Chaos of clutter.

To be unpacked on the left.To storage on the right (and a massive car Alice received as a gift).

It has becoming shockingly apparent over the past few days that we have way more stuff now than when we did living here three years ago. The weird thing is, it didn't feel like all that much when we packed it into boxes back in Boston. Obviously, we had a kid which added to our belongings and since we hope to have another one sometime soon, we've held onto all of her things to use for round two. So Alice's things, plus my things, plus Lee's things, plus six bikes between the two of us makes for a bit of a storage problem.

We do have a storage unit in our building to hold those few boxes of baby things and seasonal stuff like snowboards and such but space is already at a premium in there and the whole thing needs a go-through before we put even more in it.

I felt like I did a decent job purging for this move and since we've started unpacking, I've gotten rid of even more. It feels so good to watch those bags of things leave our loft, freeing up tiny amounts of space as they do. I'd just rather not have that stuff than live in the chaos of clutter.

As I unpack boxes now with an even more critical eye than when I packed them, I keep repeating this phrase to myself: Small space, less stuff. Small space, less stuff.

I should add something about sanity to that, too.

P.S. This afternoon we are meeting with the cabinet guy at his shop to see samples of materials and drawings for both our bathroom vanity and hallway closet + bench! Stay tuned for photos.

Our closet will remain door-less until we've painted and installed the movable wall.

Weekend.

Welcome to Big Mountain!

The contents of our 2 bedroom/2 bathroom Boston apartment arrived to our sort-of 1 bedroom/1 bathroom loft on Saturday morning. And we are slowly chipping away at boxes but, as you can imagine, our progress is a bit slow when Alice is around. Fortunately my mom and step-dad took her for most of Sunday so we could at least get our kitchen unpacked and functional.

Only a few dozen more boxes to go! We should have our loft resembling a home by, oh you know, December.

The highlight of our weekend, though, wasn't unpacking boxes (shocker...) but volunteering at the Wasatch Front 100-mile Endurance Race. Like I mentioned on Friday, I biked to the aide station early that morning to help set up for the first runners who came through around noon. The bike ride up to 7,429 feet with 3,639 feet of elevation gain? Surprisingly, not terrible. Although I think Alice could've walked faster than I was pedaling on those last three or so miles of switchbacks before the pass.

Runners are checked in & weighed & cannot lose more than 7% of their body weight to continue on.

My mom and step-dad have been in charge of the Big Mountain aide station at this race for 17 years! Every year, the Friday after the Labor Day weekend, they load up anything and everything an ultra-marathoner might need and haul it up to the 39.4 mile mark of this 100-mile trail run. Over the years it has become a family affair with my aunts and cousins joining in to help set up, prepare food, cheer on, and crew for over 300 runners. And as has been tradition since as long as this race has gone on, every year each aide station picks a theme. Because my family is a little on the zany side, their themes and execution tend to be a little over-the-top. But I've heard from many a runner (and their families) that the energy and enthusiasm and costumes and decorations of Big Mountain is the hands-down favorite of all the aide stations.

This year, with temperatures in the low 90's and a consistent wind blowing at over 30 mph, the runners were suffering and quite a few dropped out of the race when they reached our aide station. We went through 32 ten-pound bags of ice in just under 7 hours. Of course ice was going into hydration packs and water bottles but runners were also rolling ice into their bandanas to tie around their necks and were putting handfuls of ice cubes in the small pockets of their shorts to stay cool. Not surprisingly, 108 of the 331 runners did not make it to the finish line.

Of the ten years or so I've volunteered at this race, this is the hottest one I can remember. With the year that I attempted to run it being a close second.

Wind and heat and elevation AND 100 miles of trail running? No fun at all.

Gallons of electrolyte drinks! // Nick Clark, the eventual winner of the race // Arriving runners // Flamingos on the trail are a Big Mtn tradition // Looking out over East Canyon and those switchbacks! Ouch.

Weekend Workouts: None! Unless you count moving and unpacking a whole bunch of boxes as a workout...

New Floors.

When we found out in June that we'd be moving back to Salt Lake City, we pondered if we wanted to attempt living in our loft as a family of three. After we decided loft-living was for us, we started making a list of things we'd need to change to make it functional to live there. First thing on our list? Refinishing our floors.

Prior to the refinishing, our floors (see here) were covered in a dark brown acrylic-type of concrete sealant that sort of resembled marble. But it chipped easily, the color wore off in high traffic areas, and because of the clear coat they applied (or didn't apply), it never appeared clean. Always dark, dingy and flat.

Our initial plan for refinishing our floors was to grind off the acrylic layer and take them back to the original concrete. We met with a company willing to do the job but he was apprehensive as to what he would find under the acrylic as the building and much of its parts are over a hundred years old. Taking his apprehension into consideration, our interior designer called the contractor who gutted the building to convert it to lofts and asked him what he thought of our plan to take our floors back to the original concrete.

And he said under no circumstance should we do it.

Because we live on the top floor of the original building and then, during the renovation, the roof was taken off to add the penthouses above us, our concrete floors were exposed to the elements for almost a year as they finished building the 6th and 7th floors. So if we were to grind off the acrylic to reveal the original concrete, we could possibly end up with a crumbly and cracked mess which would be almost impossible to seal.

So we went with our second plan which was much less labor-intensive and significantly cheaper.

To get that concrete look we sought, they applied a few thin layers of a concrete-like mixture over our brown acrylic floors and then sealed it with a semi-gloss sealant. It took ten days longer than we were originally told it would take to finish the project but we love how the floors turned out so who cares.

One small problem, though. Our washing machine got stolen in the process.

I'll keep this short. Lee moved our appliances out of our loft to various secure places in the building such as our patio and the infrequently used common area outside our door while the guys did the refinishing. But then the project was delayed a bunch of days so Lee had to fly back to Boston and our appliances sat unattended and out of our loft over a weekend. Because we were across the country packing up to move, our interior designer took it upon herself to get the appliances back into our loft the following Monday.

And then, the day before we got on a plane to move here, she called us to say she couldn't find our washing machine. Who knows who took it but who cares. We've moved on. A new washing machine will arrive next Wednesday.

What a welcome home, right?

Next project? Paint. Or do you like the blue walls?!

 

Reality sets in.

Iron Blosam, room 404 FOR LIIIIIIFE!

Now that the honeymoon week at our Snowbird timeshare is winding down, I'm starting to feel the stress of having just moved. Oh, god. There is so much to do! Today Lee is working on putting all the appliances back in place after the floor refinishing (I can't wait to show you how it turned out!) and then, as of Saturday, we will be living in our loft full time. Still without any dividing walls. And still in just under 1,100 square feet. Oh, and still with two adults, one toddler and two cats.

I am totally committed to small-space living. I really am! But now that we are actually about to do it, I'm freaking out a little. The floor is finished, yes, so we have one major project down. But the project that is weighing most heavily on me right now is the putting up of the permanent wall and the dividing wall, making our space functional for all living there. Until those walls go up, we're basically living in one big room.

And that really scares me!

Alice's daytime naps and 7PM bedtime. Cats roaming all over our bed (in Boston, our bedroom was a no-cat zone). The noise from preparing dinner. Evenings alone with my husband. All of those things will be much more difficult until our one-room loft is divided into bedrooms and living space.

What I've learned so far with home improvement projects is when working with contractors and the like, the finish date is in flux. And by in flux, I mean completely inaccurate. So I'm worried that with using a contractor to put in our walls we're signing ourselves up for a completion date weeks later than we'd anticipated. I mean, we met with a contractor over the 4th of July weekend and we are still waiting for an estimate of cost.

So we're thinking of putting up the permanent wall ourselves. Crazy? Probably. But at least we'll be more in control of when that wall will be finished.

