Old Town Home

Friday, May 17, 2013

Babies on the Brain

Posted by Wendy

Comments 14

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me back up a minute before I tee up all kind of rumors that will make our parents' pulses quicken. I'm not talking about us...I'm talking about throwing a baby shower for one of my best friends. My rounder figure can be solely attributed to an injured hip and the indulgence in too many glasses of Napa Valley wine. But I digress.

It's no secret that I love to entertain, In fact, said baby shower will be hosted at our very casa just next weekend. And while I feel like I can throw together an affair to remember without too much worry, in this case extended family will be flying in from multiple states, so the pressure to step up to the plate is really on. Although the mom-to-be wants to keep the couples shower relaxed, my worry is starting to mount given I don't have all the details firmed up at this stage, and have just a mere eight days to finalize our plans.

It helps tremendously that I'm co-hosting the event with another hostess with the most-ess, but I still need to get my rear in gear. My mind is buzzing with a list a mile long of recipes to try, groceries to buy, décor arrangement, and more.

What have we done so far?

Guest list finalized
Invitations designed, printed, and mailed
Theme of party has been established, playing off of the turquoise umbrella used in the invitations
Rough menu sketched out

What's left to do in advance? Uhhh, for starters:

Purchase décor
Make décor
Plant new flowers and mulch beds
Clean backyard
Clean and oil outdoor furniture
Trim ivy
Clean house
Finalize menu
Make playlist
Purchase beverages
Shop for/make food
Finalize favor idea and implement
Somehow figure out how the mom-to-be, a graphic designer by trade, could design various party accoutrements (favor labels, menu cards, etc.) without spoiling any surprises
Set up

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us. But as you might know about us, all it really takes to get our butts in gear is a nice little deadline. A few weeks ago I started a Pinterest board for myself to inspire me in the way of baby shower celebration ideas. Here are few of my front runner ideas for food, fun, and favors.

Source: anikadesigns.blogspot.com.au via Old Town Home on Pinterest

I pinned this to get my "outdoor decor" creative juices flowing. While we won't have nearly this many people all seated in our tiny backyard, I'm more looking at the umbrellas and simulated jewel rain effect. Though this spread is pink, we don't know the sex of the baby, so we really don't have many limitations in color.

Source: imprintables.blogspot.com via Old Town Home on Pinterest

There's not much that gets my fancy going more than color coordinated and perfectly lined up party items. I really like the tiered approach to dessert presentation in this photo, as well as the glass bottles for drinks. It's unique and quite fun.

Source: google.com via Old Town Home on Pinterest

You know me and my love for baked desserts of the cake variety. This spread would obviously be incredibly involved if I were making it all myself, but I think there are some really great ideas tucked in here that will give me a good start.

Source: ontobaby.com via Old Town Home on Pinterest

Honestly, who can't get behind a champagne bar for a baby shower (other than the mother to be)? This look is so bright and clean, and if there's ever a time to start poppin' corks, it's when you're celebrating the impending arrival of a little one.

We're looking to keep the menu "utensil-less" for a more relaxed, casual approach. (And also because we can't provide seating for the number of people in attendance.) Finger food will allow guests to easily mill around. And as you can see from these photos, I'm a bit obsessed lately with cute, individual serving presentation when entertaining, including these chic miniature seven layer dips.

Photo credit: The Girl Who Ate Everything

So now I turn to you, oh reliable, insightful, and wonderful blog friends. What do you think we should throw into the mix? Keep in mind we want this to be more of your atypical baby showers. No games guessing the circumference of a belly. There will be both women and men in attendance, and it will hopefully be both inside and outside depending on the weather.

With that information in hand, what shall we do? How should we celebrate? Do you have any favor ideas? As a mother of only four-legged kids, I would absolutely LOVE to hear some of your sage advice. I can think of one mother-to-be that would be oh so appreciative of any input.

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Comments 14

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

With a Cherry on Top: Cherry Almond Vanilla Cupcakes

Posted by Wendy

Comments 1

Last weekend a good friend of ours was celebrating a big birthday and in order to help her ring in the occasion a few of her close friends, lead by her boyfriend, teamed up to plan the details for a memorable bash. The efforts to plan the event began back in February and left no stone unturned to ensure a memorable event. When asked how I would like to participate in my own meaningful way, I immediately knew the perfect way to celebrate the birthday girl's event -- I'll bring the cupcakes!

Baking and decorating cupcakes is a true passion of mine. In fact, I think I might enjoy making them more than I enjoy eating them! Most of the time I keep it simple, dressing up a recipe using boxed cake mixes. But boxed cake mix and canned frosting wouldn't cut it for this elegant and memorable affair for 50.

While my contribution was a relatively small part of the event, I knew I wanted to do my best to make it a real show stopper. With a theme of red and white check to follow, I took to searching Pinterest for inspiration. A few months back I pinned a recipe for beautiful vanilla cupcakes, made more special with a vanilla and cherry twist. Not only did they sound delicious, but the look and flavor would work well with the red and white theme that had been selected.

With the recipe in hand, as well as several borrowed cupcake tins from very accommodating neighbors (50 is a lot of cupcakes!), I got to work for a whole lot of baking on the morning of the party. If you'd like to give this a whirl, here's a step by step on making your own pink and delicious cupcakes.

Cake Ingredients

1 stick butter, room temperature
4 egg whites, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup maraschino cherry juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
24 maraschino cherries with stems

Frosting Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

I kicked off the baking event as it seems most good baking recipes tend to start out and I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

Next, in a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Once the dry ingredients were adequately combined, I was able to get to the good stuff.

In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, combine buttermilk and cherry juice until mixture resembles the unappetizing color of Pepto Bismal. Don't panic. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the very room temperature butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. It's very, very important that the butter and eggs have been allowed to acclimate to room temperature without the microwave. Trust me on this. Add the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract to the butter until fully mixed.

Also, be sure to take care when measuring the sugar, or your countertops could look like this.

Once the mixture is fully combined it will have achieved a sandy play-doh look to it. Again, don't worry, it's on the right track.

Next up, add the egg whites to the sandy play-doh mixture very slowly, beating well after each egg white is added.

When all of your egg whites are fully combined, slowly add flour mixture and buttermilk Pepto looking substance, alternating between each ingredient a little at a time until they're all added. Continue to mix on low speed until the mixture is combined and begins to smooth out.

After the mixture is fully mixed and looking nice and smooth, your cake batter mix is ready to go. It should be a soft pink color that is actually leaning more towards true pink. Alex also wanted me to let you all know that it tastes pretty good at this stage too.

Line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper bake cups. Tip: To ensure my decorative wrappers kept their crisp color, I baked the cupcakes in plain white cups, and just before the party I nestle the baked cakes in the decorative wrappers.

Next up spoon the pretty pink batter into muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Tip: Using an ice cream scoop makes filling the cups evenly a snap.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in your 350 degree pre-heated oven, or until top springs back when lightly touched.

When the baking is complete remove the cupcake tins and allow the muffins to cool completely. While muffins cool, start on frosting.

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter (again, very room temperature) with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 30 seconds or until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, beating well as you add. Slowly beat in the cherry juice and almond extract. While I was adding the juice it began burping a bit, so watch out for the mess that is surely lurking. Slowly continue to add in additional powdered sugar. If necessary, beat in additional cherry juice or leftover buttermilk, one teaspoon at a time, to thin the frosting to the desired consistency. You should be left with a smooth and even mixture that looks a little like taffy.

For a "store bought" look, use a pastry bag and a decorator's tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.

I like to use disposable pastry bags and Wilton tips. This is a little something I splurged on years ago, and I've never looked back. If you like to decorate cakes or cupcakes, it's definitely worth it to pick up a set.

If you don't have these supplies on hand, a great substitution is to spoon frosting into a large food storage bag. Snip one of the corners off the bag with scissors, and squeeze frosting through the hole.

As a final touch, adorn the top of each cupcake with one maraschino cherry.

All in all, the cupcakes were a huge hit. When arranged on stacked white cake pedestals, they made quite a statement.

Not only were they beautiful, but they were delicious. All in all the party was a huge success, and I'm so thrilled my small contribution could be part of a fun and memorable event for a friend.

Next up? A big baby shower celebration at our house. Does anyone have any cupcake recipes they can share, or ideas for the menu and decor? It's been years since I've thrown a baby shower, and am always looking for creative ideas to make the occasion one to remember.

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Comments 1

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Wires, Wires, Everywhere, On the Walls and In the Air

Posted by Alex

Comments 14

The title of this post is how I'm feeling at this point. Not surprisingly, the wiring infrastructure of Old Town is not the organized and simplified structure you'd probably find in most planned communities. Over the years the electric, phone, cable, and fiber optic services for Old Town have grown somewhat organically as the technologies have improved. While the city has kept up with things for the most part, this has left a bit of a hodge podge of above ground/underground services throughout the city.

