Paint by number, I wish

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Over the past week, Amanda and I have been brainstorming wall colors. I thought this would be a simple task:

"You like blue?"
"Yep."
"Should we make the bedroom blue?"
"Sure!"

This is not so because there are too many shades of blue and blue alone can be an hour long conversation considering appropriate trim, furnishing, flow in and out of rooms, etc.

We're probably exhausting the conversations, but that's because we're excited, and I, for one, have never been able to choose colors before. This is the first time I've ever had the chance to paint the walls I live within and was never one of those lucky tenants with the hippie landlords who give license to paint.

Going back to blue, we've spent an entire evening discussing the pros and cons of North Coast vs. Spruce Hollow vs. Canvas Sky vs. Impressionist Blue with the same vigor and passion as economists discussing a stimulus package.

(By the way, who comes up with these color names? Does the Sherwin-Williams guy graduate to naming Crayola colors or vice-versa?)

Right now Amanda and I are close to final on the downstairs colors but need to brainstorm with Sergio on what should go upstairs (seeing as he'll be living there). Last night we discussed reds, yellows and oranges going upstairs because we have all earthy colors downstairs, but who knows?

We've decided upon North Coast (blue) for the master bedroom; Shiitake (brown) for the master bathroom; Corncob (yellow) for the kitchen; Impressionist Blue for the bathroom and downstairs guest bedroom; Moss Landing (green) for the living room; and Stone Arrowhead (white) for trim. Whew.

The beauty of paint is that it's cheap and if we don't like something we can try again, but we also need to make some decisions and quick because we'd like to refinish the floors and need to paint first. Wouldn't it be nice if right before we moved in, someone went into the house and dropped off an enormous paint set and wrote large numbers on the wall for where all the colors should go? A life-size paint-by-number template would make this a whole lot easier.

I can't stand the drain

in

Everyone knows Moos has dark, beautiful hair. I have the great pleasure of seeing it everyday -- in the drain.

Because it's strong and curly, Moos' hair refuses to go down the drain as it should. Rather, it coils up on top of the drain into a clump that I often pull up and throw away as part of my morning routine.

I quickly became accustomed to the ritual. I figure it's one of the few consequences of sharing a bathroom with a Wife. After two years of this, I hardly noticed the inconvenience until... Amanda moved in.

Now that I'm sharing a bathroom with TWO girls, I'm dealing with DOUBLE the drain hair.

Amanda's hair doesn't leave as great of a clump, but like a dusting of snow it's enough to talk about. She showers at night where as Moos and I shower in the morning (that reads inappropriate) so now I have drain hair in plain sight morning and night. I now associate drain hair with when I brush my teeth. Nice, huh?

I know the girls try to grab the hair after their showers, and I've heard of the "I stick the hair on the wall and swirl it" method of drain hair prevention. Still, there's nearly always a rebellious group of hair clinging to the purgatory between sanitary and sewage.

When Amanda and I move into the new house over the next few weeks, I imagine I'll see less drain hair. By design, Amanda's straight, brunette hair can't do the same damage as Moos' dark curly locks. And in an odd, clinically weird way, I might miss that... but probably not.

Tour de Seattle via Paolo

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This weekend, Stu and Daisha came to visit from Indiana.

On Friday night, we went out to Black Bottle for dinner and Tango for dessert. We spent Saturday morning at Pike Place Market and toured the new house and Tacoma during the day. We ate dinner at Oaxaca in Ballard back in Ballard. Needless to say, we showed them a good time.

Who wants pictures?!

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Dead-tree birthday cards are the BEST

in

Aside from bills, I don't receive a lot of snail mail these days.

I mostly receive wedding invitations or save-the-dates for weddings. I guess I am at that age. I also receive the occasional "Happy (fill-in-the-blank)" cards from the dentist reminding me to schedule an appointment. Classic.

I received a dead-tree birthday card in the mail yesterday. Yes, a REAL birthday card, addressed to me and providing a time and location. Wow! The information was even handwritten. I was shocked because it'd been so long since I received a birthday invitation -- not an Evite, a real invitation.

To compensate for the birthday girl's good work, Amanda and I definitely have plans to make her party next Friday.