I left my heart in San Francisco....not really

So the nice thing about living in the middle of nor cali is that we are pretty close to a lot of exciting places; the sierra mountains are right here as well as lake Tahoe, Napa valley is a short drive away and so is San Francisco (now going to be designated sf). So the girls and I decided that after working hard for 2 days, we would go a play a little. We got to sf in about 2 hours, found a parking garage in China town, and got to walking. Oh man, the people who live there and walk every where have to be in pretty good shape! Those hills are CRAZY!! But of course sf is known for that, among other things. All I really wanted was to get some clam chowder in a sour dough bowl so we headed toward the fishermans warf over at pier 39. Along the way we went through china town and little italy which were very smelly (in a good and bad way) and exciting w/all their different shops and restaurants! Half the eateries in little italy had signs saying "si parla italiano!"-I got pretty excited at that! We hit the warf, found a place to grab some chowder and enjoyed our seafood delights! Then we wandered around a little more; we went into the musee mechanique which was a museum of all the old timey entertainments and "nickle and dime machines." You know, the fake fortune tellers that are mechanical and the "nudie women" that you can look at in a picture box and stuff like that. They all were converted to taking quarters which was pretty cool so you could hear the different ones going as people played them. We continued our trek along the coast line and got a good view of the golden gate bridge. Then we hit up the ghiradelli factory, but didn't buy anything since it's so expensive. We had some pretty good views of alcatraz but we didn't go on it; we couldn't find a tour of it :( We walked back to the car, met a very strange older man on the street who was ranting about how satanic the city was becoming (based off some wall art that we all saw together) and we walked past a restaurant called "the stinking rose." Apparently they serve a lot of garlic there. My other favorit sign was one on the pier that depicts a person going to close to the edge and the pier crumbling and the person falling in the water. It was pretty funny. All in all it was a really fun trip and we had a lot of fun laughing and goofing off and walking all around the place. When my mom and sis come this coming week we're going to go back and maybe bike the golden gate bridge and take a ferry back! I really wanted to this last time, it was just a little much and too much time for me and the girls. However, sf was a fun city to get to know a little and I'm excited to take more trips back very soon!

Huebert

So Huebert is our next door neighbor's bunny that he set free. You see, Joel got the bunny because who ever had him was going to set him free into the wild so Joel took him and thought that he could give him to a family. No such luck. So now he decided to just set him free and see what happens. He now comes over to our house to hang out, which is completely fine. He eats all the weeds in our yard and we have a lot of those so I think he's probably really happy to be back there. However, Huebert isn't really a tame bunny. He doesn't really like us to come near him so he's not even really like a pet that we can pet and enjoy, other then looking at him.
It's funny though because I was talking to our neighbor, Julie, and we were discussing the different names we all have for him. Julie calls him Hilda, because she thinks the bunny is a girl. Joel calls him floppy. Matt likes the name Bugs, which I think is highly unoriginal. And I looked at him and thought he looks like a Huebert, so that's what I am sticking with. Joel thinks it's funny how "the bunny" is slowly becoming the whole neighborhoods pet. I think he'll probably just go between our yard and Joel/Julie's yard, especially since I've started feeding him lettuce. Maybe if I keep giving him goodies he'll realize I'm ok to be around and then I can pick him up! I'll just have to teach Joey that the bunny is not a toy but a friend to have back there with him; I think it'll all be ok!

Phase 4: front flower bed #1

So the front flower bed is my special project. I love to plant flowers and watch things grow and I was especially excited to get to rip up the horrible plants from before (please see original house posts to see them). I went to Lowes and the girls and I picked out a nice variety of plants. We got a couple hibiscus bushes, asiatic lilies, gerber daisies, and zanias. We sadly didn't get enough so I had to go back and get a few more; which was ok. Matt was kind enough to help me plant some and they look so pretty and happy! Some have already started to sprout new blossoms! We still need to put mulch down but I think it looks waaaaaaay better then the big bushes of death from before!

Phase 3; Living, dining, sitting rooms and office

So this one needs more pics to be taken before it's done but I can start it. So two of my best friends in the whole wide world came out to help us do some house work! It was such a blessing to have their help but mostly to be able to spend time with them! We chatted while working and laughed a lot and got 4 whole rooms done! The living area is a chocolate brown while the dining area is a sage green. The office is taupe while the sitting room is a nice light blue. These rooms aren't completely finished yet though-we're getting ready to put in the pergo! So this one will be update again once we put the floor in and get more pics! Phase 4 was just finished today!!

Phase 2: planting trees, master bedroom, kitchen, and laundry room

So while Matt worked hard on the bathroom floor, I worked on several other things in the house! First I planted some trees; a japanese maple, a flowering plum, and an ash tree. Darrel (Matt's co worker) helped him w/the floor so Amanda (Darrel's wife) helped me w/the trees. She helped out so much even though she's getting to be pretty pregnant. The trees are all doing amazingly well and are happy as clams to be in the dirt where they can grow! Then I worked on the kitchen-I got about 85% done w/the sample size quart-no, I'm not kidding! It looks really good-a nice orangey red color that makes the counters look whiter and the cabinets richer! Then I ventured on to the laundry room-I wanted to get the rooms done where appliances would be delivered shortly. The laundry was easy to do because it is such a small space. Next was the bedroom-Matt helped with this one since he was mostly done w/the floor. We chose a nice steel gray color-it is very relaxing and looks awesome next to the cheesecake yellow! So we are happily living in our cozy little space (bed and bath that is) and our appliances were delivered and look and work perfectly. On to phase 3!

Phase 1: master bathroom

So the pics are a little out of order on here but I am doing all the "renovation" pics in order of when activities were done. First order of business was our master bathroom. There was carpet in there which grossed me out so that had to go asap. We opted for Matt to do it, which was a great project for him! He had never done tile flooring before so it was a new adventure for him! First we had to paint the walls and the ceiling. We chose a nice yellow color, not too bright but cheery-I think it kind of looks like custard or cheese cake so I had a massive cheese cake craving the whole time we were painting in there! After we painted the whole room, we had to rip out the carpet-this is where it got a little gross! There is a pic showing me next to the spot by the shower with a HUGE stain the carpet-which is exactly why I insisted that we do the bathroom floor first. Next it was a process of chipping away the tile in the toilet room and then getting to work on the tile. Matt got a wet saw so he could cut all the tile himself which was nice and handy! The actual laying of the tile took about 3 days since he was doing it all alone (kind of a one man job, and Matt likes to do things his way so I just let him be-I did lots while he did the tile-which will be posted next!) Then we had to let it set about 24 hrs before grouting. Then the grout had to set another 24hrs, then he sealed it. Again, wait 24hrs and presto-we have a new floor! It looks fantastic-even better in person! After the floor was done we slapped another coat of paint on and then we were ready for it to be used, kinda. He still needs to finish the trim and put the toilet back in but we're using the shower and sinks no problem now and it all works wonderfully! We also put a different light fixture in so it's not that blinding vanity. So that was phase 1 of the renovation project. Phase 2 is next!