Hump Day

Hello there. So once again I have failed on my promise of new pictures. They will be posted some time this week. The past few days have been cold and raining so we have been hoping that the plants stay alive in "Pepper's Garden". What is up with this weather?!!? By the way, our home is name "Pickle Farm", not sure if I shared that before. If you should send us any mail please include Pickle Farm in the name. ;-)

Last night when we got home Adam spent an hour or so cleaning the barn. It is finally looking better with the floors cleaned and the paint job finished (If you ever need a great, affordable painter in the Westchester area, let me know). I basically sat on the sofa eating pasta, ice cream and watching "Mad Med" while Adam was cleaning. I love that show, other than the lack of civil rights and respect of women it was such an amazing time to live through. I really think I would have fit in nicely, I am always a fan of day drinking to get through the day at work. Anyway, I felt like a princess last night while Adam cleaned! Many thanks to Adam for making our home look more respectable.

I am staying in the city tonight while Adam is away again on business. This doesn't usually happen so often. Patricia is my gracious host tonight. I believe Patricia is coming for a visit this weekend, so I hope to repay the hospitality. I hope she is ready to pull some weeds (just kidding). I am hoping we can enjoy the warm weather, do some antique window shopping and have some time outdoors.

I will be back at Pickle Farm on Friday so pictures will be posted then or on Sunday.

Wet and cold

That is how I am feeling today. It has been damp since Sunday morning and it doesn't seem to change until Wednesday.

Adam and I had a great weekend. After I got over my super hang over on Friday the weekend started great. I went out to dinner with Nicole and Emma. We had so much fun! Emma is such a little lady it is unbelievable. She is so smart and cute! She is quite a flirt too, all of the bus boys loved her. I was amazed how well she communicated with Nicole and me. Nicole and I also caught up. It was so great to spend time with her. She looks amazing! Gives me hope and inspiration to be a hot mom! Anyway our dinner at Rouge Tomate was really wonderful. Nicole had the halibut and I had the trout dish. Emma had a little bit of everything. :-) After dinner I got on the train to meet Adam while he had a bite to eat. We caught up on his trip and set the plan for the weekend.

Saturday morning I went for my first run around the hood. It was more like a power walk with a bit of running. It is really hilly in our area so my body needs to adjust. My shins are really feeling the elevation this morning. Later we went to Home Depot to buy some gardening supplies and a few plants. It was a wild experience that in all my years of Home Depot outings nothing can top this. It was the biggest cluster 'F' in the world. The traffic in the parking lot was not moving, horns were honking, I was feeling claustrophobic and sick. Honestly it was a nightmare and we must remember to never return there at 11 am on a Saturday.

Moving on... Adam has been coordinating the sale or removal of the 1990's hot tub that was once home to many groovy parties at our home. There are many 1990's relics in our home, which if working will soon be on Ebay. You will be able to bid on a smoke machine and a disco-lighting machine that are currently in the barn. I am thinking they had some pretty trippy parties! An interested person came over to take a look at the hot tub and we are hoping he will be taking it in the near future. It is a total eye sore and home to many a wildlife I fear.

After the hot tub guy left Adam and I started pulling weeds and clearing off some land for my herb garden. I have never seen so many weeds in my life, it was shocking. We cleared a patch that 5 ft by 3 ft and it took ages. There were tons of little worms and critters in the soil, not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Please comment if you know. We planted chives, basil, oregano, jalapenos, red peppers, and rocket. I am really excited for the peppers! I think we should name the herb garden, please leave suggestions in comments!

Attached are the pictures of our efforts. They usually upload our of order but I think you can figure it out. Yes I am drinking a beer in on of the pictures, it was well deserved at the point. Enjoy! Tomorrow I will discuss Sunday and post pictures of the barn before and after paint job!

Thursday fun day

This week has gone by so quickly. We went to the Northstar last night for a drink and quick bite. I have been busy wrapping up small details for our honeymoon, we are so excited. We rented a car for a drive from Madrid to Toledo and then to Almunecar for Karolina and Lech's wedding. It is going to be such a blast. I will do a honeymoon post soon to let you know our plans. Needless to say we are happy that air travel in Europe is returning to normal.

Adam left this morning for a quick trip to San Francisco. Since he will be gone over night I am staying in the city. I am too scared to stay home alone at this point. I think I would be okay staying there alone in a few months but not yet. (I know I sound lame). I am taking the opportunity to meet up with friends for drinks and dinner so I have a really full couple of days ahead! Tonight I am going to a Gruner Veltliner wine tasting. Gruner is an Austria wine I have been drinking since 2004. I discovered it while I was living/staying in San Francisco, I feel like it was quite affordable back then but prices increased with its temporary trendiness in 2007. Anyway, you can still purchase at a decent price. The wine is generally green and peppery with nice minerality and perfect for spring. Tomorrow dinner with Nicole and Emma! :-) Should be fun.

