This and That

We're still waiting on some consistent nice weather here, but we've had a few nice days of sunshine and almost summer-like weather. It makes me anxious to be outside! This last weekend it rained and rained and kept on raining. I thought maybe it would be a repeat of the flash flooding we had last summer! It was very warm and sunny one day, then it dropped back down to 40 degrees the next day. Welcome to spring in Wisconsin!

I went to Madison, WI on Saturday evening to attend an open recital at the University Opera at UW Madison with my mother and one of my sisters. The featured singer was a handsome young opera tenor named Steven Ebel. His grandmother is a friend of my mother's. Despite the rain which made our drive very unpleasant and the wind and rain that made the 2 blocks we had to walk from where we parked a little annoying, we really enjoyed hearing him sing. He is very gifted and has a sensational voice. 

Other events coming up this week: E and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday and are going to see the New Zealand comedy folk-musical-parody duo, Flight of the Conchords, on Saturday this week at the Riverside Theatre with some friends. After noshing on some delicious pasta at a favorite restaurant in Milwaukee, Louisa's Trattoria, we are going to the 10pm show.

I also have plans Wednesday night to go to the movies with friends while E is busy with band practice. They are planning on doing some new band photos as well. E wanted me to take the photos, since I did the last ones, but I unfortunately had plans already. 

E is going to Chicago with one of his friends to see a concert on Friday night, so we have quite the busy week planned ahead!

I'm looking forward to some nicer weather and hoping to get some new pictures of my flower gardens. Most everything is coming up nicely, but I don't know yet if I've "lost" any of my plants over the winter. Some types break dormancy late, so it's early yet to tell with some! I've already started planting a couple of containers, so I will get pictures of those soon as well.

Happy 2nd Anniversary To Us!

Well, actually yesterday was our anniversary, but I wasn't home to write a blog post about it, so here I am a day late!

So, yesterday was our second wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been 2 yrs since the wedding. Sometimes it seems like yesterday!

We didn't do anything really exciting, except go out to dinner at a favorite restaurant and then took a nice long evening stroll, and as is our custom, exchanged cards. E bought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers also. He is very particular about flowers, and knowing I like pink flowers, he made sure the lady at the floral shop put pink roses and pink Stargazer lilies in the bouquet.

Here's a couple of pictures I took of my flowers.

We had made plans back in January to get tickets for a show on May 2, which we are attending with some friends, and we are considering the evening out on Saturday as our "something special" to do for our anniversary. Last year, our first wedding anniversary, we took a romantic long weekend to Door County.

Painting Project: Update

Well, I managed to complete the first phase of work that needed to be done in the East Bedroom (guest room). There is still a few things to do, but at least the painting part is done.

Here are some "after" pictures.

This lamp was the "inspiration" for the color scheme. I bought it for E, I believe at Pier 1 Imports, and then bought the bedding in similar colors as a birthday present when we were dating and still had our separate apartments.

I finally was able to hang my painted ceiling tiles! I got these free as samples 

and only had to pay shipping, which was about $7.50. I then bought some Krylon spray paint which is supposed to look like wood and spray painted them. I also added some gold detail with gold Rub n' Buff to highlight the raised areas. They turned out beautifully and have been sitting in a closet for over a year, waiting to be hung.

A picture in the daylight.  I removed the cheap crappy window trim, which we plan to replace with custom-made trim to match the trim in the rest of the upstairs. We also need to put the baseboard trim back on and also hang the closet doors. Eventually, I want to put a different bed in here and I will also be getting new window treatments at some point as well and probably a nice area rug.

Painting Project Update:

Here's some pictures of the painting progress. 

One wall, the accent wall, is a dark red color called 'Roasted Pepper. Below is a picture of the first coat, and also after I did the second coat.

The other color is called 'Mojave Sunset'.


Second coat: