"Wicked" Pandora Station

My little lady LOVES broadway musicals. My poor husband is outnumbered.

Renovation Details

Ok, so now that you've seen the onslaught of before and after pictures, I'll give you the deets.  We're nearly done with the main renovations upstairs! Yippee!  We've painted, put in laminate floors, new baseboard and door moulding, curtain rods, curtains, and the best part - finally unpacked!!!!  It's pretty much the best feeling in the world.  None of the the rooms are completely finished (still need a dining room table that's not plastic, the green room needs a round rug and the yellow room needs a comforter etc. etc.) but we're nearly there! 

The next month and a half we're really going to focus on putting in doors (thank goodness), and finishing up the yard.  We got to a good start when my dad came to visit at the beginning of August, but fall is for pruning and laying sod.  I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate us getting rid of the dirt back yard :)  Depending on Colin's work situation, we're holding off on bathrooms until we get solidified word on what his schedule is (more on this once that word is passed to us). 

A few weeks ago we got a ton of quotes from window installation companies, but none of them were really within our budget or made us jump to get it done, so we're still looking around.  Our neighbors said a great local company installed their new windows a few years ago at a very reasonable price, so we're going to see what they can do for us before we decide if we'll be doing them this season, or in the spring (realistically, it'll probably be spring). 

All in all, it's been a really crazy few months, but putting all of this work into the house and watching it come back to life has been an amazing experience.  Now that we're at a point where everything is livable again, we absolutely love this house and can't imagine moving away (uh oh).  It's been so wonderful to have this time to really put the work in ourselves and be able to do it together. 

Now that we're almost done, you'll have to make some time to come visit and see it in person (especially if you saw it when it looked like we were in way over our heads!).   What's your favorite transformation so far?

One Room Down!

I know, I know.  I promised a post about Colin's awesome anniversary present.  Well, it's not going to be it's own fancy post like I had hoped, but it does get a post that shows it's full awesomeness potential.  This year, Colin got a table saw for our anniversary!  It's pretty high tech and does all sorts of cool stuff.  He absolutely loves it.

Colin getting to work on cutting the first boards!

In it's first true table saw test, we got to work on the floors today!  We're a little late in starting this project, but we ended up heading to Portland this weekend for Shannon's quarter of a century surprise birthday party (SURPRISE!).  It's been planned for a while, but of course I had to pretend like we had all of these housework plans this weekend to keep her in the dark.  Now that we're home and thoroughly rested from the ultimate fiesta (complete with unicorn pinatas), the work has begun!

I can't take a house picture anymore that doesn't have a cat somewhere in it.  Lao loves the new floor!

We finished laying the floor in the dining room and part of the hallway and it looks wonderful!  While Colin does a great job cutting the boards, I put them all into place.  We had a little bit of a shaky start at first, but once we figured out what we were doing we got into a pretty speedy rhythm.  Our new goal is to have the whole upstairs finished by next Wednesday (since we started a little late).  Wish us luck! 

What do you think so far?!?

Introducing Vinny!

Everyone, I'd like you to meet my new friend Vinny!  Vinny the shop vac was my anniversary present (this anniversary thing seems to be lasting all summer, and it's awesome).  He's adorable, blue, and packs a serious punch.  He wasn't supposed to be here until tomorrow, but magically showed up today, so I spent the whole afternoon sucking up everything in the living room and hallway.  It was the best.  I forgot to take a picture of Colin's awesome anniversary present, but I promise I will tomorrow and it will get it's own fancy post :)

In other news, we (mostly Colin) finished the tile in the entryway!  Yay to being done with tile!  There just isn't anything enjoyable about the tiling process, and just the idea of having to tile bathrooms and the kitchen makes me squirm.  But until then, I'll just enjoy our beautiful new floor and forget about how it got that way :)

Coming soon:  An introduction to our new diesel Truck showing up Monday :)

Oh how I've missed you, Seattle!

From the ferry

Yesterday was an excellent day as far as getting out of the house goes!  Waaaaayyy back in May when we were talking about how we were going to spend our second wedding anniversary, we decided it would be fun to go back to the place where we had our first official date, since we would be so close to Seattle.  Of course, as you all know, we were not close to Seattle on our anniversary, and had to play the whole thing by ear.  Because he knows how much of a sap I am for stuff like this, and it seems we'll have a pretty constant stream of people coming and going around here for the next two months, Colin decided that yesterday would be the perfect day to fulfill our initial anniversary plans!

Excited to have made it!

So we got dressed like normal people (not in paint clothes), and headed towards the ferry on Bainbridge Island!  I have to say, I don't think I really realized how close Seattle is until we drove out there.  Having only taken the Bremerton ferry before (which takes about an hour usually when all is said and done), being able to see Seattle from the ferry before ever leaving was pretty amazing, and it only took around a half an hour! 

Since there was no real reason to drive, we decided to walk on and enjoy the sights.  The whole ferry seemed to be filled with happy people and happy dogs yesterday.  It was pretty great.  I spent most of the time just being excited to be back :)

The Pike Pub and Brewery

Once we were on land again, we walked over to Pike and did the mandatory walk around before ending up at the brewery.  It's funny to think that when we were first there Colin had only been 19 for about a month or so, and neither one of us could drink.  This time, we thoroughly took advantage of their amazing happy hour!  We ordered a huge chunk of smoked salmon with cream cheese and rye bread, steamed clams, garlic shrimp, and crab and artichoke dip.  Did I mention that they were all around $6 each?  It was a ridiculously good deal and not a thing was short of delicious.  Needless to say, we pretty much devoured it all - Colin taking the cake by single-handedly eating roughly 40 beer boiled clams stomach ache free. 

The carnage

After we packed up what we could of the leftovers, we headed back towards the ferry and back home.  It was an exciting, spontaneous adventure that I'm glad we didn't just say we were going to do and forget about.  As far as the difference between now and 2006?  2006:  I ordered the cheapest, seemingly easiest thing to eat as to make sure not to make a fool of myself, and took at least two bathroom breaks to make sure I still looked ok.  2011:  We both ordered a million things off of the appetizer list with no embarrassment, and just comfortably enjoyed a day out together!

Successful day in the city!

Day Seven: Coeur d'Alene, ID

Since Colin was born and raised in Idaho, it seemed fitting that he would write the post about today's journey to Idaho.  Good luck.

Finally!  The pinnacle to our adventure! (with the exception of getting to our house)  The whole reason for driving across the country! (again, with the exception of getting to our house) We finally made it.  We've come home.  Today, day seven, we arrived in Idaho.

God's country, the holy land, the most beautiful place in the world, true America, mecca: As a homegrown spud, I can confirm all of these things are true.  Idaho, is all of these things. 

Today's route took us through Coeur d'Alene, ID.  In the panhandle of a state graced by the rocky mountains, this small town is a vacation spot for people world wide.  Renowned for it's beautiful scenery, it's gorgeous, pure lake, it's outdoor activities, and my brethren Idahoans, how can you help but spend your precious summer vacations in this beautiful northern oasis.  No pictures could possibly do this land justice, but we've taken a few so that you could experience some of the awe inspiring scenery which we were blessed to view today.  Dim the lights, light some candles, and enjoy.  

(Oh yeah, and we found a dutch brothers.  Kristin was really excited.)

Ming Bob, overwhelmed by the excitement.

Tomorrow: Home.

Day Six: Bozeman, MT

Oh Montana, how I underestimated your size.  Today was a gruelingly long 9 hour day.  The first few hundred miles of plains lands were exciting.  I mean, look at that photo below.  It looks like something straight out of a book.  Or Pushing Daisies.  Now Imagine looking at that for roughly 550 miles.  The upside was trying to spot deer, coyotes, and antelope (there were tons), and of course, the elusive buffalo!  Now, Colin claims that there are no "real" buffalo in America.  I say, why does everything in Montana claim to be buffalo this, and buffalo that, if it's all really just bison?  I pretty much spent the entire day saying "buffalo!" and pointing at large animals in the distance, and Colin spent most of the day saying "cattle" "cow" and "that's actually a shrub."

This is literally what we saw nearly the entire time.  The moniker "big sky country" is 100% accurate.

Now, these next photos (so lovingly snapped by my wonderful husband) get a little graphic, so here's your warning.  Tonight at dinner, we tried our first bison buffalo burgers!  We were in Montana and it just felt right, so we sought them out!  Ultimately, it really just tasted like a super fancy beef burger.  However, it's supposed to be much better for you than beef, and I can see why.  There was little to no fat, and they were still tender and Delicious.  I would at least suggest trying it once if presented with the option. 






Tomorrow is day six, and Colin is absolutely beyond stoked about being in Idaho and exploring Coeur d'Alene.  I'm mostly just excited about the world's largest radio flyer wagon :)

Day Three: Madison, WI

All and all, today was a pretty exciting driving day as far as middle America goes.

Top five best things about day three -

1.  The cats seem pretty happy now that they've settled in to life on the road.  In fact, Julius spent over three hours just like this today:

2.  We actually drove through a big city that we've never seen before - Chicago!  The traffic was more than worth the change of pace from farm land to city.

 3.  We ended up waking up early to get a delicious breakfast (the first one in weeks that didn't come prepackaged) and got on the road an hour early!  This, coupled with a time change that worked in our favor, put us in Madison, WI super early.

