Memorial Day Weekend Blast

Some friends and I drove all night after work on Saturday to Smith Rock in Bend Oregon, which is close to Mt. Hood.  Smith Rock is a very cool Geological feature in the middle of an alpine desert.

Here is Wikipedia's take on it: "In addition to the world-famous rock climbing, Smith Rock State Park is host to many hiking trails, the meandering Crooked River and views of the volcanic peaks of Oregon's Cascade Range. Much of the 1994 film adaptation of the 1976 book Even Cowgirls Get The Blues was filmed within view of Smith Rock. Partial filming for the 1997 feature The Postman took place on location, while it additionally appeared in Swordfish in following years. Several westerns have been filmed here, including the John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn film Rooster Cogburn. The Rockhard building at the park entrance was built as a movie set for this film, portrayed as "Kates Saloon"".

On the last climb of the trip!

Cleaning Route on the last Climb of the day!

 On the backside of Smith Rock, getting close to the famous Monkey Face.

 And here is Monkey Face!  Wonder why they call it this? Ha, guess not.  Check out the climbers going up the Monkey's neck.  See climbers in the Monkey's mouth further down.

 On top of one of the mountains in the range before descending the other side.

Fun was had by all! 

Belaying Christy while Brian snacks

First climb of the trip!

Getting ready to climb again.

Racing Brian up on bordering paths. Of course I think he is setting the route, meaning he is taking the rope with him.  I think I was already secured in to the rock.  It is certainly easier to know you don't have far to fall, so I am probably a bit faster on this climb.

Heading down!

Job well done.  All climbers safe!

Kitchen Remodel?

Kitchens are an extremely hard space to consider and reconsider.  People redo their kitchens and spend upwards of $20,000 easily and sometimes much more than $100,000 on kitchens such as Varenna and Baultaup(which I adore).  I am more in line with a mini-Ikea renovation price tag. 

It is really hard to justify spending too much on a kitchen that is pretty new and functioning really well.  Definitely, the color has to go.  I could never stand the tendency for Seattlites to paint dark dull colors in their homes when there are so many days of gray here.  See below for what I am starting with:

Now the colors aren't unexpected or so bad that you want to projectile vomit.  I just can't handle the orangey red.  I also can't really handle the fake maple floors, with the ikea fake maple cabinets.  It is just too much fake maple.  The layout is just amazing to work with, and an extra wall in the kitchen which is perfect for use as an 'appliance garage'.   One other thing I really like is that we have a beautiful and still functioning vent! 

And then one thing in the kitchen I detest is the lighting. Not only is the lighting inadequate but the lights the previous owners 'updated' look more like a biopsy of a Grecian statues' breasts.  Is this really the statement I want in my kitchen?  I understand that you can buy these breasts at Lowes for $30 for a box of 5, and while that is great and all, I just have to say good bye to these gems. 






So far, Bob and I have agreed the colors need to change.  We landed on a color after a bit of debate.  The color is less 'appropriate' for the kitchen, than just makes us happy. It is a Teal Blue/green that is just a cool color, and very of the era for the house. Check it out.

Like my pal Chasten said when I asked about the color, he said the woods would start to look a bit yellow.  While I agree with that estimate, I just know that the rest will be changing sometime very soon.  I have been really attracted to Ikea's Glossy kitchens and I think a re-facing would do a lot for this kitchen. How much refacing to do, is of course up for debate, but just look how amazing the kitchens at Ikea look these days.

 I just love everything about this kitchen. I love the asymmetry the variability of the colors and the life it has.  I really want a colorful carpet and some wall shelves. 

The next two pictures show only the Gloss kitchens that Ikea carries.  This could help give some dimension to our kitchen with the reflective quality.  I also like the way Ikea brings in the outdoors with some greenery.

There is definitely a lot up for debate at the moment.  I think I have to hit the drawing board first before biting off too much. The blue-green makes Bob and I very happy at the moment, and I think that is all that matters right now.  I will try to sketch out some ideas of what to do and post those soon. I will leave you guys with the kitchen color and some samples of the cabinet choices we currently like from Ikea. Just not sure how we are going to mix and match the colors quite yet.