Sand Pail List Update

We've gotten a decent amount of positive feedback about this blog. Here's the thing... it's all about the sand pail list.

So... we've revamped a few things and launched another blog wholly devoted to the sand pail list. Check it out: http://www.sandpail.blogspot.com. We'll be cross-posting on both blogs and we're not completely giving up on this one: there are dining room and bathroom renovations that need to be done and we'll want to share pictures with Kristin's family in New York.

As we set out on this new, focused project, we want your suggestions. What's on your sand pail list? Leave a comment on the blog or send us a "tweet from the sand." Yep, that's right. We've put the sand pail list on Twitter. Follow us @sandpaillist or http://www.twitter.com/sandpaillist.

Hope we see you over at the new blogspot...

- m&k

Sand Pail List: Sunday Night Television

Sundays are typically awful.

Alright, that's being a little dramatic, we'll admit.

We get to sleep late, enjoy a real breakfast, read the paper and watch a rerun of yesterday's Soup - all without changing into anything more formal than a pair of worn-in jeans and a grayed and frayed Gonzaga or Providence t-shirt. It's not that bad of a deal.

Still, despite the relaxing, do-nothing nature of the Day of Rest, Sundays weigh quite heavily on us.

Each Sunday minute is inching closer and more quickly toward Monday. And each lazy Sunday we spend together doing a lot of nothing is one less that we have completely to ourselves. Once we have kids, they'll be no more relaxing Sundays. No more do-nothing Sundays. No more late mornings. And there is absolutely no way that the Soup will win out over Blue's Clues or Dora or whatever show kids will be watching in a few years.

But we'll also have to say goodbye to our normal Sunday evening routine: three hours of Emmy-winning television. Mad Men, Dexter, Entourage, the Tudors, Flight of the Conchords, True Blood and a half dozen other profanity-laced and "Rated M" dramas make regular Sunday evening visits to the Raia home.

But let's be realistic, Johnny Drama's outbursts and Sookie Stackhouse's promiscuity can't be the ambient noise that helps settle our future kids to sleep. Nor will we be able to dedicate three hours to thoughtless lethargy that leaves us sprawled out on the couch watching Don Draper be Don Draper.

So we're getting these shows in while we can.

Don't stress, though. We won't become completely out of touch - TV on DVD, DirecTV DVR and a new TV in the bedroom will become one of the most important facets of our future lives.

Sand Pail List: The Weekday Hangover

Ahh. Staying out until 11pm used to be easy. When we were in college, it was the norm - even with an early class schedule. Something about dive bars and cheap beer made the mornings easier. But after graduation and the reality of actual responsibility, if we're not laying on the couch watching DVR-ed Dexter by 10:30, we're living in fear of the next morning.

Still, every once in a while, a late night out during the week with friends we don't see often enough is the prescription we need, even if it means a self-prescribed dose of Tylenol, Gatorade and greasy McDonald's breakfast in the morning. And that's what happened last week when we decided to relive college with about 40-50 other young Providence College alums.

Providence College is your typical small, New England drinking school with a Catholic problem. It's a small campus - smaller than several high school campuses in the Washington area. And an even smaller student population - just over 4,000. Despite the size, PC shared a tailor-made zip code with seven bars, four "packies," and three Dunkin Donuts (four, if you had a car or were willing to walk an extra two blocks). So when we heard the alumni club was throwing a "Welcome to DC" happy hour at Bar Louie near the Verizon Center, we were all about it.

Happy hour turned into happy hours very quickly - especially after running into a good number of people we haven't seen since leaving the dive bars along Admiral Street. Old stories we retold and others were embellished. We met friends' wives and husbands and talked with casual acquaintances about their jobs and apartments. It was a trip back five years, to a time when just walking into a bar (or a classroom or cafeteria) made you part of a larger community.

That's what we remember about Providence. We all had something in common. We all had shared experiences, even if we didn't know the people we were sharing them with.

Despite the pulsing headache, these nights are important because they're about more than unwinding with a few drinks and a cold buffet. Since leaving college, these nights are few and far between - and, for a young married couple, they're an endangered species, making the next morning a scar we wore proudly.

So, there it is, a Sand Pail item crossed off. But still an item, nonetheless, we hope we can scratch off again.

House Guests: A Gender Difference

Kristin's brother and his family are coming for the weekend.

So are Mike's friend and his fiancee.

So, what needs to be done when guests come over?

The most important, most memorable and, frankly, the most enjoyable part is preparing for their arrival. Where can we bring them? What can we make for dinner? What beer will we drink? What wine will we open? What stories do we want them to bring home?

Now, the two of us answer these questions very differently. Here's the breakdown:

His Side

Buy beer. Drink said beer. Think of one or two funny stories to share while drinking those beers. Recycle empty beer bottles before the guests arrive. Leave enough full bottles to share with guests when they get here.

Simple enough, right? I thought so at an earlier time in my life. Turns out, I was wrong and since we've become homeowners, that thought is more wrong than ever.

When we bought the house, I took responsibility for the yard, which means I need to mow the lawn. During the summer, this was never difficult. Even if I left it for later in the week, I had sunlight until nearly 9pm. I woke up this week and realized summer's over - the sun's gone 30 minutes after I get home. And that's on a good day. It'll get done. It always does. But it'll be on a creative schedule.

And then there's the kitchen. Kristin thinks she got the short end of the stick when we came to the agreement that I'd do the dishes if she did the laundry. But when guests come, there are a lot of dishes to do - and even more to be done while they're here. And, let's be honest, most guests won't know if we're wearing jeans that haven't gone through a cold cycle.

There's also the fun stuff, which is mostly confined to the basement: The foosball table needs to be greased. The dart board needs to be racked. My Tiger Woods '08 stats need to be padded. And someone needs to check the temperature of the beer and wine that I bought, right?

Despite all this hard work, Kristin informs me that here is so-called real work and real cleaning to be done. I'd call BS. Deep down, though, I know she's right.

Her Side

The first thing that I need to do is make sure we have a clean house. Cleaning is one of my least favorite things to do of all time but having guests come to visit forces me to do it. After sorting through the mail and magazines that have been piling up, I dust off the vacuum and get to work. Wiping down the coffee tables and dusting the ledges helps make the place feel more put together.

Next up, the bedrooms. Since it's just me and Mike, we rarely use the other 3 bedrooms in the house. One is designated our "guest room" and another is our office. The third, which is in the basement, is currently our room for storage - aka the extra crap. I spent Sunday looking through some boxes (said crap) and found many things I forgot we had - a Target gift card, yay - but mostly, crap we don't need. Since we have so many secret places in this house for storage, it's an easy fix. Shove all the crap in the big closet.

Now with clean bedrooms and full closets, I need to make sure there are enough towels and sheets for everyone who is staying overnight. When Mike and I moved in together, we decided to split some household responsibilities. He does the dishes and I do the laundry. I totally got the short end of the stick with that one, no matter what Mike says. However, this means I am responsible for making sure there are enough towels and sheets that are clean and ready to go.

And then there are the fun final touches that always make me smile: putting fresh flowers on the table, buying snacks for our guests to enjoy, placing some magazines (or games and coloring books for kids) beside the bed... And planning something we can all do together.

But, that's enough writing about it, we have to actually get to work . . .

The Sand Pail List

Forget the bucket list. We're at least 50 years from that one. But like our elders, we're facing a certain deadline.

When we got married, I went from zero nieces and nephews to seven in under an hour. Until then, kids - specifically infants, toddlers and preschoolers - were always memories of my last couple of years of middle school. Actually, there's a funny story about my younger brother Chris at age 5 accepting the fate that he'd have to attend Gonzaga because I chose it over Prep. But that's not the point...

I'm the oldest child in my family - the first to do things. Kristin's the youngest and her siblings are 12-18 years older than we are. In many ways, Kristin grew up with in-laws and has been an aunt since well before we started dating.

