Week 11: Farewell to My Fabulous Fifties – The Bathroom Edition

Hello on this beautiful Monday. I am not sure what the weather is doing but it is a beautiful Monday to me because my bathroom is done! There are no painters, plumbers, contractors or workers of any kind. As nice as they all are, it’s great to have our home all to ourselves again! In fact I think I’ll do a celebratory lap in my jammies!

So this edition, week 11, will primarily focus on our bathroom reveal. Our home is 21 years old and the bathroom is original to the house. The before photos don’t show it well, but the tile was cracked in spots and the space was in need of a general update. Our contractor Tony did a great job from start to finish and I would happily recommend him without reservation. He was honest, hardworking and always showed up on time. He was also priced fairly. We really felt lucky! We are delighted with the way it turned out. This bathroom is used as our back-up bathroom when time is tight and we both need to shower and it also serves as a guest bathroom. We had a new steam sauna installed. Our old one had been broken for quite a while, so we are really looking forward to putting that sauna to good use. So here are a few before and after photos.

Surprisingly, we found this vanity at Lowes and it was exactly what we had in mind. It came with the sink and marble vanity top. We decided to eliminate the wall mirrors and just place one individual mirror above the vanity.

I stripped off the wallpaper (not fun) and we opted for wainscoting along the walls with a tile border running around the room. It also serves as a backsplash to the vanity.

We opted for a rain shower and a hand held shower. We had a niche built in for bath products.

Hand-held shower in addition to rain shower and bench for using the steam sauna.

I scoured Instagram for quite a while to collect all the bathroom images I liked and looked for commonalities between the photos to help make decisions. We opted to go from a beige palate to a gray and green palate to coordinate with our recent basement remodel. The green in the photo actually doesn’t translate well. Our paint color was Seasalt from Sherwin Williams with Extra-white for trim and wainscoting. Our tile is a linen-look from Virginia tile with coordinating Agate Bari Pearl with variations for trim and shower floor. Our plumbing fixtures were from Builders Plumbing and Heating Supply and Ferguson Plumbing, both in Ann Arbor. Now that it is complete, I am so happy we undertook the project. It took 3 1/2 weeks from start to finish but that includes a week where nothing was done, the contractor was finished but we were waiting for the painter and shower door. The shower door had to be custom made due to sizing, and was done by Mirror Image. The artwork on the wall adjacent to the vanity was a watercolor we purchased years ago in Saugatuck, which I had re-matted in gray. I found the Bless Our Nest mixed media piece at Bed Bath and Beyond. If you want any names of people or products, don’t hesitate to reach out.

So, that’s a wrap for our bathroom redo! But because owning a house provides a revolving carousel of never-ending projects, our next few undertakings will be having our wood floors refinished and replacing the laundry room countertop. Onward and upward.

In other news, I have found THE wine! Many thanks to Amanda, a member of my husband’s office team, for sending it my way! I have been trying wines from Italy, France, California and Washington, but I should have known that deep down I am a Michigan girl at heart. This 2016 Muscat is from Shady Lane Cellars located in Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula. It’s described as elegant and fresh with aromas and flavors of orange and apple blossoms, tangerine and a clean vibrant finish. It is not too sweet and strikes just the right crisp note for my palate. I still love me some Grand Traverse Late Harvest Riesling but this will provide a nice alternative when I’m not in the mood for sweet. I enjoyed it with barbecue chicken, fresh corn and a salad made with produce from our local farm-stand (shout out to Budd’s Produce). And as a further bonus, I know I will always remember the name of this wine because my family nickname is Lane. I find it pretty humorous or perhaps poetic justice that its name is Shady Lane. I believe I can confidently check off item # 46 on my list (find a new favorite wine) I also believe I see a road trip up to Shady Lane Cellars in my future!

Chicken was still on the grill while we enjoyed yummy salad and corn from Budd’s Produce in Belleville. Shady Lane Muscat was the perfect accompaniment to this summer meal.

Moving on, my Duolingo streak remains intact at 712 days. French class resumes after summer hiatus on Monday. I’m still meditating using the Headspace app. I’ve even tried a walking meditation which I liked. I’ve done yoga using my Nordic Track and I’ve managed to squeeze in a total of 30 workouts on my way to 50, including a walk along a Hawaiian beach, and a stroll through both Antarctica and Vienna. I am way ahead of schedule. I’ve read a few more books (Unsheltered, Year One, The Education of Dixie Dupree). Very different reads but all were enjoyable. I am currently reading John Grisham’s new book, The Reckoning, which will be book #43. I am 84% of the way to my goal of 50 for the calendar year, and 14 books ahead of schedule. This will give me a cushion when I dive back into the last book in the Poldark Series, which is entails reading 688 pages of very small print and always seems to slow me down!

We are getting close to the debut of our dog Kobe’s new tricks. (yes, I said tricks with an s!) Turns out you CAN teach an old dog a new trick …or two! In looking over my list, there are still quite a few things that can ONLY be done in warmer weather, so I need to keep plugging away at them. We head up north next week where I hope to check a few more items off of my bucket list and take a few photos of the lovely upper peninsula to share with all of you. Make it a great and productive week and like Kobe, why not challenge yourself to try something new this week too? As always, if you want to check out the original bucket list here is a link to the blog post. Make it a great week. Now where’d I leave that wine glass?

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Week 10: Farewell to My Fabulous Fifties

Hello from Boston where I am tackling item #49 on my bucket list, sightseeing in Boston! Well, actually by the time you are reading this I will be back home in Michigan. Mike and I were in Boston for a long weekend so he could attend a conference of some of the nations’ top Invisalign providers. I got the better end of this deal because while he was pow-wowing, I was out exploring Boston. Well, actually I was “in” exploring Boston. Because of unseasonably high temperatures prompting heat advisories, I decided it might be an excellent day to visit the New England Aquarium and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts topped off by a shopping trip to the Prudential Center. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Actually, we rolled into town on Thursday, and due to a flight delay made a bee-line for our dinner reservation at the Top Of The Hub, luggage and all. The restaurant is located in the Prudential Center on the 52nd floor. Thankfully they were more than accommodating in storing our luggage for us. Apparently this must not be too uncommon. We were fortunate enough to have 7:45 dinner reservations and a window seat to Mother Natures’ finest floor show. This was a perfect way to start our trip because we began with a daylight aerial view of the surrounding area and ended by watching the sun fade below the horizon, changing the city into a dazzling array of twinkling lights. I was somewhat concerned that the view may be the big draw, but that was misplaced as we both agreed our meals were spectacular. I enjoyed Lobster ravioli and Mike had a tuna steak. We topped off the meal with Boston Creme Pie of course, which really helped cement my fan status of Boston. Come for the delightful accent of the citizens and stay for the lobster and Boston Creme Pie!

Our night time view of the city. It was memorable watching the sky go from dusk to darkness.

Friday, we had much of the day together and decided to explore the beautiful Public Gardens and Newbury street, which we had noticed on our Uber ride back to the hotel the night before. We stayed in Waltham at the Westin which was about a 25 minute Uber ride to downtown, as that is where the conference was being held. I understand that many people stay in the suburbs and opt to Uber in because of the high prices of the downtown hotels.

Public Garden, adorned with statues and it also boasted a small pond with swan boats (if you like that sort of thing.)

We visited their public library. I love seeing libraries in major cities as it reveals so much about the values and intellect of it’s citizens. This library looked much like a museum. It boasted murals by John Singer Sargent, and was engraved with the names of famous authors throughout history, both on the inside and outside of the building. A library is a bit like my personal church, I approach them with reverence and awe, and this particular library deserved both.

If you look carefully you can make out the names of famous authors engraved on edifice of the building.

What an awesome place to study and read!

We wandered up and down Newbury, stopping for lunch at a little sidewalk cafe, MET Back Bay. I had to have a Lobster roll, because, well, we were in Boston! It was yummy but definitely a bit overpriced for the lobster to roll ratio. ($32). We did enjoy sitting on the sidewalk (well a few steps down from the sidewalk, which seemed to be a thing here in Boston) and people watching while sipping our cocktails, which were the best! Mike had a watermelon margarita, and I had a coconut mojito and both were amazing.We did a little shopping at the Prudential Center then headed back so he could make cocktails and dinner with his colleagues.

