A few weeks ago Sam and I splurged and bought a Pottery Barn burlap lamp shade for – I don’t know – over fifty bucks (I had a coupon and we bought a rug) – and I can’t bare to look up what we actually paid because I made an almost identical one for five bucks.

We had a plain white lamp shade on a cool floor lamp that was a bit shabby, so I went to the craft store and bought some burlap for $5 (and I even have enough fabric left over to cover at least one more shade). I traced a pattern on some newspaper, cut, and used a hot glue gun to secure it on the shade!

What do you think?

Like last night when we were sitting on the couch – our muscles sore from working hard in the yard all weekend and with dinner time quickly approaching – a pizza commercial came on the TV. It looked so appetizing and simple. No cooking needed. Delivery – a perfect idea. Unfortunately, since we moved out here we found only one place that delivers to our house – and the pizza – not so good. You know you’re in trouble when you can’t even get a good slice of pie! I looked online and found a few places to call – they all had the same response – no delivery to our house.

Sadly it was off to the kitchen to cook our original planned meal – chicken curry with jasmine rice and steamed broccoli (actually Sam went to the kitchen – I stayed on the couch). Yes, it may sound more appetizing than a pizza pie, but work was involved.

Lucky this Sunday – a very good seasonal pizza place opens up – Kay’s pizza on Burden Lake, but guess what – NO delivery – to anyone for that matter. But their pizza is good enough to get me off the couch and enjoy the cabin-like atmosphere while overlooking the lake. I can taste the pizza already.

On a side note – the day we bought our house (and after Sam proposed) we came here for dinner – it was a nice welcome to the neighborhood.

Around the middle of March I like to plant my seeds indoors, so I can put them in the ground after the frost. The weather has been so amazing I have already been able to set my trays outside in the warm sunshine. Within a few days my seedlings started to pop up.

It’s a funny thing to try and grow your own food, and I love to see what grows and what doesn’t (because let’s face I am no professional at this). Growing your own food is a challenge, and not all your produce grows perfect like you think it’s supposed to – or how grocery stores would like you to think it’s supposed to.

Not all tomatoes grow perfectly round. Not all peppers or strawberries grow to the same size. I remember one year I planted carrots and you’re supposed to plant a couple seeds and hope some of them pop up through the dirt. After a while several of them started to shoot up through the soil and you need to thin them out so they have room, and so they aren’t clumped together. Well I didn’t separate them and they grew together to form abnormal looking carrots. They kind of looked like Edward Scissors hands fingers – long and pointing in every direction. – oops -Funny thing is despite their deformities they still tasted like carrots.

A few months ago there was a special on the Food Network called The Big Waste and the chefs were required to make dishes only from the “waste” that restaurants, grocery stores, farms, and butchers were throwing out because it wasn’t “sellable.” In realty the food wasn’t bad or spoiled – it’s because we have been programmed to think that food should look a certain way. One of the chefs went to a farm, and he was told that a lot of the edible eggs from the chickens are actually thrown out on a daily basis because of their sizes or colors. At the butcher – he was throwing away half the cow because he said people don’t like to buy the ends of the ribs, etc.

I think this is ridiculous. They showed statics of how much food is thrown out because it’s not “pretty” or perfect or the right shape or cut. I even think the food they found was approved by the US F.D.A. So how is it pissible the tood was destined for the trash? The chefs from The Big Waste found made amazing dishes for hundreds of people with the “waste”- gourmet meals I would gladly eat in a restaurant. Use your brain people. Be creative with your food.

Anyway, hopefully the show made an impact on other people as well and we see some changes. I know I will enjoy my tomatoes and carrots even more now when they grow glued together or have a slight bruise on them.

I think the top two most important things for any wedding is 1) the vendor and 2) the photographer. The vendor is all about the food and atmosphere and the photographer is all about capturing the memories.

To be honest the pictures may take first place for me because I LOVE photos. I love the memories they hold and the expressions they capture.Needless to say the person taking pics at my wedding needs to be awesome, and I’m pretty sure he is.

Our wedding photographer is Scott Langley, and he is a local guy from Columbia County – a photo journalist. When we met him he said that as a photo journalist he likes to tell the story of your big day with his photos.

Judging by the engagement shoot we had at Empire State Plaza I think he will do just that. Tell our story, which is what pictures are all about. I’m in love with the photos he took. Sam and I had an awesome time last October. The Plaza is so memorable for us because for several years we lived one block up the from here.

Here are some photos from the shoot, which happened to be one day before the notorious 2011 October snow storm:

It’s at the corner of Lark and Central in Albany. Sam and I have visited here twice (two weeks in a row). They have this awesome lunch buffet for $5.95 and it is so yummy. The naan is amazing, warm and seems fresh out of the oven. I am all about saucy, spicy food. Sam has never been keen on it, but I think he has found a new obsession with this place.

