(no subject)
we got the house. we've been going over weekends and after david gets off of work to work on the house, getting it ready for our july 7th move in date. hopefully, they'll be able to quickly rent our apartment so that we can get out of the rest of our lease.
we got the keys last friday. first off, we did a bunch of yard work. i really need to learn more about gardening because right now i can't tell the difference between weeds and not-weeds and feel like i am just hacking the whole yard away (it was getting pretty unruly, though). eventually, i'd like to add more native plants and shrubs to the front lawn, things that don't require as much water or upkeep. i'd like a vegetable garden in the back yard. i know nothing about any of these things so i've got a lot to learn.
the last few days, we've worked on pulling up the carpet upstairs. there's something strangely satisfying about pulling up carpet tacks. we were disappointed to find that the wood floors underneath the carpet was terribly stained with white paint so instead of refinishing them, we're going to paint the floors white. i've always loved the way painted wooden floors looked (like this or like this). i think it will make the whole upstairs very bright and airy.
after that, we plan on painting the rest of the house before we move in. there are a whole lot of projects to be done eventually but we'll work on them slowly while we're there.
*
last, last weekend, my brother paul and his fiance helen came to visit. we had a blast. we showed them all around town and played a lot of board games (boggle, trivial pursuit, pictionary). i'm so happy that they were so taken with portland that they are now thinking of moving here once they're done with school. it will be so nice to have family nearby. i really hope they do it. we also visited the coast and astoria. it was our first time in astoria. we climbed the astoria column and the views were incredible:
