Good Things

Cookouts with friends
Toasted Raviolis
Wearing my Italian Leather jacket in the cool morning
Catching up with a HS friend tonight
2 short weeks in a row (camping on the 18th)

Den

I just ordered a gel fireplace http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=353046&pCatg=4780 for our den. It will live on the interior wall, next to the door to our dining room, where the TV used to be http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3111201692/in/set-72157611219060733/.

I've struggled with what to do for a pseudo-fireplace experience. I grew up in a house that had one (both in Wellesley and Waltham) and we had one at the Framingham house. Lensman and Roaming have one of these that the assembled and painted to make much more realistic, and the warmth and crackle from it was very comforting. After ruling out installing a gas one, remembering how pleasant theirs was and weighing our options I am excited to finally have a solution.

We'll probably paint it a gray stone color so that it matches what we have going on in our Den. Brian thinks we should redecorate, saying the tiki just doesn't match this. I'm going to have to ponder it a bit. We went through such effort to decorate this room and I don't feel like repainting. The curtains could probably use some changing . . . there is a lot of green in there. We have so many windows, that finding a good solution for the room is always challenging. Something to ponder (and have fun with).