Picture My World

Gardening

First, Happy Father's Day to my dad and all the others out there.

Second, I finally got around to doing some gardening. Pretty much every container on my deck was filled with weeds. It looked terrible. Last week Lisa and I took a Citrus Pruning class at Sloat Gardens and it totally motivated me to get some new stuff planted. So I headed over there this morning and picked up some new plants.

Before:

During:

After!

Is there a statute of limitations on a Housewarming Party?

Happy Anniversary to me! One year ago today, at 11:13am I closed on my first home! I cannot believe it has already been a year! Time has gone by so quickly! Sadly, I guess this means I've missed the socially appropriate time to throw a housewarming, so I guess I need to focus on having a First Anniversary Party rather than Housewarming at this point :-)

In honor of my First Anniversary, I thought I would reflect on all the things that I have loved since buying my own home. I can honestly say that the only things I miss about my last place are the view (I could see the Golden Gate Bridge) and the flat location so close to the water and Palace of Fine Arts.

So in honor of my first anniversary, I thought I would jot down the top 26 things I love about my condo. The first 3 are in order the others are in no particular order. When I look back, #25 and 26 will probably prove to be the most important. I could go on for more than 26, but I'll be short and succinct for once in my life… 

1. In-unit washer/dryer. This quickly became even more important as my laundromat near my old apartment was demolished not long after I moved out. I have a load running as I type.
2. Dishwasher. No explanation necessary.
3. Garage. Other than the obvious benefits of a garage, I was also able to get the car I wanted rather than a car that was least likely to be stolen if I had to park on the street.
4. Garbage disposal
5. Deck, deck, deck, deck, deck. And along with it the room to garden and BBQ.
6. Vanessa. While I was friends with Vanessa through the League before she became my realtor, I'm so thankful we were able to become better friends through the home-buying process. I seriously couldn't have bought this home without her. I had no idea she would also prove to be as good a therapist as a realtor!For me, buying a home with a friend who I trusted and could confide in was  imperative. If you are looking to buy a place in the city, I'm more than happy to pass on her name and number. Her friendship is definitely one of the best things to come from this condo!
7. Studs! And no, there were no men that came along with the place. I mean that kind behind the walls. Now when I need to hang something I can put a nail into a stud and I don't have a crumbling plaster wall.
8. A decent kitchen with counter space and more than 4 cabinets. I can actually cook comfortably!
9. I have room to entertain!!!!!! Although I think the parking issues keep people away, at least I know I can entertain if I can get people to my house.
10. More than one electrical outlook in a room. I love old SF character, but in this day and age you need more than one outlet.
11. My Meyer Lemon Tree :-)
12. Bathroom storage and a non-pedestal sink.
13. A bathroom faucet with one tap. The previous 14 years I've lived with a hot water tap and cold water tap which means no warm water. A challenge when washing your face.
14. Double paned windows and radiant heat. I used to have to shower at night just to warm up because my last apartment was so cold and the heater so bad. Not any more! I'm a comfortable 72 degrees all year long!
15. Quality blinds
16. Indoor mailbox so the UPS man can drop off boxes and no one will steal them
17. Elevator and my roof deck. Although I don't really use the roof deck (other than to impress people with the view) because of #5.
18. Storage! In the past, I only bought things when I needed them—not when they were on sale because I had no place to put them. Now, I can buy my laundry detergent or toilet paper when they are on sale, even if I still have some at home!
19. The perfect place for my Buddha
20. Separate office/studio. I love that my bedroom is my bedroom, my dining room my dining room, and my computer and craft stuff is in its own separate place!
21. My cool neighborhood.  I love being just a block from everything!
22. My building was built in 1992 and is located on bedrock, so hopefully if the 'big one" happens my building (and I) will survive.
23. Pet policy. I can get a dog!
24. Speaking of the pet policy, Boris the Bulldog. My neighbors upstairs just adopted a bulldog who they bring out back (the backyard is behind my deck) to "go." He is the freaking cutest thing in the world!!!! He makes me smile every time I see him. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks and I walked in the building the other day and saw him. When I said "Hi, Boris" he came running.
    
