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 ....

13

Another week in the books on the roads and a small increase in mileage. I didn't miss a run, even though I really wanted to skip a day or two .... or all of them :) The heat really kicked in last week so my goal became to simply finish the runs without stopping. This sounds silly when the most I took on was 4 miles but in heat and humidity that was in the mid 90's, it was a realistic goal. With a total of 13 miles in last week, I couldn't help but think how far I have to go! I mean shoot, this 1/2 marathon is 13.1 miles in one shot .... ooooooff! WD and I will keep trucking though, man I love running with that mutt and he is OBSESSED with it too.

In other news a fall clean out has taken over our house. SO. MUCH. CRAP! I've always prided myself with being able to purge, but when we decided to get our 2nd guest room in order I realized we have loaded that room with stuff .... that we don't use! So over the last 3 days I've sorted and purged and re-packed totes and organized books and realized I need to purge more.The good news is that we no longer have a crap room and that makes both Murphy's smile!

BACK AT IT

After a week's worth of visits to the chiropractor I was given the ok to hit the roads again. My neck ended up being a bigger pain that I would have imagined and I am still fighting a little soreness by the end of each day but overall I am in much better shape. Amen!

This week was a tough one as far as training goes. I managed to get two 2-milers and a three-miler in but the times were less than stellar. Total mileage for the week was 7. Overall it was pretty forgettable :) I am continually thankful for a very excitable pup though. I can't even hold socks in my hand without WD going berserk. Last Friday Murph took him on a 5-miler in the morning and I took him on a 3-miler in the evening and he was still full of spunk. It is an understatement to say he loves going on runs. He keep me moving too, so I'll be sad once I can't take him on my longer runs when I will need the motivation the most!

This week will be a big one. I did my first 4-miler yesterday and I have a week of 3.5's and 2's ahead. Hopefully my motivation will stay strong!

In other news Murph and I got a new mattress last week, which isn't really worth blogging about BUT that means I have 2 guest rooms with complete beds now. This meant we needed to do some shopping, and I have a new project or 2 at the house to keep me occupied! We spent Friday night at Target shopping for bedding, and I think I had Murph at his wits end. We already had some bedding but were trying to round out both rooms.

Our guest room now has a queen bed in it and we already had a gray striped duvet and pillows from WestElm soI added some fun printed sheets from Target. On the to-do list for the fall is to make a tufted headboard in a gray-blue like the one below. I've seen some insanely simple tutorials on-line, so fingers crossed it will be a easy, simple update! It also needs another pillow or two and a bed skirt.

Original duvet and pillows

New printed sheets

DIY Headboard

The office/2nd guest room/crap room/future Murphy baby room also got a start. Clearly this room plays several roles right now so my fall goal is do de-crap and mostly de-office the space. We put the full sized bed that was in the guest room in here and it already had some simple printed sheets on it. After much discussion and talking to myself I decided to forego a duvet or quilt and just added a thin blanket. Since we will eventually make this a nursery and plan on keeping the bed in there I didn't think dropping $100 on a blanket at this point was a good idea. So for now it will be loaded with neutral prints that can easily transition to a baby's room. We also added some a large soft white pillow and smaller white blanket too. Eventually I might try a rope headboard for in this room, or I might wait it out and upholster a fun print later. I also grabbed a neon wire side table for $17 that will be getting a coat of gold spray paint on the bottom and possibly a wooden top. Love me some gold lately!

To become gold

Original printed sheets

New blanket

Now that the main floor is done in terms of the hard work, I can begin accessorizing there too. Maybe I can finally get our wedding pictures printed?! 

SIDELINED

Well this week's training has started out on a sour note for sure. At some point over the last few days I did something that caused the left side of my neck to become terribly inflamed leaving me almost unable to look to the left. Yesterday I began losing the ability to comfortably look up and down as well so I bit the bullet and headed into the chiropractor. She asked what type of trauma I have experienced over the last few days and I had nothing to offer. She was able to adjust very little due to the swelling and I will be returning each morning this week for continued care. Obviously I will be benched for this weeks running, yoga and volleyball activities and I am bummed. Oh well, at least it's early in the game.

In other news we celebrated Grandpa's 90th birthday in Clarion this weekend, what a joy! We were able to see all of our family that lives close and enjoy some Pizza Ranch, coffee with Jan at Grounded and one of Clarion's best, RUTHIE ROLLS! We also took the pup to the lake and went for a swim. He started off a little rough, but soon realized that if he closed his mouth the swimming went much better :) WD did however not learn much about personal boundaries in the water as he used me as both a turning block and surfboard leaving me a bit battered haha.

We also are dog-sitting this week. Yes we endured a surprisingly easy ride with 3 pups back from Clarion and will have both Dude and Gary with us for the week. They are getting along much better than we anticipated and I think we are confident 3 dogs inside is too many :)

Other than that, quiet week on the home front while we await Nic's 30th birthday this Friday and our annual BC trip to Big Creek this weekend, woohooo!