"The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul." ~ Wyland

More friend time! On this day, we traveled to the beach - I can still hardly believe that I live only a few short miles from all of this beauty!  We also strolled around a park that was new to me - thanks to Sally for sharing some new sights!

Our master bath vanity arrives today, and the love seat and sofa arrive on Tuesday - wow! I really do feel as though we are in the home stretch! I promise some updated condo photos next week!

"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant." ~ Arlo Guthrie

(may not play on portable device)

At last, some time for friends! No condo updates this post, though there will be more to come. We have friends from the north visiting us right now for a few days. It has been wonderful to show them around our new neck of the woods. They have been able to stay with some mutual friends, as our sleep-sofa doesn't arrive till next week.

The guys have golfed and we ladies did around town a bit. We had a real treat earlier today - we had a lovely visit with Arlo Guthrie as he sat on a bench outside the theater where tonight he will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Alice's Restaurant, (sold out since the summer). I'm sorry that I don't have a picture. I was going to ask if we could take one, but chickened out at the last minute. He was so pleasant to talk to that I guess that I felt it would be rude - oh well!

We are enjoying days of cool but sunny weather, which I know is in stark contrast to the North East. I love a good snowstorm, but am happy to have sat this one out!

"King and Queen of the Pelicans we; No other Birds so grand we see! None but we have feet like fins! With lovely leathery throats and chins!" ~ Edward Lear

Victory! Well, kind of... Bruce and I are in agreement - we have put in our last day-long, hard-work day in our condo. There are certainly things to still be done, but any remaining "big" stuff is out of our hands.

Our master bath vanity had to be returned as the plumbing was placed on the wrong side. The corrected one should arrive shortly (we hope!). Our sofa and love seat, which were predicted to arrive 6-8 weeks following our order, will be delivered on Feb. 3rd. Happy news! 

Our "sweat equity" work is pretty much done! We even spent some time today sitting on the pier of our condo complex, a couple of pelicans joining us. We feel ready to enjoy our time here now (not that we haven't up until this point, but it's not the same).

I need to order some prints of pictures that you have seen posted here over the years - we have decided that many of these will go on our walls - this is an armchair task! When the remainder of our furniture arrives, we will make decisions about end tables, coffee table, and possible area rugs. In the meantime, we await the arrival of some friends on Monday. They will be sleeping at the condo of mutual friends as we are not prepared for overnight guests yet, but their arrival has us feeling even more settled.

Hooray!!

"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." ~ Tony Robbins

An update of accomplishments! Our headboard is out of the living-room and into the bedroom! 

And we put together a dresser to accompany the bedside tables I put together the other day! 

The bedroom now looks as though it is a complete room (with the exception of things on the walls). This really is a wonderful feeling! One little step at a time!

"How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy." ~ Paul Sweeney

I made a break for it the other day, when the sun finally came out, and headed to the beach to snap a few pix. Always mesmerizing. The weather continues to be a mixed bag - rain, some sun, fog, cool and humid, warm and humid....... I'm not really complaining. I'd be chomping at the bit to be outside if we had beautiful weather all the time. As it is, I am able to continue plinking away at things in the condo. 

Yesterday we made our second run to IKEA to pick up the things that we left without last week, and to add a few other things to the cart. Today I spent a good portion of time putting together two bedside tables. I will share pictures of them in place when our bedroom has more light (next phase of work to be done). I'm pretty proud of myself for my handiwork, though I will admit that the backside of mine shows the screws rather than the side it should. Since it will be up against the wall, I decided to not take it all apart and redo it , as that is exactly what I would have had to do. I'm still pretty pleased with myself!

Bruce is managing to fit in golf, as I am knitting. Next week my knitting group will make a day-trip to a knit shop and gallery, and then out to lunch. We are getting our share of fun amongst all the work (which is getting less and less each day). How very fortunate we are!

"There is progress whether ye are going forward or backward! The thing is to move!" ~ Edgar Cayce

Who ever thought that being able to hang up my clothes would bring me such indescribable pleasure?! For nearly two weeks, we have lived out of boxes of clothing. Someone said to me - it must be like camping. Well, I don't like camping..... Bruce and our friend Rick began putting together our closet on Saturday. They spent three long days measuring, cutting, running to the store, and then doing it all over again the next day. There are still a few little things to tweak, but we have been able to put our clothes on hangers, and shortly, in a few drawers. This has put us one step closer to feeling like we are in a home.

