Blogiversary III: You Asked, We Answered: a house log
Simply like last year (here and here) we chose to answer as many random and personal questions from our Facebook & Twitter friends as we could in honor of this year’s blogiversary. With over 200 questions to choose from (you folks are curious!) we could not tackle them all, but we did our best to answer a bunch. Here is hoping we do not sound as lame to you folks as we sound to ourselves.
Q: What is the weirdest question you have ever been asked? – Jessica
Sherry: Someone in fact asked me while I was prego if I was a thong wearer. I assumed they were from the UK and replied that I was not wearing flip-flops anymore because I needed more arch support. Turns out they were not talking about my feet (they commented again to clarify). I pled (and still plead) the fifth on that one.
Q: Besides Burger and Clara, if you were stranded on a deserted island what 5 things each would you have to have? – Sara
Sherry: sunscreen, sunglasses, a never-ending supply of chocolate covered bananas, a magical TV that gets reception, and a camera (because Clara and Burger would certainly do cute things worth catching).
John: a kayak (not necessarily for escaping, but for lively), Yahtzee, an iPod (or an iPhone if we got wireless service- you know, if the desert island is in AT&T’s network), plenty of ice cold sweet tea, and a toothbrush.
Q: Would you ever leave Richmond? – Beth
Sherry: We adore Richmond and have zero desire to live anywhere else, but lately we have learned that we should never say never…
Q: Do you folks only eat organic? – Allison
Sherry: No way- we can down a box of Oreos like the best of them. We do our best to live a balanced life in general, so if we are feeling full of junk food we might aim to eat healthy for the next few meals. But not only do we appreciate organic food when we can (and trips to the farmer’s market) we also eat generic grocery store fare along with the occasional junk food binge.
John: We are human, we promise.
Q: How did you know the time was right to start a family? If you had any what were your “pre-baby” things to check off the list financially, personally, professionally before you chose to try? – MariaJose
Sherry: I do not know. One morning we woke up and were ready. A few of our family members had lately had babies and we looked at them and thought “we could do that- let us give it a whirl.”
John: I think there is truth to the statement that if you waited until you checked off a bunch of things on a mental list to be ready, you’d never in fact be ready.
Q: How many bambinos are you folks hoping for? – Stacy
Sherry: We certainly do not have that mapped out quite definitively. Some days we want a gaggle (we both grew up in houses with 4-5 kids) and other days we are good with the idea of simply one more.
John: Yeah, I’d say we know we’d like Clara to have at least one human sibling (no offense, Burger) but right now we are so content / busy with one that we are not making any plans beyond two at this point. And we will certainly wait a few years for a second (so no need for bump watch yet).
Q: Do you two ever fight or disagree on designs or purchases? – Susanna
John: Do we fight or disagree about things we want for the house? All the time! But if we do not agree on something the rule is that we do not get it.
Sherry: That way every item in our house is something we both agree that we need and want to purchase – so there is no resentment like “ugh, there is the chair that John made us buy that I hate.”
John: And I am not stranger to breaking out the line “Do we truly need that?” when it comes to a lot of Sherry’s suggested purchases. She relents, we save money, and our house is not full of impulse buys.
Q: What kind of music do you listen to? -Christine
John: Panic At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, Black Eyed Peas, Death Cab, Eminem, The Killers, Britney Spears, Lily Allen, The Ting Tings, Vampire Weekend, Lady Gaga, Glee soundtracks, we are all over the place.
Q: Sherry, did you have any cravings when you were pregnant? – Erin
Sherry: Baked potatoes. John used to joke that I required three potato courses per day (yes, even for breakfast). I had morning sickness for over 100 days straight, so something heavy, bland, and starchy was all I could take. I could not get sufficient of chocolate milk or lemonade in the end. And interestingly sufficient, onion rings made me instantly sick throughout my whole pregnancy. Even well past the morning sickness phase. I was in short allergic to them until I had Clara and now I can eat ‘em again.
Q: What do your neighbors think? -Stephanie
John: Well, one neighbor of ours is in her eighties, so we are not sure she knows what a journal is. But some people in our area are onto us, so they’ll walk by and say things like: “enjoy the new curtains!” which is consistently kind of funny.
Q: What goofy little quirks do each of you have that drives the other nuts? My hubby consistently leaves closet doors open and it drives me BANANAS! – Laura
John: I at last broke Sherry of her habit to leave dirty bowls and dishes on the counter above the dishwasher instead of simply putting them in.
