Happy Thanksgiving (and Bajram) !

For Thanksgiving we went over to a pot-luck party at a friend's house and had a really nice and festive day. We played bean bag toss and two-hand-touch football and ate a ton!

The unfun side of Fall!

Well our fabulous trees have meant lots of leaves on the ground lately! Miran has spent the past few week-ends trying to clean them up. We had almost ten big bags of leaves for pick up last week and will have a few more this week. Here is Miran with his leaf blower / vaccum - first he blows them in a pile, than sucks them all up into a bag. I think he will also mow the lawn today for the last time this year - I know he is excited about that!

And we survived swine flu too!

Over a week ago, we both had the flu. I got it first and Miran a day or two later. We each had one day completely flat on our backs and than mild but annoying lingering symptoms for 3 or 4 days afterwards. In fact, we both still have scratchy throats. We weren't sure if it was normal flu or H1N1, but when Miran went to the doctor yesterday for his annual physical he asked the same question Cecilia asked of her doctor - and our doctor agreed that seasonal flu isn't out yet .... so if we had the flu, we had swine flu! It wasn't fun, but it was no big deal!

Bosnia vs. Portugal, round 1!

Yesterday was an exciting day for all Bosnians (and their families and friends) because the national soccer team had a playoff game against Portugal for a spot at the World Cup in South Africa next year. We invited a few friends over to watch, hung up the Bosnian flag and wore spirited t-shirts, and made Bosnian Cevapi on the grill for lunch. Bosnia lost 1:0, which was disappointing, especially since there were 3 near goals by Bosnia that bounced off the posts. But considering the game was an away game played in Portugal and that Portugal is ranked way higher than Bosnia, everyone was pretty satisfied because there is still a chance they'll advance. The two teams meet again on Wednesday for the final playoff game, and if Bosnia wins strongly, they qualify for the World Cup for the first time (as an independent country).

We made some videos Miran wanted to post but I can't figure out how so I'll have him do that later!

Bruce Springsteen Correction

Miran's uncle Mustafa asked me to clarify a comment I made a two weeks ago. Bruce Springsteen was very popular in the former Yugoslavia and its sucessor states ... Miran just didn't happen to listen to him! :)

Kitchen hardware finally!

I have been meaning to post pictures of the new kitchen hardware for over a month now ... so here it is. Much better than the curly-q black on black we had before. I'm also adding a picture of the almost empty dining room - it is no longer a staging area, almost everythign has found homes, except a few last boxes in one corner. Maybe someday we'll actually get a new dining table and chairs to fill it up properly ... and a new light fixture to replace all that crystal!

Birthday !

Monday was my birthday and I didn't get home from work until after 8:00, but I had a pile of cards and presents waiting for me to open, as well as roses and a white chocolate birthday cake. Miran took a 10 minute video of me opening and discussing and trying everything, which I don't know how to edit down so won't post. But here is a before photo:

Active Citizens!

I forgot to mention the othe day that on our way to the concert, we stopped and voted. It was Miran's first time so we made a big deal out of it and wore our "I voted" stickers all evening. I hovered over him while he voted and told the election officials it was his first time.

There was actually a mayoral race in Charlotte so it was important for us to vote. And the democrat won for the first time since 1987! So we are happy about that because he was the much bigger advocate of public transportation, including finishing the light rail projects and building the trolley along Central Avenue. It will still take 15 years probably to build, but at least they will move forward with plans for it - it will go right by Progress Lane and connect us to downtown.

To be more even active citizens - we called our congressman today and told him to vote for the health reform bill. The bill is definitely flawed, but way better than nothing. Our monthly health insurance premium is going up by 260% from this year to next - which just goes to show insurance companies can't be trusted and regulation is needed. I guess just the fear of reform made them hike up our insurance ridiculously. Plus, if we have any hope of getting Miran's mother over here, we'll need health insurance reform ... her preexisting conditions will make her dificult to insure affordably if nothing changes in the system. So we are really happy the public option is back in - even if we don't use it, it should definitley bring the cost of private insurance down due to the competition. Go health care reform!

BRUCE !!!!

Tonight, for my 35th birthday present (a week early), we went to the Bruce Springsteen concert.

Its been quite a while since either of has been to a big arena concert, but I've always wanted to see Bruce live because I've always heard he is such a great performer and because I'm a big fan. He was in Charlotte a year and a half ago, but we were too cheap to go. But this time, we splurged because we could call it a birthday present. And it was well worth it. He lived up to his reputation.

It was certianly the most interactive concert I've ever been too - he body surfed on the crowds, pulled kids up on the stage to sing with him, walked around in the crowds, stood on a platform in the middle of the crowds, let everyone touch him and his guitar, and even took signs from people in the audience requesting specific songs ... and then played them. Of course we were way up in the nosebleeds, so not participating in any of this, but still it was enjoyable to see such an unscripted, crowd-friendly performance from a superstar. Plus the music was great! Even Miran by the end decide he was a fan (he wasn't really all that familiar with Bruce Springsteen - though he is pretty popular in Europe, apparently not in ex-Yugoslavia).

