4 challenges…

5.2 miles…

2 hours and 4 minutes…

and Sandra and I completed the Urban Dare!   (You’ll only “get” this intro if you watch the Amazing Race – it’s a pale imitation of Phil, but I tried.)

Last weekend, Sandra and I raced (walked actually) in the Urban Dare competition.  We’d done it last year, and we decided it was fun enough to do again.  It helped that this year it was in April instead of June.  Much less chance of us being out in 94 degree weather like last year.  If you don’t believe me, Sandra has a photo of a bank temperature sign that clearly shows 94!

The competition is billed as a mini Amazing Race, but it’s really not quite that exciting.  You get a piece of paper with a list of clues to local locations on it.  You have to figure them out, map out your course, and visit all the sites.  Well, you don’t have to map it out first – but you’ll probably end up walking much more than necessary if you don’t.  At a couple of the sites, you have a challenge to complete, but at most you just have to take a picture of your team at the site.  Check us out at the Pink Spider!  (Clue:  Find a store that begins with the more famous name of Alecia Beth Moore and ends with a word for an air-breathing arthropod arachnid.)

We got our path mapped, and headed out.  We did a pretty good job mapping the tasks – I don’t think we could have done it much more optimally.  Even better than last year, we never once had to backtrack because of an error.  You can see the path we took in the map below (click to enlarge – and thanks to Sandra for mapping it out):

We finished around the middle of the pack in a big crunch of people.  There were people who finished about three hours after us, but the winners finished nearly an hour before us.  Not too bad really.  Our time was slightly slower than last year, and we’re still trying to figure out how we were slower in better weather and with a slightly shorter course!  Best we can figure we spent a lot more time checking clues and mapping our route – it was a bit more complicated to map this year since we strayed further from downtown.

All in all, it was a fun couple of hours, and we had a good time – it was really nice to just to have the time to talk with a friend that I don’t get to see all that often.  Even if she did give me some grief about blogging.  I can’t really blame her though; after all, I was supposed to have blogged about last year’s Urban Dare!

Except maybe it doesn’t have to be.  Everybody has heard about self-tanning, airbrush tanning, and spray tanning booths, right?  I’ve been curious about them for a while and even made plans to try them out once for twice.  Sometimes when I planned to wear a sleeveless dress, I thought it would be nice to get a spray tan to cover my crazy tan lines and to keep my legs from reflecting all the light in the room.  I just never got around to doing it.

Until today – when the stars seem to align to try it out.  I’m supposed to go to a fancy reception tomorrow and my dress is sleeveless.  I, of course, have the usual crazy tan lines and white legs.  What’s different about today was that I also had an appointment to get my hair cut.  When I arrived at the salon, there was a sign up that the new skin salon housed in the same building was offering spray tanning.  While I was getting my hair cut, I asked about the tanning.  My stylist and the shampoo lady told me about how great it was.  I decided (quite uncharacteristically) to just give it a whirl.  After all, for better or worse, it will fade in a few days.

So after my hair cut, I headed down and got ready for tanning.  The tanning lady told me to undress as much as I wanted, but that most people wear nothing (uh, I don’t need everything tan – besides I need some tan lines to see the difference!).  I used some exfoliating wipes (usually you exfoliate before you go for a better tan) and washed my face.  Then I was ready to get my hair put up in a shower cap, my fingernails coated in vaseline to prevent them from getting too dark, my feet stuck onto sticky foam pads (same reason), and I was ready for tanning.  I’m sure it made for a very cute picture.  Then I got sprayed!  It’s quite cold and a bit odd holding out your arms, etc. to get it all even.  Then I had to stand for a few minutes in front of a fan to try and get that goo to dry.  Well, good luck with that.  I think I was still tacky two hours later.

After I got redressed I saw myself in the mirror.  Holy crap on a stick!  Who was that person in the mirror, because it certainly couldn’t be me!  I really almost didn’t recognize myself, and not in a good way like when you get a makeover and you look different, but nice different.  I just looked freaky.  I was assured that some of the goo would wash off when I could take a shower 6-8 hours later, and the color would be lighter overall.  I sure hoped so.

After a couple of hours of leaving marks on everything I touched and freaking myself out whenever I looked into the mirror, I did take a washcloth to my face, arms, and chest.  I had to go pick up Lindsay, and it was just too freaky to be seen!  It looked better, but still strange.  She noticed immediately and promptly told me that it was awful, “no offense.”  She repeatedly asked me if I could get rid of it, perhaps by going to the doctor?  I told her it would just have to wear off.  She looked at me with pity and declared she was never going to tan.   I will remember this and remind her of it if necessary. 

Jason was more diplomatic, but it’s pretty clear he’s not overly impressed either.  I believe the question of how on earth I got myself talked into this was asked more than once.

I just got out of the shower and what a wonderful, glorious shower it was.  The extra dark goo is gone, the smell is less (ugh, the fake bake smell), and I’m no longer scaring myself.  I’m surprised with my reaction – I think it’s just ok.  I don’t think I look much better, and well – I just don’t look like me.  I think this has been the beginning and the end of my adventures with spray tanning.  Although I will admit, I kinda like the tan legs part!

We’ve actually talked for a couple of years about changing it out.  But then the big question was – do we replace with new carpet or switch to wood?  Wood is cleaner, wears better, lasts forever, and is pricey; carpet is warmer, softer, and cheaper.  The debate raged on, and we changed our minds a few times – right up until the week or two before we ordered the flooring.  We finally decided that we would do a combo – hardwood in the hall and office, and really nice carpet in the bedrooms.

The installation of all of it really wasn’t that bad, although it was definitely inconvenient for a couple of weeks.  The wood work took about two days, and the carpet three (we added the living room), but with the tile work (2 days), the elapsed time made it seem like an even bigger project than it was.  The end result, however, was totally worth it.  The new carpet  is super cushiony and soft – it’s a pleasure to walk on and a major change from before.  The wood floor is beautiful and matches our downstairs wood almost perfectly – and now the office chair rolls easily in the office, and those super high traffic areas won’t be showing wear.

It was really difficult to get a picture to show the magnitude of the change, because the carpet doesn’t look that much different.  I did, however, get a couple of pictures of the wood floor:

And that, my friends, concludes the set of posts on “what I did this summer”. 

So I signed up last week and committed to myself to go to Pilates Express (45 minute lunchtime classes) twice a week to start.  My first class – Tuesday last week – didn’t seem too bad.  I could tell I definitely worked my abdominal muscles quite a bit, but I was able to do most everything.   If you’ve ever lifted weights, you know that feeling when you have worked your muscles a lot – when they feel a little jelly-ish and quivering?  I had that, so I knew it was a good workout.  It definitely felt like a workout, but a doable one.  I expected to be sore the next morning, but I didn’t seem to be too much so when I first rolled out of bed the next morning.   Then I laughed at something.  Holy crap!  Laughing, coughing, or – dear lord- sneezing were not pleasant that day.  Apparently this is not a bad thing – just meant I was working the proper muscles.

I was a bit concerned about going back on Thursday with such sore muscles, but they were not as bad on Thursday morning, so I went.  The workout didn’t seem as hard overall, although sore muscles made some exercises a bit tougher.  And actually, the exercise seemed to get rid of the lingering soreness.  Nothing bothered me the next day.  I was a bit concerned that I wasn’t doing some of the leg exercises correctly, because I didn’t really feel it there.

So when I went today for my third class, I thought I was through the worst of it, and Pilates wasn’t that hard.  I was even excited to see that we were going to be using the giant balls in today’s class.  I’d always thought they looked cool, like they could even be a little fun.  And besides, I have pretty good balance, right?  WRONG.  On all counts.  Pilates is hard, that ball is a tool of the devil, and my balance sucks.  I even rolled completely off the ball – not once, but twice.  I can assure you that this is not the desired position.   Not to mention that my arms and legs feel like rubber, and I know I will be feeling it tomorrow.

I’m still going back Thursday (if I can walk), but I am really hoping it’s not another ball day.

Backstory:  Lately, Lindsay has been doing the little devil/angel on your shoulder bit.  One hand is the devil and says something – the other hand is the little angel who says the opposite thing.  Or did, until…

Out to dinner one night a couple  of weeks before Christmas:

Lindsay:  This is the little devil on your shoulder.  And this is the little angel on your other shoulder.  And they BOTH say you should let Lindsay open all of her presents!

I know it’s encouraging her to laugh, but I couldn’t help it.

Perhaps that same night (I can’t remember), eating not so well caught up to me and my stomach was really bothering me.

Me:  Ugh.  We’ve been eating too much junk.  We’re going to start eating better – we’re going to start eating like Papa!

(Important note:  You can basically tell if a food is good for you or not by checking to see if my dad eats it.  He super rarely eats anything bad, and always eats super healthy food.)

Lindsay:  AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!  I don’t want to die from this!

What can I say?  The kid loves her treats.

Now, I love the Pottery Barn look.  But I do not love Pottery Barn prices.  I have a lot of Pottery Barn-looking pieces in my house, but not much actually came from there.  I decided that these were the perfect color and size, and I was unable to replicate the combination anywhere else.  As a bonus, these didn’t seem to be as much more expensive as some of the other pieces.  I was ready to order.

I walked upstairs one Saturday night to finally place the order I’d been putting off (I don’t know why) for a couple of weeks.  The espresso color I wanted was not an option, although it had been before.  Trying not to panic, I raced downstairs to find the catalog and call.  A very nice lady told me they were discontinued, but she had two still in stock.   I breathed a big sigh of relief, but then my hopes were crushed when she said, “Oops.  They’ve already been sold.”  ACK!  She searched stores and told me there were three in Atlanta and two in New York.

I called the Atlanta store the next morning and was thrilled to be able to order two.  They arrived a couple of days later.  We stored them in the library unopened, because we weren’t going to put them up until we changed the carpet in the living room.  So hold that thought.

Now, when we built this house ten years ago, I picked (and the blame is all on me for this one) some green ceramic tile for the fireplace.   We liked it at the time, but our tastes have changed, and I haven’t loved it for quite a while.  After I’d picked the new carpet, and we were in the middle of the whole upstairs flooring swap (future post), I realized that if I was ever going to change that tile, it needed to happen BEFORE the new carpet went in.  I sprung the idea on Jason, and I thought he was going to have a heart attack.  You see, we did this in the summer because I was on my sabbatical and had the time to arrange everything – the only problem is, that’s Jason’s busiest time of the year.  He grumbled and told me, basically, “whatever!”

This is the advantage of being married for ten years.  If we’ve only been married for a year or so, I would have worried that he was really upset, would hate it, etc. and I probably wouldn’t have done it.  After being married ten years, I know he was stressed about work, he would like it when it was done, and it would all be fine.     I picked out the stone, had to wait for it to be delivered, and then got the rest of the job done.  Although I think it was a little stressful for Jason, in actuality, it worked out for the best.  He was too busy at work to worry about the work going on at home, and at home he was too occupied to worry about work.  See – I’m such a thoughtful wife!

The stone went on the fireplace with very little mess and fuss, and we could not love it more.  It makes a HUGE difference in how that space looks.  With the new carpet put in after that, it looked like a totally new room.  Now that the foundation was in, it was time to start putting in the rest of the new stuff – the furniture.  At this point, the unopened Pottery Barn boxes and the tv stand boxes were all sitting in the library.

I started putting the bookshelves together, a rather quick and easy process.  Except for one thing.  One of the bookshelves – one of the discontinued bookshelves I’d had to hunt down – was missing a shelf.  Yes, an entire shelf.  Oh dear lord.  I called the catalog; they couldn’t help since I’d purchased from a store.  I had to wait for the next day to call the store.  I called in the morning, explained, had a return call to clarify, and then heard nothing.  I called back late that night, finally talked to a manager, and they located my shelf.  For some reason, it hadn’t been packaged with the shelf because it had a noticeable scratch on it.  My options were 1) Pack the entire shelf back up in the original packaging and ship it back to the store (for a replacement although I’m still not sure if they could really have provided a replacement for my DISCONTINUED shelf…) or 2) have them ship me the shelf and accept a 20% refund for the scratch and my troubles.  I took option 2.

The new shelf arrived a couple of days later, and the scratch is noticeable, but hidden under the toy baskets anyway.  The combination of the new carpet, the new tile, and the bookshelves really makes the room look wider.  Before it looked long and narrow, now it looks much more square.  For months afterward we would just gaze at that end of the room and comment to each other about how much we liked the tile and those shelves.  So, despite the stress and mess, it was well worth it!

And since I know a post like this is worthless without the pics, here they are.

First, the obligatory before:

And the much improved after!

Anyway, the love has not diminished, so Christmas included several American Girl items.  The collection has definitely grown.  A lot.  But they are cute and fun, and they even encourage reading, so I don’t have a problem with it at all.   I think even Jason doesn’t mind the American Girl explosion too much, although he is tired of changing their clothes (he’s not very good at it). 

I’ve had a couple of requests for pictures, so here they are!

First up, Lindsay with her doll collection, as she insisted on taking them ALL to visit her grandparents last week:

Next, the “setup”.  We spent quite a bit of time arranging everything just to her liking.  Kit and Ruthie have a room, which will someday soon have an American Girl craft wall hanging when we complete that Christmas present craft project.  Then it’s Samantha and Elizabeth’s room, and finally Molly and Ivy out camping.

Finally, one last picture of Lindsay with Kit on her scooter.

Conversation on Jason’s birthday:

First, you need to know that that week was insane for us.  I wasn’t sure I would even be home for dinner on his birthday – turns out I was, and I offered to take him wherever he wanted for dinner.  He wanted takeout – a burrito from Chipotle.  Gotta love a guy who is easily pleased!  To make it a little special, Lindsay and I picked up Gigi’s cupcakes on the way home because I also had no cake for him.

Jason:  You better watch it Lindsay!  I’m going to eat the rest of your cupcake, too.  Bwahahahahah.

Lindsay:  (with a totally straight face and 6-going-on-30 tone of voice)  You’ve got something in your teeth, birthday boy.

Now, I usually complain that her personality is 100% Jason,  and anything outside of that (love of/notice of all jewelry, love of decorating) seems to be from my mom.  I don’t usually see much of me in her (maybe that’s for the best!).   But I’ll own it – the look on her face during that comment was all me. 

Next up, a conversation from this weekend’s toy cleanout:

Me:  Lindsay, can we get rid of your Sleeping Beauty vanity?  You never use it anymore.

Lindsay:   Yep.  Besides, it has black stuff all in her hair.  It’s all Ainsley’s fault.

Me:  Huh?  Did Ainsley put black stuff in her hair one time when she was over here?

Lindsay:  No.  But remember?  Ainsley’s party?  (Walks over and picks up a makeup tray with different color eyeshadow pans in it – one of which is glittery and black.  She got it as a favor at Ainsley’s 5th birthday party.  She holds it up and waves it in my direction.)

Me:  So you put the black stuff in Sleeping Beauty’s hair.

Lindsay:  Yep, me and David.  Nice times.   (Walks across the room)  Nice times.

It all started when we were redoing her room the first time last summer.  I can’t remember why, but we were actually in Louisville at Pottery Barn Kids when she noticed a rose-covered lamp shade.  She loved it.  I, on the other hand, knew those pink roses would not go with the PEACH bedding.  So I told her we couldn’t get that one, but I would try to make one for her – thinking I could use white roses, which would work much better.  Well, that was this past summer – and as I mentioned, I got stuck and didn’t do anything for her room.  She would occasionally ask about her lampshade, so sometime in the fall I finally did enough research (with the help of my friend Sandra) to order some silk roses and get the lampshade I needed.  And then they sat again for a while – in my dumping ground of an office.

Also remember when I said I cleaned out my office and completed some projects?  Well, this was one of them!  After all, I really had nowhere else to put the giant box of roses anyway.  So finally, on New Year’s Eve, I sat down to do what I thought would be a quick and easy project.

