projects

Here's the progress of the bathroom vanity I built with my dad last weekend.

The base:

The front with doors:

It's all starting to come together (good thing Hannah was there to help):

It wouldn't be a complete "dad project" without it being built like a tank:

The final project minus the doors b/c the hinges were too big:

I got it home and realized it's 2" shorter than the old vanity. My mistake on measuring... now I'm on the lookout for adjustable feet to put on the bottom to hoist it up a bit. We'll be in the cities on Thursday so I'm hoping Ikea will have something that will work (I've struck out at Menards & Home Depot).

I learned a ton about woodworking and have come to appreciate my dad so much more. It's a girl's dream come true to be able to point to something in a magazine that I like and have a woodworking genious replicate it. We really are so lucky. I'll be staining the vanity with an espresso colored stain and then applying 3-4 coats of poly. So, it'll be a while before there's an updated picture when it's installed. We haven't even begun the plumbing... it's bound to get interesting.

I'm finding that I have a tendency to start more projects before I've finished all the other ones. We still have painting projects galore and all the basement shelf building to do. Aye! I want to get the interior projects done before summer.

I'll be at Duel of the Design in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday. Mikey's hanging out with the 'rents while I'm at the event. Unfortunately we can't stay long as I have to work at noon on Friday. The next three weeks are my busiest time at work. So, if you don't see any update for a while, just know that we'll be busy working and not up to much else. Hope spring is coming soon!

P.S. A new martini bar opened up in town. I went to their open house last night. The chocolate martini is to die for! If any of you come for a visit it'll be our treat to take you there.

furry friendships & valentines day

Anna's friend Stella got to come spend a night at our house this weekend so that her parents could get away for Valentine's Day. Here are the girls waiting for a treat:

Anna, of course, took the do-a-trick-for-a-treat to an extreme (below). I can only imagine her saying something like, "See, I'll even roll over for you. I'll do ANYTHING for a bear biscuit."

Mikey worked Saturday and Sunday, so our weekend was very low key. He did surprise me with this nice gift though:

He sure knows my tastes (sorry I forgot to rotate the picture before importing it. If it didn't take a year and a half to upload a picture, I would have fixed it).
I'll be heading down to Nicollet next weekend for a weekend of wood working. My fam and I will be building mine and Mike's bathroom vanity.

For now, we're off to a work get-together/potluck. We're bringing a pizza with Chevre cheese, spinach, bacon & shallots on it. I trust Mike's handy work in creating something delicious with the stuff we have lying around the house. Wonder if anyone will bring cream of mushroom casserole or jello?

catching up

We're finally getting caught up with our blog. We've had a fun couple of weeks.

Two weekends ago (Jan. 30-Feb 1) we tried Telemark skiing with the Rec Sports Outdoor Program from UMD. After one run down the hill, Mike's feet were numb and his pride demolished. After some coaxing, I convinced him to trade in his skis for a snowboard and then we were off. It was great to feel the rush of adrenaline going down the hills. We both have missed that. We vowed to do more skiing/snowboarding than once every 6 years!

The next night I went to the movie "New in Town" with my friend Sarah. Pretty cute movie. Funny to see them talk about a town that is only 12 miles away from where I grew up.

Then on Sunday, it was the Superbowl. We had some friends over. All the canine princesses were invited too (picture posted a couple days ago). We watched enough of the game to be able to chat it up with our colleagues the next day. We were all a little disappointed in the commercials this year... rather boring. The hit of the night was Mike's (unsalted) fried potato balls. Too bad the poppy seed dressing for the spinach, craisin, walnut & stilton cheese salad spilled down every shelf in the fridge before game time. I made a healthy snack that actually tasted good- baked wonton chips with fresh herbs & oil brushed on them.



The next weekend, Mike's parents came up for a visit. Mike made Lake Superior Trout, whitefish & pork tenderloin on the grill Fri. night. He paired it with creamy leek potatoes and grilled veggies... delish! On Saturday, Mike worked and so his 'rents and I went to the Anchor Bar (voted best dive bar in the Twin Ports) for burgers and beer. 3 greasy burgers, 3 orders of fries and 5 beers for $23 bucks... can't beat it. The clientele didn't disappoint either. We walked in on a drunken group of hockey fans chanting their schools fight song. UMD was playing Denver that night in hockey. The music on the jukebox varied from Johnny Cash to Black Sabbath to Techno music and more. Then, we went and saw the movie "Gran Torino." Great flick. I love the Superior movie theater.

Anna had a great time rumbling with Timmy all weekend. Can you tell I broke up a rumble in the picture below? They both look a little guilty.

In between all of our fun activities, we have been doing a lot of this:Just chillin'.

We don't have any big plans for V-day. Mikey works Sat. & Sun. so I'll be working on some school work while he's gone. Have a good one!

~Manda

Superbowl

Anna had a good time playing with her friends (L-R: Maya, Annabelle & Stella) during the Superbowl. Us humans had a good time as well.

technical difficulties

I seem to be having some difficulty uploading photos. An update will be coming once I get that figured out... we've been having a lot of fun the past 2 weeks.