Project Heart

I’ve finally bitten the APPLE. New iMac is getting set up; I’m learning how to use this curious little device that I’ve been mesmerized with. I understand why Furious takes his iPhone to bed now!

Thank-you to Furious who surprised me with a brand new shiny computer for my birthday last week. :) :) Lurgs pitched in as well! Can’t believe I missed the big box in the dining room that night!! Ha!

In other news, we’re a month in to our new headquarters. We’re settling in with some Entourage season 6, fish + brussel sprouts (a new favourite), and there’s a toilet hanging out in our dining area.

I also shared my bathroom reno ideas with furious today.

Ok. Back to syncing devices and the geeky organizing of my new machine!

It’s been SUPER hot! Last week we camped out in our air conditioned bedroom (the only place with a/c in our house), and the ironing board became our makeshift desk to put the laptop on. Occasionally, I ventured out into the living room to play a game of  ‘Little Big Planet’ while standing up because it was too sweaty to sit down.

This week is actually much more bearable and we’re in full work mode with lots to do:

- packing up as much as possible by the 23rd
- last minute decorations for K & B’s wedding this Sunday! Yay!
- prepping for church retreat and the usual admin. stuff
- July bdays are coming!! Yikes!
- working out final details for home insurance
- figuring out logistics for “move week”
- still purging and trying to find more things to throw out or give away – (love letting stuff go)
- bbqs, too much eating out last week; need to be much more disciplined this week
- need more cardboard boxes
- good things: house husband is back :)

~

I’ve also wanted to put this excerpt up for awhile. I went to a church called the Sanctuary down by Yonge and Bloor last winter. It’s a church that welcomes many homeless people in, and those that are down and out. As I was going through the piles of papers I’ve collected, this article from the Sanctuary’s newsletter touched me. This really turns things on its heels.

Yesterday was graduation. Tomorrow is the first day on the job. Congratulations Big Furious. It’s been a long road, but there is much ahead. Like your superiors have said, don’t ever be complacent.

I’m so proud of you.

More picts here.

As we embark on the new house, BIG debt, and lots of work ahead, let’s take a minute to remember some of  la dolce vita.

We were still travelling around Italy at this time last year. It might have been just around this period when we got lost on the trains in the Bay of Naples travelling from Sorrento back to Rome. I only had about 12 euros and a bit of change left in my pocket (as we’d stuffed our last bit of money for the next 3 days deep in our big packs). It was just enough to get us a dinner at McD’s in the Naples train station. The leftover change allowed me to make a phone call to the B&B owner in Rome telling her we were super late and wouldn’t get in until past 11pm! Ah!

That’s only a small story of our 2 week getaway adventure as we navigated around some very different regions and places of Italy.

This is Casa Del Gelato in Rome. We got our daily cappuccino’s and espresso’s here and maybe a pastry. Later, we’d be back for some gelato in the afternoon, or more gelato at night taking a seat on the plastic white chairs in front of the shop. A small little place that was our regular go-to–very comforting.

So happy we did it last year.  … Now to tackle something completely differently and hairy. First house viewing is this weekend. Furious has a whole entourage coming. Wish us luck. I said to my coworker naively the other day, “I hope I looked at everything carefully…”.

And she (also a new homeowner) said blankly, “I know you definitely didn’t”.

I’ve been feeling really sluggish for the last month so I decided to get the design bones working and put together a NYC collage for the blog.

More picts at my flickr account too.

Trips to New York are always way too short.  We were on a mission this time: bring E’s stuff back! Haha!

I’m dreaming of renting a place in NYC for a month or so and being able to stay and take it all in over a few weeks.

We did do a lot of new things this time though:

• Drove everywhere since we had the mini-van. Did not take the subway once – bad for us!
• But, we also got to bike down a bike path along the water on the west side all the way up to Central Park and back. It was lots of fun, and it’s the first time I’ve been on a bike since me and Furious went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for his 30th!
• We also got to stay in Brooklyn. Thanks to Sue, Scott, Maddy and Bam Bam for putting us up. Had 2 dinners in Brooklyn too. Would love to explore more Brooklyn next time.

A tiring but fun trip as always!