I hope.

Any experience with putting up drywall? Give it to me straight. Is it crazy-talk to do it ourselves?!

Weekly Workouts: Monday - I was super sore from my Sat/Sun at CrossFit so a rest day was in order. Tuesday - Travel day! Wednesday - 3-ish miles of walking at altitude (Hello 8,650 feet!). Thursday - 4 mile run with a lot of uphill + 40 air squats. Friday - 3 mile trail run + 4 sets of 10 push-ups and 4 sets of 10 tricep dips, then 3 sets of 20 walking lunges.

 

BOS > SLC.

 

Two adults. One toddler. Two cats. All in two tiny airplane seats! SLC... We're coming home!

Weekend.

TRX with Dad. // Mounting boxes.

We are all packed! It took a few late nights and a lot of patience from Alice (ha!) but everything is in boxes, ready to go. And luckily we had a small beer-and-wine collection to polish off while we sorted, wrapped, and boxed up our life in Boston.

Packing those last few boxes is the worst as they always seem to end up with the random things that didn't really fit elsewhere, like an island of misfit belongings. And unpacking those boxes is also the worst. I'd unpack an entire kitchen's worth of dishes or a whole box of unmated socks over finding a home for all the things in the junk box.

In less than an hour, the movers will be here to gather up and haul off our things. And in less than 24 hours we'll be on a plane bound for Salt Lake City.

Pinch me.

Post ass-kicking. I'll miss you, Ashlan!

Weekend Workouts: Saturday - CrossFit! Run to/from (3 miles). 3 sets of 5 overhead squats (75lbs), then 5 rounds for time of 5 power cleans (95lbs) and 10 lateral bar burpees. Sunday - CrossFit! My last WOD at Rugged. Run to/from (3 miles). 12 minutes of as many rounds as possible of Fran (21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups). I did one full round of Fran (55lbs, green band) + 21 thrusters/pull-ups + 3 thrusters. Then 3 minutes of single jump rope. Oh. And after all of that, I had to run home. Sheesh.

Food Goodbyes.

 

One of the things I love about moving to a new city is exploring and finding my favorite local restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops in my new neighborhood. And it's also one of the things I hate about moving.

When I left Santa Monica after seven years living there, I was seriously depressed about leaving the hands-down best bakery I've ever been to. Huckleberry was a stone's throw from my apartment and I was often there first thing in the morning, waiting patiently for their doors to open so I could get my daily baked good fix (it's so good that Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner are regulars there, too).

I still have dreams about their almond poppyseed tea cake and maple bacon biscuits.

So now that our days in Boston are quickly winding down, I'm treating myself daily to all the food things I'll miss once we no longer live here. A latte from Cafe Fixe. A lemon poppyseed biscuit from Treats on Washington. A few cocktails and tapas from Barcelona Wine Bar. A half dozen (!!) of Georgetown cupcakes.

And just yesterday, I found a new favorite that I just might miss the most once we move. FoMu Alternative Ice Cream in Allston.

It was so good I took home 4 pints of their coconut cream-based ice cream. You know, to eat in our last 4 days of living here.

And if you want to see how I look at 5:30AM when working out, here you go. I got picked for member of the month at Rugged CrossFit! Thanks guys. I'll sure miss getting my ass kicked with all of you.

Weekly Workouts: Monday - Run! 4 miles with 8 x 150-200 meter pick-ups at 80% + 4 sets of 10 tricep dips and 4 sets of one-minute plank. Tuesday - Lots of walking but otherwise a rest day. Wednesday - Back to Rugged CrossFit! Run to/from (3 miles), 35 ring rows, then 50 double-unders + 27 box jumps (24 inches) + 27 kettle bell sumo dead lift high pull, then 50 double-unders. Thursday - CrossFit! Run to/from (3 miles), then find a 5-rep max for dead lifts (190lbs!!!), then 4 sets of 12 Good Mornings (55lbs), then one minute of each of the following: plank push-ups, hanging leg raises, Russian twists (14lbs), mountain climbers, flutter-kicks, and finally... one minute plank hold. Friday - Wow. I'm sore from those dead lifts. Rest day!

