Week in Pictures: 7.15.2012

I've been having fun with my Instagram pictures and thought I would start collecting them at the end of each week to share what I've been up to, especially for the smaller things that happen but don't necessitate a full post.

This week has been crazy busy. I am heading to Japan next week for work so I've been slammed with things that needed to get done before I go. I barely slept and ended up working nearly seventy hours.

The first collage below consists of images I took while on my trip to Canada at the beginning of the week for work which I already wrote about. Although I didn't have much time outside of work during that time I managed to enjoy some tasty Canadian food and see the Springbank Snow Countess statue.

My favorite picture that I took this week was of the Blue Water Bridge on my way home. My co-worker was driving so I took the opportunity to snap this picture as we crossed over the bridge to go back to the US. The windshield was really dirty and we were driving into the sun so it make a cool white streaky effect on the photo that I love. 

This second collage is from the second half of the week.

First Row:
- As we were driving back from Canada I couldn't resist taking a picture of the Uniroyal Giant Tire as we drove by, which is a roadside icon along I-94 in Michigan
- After I got home late on Wednesday night, I was surprised to find that Frank had come over and made me dinner on the smoker in my backyard
- Thursday night I was at work late again, but when I saw this beautiful sunset out the window I took a little break to get a picture

Second Row:
- On Saturday morning, Frank and I headed west to go to a reunion of his tailgating buddies outside of Chicago
- I made a berry trifle to share at the get-together, but it tipped over in the car while we were driving. It looked like a hot mess but still tasted great
- Most of Saturday afternoon and early evening was spent in the pool

Third Row: 
- On Sunday as we were driving back we decided to stop for lunch at the legendary Redamak's on the west side of Michigan
- There was a bit of a wait in line at Redamak's so I slipped over to the antique store next door. They had a bunch of great stuff but a little out of my price range so I didn't buy anything. I especially loved how the displays were organized by color
- The loaded waffle fries and cheeseburger at Redamak's were well worth the wait. Yum! 

What have you been up to this week? Did you do anything fun or eat anything tasty?

Picture of the Day: Columns at the Parthenon

Rome, Italy
3.25.2012 

Picture of the Day: Lanterns at Enryakuji

Enryakuji, Japan
12.3.2011 

Dining Room Then & Now

Somedays I get overwhelmed with all of the things I need to finish up around my home. Since I got my new dining room chairs a few weeks ago I keep thinking about all the things left that still I want to do in there like get a larger table, make curtains, change the paint color, add some wall art and replace the buffet with a built-in. The list just goes on and on. Don't even get me started on other rooms in the house.

When I start to get discouraged it helps for me to reflect on how far I've come. When I first bought my house in September 2007 the dining area, like the rest of the house, was a nasty wreck. The floor was covered in green threadbare carpet riddled with stains. The crumbling plaster lathe walls original to the house had been covered up with faux wood paneling and wallpaper instead of being repaired. Likewise the crumbling ceiling had been hidden by a cardboard tile drop ceiling. The previous owners had been heavy smokers and everything reeked and was full of nicotine stains. The wallpaper which looked like it was yellow was discovered to be originally white based on the areas that had been hidden under the paneling. The whole place was in one word gross and everything needed to go.

After gutting everything to the studs, the situation got worse. Building practices in the late 1800s don't always meet modern building code. It turns out that the ceiling joists over the dining room and living room were huge beams about 8" x 8" spaced 48" apart. That is not anywhere even remotely up to code and so I ended up having to have the beams sistered with steel C-channel to give the proper support for the second floor load. On the bright side I discovered that the hardwood floor hiding under the carpet was in good enough shape to be saved.

With this part of the house in complete remodel I took the opportunity to rework the floor plan as well. Upon walking in the house a long wall created a strange hallway parallel to the dining room and living room. I had that pulled down which required moving some ductwork and electrical and enlarging the chase next to the bay window.  That really opened up the first floor, but the biggest change came from making a pass through into the kitchen. I love that I can see through to the back window of my house from my front door and the pass through is great for entertaining. Opening things up also made the bay window a focal point on the first floor instead of being hidden away.

With the structural changes done the walls were drywalled and painted and the hardwood floors were refinished. The original trim was too badly damaged to be reused but new trim to match the original profiles was put up around the windows and for the baseboards. My favorite part of the dining room remodel is the Hi-Lite two-light island pendant that I got on sale for $200. It has a beautiful finish and the price was a fraction of other similar fixtures.

Standing back and looking at the room as it is now, I still see the laundry list of items I want to complete to finish the space and give it some personality. But it is good for me to stop and take a moment to remember how far it has come and that the hard part is behind me.

Picture of the Day: Guard Statue at the Grand Palace

The Grand Palace (พระบรมมหาราชวัง)
Bangkok, Thailand
08.20.2011 

Woodstock, Ontario: The Dairy Capitol of Canada

Yesterday evening I returned from a short business trip to Woodstock, Ontario. The city's website describes it thus, "We have much to offer in our city of 38,000 including tree lined streets, century old homes, abundant parkland and friendly citizens. Woodstock's history is preserved not only in our Museum and County Courthouse, but in our downtown buildings and beautiful Victorian heritage homes."  

It sounds like a quant small town and a nice place to wander around after finishing work for a day, right? Yeah, well that didn't happen. Over the first three days of this week I have managed to put in just over forty hours of work so in the limited time I wasn't working I was exhausted and trying to get a little sleep. Speaking of sleeping, the hotel I was staying at, The Woodstock Holiday Inn Express, apparently hosted Donny Osmond at some point. In the lobby next to the elevator was a photocopy of his portrait which he had signed expressing his thanks to the hotel staff. In my exhausted stupor this picture caused me no end of amusement every time I passed by it.

