There was some debate whether the previously-mentioned wall damage was from termites or water. I think we can now definitely confirm it was termites (and I suspect they enjoyed any dribbles from leaky windows!)

We pulled down the affected drywall and cleaned up the (non-insulated) space as much as possible. Our project-detour continued with the reinforcement of the disintegrating beams.

Fortunately, the structural beams were essentially unaffected by the termites. We were able to anchor the supports into the still-sound beams. The replacement drywall went in easily enough, although we still need to fill the seam between the existing metal window sill (which is basically an inverted U that capped the old drywall) and the new drywall (which wouldn’t fit under the sill cap due to wood and nails).

My dad is currently flying out to CA for a “handyman” visit.  The condo is undergoing assorted renovations, and his time/experience will be invaluable.

Kirsten, Edie, and I (but mostly Kirsten and Edie since I’ve had to work) have been painting the downstairs.  We figured it would be best to tackle that particular task before we installed new flooring.  I ripped out the downstairs carpets a little while ago, partly because of stains and partly because of Kirsten’s allergies.  The plan (which is still “go”) is to lay laminate flooring.  Real wood would be nice, but wood is also more expensive and arguably less durable…

There are two tasks left to tackle: reduce the amount of downstairs clutter (so we can install said flooring), and prepare the guest room.  Of the two tasks, the guest room concerns me more - it’s become an oversized storage closet over the past few months, and needs a lot of organization.  I had planned on tackling it last night, but the painting is running 2 days over schedule.  I’ve concluded that I cannot come up with realistic timelines for painting.

And, as an unexpected “bonus”, discovered a past termite infestation while prepping to paint!  The buggers ate the drywall paper, causing odd bumps and bubbles in the paint below the downstairs window.  Notice they didn’t eat the drywall - just the paper liner.  The location, under the window sill, also indicates that the previous windows leaked moisture into the wall, either after a rain or from poorly-aimed sprinklers.  Fortunately, there haven’t been any signs of living termites - the condo complex was tented and sprayed about a year ago, and I remember the odd bumps/bubbles from before then.

Yes, it’s been a while.  Moving on…

Yesterday was a sad day for Kirsten and I.  (But a great day for some good friends!)

I’ll let the photos do the talking:

Before

After

Just finished a cruise-tour of Barcelona, and checking back into Hotel Icaria.  Beautiful day in Barcelona today - we´ll wander the city as soon as we can drop the luggage off in the room.

Honeymoon has been wonderful - pictures and posts to follow!

Currently in an Internet Cafe in Athens.  Visited the Parthenon atop the Acropolis.  Unusually cold & windy today, coldest it’s been all winter according to our tour guide.

We’ve had good fun so far on the cruise.  We’re sharing a dinner table with a family from PA, USA, and a couple from Ireland.  Both are good company, and our table is consistently among the last to leave when dinner is over.

Haven’t seen any shows on board - we’ve been too busy napping our lunch away!  I find it interesting that everything is priced in $, but everything else is multilingual.  Spanish-speaking tourists seem to be the majority, and all announcements are repeated in English/Spanish.

Our first stop, Palermo, Sicily, was a little disappointing.  The “Mysterious Palermo” tour featured a ruined church off the beaten path, and an old summer castle that’s obviously a city monument.  The third stop was a catacomb that lived up to the tour’s title, however.  Lots of cadavers that were hung on the walls, still dressed in their Sunday best.  The bodies were put on display depending on how faithful they were (or how much they donated to the church).  The main walkway was under renovation, so we had to walk right next to the creepy things.  Some girl in another group was so anxious to get out that she pushed me off balance and into a body on the wall.  Caught my balance on a nearby coffin.  People probably thought I had OCD with the amount of handwashing that followed…

More to come when opportunity permits!

(Also, foreign keyboards are annoying. )

We’ve successfully travelled to Barcelona for the first leg of our honeymoon.  We had a direct flight on British Airways from LAX to Heathrow, and sleeping the majority of the trip made the flight wonderfully short for both Kirsten and I.  Our connecting flight from Heathrow to BCN was in a different terminal, and I found it surprisingly easy to get around from A to B in one of the world’s largest airports.  A quick puddlejumper took us to BCN, which was also easy to navigate.  In no time at all we had collected our bags and were in a taxi to our hotel.

We stayed in Hotel Icaria, a few miles north of BCN and the docks.  It has quite modern stylings and rather thin walls.  It feels like a hotel for business people, which, here in España, appears to mean a hotel for men.  Besides a painting of a woman in various stages of undress, the bathroom goodies include cologne at the expense of hair conditioner.

Kirsten and I just checked out and will be catching a taxi to the docks shortly.  There was a brief scare regarding our cruise booking, but I’ll go into that another time.  Speaking of crusing, here’s our itenerary for the next batch of days:

Yesterday’s wedding was wonderful!  Thank you so very much to everyone who came or wished they could have attended.

We’re both tremendously happy to be married and to have shared the day with so many of you.

Kirsten and I are doing some light honeymooning, so pictures & a longer writeup will have to wait a few more days. 

For the curious:

The pictures should update every 10 seconds, so feel free to refresh this page occasionally to see how it’s going!

It’s amazing to think that the wedding is just 2 weeks away!  Kirsten and I have so much little stuff to do before then.  We’re both a bit stressed, but I think Kirsten is more so…

Today is painting day for me.  I’ve stripped nearly everything out of the bedroom so I can clean and prime the walls.  I’m hoping to have both the bedroom and the bathroom painted by the end of today (quite a task, but I’m masochistically optimistic).

I plan on taking before & after pictures.  I thought about taking a picture before I moved everything out, but I don’t want to shame my parents.

Kirsten is up at her place tackling programs, menus, and other small-yet-important incidentals.

More to come!

Kirsten and I visited the local County Clerk’s office to apply for our Marriage License the other day. It was a touch surreal for both of us. The building is an anomoly for southern California: red brick, gabled roof, arched windows and entryways - it looks like it was transplanted from Yale or Oxford.

We entered the Clerk-Recorder’s office and were met by a long row of flat-panel monitors. After entering the license form on a computer, we were called into the back office. A nice gal helped us out, verifying that all the info we entered was correct. And then she slid a paper across her desk towards us, pointing at two blank areas and instructing us that our signatures were needed to submit the legal document. At this point, both of our stomachs flipped a few times - this is really happening!

Amid all the other prep work and confusion and work-work, the fact we are actually getting married seems to have fallen off the radar.  It’s as though we’ve been planning a fun party for someone else…

An element of our wedding that I think is kinda neat is our witnesses.  Since we don’t have a Maid of Honor or Best Man, Kirsten’s mom and my dad will sign the license.  Truth be told, I can’t think of anything more fitting.  These people (plus my mom) have lived with us for a long, long time.  They’ve been there for the ups and downs, offering their advice and help all along the way.  While folks typically don’t consider their parents to be their best friends (the people who usually fill the roles of MoH & BM), our parents are the people who know Kirsten and I the best.

3 weeks to go!