To be honest, there aren’t many downsides to owning a second home. But there are a few. As you’ve read so far, we’ve had more than our share of challenges and irritations during the renovation. Some days it felt like more than our share. And the very act of owning a second home is occasionally [...]
Archive for June, 2011
There’s No Place Like Homes
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »
A Boat Load of Quibbles
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 29, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Let’s face it—family and friends sometimes ask simple-minded questions about complicated issues. My usual response is to clam up. “Are you happy?” they ask. Sure. “How do you make your relationship work?” No idea. “Why are all the lampshades in your apartment red?” Okay, that’s an easy one—they make everybody look younger. So when people [...]
Deliver Us From Daniel
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »
We weren’t thrilled to have our housewarming celebration crashed by one of our least favorite people in Vieques. “I feel like I need a shower,” Michael said as Daniel headed for the bar. “I know. It’s like we’re at the Decameron party and Black Death walks in.” I was definitely on a roll with the [...]
Pillow Talk
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The party gave every sign of being a rip-roaring success. Pablo was moving guests through the bar area with admirable efficiency, very few people seemed to be pigging out on the hors d’oeuvres, and I was allowing myself to exhale for the first time in twenty-four hours. Meanwhile, Michael had apparently decided to give tours [...]
Martini & Bossy
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 26, 2011 | 2 Comments »
When Michael got home fifteen minutes later I was staring in disbelief at the trays of hors-d’oeuvres lined up on the counter. “Hmm, smells good,” he began. “Don’t even start.” “What’s wrong?” His face registered immediate concern, which pulled me up short. Clearly I was overreacting. I sketched a brief smile. “I’m being a little [...]
Bar, None
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Patty, the harassed-looking caterer, arrived punctually at 5:00 p.m. with a car load of food—and no staff. “They’ll be here soon,” she said brightly, darting a glance at her watch. “I’m absolutely sure.” Her certainty made me absolutely sure they’d be late. “What time are they due?” I asked. “About five minutes ago.” I helped [...]
Wrong as Rain
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It rained the day of our party. Wouldn’t you know. The entire week before had been sun-drenched. Sun-blasted. It had been so sunny our sunglasses had begged for mercy. And now it was raining. The day of our party! I couldn’t help taking it personally. Michael advised patience. Normally I would have taken his advice [...]
Desperately Seeking Roger
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It took us two weeks to get everyone invited to our little celebration. We resorted to everything short of carrier pigeon and semaphore to reach several of our more far-flung invitees. There was Roger, for instance, the guy who had painted our house. Sure, he’d painted it the wrong color but that wasn’t his fault. [...]
Name That Guest
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 22, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Compiling the guest list for our Vieques party was easy—we’d invite who we liked. If mortal enemies found themselves standing shoulder to shoulder on our balcony, they’d just have to cope. It was the inviting part that was tough. In D.C. we would’ve simply emailed everyone a casual note of invitation, but we didn’t have [...]
Party Hardly
Posted in Caribbean, Home renovation, Humor, Puerto Rico, Travel, Vieques, tagged caribbean, design, diy, gardening, home, home renovation, Humor, island life, lifestyle, puerto rico, second home, travel, vacation home, vieques on June 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The party was Michael’s idea. He said we needed an event, a shindig, something… …to celebrate how far we’d come with our dream house renovation. I had my doubts. Frankly the idea of throwing a party seemed like just another project. But after a few days the idea took root… Soon I began to imagine [...]
