The Life in Lifestyle – Random Thoughts

Hi everyone!  Jordan and I arrived home from the Haven conference around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, and boy were we tired!  Thankfully, she did two-thirds of the driving on our six-hour trip.  I don’t know about you, but once I get past the midnight hour, I just assume that everyone else on the road has probably been partying….. a little or a lot.   Are you that paranoid, too?

We took in a boat-load of information at the conference, which is for bloggers.  We saw old friends and made some new ones.  It’s always great to get together with like-minded people to share information and learn new things.  We usually find out that we are doing a lot right and a few things wrong, so we will be working toward making our blog better for you.  After all, without you all, we would just be writing, and there would be no reading.  One of the items on our to-do list that we hope to tackle soon is an upgrade of our free subscription services.  And we might be adding a free monthly newsletter.

 

 

Mr. Right is still on his ten-week adventure.  He is averaging 90 miles of bicycling a day.  He is out of the mountains and now on the plains north of Minnesota.  Our son flew up last week and totally surprised him with a two-night visit.  There are nine people in the group he is riding with.  They hired a company that is providing their meals, carrying their luggage, and routing out the trip course.  Half of the nights are spent in tents and half in hotels.  They get one day off each week.  Mr. Right and I bicycled across the USA a few years ago, and it was the best summer of my life.  It took seven weeks, and we averaged 80 miles per day.  One day we rode 120 miles…..whew!!!

 

 

Jordan and I thought we would compile a post that answers questions about us that you have asked over the years.  So, if you have anything about us you would like to know, just email us or leave it in our comments section.  We will run that post in a week or two.  And while you are at it, let us know the kinds of blog posts you like the most for us to do.  By the way, we were color-coordinated at Haven for most of the events and didn’t even plan that.

 

 

We had a post-conference/working breakfast this morning in our courtyard.  We sure enjoyed eating these.

 

 

We can’t wait to share some of the info we learned in the decorating sessions we attended at the conference.   We especially liked Kelly Edwards‘ presentation.  She approaches decorating as if she is cooking, and this book tells all about it.  We love good common sense.    And while we are at it, we can’t wait to get our paws on this book.  We have both pre-ordered it. And by the way, this photo is the recreation of an actual blogger’s living room that Home Depot did at Haven.

 

 

 (This is the rug I bought last year in Istanbul.)

Have you heard about Everything But The House?  It’s an auction service that does on-line estate sales, divorce sales, etc.  They had a booth at the conference and had a huge selection of auction items for the attendees (and anyone else in the world) to bid on.  You know I love a good vintage rug, like this one.  Well, they had a vintage Turkish rug that I fell in love with, and it was the right size.  And get this…..I won it in the auction.  (I actually think that saying you won something in an auction sounds stupid because you have to pay for it, but that’s the term the world uses).  I left it in my SUV and am taking it straight to the rug cleaners today.  I can’t wait to put it in our kitchen.  The thing I like about EBTH’s auctions is that when someone comes in at the last minute or second and places a bid, the auction is automatically extended five minutes until the bidding stops.  I have lost several items on ebay because I was outbid in the last second or two.  We bloggers were a good audience for their booth.  I saw ladies carrying their “won” items as they checked out.

 

 

 (This area has changed.)

And get this…..the kitchen tweaks are finished.  And……it was UNDER budget.  Does that ever happen?  We are going to reveal the different areas and then the whole space.  (By then the rug should be back from the cleaners).  I will be spending this week cleaning up construction dust and putting things back.  I love that kind of fun work.  Don’t you?

 

 

Jordan’s Yankee is competing in a full Ironman competition next Sunday in Lake Placid, NY.  We have rented a house there for next week.  The whole family, minus Mr. Right, will be there cheering him on and then we are going to hike, kayak, paddle board, and bicycle in the beautiful area the following week.  Just so you know, a full Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bicycle ride, and a full marathon – all in ONE day.  There is no nap time built into this competition.  The goal is not to win but to finish before midnight.

 

Well, that’s probably enough ramblings for one day.  It’s time to hop into the car and take Jordan back to the airport.  We have some great posts coming up for you and hope to see you back here.  After all, you make this possible.

 

Take care.

 

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