The weekend

Oh, people..

what a week.

Thank goodness for Friday!

Started out here, with a very nice very stiff cocktail..

in order to watch..this..ugh...

Then Promptly retreated to the most relaxing place on earth..

thats 25 minutes from my house.

~~~~~~~~

Here, I was thinking of all of you, Im sure you could use a little de-stresser yourself.

the coastal nest loves her blog friends, you know who you are!!

when you coming for a visit?

Anyone for a YURT??

Hey! HI!! can you see me? WAAAAY up here, in this round semi-permanent tent.

yes, up here. this is a yurt!!

cool eh??We, as a family last weekend took a different route on the beach, drove to a different beach access road- where we were the only people there.
except for these steps.....
and this place..cool COOL!!! look at the quick transportation {DOWN}

I believe its called a rip cord..{?}

I am standing here in the same spot I took the photos of the cool yurt from, this is the view that the dude has..

Serenity NOW!!

I bet these seagulls dont have to worry about

the bailout!!

neither does yurt man.

shall we break in and stay awhile??

whose with me, Im sure theres

NO TV in that cool round tent!

its just a thought girls-

Just what the hell is going on???

Excuse me, but I am wondering what your thoughts are on all of this

financial mumbo jumbo..

golden parachute?

700 trillion???

Nervous Much????

Bailout schmailout..

lets hear it.

One way or another, she was getting him there.

This weekend on the beach I was witness to something..It was the most touching thing I have seen in along time.

We, as a family, were walking along, doing our usual Sunday beach walk I talk about all the time here.

In the distance, I could see a car pull up, a few people get out, the trunk opens and they start taking out different things. The one thing I notice is a wheel chair, the next a walker. The people in the car, who looked like all women from where we were, stood around for a minute- talking and assessing the area. Now I am thinking that this is curious, so me..being the people watching person I am..well, I'm keeping a real good eye on these ladies.

They soon open the driver side passenger door, slowly, but with huge intent he emerges.

White hair, whiter skin -with nice broad shoulders. So this is what its all about, I say to myself. His wife, who looks like shes been doing this for a while, helps him to his wheelchair, only he wont sit. He wants his walker. With the wind of a thousand sailors who have gone before him at his back, he starts his march. Its a march of a million miles for him, as he shuffles down toward the water. I am glued to the situation. As we get closer he sits in his wheelchair, exhausted. The wheelchair clearly will not make it. The three of them start pulling the tired soul back to the car, not even 30 feet from the water.

Steve and I have been watching this unfold as we are walking. So close.. and yet sooooo far. This is when I start the chattering..."We.." I start.. "I know" he says, that man holding my hand. We, you..lets.. go see if we can just sit him on the back of the trucks tailgate or something and take him those last few feet, so he can get closer. Without hesitation, we agree and head over to the car they arrived in. Quickly, because they are unlocking the car and getting ready to load him up.

"Hi!" we say, as we throw ourselves into their world. "Could we help you get him down to the water? We can see he'd really like to go."

"No, he's already just worn himself out, honey." his wife says to us. "We've just made the 4 hour drive to get here. I really need to let him rest and we will try again tomorrow. We are staying at the naval resort up on the cliff here."

I look over to him, as his daughters are loading him back into the little car. For one minute he looks our way and I see the beautiful watery blue eyes of a few men I have known, my grandfathers, my father in law. He got in and just sat. Exhausted. Looking at the sea, not saying a word to anyone.

I told his wife she could drive right down to the shore so he wont have such a distance to get him down there, and if they needed any help that the front desk could probably arrange for a few nice men to assist them. For some reason, I bet this is a request often asked of them.

Ill get him there, honey. She said to us. I knew she would. A nice smile came over her, and she dearly thanked us for trying to help and then she was off. Arranging his blanket on his lap, a little peck on the cheek, before closing his door, then the trunk.

