plans

these are the things i'm looking forward to doing:

ama motorcycle races on ice

*** we went to the ice races on saturday, pretty crazy -- the wheels are all studded, but they still get wiggling a lot on fast, tight curves -- it was fun to be there, i just wish there were more racers and a better view ***

frankfort lighthouse (this includes an hour coastal drive and the closest thai restaurant!)

northport lighthouse, fishtown,  and sleeping bear dunes (probably in spring)

here are the 2 lighthouses we've been to... the first is a few minutes from where we live and the second is a few minutes from the farmhouse and our old cottage

back to the basics

a few months ago we decided to leave california..
1. we hated commuting to work
2. we didn't have time to enjoy the awesome weather
3. it costs a lot
4. it's crowded

what my daily commute was like (on a good day)

we had awesome jobs, a dream house, and had made great friends..
we've traded beautiful weather for more time.
we've moved to a place that has 3 downtown stoplights & a population of 8000.

since we've been here we have seen dunes, beaches, lakes, forests, wild turkey, deer, a bald eagle, elk, a maple syrup farm, 2 lighthouses and some amish in a buggy

and some days we heat our house with a real fire

Hawaii

We went to Hawaii @the end of August and loved it..

Because it's almost Halloween, here's a spooky picture of Hawaii & a dreamy one

 Here a few things we discovered...
1.  We REALLY needed a vacation
2.  It's really just as wonderful as everyone says it is
3.  (how is this still the U.S.?)
4.  We can't wait to go back..

we stayed just outside of lahaina at this little condo resort with 2 awesome pools.  $100/nt. VRBO.com totally awesome.



we ate some great food and soaked up the sun.. went to a luau, a submarine trip, snorkeling, surfing lessons, road to hana, and spent a few good days doing nothing.. a perfect vacation


hiked to a few waterfalls, swam in a few. went through a bamboo forest, saw some amazing coastlines

(amazing coastline, from road to hana)


hiking @ haleakala national park on the way to an enormous waterfall


maui blow hole.. on our way to eat the best pineapple on earth.

july 4th

for the 4th oliver and i just relaxed. we went to a neighborhood cafe around lunch time..

desert camping

last year my sunset magazine had this article about camping in the desert near san diego and getting a tour of the night sky.. 4th of july weekend seemed like a great idea (because of the 3 day weekend), but 117 degrees.. well, that was pretty extreme.



i went with a friend from work -- we drove to the desert, met the tour group and set off in our indiana jones army bus and got a tour of the desert. . learned about different plants and homesteaders that settled the area.


the night didn't cool down.. it was sort of humid. as for the stars, we saw the international space station traverse the sky, we saw the summer triangle and a lot of constellations, the rings of saturn, and a number of nebulae star clusters. the guest astronomer was Dennis Mammana

The next morning was still humid, it started sprinkling and there were swarms of bees, and the light was really eerie. the indiana jones bus got rolling to scare off the bees and we all made a run for it and headed out.

i would definitely do this again, but maybe in the spring or fall. the company was California Overland Tours.

meetup

so there's this newish community called "meetup" where you find different groups of people in whatever area/zip code doing all sorts of things. i signed up for a few of the groups.. a silkscreen one.. a crafty one.. and a bookclub. so far, i've only done screenprinting.

pretty great, right?

Kitchen Finale

Here's the kitchen! I realized we haven't updated the blog with pictures since we painted the walls and oven and finished the redo.

Last night we installed this awesome floor. It's just bright, glossy white -- long, rectangle sheets of laminate flooring. It was an awesome affordable solution to the dirty linoleum.

Love it.

More family room design

Things have progressed in the family room since we last checked in... finally chose a paint color and got new carpet! The base moulding is in the garage being painted right now and we are planning our built-ins. The carpet color and fireplace are already final, now we just have to build everything else (and buy furniture).

Kitchen update!

Finally got rid of all that pink in the kitchen! we added mini halogen lights and granite tile counters, plus a huge new sink! This will totally do until we have money for a real remodel.

New Pup!

We have finally decided that it is time to settle down and start a family. We are taking small steps so this little puppy is the first addition. :)

Her name is Chula and she was a shelter puppy. She's an american bulldog/boxer mix.
She has tons of energy and gets lots of sleep. She can already sit, stay, lay down, shake and roll over. She's having a hard time with "come here," but we totally adore her!

Working on Family Room

Here's the latest and greatest from the Chipster household: (click on pictures for larger view and to read captions)

blowing your mind.. one song at a time

2/17/10

i love music. i have no musical talent. that's the way it goes. oliver is the musician in this family, and that's enough i guess. but one thing i am good at -- patterns. i have a keen ear for patterns. so, when listening to music i can be pretty spot-on in recognition.

here are a collection of songs that have reminded me of other songs.. let me know what you think.

Rilo Kiley vs. George Harrison

are you serious?!? identical.

RK "Silver Lining" vs. GH "Sweet Lord"




Michael Stipe vs. Leonard Cohen.

REM "Hope" vs. Cohen "Suzanne"

... give it some time. you'll see.




Here's the latest..

Muse vs. a little known NYC duo Mommy & Daddy ..

might be the same electro-drum mix?

Muse single "Uprising" vs. MD "Confection" (c. 2005)




and i swear there's an innocence mission that's either hey mr. tambourine man or you've got to hide your love away.. but i can't remember which IM song..

BBQ Time!

We got an awesome deal on this gas grill - Lowes already raised their prices on them for the spring, but accidentally left the sticker on with last week's price! Yay for us - we saved about $200 bucks!
This picture is of the grill sticking out of our amazing car (honda fit) it hasn't failed us yet - It can bring home anything!

Family Room Design #1

Oliver had designed a few ideas on paper and then realized he makes things in 3D for a living... why not try a few designs for the family room? Here is the result of the first try - we are really liking it so far.

house update

12/15/09
Ok, this is about a month late, but we bought a house! it's a 1959 ranch home.

which means:
1. california, mid-century modern open floorplan, a lot of natural light, windows, etc.
2. we have some work to do!

luckily it's in great shape, and we'll just change what we need to as we go. the kitchen is original (check out that oven! and pink tile!) so far the only changes have been a new dishwasher and a new range hood, oliver did a great job installing both of those.. both of these pictures are from before we bought it. we have plans for a major overhaul in the coming year or two after we save up, for now it all works and the small upgrades made a big difference




The major project was the front room, originally lime green with an awful popcorn ceiling and no light fixtures. we had all ceilings scraped before we moved in and oliver installed new recessed can lights! plus we painted the front room (and entry and hallway) from bright green to soft gray.. and we removed the mirror wall and some ugly corner shelving.





The only other little thing we did was paint the awful wood paneling in the family room. it was dark and dated. oliver combined all the old paint cans in the garage from the previous owners (hot pink, teal, white) and made a pretty cream. this is a temporary solution until we take down the paneling and put drywall up. since we don't have a lot of furniture, it's not a huge priority. lately we've just set up a projector to watch huge movies on the blank wall.. which has been pretty great



anyway! that's all so far. we've worked on the master bedroom a bit, but we'll take pictures when we get furniture sorted out.

Lime

This is a beautiful lime from a tree in the backyard of the house we are trying to buy. I placed it on my scanner and it turned out looking really cool.