homestretch.

After three years of distance, Ben and I have less than one month left to go!

I can't wait for him to be back in DC. It isn't as though that much will change but because our days together are packed when we see each other, life will have more a routine when he is back. It sounds so trite, but even just enjoying the seasons together - I am so excited for snow this winter on a weekend when we can just hang out and cook in the house together! I can't wait for the occasional weekend trip to new places like Asheville, Tennessee, the Outerbanks, Lancaster, and Shenandoah (though I will miss regular visits to Ann Arbor). I want him home so we can tackle some house projects together like the backyard and painting. I will appreciate even more now on a weeknight being able to talk about the day together with some wine and having more time for friend time.

One month.

parented.

Ben sent me this today with the message "lets be like this". I love it. These parents bring stage scenes with toys to to make their kids think they have come to life while they are asleep. Amazing parenting!

vested interest.

Genius! Look what Lululemon has going on - a vest-pullover. I don't know why they named it the Fluff Off Pullover but nevertheless, this just made my morning!

colorblocked.

I wish I wish we had saved all of our color-blocking winter gear from the 80s/90s because this Colorblock Ski Jacket from JCrew is amazing and bringing the 70s back big time!

coloring.

It has been almost six months in our house. And now it is time to paint. People told us we should "live in it" for a while before we do anything and so we have given it some months. This weekend was step 1 - initial paint colors. I headed to Fragers very early yesterday morning. Here is the story.

We are both partial to cool grays. That is to say, a gray with more of a blue in it. However, since we have decided to keep our wood trim (instead of painting it white), warm grays will go better. The difficulty is that I am not big on greens or beiges (both key to a warm gray). All this is to say, step 1 with colors is to try and be open and consider all options. So, I came back with a couple and threw them up on the wall. I am not in love with any of them, though of all of them, I like the third one down. Hopefully next weekend I'll have time for a second trip to get some lighter versions. We want to go lighter in the downstairs to make it feel fresh and easy...

Thoughts?!

con-tact made.

A month or two ago I was running errands and happened upon Con-Tact paper in a store. I am on the hunt to find it cheap someplace...so that I can start lining drawers and cabinets with it. Let me know if anyone has suggestions or thoughts!

stored up.

Ben graduates in just about 5 weeks and I am beyond ready to have him back in DC. One of the things I am most looking forward to is having weekends to really enjoy and explore. When we have weekends together they tend to be packed and rushed and we don't have time to do anything different. So, I'm looking forward to Saturday's in Virginia or Maryland or wherever nearby...here are some shops I am collecting for us to get to at some point soon...

• Stylish Patina - out in Falls Church, Virginia

• Trohv - Baltimore, Maryland

• The Old Luckett's Store - Leesburg, Virginia