Lobster roll, sweet potato fries, watermelon margarita and a coconut mojito, well done Boston!

Saturday, Mike was in conference and I did some exploring. I understand they have an awesome Science Center but I opted to go a different way. Both the New England Aquarium and the Fine Arts Museum are world-class. I highly recommend a visit. I was lucky to stumble on to the Toulouse Latrec exhibit, which I enjoyed. The museum also had a Jackson Pollock installation and an extensive collection of John Singer Sargent, an artist I was only slightly familiar with. I left there a big fan of his work.

I ended up eating at the museum’s dining room as opposed to the aquarium and that was a wise decision. I enjoyed a wonderful vegetable tart. The aquarium had the regular fare you would expect, nothing exceptional. You ordered at a counter and found a seat. The museum however had several different dining options, from family friendly to a little more elegant. I ate at the New American Cafe which had table service and a delightfully unexpected menu, offering both wine and craft beer.

What the aquarium lacked in culinary delights it made up for in an extensive display of both the unusual and the endangered. They did a fabulous job of enlightening their visitors as to the impact of global warming on these animals and what measures we as individuals could take to reduce our carbon footprint (paper straws, reusable water bottles, etc) For instance, penguins feed in cold water, as global warming affects their feeding grounds, the penguins must swim farther out to get food. They feed their young by regurgitating their meal upon their return. With penguins having to swim farther away, many times the meal has already been digested by the time they return, leaving nothing left to feed their chick. This is endangering the penguin population. This is just one of the examples they provided. The aquarium boasts a large center tank which has a ramp going up four stories culminating at the turtle exhibit at the top of the tank. One highpoint was watching as scuba divers entered the center tank and hand fed the fish. The stingrays were pesky fellows, rubbing right up against the divers, basically begging for food like a dog might. It was a remarkable thing to watch! I ended my day with a little shopping at the Prudential Center, which holds not only Top Of The Hub and an observation tower but a mall. Much to my delight Mike decided to skip out of the dinner with his colleagues and joined me for a stroll down Newbury street where we settled on dinner at Joe’s, a blessedly air-conditioned establishment that was able to seat us after a short wait. I enjoyed chicken piccata and Mike had the special, blackened mahi mahi. Both accompanied by the requisite glass of Riesling for me and a cocktail for Mike. Our meals were very good.

The New England Aquarium. Notice the queue for tickets is empty. The line was relocated inside due to heat advisories. It was a good day to be inside!

Sunday, we were up early for breakfast and had the hotel store our luggage. We took an Lyft out to the start of the Freedom Trail, which sounds easier than it was. After a mishap with the Lyft App and a change of driver, we finally made it to our destination. We enjoyed watching history come alive, visiting important historical sites that played vital roles in our American history, such as the old South Meeting House, the site of the tax protest that ended with the uprising known as the Boston Tea Party or the Old State House which held the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Boston. What struck me the most was the numerous locations which served as public forums, and the very strong emphasis on freedom of speech, even unpopular speech. The focus was on the right to speak, even if you didn’t care for what is being said. Our founding fathers recognized the importance of that from the start both, for free speech and freedom of the press. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

The second stop on the Freedom Trail: The State House. The dome is coated in 23 karat gold. My only question is why 23 karats? Couldn’t they spring for that extra karat. “24 karats? Too much, we can’t do it.”

We also saw the site of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere’s house and the graves of Paul Revere, Sam Adams and several other well and lesser known Patriots. Seeing these historical figures come alive for me was the best part. They were actual people, not the mythical Gods we revered from the pages of our elementary history books. They were brave people that took risks, and I can’t help but wonder what I would have done. Which side would I have taken, Loyalist or Patriot? I like to think I would have been among the Patriots but of course, who can ever know?

Statue of Paul Revere in the foreground. In the background is the Old North Church. The steeple of this church is the sight where the lanterns were hung from the famous “one if by land and two if by sea.”

We also made a quick pitstop to check out the Harvard Campus, an event we also shared in Mike’s office’s Instagram story.

