And the house color is . . .

As we deal with the other realities in our lives, like work and family, our house serves alternatively as a welcome distraction and labor of love, and also sometimes as an additional strain on our time and resources. Sometimes it is both at the same time. Right now, our house isn't painted yet, even though we hired a painter two weeks ago, but we are happy that we've found a color palette that we love!

First, it bears noting that our house is a bit different than most of the colonials in our neighborhood in that it has clapboard on the front and one side, with shingles on the other side and in the back (especially since a vast majority of houses are attached next door, so they don't have "sides"). At first, we thought it was odd, and were going to have the entire house (which needed a paint job) painted the same color (barring our urge to rip off the shingles and replace them with clapboard), so that it would all blend together. After some summer trips to the Cape, though, it dawned on us that, despite its more downtown, classic "colonial shape" (rather than "Cape" architecture) our house would fit in just perfectly on Cape Cod-- the clapboard front and shingled side is a classic Cape/Nantucket/Martha's Vineyard treatment. After some historical research, we discovered that the sides were often shingled on homes in New England because they weathered better, and would require less upkeep. Since Charlestown is the shipping neighborhood/port of downtown Boston, it makes sense that, at some point, probably in the late 1800's or early 1900's, if not from the very beginning, someone decided to shingle the back of our house, as well as the eastern side, which gets more weather exposure, given the salty, wet air and weather. So, we've decided to keep the shingles intact, and embrace them.

After way too much paint and stain sampling, we've gone with Benjamin Moore's historical color Wethersfield Moss (a historic green with gray-brown undertones) for the clapboard body, Antiquity (a deeply creamy antique ivory) for the window moldings, trim and entryway, and Jet Black for the storm door and interior carved door, entryway interior floor, and side gate. The shingled side and back, which is a natural, untreated gray now, but is starting to look shabby, will be treated with Cabot semi-transparent stain in Cape Cod Grey (a weathered light gray color), and the decks will be treated with Cabot transparent stain in Mahogany Flame (a redwood/mahogany looking color to make the decks stand out more). You all probably don't care much about this, but it's big for us. We're starting to become that couple who drives around the neighborhood square and says, "Look! Those new people on Cordis Street just painted their house in Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter." Barfy, yes, but in fact, this very sentence was uttered in our car last weekend . . . by Brian. We'll post before and after pics once the painters finish.

We're also happy to report that all of our major stainless steel appliances are in (though we a still need to exchange our dented microwave--ugh), and seem to be working. We also received a lovely hammock as a housewarming gift from Eric and Kristen, which we cannot wait to mount on the roof deck for relaxation, as well as a beautiful plant garden from Karen, which will look great in its surroundings as soon as we get them looking half as nice as the garden! Stacy will help us keep our plants that way, with a lovely copper watering can she sent us. Are you all trying to tell us to get out more and enjoy nature?

Another catch-up post

Sorry we have not written much lately. Brian has not had a day off in over a month, and Sherry has been in California as her father, Jim, is very ill. She took off of work all last week to go see him and be with family, and assist with getting her father transferred from a community hospital three hours from his home (he was taken to the nearest hospital when he collapsed) to either his home or Loma Linda Hospital, a world class teaching hospital nearby. The one positive silver lining is that it was a good opportunity for Jim to see five of the seven wonderful children with whom he was blessed, and for Sherry to not only see her father but also catch up with family that she rarely if ever gets to see-- Jodi, Kristi, and Allen (not to mention Stacy), and Kristi's husband Stan and son Austin.

It's been an exhausting time in many ways. We will write more and post photos when we get a chance; we know how boring posts are without photos. In the meantime, we want to say Happy Birthday to Liz, and Congratulations to Jill and Jason Fifield on the birth of their little boy, Dillon Jedidiah.

Making Jack a dull boy

All work and no play! ?! It has been 24 days and counting since Brian had a day off, and his hours are off the charts right now. Work is crazier than usual on Sherry's end as well, with the nationwide stock option scandals and investigations keeping securities litigators busy 24/7 right now (not to mention keeping management, directors and auditors up at night). We are proud to say that despite the odds stacked against us, we do our best to be efficient and make the most of our time together, which is so important. Saturday night, we actually managed to meet up to see 2/3 of an opera and have a late dinner at Vox. Sunday, after Sherry dealt with work calls and before Brian headed in for the night shift, we did several home-decorating errands together, and had a lovely lunch by the fountain in the Boston Public Library's interior courtyard. While eating, we ran into our good friend Jens, who was also sitting by the fountain reviewing dermatology articles and such. We invited him over and he joined us for an impromptu meal, which was fun. In some ways, Boston is such a small town. On Saturday evening, Courtney and Sherry had a fun little dinner at Figs and saw The Devil Wears Prada (a movie apparently written for those whose jobs demand obscene amounts of their time).

Another big time-drain, as you well know, is our old house, which sometimes feels like a labor of love and a hobby, but other times feels like another job! When dealing with delivery personnel, plumbers, electricians, salespeople, or whomever else seems to be holding us back at the time . . . it is incredibly tempting to use Meryl Streep's fabulous line from Prada-- "By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me." We have made some progress in the past couple of weeks: We ordered the leather sofa sleeper (with fancy extra thick, air-on-top mattress) for our guest room/office. Any of you can sleep on it starting at the end of the month. We got a rug for that room, too, and hung up the drapes and sheers as well. We installed adorable lanterns on our back deck. We pretty much finished unpacking the kitchen. We hired painters for the exterior of the house (cha-ching!). We dealt with 4 deliveries, 5 sets of installations and 3 trips to Sears for our mere four appliances, on top of the aforementioned crazy work hours, and we still don't have two of them installed. (UGH! Don't ask.)

Coming up: Redoing the old plaster on our staircase ASAP, which will be a major job in the next couple of weeks. The exterior of the house should be painted this week, as should our bedroom, if we can get the color right. Despite investing in samples from Benjamin Moore, Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren, Farrow & Ball, and Restoration Hardware, Sherry couldn't find the right color, so she mixed her own. We're hoping the folks at Benjamin Moore will humor us and match it, so we can move on with our lives. In other news, Sherry once tried insisting that she wasn't Type A.

Nevertheless, we love Charlestown, our new neighborhood in Boston. It is beautiful, convenient to everything, and full of a lot of nice folks. The pics in this post are all of our neighborhood, except the second down on the right, which is the view of the financial district from our 'hood. We often enjoy that view from one of our favorite casual restaurants down the street.

We hope you all are getting some playtime this summer. We'd like to make a special shout out to our friends and family whose work takes them abroad right now, away from friends and family, including Brad (Bahrain), Ann & Chris (Beijing), Maya (Africa), Jenni (top secret) and several others we're forgetting so late at night! We miss you all!

The Reynon Wedding

It's about time we blog out the nuptials of our dear friends Julie and Raul! Julie is a very longtime friend of ours-- a friend of Sherry's since we played on the same soccer team in junior high, and of Brian's since high school days. Raul is the love of her life, and a former junior high classmate of hers! Traveling to their wedding at the end of June was an incredible opportunity, not only to attend the wedding of two such wonderful people, but also to see some of our oldest friends.

We arrived into California the Thursday beforehand, and had a wonderful day and evening to ourselves. We used it as a short anniversary celebration, since ours was coming the next week, so we checked ourselves into a great inn, had a nice dinner at Bouchon, and managed to go tasting at enough wineries to buy nine bottles one day. No one can accuse us of inefficiency.

On Friday morning, we drove into Calistoga and attended the rehearsal, followed by the rehearsal luncheon in the lovely garden of the Calistoga Inn. It was a lot of fun catching up with everyone and meeting more of Julie and Raul's great friends and family. Maya even made friends with the lady who was in charge of the place. The food was delicious, the wine and toasts were flowing, and we had "moments." For those who don't know, it's not a "moment" until Julie cries.

Afterwards, the girls went with Jules for mani-pedis (and champagne, of course), while the guys kicked back by the pool at Raul's hotel.

That evening, we checked into a darling little cottage with Julie, Maya, Liz and Liz's Lovie (I mean, fiance) Phil. Liz had the foresight to bring her BIG GREEN MACHINE shirt to infuse some high school spirit, because, you know, you can never have enough Eagle Pride. We were all amazed at how well preserved (and ironed!) Mama Smagala had kept it all these years.

But nothing could prepare us for what Liz pulled out of her suitcase next. She and Phil had had shirts made for all of us that read, "THE BEST BEER DRINKERS COME FROM SACRAMENTO," with Julie and Raul's wedding date. They rocked, and Team Sactown looked awesome in them.

Sporting our new team shirts, we all headed to a fun pizza place with Raul and Julie, where we met up with several other friends, including Christa and Melanie. They have been friends of ours since they lived with Julie, Maya and Liz during college days at UC Davis. (Together, the five of them constitute the "Davis Girls," for future reference.) Everyone got "lei'd" and had a great, relaxed time.

The next morning, the bride awoke to an absolutely gorgeous wedding day. Liz explained to Julie the birds and the bees, since Julie was getting married that day and all. Liz went a little further than others might have, but that's cool. We all got ready and, since ladies take more time, Sherry and Maya sent Brian and Phil to secretly decorate the honeymoon suite, which they had planned to do themselves. Armed with rose petals, champagne and wedding night treats, the two of them documented with a camera exactly why you don't send guys to do such things.

The wedding ceremony was in a beautiful garden at Hans Fahden Vineyards, with Julie and Raul's closest friends and family gathered around to hear the touching vows they wrote for one another. Raul's uncle presided over a very heartfelt ceremony, and Liz managed to make Maya stand in the right place for all the perfect photo moments. (Girl can spot a camera from a mile away.) Julie had a "moment" that lasted from, oh, before she walked down the aisle, to the time she walked back, pretty much. And she managed to look radiant the entire time.

The reception took place in a stunning "cave" at the winery. TABLE NUMBER FIVE was unquestionably the best table there. (In fact, it was so awesome, that Liz and Phil intend to have a TABLE NUMBER FIVE at their wedding, even though other tables will be named after something cute and charming, like cities they've traveled to, or their pet names for one another.) The highlights were the extremely well done slideshow that Liz and Maya had slaved over, Liz's hilarious and sweet toast (one of the best we've ever heard), and Julie and Raul's beautiful first dance. Okay, dancing to Bon Jovi was up there, too.

Afterwards, we all went to an after-party at at local brewery. Someone spilled ketchup on Julie's dress, the wedding guests took over the bar, and as usual, party-animal Maya closed the joint down long after the rest of us went home. Julie and Raul went to their romantically-decorated suite. The ambience was apparently somewhat lost when they couldn't figure out who had decorated it, and became creeped out when they suspected it was Julie's dad, since he'd checked them into their hotel and left their luggage. (They did eventually discover it was us . . .) It was a fabulous weekend, and one we wish we could repeat.

The day after the wedding, we managed to fit in (in one day), lunch with Brian's dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephews, a visit with Sherry's mom, and dinner with our old Stanford Med friends Rich and Sandi and their kids. We flew the red-eye back, together with Brian's brother, Eric, who came to visit us in Boston (as we previously blogged). Phew! It was a weekend to remember. For more pictures from the wedding weekend (373 of them, to be exact), click here.