So even though I'm getting older, tonight I felt almost like I was in high school again at a big concert - singing and dancing along to songs - some of which were popular way back when I was in high school!

Fall Colors in the Mountains

Last week-end we went up to the mountains for the day with some friends of ours. First we went to the Altapass Orchard to pick apples. Apparently we were a little late this year and there were only slim pickens left! Only one type of apple was left on the trees, and they were all up high. But that meant we got to use a metal apple-picking tool, which the guys enjoyed. Though as you'll see, Miran gave up and just started climbing the trees after awhile.

After we finished apple picking, we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway to Linville Falls and hiked by and then above the river and falls. It was very pretty and the trees were definitely at peak. We weren't the only ones with this bright idea, and it was incredibly crowded on the trails, so it didn't quite feel like we were away from civilization. But the views were nice and we had fun!

Fall on Progress Lane

Ok. Its been awhile. I have a few things to blog about and show pictures of, but I'll try to space them out over the next few days instead of posting 10 things at once and then not again for a month. So its fall now in Charlotte, and its quite lovely - probably the nicest season here and definitely my favorite. With so many trees around town the colors are really nice.

Here is a view of our yard with more fallen leaves and the new birdfeeder Miran hung up. Mom and Dad brought all our old birdfeeders from the Arlington House when they were last here, and we tried to piece them back together, but something was missing or broken or wrong with each of them so we just bought a new one. I'm sure soon Miran will have half a dozen up again and we'll have crowds of birds hanging out in the yard.

And here are some witch hat cookies I made Miran for Halloween since we aren't planning to dress up this year and wanted a little festivities. I have a big bowl of candy waiting for trick-or-treaters, but I have a feeling we'll be eating most of it ourselves next week. We may get a few, but I doubt we'll get a lot.

How do you like the fall setting I made to take a picture of these cookies?

The grass is growing!

About two weeks ago Miran finally found the strength to till the other patch of dead grass in front of our house and get some seed planted. We didn't have any nice compost to put on top since our friend's pick-up is still broken, but it seems to have come in nicely and very quickly. He put a little straw down that our neighbor gave us and it seems to hav kept the birds away just long enough.  He just has one litte area left to do - and then to mow all the new grass which is getting quite long, especially on the right side. This new grass looks so good - now the rest of the lawn looks bad. Miran wasn't happy when I mentioned that!

Perfect Timing !

Yesterday on NPR I heard a story that really made us feel good. We knew we had bought our house at a good time, when housing prices were down, but apparently we timed things absolutely perfectly.

House prices in Charlotte have risen for the past three months ... meaning we literally bought at the bottom and are making money! Ok, so prices only rose by .6% in July, so its not much money - but at least its moving in the right direction. Of course, prices in Charlotte are still down 9% from last year - but that isn't our problem!

Bajram Serif Mubarek Olsun !

That means happy Bajram!

Today is the first day of the 3-day holiday of Bajram (you may know it by its Arabic name of Eid, but in Bosnia they use the Turkish word Bajram). Its a huge holiday in Bosnia involving lots of food, family and gifts. We weren't paying attention and just figured out two days ago that it started today. Since Islamic Holidays are linked to a lunar calendar, they move, so its not like Christmas which has a set date, or Thanksgiving which is always the last Thursday in November; instead Bajram moves all over the calendar.

Anyway, we didn't have time to do much, not to mention its hard to make a big deal out of holidays here since we don't have any family to visit and no one else around us is celebrating this holiday. But I did make some Baklava for Miran, since that is the traditional desert served in Bosnia on Bajram. I just made a small pan since its so sweet we eat it very slowly.

honors seminar

To demonstrate that we actually do other stuff than play with our house, I thought I'd post about other things going on. I'm teaching an honors seminar this semester that involves participating in cultural activities around Charlotte. Here is a picture of my students and a colleague of mine on a public art walking tour of downtown that we took last week-end.




Friday night we went to the ballet and saw three short pieces. One was Tyla Tharp's "9 Sinatra Songs" that included a series of ballet duets inspired by ballroom dancing and set to the music of Frank Sinatra (with costumes by Oscar de la Renta). The middle piece was a more normative modern ballet piece called MAP. The third piece was the best - it was called "Shindig" and was accompanied by live bluegrass music. It was so much fun and full of energy. I had arranged for the choreographer of that piece, who is the director of the North Carolina Dance Theatre to come talk to the students during the intermission. So that was neat. Here is a video from youtube of a minute of that ballet:

clean stairs

Today I also got a coat of polyurethane on the stairs, that Dad had sanded last week when he was here since he pulled the carpet off for me. Luckily it was finished under the carpet and we just needed to sand a little where the nails and staples had been. I like the look much better now. Notice also the handrail I painted black.

The Kitchen is done, sort of

I finally finished the half done projects in the kitchen - I painted and polyurethaned the backsplash, painted the wall (not in the pictures), got everything back in the cabinets and got the doors on. Here are the before and after shots and another view of the kitchen.


I broke down and ordered some new hardware today online because I found some inexpensive stuff. Plan A had been to spray paint the frilly brass stuff black as a temporary solution, and to save money by not replacing the hardware now because we hope to rip the cabinets out before too long and redo the whole kitchen. But since that will probably be years and I don't like the black hardware on the black cabinets, I ordered some.

The kitchen in progress

We've also been working on the kitchen. The trim in that room got painted white and the wall will be beige as soon as I get too it. The cabinets we painted black on the outside and white on the inside. Its not done yet but it looks really fabulous. We are excited.

Here are some pictures of it all exposed with the cabinet doors off, the doors getting painted outside, and the cabinets black. Since Mom and Dad left on Saturday morning, all I've managed to finish up some spots we missed on the cabinets, get the second coat on the trip, tape so I can paint the walls beige, and start getting some stuff back into the cabinets. Hopefully some night this week I'll get that room done because its quite chaotic to rummage through boxes in the dining room to find food and dishes, and then go to the living room to find glasses and the microwave.

Finished Family Room !

So with the french door installed and the fireplace and windows painted - we could finally clean up, wall mount the TV, and get the furniture back in. We still need to replace the lighting to something more modern and get something on the walls, and get something under the TV to hold the components, but the room is starting to feel done and much more our style.

Here are before and after shots.

The fireplace

We went crazy when we got to the fireplace and put down the black paint .... and instead used gray! There were lots of different schemes for the fireplace ... painting it white, black, some sort of faux finish involving sponges and multiple shades of gray and beige. The mortar joints are pretty deep so each one had to be painted with a paintbrush before the surface of the bricks could be painted. For the second coat we were using a tiny artists brush to really get paint in each joint. Mommy did most of the work, but I think everyone was involved at some point on this major project. Here is an in progress picture.

Things Painted Black !

As mentioned earlier, we really went to town with a couple of cans of black paint. Both the master and hall bath vanities upstairs got painted (and new hardware), as did all of the doors to different rooms downstairs (later I'll get to the upstairs doors), and the two windows in the family room (much later I'll consider other windows in the house).

Finishing the French Door

Sorry I've been so bad about posting stuff as we made progress this week. I have to say it was one of the most exhausting weeks I can remember. I tried to go to work but was pretty distracted by all the fun and hard work at home. I guess it was almost a week ago - last Monday night, that we hung the French door. It took another day to get the molding up and painted and the wallboard fixed. Matthew as here on Sunday and Monday to help put it back together. They did such a wonderful and professional looking job, but all agreed they'd never do it again!

Painting

Meanwhile, Mommy and I have been painting. We painted Azra's bedroom and bathroom daffodil yellow, the downstairs vestibule beige, and stripped the hideous floral borders out of the bathrooms, primed the one bathroom that didn't already have white paint over the rest of the wall paper. Actually, Mommy did most of the painting - but I did the rolling in the bedroom and bath.

We also painted a bunch of miscellaneous furniture charcoal black to try to tie a lot of our random pieces together better. They came out so good I am sure there will be another round. I've been walking around the house saying "I see a table and I want to paint it black" ... "I see a banister and I want to paint it black" and so on.

Labor Day French Door Project

Mom and Dad came to visit to help with our first large scale intervention into the house. We are installing a French door between the family room and the bird room. Dad and Miran have been working on it for two days, calling Mommy and I in to assist every now and then. These pictures make it look like it goes quickly - steps 1, 2, 3 - but its really been quite a project with lots of trips to home depot and lowe's. Its after 9:00 and they are still at it down there. I think the door is actually in by now - I'll post pictures of that tomorrow. Then they have to put the wall back together!

New grill!

We benifited from an end of summer sale and upgraded our grill to go with our house. The little red one just wasn't big enough anymore! It was so hard to find a nice, big charcoal grill with storage space and counter space and a warming rack. There are hundreds of varities of fancy gas grills, but for us the whole point of grilling is to get that charcoal taste. We finally found one we liked at a good price and it is the latest addition to our carport!

Visit from Cecilia and Harald

Two weeks ago Cecilia and Harald visited for a much needed baby free week-end. It was Cecilia's first time away from the girls and both mother and twins did fine. We did lots of adult only activities - like eat in nice restaurants, get manicures, and stroll leisurely through the mall. I took a picture of them in my office at work which they stopped by to inspect