25. Although it took awhile, I finally get how awesome it is to have bought my first home on my own. While I always wanted to get out of renters hell and my accountant reminded me annually how much I need to buy a place, I didn't think I would buy a home alone. I didn't think I could make such huge decisions on my own and quite frankly didn't want to. I had the fairytale picture of buying a home with my husband. But life doesn't always follow the timeline you want it to, and after I lived in my place for awhile I finally realized how I'll always be able to look back knowing I did it on my own.
26. I love that this condo is my first home. I fell in love with it the first time I walked in (just like they said!) But it is a small condo and certainly not someplace that I will live forever. But I love knowing that although it isn't going to be my only home it will ALWAYS be my FIRST home—that I bought on my own—and that's pretty cool.

 

An anniversary of sorts

I was telling Diane the other day that it was exactly a year ago today that I first saw my condo. She said it was my anniversary. I suppose she's correct, it was the day I fell in love with my condo. I literally found it on accident. I was trying to find a parking spot to view a condo a block down but when I found the parking spot and saw the open house sign I assumed it was the condo I was set to see. I knew immediately it wasn't the one I thought I was looking at, but I quickly (well after an hour of looking at it), new it was the one! Hard to believe that it has been a year!

Gardening

The weather was just beautiful this weekend! Like in the 70s. I love this time of year because it is often some of the best weather of the year. Crystal clear! Amazing! So I got in the mood to do some gardening. My deck really is my favorite part of my condo and I have many containers and planters that need some serious attention. A bunch of things died while I was in escrow and I never really did anything about it last summer. So, with the nice weather, I went up to Polk Street and picked up some potting soil and some plants. Apparently I wasn't the only one with this idea, because even at 10:30am there were a whole bunch of us looking for the best flowers and herbs.

I enjoyed planting everything. I got to use many of the tools that people gave me as housewarming gifts. Let's just hope they didn't all die. I still have 4 more containers to fill. I wonder what I'll pick next!

The picture on the left is my new herb garden! On the far left is sage (quickly becoming one of my favorite herbs), then oregano, then thyme and rosemary. I can't wait to be able to just go outside and pick something to use in my next recipe.

Next up a flower planter. They didn't have many that were OK in the shade, so I'll have to head over to Sloat's new Marina location to fill my other planters. But I thought this planter turned out well. I'm really trying to add a lot of color, so the blue was perfect. It was the only one they had, so I thought to flank it with these pretty white ones.

And then finally, the previous homeowners had this random succulent that was just sitting in a plastic pot on the table. So I re-potted it in this nicer ceramic pot.

I'm finally unpacked (well, pretty much!)

So it has taken almost exactly 4 months, but I am finally almost unpacked. How's that for sorta kinda? I have a few of those random boxes that never seem to get unpacked and a whole bunch of CM inventory that I don't quite know what to do with. But yesterday, I finally got my bookcases which enabled me to unpack the rest of my boxes. I must admit that the boxes began to just blend into my dining room, but now that they are unpacked I realize how much space I have! In fact, the dining room looks a little boring!

Next time someone is over, I'll have them help me hang the bamboo painting that I got in Vietnam. I actually also moved my Buddha into the dining space since it looked so bland. Not sure if I'll keep him there or move him back to where he was.

Here are my bookcases. You can ignore those boxes. I need to get rid of them. Perhaps I'll try and give them away through Craigslist. Anyhow, they are the Rhys bookcases from Pottery Barn. I am very happy with them. I think they are great quality and they are simple and somewhat rustic at the same time. I am trying very hard to actually have the various woods in my house matching and so far, everything I bought matches!

And this final picture kind of gives you an idea of how the whole room looks. Without the boxes lined up against the wall, I am able to move my dining room table closer to the wall which really opens up with space--even with the addition of the bookcases. Next up: a wine refrigeration unit and a rug or two!

And if you were wondering about how my kitchen is drying out, I'm still not sure. The sub-floor must still be wet because my floor tiles are still discolored. I noticed last night that the paint is puckering. Not good...stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you were able to spend the day with family and/or friends!

This Thanksgiving marked the first one where I was in charge of the cooking. I actually offered and thought this was what one does when one buys their first home. So I managed to delegate everything but the turkey, stuffing and gravy. I had done my research, ordered then picked up my fresh turkey and made sure I had all the necessary ingredients.

All week coworkers were asking if I was nervous about my first Thanksgiving turkey and whether I needed recipes or advice. I actually wasn't nervous at all.  I should have known that the calmness I was feeling was some type of omen, because this is just the type of thing that I would freak out about.   