 

More goodbyes.

Moms on the town. Sarah and Jamie, we missed you!

With our days in Boston down to just a handful, it seems like every day Alice and I are saying an oftentimes tearful goodbye to someone. Tuesday it was a final play date with one of my first mom-friends and one of Alice's first girl-friends. We met at the Ducklings and ate cupcakes while our little toddlers ran around one last time together. And as us moms said our goodbyes, Alice and Maggie shared the most adorable hug.

Then last night I went out to dinner with my mom-friends who live nearer to me. When I met these women I was a little down on our life here in Boston as my efforts at making more friends and building a community had completely stalled. But then I found the play group at our local library with moms that literally lived right down the street from me! And I felt instant connections with so many of them. As the weeks and months went by, our friendships grew and so did my happiness with our life in a new city.

As I've said to all of them, This isn't goodbye, just 'See you later.' Because I know I will see all of you guys again someday!

And now some bad news... our 7-year old Mac Book Pro is basically about to explode! When the battery starts to expand while it is still inside the computer, I take that as a bad sign. So until we figure out if our poor Mac is fixable, I'll be blogging from my iPad for the foreseeable future.

It hasn't even been a day yet and I miss Photoshop already.

Can you be fixed?! Outlook doesn't look good.

Doing my homework.

Design*Sponge at Home. So many ideas!

Even though it's only a two hour time change between Boston and where my in-laws live, I still feel exhausted from our almost two weeks in a different time zone.  And that day-long travel with Alice?  She did as well as expected but by the time we reached our apartment at 6PM, we were both pooped.  I'm glad I won't be doing that Boston to Edmonton flight ever again.

Most likely.

With our move date less than two weeks away and with boxes mounting in the corners of our apartment, it's starting to hit me hard that we are moving back to Salt Lake City at the end of the month.  Excited is the first emotion that comes to mind followed quickly by panic as I think about all we need to do before the movers arrive on the 26th.  And then there is all the work to be done on our loft!  Luckily the floors will be finished by the end of the week and then hopefully we'll get the permanent wall put up soon thereafter.  The movable wall will be the next major project and once we pick a pattern and translucency, it'll take 3 to 4 weeks for it to arrive.

Who knows how long it will take to install but you better believe I'll be pushing for it to go up ASAP as sharing a room with Alice will get old quickly, I imagine.

But back to being excited for our move.  A few years ago I bought a book by the blogger Design*Sponge on all things home improvement and do-it-yourself.  And that book has been collecting dust since just a few days after I bought it.  Until yesterday!!  As I was packing up books, I found it and started flipping through its pages and then began making bookmarks with ideas I loved for out loft.

It's hard for me to see the big picture when it comes to home design and decorating and I often find it difficult to describe the look and style I want for our home.  So to better get my vision across to our interior designer, I'm doing my homework and taking notes on ideas I like for tile and a vanity in our bathroom, wallpaper for Alice's room, headboard and side tables for the master bedroom, a gas line and a grill for our balcony, new paint and a wall treatment in the hallway, dining room table with chairs and, and, and... the list goes on.

Maybe I'm naive as this is my first home improvement project, but we plan to have it all done by the end of this year.

Unrealistic?!  I sure hope not.

Mom friends.

This kid, always with a snack in hand.

The other day I read somewhere that it takes up to three years once you move someplace new to start feeling like you've built a community.  For me, it was more like two or so years but I completely agree.  And when I finally stopped pining for our life in Utah and started making an effort to make friends and build a community here in Boston, we're moving home.  Go figure. 

I remember during the early days of motherhood, when out for all those crank walks, I'd see moms pushing strollers with babies close in age to Alice and I'd have to fight the urge to go up to them and say, Hi. We're both moms. Do you want to be my friend?  Fortunately there were those baby groups I took Alice to when she was just a wee little baby and then we joined a group at our local library where the environment was more conducive for making friends (unlike me trying to strike up a friendship with a random mom just out for a walk).    

After I mentally planted both feet firmly here in Boston, I decided to stop complaining about not having friends and feeling lonely during my days at home and do something about it.  So I started initiating play dates and trips to the park and outings for lunch or coffee with moms from play groups.  And, imagine that!  I made friends.  Feeling comfortable with stepping out of my comfort zone and initiating friendships is definitely a life lesson I've learned while living in Boston.  

I have met some wonderful women whom I've grown incredibly close to over the last 16 months, making this move home bittersweet.  I've known some of these women since their babies were just a few weeks old and we've shared stories of the ups and downs and the struggles and triumphs of being new moms.  I've loved watching their babies grow right alongside Alice as they rolled over, crawled and eventually walked at our play dates.  It is a bit sad to think Alice's time with these kids and their moms is coming to an end.

But that's what Facebook and Instagram are for, right?

Have you made new friends since becoming a mom?  Or did your longtime friends have kids around the same time you did?  The nice thing about moving back to Salt Lake City is that many of my high school friends still live there.  But most of my friends had kids in their early 20's and are now raising tweens and teens!  Maybe their kids will be my go-to babysitters instead of Alice's playmates.

One box down...

I was in a ruminative headspace all weekend and it carried over into yesterday, too.  After all that thinking, I decided to go easy on my usual Monday tasks (like laundry!) and just go with the flow instead.  I went for a five-mile run in the morning.  Snuggled up with Alice for a nap after lunch.  And enjoyed an iced coffee at the park with friends in the afternoon.

Although my funk hasn't entirely cleared, taking it easy yesterday definitely helped.  And hopefully my ride on the hormonal roller coaster is over.  At least for this month, anyway.

In other news, I packed my first box!  A friend who recently moved gave me a few boxes so today, I decided to get started.  I only packed up sweaters and winter pants but it felt good to get started on what I imagine will be a long process.

When we moved here, all that we packed up ourselves were our underthings and toiletries.  Everything else was packed by movers paid for by Lee's company.  Now that we are footing the bill, though, we'll be doing all the packing this time.  But then movers will cart it out of our apartment and truck it 2,362 miles from Boston to Salt Lake City.

As much as I'd love to do that cross-country drive with Lee, I'm pretty sure Alice isn't up for another road trip just yet.

The remnants of a bruise. Her worst yet.

Weekend.

"Every person needs to take one day away.

A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future...

A day in which no problems are confronted, 

no solutions searched for."

Maya Angelou

Weekend Workouts: Saturday - CrossFit: Got there, felt terrible  So I just did the strength set of finding a one-rep max for a squat clean (95lbs). Sunday - Rest day. And a few miles walk in the city.

Against the Grain.

The mighty Bow River. Canmore, Alberta. Aug '12.

Earlier in the week, I went out to dinner with a friend who was in town from Chicago.  Since she and I both have 15-month old's (her son, Max, was Alice's first boyfriend!), we were talking about our kids and this guy overhead our conversation and then the three of us swapped stories about the crazy-and-emotional toddler stage we are all currently experiencing.  I mentioned that we're moving home and talked about our plans to live in a small space with Alice.  His eyes grew wide and then he said...

"You are going to live in how many square feet with a kid?!?"

When I told him the size of our loft and our plans to create a functional living space for our family of three he started shaking his head and said that his 5,000 square-foot house felt small with his wife and three young sons and that we wouldn't last in our loft for more than a year.

Anyone in my family will tell you that I am not one to back down when someone challenges me.  So his scoffing of our plan was my invitation to challenge him on why he thinks he needs so much space.  I told him my thoughts on how I believe a bigger house leads to owning more stuff, most of which sits in a closet or a room somewhere collecting dust.  Surprisingly he agreed with me and then even confided that he had a gym put into his house a few years ago which now rarely gets used.  And then I said...  

"Case in point, buddy."       

As I've gotten older I've started to care less about what society expects me to do.  Our wedding was an example of this.  And now our plans for small space living with children will be, too.  Go against the grain of what society expects.  Do what makes sense for you and yours.  And, most importantly, do what makes you happy.

All within reason (and the law!), of course. 

P.S.  If you need a little more inspiration to live small and own less stuff, check out this story.

Dividing rooms.

All images via 3-form.

This may sound crazy but, when we move back to Utah, we've decided that we will share a room with Alice.  Our loft in Salt Lake is just under 1,100 square-feet and, rather than have large bedrooms, we've decided on more living space and less sleeping space.  Since dividing walls were never put in (our choice upon buying the place), we now have the ability to take the space and set it up exactly how we want. 

After the concrete floors are refinished, a permanent 8-foot wall will go in creating a large bedroom.  And then, within that bedroom, we will install a movable wall/sliding door to divide the room into two smaller bedrooms.  

Alice on one side.  Us on the other.   

I bet you're shaking your head, wondering how this will work from a (ahem) privacy perspective.  And honestly, I don't really know.  All I can say is... stay tuned. 

We have yet to pick a pattern or a translucency but our interior designer found a sliding wall system called 3-form that should work perfectly for what we are trying to achieve.  And when the rep came to our loft to help us with the planning, she said, "This is going to look amazing when it's all finished."

I sure hope she's right.

 Home. Sweet, home. SLC loft floor plan.

Weekend.

My bald little baby. July 2012.

A few weeks ago, we started something that, over the weekend, became a bit of an obsession.  When we canceled our cable back in June, I looked for a TV series we could download and both get into.  It took some convincing on my part, but Lee and I finally agreed on what to watch.

And now, just two weeks later, we're halfway into season two of Game of Thrones.  Oh, and if our two-nightly episodes wasn't enough, I have also started reading the books.  Like I said, obsessed.

Of course we are elated to be moving back to Utah but there was one little hiccup that kept me from being over-the-top excited.  Since our move came a little earlier than we anticipated, we had signed another year-long lease back in April for our apartment here in Boston.  And with only six or so weeks to go until the start of that lease (and with how much they are charging to rent this place!!), we were worried it wouldn't rent in time and we'd be held responsible for paying on an apartment we weren't even living in anymore.

But good news!  Our apartment has been rented for September 1st.  We are officially off the hook!  And that much closer to moving home.

Weekend Workouts: Saturday - CrossFit: 2-2-2-1-1 reps of split jerks (tried 125lbs... got 115lbs), then 66 overhead squats (45lbs) + 66 pull-ups (green band) + 1000 meter run (20 minutes). Sunday - Rest day!

Flying with cats: Round two.

Foxtail Lilies. Downtown Farmers Market, SLC.

With our move date rapidly approaching, I'm starting to make mental notes of all that needs to be done before we pack up and head back west.  And just like when we moved here three years ago, I'm sort of stressing about moving my two cats back to Salt Lake City.  Last time we flew with them, one of my best friends accompanied me because flying with a cat wasn't really Lee's scene.  And it turned out that holding them through security was no big deal as the cats were so terrified, they sat still as statues in our arms and then happily hopped back into the safety of their carriers once we were were through.

This time, though, there will be no Jaimie and there will be an Alice.

Lee isn't too excited about this whole flying with cats and a toddler on a flight just shy of five hours.  Honestly, neither am I.  And it still remains to be seen if the airlines will allow us to fly with two adults, two cats AND an infant-in-arms.  All on two tickets.

I'm definitely not holding my breath.