Jaime is finishing up painting this weekend and Adam and I are gardening and having the hot tub removed. I will be taking lots of pictures and uploading them since I have been so boring this week. I can't wait to show off the finished barn and living room. I think it will be great when we pull the carpet off but that is a job that will have to wait.

Have a happy Thursday!

Monday...again

This weekend went by too quickly. I usually say that every Monday but this weekend was really short. I think the fact that I spent 5 hours at the hair salon on Saturday didn't help. It was also cold this weekend so I didn't spend much time outside. :-(

We finally picked up our mail! We had a ton of it. Some good, but mostly bills and annoying things we didn't want to deal with. I got a new yoga DVD which was great, I did it yesterday and I am feeling the pain today. I will be using it a lot to get in shape for our honeymoon in 4 weeks! I am so excited. We are leaving on May 20th for Greece! (More on this later)

We had Jaime the painter come over yesterday. The man is amazing. If you need a painter in Westchester he is the man. He applied primer to the barn and finished the rest of the room Adam and I started. He is so quick and clean. There were no drips or anything. He is also very polite and quiet. I hope we can use him for other things around the house. He will finish the barn this weekend so I will post before and after pictures. I have to say even primer is an improvement for the green the previous owner had on the walls.

Adam played soccer yesterday with some new friends (acquaintance) at Bedford town park. He had a good time but I think he was the youngest player. I think he plans on making it a weekly or at least bi-monthly activity. I am glad he is working out and making friends, now it's my turn. I feel a bit antisocial at the moment but it is still chilly outside and I have not met anyone yet. We do have a few friends at the Northstar our new local. They make a mean martini, Adam and I have been popping in for a drink once or twice a week.

I have been cooking a lot lately, thanks for the great markets around us. I went to the Scotts Corner Market yesterday. They get fresh seafood in daily from Fulton Fish Market in NYC. I bought some shrimp and made us pesto pasta with shrimp and broccoli. I am not sure I will go there for all of our shopping but definitely for our seafood. I also stopped by the town farmers market (which is not really a farmers market) and bought some crunchy chocolate chip cookies from Mrs Larkins. They were delish, Adam and I finished the bag while watching Up.

Well that's it for now. Sorry this is so boring and no pictures.

xoxo,
Mari

A few additional pictures!

On the train home in the bar car (or is it cart). It is really odd. There are booths to sit and relax in and lots of banker chatter. There is a strange mural on the wall with an old looking stagecoach. I guess to remind us of the humble beginnings of metro north and Westchester county. ;-)

Lots of men wearing their Fest in this 60 degree weather (Fest - (n) a mix between a fleece and a vest, sleeveless. Usually has a zipper and is worn only by men. These men live in Connecticut not NY and usually drive an old model Range Rover. They have names like Topper, Spencer, Chapin or Nathaniel.) I can keep describing but I don't want to be rude.

On to the picture show! First are of us in the backyard, the wilderness walk and the front of the old house.

Where does it all go???

Sorry for the late post. I said I would post Sunday. I am sure the 2 people that read this are heartbroken. :-)

I will post new pictures tomorrow, it has been a busy few days. Lets start with Saturday. We woke up early being that we had 3 architect/builders coming around and a company to come clean out our septic tank. The architect/builders were great. Each had a lot of suggestions, ideas and came across as genuine friendly people. We have been encountering great people all throughout the Bedford area which has been great. My new pharmacy is great, they "spot" you pills. I believe Adam and I are going to continue working with Richard Swann for our master plan. He was very creative, had a great vision and was just an all around cool guy. As we continue with this process we will share pictures and plans. Unfortunately I am not sure how quickly we can begin restoration and construction this year. There is a lot of red tape we have to navigate with permits, variances, "wet lands", etc... and there is the enormous cost associated with our project. Adam and I want to do everything right so it is a much larger cost then just renovating. We will be rebuilding the plumbing, heating and adding central air on top of renovating, etc.

