Home Renovation 2013: Part 3--Front Room

While browsing back through my blog posts last weekend, I realized that I never finished my Home Renovation series from last year...I'm not a very good blogger, I know. So, even though it's now over a year later, I'll try to pick up where I had left off...this is now Part 3--The Front Room!

There are 2 rooms in our house that suffered from an identity crisis and this is one of them. The "front room" as we call it, is immediately to the left as you enter the front door, and was most likely the living room of the house before the major renovation/extension that occurred during the previous ownership. The extension to the back part of the house added a great room which is where we spend most of our time in watching TV and lounging around, so there was no need for a separate living room. So, for a long time the front room was a wasted empty space that was an eyesore every time we entered the house and definitely not the first impression of the house that we wanted to give off. This is how it used to look before we decided to give it a makeover:

"front room" viewed from the front door

odd recessed "nook" next to the fireplace that served no function

As can be seen from the pictures, the room was pretty much empty--we did place couple of chairs and a small table in our attempt to make it into a sitting room and while it wasn't half bad, it still lacked character and we never ended up sitting there much. So, in tackling this room, we wanted to give it a more defined purpose, and to infuse more personality and liveliness into it. So, here's how the room looks now after the transformation:

viewed from the front door

viewed from the dining room

"nook" transformation

gained storage space

charging station--keeps all messy cables hidden out of sight with its lid closed

After much brainstorming, we decided that a mini office was the best purpose for this room. Since we already have dedicated offices where we do our "real" work in, this room is intended for light work only--to sort through mails and do some reading in. It's also where we keep things like our Garmin watches and music players charged up for a quick access before heading out the door. So, here's the breakdown:

1. We kept the paint color--we like the calming effect of the existing green and it's a nice contrast to the brown wood and the neutral whites.
2. We kept the chairs in the room for now, but we feel they are too big for the room and will eventually be replaced by something more suitable.
3. Due to the small size of the room, we chose the most minimal desk and chair that would take up the least amount of visual space, and because we got everything from IKEA, it was very cheap as well.
4. Again, to keep things light and airy, we chose a leaning ladder shelf which takes up very little space while providing a ton of space for display and organization.
5. To balance out the adjacent wall, we placed a vertical mirror (already owned) with a similar wood tone.
6. The fireplace mantel now sets a nice visual tone for the whole room--we chose a mirror instead of a painting, because we don't have any painting that's worthy of a fireplace mantel and also because we wanted to try to reflect more light into the room.
7. The biggest project for this room by far was the built-in shelf on the left side of the fireplace. We were lucky to have found a base cabinet at IKEA that was both cheap and a perfect dimension for the nook. We had the top sized and cut and stained dark brown and added new chrome hardware for the doors. We added the floating  shelves on top, painted them white and added thick molding to the front for a more visual impact. All in all, we were able to essentially convert a dead space into a full functional storage/display unit which also adds to the character of the room.

Since renovating the room, we use it much more than ever before. It's very functional and now has a definite identity of its own. It's now also a very cozy and welcoming room to step into every time we come home.

Happy 10! Project: Life's a Beach

It's now August, the peak of the summer season...or at least that's what I always thought. On my morning run today, I saw a lot of activity on the streets and that's when I realized that kids are going back to school this week. Crazy! Growing up, we always went back to school after Labor Day, and August was spent mostly playing out in the sun, trying to squeeze in that last bit of the summer fun before heading back to classes. So, for this photoshoot it was only fitting to do a beach theme! My dogs really love going to the beach and playing in the water, and we were all daydreaming of our next trip down...in the meantime, I guess this will have to do.

Ready to snorkel!

"I think this is slightly too small..."

"What am I suppose to do with this thing?"

Ready for the beach!

"This is kinda' comfy..."

"This is wrinkling my style!"

"Can we go to the REAL beach now?"

Happy 10! Project: Red White & Blue

This morning, I had a major case of the Monday blues after the long holiday weekend...it was a really nice stretch of relaxation and quality time with the family and unusually nice and dry weather for this time of the year. I was definitely sad to see it come to an end. One of the fun things we did over the weekend was the red white & blue photoshoot in honor of the Independence Day. Here's how it turned out:

Happy 238th Birthday, America!

7.2.2014: Silly boy...

As we get ready for the big Fourth of July weekend, I wanted to take a moment to share a funny thing (sort of) that happened last weekend. We were out and about shopping and dogs were left home alone...nothing unusual. What normally happens when we return home is, we can hear Jasper barking to greet us even before we park our car in the driveway. So, we thought it was a bit odd when all was quiet on this particular return and when we unlocked the door, there was only Misty waiting for us. You have the understand that this NEVER happens at our house--if anything, sometimes Misty may decide that it's too much trouble to get off the couch for us may be hard of hearing and miss us come in, but Jasper has never missed his greeting by the front door, not once. So, of course we panicked and started to look for him, imagining something terrible has happened to him. We quickly worked our way through all the obvious rooms and places but did not find him, and that really scared us. We were calling out his name and was about to search the backyard next when we heard his muffled bark coming from the little toilet room in the master bathroom, the furthest back part of the house. We opened the door and he popped out all distressed and happy at the same time. He wagged and rubbed himself all over us while letting out little whimpers for several minutes before finally calming down. We gave him lots of kisses and hugs and let him take a well deserved nap on the couch while we tried to figure out the mystery.

exhausted little pup

We had no idea how he got himself in that predicament, but after couple of hours of resting, Jasper was all back to himself and he even reenacted the scene for us--we had him follow us into the bathroom and he had no hesitations or fear, so that was a good sign. We watched him as he sniffed the floor so we figured he must've followed a bug or something in the first place and that's when we also noticed the door slowly closing on its own. Well...I did put some oil on the door hinges not too long ago because it was squeaking and I guess that lubricated it too well. Now, the door did not close all the way, so I went out and called him to come and that's when he slapped the door shut with his paw in his effort to open it...mystery solved! We felt so bad for the little guy, having been trapped in a dark little room all by himself for who knows how long (we were gone for about three hours), but it was really kind of funny at the same time...what a silly boy!

Happy 10! Project: Bubbles!

After taking a bit of a break, we finally resumed our photo project last week. We're more than half way done with June already...can't believe half a year has gone by! Well, it's definitely summer outside now, and blowing bubbles was one of my favorite childhood summer activities, and therefore our chosen theme for this photoshoot--it's playful, happy and magical.

Although I've always loved looking at photos of bubbles, I have never tried taking one myself, so I had no idea how this photoshoot will turn out, much less how my dogs might react to this "foreign floating substance". For the session, I bought a little battery operated bubble blower for about $10 which also came with a small bottle of solution. Turned on, the motor was somewhat noisy, but not obnoxious, and while it did produce a ton of bubbles, it went through the solution pretty quickly. My dogs were definitely more cautious than curious and would not sit for too long of a stretch at a time, so I had a very small window of opportunity to work with, making this probably the quickest photo session I've ever done! At the end though, I did manage to capture a few interesting and adorable shots, so I'm more than happy with the results. Here they are:

raining bubbles!

I love all the colors captured in the bubbles!

a little bit curious...

"can I eat it?"

bubble bokeh

not impressed...

Happy Summer!

6.19.2014: New breakfast menu

After returning from the San Diego Marathon, we discussed over how to change up our diet now that we're no longer in training and our bodies certainly don't need all the extra calories and carb. So, one of the first changes we've made was with our breakfast. During training, it usually consisted of bread or rice with eggs, a banana, a glass of almond milk and/or orange juice. In our effort to cut down on calories and to just go back to a more simple and light eating, we decided on fruit smoothies. The summer is really the perfect time for this, as fresh fruits are in season and easy to come by. So, we took a little trip to Costco and our local farmer's market for all the necessary ingredients.

ready for the blender!

kale, superfood!

The beauty of a smoothie is that there's really no set recipe to follow--you can add just about any fruit or vegetable to your liking, throw in some yogurt for thickness (and a dose of protein), and there you have it. I like to sweeten my smoothie with some mango--fresh if at all possible, but a little mango nectar is also good (and less messy). I was a bit weary about adding the kale (or any other green vegetable), but to my surprise, it was actually kind of refreshing. I also thought it would be very time consuming and fussy to be making smoothies in the morning, but it's really a lot quicker than cooking a conventional breakfast, and cleanup is also minimal.

quick and easy breakfast, and good for you!

We've now been doing this for the past 2 weeks and I think this new breakfast routine is here to stay for a long time. Right now, we're doing the strawberry, blueberry, banana, kale and mango smoothie, but we're also excited about trying some of the other superfood like acai and chia, in the future.

6.16.2014: Post San Diego Marathon

Returning to life and blogging after a little marathon hiatus...It's been 2 weeks since the San Diego Marathon and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. This was our 4th marathon and it was the hardest and the worst one to date. It's a bit of a let down since we had the best training ever and yet the results don't reflect that, unfortunately.  Well...as in life, that's just how it goes sometimes--it's not always about the results, but the process. Not withstanding the ridiculous course planning by the Rock 'n' Roll franchise (I won't even go into that), the biggest factor in our shortcoming was the relentless heat. Going into it, I knew it was going to be tough, but even so, I underestimated the power of the Southern California sun by miles! (Pun intended.) Plus, the other 3 marathons were all during the fall with a nice 50 degree weather, so I guess my body just wasn't ready for a summer marathon. There's a reason why all the big races are in the fall...lesson learned.

nasty sun burn!

unexpected chafing spot where my sweat-drenched shorts rubbed against my skin.

Not only did it wipe me out during the run, but it's impact on my body was quite long lasting, definitely longer than any other times. This recovery period was also a bit odd in that, whereas my legs recovered much easier and quicker than the other 3 marathons, I was debilitated for the first time with a weird vertigo symptoms affecting my hearing and balance for well over a week. Initially, I thought it must be from dehydration and electrolyte deficit, so I loaded up on water and Gatorade, but then after a week and still not feeling 100%, I self-medicated with 3-days course of penicillin and that finally did the trick.  So, I presume it might have been some sort of sinus bug? Who knows...anyways, I'm almost all better now and can resume my life. Though I suffered through this marathon, it was still a great experience and I have no regrets. Now on to the next adventure!