A Seinfeld Moment

I have a love/hate relationship with Seinfeld. At times I find the show funny, but it certainly didn't feel pleasurable to sit through an entire episode. I was one of those geeks who loved back-to-back re-runs just so that I could see what Mac Jerry had on his desk. You pretty much knew he always drove a Saab, so no surprises there.

There's one episode that's etched into my memory in which Jerry gets caught for re-labeling his jeans because he's outgrown a size 30 waist. Elaine rags on him, I can't remember what George does, but in general it seems to be a tear in the fabric of morality. Jerry explains he's just put on a few pounds and there's no point in advertising it, specially if girls stay over. So he buys bigger pants and then transfers the old labels to them.

That's what I feel like doing right about now. This weekend we were graced with a beautiful, sunny, warm Sunday afternoon so the Mex and I decided to walk from our place down to Metro Center and hit up the Banana Republic. The goal was to replace a pair of paints that I had worn so thin it almost had holes in the cuffs, pockets, and waist. It didn't hurt that the GAP/Banana group is desperate and they had sent me a 30% off coupon.

I managed my expectations on the walk down as I kept reminding myself it was rare for me to find something that fit me, and that I found value in, at Banana. Low and behold I was shocked when I found not one, but TWO pairs of pants on the sales rack. My biggest problem is usually finding the right inseam. I'm about as wide as I am tall, and 30x30 pants are hard to come by. There, I admitted I'm a square. The sales rack had a pair of 31x30's, always welcome on those days when one is a little bloated, and a sleek pair of size 30-waist pants. Rushing to the changing room I can't contain my excitement, mostly because neither pair was over $25. Didn't you know I'm as cheap as people get?

The relaxed fit pair was comfortably loose, and in a neutral gray color. SOLD

As I tried the other pair on, I half expected to have a butt-cheek hanging out as I tried to button them closed. Gasp! The button meets the eye and the clasp secures in place. I'm wearing size 30 pants. This is bad. I must erase this from my memory else I talk myself into replacing all my over-sized casual business wear from my fat days for skinny pants.

And that thought brings us right back to today where I've squeezed myself into a pair of size 30 ZARA pants I bought ages ago. They fit, there's even some breathing room, but there's no-where as comfortable as those shapeless, baggy, out-of-style diaper-butted khakis I've been wearing for years. Taking a queue from Seinfeld, I may just go out and splurge on baggy pants and pull a switch-aroo on the labels to appease my ego.

Silly Invoicing

I ordered a bunch of prints through iPhoto to give to my mom when she comes up.

This is the order confirmation I got:


I get that I picked different photos and got one 4x6 print of each, but couldn't they just summarize this into "# 4x6 prints"?

Baby Steps in Home Decoration

With a week's worth of work behind us, my co-worker and I headed to Colorado Springs airport Friday morning in hopes of getting a seat on the 6AM flight out. That would get me back to DC around 1:30PM instead of the expected 9:30PM that was part of my original itinerary.

Thankfully not many people were traveling that day and I was able to get seats on both my flights without issues. Though as I ran from Terminal F to B in O'Hare and arrived just in the nick of time to board my flight to DCA, I asked one of the stewardesses if there was food for sale on the flight and she replied: "Ha! This is SUCH a short flight at only one and a half hours, that's what the restaurants out there (hands waving in the air in an "exit pointing" maneuver) are for!". Thankfully I bit my tongue and refrained from pointing out what a bitch she was to someone clearly hungry and tired.

Once home I started to put the place back together while the Mex was caught up in one conference call after another. Starting with the den/office, we were able to get things back where they belong. We even took the opportunity to re-arrange some of the furniture. As anyone will tell you, when you first move you just put stuff where it fits.

The new colors look great. The master bath is a little lighter than we expected, but it still works. The yellow in the living/dining room is exactly what we wanted. Here are some photos:

We were also able to set up the new dining room table since the old one was gone. We're loving the table! It's dark, sleek, and the glass adds just enough brightness to the piece. It's also huge when it's expanded. Having a smaller table opens up the space. On a hunch, we also shifted the couch and silk rug to be at an angle to the rest of the room. It takes up a bit more space, but makes it feel less structured. It also highlights our need for a chair for that space. All in all, it looks great.

Chandelier Make-Over

When we first saw our condo as part of our house-hunting adventures, we really liked the space but were shocked at one of the light fixtures. It wasn't ugly per se, just shockingly out of place. Pablo considered including the removal of said piece as one of the terms in our offer, but the Realtor advised against it just in case we offended the current owner. Chances are she spent quite a bit of money putting the thing up there and liked it enough to keep it.

After we finalized the purchase and moved in we just stopped looking up and started ignoring this blight in our ceiling. Having recently hired a contractor/electrician to install a fan/light in the Klingle Basement we knew the removal/replacement of the chandelier wouldn't be cheap and it was something we could defer to a later date.

It just so happened that a week or so ago, as I was warming up on the treadmill before my yoga class and watching HG-TV, one of their shows suggested sprucing up awful light fixtures with shades to soften their light. I had one of those "a ha!" moments that nearly threw me off the machine, so I stored the idea away in the back of my mind. Fast forward to our trip to Lowes this past weekend and I was determined to do something about this fixture.

The first item I would tackle would be the mismatched bulbs. Some were rounded, some were pointy, some had different wattage ratings. It all added up to one big mess. Browsing the wall of light bulbs at Lowes, we found a six-pack of frosted bulbs that would work. Ideally they would be rounded, but it seems no one thought of making rounded frosted bulbs and found it easier to force everyone to buy those ugly tipped bulbs.