Any horror stories of flying with pets?  Not that I need to start fixating on things that can go wrong while flying with Big Kitty and Little Kitty... 

Goodbye.

Goodbye, SLC. 'Til 6 weeks from now.

Weekend.

Downtown Farmers Market. SLC, Utah.

Before we found out we'd be moving back to Salt Lake City, we planned to spend the 4th of July and the following weekend in Utah. We thought about canceling the trip once we realized we'd be living there only a month later but decided it would be good to get reacquainted with our loft and to start making plans for living in it again.

We met with an interior designer on Friday who, after telling her our vision for our loft, made suggestions and talked about ideas that were exactly what we were hoping to achieve in our goal of functional small space living. She was completely on board with our movable walls idea and then had some other awesome suggestions for creating privacy without taking away the openess of the space. We will also be making a few changes to our bathroom and to the finish on our concrete floors. Oh, and there will be some new paint thrown in there, too.

Do you enjoy the planning and the choosing of home remodeling/redecorating? Honestly, I find the choosing of paint and tile and colors and such totally overwhelming. I'm glad there are people who have the knack for that stuff because I certainly don't!

These birds belong to an aviary sanctuary. Not the dinner table.

Weekly + Weekend Workouts: Monday - Crossfit: 50 pull-ups (green band) + 20 burpees. Tuesday - Crossfit: 5 sets of 5 back squats (115lbs). Wednesday - Crossfit: 4 sets of 4 strict shoulder press (70lbs), then 30 handstand push-ups + 30 reverse overhead lunges (55lbs). Thursday - Travel day! Friday - Run! 5.5 miles. Capitol to City Creek. Saturday - Rest day! Sunday - 10 sets of 4 flights of stairs with 20 air squats on every other set (80), then 80 walking lunges.

Walls.

1. 2. 3.

As I've mentioned before, our soon-to-be home has no dividing walls.  When Lee and I lived there as a newly married couple, this wasn't much of a problem.  But now with a toddler who naps in the middle of the day and goes to sleep by 7PM?  We need walls in that place ASAP.

A traditional wall, though, would completely take away the openness of our loft.  So we've talked a lot about how we can keep that loft-y feel while adding privacy for daytime napping and late-night conversations.  Some sort of translucent movable wall seems to be the perfect fit.   

Because parts of our loft have over 14-foot ceilings, I don't think we'd be able to do floor-to-ceiling movable walls.  The original building, which was built around 1906, was only five stories tall, but when they converted it to lofts, the roof was taken off and the ceiling was pushed up another three feet.  Luckily, though, there are still a few concrete pillars with support beams that might just work for movable walls.

We are still in the early stages of planning and will meet with someone while we are home a few weeks from now who can hopefully make our loft into a functional living space for our little family. 

Television.

Alice & Dad had a little too much fun with the blue chalk.

Last night Lee had an after-work function so he wasn't home for dinner.  So I put Alice to bed, made something to eat, and then was about to plop down on the couch to unwind in front of the TV when I remembered something.

We canceled our DirectTV earlier that day.

For the first time in my entire life, I am without a TV.  And, I'll be honest.  It feels strange to have it gone, like I've lost an old friend.  But it also feels sort of liberating!  We weren't watching countless hours of it a week but we oftentimes found ourselves slouched on the couch, aimlessly flipping channels for far too long.

It's not that I think TV is inherently bad, I'd just been watching a bit more than I'd like as of late (and not really much of quality, either).  Add in how much we were paying a month for a bunch of channels we rarely watched and it was time to say goodbye.

Of course our TV will come with us to Utah and we will still watch movies and TV shows via our Apple TV.  But it looks like no more Real Housewives... or Bachelor/Bachelorette for me.

Would you get rid of your TV?  Or do you not watch all that much already?  My TV-watching time was usually while Alice napped.  Now what will I do with all that time?  Read.  Clean.  Enjoy a quiet lunch.  And definitely take more naps.