New Year's Resolutions

We thought we'd do something a little different this year.  Instead of the same old new year's resolutions (lose 10 pounds, read more, exercise, be more green) that get lost in the shuffle sometime around January 15th, we have decided to have joint "house" new year's resolutions.  And we are going to track our progress to make sure we keep them.  So, with nine hours to go before 2008, here are our "House New Year's Resolutions":

1.  Spend less money on house.
1 (a).  Do more of the home maintenance and landscaping ourselves.

2.  Lindsey will cook one meal without using the microwave.

3.  Replace bathroom fixtures because Evan hates them.

3 (a).  Evan to convince Lindsey that we should replace bathroom fixtures.

4.  Replace mudroom floor.

5.  Install dishwasher (this is Evan's number one 2008 goal, after world peace and redemption for his beloved Mets).

6.  Lindsey will try and go one weekend without checking email (this resolution does not apply to Evan, as he is physically incapable of not checking email).

7.  Memorize our CT phone number (Evan had to call his mom the other day when he needed to give someone our phone number).

8.  Invite more friends up for the weekend (with preference to those who comment on our blog).

9.  Lindsey is going to learn how to plant the flower box.

10.  We are going to mine all of our professional and personal contacts to try and get on one of the HGTV design shows that we recently discovered and are now addicted to.

11.  Lindsey is 100% committed to finally buying rugs for the living room, dining room and master bedroom.

12.  Blog more often!

Thanks to all of our readers and happy new year!

Posted by Evan and Lindsey

Sad News

Oscar Peterson, the great jazz pianist, died yesterday.  He was 82 years old.  Here's the article from the New York Times announcing his death.  He was one of the few heroes I have.

I guess you're wondering what his death has to do with this blog.  His 1964 CD "We Get Requests," specifically the songs "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars," "Days of Wine and Roses" and "My One and Only Love" are my Madeleine (apologies to Marcel Proust).  No matter where I am, hearing these songs instantly takes me into my parents' living room when I was a kid.  It was their go-to CD for cocktail parties, dinner parties and other grownup functions.  I used to love it when that CD came on, because it meant something fun and adult was about to happen.

And then I got older, and it became MY go-to CD for pretty much everything.  And then I learned more about Oscar Peterson, the music he made and the technical master he was.  And studying him brought me to others, like Herb Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and one of my other heroes, Bill Evans.

Which brings me back to the house.  I wonder what, 20 or 30 years from now, will remind me of this house and right now.  Will fire remind me of the way the house smells when Lindsey makes a fire?  Or will random typing remind me of the sound of Lindsey typing in her office, writing her next book?  Or perhaps it will be rain, which will always remind me that it rained almost every weekend during the first summer we owned this house.

Either way, I know I'll be listening to Mr. Peterson, and I will be grounded--perhaps even comforted--by the history his music represents.

Posted by Evan

Snow is Less Fun When You're 33 and Own a Weekend House

I just spent an hour and a half shoveling snow.  My back hurts, I have a blister the size of Connecticut on my thumb and my feet are freezing.

When I was a kid I used to love snow...there was sledding, snowball fights, no school and hot cocoa - much like one of those new animated Starbucks commercials, but without the hugging bear or penguins serving lattes...does anyone else think those commercials are a bit creepy or is it just me?

Now the only good thing about snow is that I can skip the gym on Monday because of the workout I just got.

But I did get to buy a really cool shovel at the Tractor Supply Co., so not a total loss. 

Posted by Evan

The Sharon Pile

We didn't go up to the house this weekend.  A combination of factors kept us in NYC: I came home late Friday night from a business trip to Boston, there is a big storm here in the northeast and Lindsey has a few deadlines so she has a lot of work to do this weekend.

Which brings us to the Sharon Pile.  During the week we collect all of the things we want to take to the country that weekend in a pile next to our printer.  Hence, the "Sharon Pile."  This week's pile includes replacement filters for our water filtration system, individual K-Cups for our new Keurig single-cup coffee maker, an extra warm sweater for Lindsey, running shoes, a nice Bordeaux and a new Pinot Noir I've been looking forward to trying, this week's Economist and a few books.

The Sharon Pile is more than just a pile.  It's a way for us to remember that no matter how bad the week gets, we are always a day closer to our refuge in the country.

Posted by Evan

Come Live Near Us

Our friends Jane and John recently moved to a new property and are selling their former weekend house. It is a cute, three-bedroom Cape Cod in the charming town of West Cornwall, CT, right next to our town of Sharon. (The towns are connected by a covered bridge...how cute is that?)

Here is the listing:
ROMANTIC 3 BD CAPE W/ FIREPLACE IN LIVING ROOM, Built-in bookcases in library & BR. A screened-in porch looks out on the garden-filled 4 acres. 1.5 bathrooms, full basement complete with pantry, 2 utility rooms for recreation, and a one-car garage. $399,000

Click here to learn more about the house!

Baby It's Cold...INSIDE

So we just got to the house.  It's Friday at 10:30pm.  It's 24 degrees outside and only 52 degrees inside the house.  We've turned on the heat, plugged in the portable radiator and started a fire.  But it's still freezing.

I am writing this post in my jacket, hat and gloves.  Linds is upstairs buried under three blankets (and still in her coat, hat and previously mentioned mittens). 

It is so cold right now I am thinking of getting back into the car until the house warms up.  Is this what other weekenders do?  Are we doing something wrong?  I have to end this post so I can put my hands back into my jacket pockets.  If you have any ideas for us, please let us know.

Posted by Evan

A Weekend of Firsts

It was quite a busy weekend for us--one of "firsts."  Here is a list of things that we experienced for the first time this weekend:

1.  First snow.  Only a dusting, but still exciting.

2.  First time it was colder than 13 degrees...it got down to 10.  Evan is already upset about our heating oil bill.

3.  First time we (Lindsey) set off the alarm.  It was so cold that she tried to punch in the numbers with her mittens still on, and she could not do it fast enough so the alarm went off.  The ADT guy contacted us through the ADT intercom system and asked for our security password.  I forgot it for a minute so it took a little while to convince him we were the owners.  Fun was had by all.

4.  First local dinner party.  Lindsey's friend Betty invited us to her beautiful home in West Cornwall (7 miles from our house) for a dinner party with her friends Jane and John (who have been coming to West Cornwall for 20 years).  We had a wonderful time, and it was great to meet other Country Weekenders.

5.  We made our first visit to the new Target in Torrington.  Lindsey was ecstatic, because she only used to go to Target when she visited her friends Danielle and Steve in LA (there is no Target in Manhattan).