King street and the first few blocks from King are largely underground services, while the residential areas are still largely above ground. So when a transformer exploded last week on King Street it meant some serious traffic delays for a little while, but no ugly wires overhead.

A few weeks ago we started to experience rather poor performance from our Internet service, or latency as it's commonly known. It seemed that each evening at around 6:30pm-7:30pm on weekdays our network speeds would drop from the usual of 30 mbps+ (very fast) down to about 0.2 mbps (very slow). After a few tweets to Comcast about the issues, they scheduled a tech to come out and take a look.

Just in case anyone out there has Comcast as their provider, if you ever have a problem, just tweet it to @ComcastCares. The service you will get via Twitter is far superior to the service you'll get by calling their 1-800-COMCAST number.

When the tech arrived and I took him into the basement to see the server rack and wiring setup he was immediately skeptical of our home's interior wiring. He said, "Who put this together?" I responded that I had done the install and he immediately assumed the entire interior wiring was amateur and the root cause of any poor performance I was experiencing.

Needless to say, after about 10 minutes of interior testing and eliminating variables, he decided the interior wiring was not to blame (yeah...no kidding, buddy!!!) and the root of the issues were in the exterior wiring. At one point, while he was on the phone testing things with a tech on the other end, I overheard him say, "I'm here at the customers...um...server rack...yeah...no, I'm serious...a full rack with patch panels...no, it's really well done, pretty sick...you should really see this...it's even got lights."

The tech determined that we have two issues. The first is the fact the wiring from the node to the house is 17 or more years old, and the second is the fact the node at the utility pole is really over crowded. Take a look at the rat's nest at the utility pole where the cable node originates.

A few days after our appointment Comcast came back out to replace the wire from the street to our house. I was happy about that, but it didn't totally take care of the issues. What it did do was to add another wire to the side of our house. Now this is what the side of our house looks like.

We now have six wires hanging on the side of our house, but we only need two (cable and electric). As you may know, I'm a total wire snob. What I mean by this is that I love wiring, like the network, cable, and speaker wiring I ran all through the house, but I absolutely HATE unnecessary wiring that hangs awkwardly, sits outside of the wall for all to see, and ultimately uglifies the area wherever it is seen. I've gone to great lengths to properly conceal any wiring inside of our house, so why not outside? I now have a goal to remove all but the necessary wiring on our home's exterior and beautify the side of our house in the process.

The secondary issue is the root cause of our slowness. We're connecting to the Comcast network via an "overcrowded node." In other words, too many people are accessing the internet at the same time in the evening and choking out our bandwidth. While the new wire they ran helps some, it's still well below what we're paying for. Is it any surprise? Just look at the mess of wires connecting near the middle of this photo.

You may have a hard time seeing it, but there are at least eight wires coming off of this one point, and this one point is shared among several other poles. The more permanent resolution to our issue is to change our network access point from this pole in front of our house, to an uncrowded pole at the back of our house. But the big problem with that, the tech wanted to run a wire over our backyard. Now, he doesn't know my wife, but I know my wife quite well, and if I ever okay someone running a wire over our backyard, she won't be a happy woman.

The technical skeptic in me doesn't totally trust this will really resolve the issues, and my concern is simply that Comcast has an under structured network infrastructure for the number of subscribers in the area. The sad news, we can't switch to FIOS (no matter how much I want to) as it isn't offered in our area. The really sad news, Comcast has a total wired monopoly in Old Town. The even sadder than sad news, there's a dark fiber line (a fiber optic line that isn't in use, but fully able to be used) sitting just outside of the front of our house. Why oh why can't I just use that for our Internet so we can have full gigabit speeds!!!!!

So now I need to come up with a plan. I need to figure out a way to run the new cable wire from the uncrowded pole to the cable box on the side of our house. I need to do it without running a wire above our backyard, without digging up the yard or alley, and without hindering the look of our backyard in any way. I have a plan that just might work. I'm going to try to hide the wire along the wall and behind the ivy. I think I can weave it into the ivy and make the ivy disguise the whole thing. We'll see how this goes, and if I can ultimately sell Wendy on the idea. The way she is, she'd prefer slow Internet access to an uglier backyard. Only time will tell.

