Peaches

I'll never forget eating Jewell Perry's homemade peach ice cream for the first time. It revolutionized me. I'd never had homemade ice cream before. I don't think I'd ever had peach ice cream before. I dropped very obvious hints about how great it'd be to have an ice cream machine. And a peach tree. And cream.

These were similar to the same hints I dropped about cake decorating kits and all the bits and pieces necessary to build a water feature in the back yard. I appreciated my Mom's enthusiasm about the idea of these constantly evolving interests, but the lack of capital investment was disappointing.

Luckily for me, this was the same Summer that we signed up to be a Neilsen family and had a whole catalog of household items to choose from as compensation for jumping through their hoops. Page 39 listed an "old-fashioned hand crank ice cream machine."

As this required no actual fiscal investment, the family agreed and the machine was ordered. Several days of neurotic mailbox checking later and our the machine arrived. Rock salt and peaches were purchased, a roster of crankers was created, custard made and we were 7 short hours away from homemade ice cream!

Four cases of RSI later, we were treated to extreme soft serve topped with peaches as hard as diamonds. The machine was never seen again. My Sister never forgave me for the toasted sandwich maker that could have been ours. I never figured out how little old Jewell Perry with her arthritis and 69lb frame held together with aquanet and polydent managed to survive the grueling procedure Summer after Summer.

The incredible problem solver and realizer of dreams that is my boyfriend managed to find a electrocized automatic ice cream maker at the recycle center (aka dump shop)so that we can turn these:




into the most delicious, easy and delicious homemade peach ice cream. Easy and delicious, just like me.

Long way, baby

Long way, baby, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

Thanksgiving in another country is weird and kinda sad. Sad mainly because it really breaks my heart that most of my family is so far away that it's not only a different day where they are, its a different season. And weird because its NOVEMBER and it's so hot that it's ridiculously uncomfortable to eat all that food and then want to go swimming. Bikinis, cornbread dressing, pumpkin pie and wave-action just don't mix.

Not to mention the 30 hours of sunlight after you eat to make you feel guilty for not being able to anything due to sleepiness and mobility issues. Kinda like being hungover in church. I should be able to go to bed at 4:00pm guilt free, then wake up three hours later, eat more and then go back to sleep to the sounds of football and Hills Street Blues in the background.

Alas, all this moaning and whining kinda flies in the face of the holiday, so I'll take this opportunity to list all the things I'm grateful for.

1) Healthy babies.
2) My brand-new, beautiful office desk made from old closet doors
3) My hot foreign boyfriend with his cute accent and willingness to fully participate in and show exuberance for American holidays that mean absolutely nothing to him.
4) My global smathering of friends and family
5) Overwhelming views
6) The takeaway container of carbs soaked in turkey fat in my fridge

More Bedroom After

decobed, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

Ash's Mum bought this bed at the local auction house and gave it to us. It pretty much set the theme for the room. I love it because 1) It's totally rad and 2)It provides us with headboard, bedside table and lamps all in one go.

Bedroom After!

CIMG4720, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

From Egg Yolk, to, I don't know Under the Sea? Ash lovingly refers to it as Keira Knightly's minge as one of the colors we considered was called "Pirate's Haven."
I love it. Just looooooove it. It was damn hard work. Ash is super detail oriented (part of what makes him a great jeweller), so we ended up taking almost a month to complete the room, but the result is incredible.

The paint job is 100% flawless. There is nothing more satisfying than pulling the tape off the crown molding and seeing a razor sharp line between bright white and dark blue. I've never had the patience to see a project through so exactingly, but now I see the benefit.

The result is almost preppy. Honestly, as a scruffy girl in mostly wrinkled clothes and the wrong kind of shoes and the ability to tolerate persistent grease stains on my trousers, I'm just floored that something of mine could be so crisp and pristine. My heart beats fast when I get into bed, and not just because I have my very own Flight of the Conchord to share it with.

The lessons I learned from this project:

1) Always buy more paint than you think you need.
2) Peel the tape of while the paint is still wet.
3) But, Laurel, how can you peel the tape of when the paint is still wet if you're doing more than one coat?
4) The latest coat of paint re-wets the previous coats of paints allowing you to remove tape while paint is still wet.
5) Plaster dust is evil

Egg Yolk

bedroom before, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

This is what our bedroom looked like when we first moved in. Ash didn't get my "Go Packers" reference. Yuck. Nice floors though. We ended up re-drywalling the ceiling (dryceilinging?), replacing the crown molding, taking out a closet (who needs storage?) fixing up all the crappy plaster work and, of course painting.