Little Man, Chickens and Dirt

A quick snapshot into our early morning today... 

Drake giving Blue some sugars... 

and a hug...

"I make dirt look good"

My Fitness Pal

I am so excited about a new website - it's called myfitnesspal.com

Disclaimer: I'm (obviously!) not trying to lose weight, but it sure is cool to log what you're eating and watch how much a reese's peanut butter cup blizzard affects your total daily intake!

Their database is huge so you don't have to work so hard to input your meals and it is helping me make better eating decisions (more fruit, less sodium... good stuff, I'm not focused on the weight, rather the stuff I'm feeding this kid!) I actually walked away from a coke at lunch today because I thought "water will be better for my little guy."

If you're interested in tracking what kind of nutrition (or lack thereof) you're putting in your body - this website is awesome, my only wish is that they had a customizable pregnancy/breast feeding option for inputing your goals.

Hopefully post-pregnancy, it'll help me be aware of how much I'm intaking vs. burning so I will continue to make healthy food decisions!

xoxo, cyndy

ps. there's a little ticker at the bottom right hand corner of this blog that links you to

my fitness tracker if you want to see how it works. Pretty cool!

Refinishing a Dresser {Part 2}

Woo hoo!  The dresser is done... the dresser is done!

Now, where did we leave off?  Refinishing a Dresser {Part 1}

Step 6:
Paint the dresser and drawers with your final color.
     (total coats: 2 coats of primer, 1 coat of final color - it just happens to be so close to primer white that I didn't need a 2nd coat)

Step 7:
Insert all the drawers and to add the "new" knobs
     *gosh, this sounds so easy, but let me give you a suggestion: if you are going to disassemble a dresser, LABEL the drawers before you take them all out - they all fit a certain way (at least that's the case with this dresser) and it is a pain in the rear if you have to "figure out" where each of the drawers go - so label them, you'll thank me later.

  

Step 8: Align the drawers 

     Jason then started to "fix" the drawers by sanding them down in certain areas to get them to all go in flush... another thing that just sounds so easy, but poor guy, it really wasn't so easy.   I watched and he got annoyed with me pretending to be the paparazzi.

Step 9:  Enjoy your finished dresser!

If I could start the process all over again:

     I would have applied a finishing varnish - I noticed the paint takes to fingerprints pretty well, but I bought the finish of the paint in glossy so it should just wipe off.  

     

     I would have labeled all the drawers before pulling them out to paint them

     

     I would have painted the dresser with a compressor/spray paint application technique rather than the roller technique

Overall, I'm so pleased with our big project re-do... it's the first time I've done a paint job this big, so I'm tickled.  

xoxo, cb.

Tunes for Today

I realize this is post #2 for today, but I wanted to have a bit of a happier note in lieu of my blog frustration from earlier...

I love music - all types, as long as there is something unique about it.  That's pretty much my rule - and I know that this album has been out for quite some time but I finally broke down and downloaded it last week and it has not been off repeat since.  Mark of a good album :)

Florence + The Machine
Lungs

My favorite song on the album:   Cosmic Love

"A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out

You left me in the dark

No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight

In the shadow of your heart

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat

I tried to find the sound

But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,

So darkness I became

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out

You left me in the dark

No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight

In the shadow of your heart

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map

And knew that somehow I could find my way back

Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too

So I stayed in the darkness with you

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out

You left me in the dark

No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight

In the shadow of your heart

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out

You left me in the dark

No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight

In the shadow of your heart" 

Sometimes a song is so beautiful I go to sleep and wake up the next morning singing it in my head.  This one did that for me... love it.

They have a new album coming out on November 7th, and I'm quite excited to hear it.


Go get this one yourself and enjoy.

xoxo, cb.

p.s. baby boy is kicking so hard these days sometime he shakes me!  I was told to write these little tid-bits down, so here they are - hopefully in a year I won't forget them all :)

Frustrations in blog land...

I know it seems silly to worry so much about how your blog LOOKS after only having posted roughly 5 posts... but as many of you know, I am a perfectionist and I want it setup right in the BEGINNING so I don't have to stress so much about fixing it all later.

Case in point; I have wanted to figure out how to have "Tabs" at the top of the page that people can click on and go to, let's say, my "projects" - I figured out how to link them through labels, but I can not seem to figure out how to get the labels to link to the doggone tabs at the top.

Forgive me, I was just soooo excited to get the tabs (blogger calls them "pages") at the top setup and now, not being able to use them the way I want them is driving me bonkers.

I know there aren't many of you out there that read this, but if someone has any insight, please pass it my way. 

lots of love, cb.

The "Fresh Eggs" in Fresh Eggs and Laundry

My recent trip out to Orange County enlightened me that many of you didn't know that Jason and I are the proud parents of 6 beautiful little lady hens... they are the reason I love fresh eggs!  Every day we have more eggs then we know what to do with and it's been really fun being able to spread the (healthy!) wealth with our friends and neighbors.

I'm going to take you through the construction of the little lot the girls call home and then show you pictures of our girls so you can see how pretty (and productive!) our little hens are...

Farm Fresh Eggs from the Bagley House:

 

Here's how it all started... Jason borrowed our neighbors (Jonathan, thank you!) bobcat and scraped down a section of dirt at the back of our property then started to add a couple planks of wood to frame a level base of what eventually would be the chicken coop.  

I found those brand new Jeld Wen windows at an antique shop for $10 a piece and begged Jason to find a way to incorporate them...

 Here, you can see how the coop looks after all the walls were framed up and then pieced together.  J did this entirely by himself, I was about 7 weeks pregnant at the time and traveling (surprise, surprise) and when I came home after a 3 day trip, he had made SO MUCH progress. 

In this picture, you can see where the windows will eventually be framed out as well the future home of the  coop door. 

