Thanksgivukkah

This year was the first year in over a hundred years that Thanksgiving and the first night of Hanukkah have overlapped, leading the Internet to coin the term Thanksgivukkah!
Seeing the opportunity to host a big dinner and loving the concept of being part of a once in a lifetime event, several friends and I decided we'd get together the day after Thanksgiving to commemorate the day.
Frying in oil, as is tradition: Potato latkes.

Pretty delicious..but what's not to love about fried potatoes and onions?

Getting everything set before people started arriving. I started making desserts and seasoning the brisket a couple days in advance. Then, for about 10 minutes before everybody came, I popped everything onto sheet pans and warmed it in the oven so it would be warm, flavorful, and delicious when we all sat down to eat. 

My twist on an Ina Garten brisket recipe - tender and delicious..falling apart! (I studded mine with slivers of garlic cloves, added a little brandy and red wine to the vegetables as they sauteed, and covered the brisket with chicken stock and water before popping into the oven for 3 1/2 hours)
Roasted carrots from the same Dutch oven as the brisket, roasted balsamic red onions, fingerling potatoes with garlic aioli, Brussels sprouts, latkes, several different flavors of rugelach, a rustic pear, apple, and cranberry tart, and a huge challah to break with friends. Wash it down with a little manischewitz, and you've got yourself a feast!
There were leftovers....but there weren't THAT many leftovers! The sign of a successful night :)

Paint, painty paintpaintpaint

So, we got a TON of (but not all of the) exterior painting done this weekend!
It's going to look especially impressive if I show an old 'Before' picture, though :) 

Who could forget my old garage? ;)

Working our way up the front of the house.
The color is 'Slate' from Restoration Hardware, mixed by Sherwin-Williams

I was lucky enough to have several friends and family stop by Saturday and Sunday to help out.
They're the best :)

Many hands make light work...or so the saying goes.

Two days, two coats.
Boom.

Touching up to do here and there...but an enormous amount of work has been done!

NYE

New Year's Eve Eve was my classy night at home with a nice dinner, champagne, and my friend Megan. New Year's Eve was my not-so-classy night out on the town in Cedar Falls. I'll let you fill in the blanks on that one.. Both were good fun :)
Happy New Year, everyone!

Party time :)

In addition to just doing things because they needed done, we had the added incentive to finish projects because I had a housewarming party this past Saturday! I invited several good friends from school, and lots of people from around town. Lots of food, lots of drinks, and lots of good people – it was a really great time J

I stayed up late the night before finishing up the window painting project in the solarium. I wanted to get those done and the grilles painted so that people could get a feel for the direction that room was headed, and I’m glad I did. A little more touch-up painting on the walls and everything was ready for deep cleaning!

2:00am aaaaand DONE!

I even received a couple new plants! Greenhouse, here we come ;)

I dusted, scrubbed, and swept EVERYTHING really well…I’m always amazed how well the house cleans up. When we were covered in insulation and plaster dust, I thought – for sure – I’d never get the house cleaned ever again. Luckily, I was wrong!

Housewarming party turned Slumber party!

This was after we had been semi-cleaning throughout the night..

Thankfully (but against my instructions) my friends were kind enough to help clean up before they left. I suppose, in retrospect, we did make kind of a mess. The true sign of a successful party.

With the landscaping stones put in place last weekend, my leftover siding sold on Craigslist, and the lot next door cleaned up, even the outside of the house was looking pretty good. The pallet the siding was shipped on was going to be used for a fire the night of the party, but we had such a good time inside, we never made it back OUTside. Sunday morning after my friends had gone, I decided I would go ahead and start the fire anyway. There were a couple other things for the pile, too…..I decided to burn everything all at once J Mwahaha!

My little fire ring before being loaded up with scrap wood.

Who knew the driveway was so big?! I'm now down to two piles left up here :)

...oops.

Otherwise, a pretty quiet day. A little more cleaning..a little movie watching..a short nap, and all was right with the world.

No, I'm not dead.

I’m just a really bad updater.

But I’ve been busy!

Not only did I have my first (birthday!) party in the house, but I’ve welcomed two new roommates..one of whom is a cat.

A house-warming palm! And my giganto aloe..I told you I was turning this into a greehouse!

The birthday party was really great. 20-25 people..just big enough that we could have a dance party in the living room, and small enough that I got to talk to everyone and thank them for coming J It was also just a really good excuse to see people I haven’t seen in a while. Some of my best friends made the trip from Cedar Rapids or Des Moines just for the night..and I was so glad to have them! Everybody gets so busy that we don’t always take the time to hop in the car and go see one another on the weekends.

Wal-Mart plants on the window ledge in the dining room.

It was also pretty cool because I invited a bunch of people that I like, but didn’t necessarily know all that well outside of work or the occasional run-in. By the end of the night, I think everyone had met somebody new and become closer to people they hadn’t known as well before. Mission: Accomplished.

Lots of compliments on the house – especially the light fixtures. It made me feel like all the work we’ve been doing has really paid off (not that having a roof over my head wasn’t payment enough, but you get the idea).

My new (old) cupboard in the dining room! It's currently holding every dish, cup, fork and spoon I own..in addition to displaying all my moonshinin' stuff on top.
Disclosure: I don't actually make my own booze. I bought this because I thought it looked cool. Though, after watching "Moonshiners" last weekend, I think I might like to try it one day :)

The roommate thing has been in the works for a couple weeks. I didn’t say anything because I have this tendency to say things with regard to the house that don’t materialize.. (i.e. I’m moving in THIS WEEKEND!!  ..three months later). I thought pretty hard about it, and decided that it would probably be alright, even though I really like my alone time.

From the laundry, looking through the kitchen into the dining room (with more pieces of the whiskey still) and the living room beyond.

Granted, it’s only been a little while; but, so far, I think things are going well. The cat is actually providing a valuable service by killing any spiders it sees roaming the floor, and the roommate Swiffers said floor almost every day before I get home from work. It’s apparently a cat-hair-related Swiffering, but it’s a Swiffering nonetheless.

The cat-roommate is entirely against everything I have ever said I would do. Ever. I am not a cat person and don’t know that I ever truly will be. But, this cat comes with my friend who comes with a few hundred dollars a month in rent. Which is nice. Also, the aforementioned spider-killing is reassuring. As long as I stay on his good side, Charlie the cat will patrol the house for movement.

Charlie the Spider Slayer. I caught him between yawns..it's been another rough afternoon.

That said: if he pees outside his litter box, I’m sending him to “the farm” where he can “play with the other cats.”

Progress has slowed slightly since the roommate moved in. Helping her move in and then re-situating everything in the kitchen and bathroom took some time. But, this past weekend we got back after it and finishing routing, sanding, and painting the baseboard.

8 & 10" baseboard routed, sanded, and painted. Boom.

This has been a pretty cool project, actually. I was dreading it because I don’t know how to run the router. I tried two boards: the first was fine; the second looked like cooked bacon…a little wavy. Luckily, the former Roommates spent a good chunk of the weekend over here in the garage and we got it knocked out.

Now to hang it and finish it with quarter round. Then on to a new project!

I saw a version of this on another blog: using a painters canvas dropcloth as a curtain. I'll hang it from the 1/2" conduit and have a custom, made-to-fit system for my baywindow. Total cost: $18. I like the color and texture of this stuff.. More to come!

Tonights dinner: I've had this chicken soaking in a brine overnight (all the onions and carrots have sunk to the bottom)..I'll let you know how it tastes. By the way, those are peppercorns...just so you know! ;)