Miniette

Needtobreathe is coming back in March!

2009-12-15T08:46:00.000-08:00

And they are playing First Ave!

Saturday, March 20, 2010
Minneapolis, MN
First Avenue
With Special Guests: Stephen Kellogg & Graham Colton
Pre-sale tickets for fan club go on sale Friday, December 18, 2009

And this time they are offering a VIP Event Ticket Package with Fan Club Pre-Order that includes:

- A General Admission Ticket to the show of your choice
- Access to a VIP Meet and Greet with Needtobreathe
- A 1 year membership in the Needtobreathe Fanclub (when it launches)
- A Needtobreathe T-shirt
- A Commemorative Laminate

Perfect for mildly obsessed fans like me:) I'm so excited. And I totally called that they would play First Avenue the next time they came to town.

Mom came to town

2009-11-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

My mom came to town last weekend and we had buckets of fun. On Friday night we went out with Anthony's cousin and her friends to Karaoke. We pretty much dominated the microphone all night. "Who's Bad?"

Then the next night Anthony DJed my Aunt's 50th Birthday Party in Red Wing. At the last minute he had to make a cable adapter from miscellaneous parts McGyver style.

We all had a pretty great time dancing singing and drinking cocktails. Mom even had a car bomb with Anthony and my Uncle. Ha!

Mom and I accidentally wore matching outfits. Like mother, like daughter.

Auntie Lisa requested no gifts, but did receive a lovely sequined butterfly top, symbolizing this new life cycle. Her she is modeling it over her t-shirt with my Mom. I gave her my rooster lamp for her new French country decorated kitchen. She had seen it at my house before and exclaimed how great it would be in her kitchen. So, I bid it a fond farewell.

Paul Bunyan and Babe

2009-11-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

Love this print. From Aesthetic Apparatus.

Book signing with Jenny Hart!

2009-11-20T08:28:00.000-08:00

Photo via Pimp Stitch

My favorite embroidery pattern designer had a book signing in Minneapolis last night. I picked up her new book Embroidered Effects, got it signed and had a lovely chat with her. I thanked her for making cool embroidery patterns and we discussed the benefits of using water soluble fabric stabilizer. Craft geek-out!

I now have all three of her books and lots of Sublime Stitching patterns. Must be time to actually do that girls craft night!

I love her Dolly Parton embroidery portrait. I've been thinking about doing an embroidery of a Warhol picture (Jackie O) or a CD cover (The Outsiders).

For more embroidery awesomeness, check out her blog, Embroidery As Art or follow her on twitter for extra sales, @sublimestitching.

I wanted a picture but, I forgot my camera, I could just kick myself. I think it's the first time it has been left at home in a million years.

Baby clothes that aren't lame.

2009-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Loving these cute baby clothes from American Apparel. Thinking they would make good Christmas presents for my new niece.

Grey Bedroom

2009-11-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

Our master bedroom is finally starting to get to a place where I want to show it to you. I broke down and bought a bedskirt and I'm really happy to have the boxspring hidden.

I hung pictures on the wall! SO happy to have things up on display.

I framed some Anna Maria Horner fabric in hoops and even embroidered one. They hang out around St. Theresa, a gift from my Grandma Albrecht. She hangs above a collage frame of photos that I love.

I bought the Keep Calm poster especially to add yellow to my grey, white and yellow scheme. Which is evolving to include pale blue, lavender, and beige. I'm happy to have the lovely Jen Oaks "Pink Tights" print back up. Which conveniently includes some yellow orange heels. It looks sweet with a favorite shot of Jess from our trip to San Francisco.

The closet is organized!

I still have dreams about painting the trim white, replacing the ceiling fan with a chandelier or updated fan and painting the furniture (black, white, yellow, pale blue?).

But, for now, I'm pretty happy with it.

Night out on the town

2009-11-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

The cute husband took me out on a little date night on Friday. We recreated our first date which was roughly two years ago! Dinner at Everest on Grand where we feasted on momos and curry. I had a yummy Japanese beer and Anthony sampled the latest Flat Earth Beer, Angry Planet.

