remodel pics . . .

so all of this got done in one day . . . amazing! now the fun part begins . . . .

the kitchen remodel has begun . . .

so the kitchen remodel officially started today. the contractor is there as we speak tearing out the cabinets & the floors. we had the floor installer come by on saturday am to measure and give us a quote. the cabinet installer comes tomorrow to do the same. the floors have been picked out, the cabinets have been chosen, and the countertops have been ordered. we've got the sink and range purchased and the lighting selected (with some purchased). i need to pick a range vent/fan and order the floors. at some point soon i'll go buy the dishwasher from lowe's but we're a ways out from that.

mac & i spent the weekend packing up my kitchen and getting her house ready for suki and i to descend upon. it's been fun and exhausting. yesterday was our 6 month anniversary and also the first night i'd *moved in*. it was nice serendipity that timing worked out that way. i brought some kitchen stuff over and packed other stuff away for revisiting later. we're planning a yard sale the weekend of march 22nd to get rid of some big stuff as we start to consolidate households. it's fun to plan a home together.

of course adding to all of this stress is that i leave for 3 weeks in, well, 3 weeks. i'm mildly relieved that i won't have to be here to witness/live through the mess but wish i could watch the transformation and feel bad that i'm leaving mac to deal with it all ... but i guess as a designer it's her forté to oversee a project without the client around. am starting to get excited about the trip (although i do wish the timing was better) and finally booked my hotel in rome over the weekend. it was the last straggling part of the itinerary i hadn't handled so i'm relieved i finally did.

work is good. am starting to settle in and am getting excited about my first site launching in late march . . . right before i leave of course. isn't that always the way? speaking of work, it's almost time to head out so i should get a few things wrapped up before i head home to see the house.

i'll post pics when i can so y'all can follow the progress with me.

today i'm thankful for . . . 6 months with an amazing woman who's willing to design my kitchen and put some sweat equity in

a sense of relief . . .

am on the plane on my way home. am feeling pretty good about my re-entry into the work world tomorrow. have used my flight home to catch up on e-mail, finish the spec for the cms project i'm working on and generally get my head back in the space it'll need to be when i arrive in the office tomorrow at approximately 8a. have a few issues to deal with when i get in tomorrow but have 7 messages queued up in my outbox. the good news is that now i'll be able to sleep when i get home. z is picking me up at the airport and is being sweet enough that he's bringing suki with him so i don't have to come get her from his house tomorrow sometime. z & dk are the best ... they always willingly take suki when i need to travel. their pack is pretty good about integrating her and dk works from home so she's around alot to separate the scuffles when they do occur.

had a layover in houston on my way back. did some fabulous shopping for travel schwag. finn said awhile ago that he had a buddy who used to send him random travel crap from wherever he went so i thought i'd take that mantle up. he'll be getting a "don't mess with texas" coffee mug in the mail here shortly! enjoy, pal! i also found some thank you gifts for z & dk that i know they'll get a kick out of. i also found a cute pair of pink cowboy boots for my cass. her 1st birthday is in less than 2 weeks and i'm certain the boots will be too big but i couldn't pass them up! my sis is just gonna flip when she opens the package. wish i could be a fly on the wall.

used my time in houston to also call a dear friend who lives in town. mlr and i have been friends since we were 15 years old and sophomores in high school. the funny part is that while we shared classes in high school, we didn't become *friends* till college. we don't talk as often as we should/could but when we do it's as if we never hung up previously. was good to hear her voice & catch up.

for now, i'm going to try to enjoy the rest of my flight. about an hour and a half to go . . . sure am glad i changed my seat to get the exit row when i checked in this am! i needed the room for my laptop.