Amazing how getting an early start can really add hours to a day...

Yesterday I had pretty much decided that if I didn't do SOMETHING constructive this week I would feel like shit. The closet seemed like the obvious choice. On my way to P's I stopped in to The Home Depot to just kind of price things out.

I would love to have a fancy, custom, designer closet... but until that big sweepstakes win comes in I just don't have the spare dough to pay for all that. You can easily spend $1000 on a closet the size of mine. My budget is less California Closets and more Alabama Armoire.

P had to go out of town for work today, and so he had to be up hella early to catch his flight... I would usually stay in bed, but something told me that today I should follow his lead. I can't remember the last time I saw 5am when I hadn't STILL been up from the night before. I figured I was up, have the whole day ahead of me and am already feeling kind of inspired to do something with my closet so I might as well bite the bullet and git'er done.

I think I did really well for a first time closet designer! Here's the before shots:



Notice there is only one shelf/rod thing in there. My plan was to buy a similar shelf/rod system and install it up high and then recycle parts of the old shelf/rod system to use as a second level underneath.

Of course once the old shelf/rod came down I had to spackle up the holes it left behind and paint the walls (using the touch up paint my builder provided).

As it turned out, two pieces of the new shelf/rod things I bought were cut too long. They cut them to order for you right there in the aisle at The Home Depot by the way. I don't know if it was his mistake or mine, but I anticipated this and bought a hacksaw along with my new closet shelving. Took a little bit but I got em cut down to the correct lenghts.

So here's what the empty closet looked like before:


and empty closet After:



I really thought I was making good time! I was done with all that by Noon... but as I started to put stuff away I realized that while I had increased my hanging space area quite a bit, the shelf space really didn't grow. Mostly because the area up high now is QUITE high now. So I chose to store boxes I never need up there. So all the space where t-shirts and sweaters and stuff like that would have gone before had disappeared.

Ultimately I had to return some leftover things to The Home Depot. That errand seemed like a good enough excuse to head over to Atlantic Station and check IKEA just to see if they had SOMETHING that I could use for more storage. And they did. And it was only $40!

So here is the finished product:



The recycled lower shelf should have been about 5 or 6 inches lower, and then I could use the shelf space it provides, but as it is there's no room for anything because the clothes hanging above are just RIGHT THERE. Guess that's why I'm not a closet designer.

I MAY decide to lower that bottom shelf, but not today.

The whole thing cost me about $150, which I think is a bargain.

Now I'm off to have an adult beverage or 4 and enter some sweepstakes!

By the way, if you'd like to see the whole process from beginning to end you can check out the photo set at flickr. Why you would want to see all that I'm not sure, but if DIY is your porn, knock yourself out!

I'm a lucky guy

This New Condo sat empty most of this weekend.

On and around most holidays P pretty much sets our schedule and our home base is usually his place so he can better control the agenda.

We attended services at his church this morning and then off to his Mom's place for Easter. Easter includes dinner, an egg hunt AND three birthday celebrations.

His full family and all it's extensions are almost all locally based. Nearly every holiday is marked with a gathering at his mother's house in the burbs. Certainly any holiday that includes a meal of some sort. P's family is pretty big, and growing! One niece has two little ones now, one nephew is recently married, a sister is recently divorced and re-married (it happened very quickly, QUITE the scandal), the teens all bring their boyfriends or girlfriends... it's a scene! There were 24 people at three tables for dinner this afternoon! P's father passed away when he was not yet 10 and so his is really the only presence missing from the gathering.

By contrast, my family is pretty small, and all spread out. I have a brother who lives overseas and my Mom is out west. My Dad actually lives here in Atlanta by a twist of fate that brought us both to this city (me from Oregon, him from Minnesota) just months apart. Family gatherings even when we did all live together were pretty low key so this big family gathering thing is a little intimidating for me.

Intimidating and a little uncomfortable. In all honestly I don't really enjoy these gatherings. Even though it's not my favorite way to spend an afternoon however, I always leave a gathering with P's family thinking two things:

1. How the hell did P come out of that group? Seriously, no family is "perfect," but it's saying something when he and I walk in there as a couple and we are the LEAST controversial relationship in the house. When the gay son/brother/uncle and his boyfriend show up and it's not even CLOSE to the most salacious bit of family gossip, that's pretty telling. Having said that I should say that I'm so lucky to be in love with a guy who's family accepts us without reservation. Never once has there been anything but kindness from any member of his family towards me and I'm quite honored that they expect me now at their family events.

For the record, my family is similarly accepting and P is always invited to the limited number of events on our family calendar as well.

2. From P's Mother's perspective it must be an amazing, powerful feeling to look at a house full of people and think, "I did this." What an awesome sense of accomplishment to look into a great grandchild's eye and know that her actions ultimately resulted in that life, and it's mother's life, and it's grand father's life... It's times like these when I wonder about becoming a parent. It's fleeting, but there's a twinge of remorse that I didn't provide my parents with the possibility of finding 24 lives that share their genes at home for a holiday.

I hope y'all had a nice Easter as well. I'm off to have a hard boiled egg and some Jelly Bellies!

...and I am tellin you...

...I'm not goin... to the Homeowner's meeting on Sunday. I should but I've been invited to an early Passover dinner and I'm not going to miss that in order to listen to a bunch of complaints. I am pretty happy with my place, aside from a few weird little oddities, which don't seem to be effecting anything negatively (yet) I really don't have too much to complain about.

I hope this doesn't result in: "I did nothing when they came for the floor complainers. I did nothing when they came for the soundproofing complainers. I did nothing when they came for the painting complainers... and then there was no one around when they came for me."

There has been a bit of activity 'round here lately. Some workers showed up at 8am earlier this week to paint the underside of my upstairs neighbor's deck... just grey, to match the concrete, but only a thin strip of it... not the whole deck. They are doing it to all the undersides of all the decks/balconies in the building. I THINK it is to clean up and protect some exposed metal where the base of the balcony meets the building.

I am also the proud new owner of a little balcony "set." P and I hit Ikea over the weekend and I found the perfect little folding chairs. Seems like my neighbors are trying to cram too much stuff onto our little balconies. I wanted to keep it simple out there, so the chairs are little bitty things, and in between P invented a table made of a ceramic pot placed upside down and the drip tray for that pot also turned upside down on top. What? You are having problems visualizing it? Well, um.. oh OK. Hang on.


Can't believe y'all made me put on pants and everything just to go out and take that photo. Happy now!? Geeze. It's all Ikea stuff... even the little cacti. Think the whole deal set me back 40 bucks.

Don't know if it comes across in that pic, but on my window sill, can you see the yellow dust? That's pollen that the city has been plagued with for days. Counts over 5000 most days this week. Doesn't effect me too much but man, it looks like Beijing during a bird flu outbreak with all the people wearing breathing masks walking around. The stuff is just coating everything too. CANNOT WAIT for some rain!

I have a new outdoor lighting issue that MAY be problematic... not going to jinx it by freaking out like I did with the Ted's sign though. Going to be patient. The city has finally put up the street lights in front of my side of the building. They are very tall and very bright and one is right in front of my unit. Down a bit, but right out there... we'll see.

This weekend a big shelving convention called the "Final Four" is here in Atlanta. I THINK it has something do to with shelving because everyone is talking about their "brackets." I DO need some new shelves so I may head downtown and check it out.

Overwhelmed

Need to increase 401k contribution.

Work's nuts.

Bills are piling up.

There are weird plumbing sounds in the bathroom when I flush.

There are weird muffled clanging sounds in the brown wall.

There are weird clunking sounds under my car.

Weird sounds are expensive.

Should I have an Oscar party?

Fighting a cold (I think).

Zero percent financing for 90 days is really not much of a grace period.

Laundry needs doing.

New shift next week.

Still need window treatments.

Have not been to the fitness center in a week.

Tax day is LOOMING.

When you gonna get that art project started?

House needs cleaning (bad).

Some sex would be nice.

Is it too late to send Xmas “Thank You” notes?

Told my shrink I would call him soon... 2 months ago.

The Pillsbury Dough Boy poked ME in the belly yesterday.

Bedroom closet needs a system.

Bathroom tile needs sealing.

Closet systems and tile sealant cost money.

The caulking around my windows that they fixed last week doesn't look fixed.

I'm not drinking enough water.

Need new shoes.


When did I become an adult?

Restaurant Review

Restaurants, actually.


Before we get to the courses served last night at Chez Condoblogger (above), lets take a walk downstairs to Ted's where I dined on Friday.

Late last month the folks at Ted's Montana Grill (conveniently located directly below me) invited the residents of my building to enjoy a free meal one night as part of their pre-opening training sessions. It took place during my work hours however so I could not attend. Since then the restaurant has quietly opened for business. For some reason I held onto the card on which the invitation to the training dinner was printed, so Friday afternoon I walked downstairs and very humbly and politely asked if (and if they couldn't I would TOTALLY understand) they would still honor the invite. "Just this once, and don't let it get around the building," was the manager's reply. AWESOME!

When we arrived around 7 the place was PACKED! Lots of families, and LOTS of late 20 somethings still wearing their work clothes at the bar. The host taking names at the door warned us that there MIGHT be a wait of as much as 70 minutes! Instead of waiting we hovered until two seats at the bar opened up and ate there. Dinner was pretty good. P had beercan chicken and I had bison meatloaf (we ordered modestly so as not to take TOO much advantage of their hospitality). We also ordered grilled shrimp on a skewer to start. Interestingly the entrees came out BEFORE the appetizer. Our server/bartender said that they were still working out some of the timing because certain dishes (apparently the two that we ordered) we're ready made and didn't take long to get out. Everything was good. Nothing exceptional or extraordinary, just good. The fact it was FREE probably improved my opinion too!

Overall it was a nice experience. I'm still kind of surprised that even with the restaurant filled and the kitchen running at full steam I don't hear any sound or detect any scents from my downstairs neighbor. I even put my ear to my floor (Ted's celing) and couldn't hear a thing.