Looking back, it's kind of funny to see the stages I went through in Sarah's eyes (our oldest niece).

First, I was Kristin's "friend" Mike. Then I was accepted as her boyfriend. By the time we got engaged, Sarah referred to me as "soon-to-be Uncle Mike" and since then it's been a regular back and forth between "Mike" and "Uncle Mike."

But it's different with the younger kids. Kristin's sister Maureen and her husband Billy had Will shortly after we graduated from college. Kristin was living down here in Maryland by then, so Will's grown up with me in the picture. I bring Will up because the last several times we've visited New York, we've stayed at Maureen and Billy's and I've had the opportunity to see what's it's like to hang out with kids who look up to you (and at you - which is a pretty big deal when you're vertically challenged as I am) having known you their entire life. It's kind of like being an older brother, but not really.

So, to the point of this post...

While hanging out with our nieces and nephews, Kristin's siblings have joked about how kids take over lives - a rewarding sacrifice, I can only imagine. Her brother Sean put it best last Christmas when I mentioned that I wanted a Wii for my birthday: "That's my Wii. That's my 47 inch flat panel. That's my Jets season ticket package," he said, pointing to each of his three daughters.

Kristin and I look forward to having our own kids. But, we're 26. We still like the spontaneity of being in our mid-20s.

So, we came up with the idea of the "sand pail list" - a bucket list for married twentysomethings. These are things we want to before we have kids. Places we want to visit; concerts; parties; drinks... We'll roll out the list over the next several weeks and check them off (with full updates) along the way.

Stay tuned.

Home Improvements...

Ever since we moved in last December, we've loved making our laundry list of home projects that are out of our budget: remodeling the dining room, replacing the kitchen cabinets, and completely redoing our master bathroom. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Now, because our budget is limited (our mortgage is almost double what our rent was) we are quickly becoming experts at getting our home improvement fixes on the cheap.

Our first project was the basement. When we moved in, our large basement (also know as the man cave) was covered in wood paneling. Not loving the 70s look, we quickly made a trip to Home Depot and picked out a nice shade of white and got to work. After a weekend of painting, we loved our new cottage feel in the basement. Our total cost was only about $70.00 for all the supplies! Not too bad for bringing our basement into the 21st century.

Our next project was our curb appeal.

One of the great things about our house when we bought it was that it was pretty much a blank slate. White walls, white doors, white shutters. Once we became more settled, we wanted to make it more our own. Those thoughts led us back to Home Depot - where we purchased a can of red paint and several cans of black spray paint. In one afternoon, we totally changed the look of our home from the outside. Check out the before and after . . .

(before)

(after)

We got a little spray paint happy and went for the mailbox too - which was actually a good decision because it now matches the shutters. Next up, the railing and maybe some landscaping...

Youngest on the Block

So how’d it all start?

We met in college. Mike was an editor with the school paper and wrote a weekly column on campus politics. Kristin was the photo editor. After a first date at Mike’s favorite pub, his charm convinced her to give him a shot (despite his awesome leather jacket). Five years later, Mike convinced her to marry him when he proposed on the campus where we met. And last year, after a rainy October wedding, Mike convinced her to jump off a cliff one more time when he said we were ready to buy a house… making us the Youngest on the Block.

That’s how it started. But it’s a story that's still being drafted, edited and rewritten… and it’s a fun story to be a part of. So much fun, we thought we’d finally write it down.

Welcome to our foray into couples blogging. After seeing the success of blogs like Young House Love and reading our friend's blog, we thought we’d jump on the bandwagon and open an outlet that chronicles what it’s like to be married and homeowners at 25.

We’ll post about the little things, the big things and the things that usually go unnoticed. We’ll write about the places we like, the ways we save (or try to save) money, the things that go wrong (like the toilet that needs a new lever or the leaky shower), and the things that go right. We’ll chronicle projects and share recipes. And sometimes we’ll just write something because we feel like it.

But mostly, we’ll tell our side of the story of what it means to be young, married and urban in a suburban enclave.

Enjoy.

-m&k

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