Next, came framing out the run, and as you can see, he started tacking on the siding to the coop

 (which I promptly painted white.)

It was a bit of a balancing act getting everything up and level for the run... but piece by piece we kept going. 

A bit more framing...

...and a lot more hours, sweat and paint, and voila! Here is what the run looks like now!

Sorry for the big jump in progression/pictures, we got busy and I got hot, and forgot to take photos along the way.  Originally the coop was painted entirely white, but instead of it looking like the cute chicken cottage I wanted, it ended up looked like an awkward white box in the back of our yard, so I decided to paint it the same color as our house. 

This is the front view of the coop from inside the run.  Jason added metal roofing so the girls would stay dry and built them a ladder to get into the coop.  Later, we added a door to keep the rain and the potential predators out. 

The back of the coop is almost as cool as the front, there is a door where we go to get the eggs without having to walk through the run and disturb the girls.  

Here is our niece, Lauren on her first egg hunt in the coop.  See those nest boxes behind her?  We can access those from that back door.  

And who, might you ask, gets to live here?  Our girls -

Aren't they sweet? 

xoxo, Cyndy

Adventures in Los Angeles

I have been so blessed with this career that I am able to enjoy a little fun time after my work trips, so in light of that gratitude - I'm going to share some of my recent adventures in Los Angeles. 

I was invited to go to the Hollywood Bowl by two friends of mine, Tom & Chuck (and his lovely wife Yvonne) to listen to Rachmaninoff and Brahms orchestrated by the LA Philharmonic on Thursday night.  We had box seats and sat next the the snootiest LA socialites, which we all teased about. 

It was an absolutely beautiful concert and the concert pianist, Olga Hern was so talented - she played for 30+ minutes without a sheet of music in front of her.  Strange enough, I was the youngest person in the entire crowd (by, at least 35 years!)... and even as the baby of the group, I truly enjoyed the music and the insightful company (Chuck played the clarinet at Hollywood Bowl in 1961!)

hello, belly!

Before the show, we made a stop at 3rd and Fairfax to pick up dinner at the LA Farmers Market.  What a cool place - open air, lots of vendors, and totally my idea of a good way to start an evening.  We picked up french breads and pate at a little french patisserie, meats at a Brazilian meat market and nuts, veggie chips and popcorn at a beautiful shop right in the middle of the market. 

Driving up to the Farmers Market

This is where we got the nuts...

Prime beef, yum!!

After the Farmers Market and Hollywood Bowl, Tom and Chuck thought it absolutely necessary to show me at least some of the highlights of LA... so we drove down Hollywood Boulevard and found some famous stars...



Jimi Hendrix



Dean Martin

   

 

Nat "King" Cole

But wait, there's more!  Those guys were bound and determined to find the infamous Hollywood Hills Club, which Chuck finally got us to... only to find out it was closed!  The views were amazing on the drive up that multi-million dollar hill, so even though I couldn't enjoy a Shirley Temple in a very fine club, I did enjoy a ride with a view.

I'm here in California for just a couple more hours, but have had such a great time with family and friends...

love you all,
cb



Pregnancy Dreams

Last night I dreamed that I had a little boy (whom we called Travis) and I literally gave birth to him one minute then turned around and went back to work.  I had completely forgotten that I had this kid, and when I remembered, I rushed home to find him happy and playing with Grandma.  She was feeding him with a bottle and he was eating like a little happy guy - I was naturally distressed because I wasn't feeding him, but was such a nutcase.  Good grief, is someone forecasting my future parenting abilities?  Just crazy preggo dreams.

Today I went for a 3 mile walk at 6:30 am on the Pacific Coast here in Palos Verdes.  It is amazingly beautiful here...

A little teaser so I won't forget where I am - excuse the horrible quality pictures - I forgot my camera and am working with the amazing blackberry phone!

view from my window

It occurred to me, as I sit in this beautiful place that this hotel room is probably bigger than my future little guys nursery!  I have been thinking at great length about the layout of the nursery, and though I think I have a good idea of where I think things will go, I won't really know until we finish that dresser!  Spaz thoughts of a future mommy...

Off to dinner,

xoxo, cb

Yes, you can play it over and over.

I'm off to LA today for the rest of the week, then making a pit stop in Orange County to see Papa... but before I go, I wanted to post this little piece of heaven.

Tam, hope you don't mind but I love this and want to have it available at my beck and call while I'm on the road.

My insatiable nephew, Drake:

I hope this turns into one of his favorite words as a future Aggie!

xoxo, cyndy

Refinishing a Dresser

Hello folks, today I am taking on a big project for the nursery... baby boy, I hope it turns out beautifully!

Refinishing a Dresser
In order to complete this project I had to buy/find the following:
     a couple sheets of sand paper (coarse and fine grains)

     1 gallon Kilz Premier Primer (yes, PREMIER, it will save you 3 coats and only costs about $4 more)

     1 gallon paint color (I chose Swiss Coffee by Valspar)

     1 new dense foam roller (6" was perfect for this job) and some backup rollers just in case

Step 1:
Find and purchase your dresser.  I found this one on Craigslist for $125 and am so excited because it looks just like this one from Pottery Barn, just a lot less expensive!

Step 2:
Sand down the dresser until all the varnish is gone (I used a pretty coarse grain sand paper - 80, I think.)

pre sanded drawer

sanding the drawer
(love the power tools!)

post-sanded drawer

Step 3:
Wipe away any dust/particles left from the sanding process.

Step 4:
Apply primer in thin layers.  I let each coat dry before applying the next and only had to apply 2 coats of primer because that stuff is amazing!

1st coat of primer

2nd coat of primer

Step 5:
If you have small imperfections, sand them down lightly in between coats.

... more coming soon, I'm not done yet!