So last night, while Stephanie was in Tampa on a combined business/pleasure trip (mostly business, but her mom lives in FL, so they hung out for a day) I ended up going to a Yonkers party that was quite nice. My blog buddy Lesley and her husband Stephen had a little belated housewarming, and they generously invited Stephanie and I. As S could not go, I showed up as the diplomat from Southwest Yonkers. Lesley and Stephen are a little bit younger than Stephanie and I (okay, about 10 years younger) and have a house a little above the Park Hill area. It's in a very nice green and leafy section of town, which is high up on a hill, so in order to get to their house, you have to walk up a series of steps. It's got a nice big yard, and is of approximately the same vintage as our house (ours might be a couple of years older) They are also renovating their house (as can be seen in their blog) and they are doing a fine job. They are doing a lot of the work themselves, and have been living there for almost two years under construction. And they are still working on their bathroom. It gives me hope (and a little bit of fear) Two years from now, we won't die if we haven't done the bathroom, so that gives me hope-- but it gives me fear that in two years, we still might not have done the bathroom! They also had to do a bunch of wall and electric renovations, and have done some really nice things. I especially liked their kitchen setup, which had a large tall counter that hides the workspace of the kitchen from the eating area. But they've picked out lots of nice colors, had to really redo a lot of hideous rooms, and amazingly have a very similar floor on their first floor (complete with Mahogany border) One thing that they did which was very cool, is have the before pictures hung up in the room so you could see what it was before. I think maybe next time we should try something like that (you know, at our next housewarming!) I spent a lot of time talking to Stephen and Lesley's friends, eating delicious curried chicken and cheeseburgers, drinking beer, wine, and other libations, and had a fabulous time. This was the first time I'd met them in person, and we got along famously. I was there about 5 hours!