The same man was working each time we went and he was very polite and nice. The dining room had several tables filled each time too, so they seem to be getting a good business. The atmosphere is to be expected I guess – nothing too fancy and it certainly doesn’t take away from the food. Each time that we went they had Indian music videos playing on their TV with catchy tunes that remind me of the movie Slum Dog Millionaire. I think it’s because at the end of the movie the cast danced in sequence to the song Jai Ho and the moves are quite similar.

Today I had two bowls of their rice pudding for my dessert. It was topped with some kind of spice and sprinkled with a few pistachios. I’m stuffed and burping curry. That’s always a nice combo. Anyway check it out. Nice people, good authentic food. I don’t know why we never checked it out when we lived in Albany. Ahh, yes I miss delivery.

I guess our neighbor saw the whole thing happen…the garbage truck drove by and clipped the wire, ripping it from our house. The most logical party to blame would be the people behind the garbage truck, right? I mean we have an eye witness. Wrong. We called our garbage company, and the manager was a like “ahh sorry, our trucks our no higher than 13 feet high and National Grid needs to keep the power lines above 18 feet or so. Not their problem.

Sam called National Grid and the lady said it didn’t look good but she gave us the claims department to call. We should pay for the new power line anyway because we like TOTALLY knew that the power line was only 12 or 13 feet (NOT). The wire is attached to our house, so I’m not sure it will be our problem (even though the line did cross a public road and why would I want to touch a live power line on my house). Also when the was ripped off it must have sent a surge to our neighbors house because their brand hew stainless steel stove and microwave were fried about the same time. Meanwhile, we hired an electrician to come and fix it.

Before National Grid left on Friday they basically duct taped the wire back on our house and made us sign a waiver removing them of all responsibility. The form had a contingency that said if we didn’t get someone to fix it within 30 days they were going to come back and disconnect our power.
Anyway in order for our electrician to allow for the proper height he has to add this stupid power mast thing (basically a long pole to raise the power line) and it will look silly. Good news – since we had to hire an electrician why not have him upgrade our house to a circuit breaker panel (instead of fuse box)?

That’s what is happening, and I think that means we will be able to run the microwave and toaster at the same time! How exciting. We have a small collection of burnt fuses piling up. (One time I was showering and the water turned off. Naturally I freaked out because I thought it was something bigger. Luckily Sam went down and looked at the fuses… it was the one working the electrical for the water pump.)

1. Wake up at 9 am
2. Drink coffee
3. Eat breakfast with Sam
4. Get a manicure and pedicure at Kimberly’s Day Spa
5. Enjoy an hour and a half Swedish massage at Kimberly’s Day Spa

Thanks to my fabulous bosses and Merry Christmas to me!

Needless to say our house has been depleting our honeymoon fund, and I was getting a little discouraged because I don’t want to be one of those people who skip their honeymoon. To brighten my spirits Sam bought me a calendar for Valentine’s Day – 365 Days in Italy! Now I sit at my desk all day and dream of an amazing vacation in Italy with my sweetheart.

We had a backup plan – go to Napa Valley and drink wine; eat cheese and prosciutto and pretend we’re in Italy, but now I have this calendar and the pictures are so amazing. Napa Valley just won’t do.

I have always been somewhat of a worry-wart and on top of that I am a woman. So that doesn’t make a good combo. I’m always worrying about spending money and any kind of debt gives me anxiety. Underneath all that it has made me a saver and I’m always finding ways to cut back and focus on the important things. Sam on the other hand never seems to worry about a thing, and he is always so care free and confident. He’s a go-getter and always seems to somehow get what he wants and needs out of life. Hopefully with my money hoarding and Sam’s determination we will get our trip to Italy.

1.) UNBROKEN: A WORLD WAR II STORY OF SURVIVAL, RESILIENCE, AND REDEMPTION by Laura Hillenbrand
2.) THE GLASS CASTLE, by Jeannette Walls.
3.) A STOLEN LIFE, by Jaycee Dugard
4.) WHISTLING IN THE DARK, by Lesley Kagen
5.) THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, by Rebecca Skloot.

Sam and I will be benefitting from their current project because we plan to refinish and reuse the pine floors from their remodel. The first floor of our house has two bedrooms, and we plan to demo the dividing wall and create a large master bedroom with an on suite bathroom. Before you say it, yes I know it’s pine and it’s a soft wood, but we’re thinking the bedroom is a low traffic area. Lots of area rugs and they will be perfect. We’re planning to use a darker stain and old-fashion cut nails to hold them down. Blog post to follow in the spring when we start knocking down walls and ripping up our floors!

Here are some pics from my parents demo:

A stack of the floors as we got started… The pile doubled – lots of restoring left!

Sam taking the old nails out of the wood floors. Ready for our use….almost!