Harvard’s library is unfortunately not open to the public.

As this post is rather long, I am not going to overly detail my other bucket list items this week. I will mention that I used cilantro from my herb garden to garnish a big batch of white bean chicken chili. The only other accomplishment I wish to share is my 700 day streak in Duolingo. I am waiting until I reach the 2 year mark at 730 days, to celebrate. Finally, if all goes well, I should be ready to share our bathroom remodel before & after next week.

Signing off for now with these wise words from Benjamin Franklin: “Our Constitution only guarantees you the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

So get on out there and pursue your own brand of happiness! See you next week.

Week 3 of The Farewell to My Fabulous Fifties Tour: London Edition

London is amazing. I am not sure what I expected it to be but it far surpassed anything that I had imagined. The buildings are gorgeous. Everywhere you turn there is a picturesque little street or a fabulous structure with architectural details that awe and delight! We’ve done a tremendous amount of walking averaging 6-10 miles a day, and Mike even more as he’s run a couple of early mornings through the streets of London. My verdict: London is a bucket-list-worthy destination without a doubt!

This week has truly been memorable. We started Monday by paying a visit to the Museum of Natural History. The structure alone is worth a visit. It is incredibly detailed in carvings which are unique from one another. The building very much represents the natural world which it was intended to showcase. It is a mind-blowing piece of architecture. Richard Owens, the naturalist who founded this museum campaigned for it as a “cathedral to nature,” which it truly is!

Each column has intricate carvings representing various forms of flora and fauna.

The main entry from above showing the Blue Whale skeleton that hangs in the front hall. The skeleton alone weighs 3 tons and is impressive to view from every angle.

This was the moon exhibit. It was a glowing replica of the moon hung in the center of a darkened room. Here is Mike “holding up” the moon (as did almost every visitor to the exhibit) There is so much to see at this museum, but I am going to keep it to these few photos as I’ve still got so much of London to share with you.

We spent several hours at the museum and then our next stop was the iconic Harrods. Harrods department store is huge, but my favorite part is nestled in the middle. There are little food shops for cheese, coffee, teas, chocolate, flowers and other specialties. The smells were amazing. These little shops were the busiest in the store.

After Harrods, we grabbed an Uber to Knotting Hill where we ducked into a pretty authentic neighborhood pub called The Elgin Pub and Dining Room. We split a burger and fries. The locals were loudly enjoying a soccer game (football here in the UK). I was observer rather than participant yet felt lucky to be a part of it all! This place has the distinction of being the only place we came across which showed the way to the bathroom with the word “Loos.” I had rather thought it would be more common to see it. We enjoyed taking a stroll through the streets of Notting Hill where the buildings were cute and colorful, full of character.

This quirky little building had Freddy Mercury, Elton John, John Lennon, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga all hanging out in their windows.

Tuesday morning we were up early, catching an Uber to make our bus connection for a tour to Stonehenge with pitstops in Bath for the Roman baths and the English county of Berkshire to see Windsor Castle. How extraordinary to see these baths sited on a geothermal spring, built 2 millennia ago. We toured the building and then on to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge.

Windsor Castle was completed in 1528 and is the final resting place of many British Royals including Henry VIII.

Stonehenge was a bucket-list item and it lived up to my expectations. If you’ve visited Stonehenge in the past, the grounds surrounding it have been redone to include a visitor center, and parking has been re-located a bit away from the stones with a shuttle bus or a short walk to reach the site. We had plenty of time to walk around the whole site and really take in. It is speculated to have been built in the Neolithic age. The stones were thought to have been placed 2,000-3,000 BC and though many theories have been floated as to it’s method of construction and even it’s purpose, there is no certainty. The site felt mystical to me but it raises as many questions as it answers.

