Progress on the house (for real this time)

This is what the house and garage looked like from the alley on March 23, 2008.

Here's a photo from the similar vantage point on November 2, 2008. Lark is standing where the garage will go. The footings were poured today. Our contractor said it would be done in three weeks. That's December 23rd. No comment.

Here's the view from the dining room into the kitchen (Lark was helping me pack it up). It's now 8 feet longer and the doorway's been widened. They measured for the countertops today.


Believe it or not, the above photos are taken from almost the exact same place! The lower photo shows the screened porch through the three windows on the right and the mudroom to the left. The dark doorway is the bathroom.

A before picture of the kitchen from the previous back door. Yikes! It looks like a mess without the cabinet doors. And wow does Lark look noticeably younger! That was only 6 months ago. That's what living through a remodel will do to you - age you. Or maybe it's just all the good livin' were doing:-).

View of the kitchen from the mudroom.

The maple closet in our bedroom. We LOVE all of our cabinetry.

Thanksgiving in Burlington

We were in Burlington, WI, for Thanksgiving. We arrived at ~11:30pm on Wednesday night and were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by both Paul and Sue. They are the ultimate hosts! Highlights from the weekend included: 1) A fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at the Lynch household with Uncle John and Betty, Grandma B and her friend Dorothy, Paul and Sue, and Tom, Lark and me. 2) Going to dinner at the Waterfront with Dennis (Paul's brother) and Diane, Jen, Aaron and their kids. 3) Driving to Milwaukee in the wee hours of the morning (okay, "wee" for me) to greet Andrew, Wendy, Christopher (aka Bob), Vivian and Henry, as they arrived on the redeye from Seattle. See the photo with some of our handmade signs. It's almost sinful how much fun we had making those signs. Maybe it was all the permanent marker we inhaled. 4) Eating way too much fried stuff at Fred's. See black and white photo. For the love of God, Wendy, put down the french fries! 5) Visiting Paul's UPS store and watching him in action. Ummm, no, we don't ship live snakes (really - a guy brought in a live snake in a box). 7) Eating Paul's criminally good pot roast and sitting at Andrew and Wendy's beyond-description bar. Suffice it to say what happens at the bar stays at the bar. 6) Watching that crazy documentary about the guy who moved to Alaska in 1968 and lived off the land for 30+ years. What's for dinner? A little frozen carrion. Mmm. 7) Enjoying the hours of entertainment the kids got out of a huge cardboard box that Paul cut a door and a window in. 8) And last but not least, just hanging out at Paul and Sue's house. We had a blast. Thank you! Love, Us

Lark and Vivi. Christopher and Henry, I'll get you guys next time we see you:-).

Grammy Sue threatening to consume her grandkids. She would if she could, you know.

Uncle John, Tom and Paul on Thanksgiving.

Sue, Paul and Lark waiting for the Andrew Lynch clan. Tom's off to the side sipping some coffee.

Alice, this one's for you

Here's a video of our Irving Avenue house. Love, me

Wedding photos...hot off the presses

We just got these photos from our wonderful photographer, Stephanie Colgan. They are beautiful! Simply click on photo montage to make them larger. Family, we'll get the rest next week. Love, me

Drat.

I just found out today that my last day at Best Buy is Friday. Retail is in a world of hurt and Best Buy is no exception to the rule. My boss and the VP in our group both had lots of great things to say about me, which lessened the blow. In fact, my boss went out on a limb to make a pitch to bring me on full time. It didn't fly in this environment, but I was honored that he thought so highly of me. Anyway, it's not the best time (is it ever a good time?) for one of us to be losing a job. On the bright side, I get to volunteer more at Lark's school and I look fabulous in a hairnet. In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to what's around the corner and am grateful for not having to go this alone.

Galactic Pizza!

We introduced Mom, Kristy, Brad and the kids to Galactic Pizza last Saturday. For those who aren't familiar with it, they are super eco-friendly and drive electric cars to deliver the pizza. The superhero suits are part of their schtick. I love it. So did our guests. (Pinney-Cogans: Fear not, your photos with the Galactic Pizza dude will show up sometime in the not-so-distant future). Love, me

2008 Girl Scout Songfest

Here's me - I mean our troop - singing at Songfest. Maybe I was a little too exuberant. What can I say? I like singing.

Lark's video debut

Here's Lark's first flip video. We think she's a natural! I love the little kid perspective of looking up at everything:-).

