Friendly Friday

Last weekend, Ollie climbed a mountain near Acadia National Park, picked the last blueberries of the season, jumped off the dock (a lot) and lounged on the beach.  It was exhausting!

PHEW!

New Zealand, Part VIII

We hadn't expected the drive from the Glaciers down to Queenstown to be anything special (that is, every drive we took in NZ was jaw-droppingly beautiful; we didn't expect anything different from this drive), but as we drove further and further south, and turned inland from the Tasman, the landscape took a turn for the unreal.  I posted a picture of the sunset outside Queenstown on Facebook when we returned, and my brother's comment summed it up best..."Insane."

The details: Route 6 down the west coast with a stop at Knight's point - lots of Italian tourists and some great views - and Bruce Bay - the beach was perfectly tumbled into little round marbles.  The big marbled stones had a pretty translucent quality - we could have beach-combed all day.  Then the road split Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea - Hawea was so still and peaceful - we parked and walked along a hill overlooking it. You know how you feel after a spa visit when you are sitting in the little lounge area in your fuzzy slippers, sipping ice water and listening to piped in nature sounds?  This was that feeling, magnified tenfold.  And free. 

After the lakes, we had a choice...stay on Route 6 and take the long way into Queenstown, or take the Cardrona Valley Road over the mountains.  We chose Cardrona Valley, and never have I been so glad not to take take the long way 'round.  We reached the peak of the mountains just as the sun was setting over Arrowton, and took some of the best photos of the trip.  And we were the only ones on the road.

Moral of the story?  Sometimes it's okay to veer off the highway.  It might take longer, but it also might be sooooo freaking worth it. 

:)

all photos, ours

Friendly Friday

I thought I'd start something new here on Friday afternoons! It's been quite a whole since I posted a photo of our Oliver and since I think he's cute as a button, I wanted to share some of his adventures.
This week's photo is on the way to the lake last weekend. After a long hot week waiting to go swimming, finally we were on our way and he could hardly wait!

I hate it when chairs go bad...

I pass this little scene going to and from work each day. The proprietor added the 'fresh' sign last week. It is ridiculous and crazy awesome and reminds me that I need to procure some non-spoiled Adirondack chairs and paint them a nice cheery red to go with our yet-to-be re-stained (and repaired) back deck. Projects never end at the Nickerson homestead...

The Bath - Tile

Okay...sorry it has been so long. Blah blah work, blah blah unhappy with work, blah blah paycheck in a bad economy.  Ugh.  I hate being a grown-up sometimes.

But then, I'm sitting in my own house, drinking a glass of wine at 4:42 on a Monday.  It isn't all bad, I suppose. 

So the bathroom.  Once we ripped out the old manky blue tile-from-hell, we decided to go with clean, white 4x4s and some travertine accents.  We were initially going to go with travertine for the floor, but all the floor tiles were filled, and i hate the look of filled travertine.  Anyone feeling me on this? I also hate the bubbly, crumbly look of some natural travertine, so it was quite funny, me in ye olde HD aisle with all the tile out on the floor in front of me, picking out the most non-porous/non-filled bits for our bathroom.

We decided on limestone subway tile for the floor, and I installed it in a brick pattern.  I love the look of it, but wish I had been brave enough to do a herringbone.  Next time...

 We thought we would make a little cubby for shampoos and such in the shower wall.  Cute, right?  Yeah...seconds after my husband cut into the sheetrock, I heard a stream of profanity from the bathroom. Fully expecting to see a bloody mess, or possibly his arm off, I ran down the hall, only to see him (non-bloody) staring at the open wall. It went something like this:

Ummmm...honey?  I thought your arm was off.  WTF.

Look at this fucking shit.  I mean, just look at it.

Uh...yeah.  I see a 2x4 and some sheetrock.  So, you're going to make my cubby?

The 2x4 is installed on its side.

Oh.

These fucking people built a whole wall with the 2x4s facing the wrong direction.  You can't have your cubby.  It's probably not even structurally sound.

Oh.

GAAAAAAHHHHHHHFUCKINGGGGGGIDIOTS!!

So...no cubby.  no arm off.  I'm, um, just going to go now. 

 Later, I tried to put some shampoo in, just to see if it could possibly, in any way work.  That shit is just a toe smasher waiting to happen.

 We moved on to the fun bits...like the accent stripe.

Kind of cute, huh?  In a cubby-less sort of way.