Then we met up with a couple of Anthony's buddies at Billy's where the Jameson girls were giving out free Jameson and Ginger Ale, mmm. We moved to Axel's for dueling pianos, but it was two acoustic guitars. They were OK, but not what we were hoping for.

A very nice night.

Around the house

2009-11-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

Anthony decided to install our closet organizer in the master bedroom closet this weekend. Of course, every project is going to take 10 times longer than you thought it would and this was no exception.

When he removed the old shelf, he found that it was put in before they skim coated and painted. So, there was a large divet all the way around the closet that he need to to Spackle and repaint. And Spackle takes a million years to dry.

Here it is all spackled up and drying.

On Sunday he sanded and repainted the entire closet with some Antique White paint we had purchased at the Habitat Restore for $11. (I think we are planning to use it in the guest room? I can't remember) But it looks great with a fresh coat of shiny paint. Next up time to install the actual organizer.

Also, he put up my curtains on the other window which look really great behind our headboard. And I can't wait to get my Keep Calm and Carry On poster up, so we have some more yellow in here.

And I put some great pale blue and gray Anna Maria Horner fabric in 3 different sized hoops that will be cute on the wall. I only embroidered one of them, but now wish I had done something on all of them. Oh, well.

I have dreams of painting the dresser pale blue and painting our trim bright, clean white. Another day.

I pulled out a duvet cover that my mom had given me a while back and stuffed our bedspread in it. Unfortunately, it is narrower than the bed spread, so there are even less covers to share. I still prefer the white to the faded, yellowed print of the bed spread. It was a wedding gift that my parent's received from my mom's friend when they got married. She made it from two sheets with batting in the middle and binding around the edge. I have many found memories of it covering my parents bed for years. So, I don't want to give it away.

I need a bed skirt! Gah.

More pictures when we are finished.

Fall sprucing up

2009-10-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

I think it is time for a new template on this blog. I'm hoping I can get inspired and make something pretty this weekend. I may even upgrade to the fancy features that blogger offers. We'll see. Also, my link lists need some cleaning up. And Civil Style definitely needs something more awesome than it's current bland layout.

Needtobreathe SOLD OUT the Varsity!

2009-10-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

And they did not disappoint. I took less pictures this time and tried to just enjoy the moment. We were front and center, which was awesome, but made for a bit of a strained neck at the end of the night. Also, I mostly photographed the lead singer, since I was pretty much directly beneath him, so please excuse the redundancy. But here is what I captured:

The Set List for Minneapolis 10/29/09: Outsiders, Girl, More Time, Streets, Sweet, Stones, Prisoner, Wreck Me, Lay 'Em Down, Let Us Love, Won't Turn Back, Washed, Something Beautiful

New set with images and flashy lights. New name-emblazoned piano, new piano player.

Tim from the Alternate Routes came out to sing on Wreck Me. Which is such an awesome song and I am so annoyed that you can only get it if you buy the album on iTunes. What about the pre-salers!

Tim from The Alternate Routes opened with an impressive one-man-band set.

Serena Ryder also did a lovely opening set.

Erica, Nicole and I waiting for the show to start. Needtobreathe and beer, mmm.

Matt and Anthony with his "Halloween" face.
See the whole thing on my flickr.

Slowly getting everything switched over to Bayerl (which is still weird)

2009-10-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Wild preseason game in September at the Xcel.

You have to do everything in such a strategic order. I couldn't change my name at work until they had a new Social Security card. I couldn't change my name at the bank until I had my new driver's license. And everyone requires you to show them a CERTIFIED copy of the marriage license. If I had known that, I would have requested more than one so I could mail one away to the passport office and still have one at home.

I set up a new personal email address with my new last name. It just forwards everything to my old account. But my default From address is the new one when I send emails.

I applied for a new driver's license, but haven't yet received it. The bank let me squeak by and change the name on my account without my new driver's license as long as I agree to bring it in when I get it. Even so, when I ordered my checks, my name was incorrect. They were cool about it and offered me new ones free of charge.

I've notified all my credit card companies that I've got a new name, but am still waiting for new cards. Target was being way too difficult about changing my name on their credit card. Probably because I have an expired card and never requested a new one. Since I have a zero balance, I decided just to close my account. The 10% off every once in a while wasn't worth it.

