summer travels, lonely house

These days when someone asks me "how is the house," the answer is usually "I haven't seen it in a while." Not to mention working on house or garden projects. Since mid-May, I've:

• been to 10 weddings
• changed jobs (yeah, I probably forgot to mention that)
• traveled (for work or for weddings) to Omaha, Northern California, Atlanta, New York City (twice), North Carolina and Washington D.C.

Truth: Fun for me but not so fun for keeping up with this place.

October is turning out to be just as hectic as the summer was, but I'm finding more efficient ways to keep up with the cleaning and lawn care on the days in between trips. It's a challenge, but I do like having this place to come home to ... so I think I'll keep it :)

In honor of a truly amazing summer, and to give you a glimpse of my life outside the house, here are some of my favorite moments from the last four months:

The stunning sunset at the wedding of this amazing lady and her fantastic husband

A rare photo-op with 12 of the 17 cousins at Rachel and Mark's wedding in Omaha (the first of three cousin weddings this summer!)

Grade-school girlfriends at Carolyn's wedding in Half Moon Bay, California

One of many Lake Minnetonka days with my family

Reminiscing with Kelli about our childhood days in Texas on one of my two trips to New York City, where she now lives (and blogs!)

College roommates! Nancy was the first of the Plum House girls to tie the knot

Catching up with more college friends in Washington D.C. in September

Dancing with Stephen, my like-a-brother friend that I've known since 5th grade, at his wedding in Napa Valley in May

Nate, Care, Sugi, me and Newman at, you guessed it, another wedding

Johnny and Maria's wedding in Minneapolis (more cousins!)

Twins win! One of the best comebacks in baseball history.

Celebrating mom's 20th anniversary with PartyLite at their National Conference in Minneapolis in July, alongside two of her best friends (amazing women, all of them)

Getting my Michael Cuddyer home run ball signed (I caught it during a game two summers ago) -- definitely a top highlight :)

A weekend at Newman's lake cabin in Wisconsin

An Agnes a Cappella reunion at Kelin's bridal shower

 

And, the most surreal moment: standing next to Alison, my best friend since we were born, during her beautiful wedding in Atlanta.

My southern roots are showing a little bit more than usual, eh? Did I mention there were hats?

Yes. An amazing, blessed summer. 

It's okay if I hibernate in the house all winter, though, right?

xoxo

PS -- I'm back home for a few weeks before a jaunt to Boston ... and tomorrow I'll have photos from a major house upgrade. One where I didn't have to lift a finger. Hooray :)

autumn morning

It does not feel like fall when it is 80 degrees outside. But it looks like fall...

light change for loose change

Just a quickie post here ... I did this a few weeks ago, and every time I come home I'm reminded how much easier it makes my life. No more fumbling for keys in the dark (especially now that the days are getting shorter). No more agonizing about whether or not to leave the porch light on.

Because now I have a motion-sensitive light by my front door -- no rewiring required!

We found this at the hardware store for about $10 (pocket change compared to most of my other hardware store trips). It goes between the light socket and the lightbulb, and any time someone enters the front porch or opens the front door, it turns on. It goes off in about two minutes. Perfect!

The downside is that I can't use the covering that was previously on the light:

I'm still on the lookout for a replacement, but in this case, I happily traded function over form and haven't had any regrets.

closet capers

Closets don't get nearly as much love as they deserve. Think about how many times a day you open closets to get coats, bags, cleaning products and clothes?

Mine were really suffering from too many days of "I'm too busy to put stuff away in its correct place" -- and in some cases, the "correct places" didn't yet exist.

And I'm pretty lucky to have an old house with decent closets on the main level and in the master bedroom. (Of course, the master bedroom closet came at the expense of the closet in the blue bedroom before I bought it, but I'm working on some fun solutions for that...)

First off, here's my newly organized downstairs closet. It's the brown door on the north side of the dining room, by the doorway to the living room.

On the right are everyday jackets and hangers for guests.

On the left, old prom dresses and winter jackets. Far to the left is where I keep the extra dining room chairs, and there's also a handy shelf where I keep extra candles and candleholders.

Front and center are some shoe and sweater holders that I've repurposed for more candles and things I need to grab quickly on a regular basis: chargers for the drill, vacuum cleaner and personal electronics; hats and mittens for winter; umbrellas and extra surge protectors.

Votives, tealights and aroma melts are sorted by season (right now, fall/winter fragrances like spiced cider and cinnamon bayberry are at the top, and spring/summer fragrances like lemongrass and citronella are on the bottom shelves).

Once that closet was conquered, it was much easier to tackle my master bedroom closet.

I started with the seasonal clean-out: shorts, summer dresses and blouses went in the "seasonal box" in the linen closet, and a few fall/winter pieces came back into the closet.

Then I rearranged the layout so that all casual items and work pants are on the top shelf, and business + special occasion clothes are on the bottom and on the far right. I wear skirts and dresses to work most days, and pants less often (hence, relegating them to the top shelf). And casual wear is only for the weekends and trips. So, everything I wear often is right within reach.

The final touch was hanging a curtain rod to match the window treatment. The drapes came from Target last summer, by way of my mom (who bought them when she was redecorating my childhood bedroom in very similar colors last summer - I should probably do a post about that when I'm home over Christmas, eh?)

I love love love the new curtains! And now, when guests are on their way and I don't have time to make the closet look like it should, I can just close the drapes :)

I think I'll probably keep them open most of the time, but I like having the option. They match the sheets perfectly, which works out well.

How about you? Any good tips for keeping closets organized and happy?

last harvest

The last harvest is always a sad day ... for me, fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden are one of the very best things about summer. And this year was particularly bad for tomatoes -- the squirrels got a few red ones, but I never did.

But here's the last hurrah: lemon cucumbers, kale, basil, green tomatoes, and chiles (jalapeno and habanero). YUM.

And, some majorly delicious zucchini from a few weeks ago:

Stay tuned for some cooking posts ... I finally got to spend a Sunday night in the kitchen for the first time in a long while :)

wedding crafting (*not mine!)

It was a dreary, drizzly Sunday in Minneapolis today ... so we spent the afternoon working on projects for Danica's wedding.

You probably recognize her from past craft days and parties at the house. She's a great friend I've known since we worked on the magazine together years ago, and now we mostly get to see each other at seasonal clothing swaps and project days. But after the wedding in a few weeks, she's moving into the neighborhood -- yay!

gold, silver and peacock feathers

I've found some amazing treasures at some antique and vintage stores in South Minneapolis and Uptown this summer.

First, a 30-piece set of silver to add to my collection of various silverware patterns (and, altogether, I only paid $1.73 because of a 20% off sale at Hunt and Gather and a gift certificate from some dear friends who know me very, very well).

Peacock feathers for just three bucks a pop, which you've already seen in the living room (a now-closed antique store on Hennepin and 27th).

And a fantastic gold key that is also destined for the living room (from Rewind Vintage at 48th and Chicago).

Aren't old things just so much prettier than new ones?