Perhaps it was an omen, because then, well, the "great Thanksgiving story" started. You know, that one holiday when everything seems to go wrong? Well I guess I got it out of the way the first time out of the shoot.

It was a nice calm Wednesday evening around 5pm. I was going out to dinner and a movie with Diane and then just before I left, I placed one last call to my Mom asking her to bring flour for the gravy. Well thank goodness I did, because while I one the phone, I heard this strange dripping sound.  "What is that?" I thought. I walking into my kitchen and realized that water was coming out of the recessed light above my bar. I thought "you have got to be kidding me!" Then, it started coming out of the sprinkler head in the kitchen. I put a bucket under the sprinkler head (thanks Nancy for that as a housewarming gift, it is quite multipurpose!) and a vase under the recessed light. I shut off the light knowing full well I didn't want to add a fire to the mix. The speed of the water fluctuated. I noticed that it was a brown color--almost like Chicken broth. It actually smelled sort of like chicken broth and since it was coming into my kitchen I was relieved to figure it was kitchen water and not bathroom water. Then I realized it was also coming out of a light socket. I had no idea what to do. So I ran upstairs to see if the people above me were home, but no such luck. So I left a note.

Back in my apartment I tried to clean up the disgusting water as soon as it flowed from the various lights. With three sources of water (a fourth would start later) it was a bit tough to keep up. Then a knock at the door. I was hoping it was the people upstairs. No, it was Brian, the awesome guy next door who moved out last weekend. He wanted to let me know that there was a pretty fast leak in the garage. He had no idea it was also happening in my apartment. I had no idea what to do this whole time. I own this place now, it isn't like I can place a call to my landlord. Brian said he would go knock on the door of the prez of our HOA, Ed. Good thinking. I loved having Brian and Suzanne across the hall, so it was no surprise that Brian was so helpful. I was hoping that Ed would be helpful too. Heck, the guy was in my high school class, so I hoped that Matador blood still mattered.

By this time, Diane had come over (after I sent frantic text messages saying I couldn't meet her for dinner and a movie). I felt horrible for bailing on her, but was soooo thankful she came over to hang out. If nothing else, she helped keep me relatively calm and thought to ask all those questions I was too flustered to think about. She was even nice enough to run up and get some takeout Thai (yummy!).

Ed, the guy who runs my HOA was so awesome! I'd like to chalk it up to our formative years as Matadors, but I think he is just a nice guy in general. He went around knocking on other people's door trying to find out the source of the problem. In the interim the girl above me came home and then down to see me when she got my note. Apparently the problem was in her apartment and her place was flooded--her kitchen and dining room. Additionally, there was some type of sediment all over her floor in her kitchen and dining room. Apparently a few spiders too. I thought my situation was horrible, but to hear her's was worse helped put things a bit in perspective.

So to make a long story short, Ed found a plumber to come out pretty quick. It turns out someone on the 4th floor had been cooking all day and using a ton of water. All our pipes are connected through our kitchens, and the pipes in the condo above mine just gave up and flooded their unit, mine and the garage. Everything is ok now (I hope). I spent a lot of time cleaning, but I was certainly better off than the people above me. The water was so corrosive, it appears to have ruined my new kitchen floor. And when my circuit breaker blew (that's what they're for) it reset my already confusing high tech lighting system so now the only way to turn off the lights in my kitchen is with the circuit breaker.  That's a bummer, but I suppose it could be worse. We'll watch for mold in the wall and ceiling and so long as I don't smell anything, the plumber said it will hopefully dry out and not need to be opened up and then rebuilt.

So needless to say, Wednesday night I was pretty sure I was going to cancel Thanksgiving. I had a ton of cleaning to do. But alas, I got up early and pushed back dinner. 

And if I say so myself, my dinner was fantastic! I figured I could make a decent dinner, but I have to say it was outstanding! I very much impressed myself and I think my family too! It looks like my family has a new Thanksgiving tradition!

Here's my stuffing. I loved it! It is a Rachael Ray recipe that I saw her do on her show. I loved that it had apples in it and it was delicious! I half cooked it on the stove and then stuffed half in the turkey and half I baked in the oven.

I then stuffed the turkey and put him in the oven. As he cooked, the smells were just awesome! I went outside at one point and when I came back in, I could smell the turkey down the hall. It still smells even now!

Look how great it turned out! It was perfectly cooked. Moist and juicy! (You'll have to excuse the stuffing come out of his cavity.)