Work finally changed my name over yesterday when I brought in my new SS card. Now I need to send out an email letting people know that they'll have to re-add me to their email lists and IM.

Still need to get my car title and the deed on the house changed. I notified the Minnesota State High School League and Dance Team Judges Association that I've changed my name so hopefully, ladies that I'm scheduled to judge with won't be too confused.

And it's still unclear to me if Social Security notifies the IRS of my name change or if I need to notify them as well. I can't tell from their website.

Luckily, I was smart when I set up our garbage and cable service and just used my new name. Gah, such limbo.

We had a pretty awesome time

2009-10-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

More photos on my flickr
Photos by Andrew Von Bank at Woodland Park Studio

Fall

2009-10-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

To do:

Go to a craft fair.
~~Make squash soup.~~
Make pumpkin pie.
Plan craft projects for Christmas gifts.
Decorate the Master 'Sweet'.
~~Organize embroidery transfers.~~
Organize magazine clippings.
Visit the Minnesota Arboretum and buy apples, squash, gourds and white pumpkins.

More wedding:)

2009-10-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jessica Schaum

Photo by Jessica Schaum

Photo by Jessica Schaum

Photo by Melissa Bayerl via Jessica Schaum

Photo by Jessica Schaum

Photo by Jadie Hunt

Photo by Rita Albrecht

Photo by Rita Albrecht

Photo by Rita Albrecht

Photo by Rita Albrecht

Photo by Rita Albrecht

Happily Married

2009-10-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Photo by Angela Shogren

We are in wedded bliss. Everything is easier when you don't have major deadlines looming over your head. Our house is awesome and we had the best weekend with family and friends.

Monday we had a fun little date day. We exchanged duplicate gifts, drank Kopplin's, saw a matinee and splurged on lunch out. And said "I love you." A LOT. Perfect.

I can't wait to see the pictures from the photographer, but for now it's fun to see pics from the bridesmaids and guests.

Photo by Angela Shogren

Photo by Taylor Grage

Photo by Jade Hunt

Photo by Erica Johnson

Photo by Angela Shogren

Photo by Angela Shogren

Photo by Angela Shogren

Photo by Angela Shogren

Photo by Noah Hunt, via Amber Neumann

Coming Along

2009-09-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Dining room all painted. Grandpa Earl gave us his corner china cabinet that he didn't want anymore for a wedding gift. I am so thankful to have somewhere to put all of our (thanks Erica!) drink glasses. I seem to have about 5 million champagne saucers, they are just too pretty to give away.

Bedroom again. I tried my best to crop out the clutter. We really need a bed skirt and a different comforter. The curtains are sitting on the bench waiting to be hung - long creamy flocked velvet.

The guest bedroom has seen a couple different incarnations. We got a bed in there so mom could have a place to sleep last week. It's been evolving, but now the bookshelf is up and the desk is put together, I think I can finally start unloading all the paper, crafts and cards that are in boxes on the bed and in the closet.

We still don't have cable or internet, but I found my digital cable box, so at least we have public TV and the news (and Gossip Girl). I was talked into putting Anthony's couch up stairs and I do think it looks good with the tables my dad made and my awesome table lamp from Grandma Hutchinson. We picked up a pretty blue rug from Ikea and I think we desperately need some pillows. If only to put behind my back when I sit down. I'd also like to put up Anthony's large, white and bright art that he had from Ikea to lighten the room a bit.

We put a corner bookshelf that my Dad made in the awkward end of the living room and set up two of my off-white Ikea chairs to make a reading area.

As you can see we really need to put some pictures on the wall, but I'm a little apprehensive about putting holes in our fresh paint. I'll have to bite the bullet soon.

The Swell Season

2009-09-09T13:13:00.001-07:00

The Swell Season is coming to the State Theater December 5th! But tickets are $30. Hmm. Christmas present? Early birthday? Might be worth it. Should decide by next Friday for Cities 97 presale. P.S. This is the only time I've been happy to recieve an iLike email.

P.S. It was Dahlia Day at the Fair on Monday!

