John and the Giant Armoire

Many of you have heard the story of our new armoire- I finally have some pictures to post. This summer, John found a huge piece of furniture on the side of the road in our neighborhood early one morning. Apparently, someone was moving and didn't want to lug the thing to their next place (it had a "please take me away" sign on it). We had been wanting an armoire for our tv for a long time, so John got his short, collapsible dolly he uses for camera equipment and somehow was able to carry the massive thing to our apartment. It's so heavy that when I later tried to help him move it across the floor, I couldn't even push it an inch. It actually looks to be in better shape in this picture than how it actually was.



We didn't like the stain of the wood, and its former owners hadn't taken very good care of it, so it needed a little work. After a lot of thought and discussion, we settled on the idea of painting it. John studied how to paint furniture, and decided to make it two tone, white and black. He sanded it down, bought special brushes, painters tape, and new hardware.



It was a long process, because it took primer and around 6 coats of paint, with each coat sanded down so it was smooth. Now we can hide our tv, dvds and blankets!





And with the dolly, for good measure:

by the bay

This afternoon we were going to go to a choral concert at the Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco. I took the wrong exit off the freeway, and to make a long story short, we ended up not making it to the concert. We drove up to Fort Point instead- on of my favorite places. It's on the old military base by the opening of the bay, under the Golden Gate.

Inside the fort.

The view of the bay.

Proof

Thanks to Bridget, here is proof that I was indeed at the tractor pull in question. Here I am with Reba and Megan.

the midwest saga: part 2

I met Bridget, who was in Iowa visiting her family, and we drove up to Willmar, Minnesota. It was so great to see good friends and roomates from college- I can't believe it had been about 5 years since I had seen some of them! When we got there, we met Megan and Reba at the fair. We were lucky enough to get there in time for the tractor pull. Megan was volunteering at the fair, and we got to help her- by being trophy girls!

All the tractors waiting to compete.

The trophies had tractors and pickups on them!

That night we met up with more friends, and caught up a little before the big event- Heather and Mark's wedding. It was an outside wedding in the country- and it was beautiful! Here's the happy couple:


And the whole gang (in front of the corn field, of course):

I really loved seeing everyone- it had been way too long!