Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

Hello world. Did you miss me?

If you recall on Christmas 2014, we came home to major flooding in our condominium due to a busted hot water heater from the 4th floor neighbors. Ceilings, walls, and floors were damaged so we had to deal with the condo insurance peeps. This process took over 6 months so we decided to proceed with renovations.

2015 Highlights

• New Years at the Black Cat with Peach O'Dell and her Orchestra.
• Sideswiped by a car in the city but we were okay. Car was okay too.
• Ran the Cherry Blossom 10-miler (again). This is my go-to race every year.
• Took swing dance lessons...twice. It's harder than you think.
• Yearly NYC trip for the 5 Boro Bike tour and saw THE Sartorialist (Scott Schuman) sitting outside of the restaurant.
• DC United made the playoffs but lost. I got the hubs 2016 season tickets for his big birthday. VIP seats here we come.
• Saw lots of shows from FFS, PiL, UB-40, and Glen Hansard.
• RENOVATIONS ARE DONE! WEll almost.
• Our condo building caught on fire in early December and we were displaced for 2 weeks. Luckily we had no damage but the other side of the building is still off limits.
• Home Sweet Home! Nothing is better than sleeping in your own bed.
• Xmas fun in NC beach with the in-laws in 79 degree weather. No sign of snow.

2016 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Mayb your 2016 be filled with happiness and joy.

House Updates

Yes, it's been a while since I posted about our flooding fiasco.  We've been waiting for the condo insurance adjustor to give us an estimate of damages so that we can start the renovation project of redoing all of our hardwood floors, ceilings, and walls.  To top it off, we've decided to redo the 15 year old kitchen at the same time.

It's been overwhelming, to say the least. Having to pick out cabinets, flooring, countertops, the little things I have yet to think about, I've decided that fashion is so much easier than decorating the home.  

So here's a list our to-do list per approval of the condo board.

 

1. Remove old flooring and gyspcreek subfloors from living room and bathroom.
2. Replace kitchen cabinets with white shaker style cabinets. (Photo below shows old cabinets, old countertops and the piece of flooring is what's currently in the living room.)
3. Remove marble floors from kitchen (it came with the house, I mean who puts marble in the kitchen floors?) and put ceramic tile or hardwood. UGH!! Decisions. Decisions.
4. We've picked out Brazilian Tigerwood engineered hardwood for our flooring (since we can't put down real hardwood due to our subflooring).

If anyone has anything opinions, thoughts about kitchen renovations, I'd love to hear from you. 

Old countertops, cabinets, marble floors, plus hardwood floors from living room - to be replaced



 

Possible kitchen floor in ceramic tile with marble look

 

Our new flooring for all flooring (possibly kitchen too)

 

Possibly my new kitchen. Love the dual tone cabinets

11 Years Ago Today...

11 years ago, I walked the aisle with my best friend, my companion, my love.  I never knew that a deep love like this could exist.  Happy Anniversary to my dearest.

House Update

Looks like we have to replace the hardwood floors after all, plus the bathroom tiles. After 9 days of fans blowing, the subfloors were still wet meaning removal of all the flooring. So much for re-doing the kitchen. I hope they remove the darn fans today.

Anyone know anything about hardwood floors? 

(Not So Great) Start of the New Year

Is it true that bad things happen in 3's? I hate to be a Debbie-downer but real LIFE happened, especially in the last few weeks. I'm hoping these 3 bad things are out of the way so hopefully that's it for the year.

1. Hospitalization. I had to go to the emergency room right before our Xmas trip with major stomach pains. I couldn't eat, felt nauseous, and had a full stomach sensation with major heart burn, etc.  I wasn't too worried until the 4th day I ended up in urgent care.  After a few tests and questions, including a rectal exam by the young male handsome intern (I mean COME ON!! Really!!)  I was diagnosed with GERD. It sounds worse than it is but it's actually chronic acid reflex so nothing to worry, about unless I had recurring problems. I was given PEPCID AC to take twice daily for 60 days.  I feel soooo much better now. I think it was all the bad eating I did after Thanksgiving or a bug of some sort.

2. Flooding. We came home from the our holiday travels to find that our 4th floor neighbor's water heater had flooded all the way down to the first floor (we are located on the 2nd floor) damaging our floors, walls, ceilings, and Persian rug. Heavy duty fans were placed near the walls and the floors to dry them out and after a week, the flooring was still wet.  Looks like flooring will need to be replaced and the fans will still be running.

3. Car accident. On Saturday morning, we were out running errands only to be sideswiped by another car.  We both pulled over and the other driver came out to apologize, that she didn't see our car.  (HELLO, we have a turquoise MINI, can you not see the car?) To top if off, she didn't have her driver's license plus driving her sister's car. We ended up having to call the police.

The damage to the car was minor, thank God, mostly cosmetic with huge white scratches to the driver's side and small dent, but it does look bad. Luckily, the other car was insured so we'll go through their insurance. All in all, we were fine so that's all that matters in the end.

Anyway, I'm looking for some good news to come in the future. Our anniversary is in 10 days. No plans yet but will post later.

2014 - Looking Back, A Year in Review

2014 turned out to be pretty nice year. It was fairly quiet but we managed to get away a few times. These are the most memorable times of the year.

1. Costa Rica. So many god things to say about this place and it was the highlight of the year. Nice people.  Eco-friendly.  Ex-Pats. Beaches. Quiet. Sunny. Volcano. Green Forests. Spring pools. Did I say hot?

San Juan, Costa Rica 

San Ramon, Puntarenas

Zip lining and repelling down mountains

Town of San Carlos

Manuel Antonio National Park

2. NYC 5 Burroughs Bike Tour. This our yearly trip to NYC with our road bikes on hand. The streets of NYC are closed to traffic so we see the 5 Burroughs on our bikes with a different perspective. We almost didn't ride since I got a flat at the start, but hubby had a spare tube and he saved the day.

3. Quebec City, Quebec. The most picturesque European city in North America, so they say and they were right. What I learned about the Quebecois: They are Quebecois first and Canadians second. They are NOT French and will let you know it. And they speak english so we had no problems.  Lots of photos taken but can't post them all here. Drat!

4. Halloween. I love Halloween and brings me back to my childhood of dressing up and being totally silly for just one night. We were invited to a themed Halloween party of cartoon characters so hubby joined me in this escapade and we came up with: Kim Possible and Dr. Drakken from the Cartoon Network (Disney based) show of the early 2000s. I think these costumes came out pretty well.

5. Philadelphia Half Marathon. Of the many half marathons I've run, I had not yet ran the Philadelphia Half.  I ran fairly well until I got to the the last 2 miles when I saw the nasty long hill which slowed down my PR time. Oh well.  Maybe next year.

6. Sunset Beach, NC. Our first Christmas away visiting my in-laws.

7. Washington, DC. New Year's Eve, 2014. And so it ends. Let the New Year begin.