The second step was finding a set of small, neutral, simple light shades to put over the bulbs. Their frosted color would soften the light, but there's still something awfully tacky about exposed bulbs. Lucky us this Lowes actually stocked more than 2 units of any one item and we were able to buy 6 shades.

The before and after

We got home and despite being exhausted from our expedition into suburbia, we decided to tackle the chandelier. First step was to replace the bulbs. Immediately it looks better when lit. Once up there, with my face up against all its bling, I noticed that the "crystals" where held together by little malleable gold clips and that they weren't permanently attached to the fixture.

We started out talking about taking all the crystals down and washing them. Then we moved to only putting back some of them so it wouldn't look as heavy, and we ended up shortening and putting back up only a few of the strands of fake crystals. Overall it is much more subdued and the light from it is softer and more pleasant.

The clips wasn't the only thing I noticed while changing the bulbs. The leaves and branches on this thing had never been cleaned and the thick layer of dust had to go. While I Swiffer-ed between gold-gilded leaves and bulbs, the Mexican decided to start playing with the crystals. We had always joked about turning them into jewelry once the fixture came down and he was getting a head start on that plan. Working diligently with his little Mexican fingers, he produced 3 strands of crystals of various lengths. Once satisfied with their heft, he strung them over his head like fine diamonds and rushed to the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror. His face was brighter than a kid's on Christmas morning. Alas I forced him to put the crystals away on the promise that they would be kept safely in a plastic bag until next October when they would resurface and take part in a fabulous Miss Adams Morgan outfit.

Despite being a small, affordable project, getting to work on it together made it feel much more significant. This wasn't a radical change, but it was a small step towards making this our home.

Out with the old, in with the new

Several people have made fun of my tenacious use of Craiglist. The Mexican has certainly been on the verge of breakdown as I threatened to put some of his possessions for sale on-line.

My latest venture in Craigslist was selling our old dining room table. You know which one, the IKEA table in light-wood finish with the chair and bench. It served us well during our years in the Klingle basement. The light finish helped lighten up the room and the leaf saved our butt at more than one dinner party.

Despite our attachment to the table, the night we finished the move felt like "a roast" of our furniture. Friends gathered to kid about the wobbly bench, the uncomfortable seating position, the faded chairs, etc. Only after all this negative feedback did the Mexican accept it was time for the table to go. This only reinforced my feelings that the table was too big for the space and that we needed a new one.

With this new dislike of our table, we started surfing the web for a replacement. Requirements included a leaf, preferably wood, and at least seating for six. After many a discussion, we started considering a glass-top table. Nightmares of smudged glass-tops and chipped corners plagued our nights, but in the end we ended up finding a solution.

Maximizing my efficiency at the office, I would go furniture shopping on-line while on conference calls and decided to browse Design Within Reach, that trendy store where the weirdest things are really expensive but every so often you can actually "reach" one of them. Low and behold they had a table that met our criteria so we decided to check it out.

A trip to the store was scheduled to check it out before the Mex left for CA on weekend. The speed with which he pulled out the plastic and decided we were buying it amazed me. There was no tittering, no stuttering, just pure determination. We took advantage of an AMEX-only discount on top of the sale price of the chairs and purchased.

We walked out having purchase a table and four chairs in under 15 minutes. We would've liked to purchase the leather-clad chairs, but at $450 a piece getting four of those would have eclipsed the cost of the table.

Having purchased the table the focus shifted to getting rid of the old table. That's where my mad Craigslist skills came in. Photographs, measurements, cost, details were all posted within a few days. Right away I got a number of seriously interested people but certain details discouraged their purchase. For example, one pair of girls came by to check it out and explained they wanted a table to seat 6 on a regular basis as they lived and cooked in a group house. Then they added that the table should be able to seat up to 10 for their dinner parties. Where they plan on finding a table that can seat 10 people and shrink down to 6 when not needed for under $200 is beyond me.

A week came and went and there were no other hits. I reduced the price, got a little more interest, and started the back and forth again. In the end I was able to sell it the night before heading out to Colorado Springs. A couple of spaniards bought the table. The Mex and I found reasons to call them just to hear their accent and laugh. The accent is just so cute!

With the old table out of the way, walls painted by the end of the week, we're set to put together the new table and chairs. I'll make sure to post photos when it's ready.

Next step, dining room storage, coffee table, and sideboard. Gotta start counting pennies...

Paradigm Lost?

The last couple of months have put a lot of pressure on me. A combination of changes at work, life-altering decisions in my personal life, and a series of wonderful events have lead to changing my status to "MIA".

My attempt to replace blogging with Facebook status updates hasn't fulfilled that need to express my crazy ideas for the world to see so I'm taking my thoughts back to the blogsphere.

Instead of a detailed account of everything that's taken place, here's a series of highlights:

1) Work realized I spoke Spanish and had me traveling around Latin America including Puerto Rico, Chile, Mexico (twice), and Colombia. Photos here and here
2) We moved out of Klingle Rd. We are now Loganites as we purchased a condo south of the circle. Early photos of the condo here.
3) The Mexican and I spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Argentina with my family. Photos here
4) The Mex got extended in California, but he's traveling back and forth every other week now.
5) With lots of help with the family, my brother has gotten closer to pursuing a degree in the US
6) They canceled my favorite evening yoga class, forcing me to find a new set of classes to further my practice. I can now do peacock!
7) We can't imagine having survived this summer without the help of our friends. Shout-out to Molly for acting as our marriage councilor.
8) I finally made Premier Executive on United and now get free upgrades and priority seating. Those free G&T's on our way to Argentina made sleeping that much easier.

Those are just some of the highlights. Keep your fingers crossed that this mid-year resolution doesn't fade too quickly.

Stay tuned!