I'm moving again! Which means I'm prepping this little house for renting. Right now, the main bathroom in the house is being updated, the front yard is being landscaped, and the driveway is being repaired. While all that is going on, I'm trying not to lose my mind! 

Anyway, here are a few pictures of things that have happened around here lately. Some of the updates are major, and some are just decor updates. 

In no particular order...

I installed this cute mason jar pendant light above the sink. The old pendant shade was the basic bell shade you can find at a hardware store. The new mason jar light is actually a desk lamp base that I found at World Market. I rewired it to be a pendant lamp, and put in one of those light bulbs that look like vintage lights.

What a difference that light makes!

The front porch has a new porch light that comes on at dusk, and brightens when it senses movement. Then I just added seat cushions (Walmart) to the porch swing and rocking chairs, and added lots of flowers.

Don't you want to sit on this porch?

The sitting room is just inside the front door. No upgrades to the design of the room itself, because I already love the paint colors in there. I just made it less traditional, and more tropical. I put modern chairs with a floral pattern (Target) in front of the fireplace, added big (fake) plants, and put down a sisal rug (Ikea). I also loved the look of tall mirrors (Hobby Lobby) above the fireplace to reflect light and the design painted on the ceiling. 

Pretty and bright!

The kitchen had a major overhaul, which included removing the chimney. The chimney wasn't connected to anything, and had just been dry-walled in and painted, so the stove stuck out in the middle of the room. Once that was gone, I had new cabinets installed that are double-tall. That added a lot of storage the small kitchen didn't have before. The granite countertops were actually cheaper than the high-end laminate, too!

What do you think?

Africa is far larger than you've been lead to believe. After you take this in, scroll down for the video on why this matters.

Why does this matter? Watch the West Wing clip below. 

Tip of the Hat: Map, Kai Krause, found on Dynamic Diagrams. "West Wing" clip uploaded by YouTube User uncyjugs. Read more on Upworthy.

Washington gets a bad rap for being rainy and cloudy most of the time. It's not really true. It's only cloudy most of the time.

In fact, Seattle is the #5 cloudiest city in the United States, after other Northwestern places like Portland and Anacortes. But for rain, it ranks #54. Yep, farther down than Dallas! (This information was provided by the tour guide on an Argosy Cruise, and I have not fact-checked it. So, grain of salt and all that.)

I went home for Christmas this year, and the sun actually poked through the clouds a few times!

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Bremerton, which is a nice and super-convenient hotel. It's on the waterfront, right next to the Bremerton ferry terminal which gives you a straight shot into Seattle. There are also lots of cute little restaurants near the hotel & terminal (try Kama'Aina Restaurant).

And here are a few pictures....

I've spent some time away from this little blog. Nearly three years. Oh, I've traveled plenty in that time. I just haven't been posting here. Part of my New Year's resolution is to get back to this. And if it inspires you a little to get a plane ticket to anywhere, then the time I spend writing this is worth it.

Here's a little snippet of some of my travels over the past three years. There was oh-so-much more, but I'll have to tell you about it another time.

I just received this email from Hulu. If you live overseas, but on base, please read!
Hi from Hulu,

You are receiving this email because you previously contacted us when our site identified your location as being outside of the United States, which prevented you from watching content on hulu.com.



We are very sorry about the frustration and for our delay in response, as we absolutely believe our military personnel should be able to enjoy their favorite shows while serving overseas. We have been actively working to enable this access, but our main challenge is identifying the IP addresses for all the US military installations around the globe


If your base assigns you an internet connection, and you have a Network Administrator we can work with, we would love the opportunity to connect with them to try and allow access for everyone on the base. Please ask them to send an official request listing their lease of IP ranges, printed on Embossed Military letterhead to:



Hulu Support
12312 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064



(Please note: We can only accept original documents on official letterhead, and cannot accept scans or copies)



Regrettably, if you live off-base or your internet is provided by a third party, we will likely not be able to enable access at this time. While we would love to stream to all of our military personnel around the globe, we currently do not have the international streaming rights for our content.



We hope we’ll be able to help, and are truly grateful for all that you do for our country.

Sincerely,

The Hulu Support Team

Finally, I went to the original Hofbraehaus! And you thought the Vegas version was full of tourists? Jiminy Cricket, it was nearly impossible to turn around. Loud tourists, lots of waiters and waitresses rushing around, band playing, people standing around in the middle of the aisles snapping photos, kids running rampant...it was hectic!

But here's the secret, go to the Bräustüberl, which is in the Hofbraeuhaus. If you are looking at the main entrance of the building (by the souvenir shop), look to the left. Go inside the doors and up the stairs. On the second floor is the Braeustueberl. You'll get excellent service, the same menu as downstairs, in a quieter atmosphere. Sure, walk through the main level, take a few pictures, then go upstairs. Trust me.

This little hotel is so convenient to most museums and the Pilsner Urquell brewery, it really is about 5-10 minutes walk to most places. There is secure parking down the street for guests (not far at all), for 7 Euros a day. The hotel and rooms were clean and nice. I was on a trip with my mother, and she was happy with the little place. It is not staffed all the time, it is an extension of the Hotel Palace which is just a couple of doors down. That being said, the staff we did encounter were friendly and helpful, recommending restaurants and giving us directions. They definitely made the place special, otherwise it's just a clean, cheap hotel. They had a breakfast buffet (also at the Hotel Palace) which had a standard European breakfast.

http://www.hotelroudna.cz/en/home-c32.htm

I fought jetlag all day yesterday. For my first lunch in Germany, we went to a Greek restaurant :)  To stay awake, my mom and I walked up to a little festival (for what, I'm not sure), and around the countryside for a little bit. Then up to Kreuzberg, her favorite restaurant, for a glass of dornfelder.