The Big 3-0 & Death Valley

So dougie asked me what i wanted to do for my Birth Day. My BIG 3-0 Birthday. I knew i wanted it to be special. I tinkered around with different ideas for a while, and i couldn't decide on anything. Then i gave it a different approach. I thought back to my past and tried to remember the times that made me the happiest. One though stood out from the rest. CAMPING! I have always loved camping and Death Valley is the place that makes me the happiest. I have had so many awesome memories there. I have found Peace and happiness in the solitude of the Sand Dunes. So for my birthday I said to Dougie "we are going to Death Valley". Oddly enough he was stoaked about the whole idea. We have both been avid campers in our past. So it was funny when we sorted our camping equipment out and he was like " i want to take my stove" and i said "NO i want to take MY stove" in the end .. he won. His was nicer.
So we packed up the Element and headed out on the road for a 3 day trip to my favorite spot on earth!!!!


Our first night was not that great because we couldn't find a camp site...I mean .. who knew Death valley would be full on Easter Weekend?!?!?!?!
So we settled for pitching tent in the parking
Our 2nd night was better, we got up early and snatched a good camping spot with a table, bench, grill and fire








During the day i made sandwiches and such and Dougie Senor Chef made us Dinner.
There's something about camping that will make ANYTHING taste good! (Not to say that dougie can't cook, because oh my lord he can) But those wher the best hot dogs i have had in my LIFE, and that chilli. i don't even EAT chilli and i ate the whole thing!!!







So Sunday morning Easter morning but more importantly SIGRID'S BIRTHDAY Morning =) I woke up at about 6 am dragged dougie out of the tent so we could rush to the dunes before the sun came up. After what i think was about 45 min hustle through the dunes we got to our sweet spot! The top of dune!









Dougies big climb








We also found Big Foot strolling in the dunes










Not bad for a 30 year old!


























Together For Ever In Death Valley

Primero

Ithink it's only appropriate that i kick off this blog with Our new house!
Yes Dougie and I bought a House! We officially became home owners the day Before thank's giving. Ever since we have been working hard on fixing it up. It's a 3 bedroom 1 bath with a pool! Yes it has a pool. I mean how cool is that! I'v always wanted a pool. I remember last summer me and dougie wher pool hopping and overstaying our welcomes to anyone who had a pool. We where bad. So now, we have our own. And NO ONE can kick us out this time! =)
For now though we have fixed the majority of the inside of the house. We gutted the kitchen and bathroom. Re piped the entire house to new copper plumbing. Re-painted the whole house. (believe me..if you would have seen the colors you would have too!) We also re-did the floors ourselves. OH man was that a task. It sucked, it was a lot of work that took patience that apparantly dougie didn't have! So 4 months later ..we did it. Finally....After a few meltdowns =)
Following are photos of the before and afters. Hope you Enjoy!!!


We cut out a whole in the wall to open it up into the living room.
Dougie wanted to turn it into a bar. Yeah like that was going to happen!
The kitchen had to be completely Gutted. New floor, walls, electrical, ceiling, lighting fixtures, cabinets, appliances..even the outlets had to be changed. Cabinets where from Ikea with the butcher block counter tops. Everyone Now take perticular attention to my stove! that is my baby! I bought it at an antique shop. It's a Chambers Model C in Buttercup Yellow. It has a thermo well a Griddle and broiler up on top and It has an awesome oven that cooks with the Gas Turned Off! Anyhow it's super cool.
Well needless to say we where very pleased with the way the kitchen came out.


The Living room was a big challenge as well. Besides the Obvious paint job, we also had to re-do the entire ceiling. First of all it had popcorn ceilings and 2 beams where warped and causing slopes, so it all had to come down.
We replaced the beams, added all new insulation and installed new recessed lighting. We also cut out a portion of the main wall to make it feel more open and so i can keep an eye on dougie while i cook =)