Guest Bathroom Cabinet: Finally finished.

Last Thanksgiving I finished the vanity for the guest bathroom.  I intended to work on the adjoining cabinet the following spring.  Then we found out that we were having a baby, then we decided to remodel our kitchen, then we decided to remodel the hallway, then we decided to re-carpet the bedrooms, then I traveled to New York City, then I began looking for a job, THEN I started working on the guest cabinet.

There has always been a need for a drastic overhaul of the guest bathroom.  We're not sure why they installed a changing table in the bathroom, but they did.

Ripping out the existing cabinet vastly improved it, but the empty space cried out for something useful.

The vanity took a lot of time and effort but I consider it one of my better projects.  The cabinet was just arduous. 

I'm happy with the way it turned out but I think I need a few smaller projects for awhile.

Wine Tasting

Sandi and I planned on going to the coast for the 'Stormy Weather Art Festival' in Cannon Beach last weekend.  We couldn't make it work out with a little one so we opted for a little 'staycation' instead.  Since we live so close to Oregon's Wine Country, we took a little drive Saturday afternoon to local wineries.

Beautiful Willamette Valley

It was Sandi's first experience wine tasting (and my first in a few years).  We were both surprised how approachable wine tasting was for us.  

The vineyards were beautiful even in the middle of a November downpour.  The trees were showing off their colors and the air smelled clean and crisp.  The actual tasting places were very warm and inviting.  

The wine we sampled didn't meet my expectations.  The first stop had a fairly good white, a mild Chardonnay, two Pino Noirs and finished with an ice wine.  I'm not a huge fan of Pino Noirs and I don't enjoy dessert wines all that much.  The second winery started with a blended white and had 4 varieties of Pino Noir.  The prices were in the $20+ range.  Though we hoped to purchase a bottle of wine for dinner that night we decided against it.

We tried to visit a 3rd winery but ran out of time. 

That night we got ingredients for a fine meal of pasta and shrimp scampi.  I bought a really good (less than $10) bottle of Syrah at the store.  A good way to end a good day.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween, Sandi's family has a tradition of chili and cornbread for dinner. The past Halloweens we have gone over to their place for dinner and a movie. This time Amber joined us!

Amber was supposed to be a pumpkin for Halloween this year. We bought a pumpkin at a nearby farm and I carved it out with 'Amber 2015'. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of keeping it in our house the week prior and it literally disintegrated on our kitchen table. So much for that idea.

Grandma had a family trip to Kansas over the weekend so Amber slept on Grandpa the entire time.

notice the cute cat on her bum

Amber's top says "Daddy's under my spell" so true.

We watched an episode of 'Sherlock.'  That's a perfect Halloween movie!