serial.

Thursdays are the best! Basically only because the new Serial episode comes out on Thursdays. I slow-walked it in to work today. Episode 9 was fantastic. I know everyone is on the Serial bandwagon now but if by chance you are one of the few that isn't yet, what are you doing?! Get on it. Download and start listening tonight!

t.rex.

Have you all read The River of Doubt? If not, go buy now! I plowed through it last month. It was riveting and encapsulating. One of those reads where I couldn't wait to get back on the metro and dive back into the pages. It is an account of Teddy Roosevelt's trek through the Amazon after he lost the election in 1912. I've mentioned before our deep love of all things Teddy (if you haven't already, you should also read David McCullough's biography - Mornings on Horseback) - and this is an extraordinary telling of Roosevelt and also the Amazon. Simply incredible! And here is an old NPR piece about it in case you aren't yet convinced...

nesting.

We have been meaning to buy a Nest for about a year and finally got around to it last week. It is as awesome as we expected and then some. Seriously. For those who don't already know, the Nest is a digital thermostat. In addition to looking awesome and being extremely user friendly, it also saves energy and money. In fact, while I was on the phone with someone at Nest right before we installed it, the guy started telling me how he has already made back the cost of it in less than 6 months. We love it. It is also a smart thermostat, in that it learns your routine and then starts to automatically adjust the temperature based on your past behavior. It now automatically lowers the temperature at night (around 10) and this morning when I woke up it had already started to warm the house back up around 5:30 before I woke up. And, you can also control it from an app on your phone. I am telling you, it is a gamechanger!

cleaned up.

For the last 6 or so months, I have been pretty burnt out. I am not exactly sure why, just really tired and slow. I have been sleeping way too much.  A couple weeks ago, we had a friend over for dinner, and yup...I fell asleep sitting up on the couch at 8:30! Yikes!  It has obviously carried over to the blog and also projects around the house, work, even just emails and reading books. This is nothing to worry about and I actually think it is completely normal to go through ruts and phases....mix in the seasonal change, turning 30 and having questions about personal goals and priorities and we have also been traveling a ton - and there you have it! Nevertheless, the good news is that slowly but surely, I've been feeling re-energized and getting around to some diy and projects of late. This awesome paint sprayer also helped with the motivation! It is amazing. Highly recommend it. We got it at Home Depot. Ben, in all of his glory, spotted it on the top top shelf and it was absolutely worth tracking down someone to get the ladder and pull it down for us. For all those interested, it is the Graco TrueCoat Plus II Airless Paint Sprayer.

So, last month, we took the Graco for its first test-run. I present you with Exhibit A - the bookcase downstairs in our basement.

This was actually left over from the previous owner...and all of those cans and bottles as well. I've had my eye on it since we moved in since it is a disorganized mess. We cleared it off and dragged it outside into the back.

I did a quick sand job...and then when we realized just how incredible our new Graco really is. I painted this shelving unit down in less than 15 minutes. The beauty of it though is really that it is a professional paint job - smooth as butter I tell you!

Just take a look at this before and after.

I also decided to take spray paint to these old baskets and transformed them into some great red baskets for the shelves.

After we let it dry and moved the bookcase back inside, I used shelf liner to cover the shelves and then added this plastic liner, Lifeliner, on top. Love it. I picked up the plastic liner at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

 And here is the final result. Much better, right?

Also, for reference, all those cans and bottles of old paint and who knows what....? Emmy mentioned that DC has a place right over in Eckington where you can drop them off. We haven't had time to do it yet, but apparently it is super easy...good to know - here is the link with the information from DC.gov.

check-in.

It's been a while - so I wanted to check-in!  I haven't quite figured out the plan moving forward but just wanted to let all of you, my loyal readers, know that I haven't forgotten about you. I may baby-step it back into more frequent activity. A lot has happened since July...so stay tuned. But in the meantime, some links I thought might be of interest to you all!

• Wow - this racial history context behind Kim Kardashian's latest is quite something...

• This NYTimes piece about Wilfred Rose is a fascinating tale from a pickpocketer...

• Samantha Power is one of Glamour's women of the year....

• For your next long trip - this piece on Michigan's John Beilein....

hiatus.

Wanted to update you all that I am going on a bit of a hiatus from the blog. Maybe an irregular post here and there but for now Mary is taking herself on a sabbatical. So, until we meet again, happy weekend and hope you all have some great plans in the mix to round out July.

lebron.

I have had some choice words about Lebron during the last 4 years. But I will be the first to say, I just read his annoucement and pulled a 180. Not simply because he made the right decision but this is one of the more thoughtful, honest and real decisions with explanation that I have seen. LeBron - you just won me back.