Sherry: Hey, in my defense that began when I was hugely pregnant and it was hard to bend over and load up the dishwasher. But admittedly I am able bodied again, so I am glad to be back into the habit. John’s weird quirk would have to be “sneaking” candy at the store. I cannot truly complain because it is highly entertaining, but we will get home and unpack grocery store bags and I will find things like Double Stuff Oreos and some weird new candy (Skitttles Crazy Cores?) and I will look at John and he’ll sheepishly be all “how did those get in there?”
Q: What are your cultural/ethnic backgrounds? – Patricia
JOHN: I am half German (my grandfather came through Ellis Island – where his name was changed from Petrik to Petersik) and the other half is a mixture of Swedish, Swiss, and Irish.
SHERRY: I am Italian (my mom’s full name is Diana Teresa DeCesare LaPadula) and Austrian (dad’s side).
Q: What do you think YHL readers would be most surprised to know / find out about one (or both!) of you? – Constance
Sherry: Performance anxiety. Ack, I cannot think of anything remotely interesting. Well, I was in a Dr. Pepper commercial once.
John: And I have an unhealthy obsession with Dr. Pepper. Oh and when I moved to NYC I made a promise to myself that I would not get involved with anyone because I hoped to leave before I got attached and things got complicated. Good thing I tossed that idea out the window when I met Sherry and she was cool sufficient to move to Virginia with me.
Q: I’d like to know about some of your future career goals. How you set them and steps you are taking to achieve them. Do you have an ultimate desire? Or are you a more play it by ear type? – Christa
John: I have never been someone with a specific career masterplan- I simply aim to earn sufficient to support my family and enjoy what I am doing in the process. So I’d be glad doing some form of blogging or home improvement or even diving back into advertising at some point.
Sherry: I have consistently thought it would be lively to save up for a second property and fix it up and rent it. It is certainly nothing we can do anytime soon, but it is consistently in the back of my mind as a future possibility. John’s dad purchased a rental property for each of his four kids over a span of two decades and sold each one to assist pay for college for each of them when they got older. I think that is fairly darn cool.
Q: What were you folks like in HS/college? I have heard you mention that John was in the marching band (what did he play?), but what about you Sherry? I am simply so curious! – Lindsay
John: Yup, I was totally the band geek in high school. I played the French horn and was in fact elected band council president my senior year. Not only was I captain of the geeks, I quite proudly won the official title of “friendliest male in the band” a few years in a row. But I stopped playing when I got into college (where I “graduated” to slightly cooler fringe groups by joining an improv comedy group and a coed honor fraternity).
Sherry: I was the loud girl with blonde hair and fake nails. I am from Jersey (born and raised, so it is also where I went to hs) so I guess I can blame my environment for some of that but I am also simply your typical first child (type A, a smidge bossy, and way too keen for most people- especially in the morning). I was also on the swim team (I even went to states one year) and I was obsessed with art (taking everything from ceramics to oil painting). Then I went off to college in NYC to study fine art (I in fact have a Bachelor Of Fine Arts in advertising, which I switched into after two years of fine arts training since I worried that I would not make it as a starving artist). My hair was no longer blonde then but I was still certainly the loud girl. Still am in fact.
Q: I simply want to know if John ever does improv for Sherry (I used to be in his improv group in college). – Jamie
Sherry: John makes me laugh five times an hour. The snorting gaffawing kind of laughter. Much like I used to say back at work when we met in NYC: nobody knows how hilarious that The builder kid is. I seriously began a campaign at work about how that quiet tall account guy is the most hysterical person I have ever met in my life. His sarcastic one liners kill me. I enjoy that he can make me shoot milk out of my nose on a near-daily basis.
Q: List 3 keys you consider to be essential for success in marriage. – Lissa
Sherry: Sense of humor, respect, flexibility.
John: Laughter, dialog, admiration.
Q: Who does the most cooking? Any go-to or go-to dishes?- Tracie
Sherry: John cooks 99.9% of the time. I am a lucky lady. He makes this truly good cold pasta with avocado and chicken and we also have a ton of dishes from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution since John is cooking his way through it (like Julie and Julia, except it is Jamie & John).
Q: Do you cook with as much gusto as you design? – Melinda
Sherry: I eat with gusto. I leave the cooking to John for the most part.
