The patience of Job

So im still waiting on the permits...any day now. (so they say) the crew is standing by to begin the transformation. It actually is good timing that we are waiting right now since you cant park on the street with all the huge snow mountains everywhere. But its starting to now melt....and we need to get to work. Vamos.

Digging Out

so...before I was able to escape to Miami for a week....I did have to deal with the snowstorm.  Its unreal.  DC has never gotten this much snow in a DECADE, much less a WEEKEND.  And try as they may, the snowplows can't move fast enough to make a real difference.  And at this moment, DC is getting hit with another 15"+ of the white stuff.  Good thing I'm wearing my flip flops down here!

and about the house: I was afraid that the already shoddy roof might collapse under the weight of 10,000 pounds of wet, heavy snow.  But it actually held up just fine.  All it needs is to stay just like that for the next month or 2 until we can get around to replacing it.  here are some photos of Jenny and I clearing a path to the front door using a shovel borrowed from our future neighbors.  Its funny how people band together when they are all equally screwed.  I handed the shovel to another future neighbor when we were done.

AND: just before the snow came, I was able to meet up with the contractor and do a walk through of the final layout.  In about 10 days we expect to get the permit to begin rebuilding the joint, and they plan to start as soon as the ink is dry.  I'm ready.

The Great Escape...

as many of you know [or may be experiencing at this very moment] our nations' Capitol is buried under about 2+ feet of snow. Back to back storms.  The place is a mess.  which would cause concern if you're actually IN DC at the moment.  But some were lucky enough to escape the blizzard and watch from afar from the warm climes of South Beach.  I'll have a mojito for you.

So - where are you [will you be] living?

1st and Q street NW is located in a neighborhood called Truxton Circle.
[its just South of howard University and about 12 blocks north of Union Station]

Just like Dupont Cirlce and Logan Circle have their neighborhoods named after these famed headache-inducing traffic junctions [at least for the out-of towners...I like the circles], we have ours....except....THERES NO CIRCLE.

THERE WAS A CIRCLE....waaaaayyy back in the late 1940's there used to be a traffic circle right about where North Capitol Street met Florida Avenue.  Then DC had a plan to make it more like Los Angeles and put freeways all over the place to help commuters get into town from MD & VA.  So North Capitol Street was turned into the urban expressway that we know it as today.  Not quite as pretty as those other circles a few blocks west.

Bring back the circle.

Here is a Google Map of the area for reference

Demolition - Phase 3 [finito]

Phase 3 is over and so is the demolition phase.  The place is already improved now that all the walls are out [as well as the syringes, hair extensions, and random articles of clothing]

here are the final photos.  they saved the basement for last.  it isnt all the interesting now, but once we finish it, it will be a great space.

next steps: sit down with the architect and kitchen/bathroom guys and finalize the layout of each floor.  We'll also choose what everything will look like and make sure that aligns with the budget [trying not to go over!]

til then: we won't be making a ton of progress until we get the permit for the rest of the work.  Fingers crossed that the DC government doesn't hold up the process too much.