Goodbye city

This is a lovely, lovely photo I took on one of our last days living in the city. It was after eight o'clock in the evening and I was heading home by bike, over and across to the Esplanade. I just had to stop and save this moment on camera: just my phone camera, with no filter, of course. It was one of the first mild evenings  of the year where the sun had not fully set yet, and water was perfectly still, and the city seemed quiet and so pleasant- one of those nights that I knew I would miss about living in the city. 

What a difference a few weeks makes and how one's life changes over so seamlessly! We have fully moved to "the county" now and enjoying every bit of it. Of course we haven't gotten on our bikes in over two weeks, but we still hope for upcoming opportunities!

DYI project: Painting

I have been up to my ears in reading and online video watching of how-to's in and around the house.  Remember the long list of "things to dos"? One of the first projects I tackled today was painting the living room of the house. I've really learned so much from other bloggers! I also scoured the internet top to bottom for paint color ideas. I compared rooms of different sizes and lighting scenarios, rooms that were a perfect match for ours in color of the floors. I've always adored gray as a neutral base color. We have gray in our current apartment and I remember exactly the name of the color. Cement block. Is is  exactly that color and I love it. 

Since our living room in the house is a bit on the darker side, I decided to go with a shade of gray that was a bit lighter. I chose "Stonington Gray" by Benjamin Moore. Chris asked me last night after we lugged home gallons of paint from our local hardware store, why I thought BM paint was better than other paint companies (I suspect this question stemmed from the price per gallon!). I truly had no idea…until I finished painting today. I used no tape and no drop cloths. The paint was a perfect consistency where it was thicken enough to cover quickly, but not thick enough to drip. The coverage was very nice and not once did I drip on the hardwood floors. 

It looks a little baby blue-like in the "after" photo, but I suspect it will be more dark when the pain dries.

I think the living room will look even better once I paint the trims in "White Dove." Harry approves. 

House beginnings

Yesterday marked a new beginning for us. We now have our house in the "country" and yesterday was the first time we had been in there solely, on our own. Chris took this photo of it when we stopped by on Wednesday during a major spring shower. The slate roof was glistening. We brought food over to the the house yesterday and set up our lawn chairs (or rather, our roof deck chairs) to enjoy our first meal at the house. Even Harry enjoyed some hamburger! He was very intrigued by where we were and even explored on his own.

Of course, during and after our visit, we had so many plans to do this and that, in and around the house. The list is endless and I can't seem to keep it all straight or even begin to figure out what to do first. It seems like so much to do and all very exciting, daunting, but rewarding at the same time. 

One of the plans is to set up an outdoor garden space. Right now, our garden space is limited to a few sproutlings in out window sills. This week was a major turn for my green thumb, as they started to grow quite nicely! It's amazing just how much the sprouts grow in one day (Chris doesn't believe me, but I watch them closely so I am sure of it).

kale and mesclun salad greens

heirloom tomato sprouts!

makeshift backyard/driveway picnic at the new house