Happy, um, Spring?

Hello Chickens!

Not sure what the weather is doing where you are, but here in Chicago it has been in the mid to high sixties for nearly a week.  You know, classic February weather.  The tree outside my window is all abud, the birds and squirrels are chattering noisily, and the work on the third floor is going
swimmingly!

In some good news, I am delighted to share with you the cover of my new book, which will be released in August!

Isn't it cute????  I'm really excited about this book, people.  It is the story of Eloise, a personal chef who is perfectly content with her small cozy life.  She loves the quirky family she works for, with their gaggle of kids.  She dotes on her snarky other client, an elderly gay interior designer with a million opinions.  Her best gal pal Marcy provides all the girl time she needs.  She has her mom and aunt nearby and shares her comfy house with her adorable corgi.  And then she reconnects with her two best friends from high school, and when the three of them agree to a bucket list bet in honor of their impending 40th birthdays, suddenly her life is blown wide open.  There is dating and socializing and testing her boundaries, and Eloise doesn't know if it is the best or worst thing to ever happen to her.  Essentially it is a book about whether the friends of our youth can or even should be the friends of our middle years, and about whether you really can teach an old dog new tricks.  It is funny and full of good food and I think you will like it.  Feel free to pre-order now, just so you don't forget!

PRE-ORDER HERE

To give you the full Chateau update...

As we have mentioned before, since I fell in love with a three flat and not a two flat, we ended up with an excess of space.  And embarrassment of riches. After much discussion, Charming Suitor and I decided that if we were going to design the world's best house for entertaining and overnight guests, it might be smart to work in something of an oasis for ourselves.  We have put so much time and effort and thought into making spaces for the people we bring into our home, that we wanted to be sure that we were creating some sacred space just for us.  Private space.  So we have chosen to use the entire third floor as our sanctuary, a master suite that we can escape to no matter how full the house is with family and friends.

So here is the general plan:

There is a large L-shaped bedroom space, with the bed on the long part of the L, a small sitting area with a television on the short part and since they meet at our turret, a large sunny area for reading with big comfy chairs.

We each will have a walk-in dressing room, there is a commode room which will have the toilet, a sink, and an area for me to do hair and makeup.  The master bathroom will have his and hers vanities, a large two-person walk-in shower, and a soaker tub.  There is also a laundry room on this level, and CS's study/music room.

It is essentially going to be the world's best hotel suite, except we will get to live in it all the time!

We have passed our framing, HVAC, plumbing and eletrical inspections and have loaded in 153 sheets of 4'x12' drywall.  As soon as that is up, then I can start to tell you about how the spaces are coming together, design wise, which is much more fun than ductwork and insulation!  We are even putting is a secret bookshelf door...you know, like you do.

But here are some pics of where we are now...just to catch you up!

Stay tuned for a video walk-thru as soon as drywall is up!

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath