The next step.

We're back from our annual trip to Maine. If you want a review of our fabulous trip, please see the wonderfully concise post from Summer Sweater, or the introspective post from Cotton. I'll blog about the trip soon, but I have other things on my mind (doesn't take long for my mind to start to work (or overwork) again, let me tell you).

Other Thing on My Mind #1: The house.

The house is now painted! Yay! Remember when I asked you to vote for your preferred color? Well, I received no votes, which is just as well, since Doug and I picked out our preferred color and would have gone with that one regardless. We went with the light greenish/gray color, called Roycroft Mist Gray, with Roycroft Bottle Green for the accents and Creamy for the trim.



Doug and I really like it and can't wait to get a new, dark green awning to really show off the green accent color. I also can't wait to plant flowers in my window boxes, which thankfully I did not have to paint myself.



Coming back to our newly painted house was very satisfying. We pulled up to the little place and I was glad to be there. I was reflecting on all of the work that we have put into the place - the painting on the inside, the landscaping, and now the repainting on the outside. While in Maine, Doug and I were dreaming of living there, in some kind of old farmhouse not too far from the rocky coast. But when I came home to our little house with its fresh coat of paint, those dreams fade a little. (A little.)

Other Things on My Mind #2: Career Change.

This next topic will thrill my mother, who I fear is convinced that I am wandering aimlessly and unhappily through life (which is not true, really not true at all). Vacation always gets me to thinking about how I am living my life when I am not on vacation (if you have read Cotton's post mentioned above, you'll get a glimpse of why), and now that I'm back from it and we are basically back to our old routine (though not fully, since we are down one cat (still at Grandma's Meg is) and I'm still allowing myself to eat as many sweets as I want) I'm dreaming of ways to prolong those vacation feelings. Those feelings of freedom, of light-heartedness, of possibility and excitement. I do believe that finding the right career path is key to having that kind of satisfying vacation-feeling even when I'm not on vacation.

Let's just face it - I'm not a librarian at heart. I love books. Love, love, love books. Love their covers, their smell, their contents. There's not much about them that I do not like, and even confess to loving electronic books and their electronic devices. But that doesn't mean that I love librarianship, or am meant to be a librarian. The minute details of librarianship I find trying. What difference does it make if I stamp the due-date in the back of the book before I de-sensitize it? Why does everyone have to do these tasks in a particular order, and why do we have to have meetings to discuss what the best order is? To quote myself when I was talking to Doug today, I'm just not jazzed about librarianship. I know some very good, very passionate librarians and I am so glad, so glad, that they exist. But I don't consider myself one of them and I may very well never be. I thought things would be different when I left corporate librarianship for academic librarianship, and believe me, they are, but I still haven't found my "thing."

For me, more than moving to a new location or finding a new hobby, I need to start down that journey of changing my career. I need to start doing that thing that I can feel better about, or at least more interested in, each morning when I wake up. I've narrowed it down to a few options, and now I just have to take that plunge. I feel a lot of pressure to make the right choice. I feel that the time is now, and that the spotlight is on this decision. I feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself, but I also am encouraged by the possibilities and the bright light of the future. These are good things, and I thank vacation for this.

I also thank vacation for another week of my life spend with three of my favorite people. Ruby is such a little delight, and her parents are just about the best people to go on vacation with. Ever. Doug and I are always so relaxed and comfortable on our trips to Liberty. We thank you, C, C, and R, for your hands in that!

You be the judge.

Doug and I are having the house painted in a couple of weeks. We are going to change the color of the house. Today we put on the house the two color choices that we narrowed all of our seemingly infinite color choices down to. Which one do you vote for?


We have a favorite, and it may not be the one that you think it is. You'll have to wait until the house is painted that color to know which one it is, though - I'm not giving up our secret just yet.

