Fun Neighbors...Hic....

Down the street from out house is a hotel. It has the same lay-out as our brownstone house but the owners bought three of them and knocked out walls and created a cool hotel. They held a wine tasting tonight and David and I went. It was very fun. we met some neighbors. Talked to a published wine critic (he got quite drunk even though I saw him pouring his wine into the spit bucket) and drank some rose made from pinot noir grapes (quite good) and other reds created from grapes grown up the road from my cousin and aunt and uncle (the ones who did the VA stint and who were so much 'in' the blog this year).

It was REALLY nice to go to a wine tasting so close to home. As we walked home our new next door neighbors invited us in for more wine and conversation. It is amazing to see how different the same house can look with different occupants. The brownstone next door is very mod (which I love). They have the stove range hood David is gagging for and they also split their dining room into TV room/dining combo. They have birch kitchen cabinets while ours are cherry (I am happier with ours). They have the black slab granite counter tops that I miss from my old house.

The hotel was interesting to look at too..They turned my dining room into a hotel room!!!! so sitting smack where my dining room table is was a bed. The kitchen was intact and looked very much like mine. They took the main floor bathroom door and made it so that you can enter from the dining room. the Living room portion you saw in my pics is this hotel lobby. A unit to one side was busted open and held three more guest rooms plus a conference room.

I had a little stress-out today. We went to homeowners association meeting on Tuesday and asked for permission to create a shop sign and change out or garage door for a glass one. The board asked us what business we were planning and stupid me told them. Apparently like many HOA boards. They like to take on the decisions that are really not theirs to rubber stamp. I got an email today from the president of the board stating that he was very sorry but the rules would not allow me to alter the use of my garage. Well..as I did not ask for his permission on this I carefully crafted a reply telling him so. I asked for a sign (no response was given for this) and to change my garage door. I am going to back off on the garage door and basically open the business under the wire. All of the advice I received from parties who I will not reveal in such a public blog forum :) suggested this course was probably the wisest. I checked as a back up plan on a rental space a mere 1/2 a block from my house..the rent was $2000 a month!!! yeah..no...I would be happy to gross that amount in the beginning and do not think a fledgling knitting/craft coop would hold up to overheads that high. I do not know what business would frankly but maybe I am underestimating the power of yarn and sticks :)

Apparently it is easier to rent your basement out than it is to open a little craft studio...Ok..I am going to go now. I am just a leetle tipsy. Oh by the way you know when I moaned about being sick after drinking a 1/2 bottle of wine and chasing it with a bit of chocolate a few weeks ago. Umm..I had several glasses of wine and even two slices of cheese (really good wine and cheese even). I just got drunk. At this weight I do not know if this is something to celebrate but a little piece of me..you know that part that was self-pitying when I wanted to at least get a little tipsy at the last party I went to..was celebrating..for now.

Just so you know...I have managed to type and catch a whole heck of a lot of typos in this post (drunk ones). Be kind if I missed some..hic....


xxxooo