WE BE DREAMIN'

As we finished the inside of the first floor up we moved onto a more pressing matter that needed some of our attention, our roof. After getting several estimates, talking to painters, siders, roofers and anyone else that may want our money we determined we have a big ... no huge project on our hands. Long story short we've got this glorious crap siding on our home that is in bad shape and will need to be replaced because when the roof comes off we will sustain significant damage to it. We've also got some rotten window frames due to poor maintenance from the previous owner, so eventually those will need to go too. So we are in the process of saving up for an overhaul. We know we will be at Hawthorn Drive for a long time so we think putting the money and energy into an exterior we love to look at is worth the work. This week I came up with a little mock up of what we may be looking at in a year or so.

Oh man, she looks so sad in this photo

Just a bit different!

So a few changes are on deck aren't they? Our tentative plan includes:

• New roof (I'm lobbying for a dark charcoal gray), soffits and fascia
• New gutters, see how we have none on the top level and see the rotten fascia it's caused
• New James Hardie siding (most likely in neutrals, but I dream of a deep gray/blue too) and shakes above the 2nd story windows
• New trim everywhere, matching the style we put on the bottom floor of the inside of the house and take out the beveled garage door corners, they make me gag, oh yeah make that white too, I don't know why but garage doors the same color as the house make me crazy too (personal preference!)
• Add 5 ft of stone to the sides of the garage doors and the columns
• Beef up the columns and remove the railing (our "porch" is so shallow we are hoping this will allow for some room out there)
• New exterior lighting, maybe a gooseneck barn light style?

I also would add to my "dream" list

• A new Craftsman styled door with some glass in it to add to the lack of light in our front room
• Replace the weird random octagon window with a single normal one, this will add more light and balance out the windows too

Man I'm so excited just thinking about the possibilities!

LATELY

All has been quiet at Hawthorn Drive lately, and that's how I like it :) We are soaking up the cooler weather by enjoying easier runs, a trip to Ledges and plenty of college football. This past Sunday I took Willy for his last "long" run with me. 7 miles that pup went, without breaking stride. I will be sad to tackle my first long run alone this Sunday, it's so nice to have his little booty wagging in front of me and the occasional look back saying, "are you coming or what!?". We finished the 7 mile with a 9:34 pace which I was pretty happy with considering I usually hang around the 10:00 / mile mark. I also ran a 5k race about 2 weeks ago and finished in 27:10 which was about 8:44 / mile, that was a PR for sure and I was happy with the time.

Our 1/2 marathon is about 5 weeks out and I am getting a bit anxious. The 7 miles this weekend was pretty tough on me, no feeling so confident I can almost double it yet ....