Tidal Basin blossoms and the mysterious Wharf

I probably post the same pictures every year, but I can't help taking more each time I visit the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin.  I went twice this year: one by myself on a morning jog, and once with Blake, Bear, Brady (Blake's brother's dog) and some of Blake's friends from work.  Both days had fantastic weather and a manageable amount of tourists, so it was enjoyable on all levels.

I made the mistake of wearing white pants when we went with the dogs. By the end of the morning they were looking not-so white.  Having dogs jump all over you and then eating lunch on a derelict cement retaining wall at The Wharf will do that to you.  Go figure.

Bear loved the people and wanted to watch the paddle boats go by.  We got stopped every few feet (per usual) by people asking what type of dog he was, if they could pet him, and (my favorite) if they could take pictures with him.  Yep. He was a hit with the young Japanese tourist crowd.  I wonder how many instagram accounts he's showing up on because of it.

We had a terrible, snowy winter this year, so I was worried that the blossoms might not come in force. But, luckily, I was wrong.  We hit it at the exact right time - the trees were practically weighted down under all the fluffy pink blooms.  It smelled like heaven...and gave me allergies enough to last through the weekend.

Because the Cherry Blossom Festival was going on, a lot of the cross-streets were closed and it was nearly impossible to drive across the Mall to the basin.  We had to get creative with our navigation and ended up parking along the SW waterfront on a street we'd never been down before.  As we were walking along, I recognized the wharf from several DC-based movies I've seen.  I'd never known where that location was until now.  I would compare it to a miniature version of Pike Place Market in Seattle.  Minus the trinket sellers and beautiful flower stalls.  But that stink of fresh seafood and open-air shrimp slinging?  Yep, that's reminiscent for sure.

For $15.95 we got two crab cake sandwiches, fries, hush puppies and a drink.  Not bad, right?  I can't believe we'd never heard of The Wharf before (maybe we're just that out of it...or not hip enough).  It'd be a great place to take out-of-towners who want an authentic eastern seafood meal.  We'll be back again for sure.

Barn Sale-ing

I solemnly swear that this is the last post about the Chartreuse & Co Barn Sale.  I can't help myself. It was that good.

I took a few pictures of things I fell in love with but either couldn't bring myself to spend the cash, or couldn't think of a place I could use it.  From left to right:

1.  The blue sky between the barns was gorgeous.  I also loved the old feed/water tubs.  I would love one to serve drinks in, but goodness, where would you store something so huge?

2.  The oil painting of the fields was framed so well.  I would have taken it home with me if it hadn't been $300.  Yikes.  Probably not a bad price for an original painting in that frame, but a little above my self-alloted sale spending.

3.  A bright blue windsor chair.  Can you tell I'm loving all things peacock blue these days?  Too bad I'm swimming in chairs at home.  But I wish I'd been able to bring it home with me.

4.  These equestrian candle hurricanes were great, but I couldn't really see them fitting into my home. If I'd been able to get them for a song, I would have tried my darndest to find a place for them, but they were on the pricey side, so there they stayed.

As for what I did come home with...other than the chair I posted about yesterday,  I snagged a couple other small things.  Blake's been wanting a terrarium for ages and we found the perfect one.  It's now residing on the trunk in our bedroom nook.  Right now it's housing the plastic plant it came with, but I need to make a run to Home Depot for some colorful succulents.  

I fell in love with this tile and carved wood tray.  Probably not something I needed, but I do so adore it.  I think it'll be pretty for corralling the salt, pepper and napkins on the table.  Blake served a mission for our church for a year in Portugal (and a year in Cape Verde) and the tile reminded me of Portuguese tile, which was the clincher.  So, even thought I didn't need it, I kinda needed it.  You know what I mean.

Vinyl

This past weekend was beautiful.  We wanted to spend as much time outside as possible.  I convinced Blake to go to a barn sale with me up in Buckeystown, Maryland, called Chartreuse & Co.  Twice a year they have a huge market sale with six buildings and tons of outdoor booths.  It was glorious.  I'm adding the next sales to my calendar in indelible ink.

We found a couple of small things: a glass and silver terrarium and a tile and wood tray.  But, my favorite find of the day was a 40's style chrome chair for $26.00.  Blake spotted it right before we were about to leave and we convinced each other that we needed it for Blake's side table/desk.  It was exactly what I've been looking for.  I wanted something more modern-looking to contrast with the more woodsy-feel of the desk.

I'm not usually a fan of vinyl, and even considered recovering the seat in a navy blue velvet remnant that I've been hoarding in my fabric stash.  However, it's pretty rare to find a seat in as good a condition as this one, so I think I'm going to stick with it. It goes really well with the wood and the floors, but I'm still trying to figure out if it feels too honey-colored over in that corner of the room.  For now, it stays.  Maybe I need something colorful on the wall above the desk?

Peacock Blue

It's been too long since I've posted about a garbage project.

When we bought our house over four years ago, the previous owners left us a bunch of modular furniture.  The man had been a wood-worker, so I think most of it is handmade.  I've got one set in my closet, we've got a couple down in the basement as storage until I can figure out what to do with them, and then we had one up in the spare bedroom.

Two of the pieces were in fairly bad shape and I wasn't wanting to re-glue all of the drawers, so I gave them away.  I kept the small piece on the left, though, because it was in great shape and I loved the size.

I had a sample pot of peacock blue paint in my basement hoard and decided this was the perfect project for it.  And, of course, now that I've painted this one piece of furniture, I'm in love with the color and want to paint everything in my house.  (In case you're wondering the paint is Valspar and is called Perfect Storm).  It may have a little too much pizazz to find a place in every room, but maybe I'll surprise myself and work it in everywhere.  It's already found it's way down to the puppet theater (yeah, we have built-in puppet theater) and onto a couple picture frames.  I just can't stop!

...Back to the mini dresser.

The brass pulls are sash lifts from our local hardware store and were $3.00 (so much cheaper than other hardware options).  I'm loving the way the brushed brass looks against the blue.  Even Blake, who is not a fan of brass, likes them a lot.

One of these days I'll get my act together and take some real camera photos.  (I always say that, but still have yet to make any progress in that department).  But for now I'll just go about my way.  Ba da ba ba ba - I'm loving it.

Great Falls

A couple weeks ago my Dad was in town for meetings.  His meetings were supposed to last all weekend, but they finished a day and a half early.  We took advantage or his extra time and the great weather by heading out to Great Falls.

My Dad has been to DC so many times that it's hard to find something he hasn't done.  He'd never been to see the falls, so that was first on our list.  It was 67 degrees that day, which means that DC folks get the heck outdoors to enjoy it while it lasts.  The canal and the falls were packed with tourists and locals soaking up the sunshine.

Bear was his usual celebrity self and stopped to kiss and snuggle people every ten feet or so.  Such an attention-seeker than pup is!  We can't take him anywhere...

After our hike (read: walk) we drove through Georgetown and up to Surf Side for their delicious fish tacos and fresh guar.  We ate in the parking lot so that Bear could be with us.  It earned us some odd looks, but it was worth it to keep the little guy with us.