Finishing Touches

It's almost embarrassing the amount of time that has been put in to this little place.  The move to Santa Barbara has really drawn it out as well but still....lotta hours, mentally and physically.  It's also a little embarrassing to think about some of the methods used in the early stages;  I always thought I knew exactly what I was doing!  I guess I knew what I was doing I just know better ways to do it now.

Last week we made a week long trip out to Colorado and the little lady said no working allowed.  I didn't think I could pull it off, so I went two days early to get a little work done and hoped I could just relax from then on out.  Turns out I succeeded and it was really nice.  Of course there are more projects here and there but there will be other times for those.  So this is where things are at right now and it is actually quite comfy.

Laine had an amazing time sleeping, eating, climbing, digging and running all over. She also got to spend a lot of time with her cousins which she absolutely loved!

Whenever we leave Colorado we wish we could spend more time.  We never get to see all the people we want to see nor do all the things we'd like to do but it is nice to have a little place there that we can escape to when we can.  

Whale Watching

Bachelor

Until recently, I don't think I have ever been on a full on bachelor party before. I've definitely gone out on the town with people before making the plunge but recently I got to go on the real deal for my brother in law.
When I say real deal I mean taking a 40 foot luxury RV up the coast of California and ending up in San Francisco. We spent the first two nights in a campground in Big Sur.
Tri-tip for breakfast, lunch and dinner it seemed. No complaints. I had never been this far up the coast and really couldn't believe the scenery. Pristine rocky beaches with trails, rocks and cliffs to climb around on. Not to mention a rather empty campground due to landslides on either end of Highway 1. Yup, a landslide just about trapped us there hours after we arrived. This required us to navigate Nacimiento Pass (essentially a one lane road) in this 40 foot RV which proved to be quite a deal....but we had to get to San Francisco...and of course back home at some point.The transition from camping to big city is always a funny one. It takes a while to adjust but I think everyone did just fine.

The whole trip was a lot fun and ended in true form as well, breaking down 25 miles from home and having to be all picked up by our significant others.

Food Food

Laine starting eating a few months ago. She is a lot better at it now than she is in this picture.

We Moved!

For those of you that didn't know, we moved. The 500+ square foot house we were living in for the past year and a half was getting a little tight for the three of us. Maybe not the size but the layout was the big issue. It wasn't designed for three people. I think with a slightly different design we could live just fine in 500+ square feet. Regardless, it was a good opportunity to minimize our belongings to the essentials. I mean we didn't strip down to next to nothing but we did get rid of a lot of stuff and it felt great. Hard at the same time though.

Now we live in the bottom half of a "duplex" with a little more space which is nice. We will always remember that little house though as our first home in Santa Barbara and Laine's first home ever.

Tidepooling

Back in January there was a day when the tide was really low. We decided to cruise on over to the beach and see what we could find. There were sea anemones and star fish all over. Laine wasn't so sure about the animal life or the cold tide pools but she was pretty excited about her sunglasses.

Think

Its been some time since I have put anything up so I think I am going to make some posts in the next week updating on things since I guess January. I have had these two pictures sitting on my desktop ready to go up for months but it just hasn't happened. They are of Laine over Christmas at the candy factory in Denver.

Flying Baby

I love the looks you get when you bring a baby on the airplane. They are always the same, slight smile with the raised eyebrows...maybe a forced giggle. I think the corresponding comment from the parent is always, "he/she was great on the flight out so hopefully it will be the same." No one ever says, "well he/she was absolute hell the last flight so lets all cross our fingers," no matter what the last flight was like.

The lady and I were in different rows on our flight last night. We planned to easily convince a passenger to swap seats sparing them the chance of a cry fest to ring in the new year but this was not so. Its hard to convince someone to move from a seat next to a mother and baby to a seat next to someone three times in width.......with a baby.

Well, we all came out unscathed and here is 2011!

Santa Barbara Zoo

This weekend we went to the zoo. Laine slept through most of it but was awake for the "family" shot.

Halloween 2010

This weekend was so relaxing. Its been a while since I have had nothing really going on so I definitely got to catch up on rest. Laine has been wonderful for this too; she loves to sleep just much as her parents for the most part.

We went hiking on a trail by our house that I have run on quite a bit but haven't hiked. The slower pace makes for better scenery and the recent rain has helped out with that too. This is our fam at the top of the trail. Laine was a bat for Halloween. Bats are usually pretty ugly but this one is pretty cute. She wasn't really in to getting the suit on but once it was on I think she liked it. She also got her very own pumpkin that she just couldn't stop staring at. I coerced her eyes over my way for the shot below but the ten before...yup just staring at the pumpkin.
I think next year she will have a better idea of what's going on but she just had to dress up for her first one.

Century

I have a tenancy to push myself constantly to do more. In some cases it really isn't healthy but healthy or not I continue to do it. It's this characteristic that got me through the juggle of school, work and living. It's this characteristic that convinced me that building a high altitude retreat deep in the woods would be an achievable task. Huh, this characteristic really needs to chime in on my architecture tests but that's another story.

If you know me, planning to have a daughter without a "conventional" job was a big "push." It was definitely a well thought out decision, I mean people have unconventional jobs and families their whole lives. It's just something I am still getting used to. The job/s...well the daughter too.

I had a physical push this past weekend doing the Santa Barbara Century ride. A ride is not a race but with my personality and the ingrained attitude of my college friends - "Every Ride is a Death March" - I went for it. And it was painful. It's been a while since I have had that feeling. the dude, I really don't think I am going to make it feeling. At mile 60. 40 more miles to go? It felt good to finish it off though and it was so good to see my lady and our daughter after....I hadn't seen them for nearly a week prior. That's another post...trip to Colorado.

Drafts / Finally Caught Someone

Man, if I actually posted everything I write on this thang, there would be a lot more content. There are so many posts marked as draft that never see the interwebbings of the world. No lie, a lot of them are pretty stupid. Others I start writing and my complete inability to formulate sentences takes over and the post dies, labeled draft for eternity. It is Friday though, and I finished work early so here is a draft from last week.


I always get caught.

Whenever I am doing anything moderately embarrassing, someone is almost always there to acknowledge the fact that yes, you really are doing that right now.

Singing in the car with the window down when all cars stop and the entire world goes silent.

Tripping over invisible objects anytime a moderately attractive person is walking by.

Speaking of, if anyone knew what song just started playing on my itunes, I would be in one of those moments........ugh

But this time the glory was MINE! I was on the home stretch of a bike ride this afternoon and noticed a young lady walking a couple dogs in the distance. As I approached closer she suddenly stopped. Upon stopping she pulled her arms in, turned to the side, cocked her head back with closed eyes and tight lips...rolled the body and revved the wrists...then flipped it to the other side!
Repeat!

I am pretty sure after she completed her little shuffle, she got that hot feeling, you know that feeling like uhhhh someone totally just saw me do that.

Two feet away by this time she looks dead at me in horror. She busts out laughing...I do the same and keep on riding.

OH, the glory!

Avocado Festival

Sounds really cool doesn't it? Not so much. I guess there is the novelty of drinking beer and listening to bands in the street but we were truly hard pressed to see anything avocado. We envisioned endless avocado vendors with cool recipes and...well, just avocados everywhere. This was not so. I guess now we know.
We did take a nice long walk on the beach after. It has been pretty hot here so we try to stay outside as much as possible. Laine likes the beach...I think. She has a really hard time staying awake with the crashing waves and movement. But isn't a sleeping baby a happy baby? One form I guess.Laine is getting bigger by the day. She still is super small when I see her in pictures though.

Yeah, about that studying....

I started taking the architecture registration exams a couple months ago. I was doing so well, studying after work and some on the weekends and taking an exam a month.

Laine came after two tests and I haven't been so diligent. She is a great baby but come on, which would you rather stare at after work.
I will get back on it shortly but for now I am trying to spend as much time with her and her mother as possible.

CO Visit

Man this post has been sitting half finished for a couple months now so..better late then never I guess.

As I mentioned earlier I was able to spend some time back in Colorado to do some work on our little hut. It is really coming along now....dare I even say that it is almost done. Yes. I dare.
I admit, it is kind of silly how much time I have spent on this place. I mean its a hut...maybe a cabin. But as one who works in the field of architecture and construction I am constantly designing and building for other people. I love it...but there is immeasurable satisfaction in doing the same thing on something one can call their own. Seeing as I don't have one or six mill right now to do the same thing in Santa Barbara...the hut will have to do.

Grillin' up the trout my brother caught while up thereThe finished deckThe insideSolar Panels going in

SF Walking

It has been about a month but we recently went to San Francisco for a long weekend. Our anniversary weekend in fact. I had never been before so I was pretty excited. As most do, we spent a lot of time walking.Of course this being my first time there we had to see the things that everyone sees there. Now that I have those under my belt, we can dig a little deeper next time we head up there. We had a lot of fun though. Our hotel had a cool mail chute. Probably not used as much as it was a few decades ago.As you can see I was always excited about getting my picture taken.Ja really excited about her yogurt.

Concrete Counters

I have been wanting to try doing a concrete counter for years. I've had some close opportunities but they never came through. And at the speed our little cabin is moving at....the counter isn't ready yet there either. I will make some posts on that soon though.

The opportunity came and actually it was pretty straight forward. Some complicated but methodical and I do methodical like a methodist....or something. No actually, the hardest part what getting the "desired" color. Some colors are easy, a deep red...the hardest. I think we did six or seven samples to find the appropriate color chemistry to get the finished product.

The buffing was pretty cool. It gets the concrete as smooth as glass. And the finished product....The first picture is with the wax and everything so it's the deeper color. The other two were before the sealing and waxing.

May Fair 2010

Treads

Today we installed the finished steps on the spiral stair. It actually ended up going a little smoother than I expected. The plaster side of the steps still need to be filled and the lower part of the tower still needs to be painted but it is well on its way. Some pictures of the progress.

Architecture work is going rather well too. I am still waiting on California for clearance on taking the architecture exams which should come through any day...then it will be like I am back in school again or something, studying and whatnot.