Friday, since it was my day off, I finally tackled the issue of the back splash. We’d originally picked out some tile we thought might work, but that was before we chose a paint color, and the more we looked at those sample tiles, the more we just didn’t care for them any more. So Friday morning i drove off to the stone and tile showroom and I wandered around for a little while, carting my bag of plans and granite and wood samples and paint chips, until someone took pity on me and came out to help. The very nice woman showed me a few options that might work, but then we both found one that seemed as if it was tailor-made for the combination of our granite and tile. So she collected a small pile of samples for me, and then I headed back home to show them to Richard. I’d been hoping to just send him pictures of various ideas using my cell phone, but the pictures didn’t come out very well (something with the lighting, I guess).

Richard liked the tile, so back I went to the tile store, this time with Richard along. We were hoping to place the order for the tile right then and there, but the women helping us noted that it would be better if we had the contractor who would be doing the installation figure out how much he’d need. So instead of ordering the tile, we worked out a design pattern, and she drew out a little diagram, and they wrote down all the catalog numbers and percentages of each type we’d need for the highlight piece over the range, and we stuffed that into our little back of samples and went back home and even though I pondered it over the weekend I amazingly did not even think about changing my mind on the tile choices (something I am normally prone to do if you give me too much time to ponder). This morning Richard and the contractor went back to the tile store together, diagram and selection list and measurements in hand, and it is now officially ordered and on its way. In a few weeks our kitchen will have back splash. Hurrah.

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It has not been all kitchen renovation all the time around here. Yesterday we drove down to Berkeley to attend the wedding of a friend. It was held in the arboretum on the UC Berkeley campus, in a beautiful little outdoor amphitheater surrounded by huge trees and flowers. Our friend was gorgeous and radiant, as most brides are, and it was a fun little wedding, with some laughing and some tears. There was singing by the bride’s mom and some of her friends, and one of the guests did an impromptu (but extremely well executed) drum solo with the band. The wedding officient was the bride’s aunt, and the canopy over the couple and the officiant during the ceremony was hand-knit by one of her closest friends. We sat with a bunch of other people we know, and chatted with some we didn’t know as well (but hope to hang out with again), and we ate delicious food and hugged the bride and even danced for a very little bit, and had a wonderful time.