Here is what my dinner table looked like. You can ignore the boxes that are still packed! My bookcases come tomorrow so I will soon be rid of them! This was the first time I have been able to use the china that belonged to my Great Grandmother Sullivan. She actually lived until I was about 2. Unfortunately I have no memories of her, but I think I'm pretty lucky that she left her china to me. It has been boxed up for basically the past 34 years, so I was glad to unpack it and use it.

And my family enjoying my dinner!

What makes you a gardener?

So when can I call myself a gardener? I think I'm getting close. Certainly one of the many selling points on my condo was the awesome deeded deck. It would be a place to lounge, BBQ and finally let me grow an herb garden and have some plants. My little piece of paradise in the middle of San Francisco. Fortunately, the basics were fairly well setup by the prior homeowner. I had some basic furniture and lots of containers. Some plants saw their demise during closing with no one to water them, but upon moving in I immediately gave them the TLC they needed. So here I am a few months later, and I think I've made enough progress to call myself a gardener...

You might remember this post where I talked about the Meyer Lemon tree my friend Lisa gave me as a housewarming present. Well I have been diligently tending to my tree, watering and fertilizing when directed. So here I am a few months later, and my lemons are looking so wonderful!

They are starting to look more yellow and they are so much bigger. I am very much looking forward to using them to cook with and drink with :-)

A couple of weeks ago I had four different bunches of blooms. They are all now starting to show the beginnings of fruit. If all the buds turn into lemons I'll have about 18 to look forward to. It appears that grapes aren't the only fruit I'm addicted to lately!

And several of you have been waiting for an update on the dead bamboo in my lightwell. Pretty much everyone's response is "I didn't know you could kill bamboo?" Well I guess when it goes unwatered for more than 2 months it can die. So once I moved in, I was convinced that I could bring them back to life. I mean, I have a Buddha and all so that should help. There are three containers of the bamboo. One hasn't come back at all :-(. A second one is trying to come back to life, and it is making some progress. The third container, and the one I see best from my studio is doing quite well. Honestly I thought it would be further along after three months, but I'm hoping after a rainy winter it will be back to normal.

And lastly, on a sadder note...I found this little guy on my deck this morning. I can't quite tell if he is dead. He seemed to move a little bit, but I couldn't tell if it was alive or just moving a little in the breeze. Well, he sure was pretty...

Gardening Project #1

After a successful foray into home improvement this past weekend, I felt Monday was the time to try my hand at gardening.  I can't say I have a long history of successful plant growing or anything.  As a kid my parents let us plant anything we wanted in this side garden area.  I feel like every year Scott planted corn and I planted zinnias.  I can't quite remember how successful I was, but I know that with the exception of ivy, I've pretty much killed everything.  But now that I am "Jen the homeowner" rather than "Jen the renter" I feel like my chances of success are much greater.  And considering my deck is so nicely landscaped right now, I'd hate to ruin it...

My friend Lisa and I LOVE lemons.  We each could probably eat one if we tried.  So I wasn't surprised at all when she bought me a Meyer Lemon tree for my deck as a housewarming gift.  I am sooo excited!  It is a perfect gift!  So yesterday we planted it in one of the containers on my beautiful deck.  Well, I really shouldn't use the term "we" as Lisa did most of the work.  She bought it at this awesome nursery in San Francisco called Sloat Garden Center so I know it will grow and produce many a lemon so long as I don't mess it up.  So we I mean Lisa, mixed the soil up with the pumice, put in the tree and made a nice mixture of of soil and fertilizer to get it going.  Don't you think it looks great?!?!?  My container gardening book that I picked up said it is good to combine multiple plants in one container if it is large enough.  So hopefully my Meyer Lemon tree and my Delphinum Blue Mirror (the one in front--aren't you impressed I know the name?) play nicely together.  I have a few things that did die while I was closing on the condo and no one was living here so I have several other planters and boxes that need to planted. I want to do some more research and then go to Sloat myself and pick up some new plants and flowers.  I'll probably make Lisa go with me since she knows so much more than I do.  I have one planter box reserved for some authentic Dutch tulip bulbs that I hope my Holland-resident brother is nice enough to send me :-)

This post also officially announces the beginning of "lemon watch 2006." As you can see by this picture I currently have about five lemons making their way to adulthood.  So while they finish growing, I'll be sure to think of some awesome food and drinks to make with my lemons! Stay tuned for updates!

