A Double Whammy

Yesterday, we were hit with a whopper of an ice storm.

I took the photo below from inside of our sun-room looking out at our dogwood tree. 

Ice covered everything!

The ice was so pretty but there was the potential for a lot of damage. We were very lucky to lose only one large branch of a tree on our front lawn. 

In the 1/4 mile between our home and the main road, three trees had fallen on or very near to the street. Once it warmed up a bit and it looked like the roads were fine to drive on, the kids and I went out to lunch.

Today was Phase II of the weather system - the snow storm.

One snow day is fun. Two are boring. The kids had fun making gingerbread houses. For a while.

How the boy works.

 How the girl works.

Poor Caitlynne. She worked so hard (and so neatly) and she followed the directions to a "T" but, just as she was almost finished decorating the outside of her house, it imploded.

Although it looked very messy, Christopher's house held together. He got tired of decorating it though and moved on to something else. 

The kids agreed that this activity was a total failure. Yay mom!

The boys had fun playing in the snow.

Chester could not get enough of the snow. 
He ate snow from the ground.

He played with his girl.

He ate the snow from the patio table.  

At first, Sonder was not thrilled about being sent out in the snow but he came around.

They were happy to come inside and warm up! 

As predicted, the snow stopped just after noon. The sun came out and most of the ice has fallen off of the trees. It is supposed to be bitterly cold for a few days so I expect the snow will be on the ground for a while. My fingers are crossed that the kids will be back in school as usual tomorrow.

Have a great Wednesday!

2003 - A Good Year and Great Mileage

Yesterday morning, I ran 6 miles to reach mile 2,003 in my transcontinental run. This is where I was...

2003.0 mi - "18.37 mi to Leoti, KS", Scott County

Unfortunately, this spot looks pretty similar to all of my other mileage "markers" in Kansas. 

This morning I ran another 6 miles - I am trying to get in as much running as I can before the weather gets any colder or there is a winter storm (two are predicted for early next week). First, I went out with the dogs for a short 2 mile run. The temperature when we began at 5:45 am was 65 degrees. While we were out running, a front moved in with some rain and, by the time we ran back home, the temperature had dropped to 55 degrees. After the kids went off to school and Kevin to work, I went out for another 4 miles on my own. By the time I finished round two, the temperature was 44 degrees. Now it is cold, breezy and raining. Truly a miserable day!

I am happy to sit inside for the rest of the day with a cup of hot coffee and my pups to keep me company. We are going to start and finish all of our holiday decorating tomorrow and Sunday so I am busy making lists and planning for what will go where.

Have a great Friday.

Where The Blacktop Ends

 

My goal for November was to run 90 miles. After yesterday's 5 miler, I was at 83 miles, leaving me with 7 miles to run by midnight on Saturday. Since we are leaving North Carolina early tomorrow morning to travel back to Virginia, I didn't think I would have enough time to get a run in before we left so the plan was to run it all this morning. 

I took the photos above at the point just north of Corolla where Highway 12 ends its journey through the Outbanks at the Atlantic Ocean. Kevin *thought* this spot was 3.5 miles from our home so we planned to run up and back to get my 7 miles in. It was actually just over 4 miles (one way) so I finished with 91 miles for November. Yay me. My goal for December is to run 100 miles and, barring sickness or significant snowfall, I should be able to meet that challenge without too much trouble. 

We had a wonderful dinner last night...very traditional and very delicious. Knowing that I ate all of that food last night was one reason I didn't complain (too much) about running the extra mile this morning. Today is a very lazy day for all of us. Some of our group went Black Friday shopping at an outlet mall south of Whalehead Beach, some are golfing and everyone else is scattered throughout the house reading or napping. Cailtynne, my mom and I got out of the house for a while and drove down to Duck (about 30 minutes south) to walk around some of the shops there. There was the typical "tourist" stuff for sale (in fact, we left after Caitlynne and my mom both said the stores were all starting to look the same) but I did buy a few Christmas ornaments to add to my collection.

Have a great Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys time with family and friends!

We combined our Thanksgiving holiday with a celebration of Jim and Jan's 20th wedding anniversary and are enjoying a dual (his family/her family) family vacation in Whalehead Beach, North Carolina. 

I think there are twenty-three of us here in "Loggerhead".

We took family photos on the beach at sunrise this morning. The storm moved out late yesterday afternoon but it was still quite cold and breezy this morning.

 The view while I had my morning coffee. 

Kevin guilted me into a run this morning but I am glad that we did get out there so I can indulge this evening. Jan has been busy in the kitchen preparing quite a feast for us. 

Have a great Thanksgiving Thursday!

A Partial "Reveal"

The sun-room and the powder room are the two rooms that are easiest for me to photograph so those are what you will see today.

As soon as Mimmo and Dan finished their work, I finished hanging the wallpaper in the bathroom. The second two sheets of wallpaper went up a little easier than the first two did but it still wasn't a fun activity. I had a problem with the edges of the seams peeling up as they dried. Although it was an easy fix (seam glue), it did give me a slight panic for a few hours. I am not sure why it happened - maybe because I had the heat on during the 2nd installation and the paste dried too quickly so it didn't adhere properly? For my first wallpapering experience, I am happy with the result and I would definitely attempt another - but I would keep it to a small room or wall.

I saw these Hollywood regency-style peacocks on etsy.com last year and bought them knowing that, someday, they would "fit" somewhere in our home. Voila. 

The prints in the photos below were another "buy now, figure out where they go" later purchase. I bought them in Singapore last March and had them matted and framed in Bangkok. Not knowing exactly where I would hang them, I hoped for the best as far as my choices for the mat color and the frame style.

I came across them in one of the first boxes we unpacked but still hadn't found a "home" for them until I realized the color of the mat was a perfect match to a shade in the pink flowers on the wallpaper and the bamboo frames fit in well with the Chinoiserie-style wallpaper.

The subject and characters on each print symbolize one of the following: love, loyalty, faith and strong marriage. When I had them framed, the framer did not re-attach the descriptions to the back of each print correctly and the only one I can identify for sure is this one (strong marriage).

 

We are so happy with how the sun-room turned out. 

One of my finds at the Chatuchack Market in Bangkok.

After the kids and Kevin leave in the morning, I love sitting in the sun-room to read the paper while I finish my coffee. 

Chester likes to survey his "kingdom" from this room.

And, if there isn't anything exciting going on outside, he sleeps.

It was another cold morning here. I ran with the dogs for the last three mornings so today was a rest day for all of us. We did take a short walk and that was more than enough cold for Sonder. He misses the warmer temps in Bangkok!

Have a great Monday!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The Arctic front arrived overnight as forecast and it is cold.

I saw that "feels like" temperature and added another layer to my outfit for this morning's run.  2 pairs of pants, three long sleeve tech shirts, one heavy fleece jacket, a headband (and a fleece hat over that) and two pairs of gloves. I should double up on the socks as well since my feet always seem to feel the chill first but I don't want my shoes too tight. I feel like the Michelin Man and I hope I can even move!

Sonder is hating the colder weather and I bought him a sweater to keep him cozy. 

All ready for our run.

The cold doesn't bother Chester at all. In fact, it seems that the colder it gets, the more he wants to be outside. That is probably a good thing as I don't know if they even make dog sweaters large enough to fit a dog of his size.

With the exception of the laundry room and the garage, the house is unpacked, organized and everything is in place. Although I was absent from the blog for about three weeks, I have taken 250 photos - and now that I have *nothing* to do, I will be posting those soon. So stay tuned! 

Have a great Sunday!

Celebration!

Kevin worked late last night and while I waited for him, I had a bit of bubbly to celebrate the work on the house being FINISHED!

 

The powder room. 

It is hard to believe that the piece of granite we used in the powder room was from the same slab as the piece that we had installed in the lower level bathroom (photo below).

The granite in the powder room has a lot of gold in it which I really like as it pulls out the gold in the wallpaper. This was pure luck as Babbatar (the granite guy) saved this piece for me not even knowing what the wallpaper looked like. The piece of granite in the lower level bathroom has more burgundy and green in it - there is only just the slightest trace of gold. It would have been fine in the powder room but I like the difference in tones. 

I say the powder room is finished but I guess I really mean that Dan and Mimmo's work is finished. I still need to hang the last two lengths of wallpaper and find and hang a mirror. I hope to get to that this weekend.

And the sun-room. 

 The boys inspected and approved.

We will make a massive effort today to get the sun-room, living room, dining room and kitchen unpacked, organized and cleaned. Now that everything can be put away in its "home", we should be able to get a lot done. I am sick of living like this.

I did not feel the greatest when I woke up this morning - I had a pounding headache and my head and chest were still really congested. Somehow, I convinced myself to go out for a run and I am glad I did. The weather was perfect and I managed to get a good 6 mile run in. I came back and had my coffee while looking at this view from my kitchen table... 

Fall is certainly here.

 I couldn't resist buying these mums at Lowes a few weeks ago. 

 Have a great Saturday!