)
It's Thursday now - just a week since all this took place.  Chris left Monday and there's always a little let down after company leaves - especially when it's been such a nice visit.  But I had lunch with my friend Peggy Tuesday and Wednesday so that was real nice.

And one more plug for Huntington - we ate at Backyard Pizza and went to the Sip wine bar another night and enjoyed them both very much.  Also got pain du chocolats at the bakery, an artichoke pasta sauce at the Wild Ramp, and I bought a couple of goodies at the Common Ground store - all located in Heritage Station and all fun to visit.

5 comments:

Chinch said...

Have been checking every day to see the results and here at last -- it all looks wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!! Love the giraffe to Eiffel Tower. Happy for you (and for Chris) that it all went so well.

Christopher said...

It was a very nice visit, even if the tile grout proved stressful; we overcame it admirably, I think. I think the hanging prints may be my favorite---I know that's weird, given the effort in tiling the kitchen (which looks super; excellent tile choice you made!)... but something about seeing the Duomo with "partner art", just 'completes' that hallway beautifully...
PS---don't forget your tile touch-up homework in the kitchen ;)
PSPS---sure did enjoy Backyard Pizza and Sip! And those 2 pies we had all to ourselves over the visit ;)

Mary Lynne said...

Although don't forget, Chris - we DID take 3 pieces (little, I grant you) of pumpkin pie down to the barristas at Starbucks. :)

Elga said...

Mary Lynne, it all looks wonderful, I love all the tiles and that was a clever way to fix the gap in the bathroom.

But I absolutely love the giraffe turning into the Eiffel tower, they are some of my favorite animals. About twenty years ago on holiday in a game reserve we had two of them doing their mating dance quite close to the car, it was an amazing sight, they looked so graceful and it is a very special memory.

Mary Lynne said...

Thanks, Elga, for sharing that wonderful memory. We certainly live in two different worlds and yet share so many of the same interests. I sometimes think I should have been born to one of those families who have to travel and live all over the world - there's just so much to see!

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