Our best attempt at getting the 'Welcome to Wisconsin' sign in the rain.

4.  Not only did our hotel let us check in an hour early, but they also upgraded us to a king suit at no extra cost!  How awesome is that?  Since we haven't seen a couch in over a month, this was a huge deal for us :)

Our giant room.  Ming obv. feeling at home already.

I'm pretty sure this bathroom is bigger than our whole room was in CT.

5.  Thanks to getting in early, we got to drive around and explore Madison a little!  Not only did we see the capital building, but we also found a Qdoba for dinner!

It's the comfort food that counts after a long day on the road! (did i mention there's a no makeup[me]/no shaving[Colin] policy while on this road trip?)

 That's about it folks!  Stay tuned for tomorrows recap once we make it to Sioux Falls, SD!  Only four days left!

Day Two: Todelo, OH

Hello from Ohio!  Ok, so we've finally reached somewhere where I have decent enough internet to update you all on the craziness of the last couple days.  I think it's best to separate it into parts:

Part 1: Leaving Connecticut

For the last week or so the navy has been promising guessing that we would leave each day, and each day we packed up and got ready to go and then something stopped us from actually getting on the road (that "something" was usually navy medical).  Then, on a sunny Tuesday morning in June, I got the text that Colin had his medical records in hand and we were set to hit the road.  As soon as he got home we packed up, thanked the beyond wonderful staff at the Rodeway Inn, and booked it before they could change their minds. 

As far as the actual logistics of Colin's medical hold, he's going to continue waiting around, we just get to do it in the comfort of our own home.  Although nothing is official, word on the street is that his waiver has been denied, and he will be redesignating in the fall(ish).  A lot still needs to be figured out, but he will for sure be staying in the Navy.

Part 2: Frackville, PA

Now, to say we left in a hurry would be an understatement.  We were just so excited to be given the ok to get out of town, that everything else more or less fell to the wayside.  Now, if you know me, you know that I don't do so well when things aren't planned out.  I'd say this quadruples for things like cross country trips.  Never the less, we haphazardly mapped out a route and picked some affordable pet friendly hotels along the way, without really checking too many reviews on each one (I usually go a little user review crazy). 

What's nice to someone, may be a complete snake pit to someone else.  I'm pretty sure that's what happened when it comes to Frackville, PA.  Stopping in Pennsylvania was hard enough considering there's not a whole lot between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but finding a pet friendly hotel is even harder.  Since we'd been living in a Rodeway Inn all this time, we figured we knew it wouldn't be great, but it would be livable.  We. Were. Dead. Wrong.

This hotel will without a doubt go down in history as the worst hotel we've ever had the pleasure of staying the night in.  As soon as we pulled up we knew it was less than ideal, but just as Colin was saying "if you want to go somewhere else we can..." Lao Tzu was throwing up in his carrier.  He made it through the whole four hours and waited until we were literally pulling in to this gross hotel to throw up everywhere.  At that point we were pretty much exhausted and figured one night wouldn't kill us and decided to stay.

As soon as we parked and got something to eat I made a trip to the local walmart to get some things for the trip.  While there I saw: 2 grown men in camo pajamas (at 7pm), 1 man drink out of a juice carton and put it back, and 1 Walmart that doesn't sell bottled water (what the what?).  Discouraged, I headed back towards the hotel only to pass by a maximum security state penitentiary.  Upon further phone googling I quickly found that not only is Frackville home to this prison I had driven by (that was .2 miles from our hotel), but that there were 3 more within a 6 mile radius from where I was.  Awesome. That definitely explained why the staff didn't ask me for any information (including an ID) when I checked in.  After that I couldn't drive back and unload the car fast enough.  As I did, the guy who lived next to us mentally inventoried everything I was taking out of the car (presumably to decide if we had anything worth breaking in for, which it seems we didn't). 

I will never stay in a random town without a thorough google search again.

Part 3: Toledo, OH

After a pretty successful (and windy) 7 hour drive we finally made it to Toledo, OH!  The La Quinta we're staying in has the most comfortable bed we've slept in in weeks, and the room couldn't be nicer (what a relief!).  The cats are happy, we're happy, and now we're just biding our time until we can get back on the road to head to Madison, WI tomorrow.  We should make it to Poulsbo by next Tuesday, and we can't wait to see our house!  It's been almost 7 months since poor Colin has even see what we've been paying mortgage for all this time.

Cross your fingers that our trip continues to go well, and I'll do my best to update whenever we have internet!!

Another Special Day!!!