The following day we went on another excursion, this time by train. Up early, we had breakfast on the train and 2 hours later found ourselves in drizzly, chilly Liverpool. Another bucket-list destination. It couldn’t dampen the spirits of two Beatles geeks though. We started with a visit to the Beatles Museum. We enjoyed the exhibits and learning more about the group we both love. The Beatles, more than any other group, have truly been the soundtrack for our lives. We danced to “Here There and Everywhere” for our wedding dance. Our daughter Jenna danced to “In My Life” as her senior recital song and also for her Daddy-Daughter wedding dance. She had the string version of “Here, There and Everywhere” playing as I was seated at her wedding. So much love for the Beatles. After our Museum visit we met the bus for The Magical Mystery Tour where we visited Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and we went past each of the Beatles childhood homes. Surprisingly “working-class hero” John Lennon, grew up in the nicest house of the four. But the climax of our day, and arguably our whole trip, was a visit to The Cavern Club, the place where the Beatles got their start. It was really quite a visceral experience. You make your way down more than one flight of winding stairs. There were a series of labyrinth like rooms and in the far back one, there was a young man singing “Blackbird” very much sounding like a young Paul Mccartney. It was just so cool to be there where it all began!

In the winding staircase on the way down.

Our day had started at 6am and after a two hour train ride and dinner on the train, we arrived back at Euston station around 9pm. It really was the trip of dreams for the two of us.

The following day we went to St. Pauls cathedral and climbed up to the Golden Gallery, a staggering 528 steps, not for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic. The staircase is very narrow and winding, and allows a one person width, at times it even requires you to duck a little. But once at the top you are rewarded with some of the most spectacular views of London! The cathedral was built by Sir Christopher Wren on the site of the previous church destroyed by The Great Fire of London starting in 1675 and completed in 1708. It’s an astounding architectural feat which has undergone some refurbishment to ensure it’s continued stability. It was the site of Winston Churchill’s funeral and if you’re as old as I am, you may recognize it as the venue for the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles.

That evening we enjoyed cocktails and hors’doeurves in the Red Room of our hotel hosted by Invisalign for all of the attendees and their wives. The following day Mike was in classes all day and I spent the day shopping and sight seeing. That evening we enjoyed dinner with all of the American Delegates on the 28th floor of the Hilton overlooking Hyde park and watching the sunset. It was a memorable experience.

The last day, while Mike was still in class, I did a Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour solo. I chose the top level of a double decker open air bus as the day was sunny and warm. There were several options which offered walking tours or a river tour as well as the bus tour, but I decided just to do the bus so I would be free when Mike got out of class. I wandered over to Hatchards, which is not only the bookstore to the royals but is the oldest bookstore in London, dating back to 1797. They even have the table that Oscar Wilde used to sign his books on, and they use it for book signings even today. When Mike got out of class, we did a little shopping and strolled through Hyde Park. It was perfect summer day and the park was full of picnickers and people enjoying the day.

The table Oscar Wilde used to sign his books on.

Each part of our trip was great. We explored London, which is my new favorite city. We met some wonderful orthodontists and a few wives from around the world. Mike attended an Invisalign symposium with the top 300 Invisalign orthodontists around the world coming from 37 different countries. We had conversations about the differences in the health care delivery system in the presence of England’s socialized medicine and what that means to the practitioner My assessment after these discussions: not good for the practitioner or the patient. But that’s a long and interesting conversation we’ll leave for another day. We learned about the public’s feelings on Brexit (it’s a polarizing subject) and were there on Friday, May 24th, the day the headlines announced Theresa May’s decision to step down on June 7th. England’s feeling about our president seems to be as polarized as our own country’s. In fact Trump was arriving in England on the heels of our departure and protests were being planned. We also met those strongly in favor of his presidency. Surprisingly for me, the question I was asked the most by individuals was why we don’t have gun control. A couple of people even expressed a reluctance to visit the states because they were worried about becoming the victim of gun crime. Sadly, the Virigina Beach mass shooting occurred towards the end of our stay, before we were even asked the question.

We made new friends and enjoyed learning about the wonderful history of London. Despite a valiant effort to find my new favorite wine, sampling vintages from Germany, France and Italy, I failed to do so. But I did managed to tick a few things of the bucket list on this visit: Abby Road, Buckingham Palace, Liverpool and Stonehenge!

The coming week will be back to reality. The next blog post will probably be much shorter as I’ll have no exciting destination to tell you about, but hopefully still a few more things to check off the list.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.