We turned and walked away and I could feel the lump in my throat grow bigger and bigger. My eyes not being able to hold back the tears. "oh, honey" my man says, rubbing my back. " She'll do it."

Our children come back into the picture, running, with their sticks and sand flying. I'm immediately brought back to this place of jubilant laughter and giggling children.

"Whats wrong, Mom?" Ryan asks.

Steve just answers..your moms just got a soft heart, son.

It was one of the most touching things I have ever seen. That woman and her Husband. What we will do for each other...for love.

Maybe today they didn't make it, but..She will get him there.. one way or another.. I'm sure of it.

God bless you sweet husband and wife.

Ode to summertime....

Was a great time we had-

us 5

a time to run and be alive

the weather alright, but mostly bad

we made it fun

the time we had

so goodbye lazy morning smiles

we walked that beach, Id say, miles and miles

I enjoyed each and every one of you

the summers over, I could almost cry, boo-hoo.

mama loves ya!!

xoxo

:)

how so ever cornball of me, eh?

MY kitchen--before and after, people..check it out!

Hello there! well, since I have nothing really at all very interesting to say, shall we got on a little trip down memory lane? Oh, yes.. I knew you'd agree.

Get your coat..oh, you really don't need it. Cm on- lets go.

Here we have a lovely photo of the home we live in now "Pre-wonderfulness"

Looking at my little kitchen, who woulda thunk it, peeps..Its hard to see, but that tile there, the back splash, it had little grey and MAUVE flowers on it. It was a little too much for me to handle. Bob IMMEDIATELY got to chipping that away..far away. {thank you so much- honey}Here this shot is looking into the dining room. The sink is still on the right, you can kind of see it. The sweet old gal that lived here, remember she raised all 4 of her now grown up children in this house, well.. I think she probably needed a little more tending to than she got, truth be known. I was kind of worried about her after a few visits. We wont get into that though, its a before and after, people!! onward...This photo is the only picture of the stove area, albeit kind of a not great photo, you can see what BV and I decided to do..

We (he) took the cabinet next to the sink out, and we put in a wall oven, which is really waaay too small for our family's use, but my Aunt (teta) gave it to me, so we used it!!! recycle people..

We also decided to install bead board and can lighting on the ceiling and on the walls half way up. A wonderful 9 inch crown moulding, you know-- just for the "effect" kinda like the frosting on a cake.. I decided long before we started the renovation that I would like this home to reflect how it probably would have looked before its modernization ..after the war. You know, back to its ROOTS..
Here's where we are today, folks. We ended up with the same cabinets, although the ever fabulous and uber talented husband of mine (bv) sprayed them all out, oh about 4 times. Me being the other helper chick got to do all the "helper type work" you know..sanding and priming and sanding and priming and after I was done with that I got to go to the store for more SANDPAPER and do a little more.. egads, I had no fingerprints left.. Its all good though. I love to work with my man.

So, here is the cooking area now, we decided to take out all of the cabinets above and let it be a little more free and open, like me.. Added a little stainless steel for the counter and back splash. We re purposed a radiator cover for a shelf to hold all of my wonderful restaurant ware dishes. Love how it turned out.

The floor is just a great plain checkerboard pattern, on the diagonal in a really creamy beige and buttery yellow. Yep, my villa did it all.

Another thing I love about this kitchen is the wallpaper I used. Its something I found on eBay, looks like old tin ceiling squares. The roll came to me, it was just white paper with no glue and the pattern was raised by what looked to my like a type of Styrofoam. I said a prayer, got out my gloppy wallpaper glue bucket and a huge old wallpaper brush and went for it. I love it totally, to this day. It painted up very well and I haven't looked back and haven't regretted putting it up! (yet)