On the food front, I managed to squeeze in a few distinctly Canadian things to eat. Monday night we had finally arrived in town at eleven at night. We were starving since we had driven straight from work and hadn't eaten anything. Actually, that is not quite true. I ate a bag of Cheetos and drank a Coke that I bought from the work vending machine before we took off. Unfortunately I have Coke and Cheetos way too often for dinner. I digress. It was late, we were hungry and everything was closed but the lights at Tim Horton's were still on. We drove by and luckily enough the drive through was open. I got my go to Timmy's meal: egg salad sandwich, soda and a honey crueller. After I checked into my room I quickly devoured it and passed out asleep. We have Tim Horton's in Michigan but I tend to only go there when I am in Canada. I think that somehow being in Canada makes it taste better.

On Tuesday I was up at 5:30 and didn't finish work until nearly 9:30 that night. My colleagues and I opted to eat at Montana's Cookhouse solely because it was across the street from our hotel. It is a Canadian restaurant chain and the food was pretty good. I ordered a chipotle firecracker burger which was topped with bacon, colby cheese, fried jalapenos, crispy onions and chipotle honey BBQ sauce. Being in Canada, of course I had gravy with my fries. I don't normally drink on weeknights, but after the day I had I thought something was in order so I got a Caeser to drink. A Caesar is a classic Canadian mixed drink and is kind of like a Bloody Mary but with clamato juice instead of spicy tomato juice. It's pretty fantastic.

Wednesday after we finished for the day we decided to get a little something to eat before driving back to Michigan. A quick option was needed since we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. We spotted a little roadside shop called Great Greek Souvlaki. It had a walk up window decorating with signs proclaiming the food's excellence and picnic table seating with umbrellas out front. I got an excellent lamb and beef gyro and couldn't resist a small order of poutine as well. Poutine is French-Canadian in origin and consists of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. The version I ate had shredded cheese instead of curds, but it was still pretty good and hit the spot before we hit the road.

On the way out of town I did manage to see one sight: the Springbank Snow Countess Monument. As we were driving toward the highway I spotted it on the side of the road and convinced my co-worker to stop for five minutes so I could check it out. The Countess was a famous cow in her day, earning the world record for producing more butterfat over her lifetime than any other cow in the world. She held the record from 1933 through 1954 and the life-size statue was erected in her honor in 1937. No wonder Woodstock is known as the Dairy Capitol of Canada!

Do you have any favorite (or favourite) Canadian foods or drinks? Have you ever stayed at a hotel that Donny Osmond stayed at? Would you make your co-worker stop the car to take a picture of a cow statue? 

Picture of the Day: Sunset On Lake LeAnn

Jerome, Michigan
United States
7.05.2012 

Fun With Instagram

I'm in Ontario, Canada for work and despite being absolutely exhausted after two incredibly long work days I couldn't sleep last night. I've been meaning to try out Instagram for a little while and so I decided to sign up and play around with a few photos that I took on my phone this past month. Yes, I realize that it is mostly pictures of food. What can I say? I love to eat!

All of the fun Instagram filters are awesome and I think I may be addicted. If you are interested in following me on Instagram my user name is "homeandawaywithlisa". 

Are you on Instagram? What is your favorite filter? What is your user name?

Picture of the Day: Hibiscus at Oualie Beach

Oualie Beach, Nevis
7.02.2011 

Shutter Organizer for My Craft Room

Ever since I saw the shutter organizer in Martha Stewart Living years ago I thought it was a neat idea. Since then all sorts of variations have popped up in magazines and the internet and I've always wanted to make my own version.

A few weeks ago when I was at the Ann Arbor ReUse Center I found a really tall and narrow wood shutter for $5 and bought it with the intention of making one.

I was drawn to the shutter because it was so tall that it could be free standing and hold a lot of items. Aesthetically I also liked that it didn't have a divider rail and was just uninterrupted louvers the whole height of the shutter. The shutter was solid wood and all of the louvers were solidly attached. It was filthy and a little dinged up, but I knew it had a lot of potential to be fixed up to become an organizer.

Unfortunately after I bought it life has seemed to get in the way and the shutter has just sat in my back room waiting for me to get around to it. The Pinterest Challenge hosted by Sherry, Katie, Michelle and Kate finally motivated to take my project from a pin on my Pinterest board to real life.

To start my shutter needed a little bit of TLC. I used wood filler to patch up some holes and then sanded it down. I wiped it down with a tack cloth and then gave it a few coats of paint with primer in Martha Stewart Living Plumage with an eggshell finish. 

The shutters that Martha Stewart used had moveable louvers and the tilt bar kept items tucked in the organizer from falling through the slats. My shutter has fixed louvers and thus no tilt bar so I had to add a backing to hold things in place. I had some leftover pieces of foam board from making bolts to organize my fabric stash which did the trick. Using my glue gun I attached the pieces to the back and I was done.

Now that my shutter was complete it was time to put it in place and start organizing. I wanted to add some little pails that I had found for a dollar at the Target One Spot to hold some writing implements and other small things. To hang them I simply attached a bobby pin to each of the pail handles and then tucked the bobby pins in between the slats. This easy method securely held the tin buckets in place and allowed me to fill them with all sorts of things.

With the buckets hung I proceeded to tuck a bunch of my small craft items in the louvers. I like that I can easily see everything in just a glance. Now I am one step closer to getting my craft room in some sort of working organized order. 

Did you participate in the Pinterest Challenge? What did you make? Please post a link to your project in my comments so I can check it out.