Doing something for myself.

It seriously gets harder and harder to write a well versed post the further you get from the last one you have written.  There has been plenty to write about, however there has also been plenty of excuses why I haven’t been more disciplined in documenting our life’s adventures.  It’s true, the excitement of our wedding has died down, but I still haven’t blogged about the wedding recaps I promised.  Even if it’s old news to our reading community, I need to force myself to compile detailed and intimate entries about projects, emotions, and vendor shout outs.  The fact is that it is quite awesome so relive what you were doing over these past 2 years by simply clicking on specific post.  So, a journal log of what this blog was intended for is obviously a must. If you’re interested in my storytelling of how our wedding went, hold me to my above promise.

In other news, starting with the most recent and working my way backwards, I turned 27 yesterday! There once was a 24-25 year old that didn’t believe in wishing facebook birthdays, but I’ll admit, making my date of birth public on social media made my day even more special.  Thank you to everyone that took the time to type on my wall a very simple wish, that text me, called me, hugged me, took to me to dinner, etc. Oh yea, and thanks to Danny Briere for jump starting the Flyer’s huge comeback with two goals for the birthday girl!

On April 1, 2012 my sister and brother-in-law welcomed their new addition, Lucas Scott.  The pure happiness and love that filled the room after his birth was something I haven’t felt since our wedding day.  It’s a high I wish could be bottled for future use.  Thankfully, I can watch the video over and over again that Uncle Ben recorded while we got to meet and hold him for the first time.  No video posting though, as we may have ownership, we do not own the rights, it’s a pretty personal video.  What we do have that is shareable is a preview of shots from our favorite photographers, m2. Enjoy his perfectness, I do!

On February 27, 2012 I started my training for my third annual run of Broad Street.  For all the people who did not get a bib, I feel guilty saying this, but this year has been my worst training efforts ever.  I will still run, hopefully not walk too much, to the finish line on May 6th, but it would be miraculous if I beat my previous times.  I can’t wait for my sister to be my running partner again! She makes it so much more fun or at least there is the accountability factor with a competitive edge.

I was doing that whole chronological date thing, but it was so long ago I don’t remember the date.  Sometime in February after the baby shower, before training started, I promised Ben that I would do something for myself.  One Sunday I did just that, with Ben’s assistance of course.  He willingly came to the fabric store with me and helped me pick out fabric to recover our kitchen chairs.  Most of you know about the sweet deal we got on the furniture that was already living in our house when we bought it. (Here’s a quickie if you need it.)  I guess the previous owners got first dibs at the “As-Is” section, so they needed some TLC.  And not to mention when your husband comes in from rolling around in the garage and forgetfully sits on the white cushions. So here is the first thing I decided to do for myself and you get the step by step tutorial.

Step 1:
Strip off the old fabric and remove any staples. Cut the new fabric, with pinking shears preferably to reduce fray, roughly the shape of the seat leaving about a 2-3 inch border to be able to have enough room for staples.

Step 2:
Make weird facial expression since this is in fact the first time you’re attempting this and wonder where you should put the first staple.

Step 3:
I decided that stapling the four corners would be best to make sure the fabric was being pulled equally taut in each direction.

Step 4: (sorry for lack of pics)
Continue stapling by adding one or two staples to the middle of one side.  Repeat on the parallel side. (This helps to make sure the fabric is pulled evenly) Repeat on the remaining two edges.

Step 5:
Next, work on the corners.  I had to try a couple different ways to fold that made the cleanest edge.  Make sure your partner is patient or you communicate when you are ready for a staple.  I thought I was going to have my fingers stapled by accident, my own meticulous fault.  Don’t be afraid to go staple happy either, we sure weren’t.  Just be prepared to make a Home Depot run when you’re out, Ben had to.

Step 6:
Make sure there is no bulky fabric that doesn’t allow the seat to sit flush.  Hack away if there is.  No worries, no one will see the underneath.

