Heading Into the Weekend

We're heading into another cool and rainy weekend.  

I'm particularly watching the weather because Sunday we're going to a party at Oak at Fourteenth, a fun and great restaurant here in Boulder, that our good friends Raymond and his wife Paula are giving to  celebrate Raymond's sixtieth birthday.  

His official birthday is next Thursday and since he shares it with Ben the four of us are going out that night to another great restaurant, Frasca.  But Sunday is Ray's party and we are glad we are here to join in the celebration.  It would be nice if it wasn't raining, though.   

Thankfully the sun has been popping in and out of the clouds the past few days so we have had some periods of wonderful sunshine.  But things can change in an instant.  When I drove Paul to the gym on Wednesday the skies opened and the rain poured down, but the sun shone so brightly that I had to put on my sunglasses.  I've never driven in the rain with my sunglasses on before! 

And then this morning when Ben and I started another big hike the sun was shining, but as we hiked up the mountain the clouds moved in and by the end of the hike it was raining.   I do love the dramatic views of the Flatirons and mountains which we get during this kind of weather, but I was glad that I had packed my rain jacket.  

I had my first fox sighting the other day when I was hiking up in Chautauqua.  I followed him for a while taking photographs...  

...until he stopped and turned and looked right at me.  It suddenly occurred to me that being so close to a wild fox, especially one which was out during the daytime --rabid? -- wasn't too bright and I made a quick retreat away from him.

Yesterday I spent the day with our interior designer friend, Lotus, making decisions about the kitchen remodel.  We decided that the floor will be a wide planked strandwoven bamboo in a rich dark color.

The sink will be one single bowl made of gray "egranite," looking something like this.

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I picked out a faucet similar to the one we had in Maryland, except you can turn this one on by touching it pretty much anywhere, so once you have set the water temp you can turn it on and off without using your hands, which should be useful when your hands are all messy.

The biggest decision was the counter top.  We liked our granite top in Maryland and we like the quartz counter we have here in our bathroom, so either material would be fine.   Lotus took me to a big stone sales center where we looked at quartz samples and then great big slabs of granite.  It's pretty amazing to walk through all the slabs looking for something you love.  It helped that I had already ruled out quite a few colors, like red, green, and brown.  Still, there was a lot to see.

But we did find "the one" and had the workmen pull the slab out for a thorough examination.  Whites and grays and lots of interesting movement in the stone; yup, that's the one for our kitchen!

But at the tile store there were just way too many lovely possibilities for the back splash. We looked in the bins....

...and on the walls and realized that the salesperson was right when she said, "There are so many options."   Yes, indeed there are.  And since the back splash can be installed last we decided to wait and revisit the question after the cabinets are in and we have a better sense of the space.   

But I do really love this curving pattern. It would be great in white.  Well, we'll see how our money holds out!