~~~

update:

now that I look at this photo of the stove top I have to tell you a little story. One night, after I just had gotten the dishwasher dishes loaded, and hustled all 3 children upstairs for baths and reading I heard a crack crack cracking sound...then a huge crash of a million plates. Then I heard my glass top stove shattering and popping..yes, girls.. It was my wonderful shelf falling down. I had that thing stacked so wonderfully with all my best ironware and restaurant ware..

It makes me cry just thinking about what I lost and how stupid we were for not getting that shelf (one side) sturdily into a stud.

Lesson learned..find yourself a stud girls..hanging anything heavy..you need a big stud.

just my lil bit of wisdom for the night..

(ps to coastal nest winners Timi, Mrs J and Marty--yes, the slacker that I am, I have not gotten your cute little prizes in the mail, YET..) also martster--you need to email me with your addy, still!!

what do you think of the kitchen, people??

Cmon now..serious!

Beach cottage fence harvesting, and a dead sealion..

You really wouldn't believe the weekend we had here at the beach.

The air.. crisp and clear, the wind..nonexistant..the temperature, nice.. in the mid 70s possibly higher..we need to get a thermometer out there. Really.

It was gorgeous. So, bright and early on Sunday, we headed out on the traditional family fun loving beach walk. This is what we found..Waves were crisp and clear- and white. Sometimes its not that way, you know.. The Washington Coast is notorious for the "Brown Wave" lots of gunk, doesn't make for such a pretty picture, not today. Only gorgeous "Hollywood" type waves.The sky, blue as the bluest crayon in the box, along with gorgeous green beach grass. Someone would think Lisa might be a photography buff or something..
Beach cottage fence harvesting.. you will have to wait and see. Hi, my sweet little children!
"MOM!!! HURRY UP!!! DEAD SEA LION--COME LOOK!!"
oh my gosh what.have.they.found.now....eeeew..
Little smarty pants, all of them.. Maybe a petrified dead sea lion, kinda looks like a creature of the sea, but for sure-- no dead sea lion. Thank goodness.





My parents came out for a BV bbq dinner on Sunday night, fun.. Great weekend at the Coastal Nest..
What did you do?

Before and after- punkin pies room....

Here we are..BEFORE, girls..

this nice lady is the gal we purchased our home from.

she raised 4 children in this house.

this is to be Reas room..

see that closet built in.front.of.the.closet.

uh..

then there is more boarder, this time in blue. Adore the boarder folks..

(not)

These fluffy valances were stuffed with tissue paper.

uh..

Although, I asked if I could purchase this beautiful rosewood bed from the estate.

NO. twas not to be.

thats alright!

onward..shall we go?

The wonderful and uber talented husband, you know as

BV..

he rapidly tore out the closet.in.front.of.the.closet

and voila!! A place for a dresser. How could that be?

and more room to boot.

The floors under the carpet.on.top.of.carpet.

hello..gorgeous. swept and mopped them.

easy peasy. "An old house is made of good solid construction materials that will last a lifetime if properly taken care of"..BOB--let me have my keyboard back!

He is such a know it all.

The small room is perfect for this smallish person who resides here, but mostly in our bed at night. uh...

More..things. Grama bought her that adorable tea set. Ive had most of the things in there besides that since waay before she was born. Fits perfect now, dosent it?

And there you have it.

Before and after a little girls bedroom

a la

coastal nest

:)

whatdoyouthink?

we have a winner..winner..WINNER {or3}

HEY..you. yeeeeesss---you there. MARTY..when you comin over?

you can collect your prize in person.. xoxo-BV

excuse me while I but in..get to work, mailman..sheesh!! he's kidding martster..although that sweaty shirt WOULD make a great giveaway..maybe even a government issue official usps black ink pen, perhaps?? EEEWWW..

Ummmm, Mrs J..your not so lucky.. But you my dear, well. you get some coastal frolicking things, directly from my beloved Pacific beach. Quite possibly, not this large funny manhead we found and drug home one morning. Hes a great outdoor seat..and it kinda looks like BobV, although bobs nose isnt quite that flat.

Then theres Timi, well--at least I think this is her and her crowd..she kept walking by my house quite a few times a day, she was staying at the resort across the street in her Mobile Estate, with her hubby and peeps. Although she thought her mission was covert..Uh, I saw her and her wenches coming a mile away. Why didnt y'all stop in and say "ayyyee.."? Im almost positive its her in the middle, those purple glasses give it away every time.

Thanks to all who par-took in the old blog giveaway.

Marty..

Mrs J..

and Timi the wench..

email me your addresses.

and dont get tooooo excited.

Thanks for being my friendly friends..