John: Certainly not. I stumble through the cooking thing, but I enjoy figuring things out and learning as I go. So I guess that approach is similar to our home improvement philosophy.
Q: Do the people who sold you your house follow the journal? It would be interesting to see what they say. -Evan
Sherry: The original owners of our house in fact wrote to us and it was remarkable.
John: Check out that post here.
Q: Sherry, you consistently dress so cute! What are your go-to clothing brands?- Candice
Sherry: You are too pleasant. I am certainly no Sarah Jessica Parker, but to answer your question: low-cost stuff! Nearly everything I own is from Target, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic Outlet, or DSW. This girl loves a deal.
Q: What is your absolute go-to movie ever? – Andrea
Sherry: For some crazy reason I fell in love with Zombieland when I saw it right after we had Clara (that angel slept right through it). So unless it was one of those weird prego-hormone things I would have to say it is my current fave movie ever (if I watch it again and hate it, that might explain why).
John: The movies I can watch over and over again are quirky improv movies like Waiting For Guffman and Wet Hot American Summer.
Q: Is there anything regarding your personal redecorating or Hands-on projects that you look back on and think “what was I thinking?” or “what that ugly?!” – Keighley
John: Um, our whole house in 2006 (check out this video to see what we mean). Seriously.
Sherry: We look at the terrible layout and the all-over-the-place color scheme and thank our lucky stars that we kept evolving our house and experimenting with distinct layouts and colors and styles until we got closer to something that made us smile every time we came in the door.
Q: With all the work you all do… and with Clara now… are you able to find chill time together? Date night? What do you do to keep the spark alive? – Michelle
Sherry: Perhaps house projects keep the spark alive? Because there is not much else going on these days between blogging, DIYing, and caring for Clara. But we are loving it. I guess the key is simply doing things that you enjoy together to keep the spark alive. So even if that is painting instead of enjoying a fancy meal, whatever works, right?
John: Though we do enjoy a casual “date night” a few nights a week after Clara falls asleep at 8-ish when we spend a couple hours watching TV and eating ice cream on the couch. Okay, perhaps I am the only one with the ice cream.
Q: How did the chair in Clara’s room work out for you? -Teresa
Sherry: Thankfully it is quite comfy! Admittedly I nurse all over the house, but it is one of the places that I do it frequently, and it is pleasant.
John: I also read to Clara every night in that chair as part of her bedtime routine. We are certainly glad with it.
Q: Since you both work with each other from home, do you ever get tired of each other as “co-workers”? – Emily
Sherry: Sometimes we will realize that that other person is acting a bit fried so I will say “John, why do not you go for a run?” which is code for “you are acting a little cranky-pants so go have some me-time and hopefully you will come back refreshed.”
John: Yeah or I will recommend that Sherry take a shower or go for a walk or do something else that’ll snap her out of her stress-ball self sometimes.
Sherry: The key is trying to have a sense of humor about things and getting some me-time in there when you can.
Q: Do you folks ever fight/argue/get mad at each other? You both seem so in sync about everything it is hard to imagine. – Betty
John: Um, Sherry’s Italian… and from Jersey. Let us simply say that she has a “distinct” way of making her voice heard. She calls it being passionate. Sometimes I call it shouting.
Sherry: John’s the level headed, less prone to scream one. But he can certainly get his sulk on when he’s mad. He’ll simply clam up and you can practically see the steam coming off of him.
John: We can both get peeved like the best of them, but we try to remember that we are on the same team and we are working towards the same goal- so more frequently than not we are mad at the situation, not each other. And it is all forgotten about a minute later.
Q: I am simply wandering do you ever feel inadequate? If so, how do you deal with those feelings? – Polina
Sherry: Sure, there are certainly moments where we feel like we are not doing things fast sufficient or well sufficient (whether that is due to our own self scrutiny or to something that someone else has said). But at the end of the day, we can typically pull ourselves out of that funk by reminding ourselves that there are likely people who like us too much and people who dislike us too much, and we are most likely somewhere in the middle.
John: In the end it is truly all about enjoying each other’s company and loving what we are doing each day. Because we have learned that it is impossible to expect that everyone who reads our journal will enjoy every post or project. So it all comes down to being glad with who we are and what we are doing.
Q: I read you do not spend a lot of money eating out. How do you do it when you go out with other couples or friends? Or receive invitations? Do you say no? I find it difficult when it comes to saving money and doing things with other people. – Judith
Sherry: We invite people over our house for a meal instead (spaghetti is seriously like a dollar a person and a big spaghetti dinner with friends is so lively).
John: It is also pleasant because it starts a cycle where we can simply go back-and-forth to each other’s houses instead of having to go out all of the time.
Q: What is something each of you cannot let go from your past or childhood and refuse to get rid of? – Dan
John: Embarrassingly sufficient, I have a baby blanket with sheep on it from when I was little that I am still kind of attached to. So I did the logical thing and handed it down to my son Burger. It is now Burger’s blankie in his crate and I loves that it is still around (better yet, it is an heirloom- ha).
Sherry: I have these ridiculous compact saddle shoes from when I was 1 or 2 and I simply cannot part with them so they are in a box in my closet. Perhaps someday Clara will wear them or we will make some cute art with them for her nursery.
Q: If you won the lottery (I am talking 20 million or so) would you move into a mansion? And would you still remain as focused on saving money as you are now? – Maky
John: We’d likely buy five other charming old modestly sized houses that we could makeover for the journal and then rent out. That would totally be our idea of a good time.
Sherry: And we’d still deal hunt and scrimp wherever we could. I honestly think that our parents have ingrained that behavior into who we are- so even with 20 million big ones we’d still be tiling our own bathroom (with clearance tile). Because as sick as it sounds, that makes us glad.
Q: If I walked into your house right now, how messy would it be? – Sarah
John: Honestly it would be a three out of ten on a scale from clean to messy.
Sherry: When we are in the middle of a project it can totally get to an 11, as in embarrassingly chaotic. But since we are selling our house we are trying to keep it together.
Q: What was the first concert you each ever went to….and what was the last concert you were at? – Nichole
Sherry: First- The Warped Tour in 8th grade (with Eminem, the Black Eyed Peas, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit) Last- Panic At The Disco or Rooney. Cannot remember.
John: First: Tricia Yearwood (with my mom and my godmother in 6th grade). Last- Panic At The Disco or Rooney. I cannot remember either.
Q: What are your most embarrassing moments? – Alison
Sherry: Honestly, it is when we get recognized around town. We simply have to apologize to anyone who has come up and talked to us because we are so embarrassingly awkward. We consistently joke that it is a major let down to meet us because we are total dorks in person.
John: The person who approaches us consistently has something so pleasant to say about our house or our journal and we simply stand there like “uh…thanks… so….”. It is not like we can comment about that person’s journal or that person’s latest Hands-on project (since they know all about us but we do not know anything about them). So it is weird.
Sherry: And I am a gets-beet-red type of person, so it is simply a big ridiculously awkward mess. So sorry we are not cooler! It is unfortunate.
John: Oh and I fainted at work once. Onto my boss. I in short bounced off of her chest and landed in her lap and then rolled onto the floor.
Sherry: It was epic. I was working there too (we met at work) and I nearly died laughing when I heard about it (after learning that John was ok of course).
Q: Has having Clara changed your relationship with Burger? If so, how? And was that a surprise to you? – Heather
John: We honestly wondered if we would bond well with Clara during the whole time Sherry was pregnant because Burger would do something cute we would say “this baby better be fairly darn adorable to compete with this little guy.”
Sherry: Thankfully Clara came along and she was fairly darn adorable and then some. So we are glad to report that we enjoy both the beanette and Burger like crazy. They are a large part of our family and we are so thankful for each of them.
Q: What is the strangest thing that has ever happened to you as a result of your fame? – Amber
Sherry: Does hearing you refer to “our fame” count? That is fairly strange to us. Tom Cruise is famous. We are simply two random bloggers.
John: But it is trippy to see pictures of our house in international magazines, especially with a foreign language around them. To think that people across the globe are looking at photos of our four walls is in fact kind of mind blowing.
Q: What is the one thing that you consistently have the other do, because you dislike the task so much? -Emily
Sherry: John changes around 90% of the diapers, not because I hate it but because he sweetly made a deal that if I am in charge of imports (feeding Clara) the least he can do is be in charge of exports (changing her). Enjoy him for that.
John: Sherry’s the present wrapper/gift manager of the house. I remember birthdays for the most part, but she’s certainly in charge of making the presents that we pick up look festive.