2009-09-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

A lot has been happening at the house

2009-09-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

We painted our bedroom walls a pretty deep blue gray (and two coats of white on the ceiling). I wasn't sure about it at first, but with the furniture and our soon to be installed curtains, I'm really starting to love it.

I primed the kitchen walls twice (really not happy with Sherwin Williams quality, we switched to Pratt & Lampert later with much better results and it was way cheaper) and put two coats of white ceiling paint up before we the final pale powder blue went on. So much more pleasing and calm than what was there before. And our cabinets look far better too.

I was pretty proud of myself for doing the kitchen paint almost entirely on my own. Anthony helped with some of the second coat primer trim. He was busy with other things like, you know, cutting a hole in the cabinets for the dishwasher. Little things like that.

Our new appliances from Sears arrived the Friday before we moved in. We were both so excited to finally have a fridge.

The room was suddenly a lot smaller and the hole was just barely big enough.

We moved in on August 29th with the help of Dads, Moms, Sisters, pick-ups, SUVs, cars and trailers.

Gah! Move in mess. I couldn't wait to unpack all my boxes and put things away. I couldn't do it fast enough. I loved when the recylcing came and took all my broken down boxes away - cleansing!

With everything in the house we began to clean and organize. But that was difficult because some of the rooms still needed to be painted.

About the only place that was sort-of done was our bedroom, mostly because we didn't put extra boxes in there.

Anthony re-caulked the tub after he took the old stuff off and I scrubbed it twice more. It's so much nicer now (ignore the foot prints in the bottom of the tub).

On Monday night I cooked our first meal with the new stove and Anthony mowed the lawn with his parent's old manual mower. So Happy.

Mom stayed the whole week and I took work off. We got up every morning and started painting or prepping to paint or cleaning and organizing. I could never have got so much done with out her. In fact, she rolled all the walls while I cut in and did trim. The first room we worked on was the living room. I wanted the same color that I painted at my house on James. Not everyone was in love with this color, but I'm enamored with it. It looks just like a latte, mmm.

The extended ceiling line made for easy cutting.

Then we moved on to washing and taping the dining room so we could prime and paint the ceiling the next day. I was glad Mom wanted to roll that too cause that primer was really smelly. She also did the difficult ceilings in here too.

I realize I haven't taken house photos for a while, because it looks even better now. More to come!

The Outsiders

2009-08-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Needtobreathe's new CD, The Outsiders, came out yesterday (the following is my geek-out fanfest)! I pre-ordered and it came in the mail on Monday. It was fun to listen to while we did our manual labor at the house.

I burned an extra copy so Anthony and I could share and I've already begun the obsessive repeat listening in my car, which is where I think it sounds best (when I'm alone and can turn it up really loud and sing along). I could gush about the entire album, but here are the highlights:

I'm loving "Prisoner", which is a bluesy, rock love song. I hope they release it as a single, because it is really fun and catchy. And my favorite song from their live shows "Girl Named Tennessee" is finally on an album. It's better live, but I still rock out to it. "She's got the prettiest shoes/And I love the way she moves/I'll never dance like this again"

"Valley of Tomorrow" has got that epic, rock'n'dance-a-billy style that was so good on their previous albums (and is good for running and commutes) "I pulled a 38 out of my bleeding heart/I killed my selfishness for bringing me this far/This far away from you". "What You've Done to Me" makes me smile because it's about a "midwest sweetheart". And isn't that something you'd like to be thought of as?

"Stones Under Rushing Water" is a hauntingly heartfelt duet with Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins, who reminds me of Patty Griffin. "Why don't we dance anymore? I'm not OK with that." This is something different for them, I wonder if they plan to release it.

"These Hard Times" reminds me of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" with a good Needtobreathe spin. "Give me something vicious/Give me something I can be"

"Something Beautiful" stands out to me as a traditionally produced Christian song. Synth strings, less soulful (isn't it ironic) and commercial. Even the vocals at times sound like it could be Steven Curtis Chapman. I'm guessing they plan it for a Christian release. But honestly, it's still a great song too.

