Happy Valentine's Day

From our family to yours.

We are admittedly not big celebrators of consumer holidays BUT we don't mind celebrating love. Friday we will cook a little dinner at home. We're going to try out something new - lobster ravioli. I'm sure I will have an update on how that goes next week!

My little brother

 Isn't so little any more.

Happy 30th - I hope this year and the many to come treat you well - you deserve happiness!

Remembering

In the next week I will begin volunteering as a grief group leader at a local grief center. It, of course, has me thinking about my grandfather and realizing that I want to remember him more purposively and with more regularity. So I think I will occasionally share a story here.

My grandfather was not much of a talker. Don't get me wrong, he could talk but he often chose not to. Or, a more plausible explanation is that he probably didn't have a lot of space to talk with Honey around! :)

One of the very first things that surprised me about the husband (before he was the husband) was the way he treated my grandparents. My grandfather had an affinity for the husband and he would often spend quite a bit of time talking with him at family get-togethers. I will always cherish the memories of the times when I would peer into the next room and see the two of them talking. As my grandfather became less capable of remembering and conversations became repetitive, the husband's gentle way with him - his compassion for him - was heartwarming.

After my grandfather's funeral, as we were all busying ourselves in an effort to fend off grief, it was the husband who found my grandmother alone in the dining room and sat with her and comforted her. I will always remember the way they looked together, sitting at the dining room table, Honey in her head-of-the-table seat and the husband in what is normally my seat. Forever I will remember how he looked when he turned to face me and, when we were by ourselves later, how upset he was when he told me that she was alone, that we had left her alone.

Home processes

The process of making a house a home is more involved than I imagined. And more expensive. Plus, I have the attention span of a gnat so it is sometimes hard for me to focus on one thing. I'll give you an example here: I am currently re-organizing the office which includes piles of papers, etc on the floor AND I am organizing our recipes which involves piles of papers, recipes and magazines. I started both of those "projects" last weekend. Really, what was I thinking? Apparently not much. Oh well.

While I am in the midst of two organization projects, my brain is wandering to other projects because what's the fun in actually completing something? Anywho, I have been contemplating the many options for our tv wall in the den since, oh, the day we moved in and put our tv on the same old Ikea tv stand. Ugh.

What I like:

Top row: Restoration Hardware, Bottom Row: Pottery Barn

I honestly don't want to spend that kind of money on a media console so I'm considering different options including some projects from Ana White. She has plans for the RH Printmaker's media console (middle top) as well as a plan for an apothecary style media console like the bottom right. The husband and I are also somewhat curious about welding and one of our neighbors is apparently somewhat skilled at it (which would open up the potential to do something like the top left). The weather is warming up and I'm itching to do a project so we'll see what the next months bring us. Of course, maybe I'll just work on finishing one of my current projects! :)