Done!

Today I took my last final exam and completed my master's program.  Hallelujah!  I will walk in December since TCU does not have an August ceremony. To be honest, I am a little sad it's over.  I really enjoyed being a student again despite the stress. Where do I go from here? Joe will be in grad school for at least the next two years, so I need to find something to keep my mind occupied.  Maybe more blogging? A doctoral program?  Who knows....

Major cheese (and no makeup. sorry.)

Excuse me. I'm going to go have a celebratory drink now. :)

Pantry Door Makeover Sneak Peek

I totally blame Pinterest for my recent creativity binge.  I saw this photo and decided that our pantry door would make a fantastic chalkboard.

Source: myidealhome.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Plus, my pantry door was looking a little grimy and nothing coneals grim like black paint and chalk dust.

I went to Home Depot and picked up a quart can of black chalkboard paint for $10 and some fine sanding pads for the electric sander, and a dense foam roller.  I should have done my homework first because we already had the sanding pads and a roller. $10 wasted.  Doh! 

Home Depot only had two types of Rust-oleum chalkboard paint, black and white, which can be tinted to the color of your choice.  I thought about using this idea from Martha, but I didn't think it would be as practical for my small space.  I went with black because it works nicely with the dark slate tiles in my kitchen, and it hides the grime. :)

First, I sanded down the existing brushmarks on my pantry door. I decided to only paint the front.  Sanding was pretty messy and covered my whole kitchen in a layer of fine dust.  I would advise covering everything with a drop cloth if you don't want to scrub the kitchen.

Then I started rolling on the first coat.  I didn't get it very even and it was rough in some places, so I had to wait for it to dry (overnight because I started this project around 8:00pm). I think the roughness was due to my attempt to add more paint to the tacky first coat.

Before I started painting this morning, I sanded down the rough areas. Then I slapped on another coat and voila!

Excuse the mess and painter's tape. You get the idea. :)

All I need to do is"condition" it with a layer of chalk after three days, and I will have a highly functional chalkboard in my kitchen. It should lighten up a little once it gets all chalked up.  My mom suggested doing the door to the garage, which is smart. Maybe I'll do that one too if this one works out.

Consider this a sneak peak. I'll post a final product picture once I get it "conditioned" and my kitchen cleaned. :)  I was just so excited to share. I need to think about where/how to put a chalk holder and eraser. Hmm. Maybe I should have put a few coats of magnetic paint on there first.

Will and Sarah's Most Excellent Adventure: Part 1

I've been putting this blog off for awhile because A) I've been writing poetry inspired by this trip for a creative writing class I'm presently taking.  I don't consider myself much of a poet, which is why I haven't posted them and B) We had so much fun that the thought of putting it all into words is overwhelming.  So I'm going to give a litany of everything cool/semi-interesting about the trip. Also, in the interest of packing light, I only took my point and shoot camera and iPhone, so the picture quality isn't as awesome as I would have liked. Sorry.

The adventure begins...

After a relatively uneventful 8 hr 45 min flight from Dallas, Will and I met up in the Amsterdam airport.

-It was cool to see the tulip fields as we flew in (even though there were no flowers), no old windmills, but there were a lot of modern wind generators.

-We flew KLM and LOVED it.  I highly recommend them for an international flight.

-Impressions of the Dutch stewardesses... Are you from Minnesota?  I didn't even know they were Dutch---their English was flawless!

-Over in Europe they sell Coke Light rather than Diet Coke. Tres chic.

- Since Amsterdam was our point of entry into the European Union, it's the only stamp in my passport. Boo! However, all of the guys stamping passports were hotties!  Hey baby, you can be the first to stamp my passport any day!

-59 FREAKING DEGREES in Amsterdam? Are you kidding me? Too bad I only got to enjoy it for like 5 seconds as I boarded the plane.

We finally touched down in Barcelona a couple of hours later, and the airport was stunning---light, airy, modern.  There were some very nice stores, but my favorite was the FC Barcelona shop.  Hmmm.

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Welcome to Barcelona.  (FCB Store in airport)

-We had a little trouble deciding how to get to our hotel. Bus or taxi?  We opted for the bus (cause we wanted to be all European and use cheap public transportation) to drop us at the city center, and from there we would walk to our hotel.  It would have been easier had we had our bearings and knew exactly which way to go to get to the hotel.

A little too excited (delirious) for a bus ride.

- Barcelona does not have clearly marked street signs, and only some of the buildings have numbers.  What gives, yo?  After making a block lugging around our suitcases in the heat (which was only in the 80s mind you). Will finally asked a guy working the door at a tapas bar if we were close.  We were about 4 blocks away but going in the right direction.  Will was an awesome navigator.

-First order of business upon checking into our swanky hotel? Nap!  Jet-lag is a be-otch. I think it was about 1:30 or 2:00 pm when we arrived. We had dinner reservations at Cinc Sentits (Five Senses) that night, so we made sure we set our alarms. 

Between our room and the elevator. Ready to hit the streets. haha

-Dinner reservations are pretty late in Spain.  We got the earliest one at 8:30 pm and they took reservations all the way up to 10:30 or 11:00 pm.

- Cinc Sentits was lovely.  Our waiter had the cute Barthelona lisp, and I wanted so badly to record him talking, and I almost busted out my iPhone to capture a video of this ninja napkin folding thing he did when Will got up to use the facilities.  He folded the napkin using four spoons to clamp and fold rather than using his hands.  Now maybe they do that at all the fancy Michelin star places, but I was trying to force Will to get up and leave again so I could catch it on video. I've never seen anything like it in my life. One of the highlights of the dinner in my opinion. haha.

So I'm going to continue in another post.  The dinner itself deserves its own entry.  

Spain July 2011 Part 1

Spain July 2011, a set on Flickr.

Here's the beginning...mostly Barcelona and a few of Sevilla. I'll post more ASAP.