Making the bacon, in our new kitchen

After I finished my full time on-site seven week project in December (my first since the twins, after several false starts), I didn't have any short term plans to return to work, as I had turned down a project extension and another FT job offer.  But then my old CMO (a fellow twin parent and a super nice guy) gave me a shout last month and wanted to know if I could help him out with a project for another former colleague (who I coincidentally helped hire in our last job together and is now running a dept. for a major multinational out of Munich..).  He's a professor at Kellogg now, after being let go a week into his relocation to Switzerland (crazy people, I tell you), but he also does projects on the side. It was a sweet deal, so I was in.  Making (what I assume is) his obscene billable rate (he's Harvard Econ BA/MIT MBA/former McKinsey and has almost 20 years on me) and working bits here and there from home over a few weeks (even if it was spring break)?  Yes please.

Now we are all done with that and my kitchen nearly is too.  We still have to paint and install the new lighting and decide on a stove, but all the cabinets, farmhouse sink, quartz counters, fridge, beadboard, and tile backsplash (the big stuff) are all up and in.  It was in the planning stages since we moved in ten years ago and I could count the active reno in months and years, which I don't necessarily recommend, though it has actually been less disruptive, which was kind of the point.  But this room is truly a testament to my patience, when in doubt...

I have always loved arabesque tiles (that's the shape) and while these mosaics (at under 2"/ea) were smaller than most, I decided they would work in our decidedly smallish space.  They are porcelain with glass iridescent ones mixed in and the colors tie together our new stainless appliances, our slightly off-white cabs and counters, and our blue grey textiles.  Kinda exotic (I fell in love with tiles traveling in Portugal), and kinda beachy. Perfection, finally.

More pics when we are done, now on to the master bath...

A New Big Year

Happy New Year! 

First of all, can I ask how the heck is it 2014?!  I've been out of college almost (ahem) 15 years, and HS nearly (cough) 20, and I can remember thinking about 2000 being so great, but honestly I don't think I thought much beyond that.  But here we are...

I'm really looking forward to this being a great year for us (no jinx, please).  The kids are doing well, and I know they are going to love preschool.  As you know, I hemmed and hawed on this forever (the when and where), but now that they are walking and talking, more independent, and craving more stimulation, and we found a school we like, they are starting next week.  At first, there was only room for them one day a week (it is four hours, from 9-1, which includes play, music, reading, and (a packed) snack and lunch), which I thought would be fine since the preschool that I'm looking at for fall is 2 days/9-11a (so also four hours total/wk).  But then space on the second day opened up and we decided to go for it. 

Eight whole hours a week to myself, can you even imagine?  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it honestly.

Other things on our radar this year for the kids are things like: potty training (Mari's already talking about it and sitting and trying), moving to big kid beds (w/new décor), losing the binks (Mari is down to sleeping only, though she'd use it all the time, if we'd let her), and continuing speech therapy.  Between therapy, preschool, and continuing our music and toddler class, we'll have just one week day completely off of any scheduled activities.

Me and Mari (on the left) selling everyone on the music class, from the cover of the latest park district catalogue... (A is wandering off screen)

With some time to myself, and more importantly the kids out of the house, I have some work to do.  On me and on the house.  Things that have been put off for a long time.  I joined a great gym last summer, after the kids dropped their second nap, and thankfully they really like the awesome childcare center, but I haven't gotten really serious about getting my strength back.  Fortunately for me, weight is not an issue (I somehow have every problem with pregnancy that is unusual, and almost none of the ones that are normal), but I'm still not very strong.  I'm still figuring out what I want to do on the work front, but that's a whole other post.  Hopefully I'll be doing more reading, other things I enjoy, and generally be less pressed for time to get things done.

And the house, our house.  We just marked eight years here, and after all that we've done we haven't been doing much lately besides maintenance, it just isn't worth it when so much else is going on and us all at home most days.  This year, we got a new steam clothes dryer (LOVE) when our old/new since we moved in one died and are finally getting a new garage door/opener (as we were planning), as it also recently bit the dust (during the worst weather of the year, of course.  Well, in keeping with the theme of the season (the kids got a lot of food/kitchen/shopping stuff for Christmas and DH (the cook in our family) got some new small appliances (since all our Cuisinarts from our wedding have been nothing but a disappointment over time), we are FINALLY planning our new kitchen.

Our kitchen is unfortunately small (a walk-through galley with an open side), which I've recently taken to calling a "take out" kitchen, so while the style has been fine (and one of the things I didn't need to change as soon as we moved in), we need to maximize our usable space by having cabinets to the ceiling and adding a larger china/storage wall (where we currently have a freestanding china cabinet).  The cottage style will remain basically the same: white cabinets/appliances, grey counters, with a tile backsplash (though the tan, blue, white mosaic will likely be replaced by a new blue only).  I'm hoping/planning for a reno at this point to not be totally disruptive to our lives, as that is the only way it can happen. 

Other smaller projects, like painting the mud/laundry room, an accent wall in the LR (and maybe in A's room) and all of Mari's room are also on tap.  We are still working on making our home office as usable a space as possible.  It, like our guest room, has unfortunately become a drop space for things, since the basement is yet to be refinished since the flooding in 2011.  We also plan to do more work on our bathroom this year.

We managed to squeeze a lot of travel in this year, NYC/the Hamptons, Boston, and India, among smaller trips.  But next year will likely be more low key.  A summer beach trip (to the Cape/Islands) and teaching the kids to ski.  It would be great to make it out to see family in SoCal, but that may be a next year trip.

I hope 2014 is your best year yet!! :)