Gee, I’ve been wrong a lot lately.

It was not easy.  It was not quick.  It was dangerous – and I had the hot glue burns on my hands to prove it.  But I did get it done.  How, you ask?  I will be happy to share.

First, I bought a cheap lampshade.  Cheap is good here – the more plastic-y it is, the better.  You also want a very simple shape.  Then I took my silk roses (I bought them off ebay – much cheaper), pulled them off the stem, and trimmed the little nub as close to the flower as I dared.  Then I used hot glue to attach a strip of roses down the lampshade, one rose at a time.  It’s important to do one at a time so you can adjust spacing to get your desired effect as you work.  Then I moved over a little and added the next strip.  For a while it was pretty easy, although I was still burning my fingers (it’s necessary to hold the rose in place for a bit with the hot glue.  This can equal slightly burnt fingers).  Then I realized I couldn’t continue on this way for long because I was running out of room on the lampshade that was still undone for it to rest on.  And that’s where it started getting really interesting.  I couldn’t really sit the lampshade upright, because then the glue started to run after I applied it, and I had to hold the roses a lot longer so they wouldn’t start drifting downward.  Eventually, I put the lampshade on the lamp and figured out a way to half-way sit the lamp in my lap and partially rest it on the desk so that the underside of the shade (now covered in roses) didn’t get smushed as I added the final few.  It was uncomfortable, and I’m sure there was a better way.  But the end was in sight, I had a party to go to, and that puppy was getting done!!!  And without further ado, here is my masterpiece:

Normally, I’m a pretty harsh critic of my crafty efforts, but I have to admit that I really love the way this shade looks!

Part of the redo was repainting the room.  The walls had been blue, which wouldn’t have made the top five list of favorite colors for Lindsay.  Since the bedding she chose was pink, I gave her the option of neutral colored walls or a soft lavender (not bright, with some gray in it to keep it pretty but restful).  She chose the purple (shocker).  I was fine with that as I love purple myself.  Plus, I figured in the future we could do a cute green with it or even aqua.  With a little luck, I wouldn’t have to paint her room again for a while.  As it turned out, we had a busy summer, and after we’d chosen the color, I had a window of one day to get the painting done or else it would be 4 weeks before I got another shot at it.  So even though Land of Nod was being incredibly slow shipping my order, I went ahead and painted.

BIG mistake.

The color was gorgeous.  Everyone who saw it remarked on what a great color it was.  And then the bedding arrived.  I suppose that truthfully it does fall in the range of pink, but I would never call that color pink.  The picture in the catalog and on the web looks pink, but in real life that bedding is PEACH.  Yes, peach.  To go in a room with purple walls.  Gah!  I knew instantly the colors didn’t really go, but I tried to convince myself it wasn’t really that bad because Lindsay really had her heart set on that bedding and I was NOT repainting.  But I really, really, really didn’t like it.  It actually kept me from finishing up the rest of the room because I was sort of stuck as to where to go.  I would never be able to match any of the colors in there, nor did I really want to.  So we lived with it this way for six months.

And then it hit me – some mistakes you have to live with, and some you don’t.  I’d been wanting to update the bedding in my guest room since I had a quilt in there I got on clearance but was never able to get any coordinating pieces.  My guest room has soft green walls – green and peach-y pink?  That works for me.  So I talked to Lindsay about how I was going to choose something else for her room and she was fine with it.  She’s all into white lately, and she actually wanted green instead of pink as an accent color.  I love green and purple together, so we were off.  Within a couple of weeks, we’ve changed everything around to what you see in the pictures below.  I’m still working on some decorative pillows for the bed, but that’s about it.  The green color on the curtains is more accurate in the second picture – it’s more of a soft, light, springy green (matches the chair).

I put it all together before she came home on New Year’s Day, and she was almost speechless she loved it so much (and well, honestly, she’d been living with clashing colors so what wouldn’t have looked better???).  In particular, she loves her Shabby Chic crystal lamp and the rose lampshade I made for her – and her fluffy white cloud bed.   She says she wants her room to stay this way forever.  I love the mirrors and, of course, the colors!