Throwback Thursday

IMG_4021.jpg

In honor of his annual North East Pilgrimage, let’s take a moment to check out Nick’s cute bootie appreciate Nicks awesome friendship. There was a good crew out at the job site this day and together we were able to sheath and then Tyvek most of the exterior. Tyvek was kind of a pain in the neck and the sound it makes is horrendous. I used the 4-foot rolls because they fit in my car. I’d be curious to know others experiences with 4-foot versus 8-foot rolls of Tyvek.

Seth and I talked a lot about different options for vapor barriers. Since deciding that the house wasn’t going to have some sort of air exchange, it was a challenge to strike the balance between keeping the house tight but not so tight that the house couldn’t breath. In the end, we decided to just use the Tyvek. If you faced a similar dilemma, I’d love to hear what you ultimately decided to do and why.

Now for the sappy shit – Nick spent two weeks with me last summer and it was amazing to have him here during such an exciting time in my life. We became fast friends while in grad school and continue to be great friends despite being on opposite sides of the country now. I feel really fortunate that our friendship has been a lasting one. We check in periodically throughout the year but I really cherish the times when we actually get to see each other. This year in particular because both of us have gone through a lot of life changes. Even after many months apart we always seem to pick up right where we left off.

Tiny Tip

Tiny Tip #6- Compost, compost, compost!

Compost your food scraps. Compost your yard waste. Compost your soiled paper. If it was break down in the compost pile, compost it!

IMG_0767.jpg

Recycling gets a lot of street cred for being the “green” thing we should all be doing. Well recycling better watch its back because there’s a new mean green machine in town – compost! Actually, composting is the more like the kid  comes back to home after college and is suddenly really hip. In elementary school, they were always invited to the birthday parties because everyone was invited. In high school, while struggling with a bad case of acne and braces, this kid fell out of touch with the popular crowd and found their place in the “alternative” crowd. After going off the radar for a little bit, they make a comeback and hot damn-they’re cool.

For ages, we let Mother Nature do her thing and break down organic material into compost. We composted because everyone composted. Then we realized that compost is a little stinky and if we send it to the landfill we can just ignore it – compost was feeling really left out and uncool. Now we’re realizing that we’ve been fools all along. Sure your food scraps are a little stinky (and brace face might have been “uncool”) but it doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. Composting may have been off our radar for a while but it’s back and hot damn-it’s cool. Read More »