I'm told that in the near future Ted's may start offering a "room service" style menu from which they will deliver directly to the residents of my building. Kinda cool!

As for VD dinner in This New Condo... it came out GREAT! We started with a trip to the HUGE International Market nearby. This place is BIG:


We got all the stuff we needed, headed back to This New Condo, opened a big ol bottle of Woodbridge Cab (we ain't fancy) and started to cookin. I have to admit, it was all pretty darn good.

The filets were very good, and the salad was OK, but those roasted potatoes were the best part. I'd also make the parmesan puffs again. They were a big surprise, not very bready, more quichy... which I should have suspected considering the amount of egg in the batter.

The flambéed strawberries over "hot" vanilla ice cream were good... but much like the chef, they weren't very flaming. There were some wisps of fire, but nothing as dramatic as I had hoped. The "hot" ice cream was accomplished by softening some vanilla Haagen Dazs, mixing in some tabasco and then refreezing. Sounds weird and unappetizing, but dudes... SO GOOD! Totally unexpected.

A very romantic evening and a good test run for dinners to come!

VD comes to This New Condo

Due to our conflicting hours, P and I don't spend a lot of time together during the week. This is bad and good. Good because we are both happy with the way things are working out as far as our relationship is concerned. It's monogamous, it's low drama and it gives each of us the "me" time that we both like very much. Bad because we end up trying to cram a weeks worth of life into Saturday and Sunday which can be stressful plus we live across town from each other and we are always trying to work out which place we'll be spending the weekends.

This Saturday/Sunday bottleneck also crates issues when special days (holidays, anniversaries, birthdays) land on non-weekend days. St. Valentine's Day, for example, falls on a Wednesday this year, so we're improvising.

Tomorrow is VD in this new condo! We've decided that my place will be home base for the next few days so that we can give my kitchen it's first REAL workout.

Our mutual gift this year is preparing a fancy dinner together. Part of the fun will be visiting this HUGE International Market near my place to get the ingredients. You can buy anything in there... we like to go just to look at all the weird meat for sale. Here's our fancy menu (and pretend like a really snotty waiter is announcing the prix fixe menu to you in a condescending tone when you read it, maybe just a HINT of your best Prince Charles immitation for flava):

To start we'll be preparing Parmesan Puffs. For our main course we are serving Filet Mignon with a Rich Balsamic Glaze paired with a First Class Bleu Cheese Salad and Roasted Potatoes with Greens. To top it all off we will VERY CAREFULLY plate Strawberries Flambéed in Vodka with Hot Ice Cream.

Told you it was fancy! I’ll TRY to photo-document our efforts and the result.


R.I.P. Vicky Lynn Hogan

Sunday Brunch, Acrobats and me

Today it is back to work after a week off. I can't say that I'm dreading going back, but I'm not really looking FORWARD to it either. So instead of looking forward lets jump in the wayback machine and take a very short trip back to check out yesterday because Sunday was AWESOME!

First of all, it RAINED ALL DAY! That's not sarcasm. I dig the rain and It was one of those good consistent rains. It never let up.

Second, "L" my mortgage broker AND one of my first and best Atlanta friends came over and I cooked brunch for her and P. Between the muffins last Friday and brunch yesterday, I think that is the most action my kitchen has seen since I moved in! Epicurious had a brunch menu that I wanted to make for my friends who went to the cabin with P and I last weekend, but it is a little "different" and my cabin friends are... not picky... but not adventurous eaters. So I invited L over so I could try out the "Baked Eggs with Cantal Cheese" and "Sweet-and-Spicy Bacon" recipes I didn't get to try in the mountains. I'm not a really good cook is the thing... so I did manage to screw up the eggs (I whisked shredded cheese into a bowl of egg whites that had been beaten till they formed stiff peaks. I should have folded the shredded cheese in. After the whisking incident, my whites no longer held stiff peaks) but not to the point that they were inedible. In fact they were quite good, they just didn't LOOK the way I had intended. For the record I could not find this "cantal cheese" so I went with a mild, white, english cheddar and it worked just fine if you ask me. I paired those with the bacon, toasted english muffins, a bowl of mixed fruit, mimosas and viola! This New Condo's first brunch is served!

It was very nice sitting with L and P and just catching up.

Then, Sunday afternoon, P and I went to Cirque du Soleil's Corteo at Atlantic Station. I was floored. Never been to a Cirque show before and I have to tell you that it was really, really amazing. The physical feats the actors perform are unbelievable and the STAGE is miraculous! An engineering marvel. We had front row seats. I loved every second of it.

This coming week is going to be a little weird... my schedule is all switched up due to some training I have to take part in mid week. Even my hours are really wacky. I'll only do my ACTUAL shift one time (today in fact) and then the rest of the week is a mixture of "on-call," training, and a "bonus day" on which I don't have to go in at all. GOOD way to come off a week of vacation.

Hope y'all had a good weekend.

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