Remembering the past and looking forward

 I'm thinking of my dear late Uncle Steve who passed away 6 years ago this week. Without his influence, I most likely wouldn't be crafting or working with flowers or aware of Merchant Ivory films, or the greatness of Pavarotti and Puccini. He was one of the funniest people I've ever known as well as one of the most creative and the time I was fortunate enough to spend with him in jr high and high school was incredibly formative for me. We miss and love you Uncle Steve and will see you again some sweet day... 

In other news, I'm looking forward to the (hopefully) fast approaching day when Ike and I get to move into our new place! We were doing demo all last weekend and most of this week with my INCREDIBLY HARD WORKING AND AMAZING parents. It's been hot (the AC decided to stop working for no apparent reason) and it's been SO dirty and grimy as the men took down an extremely complicated wall full of built-ins and electrical (anything that can go wrong will!). Meanwhile, mom and I bashed to bits the ugly counter top tiles, back splash and flooring (I'm rather proud of the pic of me wielding the power drill!) whilst helping the men folk by hauling away chunks of dry wall and studs and keeping them hydrated with Simply Lemonade and bottles and bottles of water. 

That's the update from my corner of the world. I may not surface for a bit as there's still mountains of work at the new place to be done and a house full of crap to pack up at the old place... Upward and onward!