When I was uploading the photos of the color choices to the computer, I discovered that I hadn't uploaded the photos of our most recent beach trip. Last Saturday we were at Ogunquit and had a wonderful day there. We wish we had gotten to see Summer Sweater and her family, but maybe next time. This trip we just lay on the beach reading, Doug splashed about in the water a lot (and with my phone, which meant that I had to get a new phone because salt water and electronics do not mix), and then we took a long walk once the tide went out. Ogunquit at low tide late in the afternoon is a wonderful place to be. Most of the day-trippers and families with millions of little kids are gone and only those people who want to enjoy the tranquility of the beach are left. You get to see great scenes like this at that time of day:


Of course, if you look closely you can see that the guy flying the kites is doing so in what looks like his underwear. He was with two other guys, both also in what looked like their underwear, and our neighbors on the blanket next to us were calling them "The Underwear Guys." I wonder if this guy below was given a cool nickname by fellow beachgoers:


Me, I just call him "Hotstuff." Not very original, I realize, but totally accurate. It's the sandals that do it for me, and also the amazingly, almost alabaster-white skin. I don't know how he does it, but I feel lucky to know that it's all mine.

It's amazing what a little paint, some new appliances, a new table, and some homemade curtains can do.

To continue from yesterday's blog - tonight I have for you the "finished" product. I say "finished" because there's one thing that I've learned - I always eventually have to change things up. For now, though, I'm quite satisfied and hope you'll agree that what we've done has improved the rooms greatly.

First, let's focus on the cat/sun room. We painted the room a relaxing latte color and put a tallish table in there so that we can sit and read, do work on the laptop, eat, enjoy the view from our windows, watch the fish, or just hang out. Now this room has a purpose other than holding the cat toys, and so far we enjoy sitting out there. I was also charged with decorating the walls in this room, and so far my ideas for the walls have turned out well. The wall where the fish tank is has become the vintage photo wall (pictures-of-my-mom-and-dad and-sister-grandmother-and-Doug's-grandparents-circa-the-late-'60s-and-'70s vintage) (and note that the fish tank is a nice green color again. The tank hasn't been green like this since Doug lived in the cave in Newton about 5 years ago, and we're hoping that we can figure out a way to make it clear again... this is the one and only instance where I don't like sunlight), and the wall with the coat hooks now keeps the bird print that was once in the bedroom. Then the wall that had only the small painting I got in Paris in 2001 now is home to my Gardner Museum-inspired art wall, which needs a lot more art crammed onto it, but there's plenty of time for that. The wall directly behind the table has nothing on it for now (the ocean painting that reminds me of Nantucket will soon be hung in our bedroom upstairs), but now we have a place for more art should we find something that strikes our fancy. This room is now a room - homey, cozy, and with purpose. Score one for transformation weekend!

Score two for transformation weekend comes in the kitchen. As you read in my previous post, we painted the entryway to the kitchen and the kitchen accent wall a raspberry color. The color I originally picked out was called Deep Mango, which had a deep orange hue, but the closest match with the paint we got at the hardware store was Raspberry Blush. This paint on the little swatch had a rich orange hue, but it is not really very orange at all. As a matter of fact, it reminds me of the color we had in our old office/hobby room in Newton, which was called Strawberry something. Guess I'm not too original when picking out colors! But no matter - the color looks very good - bright and alive and it definitely transforms the look of the kitchen. What also transforms the look of the kitchen are the new curtains I made yesterday evening - made them from a tablecloth I bought at Target this past winter. Doug took a picture of me hard at work, and I have to say that I was a little rusty at the pedal of this machine...It took me forever to thread the needle, and then I accidentally sewed one end of the material to the other and had to rip that out. I really need more practice with this thing. But the curtains came out well, no?They give the room a more complete look. We also hung up some more hooks in the kitchen to hold keys and my apron (and yes, I've wondered why I have an apron when I only cook one night a week if I'm lucky these days), and also got the tin cow art back on the wall. Things are finally settled in the kitchen. Here's a view of the new look from looking towards the oven and new microwave: From looking towards the refrigerator (note that while our magnets and other flare don't stick to the front they do to the side!): And, finally, from looking towards the island:The kitchen is now clean, fresh, and reflects our style much more than the other kitchen decor (though we still have that silly Tuscan light fixture! We can only take so much change at once, so we may have to put changing that light fixture on hold, but now more than ever it really doesn't go with the kitchen, so please let me know if you think someone may want it! Otherwise I fear it may be headed for the Dedham Transfer Station...)

Stay tuned later this week for my post on the tag sale we participated in this past weekend. These have been marathon posts; trust me, I'm aware of this, but I finally have content to share so I want to share it! I think I may have to finally join Flickr as a paying member, though. I can't in good conscience keep using this blog as my digital photo album.

I love paint colors that remind me of food.

