May 26, 2014

Long Weekend Basics: Memorial Day Weekend

Hi there! We wanted to pop in to wish everyone a happy Memorial Day. We were both able to take the long weekend and have been enjoying the day of reflection and rest.



Coming back from a busy week in NYC, we intentionally made no other plans for the 3-day weekend other than carving out time to get a bunch of updates that've been on the back burner taken care of. There have been a few projects we've been meaning to get to, or began at one time or another and never quite finished (tell me we're not alone!). Well, this was the weekend to knock a bunch out and I'm happy to report that we DID! We've got a little house party in the works next weekend to celebrate Stephanie's graduation from JMU, so it's actually been some great motivation to get a few things crossed off the old list that we've been meaning to get to.

First up, it was finally time to hang our JMU flag. For the past few years we've been telling the kids we want to hang a JMU & VCU flag from the front of the house and this past Christmas they surprised us with a JMU flag. We want to hang the flags since both kids will be JMU alumni and Mary's a VCU alumni.

Brandon was in town for the weekend, so he helped Tim grab the 2 old flag brackets off the back landing that were here when we moved in to swap and install out front. Before installing them out front, they took them to the hardware store to make sure the standard flag poles would fit them, then gave them a quick facelift and outdoor protecting seal with a few coats of Rustoleum spray in an oil rubbed bronze metallic finish:


Once dry, Brandon helped steady the ladder while Tim attached the brackets to either side of our little balcony:


Hanging a VCU flag will have to wait until we find the right one, but we're now showing our Duuuuuuukes pride, just in time to celebrate next weekend. We'd hung the flag while Stephanie was out, so it was pretty gratifying to here her smile and exclamations of praise when she first noticed it.

Other projects included finally cleaning out and reorganizing our garage and pulling the trigger on a gas grill over the holiday sale weekend. We even cultivated a little area in our back patio space for a permanent grilling station:


Look out for more details on both of these projects coming later this week.

Outside of party prep, we knocked off a house project that we started and never finished since, ahem, September:


We took down the light fixture from our bedroom back in September with plans to swap in a ceiling fan from another bedroom in our house — but life took over and we put the project on the back burner until the warm weather creeped back up and reminded us how nice it would be to have that fan in our room. Haha, it's funny how some things get done quickly and others just take their time. In any case, we've got a fan in our bedroom now with all the details to come in a future post.

With all the project craziness taking place, we did make time for a couple other 3-day weekend activities, like catching a Flying Squirrels baseball game:


The Richmond baseball stadium, The Diamond, is within walking distance from our home, so it was a welcome break to spend a little time with Brandon while he was in town for the weekend (and a great excuse to partake in some ballpark food)!

Side Note: Here's one of those funny instances where Tim and my age difference comes into conversation — I remember going the the Diamond since I was small child. Being built new in the 80's it's almost always been a fixture of Richmond during my lifetime. Tim, on the other hand, remembers when it was built new as he was graduating high-school. We've both been going there to watch baseball games for years, we just have completely different frames of reference for the memories.

We also watched the mid-season finale of Mad Men Sunday night. It's hard to believe this favorite series will be coming to a close (and that we have to wait a year to see the last 7 episodes), but we both liked how they wrapped up this partial season. Have you been watching?


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