They got the keys to the city but we got a lot of shakin' in our hips.

January was a month of trips and projects. Here are the fruits of last week's project: paint the kitchen. We used to have this yellow, as you can see below. The yellow was fine when it was a huge room, but once we built out the second floor of the loft, it made the kitchen feel closed-in and the yellow itself started looking dingy. Cue the bright blue!


The right side is primed, it used to be the same yellow!



The blue is called "Serene Sky." Apt.

I was exhausted last week coming home from work every night to tape, prime, and paint the walls. It was completely worth it though, now that the kitchen is far more welcoming and feels more spacious. And we're not even done with it! Jesse and I pooled our Christmas money earnings to frame all of our posters (well, the three posters I own and the 80 Jesse does. Ha.). The posters collection will now be adorning our heretofore blank 16-foot ceiling walls. Plus, we have one more paint project in us.

Jesse returned yesterday morning from Brazil, around seven in the morning, and I had breakfast waiting for him! Bacon, english muffin, and an Erica-approved egg & spinach quiche! The roommates Sam and birthday boy Jim also got to enjoy, as well as our neighbor Adam. Who knew breakfast hangs could be so popular?

Domesticity is all the rage for 2011.

And I know that it's been sang before but you're my human holiday.

I've been on a bit of a Spring cleaning bend this week each day after work. The other night, the little Peester (Pee Wee, Lil' Peesy) and I started dusting off Jesse's toys for safekeeping in storage until we get a glass cabinet.

Pee Wee was being a super helper. Occasionally moving around the bubble wrap to get it out of my way. Checking the sturdiness of the box by jumping around it on all sides. Surveying the swept up piles of dust for any cat toys I may have accidentally swatted in there. You know, a good partner. Just like he's proven to be in the past.

Hard at work:

It seems when Jesse is out of town Pee Wee really tries to "help out." He follows me around, snuggles me in bed, and sits next to me when I do the dishes or cook food (strangely enough, this is also where I feed him, so there may be a hidden agenda in attending to me at these times). He's a good pet.

Of course, sometimes he gets really lazy too. In the midst of all the cleaning, Pee Wee decided to "take a break." And by "take a break" I mean leave the rest of it to me and sit down and watch the classic 80s movie Just One of the Guys I had just queued up on Netflix. I was irate!

But then it was really funny because he was literally watching the movie. And, um, he's an adorable cat:

After a few hours, the cleaning was done. At least in this part of the apartment (see below). Tonight I tackle our room, do some yoga, and take care of the laundry. Because tomorrow? Jesse returns! Plus, an OkGo show! Yes!

Our little rebel.

It's been some time since I updated about Pee Wee, the little kitten Jesse rescued from the streets of Brooklyn the Monday after we got married. Pee Wee is growing up well and is ADORABLE. We can't imagine our household without him now! Also, Eko has stopped hissing at the little guy and they've become an unbelievable tag team - chasing each other through the house, spooning together on the couch, and setting up strategic "wake up and feed me" attacks.

Pee Wee has also proven to be a handful when anybody steps in the kitchen - he's a jumper! Whenever I'm cooking or washing dishes he'll be right next to me trying to jump up to the counter. He's succeeded a couple of times, but mostly he just hangs on the edge by his claws and meows. He also loves to snuggle in bed and ocassionally attack our feet under the covers. He's a purr-er. His purring can sometimes be louder than his meowing. And his little tiny face packs so much attitude sometimes I just drop everything and squeeze it because I think it's so cute and I'm also akin to an 80-year-old grandmother, of course.

              

'Cause everyday is a holiday (with you).

Yes, that's Jesse Santa Claus and our glorious tree!

I've uploaded the pictures to Facebook - see the album!

Things that may or may not have happened:

• Jesse and I made a delicious eggnog from THIS recipe - people have inquired as to where we sourced its amazingness. We added perhaps a bit too much bourbon, but it was still yummy. Plus, we doubled the recipe and put MY personal touch of scoops of vanilla ice cream in it to keep it chilled while it sat out.
  
