Here we go...

Vinyl + Mustaches = Awesome

JPCK — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:17:32 +0000

We re-discovered an old box of vinyl records this weekend.

The selection used to be owned (and I’m sure thoroughly enjoyed) by J’s mom & dad. And let me tell you, it doesn’t disappoint. What’s more, I think it’s only half of the total vinyl awesomeness that once was. The picks are a lot of 70s and 80s, and includes bands and artists I know well and others I have no clue of. Thank you, YouTube.

What I’ve learned about this time in music is, well, a few things. For one, drugs are amazing and awful. The clothes, the hair, the band names,and the album and song titles. Second, duos and trios rule. Or maybe these decades just had an affection for the ampersand. Hall & Oates. Chad & Jeremy. Crosby, Stills and Nash. Ike & Tina. Loggins & Messina. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

And lastly, and this is a no-brainer: Mustaches rule. Peruse (and enjoy) the awesome evidence of ‘staches:

Refinishing my dining room table

JPCK — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:21:35 +0000

Now that I’ve upped my cable, I’ve logged way too many hours of HGTV and DIY. I love the before/after shots, I love the simple explanation of how to do something, the show-off of cool tools. What I tend to forget, though, is the magic of TV editing. These shows make you think a little sandpaper and paint make everything better. Well, sometimes.

In any event, my cable viewing made me feel up to the challenge of refinishing my dining room table. We have a black Pottery barn table, and I wanted it white.

The whole project started out OK. We moved the table outdoors. J showed me how to use his power sander. I went to town sanding. I stirred my paint. Found my paintbrushes. And then … one coat on, and helloooo rain! Seriously. Got to love South Florida weather. It was blue skies, then instant downpour. By the time we moved the table inside, the rain stopped.

Post-rain mishap, table was back outside, and after more work than HGTV made me believe, we had a white dining room table. I still need to so some touch-ups to the table, and I’m looking for new chairs, but all in all, I’m happy

A little bit of Lake Worth

JPCK — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 19:05:50 +0000

Just thought I’d share a few pictures of my hood these days. I stumbled across another LW’er blog — Lake Worth every minute — and it’s a great showcase of the local faces and places, and it inspired me to post some of my pics.

It’s always easy to point out the bad in a place, yet hard to remember to look at all the good! I know Lake Worth has so much character and community, and I’m glad it’s my first residence as a homeowner. I love biking downtown for a super cold beer at Little Munich, heading over the bridge for a day at the beach or taking a run through the neighborhoods and seeing so many homes with character.

–Lake Worth beach

–tacos from Lupita’s!

–t-shirt for sale at a local downtown shop

–Lake Worth pier

Snorkeling in Key Largo

JPCK — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:00:40 +0000

Since we managed to make the three-year marriage mark, we decided to celebrate a little bit this year. We wanted to head down to Key West, but the drive was really turning us off. So instead, we just headed down to Key Largo. Just a couple of hours on the road and voila! The Florida Keys!

We stayed at the (in)famous Holiday Inn; it is what it is. Great location, convenient to food, supplies, anything you’d need really. And since it’s backyard is a also a marina/dock, several snorkeling/scuba/glass-bottom charter boats are parked right there. Seriously, we pulled up, checked in, I asked if any snorkeling boats were going out … 15 minutes later we’re motoring out.

The best part of catching the afternoon charter was that it made three stops — one of them being Key Largo’s Dry Rocks reef, home to the Christ of the Abyss Statue. I’ve always wanted to see this, and finally, crossed it off the bucket list. It’s so amazing to see things in person that you’ve seen hundreds, thousands of times in pictures, postcards and movies. The Dry Rocks reef was full of life — fish, coral. It was definitely refreshing, as our last snorkel trip down in Key West was somewhat disappointing; just a lot of sandy bottoms and little fish. At Key Largo’s reefs, we saw two huge tarpon (at least, I hope, they were just tarpon!), fish everywhere, tons of conchs, plus varying and colorful coral types.

Oh, Happy Hour! Beer margaritas

JPCK — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:52:12 +0000

I love reading recipes. I don’t always make them, and I certainly don’t always follow them even when they are in front of me. So when my favorite Brazilian Mila invited us over to bbq this weekend and said she was making her beer margaritas recipe, I was intrigued. When we bbq, it’s usually caipirinhas, not margaritas. But, of course, I had to try this beer margarita at least once.

And … it wasn’t bad. It was refreshing, given the limeaid and us using Corona. (Mila specified Modelo Especial, but the store didn’t have any. So Corona it was.) And it was just the right amount of beer-taste combined with just the right amount of margarita-taste. I don’t think I could drink these all night, but … good times

And here’s the recipe we used if you are getting thirsty:

1 bottle of beer

1 small can of frozen Limeaid

4-5 shots of tequila

2 shots of Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or triple sec

In a glass pitcher, combine everything and stir! Pour over ice and ENJOY

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!!

Greenbacks got us green grass

JPCK — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:28:40 +0000

It took us a couple of years to get into gear, but we finally saved up enough greenbacks to buy sod.

