Ode To The Laundry Basket

Thank you, laundry basket. My $9.99 investment (with a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon, of course) has been one of the best of my life. You make me a better person.

Gone are the days of me having to lug around the laundry bag. Finally, like when I was growing up, I can use you as a far superior method of transporting my dirty, and clean, laundry. You even go so far out of your way as to be the perfect clearance for the machines in the basement.

You truly are a blessed addition to our home. A benefit I had not even anticipated was that I can fold the laundry in living room, while watching Deadliest Catch of course, and then use you to transport said clean and folded laundry to the bedroom, to be put away.

It's like a miracle. So take a load off, Laundry Basket, and enjoy the rest of the evening. You've earned it.

MGMT

I don't want to like these guys, but I can't help it. They're arrogant, yet comical. They use techno equipment, which sounds like a terrible idea, but the songs they produce have heart and great hooks. Their videos are artistic and thought out. In short, they're everything that Andrew and I wanted to be. Dicks. The record company doesn't let you embed, but check out Time To Pretend and Kids.

This Dishwasher Has Changed My Life

It's absolutely amazing. You put your dirty dishes inside of it and they come out clean. And I don't have to do anything! It's not that I can't imagine life without it, because I can. Really, it's been about four days with the dishwasher. But god damn does this thing make life easier.

This was especially nice after Nilda made dinner last night, mainly from things we got at the farmer's market. We had local scallops, local basil and even a white wine from New York that was actually pretty good. I know Nilda's Hispanic and all, but damn we're white.

We did what we did best today, which is drink prosecco and st. germaine in the park. We started thinking about it and learned (thanks, iphone) that it is a violation under the NYC Administrative Code to possess alcohol in a park or public area with an intent to consume, intent being determined by an open container. This is a civil violation, not criminal, so that you're not "arrested" for an open container violation. Or something. This blog is not intended to nor does it provide or attempt to provide legal advice and should not be consulted or relied upon for any such purposes.

Nilda and I don't give a shit because we're bad asses. We're gonna start a gang.

Zodiaq Bianco Carrara Quartz Countertop Compare Look Review

This blog post goes out to those people googling to see how the Bianco Carrara looks as a countertop. This will be boring to most, but, trust me, after having done the same search for months, I know there is someone out there who will appreciate it. And I hear all you people are somehow interested in all this crap, but I'll never believe that. Anyway, here goes:

Dear Google Searcher,

I know. It's tough. You're picking your countertops and you're stuck. You love the way marble bianco carrara looks, but you're concerned that it won't hold up like quartz. The Zodiaq Bianco Carrara seems like a great alternative. It looks arguably like marble and there are some great pictures of it on the internets.

The problem is that the sample you got doesn't look anything like that. It looks like a piece of plain white with black specks. At best, it's a disappointment.

You hope that the sample you got is a fluke or that it will look better in a larger slab, but you know that's not true. You ultimately can't pick it because its runs the risk of looking cheap. There's a reason they don't have samples of it at Home Depot.

We ultimately decided to go with the Silestone Bianco River, and we're thrilled with it. It goes great with our gray (or is it grey?) cabinets and was clearly the safer choice.

I know this isn't the result you were hoping for. If I'm wrong and the Bianco Carrara looks great, let me know, so that Nilda and I can continue, once again, enjoy agonizing over a choice that is now already made.

Yours very truly,

The Most Important Blog In The Universe

P.S. You're welcome.

Best Rickroll Ever

Only Irene could find something like this.

My Most Important Blog Post Of The Evening

We hit a milestone this weekend. The contractor officially finished on Friday, putting up the kitchen backsplash, and we had our kitchen faucet installed on Saturday. It's almost like we really live here. Here's the kitchen thus far, sans microwave and working dishwasher:

Nilda's most-favorite-exciting-oh-my-god-this-is-going-to-change-my-life-appliance is the kitchen faucet, which is the touch sensitive Delta Pilar. It is pretty cool, I have to admit. I've seen a bunch of ads for it in National Geographic and on the Discovery Channel. I guess they know the spouses of their market. Show them how it works, Nilda:

Just like on tv! This weekend also marked our foray into the exciting and dangerous world of painting. We did the trim on Friday night. We don't paint the trim last, like you're supposed to. We do things the mavericky way and paint it first. Check out the before and after picks on the trim. Can you tell which pic is before and which is after? I can't.

We started painting in earnest on Saturday morning and finally finished around 9:00 that night. Don't ask, it took a while, all right?

Having finally finished painting, we were finally able to start putting things in their place, like the bar in the pic above. We spent most of Sunday putting away all the things that had to wait for us to finish painting. It's been a month exactly since we moved and we finally were able to put this stuff away. It was glorious. Here's the cabinet under the kitchen sink and the bookcase. It may look like cleaning supplies and books to you, but it looks like six empty boxes to me:

The place is finally starting to come together and I love love love it. Btw, did you know that they are planning a remake of Red Dawn? This is a movie that just HAS to be made. WOLVERINES!!!!

Emails From An Asshole

Check out dontevenreply.com. It's basically a bunch of prank phone calls made through craigslist. Read it at lunch and think about your sad, lonely existence.

Stop Bugging Me About Blogging, Matt

The contractor finishes this week and thank God. The bathroom is finally, finally done. Sort of. We still need to get the tub faucet put in but who cares about details like that when you have baseboards.

All this time and work, and my favorite part is the $4 soap tray we got at Home Depot. Go figure.

Here's the kitchen on the night before the countertops are installed. Which is tomorrow. I suppose I could have just said that the countertops are being installed, but that's not a very dramatic way to introduce a picture, now is it?

The best part about today is that Jose The Awesome Contractor installed the saddle going into the kitchen. That's right, that "piece of wood thingie" is actually called a saddle. Btw, I had lunch with Jose and he put about half a bottle of hot sauce on his beef and broccoli. It was amazing and he really set the bar high. He's my new hero.

We've also decided to remove the old intercom plate, which no longer worked and was replaced by the "new" intercom, which appears to have been installed in 1977. The definition of "new" is flexible in a pre-war art deco building. This picture's for Dad, whose the only person I know who'd be interested.

I know I owe you a light fixture post, but here's a pic of one of the sconces. Nilda luuuuuvs the sconces.

The bad news is that after all this, we still have to paint the foyer. I don't know how she did it, but Nilda has somehow, against all logic, instinct and reason, convinced me to agree to paint it ourselves. This is gonna suck!

Almost There But Not Even Close

God, I love having a bathroom sink. And now we even have a door in the bathroom! No faucet for the tub yet, but at least you can poop in peace. The stunning window treatment is all Nilda.

I spent a good couple of hours this weekend putting up curtain rods. If you had asked me two weeks ago if I would ever need to know the difference between a 5/32 drill bit and a 9/16 drill, I would never have believed you.

The cabinet guys nailed through two electric lines. This was easily remedied by paying the electrician to rip a huge hole and a 5 foot gash into the wall of the second bedroom, spray a cloud of dust all over all the crap we've been storing there. No problem.

We did manage to finally get in our first trip to the park where, of course, you have to drink prosecco. This was the first time we did this in Inwood Hill Park, and it was way better.

Happy birthday, America. Screw the British!

The Second Most Boring Blog Post Ever

I sent back my steak at lunch at Benjamin's on Thursday. I ordered it pittsburgh, cool in the middle, and it came out hot - hot! - n the middle. Unacceptable. I sent it back like the badass I am. What came next was perfect. Barely cooked like a dare from the chef. It looks completely raw, but the seasoning and heat from the outside are enough and it has the texture of seared tuna.