Championship Basketball

Two weeks ago, my dad got the chance of a lifetime.  The girls basketball team that he coaches made it to the state championship game.  My dad has been coaching for 15 years and so finally reaching the state tournament and then progressing to the championship game is a dream come true for him.  For a little town of 800 people, having a team in the state tournament is a big deal and the entire community rallies around the team.  It's one of the neatest things to see.  I felt an immense sense of guilt not being able to go down to the cities to watch the quarterfinal game at Williams Arena.  My dad brought Sarah and I to the state girls basketball tournament at Williams Areana every year since we were like 10 & 8 years old.  I have fond memories of watching the tournament at The Barn with my dad and sister.  But as you all know, March is my busy time at work as we host 2 section h.s. boys tournaments at UMD while the state girls bb tournament is being played in the cities.  So, my mom sent me updates via text messages during the game.  The girls won the quarterfinal game at Williams Arena and advanced to the semi-final game at the Target Center.  Again, I wasn't able to attend the semi-final game but I did get to watch it live on the internet.  To my surprise, the team won the semi-final game and advanced to the championship game the following day at Noon.  NOON!  I could finally go to a game since it was being played at Noon.
So, Hannah and I decided to drive down to the game and surprise my mom.  She was more than surprised... tears were flowing.  Best surprise ever! 

Once we took our seats, I was surprised to see a colleague from work being the head official for the game:

The guy in the middle is Mick McComber, the Director of Rec Sports at UMD.  Mick's office is literally 10 steps down the hallway from mine and Mick was my supervisor in college.  I'm bummed that the picture is grainy but it's from the mega-zoom I had to do on my point and shoot camera.  This was Mick's first (and maybe final) state tournament game to ref.  So, it was a special game for me to watch in many ways. 

Here's the whole town of Nicollet and their families at Target Center:

My dad in action:

The team:

Sibling love:

 

Notice how Matt is an entire HEAD taller than me and I'm pretty sure he's not done growing.  

The team ended up taking 2nd place but they still have so much to be proud of.  And I'm so happy for my dad to finally have been able to coach a team in the state tournament.  

Hannah and I had to scoot right after the game so that I could get back to Duluth and work a section final game that night.  It was a whirlwind but I'm so happy we went!

March Dinner Club: Andalusian/Spanish style

I've been posting a lot lately about our house renos & updates but we've also been doing a lot of cooking.
The dinner club theme for March was Andalusian (Spain) and the party was hosted by Nellie & Bruce.  We were in charge of bringing the appetizer this month.  So, Mikey made Mushroom Crostinis.  For the bread, he sliced up a baguette and then brushed both sides with olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper on one side.  The pieces were baked in the oven at 400 degrees until golden brown.  The topping was made with shitake & crimini mushrooms, chevre cheese, thyme, shallots, garlic and sherry.  Once we arrived at the party, everybody built their own crostinis.  This recipe was a big hit:

 We mingled and drank chardonnay with the appetizer:

Soon enough it was dinner time.  The menu featured Andalusian lemon chicken:

  with sauteed spinach, olives and almonds and hand-massaged couscous:

"Hand massaged" couscous is from an old chef joke from the days when Mike and Bruce worked together at Chester Creek Cafe.  It's been used by chefs to make a dish sound more sophisticated.  Do you buy it?

 I loved the spinach, almond and olive side dish:

 We drank the Syrah & Garnacha wines that we brought with dinner.  Both wines paired well with dinner.

For dessert, Frank and Erin brought this adorable tart:

 The tart had an almond flavored crust, delicious custard filling and soaked cherries.  The final touch was a jalapeno glaze that was drizzled over the top.  It was fab!  Lyndon cooked up homemade hot chocolate as the perfect pairing for dessert.  The hot chocolate was boiled with a tea bag of spices to give it a unique flavor.  Bruce declared the tart & hot chocolate as the best dessert pairing to date! 

With full bellies, we needed to move around a bit.  So, Nellie pulled out the game Catch Phrase- girls vs. guys:

 Time was getting away from all of us and it was getting late so we had to say our goodbyes. 

I had each couple cozy up for a photo before leaving.
Lyndon & Katie:

 Frank & Erin:

 Bruce & Nellie:

 M&M (this was like our 10th picture... Mikey was being a total goof):

 Proof of a good party:

It's here!!

The search is over, the chair was ordered and finally the wait is over... my custom mustard chair arrived!!
She is modern, comfortable & a lil' bit swanky if I do say so:

We also got new pillows at Pier 1.  Mikey picked these out and I think they look great!

She fits in with the rest of the room just swell:

Have I mentioned that she's also practical:

The little divet in the reclining portion is just from being stuck in the box.  I imagine it will fluff up in no time. 

Living with Mikey has changed my buying habits a bit.  This chair was no different.  If you recall, we used to have a green chair & ottoman (also called the french fry chair... a reference from college).  It worked just fine for many years until one morning when Mikey was in a frenzied hurry and broke his toe after accidentally kicking the ottoman.  Never a dull moment.
So, my desire to have an ottoman in that corner was squashed.   Hence, the search for the perfect chair replacement started.  This chair is perfect for us because:
-it is leather (a MUST with 2 furry companions in the house)
- it is actually really comfortable which can be hard to find with leather chairs (a lay-z-boy was not an option)
- it has modern touches but is still classic enough to have staying power
-the feet are the same color as the rest of the furniture (espresso) in the living room
-it reclines
-it makes the perfect little reading nook
-it is the perfect color- a little bit vintage
-it is the perfect size for that corner (notice the heating vent is also in that corner which limits the size of the chair)

I am in love!