Have you had any Internet speed nightmares? I know there are tons of stories to go around. Are you stuck as a Comcast or other cable company customer? Or are you one of the fortunate people where you have a choice of providers? Any thoughts or other ideas than running the wire behind the ivy? I'd love to hear some.

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Technology

Comments 14

Monday, May 13, 2013

Code Name: #AroundOldTown

Posted by Alex

Comments 25

So here we sat Sunday night, a project list a mile long, but rather than working on anything serious, we were actually lounging on our urban hammock.

The weather was so perfect, crisp, and cool, the mosquitos are not mature enough to terrorize us, our puppy was tuckered out from a long day of running around, and we had just finished up a wonderful and healthy meal, prepared by the expert culinary hands of Wendy (at least expert in my eyes, no matter how modest she may be). Sometimes, even though life tends to be swirling around you, you need to take a moment and really enjoy yourself for a day, an hour, or a moment to help you get the clarity that you need.

But this begs the question, what do you do when you have a minute to relax and take it easy, especially when you and your significant other are typically total type-A "go go go" people? Well, apparently, we write blog posts! (No, I'm totally serious, that's what popped into my head as I pondered what to do.)

Wendy and I are actually in the midst of a few major and minor items right now. Whether we're talking about home life, work life, or DIY life, we have lots of irons in the fire that we're both so excited to share, but they're not quite to the right temperature yet, so they must wait a but longer. Now, as is apparently normal in the ebbs and flows of blogging, we feel like we've hit a bit of a lull when it comes to our blog posts.

After months of ongoing efforts and seemingly non stop blog fodder that took us through minor kitchen updates and other items around the house, we feel like we're at a little bit of a loss for what we'd like to share with you. I mean, we don't want to bore you with how-tos that have been covered ad nauseum over the interwebs (how to change a light bulb using just one hand), but at the same time, we don't want you to think we're just going on vacation, like we talked about last week, and laying around in our hammock, even though that's pretty much what we were doing while writing this post.

In the interim, one of the things that Wendy and I keep wanting to share a little more is a small project that I started on Instagram a few weeks back. It's a collection of sorts, and I'm calling it #AroundOldTown. Sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of life, we forget to look around and notice the amazing city in which we live. I mean, we always know it's there, but it's good to stop and pay a little more attention from time to time. We also tend to take it for granted that you all don't necessarily know our town. In many ways, we think of blog readers as extension neighbors of sorts, and it's easy to forget the fact that you may live a thousand or more miles away with little to no concept of our quaint neighborhood.

This #AroundOldTown project will not only serve to remind us of some of the amazing places that are completely unique to Alexandria, but also to provide you all with a little insight into our surroundings and the area that makes up the historic district of Old Town Alexandria. It's quite rich in its architectural styles, distinct periods, and choices in decor. Some of the photos will include home's that we've discussed before, like the Vowell-Smith Mansion...

...While others will show places we've never touched on and may not have even known exists, such as the Jones Point Lighthouse at the southernmost point of Alexandria.

Our hope is to document some of our favorite and unique homes and buildings of Old Town, either via individual photos or larger write ups. The goal is simple, share our great city with you so you can achieve a better appreciation for what we love.

Whether we're showing you something for the first time, or are shedding light on a hidden gem, we hope you'll enjoy the photo tour. Perhaps, if it's good enough, it will inspire you to visit just so you can wander the streets and see it for yourself.

At the very least, we hope you'll join in and let us know what you like about the homes we feature. And now, since this is becoming a blog topic rather than just an Instagram collection, maybe I might suck it up and use the good camera so you don't end up with lots of grainy and pixelated photos.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Are you interested in seeing more of Old Town, or do you want us to "Get to work on a project already?" I wouldn't blame you if you told us to stop working on stuff all together and just photograph Old Town. It's really that cool of a city.

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Comments 25

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Holding Onto the Vacation Buzz

Posted by Alex

Comments 8

Earlier this week we filled you in on some of the details of our weeklong trip out to California in celebration of Wendy's birthday. Now that we're back on the east coast, we're still trying to get caught up with the work, projects, and other chores we missed while away. But like any extremely fun vacation, we can't seem to shake that vacation buzz.

Hopefully you know the buzz I'm talking about. Whether you'be been to a far away destination, or a local favorite, it's that feeling where you wish there was just some way to grab onto the freedom and feelings associated with vacation and make it last all day every day. It might mean quitting your job, moving away, and striking it rich elsewhere to make it a reality, and as unrealistic as it may actually be, you can't help but dream.

