What Ana Does

Maybe end of April is the ideal time of year to visit Alaska, or we just got super lucky, but the weather was not cold. 50s and sunny in the day. With daylight lasting well into 9pm.  But wait, let me back up.  In the last week of April, my brother-in-law invited us all to Wasilla, Alaska to surprise my older sister on her 50th birthday. It was a huge surprise and she was SUPER shocked to see me, my younger sister and Mom at her doorstep. Epic. Just epic. Once the shock wore off (it took hours), we had an absolute spectacular weekend.   First day, we drove along the Seward Highway toward Seward. We stopped at a glacial lake and Whittier , a harbor town with shrimp boats and small cruise ships that go around looking at glaciers. The town is tiny, only reachable through a one-lane road that goes under a mountain (or by boat) and ALL its residents live in one high-rise apartment building with a school/market across the street accessible by tunnel because of all the cr...

 Dave works two days a week at home, so we've been trying to find the best spot for him. This house doesn't have a dedicated office like our last one did, therefore he's moved around the house, looking for that perfect spot.  Once I sold this pool table we inherited with the house ... ... this corner of the basement made the most sense for him to really set up a comfortable space just for him.  My first step was to paint over the starburst mural I did almost as soon as we moved in. I was never a big mural fan to begin with, but I thought this spot out be a cool place to put it. I should have picked brighter colors in a better spectrum. Luckily, I had just a little of the original of the wall paint left to cover it up.  We found this soft indoor/outdoor rug (he hates the flooring but it doesn't make sense to do this corner of the basement; we'll wait to do the whole thing) that's grey and checked to ground the area.  And we've got a clean slate! Tasks to do:...

 Like a fresh spring green, like the chairs at the Jardin Tuileries in Paris. Like the leaves of my Monstera plant. I'm deeply in love with Matcha Latte from Clare paint. I get a hit of oxytocin every time I walk through here.  Some early morning Sunday photos. This top one is filtered for max green impact! WOWZA! Just a few things about the color to review. I wanted to follow the same bright blue I have in the front room and in the cabinets. The old green wasn't the same temperature and felt dull in comparison. This green feels the same youthful, modern color. And with the new chairs, white wainscoting, black and beige accents in the rug and curtain. It all mixes for just the happy vibe I was aiming for.  I hope people come to my house for a dinner party, and never want to leave the dining room. 

Let's talk lighting.  I love the chandelier over the dining room table. I love how it's long and black, and pulls the color of the cabinet and also the shape of the table. It also matches the rest of the house chandeliers and eventually the one that will hang in the foyer.  But a secondary light source is needed.  I briefly considered tall lamps on the black buffet cabinet, but that felt dated and will take up space. Not deal for this space. So sconces it is!   I searched for scones that were wired. But then I found this pretty cool innovation -- sconces that used LED puck lights on a remote.  I found these on Amazon for $50 for the pair. And they felt fight. A little goosenecked. A little rounded for interest. And super-easy to install. No wires. No wiring.  Perfect! And they arrived in a few days.  As far as location, I'm taking inspiration from our kitchen, and putting them up above the ledges. Centered off center.  Now they're up, I'll m...

I have been casually looking at dining room chairs for months. And months. But not getting serious -- just gathering ideas of what is available and to my taste. And prices. I knew I wanted more stylish, less used-by-children, and more comfortable chairs so diners didn't feel like they were sitting on a block of granite for the meal.  I was DONE putting it off, once I decided to repaint the walls, I added new chairs to the plan. So I sat myself down (on the hard dining room chairs, ugh) and made some hard decisions.  First,  I decided to stop worrying about the chairs matching the dining room table. It's an 8 ft warm/greyish wood tone table -- as was the popular style 10ish years ago -- we bought at Restoration Outlet for a steal. To try to match the wood stain, even new Restoration chairs, would never work. It's aged. It's seen lots of sunlight on it. I'm sure it's a different color.  And who cares?! I looked through Pinterest and thought the matchy-matchy set...

It's been a while since I thought much about our dining room, other than the chairs that I'm desperate to replace. They're in terrible shape, too big and not comfortable. But, lately, every time I'm in the room I find things that annoy me. And since there's no major renovations in the budget for the year, I'm going to pour a little time and effort into this room.  Let's review my to-do list ...  The wall color. While I love this "Greenwich Village" color, it's not the same temperature as the blue in the kitchen or front room. It's too muted, and the rest of the house with color is brighter.  There's a lot of holes in the walls from where I moved art. And I tried to patch areas, and the sample I used wasn't the same color.  It's dark at night! There needs to be another light source.  The light switch is lose and has needed to be replaced since we moved in.  The aforementioned dining room chairs. Too big, too uncomfortable, too ...

Here we go for reading in 2023. Look, I have a real THING for romance novels and I'm not ashamed of saying it. It's feminist as hell to think women's stories, full of emotions, self-improvement, and most of all HOPE are important and worth the read. There are certainly crap romance novels out there but they're also great ones that make me feel and think about my own life. Putting words to emotions or concepts I never could. Reading RULES.  FINAL COUNTS:   Books: 40  Audiobooks: 45  Minibooks on KU: 182   FINAL FOR 2023: 267  BOOKS: *books in yellow were my favorites! Too Hot to Handle by Tess Bailey -- this is a series about grown-up siblings driving across country after losing their mother. It was sweet and the sibling relationships were a mess. Might read the other three? The Stolen Heir by Holly Black -- this might be my favorite Elfhame book, and there's another one on the way. All the tension and court politics - mixed with mythology and...