When we made our run to IKEA last week (it's about an hour and a half away), we borrowed our tile man's truck because we knew that some of what we were planning to pick up would be too long for our vehicle. We are very grateful to him. In our efforts to get back home quickly with a borrowed vehicle, we left without actually purchasing some of the things we thought we had picked up - curtains; curtain track system, etc. I started looking for them a few days later only to discover that we had only one package of curtains, and no track rail. Upon examination of the receipt we were glad to discover that we hadn't paid for them either. They were set down somewhere along the way, never to be returned to the cart. So - another trip down this week - sometime - is in the plans. That's fine though. It will be nice to be able to take our own vehicle, and our own time. Plus, we decided on a couple of other things once we were home and had a chance to think about them.

In any case - we keep moving along! Sadly, there does not seem to be any weather even closely resembling beach weather this week. That's ok though - we have all winter!

"Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Yes, our headboard is still in the living-room!

We picked up these place-mats at the Oysterfest on Cape Cod a few years ago.

Narrow tiles over the sink.

This soap-dish is another Oysterfest find.

Phew! Yesterday I got to put my feet up for a bit. Bruce had the car for golf, and I was forced to stay put. It was a much needed break from all of the running around that we have done.

You can see by the photos that, with the exception of outlets and under-counter lighting, our backsplash is complete. I love it! Bruce found these tiles, and I must say that they are just beautiful!

We made a trip to IKEA to purchase shelving, and Bruce and a friend assembled them - it's so nice to be able to put things up off the floor, even if it's only in a temporary location. Yesterday felt for the first time like we were living in a home rather than a disaster area.

Today the bedroom closet is being assembled by Bruce and our same friend - thank you Rick! I told him that I would cook him anything that he wanted in exchange for his help. He mentioned something about new golf clubs, to which I responded "As soon as I can find the knitting pattern for them, I'll get started!"

So, a little peace, and peace-of-mind has begun to settle around us. We may even make it the three miles to the beach this week!

"Friends are like sea shells we collect along the way."

Before we left New York, Melissa, one of my knitting group comrades, dropped off a house (condo) warming gift from the group. As you can see, it now rests in front of our condo stove! Thanks ladies!

I met with my Stuart knitting group on Monday, and it was just wonderful to see them all again! I know I've said it before, but I will say it again - knitters are really nice people!

We continue to make steady progress. Things don't look or feel quite as overwhelming as they did a week ago. The remainder of the tile in the full-bath has been grouted and the vanity should arrive shortly. Today, the kitchen backsplash should be complete! Bruce has been steadily working on closets, and having a place to put our clothes will bring a lot of order to things. A trip to IKEA is scheduled so that we can pick up shelving and odds and ends. So far, so good.

We made it down to the pier the other evening and just sat and enjoyed to peace and quiet. We know that this will soon be a regular part of our day; we just aren't quite there yet. 

But we are getting closer!

"Home is the nicest word there is." - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Well, we are finally here in sunny (and rainy) Florida. We have been here for about 72 hours, and in that time we have managed to drive all over town and beyond in order to pick up things that we need for the condo. Our big purchase today was a sleeper-sofa and love seat. Unfortunately we will have to wait several weeks for delivery. We really wanted to get something that will be comfortable for guests to sleep on since we have only one bedroom. We got a LazyBoy with an inflatable mattress, which we tried out and found to be just wonderful (actually, much more comfortable than the bed we have here). The pair are a kind of coral color - remember, I said no boring colors! In the meantime, we do have a few chairs that we can sit on till they arrive.

Other things that need to be completed are being scheduled - not a lot, but they need to be done. We have been unpacking boxes and bags, and until we have shelves to set things upon, and racks to hang things on, our condo continues to look like a disaster. We know that things will come together, but I admit that we are both a bit impatient. However - we continue to be very grateful that this is something that we are able to do at all!

One thing that did get done today was the hanging of the mirror I made. I had originally intended to hang it in the half bath, although I knew it might be a bit big - and it is. So, we have hung it in the main living space, and I do love it there. Of course, it's the only thing on our walls though!

I promise to keep you updated as we hopefully move from disaster area to a somewhat livable area soon! 

Once again - Happy New Year!