Lastly, we finally installed the infamous magnetic knife strip that led to the kitchen paint job:

We really like it and it has opened up so much counter space by not having a knife block.

DIY: Bed Frame

Now that we've got a nice new mattress in our guest bedroom, the next step is getting the bed frame.  The CB2 bed frame that I'm in love with retails for $600.  While I don't think that is horribly expensive, I was pretty sure I could recruit my dad to make me a replica at about a third of the cost.  Sure enough, he obliged and has done a ton of research to figure out the logistics of making the bed.  So, my parents came up for a weekend and brought an entire van full of tools (including a table saw, nail gun, heavy duty clamps) and lumber.  We worked on making the bed for over 20 hours that weekend.  The bed is being made of solid oak (it's a beast) and is still a work in progress.  Here's the progress:

I like to call this the "poop shot"

 We had quite the set-up going in our little basement:

Mike & my dad

Pieces of the headboard

The feet

The 3 work stations: gluing, cutting, sanding

Mikey chiseling a groove for the sideboard brackets

We got the base and foot board done and all of the headboard prepped (glued & sanded).  My dad will be coming up in a couple weeks to finish everything up and then I'll be staining & top coating it.  It should be done by early April.  I can't wait to reveal it to you! 

Guest Bedroom Update

We love having guests visit us.  So when we bought our house 5 years ago, we were anxious to make a welcoming guest bedroom.  Over the past 5 years, the room has been painted 3 times, curtains switched out twice, floors refinished and yet it still lacks the warm welcome I'm hoping for.

Let's start with the beginning.

Here's how the room looked during the inspection (we think this was somebody's art room at one point as well as a sewing room from evidence on the floor):

We refinished the wood floors prior to moving in and then re-purposed Mikey's college futon as our guest bed.  We stacked 2 futon mattresses on top of each other but were always a bit embarrassed at the humble accommodations for our guests. 
After grad school, I did some major purging of stuff in that room.  Here's the chaos:

This fall I decided to get serious about getting the room in tip top shape.  My top priority was getting a new bed.  The room is long but narrow and I wanted to upgrade to a queen size mattress.  So, I started looking online at various stores and blogs for inspiration.  I eventually came up with a color palette and used various "props" to pick a wall color:

Per usual, I was diligent (maybe mildly obsessed) with checking the paint samples in different light levels:

Here's the room all stripped down and ready for some paint:

I got a workout- for both my muscles and patience- painting this room!

Crown Molding: Before

1st coat of primer

2nd coat of primer

Painted Gray Wall and Painted White Trim

Final Touch up!

Someone has a need to be next to her mommy at all times- especially while painting and cleaning- and got a little too close to the wall:

My helpers kept me company while I painted:

I love my peeps!

You may have noticed one of the "props" above being this map:

It was my gift to Mikey for his birthday in September and is a detailed map of the trails, lakes and roads around Lake Superior in our neck of the woods.  It's about 7 feet long and 6 feet wide and he loves it!
The map was the color inspiration for the room and is great conversation piece for our guests.

I'm really happy how the wall color turned out (it's my favorite color in the whole house):

Now that I had the wall color set, it was time to start accessorizing and finally getting a new bed!
We were fortunate over winter break when Mike's parents bought us the mattress when they were up visiting.  I was happy that they were able to be along for testing and picking out the mattress since they will probably get the most use out of it!   Unfortunately, the mattress wasn't delivered until after they left but we've got it set up in the room and ready for their next visit:

We've obviously got some work to do... particularly a bed frame.
Notice how the windows are almost the entire height of the wall?  Well, it creates a bit of a pickle for having a head board that won't block a ton of natural light.  Also, there is virtually no room for bedside tables.  So, I've come to love this bed from CB2: 

bed from CB2

 It will sit lower to the ground and has a nice shelf on the back of the headboard for our guests to put some of their belongings on as well as a lamp or two.

Speaking of lamps, the roll of toilet paper in my "props" photo was meant to mimic this beauty:

table lamp from CB2

 I love how clean it looks and the solid bright white looks classy against the gray wall and dark trim in the room.

I couldn't possibly have a new mattress and frame without new bedding, could I?  I am loving this duvet cover and pillow set:

duvet from west elm

 Funky, no?

With all the modern accessories I've got picked out, the light fixture- which I presume to be the original in this house- has got to be updated.  I love this fixture but also might consider a patterned shade if the room needs a little punch:

ceiling lamp from CB2

 The area of the room where the book shelf currently is needs to be more guest friendly.  I want to bring in some personality to this space and try to mix some vintage pieces with all the modern ones.  For practicality's sake, I'd love this full length mirror:

Full length mirror from Ikea

Ideally, I'd also like to find a vintage little desk for guests to place their belongings along with an artsy stool/seat.  I'm kinda loving this little seat (the table isn't bad either):

In the mean time, we'll utilize the book shelf.

I'm still undecided about a rug, curtains and art work.  I want to get the bed, bedding & lighting in place and then see how bold I want to go with other textiles.  Should be fun!!