From our vacation there was one day in particular that is more or less the epitome of enjoyment that we keep thinking back to and wishing we could be transported back to in the blink of an eye.

This day started in Carmel-by-the-Sea. That alone might have been enough to make it a nearly perfect day, but it only got better from there. After venturing out for some morning shopping we dropped by a cheese and wine shop called, not surprisingly, The Cheese Shop in the Carmel Plaza. This shop is beyond awesome. When you walk in you're greeted by an amazing selection of cheese and related goodies, an amazingly friendly staff, and stacks of wine. What more could you want?

We wandered around the store for a little while perusing the collections and admiring the selections.

They had everything from your basic few dollar table wines to special bottles of 40 plus year aged wine and bubbly that can set you back $1500-$3000. In other words, they have something for everyone.

A few minutes into our wandering, one of The Cheese Shop's employees offered us a sample of some honey infused cheese and instantly transformed our day from good to great.

Blake knows his cheese! For the next several minutes he gave us sample after sample, complete with a description, knowledge, suggestions, and stories. We had such a good time that it ended up with Blake hamming it up a bit...

...and Wendy, along with our friend Katie, behind the counter holding some cheese.

We ended up buying a baguette of sour dough, three types of cheese, and we had a plan for an enjoyable and unique lunch experience. I stuck the baguette and cheese in my bag and we were off!

We headed just south of Carmel to Point Lobos, one of the many US National Parks locations along the California coast. This park is known for sea otters, seals, beautiful views, and a previously thriving abalone industry.

We parked at our first destination, Whaler's Cove to take in the sights, and we stumbled on this little beach alcove far below our overlook. This little beach is home to several seals and recently born seal pups. Wendy could have stayed there all day watching these ladies and their babies.

The pups would wander around making noise and annoying the adults. To which the adults would sometimes respond with a smack of their fin. It was a comical sight to enjoy, and a rare treat. It made me wish we had a better zoom lens.

Nearby we ventured into the 100 plus year old Chinese whaler's cabin. This gnarly old building has served as homes, barracks, and offices in its many years. The key to its long term survival and ability to avoid the wrath of termites and other insects is the fact it was built and sits atop whale bones as footings. Ingenious if you ask me.

Before leaving this first location we sat down and enjoyed our lunch of cheese, fruit, water, and bubbly. It was one of the most picturesque and enjoyable lunches I can ever remember. The setting was perfect, company spectacular, and the food was delicious.

The three cheeses we bought were honey infused, balsamic infused, and coconut infused. Sound delicious? It was!

After lunch we headed over to Sea Lion's Cove for a little more hiking and sight seeing. The weather was nearly perfect under the late afternoon sun. The tide was in and waves were crashing against the rock and sand.

While walking around and exploring the area I snapped a few photos of Wendy, unbeknownst to her, just enjoying the ocean.

You can see just how how happy she is, and that really makes my heart smile. I'm so happy I was able to capture this, and the next one is easily my favorite shot from the entire vacation.

These types of destinations are amazing in so many ways. As you may know, I'm a sucker for history. And as much time and effort as we put into restoring our 125 year old house, the history of our home can't hold a candle to the rocky shores that make up the California coast.

Many of the rocks we were walking on that wonderful day have sat undisturbed for millions of years, just hanging out and waiting for the day that they are dislodged and move onto their next location. The gnarly and odd surfaces, sand compacted to the point it has become natural concrete, and lifeless objects within reach of the brutal surf give way to little bursts of living things by way of survivor plants and sea creatures.

Quite honestly, there are few places that I've been that are more breathtaking than the various stops we've made along California's Pacific Coast Highway. Point Lobos is truly amazing, but it's also just one of many stops you can make. The drive south from Carmel consists of hundreds of miles of winding and unexpected landscape that feels as if you've been transported to another planet, and it starts with Point Lobos.

If ever you've been looking for that unexpected and unique getaway, and something that very well might create the elusive and fleeting vacation buzz, you might want to look into a trip down Highway 1. It's a destination that definitely does it for me, and I hope it would for you as well.

Have you ever stopped by Point Lobos, Big Sur, or any of the other amazing places along the PCH? A few years ago we went to Hearst Castle at San Simeon, and much like our trip to Point Lobos, it lives on in our minds as a truly memorable and enjoyable vacation experience. Do you have a favorite vacation destination or activity, that you like to mentally escape to from time to time? We'd love to hear about your top picks.

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