Step 7:
Step back and admire your hard work.

Step 8:
Add Cadence to the shot.

I do not claim to be an expert upholsterer (I googled to make sure that was correct), but we did successfully recover our kitchen chairs and we are pretty darn proud of them!

27 out of 27, with 27 being the best and 1 being the worst

That’s how I would rank my recent 27th anniversary of being alive if there were such a ranking system. It’s true, I’m now one step closer to spiritual enlightenment and one step farther from gold.

If nature’s first green is in fact gold, then our backyard jungle is sweeping the podium. We can’t just sit around and wait for leaf to subside to leaf, so a few weeks back Michelle and I started cutting shit down. We get in little spurts where whole afternoons fly by in an instant and we’re left with piles of brush in the back and four contractor bags of ivy out at the curb. The yard and surrounding landscaping gets a little bit better every time we go at it, so there’s progress to be seen.

The weird part is that I literally have to drag Michelle back in the house to get her to stop for the day. It will be dark out, and as I start putting the tools away I’ll see her grab another trash bag and start ripping up more ivy. She would have made a great Cheek Gardener.

The second weird thing lately is that we’ve actually found a loop in Valley Forge WITH hills (hills not pictured), that she genuinely enjoys riding.

For my birthday weekend I was treated to a weekend at best man Kris’s bachelor paradise. This kid is living the life with his fancy pants job in NYC and posh apartment with it’s own freaking Five Guys. Yes, there is a real life Five Guys restaurant in his apartment building.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

First things first though, we had to fix his broken car. My brother can spit out detailed investment analysis of global trade in mixed markets just as easily as I can order a bacon cheeseburger with lettuce and bbq sauce, but beyond turning the key and pressing the go fast pedal, he’s pretty lost when Lakeisha (his Lexus) breaks down. No worries, armed with a spare battery and multi-meter I set to work analyzing what had caused his car to suddenly cut out and completely die.

Turns out his battery terminals and wires were overly corroded and were preventing the battery from charging properly. The alternator in these cars is dreadfully underpowered from the factory and couldn’t support the motor without a fully charged battery. After a couple quick tests we determined it’d be a safe bet to replace the dead battery. After the longest walk ever to the auto parts store, we cleaned his terminals and checked that everything was getting plenty of juice. With as much time as I spend working on cars, I don’t often end up fixing things so miraculously. I think we were both a little surprised with our success, so we celebrated with more Five Guys.

The next day was the real main event, the home opener for the NY Red Bulls. Kris lives about a block from Red Bull Arena and picked up season tickets this year. We had never been to an MLS game and couldn’t believe the energy in and around the arena on game day. There was all kinds of cool stuff going on, but we quickly found ourselves in the beer tent. Now I don’t mean to brag, but this beer tent happened to have fooseball tables and we happened to strike up a quick match against two other fans. Well one game lead to two, and before we knew it we had ran the table and defeated a long line of eager challengers. Content with our self appointed world championship of fooseball, we bid the Coors Light girls farewell and made our way to the seats.

90 minutes flew by and the Red Bulls had murderized the Colorado Rapids. We then made our way down to the store so Kris could load up on Red Bull gear for the season. His custom jersey was a hit among the NY crowd.

My birthday celebration rounded off last weekend with a four day team training camp held in Lost River, WV. Trip was a ton of fun and consisted of some of the hardest riding I’ve ever done offset by beautiful scenery and the usual team shenanigans. The full recap can be found here: http://www.sunnybrookracing.com/?p=419

Home safely, I took Monday off to catch up and get some rest. On the agenda was a quick trip into Philly to visit Cast & Salvage Workshop so they could clean and inspect my motorcycle carbs.

While in town I also stopped by Tony Luke’s to welcome in Phillies baseball.

But as the poem goes, nothing gold can stay, and I’m back to work. At least I’m well prepared for upset customers and annoying co-workers with one of my birthday presents from Michelle.