And let me tell you, it’s worth every penny!!!! Love it! We spent a lot of time prepping the yard — and by we, I mean, mostly J’Pace (love him!). Trees were cut, trees were trimmed, rows of dead bushes in the front yard were pulled, a zillion leaves were raked up, dirt was moved around … ugh, I’m getting tired just typing all the prep work that was done.

But the day came when 9 pallets of sod were delivered to our house. (Note to anyone buying sod, double check your measurements and how many of pallets of sod you really need. We were a pallet over, but we gave to our neighbor to keep the green going on our street!) I couldn’t believe how much something so simple, like grass, can give a house such a boost. What’s more, I can’t believe how something so domestic could make me so happy. I’m sure once I see my water bill go up, and my Saturdays consumed with mowing lawns I’ll go back to cursing homeownership. But for now, I’m happy

I admit, I was nervous about getting grass amid such drought conditions here in SoFla. But damn! Grass is good! I have a rain barrel on the side of the casa, so I’m hoping the afternoon summer thunderstorms will keep it full, and I’ll be able to not be such a water drainer.

I just have some pics of the front yard, but I’ll get some of the back yard soon!

Going once, going twice … sold?

JPCK — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:28:06 +0000

The house across the street has been empty since the day we moved in. I can’t totally complain, though. The bank-owned property gets groomed every now and then, and I’ve been able to score an extra garbage can to lug out the 10,000 lbs of leaves that collect in my backyard.

The property hasn’t ‘officially’ been up for sale very long, but now it’s going up on the chopping block: a public home auction.

Is this good for my home’s value?

I’m going to cross my fingers, look to the stars and say, “Yes!”

I’m hoping someone scoops it up for a deal — I checked around online and saw ‘starting bids’ of $17K-19K — then fixes it up and moves in. Or, at least, that someone fixes it up and rents it out to awesome people.

When I saw the sign with the dates of a few pre-auction open houses first, I got excited. I really just want a chance to check out the inside of the casa. And I’m interested in seeing how a home auction works. I mean, is a fast-talking host going to stand on a soap box in front of a bunch of cash-heavy investors and homebuyer hopefuls? I didn’t catch anyone over there last Saturday, so I’m hoping I’m around for the next one.

Oh crap … if there’s a next one … I just checked Auction.com, and the property listing says “Bid Pending Confirmation.”

What’s that mean!? Is a sale pending!? I’ll keep you posted!

Korean (girl) vs. Korean (food)

JPCK — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:09:32 +0000

I finally made it to Yama, the Korean BBQ restaurant in downtown Lake Worth. I’ve always wanted to check this place out, but I’ve just been hesitant as if I’d thought the entire menu would just be in Korean. Or that everything on the menu would be served with eyeballs. Or the waitstaff would know I was a banana – yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

Anywho, I managed to hold out until I could go with some pros. By pros, I mean someone who eats anything — or at least tries anything — and someone who actually lived in South Korea for a year. I figured if they couldn’t help me find something I would eat, nobody could.

But, success! I loved it! Between the six of us at the table, I was able to try a bite of most everything. (I confess, I couldn’t bring myself to try the fishcake.) For starters, we had the seafood pancake, which I thought was actually awesome — minus the seafood part. Yama had a vegetable pancake on the menu as well, and I definitely want to try that next time. Next up, the mains: on the grill we had beef bulgogi (or bulgoki) and spicy pork. And then, of course, all the food flair including kimchi. I can’t believe I tried it. I thought it was incredibly flavorful, but the spice and the pickle-y notes were a bit … uh, too much for me. And then I ordered a beef dumpling soup, which was super good! Oh, and let’s not forget the sake and beer washing it all down!

All in all, definitely worth a second visit!

Sea turtle sighting on Jupiter Beach

JPCK — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:41:39 +0000

We headed out to Jupiter Beach last weekend for a late-night turtle walk. And to my surprise, SUCCESS! There were several nests already marked, and we watched as one turtle made its way up the beach. I guess it didn’t like the sand, though, because it waddled back to the ocean pretty quickly — quick, for a turtle.

I thought that was pretty cool just to catch a glimpse of a turtle, but then, TURTLE SCORE! As we were walking along the beach, heading back to our car, we witnessed a turtle laying eggs! It was awesome!! We were on the beach for an hour or so, just watching the turtle mom carve out the perfect egg nest with her back fins. Then, egg-laying extravaganza!!

What a way to kick off the Fourth of July!!

It’s wild, it’s fire, it’s HOT

JPCK — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:09:22 +0000

I know it’s the second day of summer, and I’m not here to complain. Well, sort of. The heat, fine. The humidity, OK. But the lack of rain, not cool. In addition to making everybody’s lawn look brown and crunchy, it’s giving way to wildfires throughout Florida.

Some of the reported 300+ (I don’t know what the actual number is, as it seems to be increasing everday) fires have started as a result of lightning striking. Others because of human stupidity, I’m sure.

Check out this pic I took last week — while J and I were up in Martin County we noticed part of Hobe Sound was on fire: