La Vida Lista Encyclopedia: Volume E

I needed a break from blogging to deal with a few things, but I'm back with...

La Vida Lista Encyclopedia: Volume E!

Here are a few things currently going on in my life that begin with the letter "E":

Earthquake, The

You all may have heard that there was an earthquake in Mineral, Virginia that was felt through several other states too. Apparently, Dan and I are morons because we didn't even know it was an earthquake when it was happening. We were eating outside in Williamsburg, VA, and at first we thought the earth was shaking because a nearby water heater was buzzing slightly. It wasn’t until a nearby kid said to his grandpa, “Did you feel the tremor?” that the light bulb went off for us. Yes, an eleven year old figured it out faster than these two thirty-somethings.

Ever since 'Quake 2011, it has been NON-STOP fodder for "I survived an earthquake!" hysteria around Richmond. Never mind the fact that some people didn't even feel anything at all. It's actually a bit comical at this point, seeing that no real destruction was caused in Richmond. One panic-stricken teacher at my school almost shrieked, "One of my wine glasses cracked!" If Californians could hear these comments, they would probably pee their pants from laughing... given that they know what real earthquakes are like.

One of my friends told me about this picture that has been circling the Internet that I thought summed up some of the panic best. A guy sent this picture to a local news station:

Here was his tagline: Thanks to all of you for your kind words of support, as we look to recover from the devastation of today's quake!
I guess his picture is a good reminder that it could have been much, much worse and how we should all count ourselves very lucky.

This brings me to...

Electricity, No

Our house has been without electricity since 12 a.m. yesterday due to Hurricane Irene. We've been camping out at a nearby grocery store to use free WIFI all of today, hence the above picture of me with unwashed hair (can't use hair dryer).

Anyway, we knew this might happen earlier this week, so I got my Girl Scout on and bought a ton of energy bars and water. I put Dan on buying a lantern and batteries. Of course, he is not as anal as I am and forgot to go lantern shopping until Friday afternoon. When he went to three different stores, all he could find was spulunking lights that attach to one's forehead.

And to get him back for forgetting to get said lantern, I've made the executive decision to share ONLY the pictures of him wearing the gear!

For your viewing pleasure:





And here's a very dark picture of him reading in bed:


Yep, we read, played chess, and generally hung out for about five hours wearing lights on our forehead. Here's hoping the electricity comes on soon before we get a permanent flashlight-shaped indentations...

Lastly, I thought I'd end with the funniest homage to "E"


Eighties Hair, unintentionally:
You may be asking, "How can hair be unintentionally 80's looking?"

Answer: A hyper hairstylist with too many hairdos to do

My sister was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding recently. A few stylists came to the hotel room to do everyone's hair before the wedding.

The bride got an elegant chignon.

The other seven bridesmaids got rather boring, but classy looking French twists.

My sister's turn was last. She told the stylist that she trusted her, and that she could do whatever she wanted.

Mistake.

But such a funny mistake!

During the styling, Bethany didn't have a mirror near her, but the stylist kept coohing, "Oh! You're going to love this! This is my favorite one yet."

Here are the hilarious iPhone pics that Bethany sent to me during the wedding:

That is a total side ponytail, my friends!

Bethany and I couldn't stop laughing afterwards about this! She actually looked cute with it still, even though she could have passed for a Pretty in Pink extra. (I'm dying to show you the pictures with her and all the bridesmaids because it's like the Sesame Street game, "Which one isn't like the other?" I'll post as soon as she sends them to me!)

So there you have it: Volume E! Hope you enjoyed! Oh, wait... here's one more:

Errors, I hope there are no

No home Internet = no way to fix errors = an English teacher's pet peeve

Just do it # 18: Make over the smallest room in our house

Dan and I are bad about endlessly talking about a project before starting it.

Take our bathroom.

You might remember from my earlier post that at first it looked like this:

It might not photograph as bad, but up close it was.

Dan and I talked about doing two minor changes (floor and vanity) for years. We kept complaining about how there was too much white: the curtains, shelves, vanity, mat, towels, baskets... everything, except the dingy linoleum that was once white but had turned the color of a dead tooth.

Finally, we decided to do something about it. You all already know the first step we did was ripping up all the linoleum and discovering vintage tile underneath. Well, since that post three weeks ago, we have:

1. Thoroughly cleaned the tile
(Dan went nuclear on it with mineral spirits, then soap and water, then bleach.)

2. Picked out a new vanity and faucet from Lowe's

3. Took two hours putting said vanity together

4. Hired Lowe's people to install it for us

5. Purchased a few new accessories

6. Painted the wall tile where it had chipped.

7. Rocked out with our caulk out

(No, I didn't make up this home improvement pun, but it applies. We caulked everything within an inch of its life. :)

Anyhoo, keep in mind this is a minor makeover since we're two teachers on a budget and are planning on selling in the next few years, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Before:

Now:

Once we cleaned up the vintage tile, I kind of liked it. There are a few that are slightly discolored or cracked, but overall they look pretty damn good for being from the 50's. It just didn't make sense to rip all of this up, so we're leaving it.

Vanity before:

Vanity now:

I have to say I like the modern look of our new vanity! It's sleek, has a fairly roomy cabinet, and now I finally have a place for a couple towels:

Before, we had one of those tacky faucets that looks like a crystal ball:

Now, we have this brushed nickel one:

In terms of accessories, I picked up expresso brown towels and face cloths since I'm so sick of the constant bleaching of the white ones. I also bought a basket to store toilet paper and a cushy brown mat.

This picture doesn't look as good as it does in person, but here's the cabinet now:





And here's the new cushy rug that will hopefully hide dirt much better:

Insane close up of cushy rug:

So that's how we finally finished our tweaks on our tiny, 1950's bathroom.

Verdict of this "just do it": DONE

that is, until we stop endlessly discussing the outdated light fixture (not pictured) and actually do something about that too.

I give it two more years... :)