So I've been bugging Mike about installing our kitchen backsplash so we can finally put all the finishing touches on the kitchen and be done with it. He's done so much work on it already from demo to electric to floor tile installation, but I needed the backsplash to be done because I was tired of staring at half painted walls. So we special ordered our decorative tile a couple weeks ago and this past weekend was when we would finally get it done. We started Saturday morning by applying "Red Guard" which keeps the tile from cracking over the years and makes it more water proof. Oh, and it smells something awful. We needed to wait for that to dry, so we decided to grab lunch and stop by the running store as we both needed new shoes. Mike thought it'd take about 3 hours to put the tile up (see title of the post).
Now, usually when I buy running shoes it goes something like this: Me: "I need Asics Gel Cumulus in a size 8.5" Salesperson: "One second" (they go back and grab a pair) Me: "What color are this year's model" (they open box) Me, with audible disappointment: "You don't have another color" Salesperson: "nope, this is the only color we carry" Me: "Ok, here's my card" But this time, I did some research on shoes that are easy on bunions (ha, I'm such an old lady). At the store I tried on every neutral shoe they had that might be good for bunions. Still stuck on aesthetics, I didn't like any of them. And they didn't have my trusty Asics Gel Cumulus. :( Mike didn't find any he liked either so we decided to hit up another location of the same store that has a bigger inventory. It was there that I tried on the Pearl izumi Streaks. They were light, awesome
looking and they felt good despite having less cushion. There was even a little smudge on them so they took 25% off. In addition to that, Mike and I joined Team Soler (running store's "team") and we can accumulate points toward gift certificates by wearing their jersey to races and we always get 20% off our entire purchase. We do have to volunteer for packet pick-up 4 hours a year though. In a way, you could say Soler Sports sponsors us...sort of. Anyway, here's a pic of my new kicks. I've run in them once and I'm very skeptical, but I'll be giving them another go tomorrow morning and hope to get them broken in nicely.
So after 4 hours of sole-searching, it was time to start putting up tile. After 2 hours, we had completed half a wall. HALF A WALL. We had 2 more to go and one of those was going to be ridiculously tough.
It was dinner time and I was getting testy so it was time for some food. I wanted to try this place a friend had told me about called The Big Easy Cafe which was started by some folks who'd been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Mike put on his "Geaux Tigers" shirt and off we went. I didn't know exactly where it was so I turned to the trusty iPhone. In Google Maps search I entered "The Big Easy". A list with one selection appears: "New Orleans, LA" Thanks iPhone. Thanks for being smart enough to not actually be helpful. Fortunately adding "San Antonio" to my search got us to the right place. So Mike ordered a shrimp Po' Boy and I got the fish and shrimp plate (which included mac n' cheese!). When Mike took his first bite I asked him if it was like home. He said it was BETTER! Hahaha! I enjoyed my food as well (my stomach was thinking otherwise later...) and of course everyone there enjoyed his shirt. It was a fun experience and we'll definitely be back!
When we got home it was almost 8pm. We went back to work on the tile and got to another stopping point around midnight. Ugh. This was taking WAY more than 3 hours!!
We went to bed with plans to hit it hard again the next morning. Sunday morning came and again we started putting up tile: apply thin set, place tile, place spacers, cut special tile, repeat... At 12:30 we took yet another break to meet up with my friend Mark and his wife Heather who were on their way back to OK from South Padre Island. It was a welcome reprieve as, once again, Veronica was getting testy from low blood sugar. We went to Genghis Grill which is always fun (and filling!). We had a great chat with them and then wished them well on their journey back north. And then there we were again. Tiling. Four hours later we were done putting tile up. Still no grout and we even decided not to tile some areas that we had originally planned on including. We had to finish and we had to put off grouting until next weekend. It was time to be done. It looks pretty cool so far which makes the hard work worth it. Here's what we've got so far. We'll use white grout so it will look much different when we're finally done.
We showered up and then ate only cereal for dinner (we had rich food all weekend, it was time for detox!). We relaxed with our Netflix movie at the time: Julie and Julia. We both enjoyed it quite a bit and it was a nice, light movie after a stressful weekend. Mind you, we broke the stressful part up with a lot of fun stuff! Hopefully next week I'll be back with a great pic of our finished product!!
ride last night. I saw two people fall over before we even left the parking lot, so I was feeling more confident. (It actually isn't that hard to fall off a bike you're attached to...) We began the ride going through some neighborhoods and as the sun was beginning to set, we reached downtown San Antonio. Mike and I sort of tagged along with whomever was closest at the time since everyone sort of takes their own way back. It was pretty cool seeing cyclists sort of swarming around the area with their little blinking lights. The sights and sounds reminded me of the few vacations I've taken down here. Made me think of my high school girls and my dad. It's easy to forget you live in a touristy town when you've got your head down doing day-to-day things! After taking a trip around the Tower of the Americas and the Alamo (which I totally missed since I was focusing on not becoming road kill), it was time to head back to the shop.