Home Improvement Project #1

Well look at this--two posts in one day!  I have officially finished my first "home improvement" project.  Now, I would never have imagined that this would count as my first home improvement project, but since it took me about 1.5 hours, I'm counting it!

First some background. I would describe myself as "mechanically inclined."  And what I mean by that is that I can usually figure things out without having to read instructions.  In fact, in some cases, if I need to read the instructions to figure it out, I get a bit bummed.  Although I think this is something you are born with, I attribute most of its refinement to something that happened when I was say 8-10 years old.  For Christmas one year, I got this electronic toy (think 1970s) that was way cool.  Or at least it seemed way cool.  It looked like something out of Star Trek.  Anyhow, the instructions to the game somehow got thrown out with the Christmas wrapping and for the life of me and my Dad, we never figured the darn thing out.  Now in this day and age we could log onto the manufacturer's web site and download the directions, but life was harder back in the 1970s.  Anyhow, since then, I've vowed never to take anything on if I need the instructions.  Which, given my knack for putting things together has generally been fine as a mantra. 

Then I bought my first home.  I'm the kinda gal that just puts a garbage can under the sink.  But I've never had a sink with dishwasher pipes and a garbage disposal.  So finding a garbage can that fit was a bit of a challenge. But thank goodness for the Container Store and this rolling garbage can.  It has a narrow profile and slides out for convenience.  Perfect!  Yeah, yeah, I know I'm verbose, I'm getting to the point, really...So I set down today to spend about 15 minutes installing the thing.  I take all the pieces out and can immediately see how the main parts go together.  I figure since it requires me to drill into the cabinet I better read the directions.  Good lord!  The directions completely confused me!  I couldn't figure out how to get the "spacer" on the basket.  Who draws these diagrams?  So frustrating!  I was better off figuring it out without the directions. Finally, one and a half hours later, my garbage can is in place and working wonderfully.  So perhaps not a big thing to most of you, but to me, my first home improvement project.  God help me when I try to attach the propane tank to my new BBQ.  Don't worry, I'll read the directions on that one.  In fact, I'll probably just have my Dad do it.

My blogging break is over!

Hi Everyone!

Well,  hopefully this marks the return to my blogging days!  I have moved into my first home. And boy, is it overwhelming!  Boxes, boxes and more boxes!  But it is a great feeling knowing I OWN this. I've met a few of my neighbors and they all seem great.  And one of my neighbors was actually in my high school class--how's that for small world!  I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying this condo.  And while I know it won't be my last home, it will always be my first. 

I took Thursday and Friday off of work to essentially unpack.  It hardly looks like I've even made a dent.  I had some friends over on Friday and it was obstacle course galore!  It was so great having friends over.  I never really entertained at my last apartment since it was so "college days."  But having something I can be proud of ensures I'll be doing plenty of entertaining.  And it was great to have my friend Mike back in town.  He just moved back here from Denver last Sunday, so lots of great changes all around! 

One thing I have done plenty of is laundry and dishes!  I can't believe how amazing it is to have an in-unit washer and dryer and a dishwasher!  When I unloaded my first load of dishes I could tell how much cleaner they were than when I had to do them by hand.  And last night after we used a set of dinner dishes and dessert dishes, I had no "ugh" feelings about doing dishes.  I just loaded them into my dishwasher and was done with it! 

I'm off to a BBQ with some girlfriends from college, so today is my break from unpacking.  But tomorrow is dedicated to unpacking!  Well maybe I'll do a little blogging since I have a whole bunch of "musings on moving" and we'll be starting a new series called "Bamboo watch."  Now how is THAT for enticing!

The one room that is completed is my bedroom.  Which is great because I've been so exhausted that having a sanctuary to retire to at night is great.  This is my new bed set (Calvin from Room and Board) and I just love it.  It is brand new and was delivered on Thursday.  Now that I think about it...I see some coincidence as my duvet cover and pillows are also Calvin--that would be Calvin Klein's Bamboo Flowers.  Looks like a perfect match.  I'm eventually doing the bedroom in an Asian inspired theme.  I'll eventually paint the walls a bright gray to go with my gray and white carpet and I'll also hang some conical hats I bought in Vietnam.  And note the beautiful orchid from my friend Lorry--it goes perfect as well.

Well that's all for now, back to unpacking!