the november update: third edition

November is, has been, and always will be what I consider one of the three "brown" months (looking at you, January and February). Does anyone else ever feel that way? When I actually stop to think about it, I've always assigned colors to months. I don't know why. I also don't know why Sophia has taken little poops outside the litter box, VERY randomly and in various locations, for the last 6 years. 

But hey, who am I to figure life out?

November went by in such a blur, and I'm not entirely sure how because, in a typical year, this month drags on. Looking back at last year, I suppose I didn't notice because it was my first month out of retail (happy first anniversary to me, whoop!), and I was busy learning how to job at my new job. 

Even as I'm typing this out I am remembering why this November was such a blur, and that's because it was essentially, figuratively AND literally the month of decorating.

This island is almost 7 feet long

It started by putting Halloween away. Now lemme tell you, I love to decorate. I wouldn't have lasted 10 years at Pottery Barn if I DIDN'T love to decorate (be it for a specific season or not). But decorating a house 1,000 square feet bigger than both of your previous homes is an undertaking. Halloween, in particular, meant accumulating a bunch of stuff (Goodwill, craft paint, patience, and a little bit of skill are so great for that), and when the spooky season had wrapped, that 'bunch of stuff' had to be put away carefully and precisely. I love being organized (when I can and within reason), so this also sorta fed my soul in a weird way.

Then it was time for Christmas decorating because, yes, November 1st is go-time, and no, I don't care about Thanksgiving.

Fuckin' mess

The kitchen quickly devolved into this. 

My Christmas decor was spread across many locations in the garage, closets, and basement, so first, I had to gather it all together. Then I started to disperse. And then I started to shop. 

And shop and shop and shop. And buy new garland and new berry picks, and lights, and things and this and that and all the other. Some of my older decorations were tired and had to get tossed, and some needed to be re-painted and fixed up. THEN I got the StUpId idea in mid-November that, HEY, since I'll be hosting Christmas with my family and getting the house all pretty for that, I might as well host a huge party a few days before! 

So I quickly reached out to a few friends to finagle a date, confirmed it with them, and then realized: your house is not ready to host another party. 

To the casual observer, yes, maybe it is... but to me, the owner, it was not. For many of the people coming, it would be their first time experiencing the Estate, and I wanted it to be a smashing success. So that night (it was a Friday), quite literally, I feverishly began to work on the house.

I stayed up til 2am cutting in the trim for the new kitchen color (what you see above is when it was white, which I didn't like from day one, and I'd been sitting on the new paint for a month or two), then the next day I was up from 7am-2am, working on the kitchen and removing all of the windows in the house from their casings. This way, I could paint them black and get away from the sun-dried and faded wood from 1983 they were. Then the next night, it was a 1am bedtime.

And onward.

Touching up my office downstairs and installing the baseboards and trim. Moving my OLD office from upstairs and setting it up in the new space, styling and decorating it as I went.

And still it went on.

Installing all of the trim upstairs (apart from two rooms) meant door frames, window frames, and baseboards. Finishing the windows, painting the upstairs hall, patching holes and moving the mounts for curtain rods so they made more sense and getting new drapes, and, of course, decorating.

And yeah, still, it kept going on.

Finish painting the trim in the living room and then stain the stairwell, also HEY it's time to get a Christmas tree! Oh, by the way, you don't have enough stuff for the tree! Better run out and get that. Whoops, outta paint now, better go get more of that. Dang, another trip to Menards at the end of a long work day, then get so distracted driving home that you brake for a red light a FULL CITY BLOCK before you're at the intersection.

To say I started losing my mind a little bit in November is an understatement, but historically, that's just what I do to myself. No one made me do this; most people probably won't even notice the things I've been doing and working on (with a ton of help from my dad cutting all of the trim down for me and delivering it so I could install it). It was a mountain of work, and it's a constant rat race, and it sucks. But in the end, you're left with just... this beautiful environment. As I finish each room, it will be styled the way it always should have been, with the furniture and decor in the right spots, the lighting on point, and the holiday pieces primed and ready. It's an environment that I can't wait to show off to my friends and family, knowing that I really don't have much left to do to the house once December rolls along.

Inside, at least. Outside is another story.

And I know you want pictures, and I'm sorry to say I won't be sharing any right now. And if I DON'T get the stupid Instagram account (@restoring_sean) up and running before March 23rd, look forward to a series of blogs where I show off everything I did in a year. And trust me when I say that it was a-goddamn-lot.

Since right now we're reminiscing on November of 2023, however, I'd also like to mention in this blog a very special anniversary. The 25th anniversary, to be precise.

At camp 'Trees for Tomorrow' in October 1999

These two dorks began their friendship back in November 1998. I was dating a girl (gay gasp) named Kelli, and Katie was Kelli's best friend. I think within a couple months, we had sorta... I don't want to say PUSHED Kelli out of the way, but there was a draw between Katie and me that we both somehow just understood and circumvented the party-in-between. When Kelli and I broke up that spring (after I had my first kiss with her, and no, it wasn't a match (also don't forget, I'm super gay)), we just kept hanging out. 

And apart from an overly long span in high school where I was a total shit to her, we've been best friends ever since.

8th Grade Graduation in 2000

Time is funny to look back on in some instances, and this is one of them. 25 years ago when I was 12 years old, meeting this person for the first time as she stood in the doorway of my art class and waved because HER best friend told her to, I never could've imagined what our journey would entail. Moves across the country and marriage and broken hearts and kids (three of 'em, five if you include my own) and jobs and medical issues and deaths and life. 

Tears. 

Laughs. 

Screams of joy and fright, the two often not mutually exclusive to one another. 

Suddenly you're left with this:

August 2023

This summer, Katie returned to Wisconsin to help my family and me as we threw a surprise 50th-anniversary party for my parents. One of the activities we'd set up was a photo shoot of the entire clan, photographed by my friend Caitlin (check her work out here). Since I'm the lone wolf of the Parker family, and everyone else got to have their individual sessions with their respective families, Caitlin offered to photograph Katie and me.

We're not married, but as we've affirmed several times over the last 25 years, we are soulmates. And she is unequivocally the greatest love of my life so far. I know she wouldn't want me to say I am indebted to her and her kindness and generosity and love... but I am.

And this is how I always want to remember us.

August 2023

The person I am most comfortable around. The person I laugh with more than anyone else, the person I can sit in silence with or just fuck around and find out with. My sounding board and my moral compass, my confidant and my inspiration. We were going to take a trip this fall to commemorate our 25th Friendversary, but life got in the way (and money (aka mine going into this house)), but it'll happen in the new year. It'll be a delayed trip but a fantastic trip, and I'm sure I'll be screaming all about it once it has happened. And that's all I've got to say about that <3 

So what else happened in November?

Spent the month STILL dealing with the stye in my left eye; they're just the worst things. Installed a new garage door opener with my brother-in-law, finished burning the scrap wood from around the house (just kidding, I added more since then), and did some electrical work that I was pretty impressed with if I do say so myself. Finished board-and-batten in the lower half of my stairwell, organized the ARMY OF CANDLES that I apparently own, and got to drive to my OWN home after Thanksgiving dinner with my family for the first time in 8 years. Also made a maple oatmeal pie for Thanksgiving, and it was kinda good, but it also kinda sucked. Oh, life!

Ciao for now (c: