Even More Art Buddies

You may remember in May when I posted about Art Buddies. After the spring session was over that I participated in, the leaders of the program asked me if I would be interested in joining the Advisory Board. Of course I said YES! I love Art Buddies and I look forward to it every session, hoping I will be available to participate. We had our first meeting last night. I'll be helping with fund-raising and I've also agreed to take on the task of editing and labeling all the photos from the professional photographer after each session.

We've got wood!

That is, in our kitchen. We found it after spending 2 days ripping up linoleum and 1/4 inch plywood that was nailed down with 3 inch nails.

After seeing what we had to work with, we went to our local ACE to get some Krud Kutter. I had heard about it online and after using it, I seriously recommend it. It's an all-purpose, non-toxic cleaner for almost anything. First, Josh sprayed it on and let it sit for a few moments. Then he used a putty knife to scrape with the grain. After that, he scrubbed it with the rough side of a sponge.

When Josh was finished, I came through and washed up the residue with a big sponge and water.

The floor looks amazing right now, that is, for being covered up for so long. We had a guy come look at it to get a quote for refinishing it and he said we have maple in the kitchen, and oak in the rest of the main level. They should start refinishing the kitchen sometime next week!

Rock the Garden

In the whirlwind of moving in, Josh and I attended Rock the Garden on Saturday the 19th. The show was put on by The Walker Art Center and The Current, the radio station we listen to, in the sculpture garden next to The Walker.

We were able to ride our bikes up to the show, but we ended up not using our tickets. As you can see there were about 10,000 people attending. We found a great spot in the shade, on the grass, across the street where we could still see the stage. 

The bands playing were Retribution Gospel Choir, Ok Go!, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and MGMT and we had a great time seeing them.

The First Week at 5053

Well, we're FINALLY here. And we already have a makeover to show! This was the dining room before...

We had to prime the walls because of the dark color, but we may end up priming all the walls in the house for that matter.

And after! We changed out the light fixture for a George Nelson saucer. You may remember back to the Nelson cigar pendant that we bought a few weeks ago at the Room and Board outlet. This is part of the same line. And you're not seeing things, that is pink (well actually it's Coral Gables) and purple (Black Raspberry) on the walls. It looks fantastic with our robin's egg blue buffet.

The room isn't complete yet...I'd like to add some curtain panels and a FLOR rug, but I wanted to update everyone since we've been busy!

We're Closing!

Tomorrow we're closing on our first home! Janelle and I have been waiting for this day for a really long time. The picture above is from the first time I looked at the house at the end of January. We've been waiting for short sale approval since the first week of February and everything finally went through this week.

Stay tuned as a house warming party will be coming soon!

Target Field

Last night I attended my first Twins game at the new Target Field. I went with my coworkers and got to sit in the General Mills suite. The Twins came back from a 7 run deficit to almost win the game. The highlight of the night was Joe Mauer's foul pop up catch where he had to reach around the backstop netting to make the catch. It was a lot of fun checking out the ballpark and watching a close game.

Au Gratin Open

Yesterday was the first annual Au Gratin Open at Wedgewood Cove Golf Course in Albert Lea. The course has a special deal where you can play as many holes as you want for $75, so I decided it would be fun to get a bunch of guys together and play 54 holes in one day, the winner receiving a case of Betty Crocker Au Gratin potatoes that I got from work. The tournament format was "best ball" with yourself (after playing all 18 holes 3 times you take your best score on each hole to come up with a "best ball" 18 hole score). We had a great time playing golf all day and the scores where pretty close between us except for one player who ran away from the pack and brought home the case of boxed potatoes.

Matt Forsman -6
Josh Jones -1
Matt Tubbs -1
Drew Anderson -1
Josh Tubbs +1
Geoff Anda +4

I can't wait to for next year's Au Gratin Open!