Time to insulate

Next up on our basement to-do list is insulating. We are installing a hard insulation that comes in panels which go up against the concrete walls, and once it is glued to the walls (with some sort of special stuff we use with the caulking gun) we will tape all the seams.  Once that is done we can build the new walls with 2x4's in front of the insulation..... and then whenever that all gets done.... on to electrical.

As you can see we picked up all our supplies last weekend (at Home Depot) and are getting started on this. I actually think this step will go pretty quickly, fingers crossed.

You can see in this picture the hole to our crawl space, yuck. Matt promises me it is sealed for now with this plactic sheeting and duct tape (to keep dirt, water, air out from the outside world...but more importantly in my mind spiders!). Eventually this will all be covered with a small door that seals it closed when the walls are built. 

Reds, Oranges, and Yellows

I sure love fall. Can't get enough of the flowers, these are a few more I got at the west seattle market again last weekend. $4 for 4 stems which seems like such a steal, and they are huge and beautiful.

Also had to grab a picture of some of our tomatoes that came in this year... we got about 4x this amount in the picture and have been making lots of caprese salads with them. You really can't beat fresh veggies right from the yard.

a glimpse of paradise

I spent the week of Labor Day with two of my favorite girl friends on Maui (Paige & Kelly). Although I missed Matt of course, I truly think time away with just the girls is so important and needed now and then. I hope as we all get older and are all married and have kids, we'll still be able sneak away once in a while.

It was a nice relaxing trip, and great way to end the summer and ease into fall. Here are a few pics from my adventure there.

After we first arrived.

Paige and I went on a "hike". It was much shorter than we anticipated, but fun anyways.

Since we had extra time after our "hike", we went on a tour of a local plantation where they grew all types of fruit and coffee which was pretty fun to see.

Coffee! 

The beach by our hotel in Wailea. We hung out down here one evening and watched the sunset with a couple bottles of wine. Not a bad way to end a day. =)



Fall is here...

Now that Labor Day has come and gone...it's time for Pumpkin Spice Latte's, yummy foods made in our slow cooker, and of course pretty flowers in beautiful rich fall colors. Picked up these beauties at the West Seattle farmers market last sunday for $5.  What a deal! We need to head over to the outdoor market more often on sundays, I always forget how fun it is and all the good local foods and flowers they have.

The day I've been waiting for...

Every since we decided we were going to tackle remodeling the basement, I've been looking forward to the day we could tear out the walls around the stairs we have leading down to the basement. Our upstairs living room is not huge, and I just thought opening this up (and having just a "half wall/railing" leading downstairs) would be awesome.

Well today was that day, and it was quite gratifying! While Matt worked downstairs finishing some more structural walls, I tore out all of the walls surrounding the stairs. I started by turning off the elctrical to the outlets in that wall, taking out the door, and then all of the drywall, and finally the wood that made up the walls and went all the way up to the ceiling.

A couple pictures of what it looked like before (yeah the house is a mess in these picture... oh well):

And... today! (still lots of work to do, it will be all finished with new drywall and finishings once the new staircase is put in... but you can see how much it opens up the room!).

Summer fun

It's been a great summer. While not working on the basement, we've had lots of time with friends and family. A couple weddings, graduations, trips, bbq's... all the good things of summer. Matt took a trip to Whistler with some of his guy friends, and I'm heading to Hawaii for a week with 2 of my girl friends this week.

I have to say, I secretly love fall though and can't wait until after labor day, when it is officially ok in my mind to have pumpkin spice latte's and switch to wearing boots and fall wardrobe. =)

Over the summer though, I was inspired to try my hand at making some sugar cookies  (got some new cookie cutters and a frosting kit).  I think they turned out pretty good, and can't wait until October to try out my new pumkin cookie cutter.

I made these heart cookies for a neighborhood block party in early August. Our block in west seattle does it every year during the official "national neighborhood night out", and we chat and get to know each other. I think its great to know your neighbors!

And here are a few I made and brought to Matt's company picnic this year (also in August). The ice cream cones turned out super cute, next time I think they need sprinkles though.