Kate's Kitchen project

Fabulous Kitchen product ORRRRR.....pictures of all my muscular totally handy-man friends (haha).

Here is how the kitchen looked when I bought the house (I know):




So I decided that it needed some improving, after a year of deciding.....Kelly, Little and I spend a Saturday at Ikea (yes, Ikea, leave me alone) and put together a FABULOUS new design!! (The hardwood floors went in a year ago, just for reference)

First step: I invited my most handy and manly (and super awesome) guy friends over for Demolition Derby 2010. It is amazing the amount of manual labor you can get out of 20-30 something guys with the promise of beer, pizza and Crowne Royal as thank you gifts...they will swing a sledgehammer at anything it turns out.
I snapped a few pics and ended up with an alarming number of butt shots...(I have NO IDEA how that happened, insert innocent angelic smile here) Enjoy.....










The next step was mending the holes in the wall from the old cabinets and tile. Shane is a genius with drywall. Then we had to assemble the cabinets.





Gavin helped.... :):)


Shane and Pinot became fast friends



SO CUTE ;)

Dan Proulx is 100% my hero...in the course of 2 days he singlehandedly hung and leveled every cabinet. To be fair, I was the one doing it SINGLE-handedly, DAN had the luxury of TWO hands! I was effectively no help in the lifting, sawing or drilling department with a cast on my arm, but I maintained positive control of all the hardware and handed it all to Dan on request....except for the illusive tape measure that we kept losing.




I can't beleive Dan and I got everything hung in 2 days....the countertops and toe kicks went in shortly after, we got the room painted (OKAY, I hired painters....).


(That's our friend Nick)
My other hero, Cousin Greg, came over Sunday to hook up the sink and dishwasher (THANK GOODNESS!) and now the very last steps are purely cosmetic... the glass tile backsplash and doorknobs...huge thanks in advance to my last hero Shane Todd for his master craftsmanship!


Final product unveiling very soon!!

Newport, Fish Camp, Boston : A Memorial Day extended gathering in honor of the new Dr. Eileen Kranz Graham and in remembrance of our beloved Poppie.

Memorial Day 2010 planning began on two parallel courses. Katie and Eileen were trying to plan a relaxing pre-doctoral defense weekend at Fish Camp (Eileen whispering as Matt calls it). Simultaneously, Mom and Dad were trying to plan a
35th anniversary getaway, plus a visit with Mimi and a trip to Boston to support Eileen for her dissertation defense.

The trips collided....and a third crew (Kelly, Mary, Joe and Sam) travelled down from Maine. Two glorious days chill-axing on Goat Island, mass with Mimi at Saint Mary's in Newport. Quote of the day from Joe Coyne (in reference to the bathrooms in the church): "Hey, Cousin Kate, do you think I just peed where JFK once peed?"


Uncle Joe, of course, was on station as the Party King of the Fish Camp holding court with his usual suspects (Tom and Tracey Becker, Pete and Maureen Galster). Fantasic day hanging by the sound, eating, fishing (noseeum bugs notwithstanding)and drinking the unbelievable 1990 Henriot Champagne compliments of Tom Becker's amazing taste (and generosity!)






We visited with Poppie on Memorial Day at the Rhode Island Veterans cemetary. As always, he sent us a perfect day to remember him by. Joe and Mary were amazed at the number of flags lined up among the sites, so Uncle Joe (wise and wonderful) explained that they were dropped by precision guided aircraft.








An impromptu rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Ann and Kelly.



It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we drank....we are blessed to have each other and such amazing memories.
Until next time from Fish Camp....