We are almost there

last night just before 9pm our dining room table was finally delivered. The chairs in the dining room had been sitting quite lonely for about a month now, but the table is fantastic and was worth waiting for. This morning the honed granite was delivered for the additional cabinets in the kitchen and the new vanity in the master bathroom. That means we are now almost there as we only have to deal with details.

The crew from Bloomsday granite and marble arrived at 8am sharp. (Yes, on memorial day)



With the honed granite in place we can now fill those extra cabinets. The "open" space will be filled with a wine cooler.



The new table has been in place for 14 hours only.



The table was made from an old elm wood door and has some interesting markings.



The vanity granite is in place too, and the faucets will be installed tomorrow. The lower cabinet gets a wooden top and a pillow and will serve as a seat.

Coffee table update

Legs are stained, glass top is in place and the table is now sitting in the den. It still needs a bit of work but it is very close to finished.

New coffee table

I have been working on a coffee table and it is slowly coming together. The metal ring will keep the rust look but the legs still need to be stained. Once the legs are stained they will be knocked all the way "through," leaving about 1/8" exposed on the top. The glass top will rest on these exposed wooden stumps. The whole table is very heavy and we'll have to test the floors to make sure it won't "crash through." :-)

New Gravitas brakes for my bike

My new Ciamillo Gravitas brakes arrived today and they are crazy light. They might be the lightest stoppers out there.

My new office desk

Today my new office desk arrived and it is very nice indeed. It is the crafty work of Roger Dinger of reinbarnation.com and he creates very cool tables from reclaimed barn wood. The pine wood for this desk came from the Barefoot Farm in Lake Waccamaw, NC.

The Aeron office chair is still not here and I'll clean up the cables under the desk, but this is basically what it looks like. The file cabinet is from CB2.


A hole in the back allows the cables to be out of the way.

A day in the park

Here are a few impressions of Pete's day in the dog park in Winston-Salem.

So many rules, so little time



Wow, so many dogs to play with



As long as you just sniff me...



Finally someone to dominate, yeah

Wedding anniversary

Today we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and we had several friends and family members send us warm wishes. We had a very nice weekend and the weather pretty much was great too. Friday night we went out for dinner to Fabian's and that was very good. Saturday morning we ran the 5k in the Race for the Cure and that was very fulfilling both from a physical as well as an emotional point. Saturday afternoon we went to a Kentucky Derby party at the house of someone Amy works with, and Saturday night we chilled and watched Slumdog Millionaire. Today we slept in, had a great brunch at the Village Tavern and then got the house ready for the furniture deliveries this week. Late this afternoon we took Pete to the dog park and that was great fun, but next time we'll give him the bath after the park and not before like we did today. :-)

Hopefully I'll never need one of those:

Athens weekend

Amy and I went to Athens, Ga over the weekend to see the Athens Twilight Criterium on Saturday night and also to spend a bit of relaxing time there.

It was quite warm there and in the afternoon we had time to just wander around



Kyle Wamsley of Colavita-Sutter and John Murphy of Ouch Racing in action



This video (posted by someone else) shows the throngs of spectators and the speed of the athletes



After a run on Sunday morning we went to the Grit for brunch



Behind the counter inside the Grit is one of Michael Lachowski's Coffee paintings. He painted that Coffee one in 1985, and he made both a Hot Chocolate and a Milk artwork for me in 2004

Introducing Pete

This week we adopted Pete from our friends Paul and Anita. I think they planned on having only 2 dogs but ended up with 4. Pete for example was dropped off at their house 2 years ago for a "couple of weeks" and never picked up again. Pete lost his front right leg after an incident with a car, but he gets around just fine.

Exhausted after the 6 hour transfer from Chattanooga



Hanes Park is just down the hill from us and offers lots of things to see



Wow that walk was tiring



Hello world, I am Pete

Seeing daylight

We still have a few moving boxes to unpack, but most of them are empty now and broken down to be picked up by the movers. The first room to be really finished with setting up was the kitchen, even though we are still awaiting the additional cabinets and countertop. But the cabinets and the fridge are filled and we were able to cook our first meal there. :-)

We love the kitchen, and dislike the dishwasher.



This wedding gift (thank you Deano and Angie) looks perfect here.

My thumb is still quite ugly

Saturday afternoon I closed the car door on my right thumb and it hurt like crazy. 5 days later and the thumb is still quite swollen and sore, plus of course ugly too. This is very helpful in the opening process of the moving boxes.

Getting closer to moving in

Tuesday, April 7 is the big moving day from the Piedmont LeafLofts to the home on Clover Street. Amy and I are both excited and ready to move into our first house that is ours (not mine or yours.) Our contractor Rick Stevens has done a great job with the opening of the kitchen to the dining room and the painting and finishing of several rooms.

The house is a bit easier to see with the leaves not yet up



We will need furniture for the living room.



A look from the living room through the dining room into the kitchen. It is all open now.



Only a few more days and we'll be cooking here.



The new cabinets and the counter top is not yet in place. The table won't stay.



A look over the back deck into the yard from the kitchen window



Upstairs now. A look from the master closet into the master bedroom. Master bath is in the background.



The guest bedroom is currently the only room in the house with some furniture in it.



The guest bathroom.



Amy's office is very bright and has unique window closing hardware

Hello Chattanooga

Tuesday through Thursday we went to Chattanooga as Amy was giving a presentation on Wednesday during a Trauma Symposium. Tuesday night Amy was going to a related dinner and I went to an art exhibit and visited friends, and I have pics of that evening below. Wednesday night Amy and I got to see Martin, Janelle and the 3 cutiepies and then we met Paul and Anita at the Meeting place. Thursday after a quick run and a brief shopping stint we drove back to Winston.


Paul and Anita in front of a random cd cover project



I really liked this selection of dolls



This doll even had a tramp stamp on her butt



Sharon's Asian inspired geometric pottery was very beautiful



George, Paul and Anita (Rick and I) were reunited in Big River



Good friends like these are hard to come by

A quick trip to New Orleans

Last weekend Amy and I flew to New Orleans to visit Laura. It was great to see Laura and of course New Orleans is well worth a trip in itself.

Laura picked us up at the airport and interestingly enough best friends Laura and Amy pretty much were dressed alike



We started our dinner at Frankie & Johnny's with crawfish



This monster Muffaletta sandwich was actually only a half size



Laura stumbled across this Banksy artwork



Beautiful architecture is all over the place



Walking through the French Quarters



The tourists were out in force, a good sign for NOLA tourism



Laura with Hank watching over her



Great stuff, but very expensive