• Jonah Bayer got his hair straightened. As you can see in the picture below, Christina wielded both a straightening iron and her beer as she set out on her mission...see the results in the album!
  
• The party was crowded from about 10 to midnight, and then as people filtered out, Team Couch arrived 20-people strong. I'm not kidding. It was amazing. The core of that group has been coming to our Holiday Party for all three years now! YES!
  
• It was also Tyler's birthday! Yay!
  
• There are no pics of ME, per se, but Jiscilla will have her pics up soon and Meik!'s already got them! He has some great party shots of everyone HERE and on his FLICKR.
  
• THE DRESS I WORE WAS FROM MY 10TH GRADE HOMECOMING. I don't have any full-length's yet (JISCILLA GET ON IT!), but it's basically a red satin number that's tight on top and flow-y on bottom. It hits mid calf and I wear a little tulle thing underneath to keep it bouncing. AND IT FIT. Sure, a little tight. Needed some help zipping up - but, it fit. Also, it's a pretty classy, 50s-esque dress, and I remember my mother and I bought it from a Victoria's Secret catalog back in...1998? 1999? I can't count. And yeah, it's been about 10 years since 10th grade - EEP! Oh, and I attached a large green flower to it, holiday-spirit style.
  
• The Dagger, Jesse and I really spiffed the place up with our tree and Erica's amazing photobooth backdrop!
  
• The traditional dance party was kicked off by none other than Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" - OBVIOUSLY.
  
• And the night was capped off at 5am by some backgammon, Sorry, and Battleship. Also, thanks to Jonah and Quinn for their help in the bottle-gathering - which made clean-up the next morning SO much easier!
  
  
  

Twas another successful year for our Holiday Party!

Apartment 410 Presents !

Are you ready for a most amazing transformation?! If anybody's not in the know, the facts are these... Jesse, Erica, and I live in a loft apartment in Brooklyn. It's an on-going work-in-progress. It was originally a giant 16-foot-ceiling'd room with no walls except for the bathroom. Last year, Erica and I hired a contractor to build us out a second floor with two bedrooms. We try to maintain the apartment to lovely aesthetics, but we only have so much money. Which is why the outside walls of our second floor still aren't painted. And why we had to go a while without a real couch and utilize a small futon with a mattress on top of it for seating in our living room.

On Thursday, Jesse and I purchased: A REAL COUCH. And a rug! On Friday we completed the assembling and moving and discarding, etc., etc., etc. And now....drumroll please...we have a real living room!

BEFORE !!!

Such utter squalor! How could we live like this! Notice the lack of back support! (Also, I found that red diner-y couch in the garage, and it looks awesome but it is very, very uncomfortable.)

AFTER !!!

Yes! A blue AND orange couch! We were going to get all blue, but Ikea only had one blue cover left, so we took it and Jesse purchased the orange cover in a moment of unforeseen brilliance. We also got a grey shag rug, some black couch pillows, and Erica got a tall lamp!

It seats six people, comfortably. We always have friends (and stray cats) over, so we want as much seating as we can get!

For all this fun we're having, I'll show you the rest of the apartment, too.

This photo quite demonstrates our tall ceilings. We plan on eventually painting that back window wall one color. On the right is Jesse's new Bowflex. HAHAHA. Also, on the left, the top comes off of that table and is a poker table - hells yes! And obviously those two bookshelf units full of DVDs is the reason we spend so much time on the couch...

Oh, and I suppose it's also because of the awesome 52 inch HDTV, whatever...

The other half of our apartment - you can see where we need to paint the outer walls of our rooms. More improvements are on the way! We have about eight million posters we need to frame (if it weren't so damn expensive...), some paint jobs, some more storage unit construction. But, like I said, work-in-progress!

PS I obviously write to you from the couch right now. The blue side, just sayin'.