"Lay 'em Down" is currently 13 on the Christian charts Which is the kind of Christian music I like better than what they usually feature on Contemporary Christian Radio (video below). I can imagine youth groups using "Garden" during an altar call, with it's references to the night before crucifixion. Personally, if I was a youth leader, I'd use it during Holy week to illustrate the human-ness of Jesus and let kids make the decision about faith without the public scrutiny.

It's interesting how they straddle the Christian and secular music genres, some songs are more blatantly religious than others (but really only if you are looking for it) and some are straight up love songs. In past CDs I think they have blurred their messaging a bit more.

They'll be at the Varsity on October 29th!

Lily Anne

2009-08-21T09:32:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to mention my new baby niece that I got to meet last weekend. She was born premature on July 1st and she is so teeny tiny.

My dad has turned into a big sentimental grandpa. He held her forever on Saturday afternoon.

Then he played cats cradle with Sarah, the girl that is staying with my cousin.

It was a full Albrecht house for her baby shower. I embroidered her some onesies and forgot to photograph them before I wrapped them up.

Here with her pretty momma, Ashli.

Making a mess

2009-08-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last week, Anthony's family came out and refinished (sanded three times, and put down three coats of polyurethane) the floors on Thursday and Friday. Once it dried we noticed a bit of fuzz from the final poly coat. So, we hand sanded the fuzzy spots on Monday night and Tuesday we put on the final fourth coat of polyurethane. Don't they look gorgeous and shiny (we decided to keep the trim wood)?

Soon we'll be able to put down drop cloths to do some painting.

Right now, we're stuck in the kitchen for any other work we want to do, while the basement is neglected and used for storage. So far we took the shelves off the walls, removed the stove hood and moved the stove away from the wall. Anthony also removed the industrial black plastic trim and all of its ridiculous glue and caulk.

Here he is scrapping glue from where the new trim will go.

We brought the extra cabinet with the blue counter top downstairs. I'm thinking it will stay in the laundry room permanently. The previous owners glued as well as screwed the shelf to the wall, so it took off quite a bit of paint when it was removed.

We sanded the holes down and filled them with spackle. This paint also had fuzz in it, so we sanded the walls to knock that down and to remove some of the paint finish so our primer sticks better. Then I got started washing the walls and ceiling (we're going to paint the ceilings).

Our electrical is scheduled to be upgraded on Monday and hopefully he'll get the washer and dryer outlet working so we can test them out. We ordered our new appliances from Sears on Sunday and they will be delivered next week! Also, we plan to move in on Saturday and my dad wants to help us paint that day. Gah, so much to do to prep.

Making it livable

2009-08-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Everything went through and we closed on the house on Monday (Yay). We wasted no time and started pulling-up the carpet Monday night. Or rather Anthony, Betty and Melissa did. I mostly worked on cleaning the disgusting bathroom, but I did get to pull-up the dining room carpet. That is the easy part. The hard part is prying off the tack strips with a crow bar and hammer and not marring the floor.

The kitchen after a good once over by Melissa:

Anthony re-keyed all the locks in the house and replaced the door closer and handle on the front screen door, so it is a little easier to shut. It still isn't perfect, because the wind pulled the hinges out of whack, but it's a great improvement.

Anthony's parents are coming down today and sanding the floors to prep them for a new glossy finish.

Dining room before & with the carpet removed:

Master bedroom before & with the carpet removed:

Anthony is removing the tack strips.

Second bedroom before & with the carpet removed:

Melissa is washing the windows (Thanks!)

So now the question is to paint the trim or not? Anthony doesn't like the fact that the trim is darker than the floors and really wants to paint the trim white. I like the idea too, but am overwhelmed by the amount of work it would be to paint every last bit of baseboard, quarter-round, window & door frames AND all the doors in addition to the walls.

If we did decide to do it, would we need to sand and strip trip them first? Is there any awesome house that left their darkish trim and it still looks good?

On the brightside there are no popcorn ceilings (the ugly texture they spray on ceilings to hide imperfections)! But, should we paint the ceilings too? If we do should it be white or a different coordinating color?

There are only about 2 things that Anthony and I agree on in home decor: refinishing the floors and white subway tile. He likes a clean modern, industrial aesthetic and I lean more towards a mid-century, luxe style with some homemade bohemian thrown-in. We've got a lot of negotiating and compromising ahead of us.