Welcome back, me! I've been absent from the blogosphere these past couple of weeks, mostly because I've lacked the time that it will take to do these posts I have planned justice. Plus, after the marathon post of my Memorial Day Weekend adventures with my family, I was a little tired of blogging. Let's hope this post is a little shorter, but there's a lot of ground to cover...

As some of you may already know, last weekend my mother and brother came up to visit. My mom arrived Friday afternoon and the sweet woman cooked Doug and me a wonderful dinner of roast beef, sweet potatoes and green beans. Anytime she wants to come back to cook for us we'll welcome her with open arms, because there's still something very comforting about a mother's home-cooked meal. But my mother didn't come up just to cook us dinner... no, we had other plans. After dinner we started to clear out the cat/sun room and also the kitchen to prepare for our transformation weekend. While we painted the cat/sun room last year during our painting week right before we moved into the house, I've never felt totally satisfied with it. Same with the kitchen, though we didn't actually paint that last year. I've just never felt satisfied with the yellow color; wasn't a shade I'd have picked myself. So, in an effort to get more of my life in order, I solicited my mother's help to get these two rooms painted (and we wanted to paint the kitchen wall, too, because thanks to the federal government we bought a new, fully-functioning refrigerator, microwave, and washing machine and wanted a fresh start with our new appliances). Here are some before photos of the two rooms in question; you'll note that my mom and I seem a little tired already... we're well aware of the work we have ahead of us:

My mother and I woke up early on Saturday morning to get started on our painting. Not only did we have to paint the sun room and the kitchen, but we had to wait around for all the appliance to show up. Our table for the cat/sun room was slated to show up first, so we wanted to get as much of that room done before the table was delivered. Luckily we had an extra pair of hands to help with the painting:

Once we got the first coat of the latte-like brown (called Shabby Chic) on that room we moved into the kitchen. This color was not so easy to paint - why again do I gravitate towards the deep, rich colors that require tinted primers and multiple coats? Thank god we were only painting one wall and the little entryway area. The color is called Raspberry Blush, and I thought it was going to be a lot more orange than it actually is - it is definitely in the raspberry family - but it works very well in the kitchen. Here's me painting with the tinted primer: We had to work faster in this room because the microwave was scheduled to be delivered and installed between 1 and 3 and refrigerator between 4 and 6, but we didn't start in the kitchen until about noon. No matter - my mom and I can be efficient when we have to be, and the microwave guy was late. This meant that the whole coat of primer was on the entryway, and I was able to get most of the kitchen wall done before the guy came with the microwave. That was a perfect time for some lunch, so here's a view of what we got to look at while eating:

Once the microwave and refrigerator were installed (and the new washer, which deserves a section all to itself), my mother went back into the cat/sun room to finish the second coat and I stayed in the kitchen to finish the primer. Here are photos of my mom doing a bang-up job with the paint brush, the refrigerator and the wall with the primer on itThe refrigerator is a bit blinding - and none of our magnets stick to the front of it! You can also see the new microwave in the photo of the primered wall... also very shiny.

The next morning my mom and I put the first coat of paint on the entryway and the kitchen wall, but because it was a beautiful day and because my bother had arrived, we decided to head over to the Blue Hills for a hike and then take in the new Star Trek movie. Both were great fun. My mother and brother love to hike, and I think they liked the trail we chose to go on, but I will say that Doug and I are terribly out of shape and were eager to stay on the easier trails. All trails are good, though - there are great views from this reservation.I don't know why we don't go there more often. Oh wait, yes I do. We try to cram too much stuff into our weekends, but never exercise and nature.

When we got home from the movie (loved the Spock character, and thought the Kirk character wasn't bad, either) I put the last coat of paint on the kitchen wall, and while that was drying and while my family was eating I started to put the house back together. It's amazing how disordered it got that weekend. We put the new table into the sun/cat room, so now we can sit there on the weekends and enjoy the windows.I also did an inaugural load of laundry in the new washer. This was really my favorite part of the weekend. Here's the old washer:Here's the new one:Yes, I do love my new washing machine. It's so much bigger than the old one, and it actually spins the clothes around and gets them clean! Miraculous!

Even though I have much more to write about and so many more pictures to show, especially of the finished rooms and the curtains I made for the kitchen and the pictures I hung on the walls in the sun/cat room, I'll end today's post with this video of my mom, Doug, and me watching the first load of wash in the new washer (can't use up all my content in one post!). We stood there for a good half-hour watching the clothes wash, even after the lid fogged up. It really doesn't take much to amuse us down here, and I will say that even after my 4th or 5th load of wash in this thing I am still a captive audience. (Warning - for those with young ears there is a perhaps age-inappropriate word at the very end of the video...)

Swimming to sleep.

Well, as predicted, I couldn't wait until post-Internet Librarian to paint the bedroom, so Friday night Doug and I went to Home Despot to get our painting supplies (my mother had taken all of her stuff home with her - rollers, brushes, paint trays, etc., probably thinking that we were done with them for at least 5 years), and then Saturday morning, after Curves, a little housework and a snack, went to this awesome hardware store in Newton to get our paint. I really think that we got the colors in Chris's picture very close to right, or at least one of the colors (the accent wall color, the darker blue). What I am not sure about is whether the picture was quite as nautical looking as our room now looks. Doug and I really do like the color combo, and we LOVE that it is much brighter. The space feels happier, more youthful (though we will need new accessories, like a new blanket for the bed, some new art for the walls, and possibly a new rug, in order to keep the new look consistent), but the space also feels like we're living in an aquarium, or that we're on some kind of pirate ship, looking out across the open ocean, sailing off on the blue seas. I doubt the pictures below will do the shades justice, but trust me, the colors are very... blue.

The below is the accent wall pre-painting. It's a very earthy green color, one I think would be fine in a dining room but for our bedroom was just not working.

This is another view of our bedroom. All the walls save the accent wall were this buttery off-white color, which a) reminded me too much of our bedroom in Newton, and b) was too non-descript for me. We like color, we like punch (we have a purple dining room!), and this color was not punching us. We tried to make it work, but really, why try that hard? Just repaint.

Here are a few photos of the painting process. Really, when you think about it, it didn't take us long to paint the room. We even did two coats! We started around 2pm and we were washing our brushes out and putting the room back together by around 7pm. That's not that bad! We're like pros now.

So, on to the final product, or almost the final product. The painting is done, but the room, as mentioned, still needs some accessorizing. In the meantime, though, we can dream about sailing the high seas in search of treasure as we stare at our Caribbean Blue Water and Baby Boy Blue walls. Thanks, Benjamin Moore! You've done good.

This is where I work.

Because we now have a small camera (thank you very much, Ryan & Janet, for your Amazon gift card!), I can carry it around in my giant suitcase of a pocketbook all the time. This means that I can take pictures of whatever I want, and today I was inspired to take pictures of my work space. Yes, you'll see below the actual physical space that I call home for about 10 and a half hours each day of the week, minus weekends and 15 vacation days a year. The below is my actual cube. You'll see that I don't have the full walls of a traditional cube, but basically I am contained in three square walls with one opening where I can get in and out, so it is definitely cube-like. I have my two computer screens (my how much I enjoy having two of them), my little chair, my little quotes and inspirational sayings tacked onto my bulletin board wall. Ah, so homey.
Here is another view of the cube.
Here is a view of the rest of the library space. My back is to all of this as I'm sitting in my little cube space, which I don't really like. Three of my coworkers sit in the cubes on the left of the photo, and the computers in the back are public - one is a Bloomberg, the most antiquated, convoluted computer system in the world, though the amount of data and information that that thing provides is quite amazing.
This is what's to the left of me as I sit in my cubicle. The doorway leads into a small room that used to be my manager's office, but she's moved to an office right outside the library and a coworker and I are both moving into that room on Monday. We are hiring two new research librarians, one in October and one in November, so cube space is at a premium. I won't have an actual cube anymore, but I'll still be stuck in a corner. I'll have to post pictures of the new space once I move in. I'll be near a window, which is key to work happiness I think. I highly, highly undervalued direct access to natural light when I decided to work in the corporate world.
But isn't the space so drab? I mean, maybe these beige colors are very sophisticated, especially when coupled with the dark wood, but there is a complete lack of color in my life while at work. This would likely explain why I so desperately want to surround myself with rich, bold colors at home. And speaking of rich, bold colors, I have half a mind to paint the bedroom this Saturday. I was going to wait until the last weekend in October, but once I get an idea in my head I like to run with it right away. Get things over with. So maybe there will be more painting photos to post next week!