Where it All Began…

Andrew and I spent the weekend in New England. When we arrived Friday afternoon, our friends Bailey and Sean were still at work, so we took the opportunity to hop a cab from Logan Airport over to Brookline, where we could revisit our old stompin’ grounds. While we’ve been back to Boston numerous times since graduating in 2005, we’ve never really returned to campus (other than a quick drive-by). Our brief trip down Comm Ave, aka Memory Lane, brought back so many good times, and we just let the nostalgia wash over us – and, embarrassingly, took some pictures with “landmarks.”

I’ll spare you most of them, but my favorite is us in front of our freshman dorm, where the seeds of this epic romance were planted:

I guess technically the seeds were planted back in Mrs. Wilson’s fourth-grade class, but really, Warren was where it all took root.

COM:

I think it’s about time Howard Stern and/or Bill O’Reilly send some major coin their way. COM is really an eyesore.

Warren Towers at dusk:

So much romance. Also, Comm Ave was just as windy as ever. Seriously, what’s up with that? Sorry Chicago, but Boston is way more windy. (I read somewhere that Chicago is known as the windy city not for literally having strong winds, but for “windy” politics. Isn’t this blog educational?)

Anyhoo, after spending the night at Bailey & Sean’s, the four of us drove up to Portsmouth, NH on Saturday to spend the night. We slept at the Ale House Inn. It was awesome, and VERY stylish. I liked our bedding so much, I took a picture of it:

Actually, I took more than one picture:

The duvet and pillow shams are from Dwell, and Bailey liked them so much, she’s going to ask for the set for her birthday. I’m going to be jealous, but also proud to have a friend with such chic bedding.

I’d never been to Portsmouth, but I was charmed – lots of restaurants, cute shops, and well-dressed New Englanders. Oh! And everyone there drives a Subaru. That part was kind of weird, but even WE were driving a Subaru, so it worked out.

 

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Christmas is Coming

We placed the tree at the front of the living room this year.

Our neighbor supplied us with some of his extra lights.

Widget is ready!

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The Importance of Clean Gutters and Downspouts

Yes, it was just like this.

File this one under, “Things you don’t think about until you’re a homeowner.”

While growing more and more obsessed with clearing our front and back yards of leaves, I kind of overlooked the necessity of cleaning our front gutters and making sure our downspouts were cleared. We had a couple days of rain before Thanksgiving, and as the water pooled on our front porch, I knew the gutters were likely jammed with leaves that had been falling since the end of September.

So this past weekend, after a final run through the yard to clear the last-remaining leaves, I borrowed a neighbor’s tall ladder and expected the worst. It looked just like this:

Not pretty.

But with Katie’s help, she and I took turns climbing and clearing, slow and steady, because the ladder we used was probably older than our early-1960s home. We used our hose with a powerful nozzle to blast the downspouts clean, and because we have a couple large hedges that made some portions of the gutter hard-to-reach, I used a blower to clear the remaining leaves and debris.

So now our porch — and more importantly, the basement — should stay relatively dry, and we’re making sure our somewhat-new roof stays in good shape. My neighbor echoed my father’s words on cleaning the gutters, simply saying, “You gotta do it…”

And of course, it’s  pouring today with rain in the forecast tomorrow. But overall I’m feeling pretty good — after doing such a gross job.

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D’oh!

Susiemommy got me a subscription to House Beautiful, and I was reading the December/January issue over the weekend. Well guess what? Fish-themed bathrooms are en vogue!

The powder room featured in the magazine isn’t online, but this is the wallpaper (image from here):

It’s hand-painted, from de Gournay.  They don’t have prices on their website (obvs; prices are so not en vogue… also, their unofficial motto is probably “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it”), but a quick Google search leads me to believe that a three-foot-wide panel costs around $600.

So maybe we were a little hasty in de-fishing our bathroom. Dang.

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