My camera takes video in one minute increments, so I did a little tour for you folks at home.

House Tour Part 1:

House Tour Part 2:

House Tour Part 3:

House Tour Part 4:

House Tour Part 5:

Tonight, maybe a little landscaping thanks to the wheelbarrow full of flowers from Betty!

Update on the house

2009-08-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

Looks like everythings a go to close on August 10th! The seller signed our addendum, finally and we had our inspection last Friday. There are plenty of updates to do to this house that was built in the 1950s. But a few that are of higher priority.

Specifically, they found a small gas leak that needs to be fixed ASAP. Our realtor is working to have the seller fix it, cause it'd really suck for them if the house blew-up before we close. Also, we have to update the fuse box to a breaker box that can handle higher amps. Right now it's totally over loaded. Also, a few outlets in the basement are installed backwards and the outlet for the dryer doesn't work.

The good news was our furnace is only 7 years old and the water heater is 5. So, we shouldn't have to replace them. The house is really sturdy and level, so it shouldn't fall over anytime soon.

After we rip up the carpet in the bedrooms and the dining room the floors will need to be refinished. And it just makes sense to do it before we move in, so that is our second priority. And that takes $$$.

Our roof is good, but there is a spot around the chimney that needs replacing. We should finish that before fall. And there is a window that needs replacing in the basement bedroom. And another that needs a new screen.

I'm not sure what we'll do about the basement carpet right now. I'd almost prefer to rip it up and paint the floor instead. Especially, because the entry from the garage leads into the basement.

Then, of course is painting all the walls, replacing hardware in the kitchen, maybe painting the cabinets, re-doing the counters, getting a new fridge (and eventually a dishwasher) and completely re-doing the bathroom. The tub surround that is in there now doesn't even fit the faucet handles correctly, which could lead to water dripping down the wall. We'll have to wait to do that until after we've moved in. But it does worry me to be remodeling the only bathroom. We have talked about putting another in the basement, but that is a scary proposition too.

Goodbye $8,000.

House Hunting

2009-07-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

So we're getting closer to buying this house.

I know the paint leaves a bit to be desired, but the red is actually lovely brick. And paint is easily changed (I already have multiple options in my head).

I love the area. There are parks all over the place (I've already mapped out multiple running routes), easy access to I94, Target is just down the road and a HUGE thrift store is across I94.

However, it is a bit far from Burnsville, where Anthony works. But it was such a nice house for $100,000 we decided after 10 minutes of looking at it that we wanted to make an offer.

If everything goes through, we will get an amazing deal. The house sold for $205,000 in 2006, was originally listed at $119,000. It dropped to $109,900; we offered $103,000 with $5,000 seller paid closing costs. They countered with $105,000 and $5,250 seller paid closing costs. We signed their paper work with those terms and they sent it back to us with the closing cost amount crossed out and only $3,100 written in. We were peeved to say the least. Our realtors negotiated and we sent them an additional amendment with $5,000 seller paid closing costs. If they don't take this, we are walking away from this freaking bank.

But if we do get it, here's what we'd have to work with.

A living room with hardwood floors and a gorgeous bay window.

A pretty red dining room with hardwood beneath the carpet.

Two bedrooms upstairs with hardwood beneath the carpet.

The master even has a laundry shoot to the basement in the closet!

A teeny-tiny bathroom with purple walls and a nice linen closet.

It needs a new vanity and tub surround. This would probably be the biggest expense in the house, but Anthony and I are dreaming about subway tile and a pretty ikea vanity.

A royal blue and lime green eat-in kitchen.

After pulling up the carpet in the other rooms painting this room is on the top of my priority list. We'll also need a refrigerator. Here we come Sears.

A finished, dry basement with an additional bedroom.

It has a door that conveniently walks out to the backyard.

A utility room with a washer and dryer (this is where the laundry shoot goes).

An attached garage with access from the basement.

And a lovely blank slate of a backyard.

I have visions of vegetable and flower gardens, bushes and trees and maybe, down the road, a deck off the kitchen.

Hopefully, we'll close August 10th and I can get started and all my projects!