There's a lot going on

And we're really behind in writing it all into our blog. We moved last night into our temporary abode in Uptown. Lark is thrilled with her new little room and has fully made it her own, complete with blankie and Coconut (her round little stuffed monkey). The pets seem to be adjusting to the new digs as well. It was a little surreal saying goodbye to Aldrich last night. Sort of sad, peaceful, and exciting all at the same time. Summing it up, we're all just so happy to be together, where ever we are.

Happy 40th Birthday, Tom

We're in Mendocino, CA, for Tom's 40th birthday. We just had dinner at MacCallum Place Inn and Restaurant. We happened across this place by way of a recommendation from a women at a jewelry store in town. The Inn has rooms in a Victorian house as well as some quaint, little cottages snuggled in the heart of the town. We're staying in cottage #8 (see photos below) and had a delectable dinner at the restaurant just a few steps away from our front door. We have more to report on the first few days of our honeymoon, but that will have to wait for another day.

Happy birthday, my Love!

Love, Lisa

Off to Get Married!

Joy! Joy! Joy!

Update on the House

See post below. Not much has changed. *!%?. Things are supposed to kick into gear again this week. We sure hope so.

LL

Stock the bar party (with a little bit of bday)

Our friends Pat and Paula threw us an amazing engagement party last night, complete with homemade heart decorations, gourmet appetizers, balloons, wonderful wine, and last but not least, good friends. The theme was "Stock the Bar" so we got plenty for our new wine refrigerator and beyond. I had all-but-forgotten that my bday is this week, but that didn't escape our two hostesses with the mostest-es. They got a cake from Wuollet's that all in attendance agreed captured my personality to a tee. Apparently, I remind people of "Laugh In." Anyway, it's late and I need to hit the hay. Thank you Pat and Paula for being such amazing friends. Thank you Tom R., Rebecca, Jim, Marianne, Patrick, Kathy, Doug, and Margo for celebrating with us. I need some photos of you guys, too, to add to the blog (I forgot my camera).

Love, me

p.s. Tom, I can't wait to marry you!

Why we love Paulie Clem

This is Paul hard at work at the UPS Store.

Photo credit: Andrew Lynch

~LL

Lake Calhoun

The view this morning on my walk with Dublin. tp

Hyperproductivity

This is a picture of Lark fueling up for a big day of running around. It's 1:45pm and we just got back from getting her hair cut, buying her a sash for her dress and shoes for the wedding, getting her a fall coat, checking out some stray kitties up for adoption at PetCo, getting the car washed, mailing some stuff, weeding at the Pleasant Ave house, and eating lunch. Yikes. In case you're wondering, this is how I stay thin. Abs of stress I like to call it.

We're off to a Baby Disco this afternoon with Kristy (my sister), Maxine (niece), Spargo (friend) and her nieces. It's for kids under the age of 7 and their parents. What a cool concept. ~LL

Stewart Nails It

We Closed on the Aldrich House Today!

We closed on the Aldrich house today. Woohoo! It's funny how we've all but forgotten all of the hard work we put into it to get it ready to sell. Building window boxes, tearing up carpeting, cleaning out the basement...the list goes on. In any case, we did it. The new owners of the house are a young couple. They're letting us rent it back though the end of October. We're so grateful that we don't have to move twice. Plus, I'm looking forward to having everyone here for the wedding. I think it will be a fitting send off for a house that has seen a lot and for people to get a chance to say "goodbye" to it. Speaking of experiencing a lot, it didn't escape Tom that today would have been his and Megan's 10th wedding anniversary. How interesting that the closing of the house fell on this day of all days.

Here are a few more photos of the house for posterity's sake.
~LL
~

Update on Pleasant Avenue Renovations

Here are some of the latest photos of our renovation. The plumbing and HVAC are roughed in and the electrical is well on it's way. We met with Andrew again tonight about the cabinets. We're making progress!!!

The back of the house.










A view through the soon-to-be kitchen into the dining room. Check out the widened doorway.











Another view of the kitchen. Lark is standing next to the door to the screened porch.










Upstairs. Lark is standing in the doorway to our master bedroom. Behind her is the laundry room.

Looking into our bedroom:-).

First Day of 2nd Grade and Our Blog

We've officially entered the blogosphere. Yay! Today was Lark's first day in second grade. I drove her to school this morning. She was practically clicking her heels together on the way into Club Saint (her before school daycare) out of sheer joy. She couldn't wait to get back to school, her friends, and her beloved Miss Baker, who was also her kindergarten teacher. Tom and I picked her up together after school (see photo at left). She was beat! She played quietly at home after school and didn't make a peep when it we told her it was bed-o-time-o.