Moving on...after the architects we had the septic team arrive. They were 3 hours late which was annoying as hell on a beautiful Saturday. Total waste of time. When they arrive one of them looked like the hunchback of Norte Dame. Seriously I don't think this guy has ever left northern Westchester county. He was straight out of Deliverance. We needed an interpreter because I could not understand him. Apparently he has cleaned every septic in Westchester country (something to be proud of)... but he "ain't never seen ours". This is where the fun begins. After about an hour of trying to find the septic tank we had to give up. The previous owner did not know where it was (I asked) because "my husband took care of those things". I guess he dealt with all the shit around the house (that was a joke). At this point I have called about 15 septic companies to see who cleaned it last with no luck. I also contacted the town to see if they had records of where it was located. Apparently our home predates record keeping because they have no records of the septic tank amongst other things. She also said we may not have a septic tanks which leads to the questions... Where does it all go? (Please leave your guesses in the comments!)

No worries, Adam and I are taking care of this very soon and getting down to the mystery of it all! I will keep you posted on the news but I promise not to make this a daily topic of my blog. That would be kinda shitty (another joke).

Well have a great day, pulling into Grand Central.

xoxo,
Mari

End of the week... Week One

Happy to say it's the end of the work week, but the start of our work weekend at home. Adam and I are plan on finishing the living room this weekend and sorting out the closet situation. I have no clue where any clothing is still and the mornings are a nightmare trying to get dressed for work in the dark. I am currently using my blackberry as a flash light in boxes for clothing. I think you get the picture. I am interviewing people at work today and I hope my wrinkled shirt doesn't cause distractions. :-)

We have 4 builders and architects coming around tomorrow which should be interesting. I am curious to see/hear how different or similar their opinions will be from the architect we met last week. I hope we can get started quickly on renovating the rooms and bathroom.

There is a farmers market in Scotts Corner which I would like to check out. I also want to go horseback riding, attend a yoga class and go for a run. Too much to do and not enough weekend. Great news is the weather is getting better so plenty of time for fun coming soon.

I will post some pictures and an architect rundown on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Happy Wednesday!

Good morning! On the train at 7AM. I think I am mastering the commute. I ran up the stairs as the 6:54 was pulling in the station and got a seat. You would not believe how crowded the train is at this unholy hour. Luckily my stop is the last before Grand Central so I ride express the entire way in. I might be able to start working at a new client in Stamford so I would not be needing this train ride. Fingers crossed!

I have uploaded some new pictures. The first is of the tree house, next a view of the house from the driveway pulling in, one is of me discovering our pond in the backyard and the last one is a view from the pond up to the house with me in the middle to show scale. Enjoy and let me know what you think. I am still figuring out the best way to upload pictures to blogger.

I think tonight Adam and I are going to check out the town park and go for a run there. We went for a hike this weekend on the Westchester Wilderness Walk. There is a trail start across the street from our home. It was lovely and really got us excited about spending time outdoors. It will be perfect when we get a couple of dogs. The hike is moderate in difficultly and has great climbs in elevation which give you a great work out. Also lots of water which will be fun for the dogs.

Well that's all for now, I am pulling into the station. Time to put my business brain on and leave my farm on the train. Have a great day. :-)

Monday morning commute...

So I found something to do during my 45 minute commute on the train. You guessed it... I can blog. I have been so busy this weekend with cleaning and painting its great to be able to update during the commute.
The move and weekend was not without drama. The previous owner sucked her way through all the reserve oil in the house and did not inform us leaving us wondering why we had no hot water or heating. Lots of fun figuring that one out. Adam and I sent hours cleaning the bathrooms because I don't believe she had cleaned them in years. A lot of blood, sweat and tears involved (may be not tears). The house looks much improved and I think the next few weeks will make a huge difference as we continue to paint and clean. I don't think we will be able to tackle the garden for a few more weeks but I think we will be okay to plant then.
I will post pictures when we finish painting the living room. We are also going to pull up the carpet, we think they may be hardwood floors under (fingers crossed).

We had our first few visitors this weekend. The first was an architect we may hire to help design the renovations. His name is Brad, more on him later. (Check out his link http://demottearchitects.net/index.html)

Later we had Adam's coworker Gil stop by. He lives in Greenwich and popped over with some beer and wine for lunch. It was 70 and sunny so we had lunch outside and proceeded to get a little drunk. I think Adam and I needed it after the move. Luckily we had nothing else planned for the day so I made dinner and we watched Lost on Fios which I love.

Well almost at Grand Central, to round out the weekend there was a trip to Home Depot, Target and a few other stops. Will continue on the ride home...

Ciao! Mari

A few pictures: Dining room and few from the top

Moved in!

We are moved in but not without drama. I am running out to the store but when I return I will fill you in on: Adam and his new friend the bloodsucking tick, no hot water or heating for a day and 2 hours of cleaning a fridge. :-) Out to Home Depot my new favorite place.