Today my best friend and I are celebrating two years of marriage together!  And it has definitely been two adventure filled years to say the least!  We've grown more in these last two years than we have in the five and a half years that we've been together, and we've been lucky enough to grow together as time has gone by. 

It's a shame Mike has his eyes closed in this picture :)

Last year, we spent our anniversary in New York City, having lived in Glens Falls, NY only about a month.

Central Park!

This year, we decided to get some fresh seafood at Captain Scott's Lobster Dock in New London.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the lobster rolls were to die for!

The sun was blindingly bright

This giant line was more than worth it!

The view from our picnic table at the restaurant

We've definitely come a long way from the 19 year old babies we were when we started dating, and I can't wait for many more adventure filled years to come!

This year, we'll be coming full circle and heading back to Seattle where we first met!

P.S.
We may have some very exciting news related to getting out of this hotel soon - so stay tuned!

Congratulations are in order...

again for my dear husband Lieutenant Junior Grade Podelnyk.  That's right, little ol' Colin has moved up in the world and is no longer an Ensign.  As of today you may refer to him as Lieutenant Podelnyk, or sir :)  Whatever works best for you.

Now enjoy these highly embarrassing photos from the first Navy ball we went to together back in 2006.   Apparently we didn't take any pictures together. 

From the ridiculously silly look on my face, and the ridiculously serious look on his, you would think we were polar opposites.  Extra credit to Alex (who is also sporting a ridiculously silly look) for noticing that we weren't :)

Accidentally stumbling on Cabela's

Since I've been a lazy blogger this past week, I figured it was time for a little update.  This week, after unsuccessfully trying to sell Versa ourselves, we decided to give up and just buy a good quality Thule roof rack to help us make the trip.  Then, once we eventually make it back out west, we'll look into selling/buying again.  Unfortunately, fit kits for little Nissan Versa's are tough to come by, so we had to drive up to an L.L. Bean in Hartford to get the pieces.  On our way home Maggie was failing us, and we desperately needed a gas station, so we pulled off the freeway and ended up dead ending right into a giant Cabela's.  All of the sudden the dire hunt for the gas station seemed less important, and Colin's eyes just sort of glassed over.  I thought he just may have died.  Apparently, unbeknown to me, they have an "incredible fishing section."  Now, I'm not a huge fan, but Colin swears it's an amusement park for adults - ha.

Since I'm not really into the whole thing, I spent most of the time looking at all the "unique" items they sell.  This one was definitely my favorite:

"Hurry Honey, get the baby hoochie!!!"  I mean really?  There's nothing better that they could have named this?  Do they also sell a fully grown hoochie?

Apparently even guns get cold feet.  Who knew?

Now, I'm sure they're not promoting hunting house cats on purpose, but this looks a whole lot like a persian cat catching a bird.  Of all of the animals stuffed on this giant mountain in the middle of this store, the "cat" was the only one not labeled.  Suspicious, no?

I'll admit, the museum they had about local animals was pretty cool, but I still prefer my animals warm and cuddly over cold and stuffed.  Luckily, we made it out without purchasing anything, but Colin did fall in love with something that prompted him to rush toward me and say "Honey, I need about $350..."

After quickly reminding him how ridiculously overpriced that backpack was, he proceeded to walk around wearing it while he looked at everything else this giant super store had to offer.  The last section we visited was the sea of camo.  I was pretty sad to find that they didn't have anything in pink.  I guess there just isn't as many fields filled with cupcakes, rainbows, and cotton candy to hide in these days.

All in all, I guess I can admit that it was a pretty fun detour.  It definitely wouldn't have been my first choice for a visit, but Colin loved it and I never would have known about the existence of "baby hoochies" otherwise.  Next time, maybe we'll unexpectedly dead end into a giant comic book store or Coach outlet. 

Overlooked Achievements *Disclaimer: This is 100% brag post :)

With all of the chaos surrounding our not move, I feel like something awesome was overlooked.  My wonderful husband Colin (who ferociously fought against this posting), graduated from Submarine Officer Basic School (SOBC) at the top of his class, and received the L.Y. Spear award - thus completing his training as a nuclear officer.  The first L.Y. Spear award was given to the SOBC class honorman in June of 1938.  As a result he got a cool award to add to his collection, and a beautiful engraved watch.  I couldn't be more proud!

Here are some links to news websites where his accomplishment was published:
The Day Connecticut News

Sub School Website

*You can find the same article reposted some other places, you just have to search for Colin Podelynk.  What can I say, it's a tough name :)

Not to mention, next week he gets promoted to LTJG (Lieutenant Junior Grade)!  What an awesomely smart husband I have :)

Update:  Since some people have asked, and I should have made it more clear, the L.Y. Spear award is for "class honorman (highest gpa) in recognition of his overall superior academic performance."