Celeste's First Time in Virginia City

Earlier in the week I decided to take Celeste up to Virginia City. It's been about a year since I was up there last, and she has never been, so I thought it would be something fun to do together. I described it to her as a ghost town that people still live in. We've been to a couple of ghost towns and she has always seem as fascinated as I am by them.

I started out our morning by making pumpkin pancakes with apple cider syrup, one of my many fall favorites. Super yummy, and I have really been craving these flavors lately.
Then we were off... and I forgot, as I always do, that winding roads make Celeste car sick. So just as we arrived in Virginia City, Celeste got sick. After clean up we began walking around, visiting stores. 

We checked out a couple antiques stores. Celeste broke an ugly bug necklace that I then had to buy (the guy was happy that I offered to buy it, so he gave me 1/2 off). We also went into the Washoe Club just before stopping for lunch. 

Celeste was so freaked out, because we had seen the Ghost Adventures show a couple weeks prior. She still had no problem going inside, which I was surprised, but she was very cautious about it.

 After lunch we headed to the old hospital for a tour, it was neat, but it is now an Arts Center so it didn't really have a creepy vibe, just an old building. But I love that sort of thing, the old buildings, the history, the allure of something otherworldly.
After that we headed back up to the town and went to the candy store and fudge shop. The last place we went Celeste set down her little change purse, with her life savings of $7 in it and it was gone when we went back five minutes later. 
I feel so bad, poor girl lost a tooth on Thursday, and she told me she had been trying to pull it out "to get money for Halloween" and now all her money is gone. Poor baby. It is a good life lesson  though, it happens to all of us. -XO

Before (or in the middle) and After: Chalkboard Wall

I am so proud of myself, instead of coming home from work on Friday and being my lazy self after a long work week, I instead chose to take on a long anticipated project I've had on the back burner, my kitchen chalkboard wall!!! So I sort of forgot a before picture, so it's an in the middle of it picture instead. Followed by a mini kitchen tour....

In the middle:


After:


Enter my kitchen:

Enter kitchen, window looks outside to backyard. Yes, I have no dishwasher, so the dish rack is permanently loaded!

To the right of entering kitchen:





We seriously lack counter space, so we put an old dining table in this empty space to hold our microwave and mixer. It doesn't match well, but its on loan from my sister (for like 5 years now!) so I can't paint it or anything. The wine crates we salvaged from work and made them into shelves. Talk about eco and budget friendly!



To the left of entering kitchen:

And we don't lack cupboard space... some of these many cupboards are empty, which is fine because I still have many kitchen tools to collect. What I'm not fond of is the condition. I often flip flop between wanting to rip them all out and get brand new ones, or invest some serious time and energy into refinishing them. Some of the drawers really stick, they all tip down when you open them. It is an old kitchen, and these cupboards really have seen some days.

So, I still want to do something about my cupboards, put up a tile back splash, paint my ceiling a pale blue, replace the fluorescent fixture, and come up with a better option for my empty corner (other than my sisters old dining table!).