Q: Was your transition to parenthood easier or more difficult than you expected? What were your expectations like before Clara came and looking back do you think they were high (setting you up for frustration) or low (setting you up for happiness)? – Sarah
John: People told us when Clara was born that we would not know what day it was and that we’d forget to eat and drink and we’d in short be zombies so I think we were pleasantly surprised.
Sherry: We certainly hit the jackpot since she’s such an remarkable sleeper, but in general it has been a truly pleasant transition to parenthood. So far it has not felt like anything we cannot handle, so we are loving the fact that we have Clara around. And thankfully Burger has adjusted truly well too (which is something else we worried about) so we have to say that we are truly appreciating how things are going right now.
Q: What shows do you folks watch? Other than HGTV and decor stuff? Any reality shows or weekly dramas that catch your attention? – Katie
Sherry: Flipping Out, Housewives Of DC & NJ (since they are both of our “hometowns”), Glee, Top Chef, 30 Rock, The Office, Saturday Night Live, America’s Next Top Model, and Grey’s Anatomy- there is nothing like good TV after a long day of DIYing.
Q: Do you ever have a bad day? Things over at YHL consistently seem ideal. – Heather
Sherry: Yes, we have bad days all the time.
John: Things certainly are not ideal over here. We are simply do our best to be positive people, so we try not to whine and complain too much- especially since our journal is about home improvement and decor (which explains why we do not chronicle the annoying things that might happen behind the scenes, like when five posts magically delete themselves). We do enjoy sharing when projects do not exactly go as planned, simply because we like to remind people that we are not immune to those pitfalls either (check out a few obstacles and flops here, here, and here).
Sherry: We try to maintain a sense of humor around here and remind ourselves that we are not saving the world so we do not take things too seriously (which consistently results in more stress and crying). In fact one of my mantras is: it is simply a journal.
Q: If you could go back to the last weeks/days/months right before Clara was born, what would you tell yourself? Do you have any regrets/recommendations about how you used your last few weeks as a childless couple? -Sarah
Sherry: John was in fact out to lunch on his last day of work when I went into labor. I literally called him as he was finishing up his burrito and he ran out, grabbed me, we sped over to the hospital, and a few hours later we were holding our baby girl. We had planned to have a big celebration (go out to dinner and truly soak up the whole that-was-your-last-day-of-work-and-now-you are-going-to-be-a-full-time-daddy-and-blogger thing but instead we were celebrating the birth of our bean.
John: So if we could go back perhaps we’d make Thursday my last day of work so we could still have time to soak all of that in. Although it was truly exciting to have it all happen that way on Friday, so honestly we likely would not change a thing.
Q: Will you homeschool, do public, or private? – Priscilla
Sherry: We plan to send our children off to public school. I attended a private school until 6th grade (Montessori) and then went public while John went to public schools from day one. He even got into a magnet high school (called Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria, VA- which was public). So although private school is certainly something we can appreciate, we have a ton of confidence in the public school system.
John: And who knows, Clara might follow in her dorky dad’s footsteps and get into some magnet public school someday too.
Q: What is next on the list of things you folks want to do to green-ify your life? – Jennifer
John: I want a bat box.
Sherry: And a bee box. Is that what it is called? We want to encourage bats and bees to pollinate and eat mosquitoes and do their thing.
John: And when we move, we certainly want to look into the possibility of using these (thanks to Meghan for telling us about them).
Q: Do you exercise? How do you stay so fit? – Anne
Sherry: Right now my exercise routine consists of carrying Clara around, going on long walks around the neighborhood every night, and nursing (which burns a fairly surprising amount of calories). I have never been a gym rat or quite into exercise in general so I simply do my best to watch what I eat if my pants feel tight. Or I get bigger pants. That works too.
John: I gave up my gym membership when I left my job downtown, but I still sneak in a morning run when I can and I have a 10K coming up soon.
Q: Would you ever travel without Burger? – Julia
Sherry: Well he came with us on our honeymoon to Alaska so we are thinking it is fair to say that we do not like to leave home without him. Or Clara for that matter. We are a four-pack. Although if something came up and we knew Burger would be happier at home than with us (he does enjoy hanging with Grammy and TomTom…) I think we’d consider leaving him behind. We simply want him to be glad. And not chew up our pillows out of spite. Ha!
Whew. So there you have a plethora of questions and answers. I hope you grabbed a Coke in the middle there when you found yourself falling asleep. Admittedly we are not as interesting as some people think…
