On this our second to last weekend here, we finally made it over to the America’s Cup for an exciting day amongst the Kiwis. I kind of felt like we had made a wrong turn and ended up in enemy camp because we seemed to be way out numbered by people with the wrong flag fluttering from their back like a cape. Nevertheless it was so much fun to be up close and personal and get to be excited with everyone else especially because WE WON!!!! Finally.. still way down but still! We are hangin in there : ) Greg said it would be over that day but I said I was a lucky charm. Ta da! Lucky, am I.
I think I was equally amused by the digital frenzy that was taking place as much as the amazing boats headed my way. Greg was able to wiggle his way up closer as to not be behind the pack of hands. He’s pretty cute how into this he’s gotten. We don’t have cable right now so he listens to it on the radio while watching it from our bedroom window. My friend came over and caught him listening to the first race and said, “Sailing? You do know football is on…” But seriously, it was quite thrilling! The New Zealanders almost capsized and we got to see it all happen right before our very own eyes!!
Plus, the boats are so very ominous looking, they look like the sharks of the sailing world and they are HUGE so they are very easy to spot for this visually challenged girl.
Of course, once the race was over, we headed over to the yachts that were docked and pretended they were ours.
This one was for sale last year for only 95 million. Umm, it was gorgeous. A man made fun of me for my goofy poses but I think he secretly just wanted to have his picture taken in such a way too. He ended up being quite nice.
Then we strolled around San Francisco and found the bench where we sat on our second date and I had to use a ridiculous amount of moves to get Greg to like me.
And it worked! Four and a half years later we were back!
Look how happy. Then we just took a lazy day and strolled around the city, popping into shops here and there and having a grand ol time. I got some new black candles for Halloween that I’m overly excited about and Greg tried on a ridiculously sexy leather jacket but refused to spend such an extravagant amount of money on such an item… look who’s the saver now!
And then the darndest thing happened! These Nettles not only stayed up past ten (if you have visited us, you know how boring we get once 9:45 rolls around) we were OUT past ten : D dining at this place. It was delightful.
And those were some of the best oysters I’ve ever had. PS look at my dashing husband. He even wore a jacket! <3 <3
I haven’t been doing it lately. BUT I recently read an article (from a legitimate source!) that walking has the same, if not more (yippee!), health benefits as running. This. is. good. news. I HATE running. I love walking. I could walk for days and days as long as my trick hip doesn’t give out. So, the other day I decided, screw art, I want to be a screenwriter. The problem with that is you look at a screen all day… hence my newfound need and love of the walk! Let me introduce you to this street of loveliness where we live for the next two weeks : )
But first, a little background. I have a fondness of trees and all things green. I knew once Greg and I got married, we would live in the city. Now, I love the city but I’m not a city girl. I need my green. So I ever so slyly suggested this idyllic town of Sausalito as a lovely alternative, my dad hyped up the wonderfulness of the ferry commute and BAM we had a man set on living in the city close to work, all of a sudden considering a one hour commute across the ocean to get to his final destination each day. Luckily for me, this man lives to make his girl happy. When he sees my face light up, his heart is full of joy and happiness. These streets do that to my face and consequently, his heart. They all look like this! All curvy and bendy with the trees saying hello to the trees on the other side.. the dappled light… ahhh. Add to that the big beautiful houses and the tiny adorable ones, and you have a walk made for my imagination.
I love to stop and dream about what it would be like to live in each house.. what I would do to it of course.. and how I would always be smiling and happy if only I lived there. Things are always happy in your dream world right? I’ve never heard of anyone dreaming of plumbing issues and marital disagreements.. Anyways, this is my happy place and I am savoring each bit of it, exploring each new bend in this quite expansive neighborhood. I try to stay as flat as possible in this hilly little town but this street took me a long ways down to a dark place, but I looked up and there was the most beautiful light coming through the trees. Best part, it smelled just like my childhood which was spent mostly exploring in the forest. Sure I still move my whole body with the remote when playing video games, but I can build a killer fort and don’t even get me started on my imagination abilities.
^^the smell of childhood was here : )
So anyways, I convinced Greg to look at an apartment for us to live and turned down this street..
And I said, Oh please don’t take me back to the grey, cement city! And then we turned down this street..
Which lead to this one..
Which ended up being where we would play house for nine months! That’s our place but we live below : ) Here’s our little mailbox that our landlords like to remind us, was not cheap!
And you pretty much follow that path of preciousness to our place! Almost everyone here looks out on a view of the bay..
It’s quite remarkable and pictures truly don’t capture it. So, I have decided this is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the world and it is such a treat to live here for a bit. I’ve also decided I’ll stop being so down on LA cause I know it will have a ton of great things to offer which I will miss if I keep comparing it to this very different little town. I’m actually very excited for our next LA adventure! I got two whole cabinets cleared out and packed up and most of the laundry room aka junk storage room (which really never got unpacked : D ) so, progress! In other news, I stood at the meat counter for 35 minutes today waiting for a butcher to show up. Apparently one called in sick and the other disappeared. The man next to me kept muttering, “I know he’s stuck in the freezer, probably dead by now!” But I met a very nice lady who stuck with me and understood that when you plan a meal, you depend on buying the exact ingredients. It was very frustrating because I could see my cod right there, waiting for me to purchase it. It was kind of funny because eventually they gave up and just sent two managers over who had never packed meat before and didn’t know what was what. I was quite amused. Aaaaaand it’s the weekend! Happy weekend everybody.
On Monday, I was packing up the stuff that isn’t on display so as to not leave it all to the last minute and I found my box of cards that I’ve been lugging around with me for many years. Add to that an extra emotional lady and ten minutes into reading a couple, I became a blubbering mess. So, having found many that had been left on my bed from my mom and my sister over the years, I was overwhelmed with the reality that I’ll only have a couple more weeks that I can just run over to say hi. So that’s exactly what I did. Greg called my mom to “see what my favorite birthday dessert was” which really was meant to lead to “what are you up to today…busy?” She said she was just painting and voila – an impromptu visit was in the making. She was so surprised and SO happy someone was there to keep her company while my dad’s in Italy on this wonderful missions trip. Seriously, it’s probably the most fun “mission” trip ever organized.
So bummed we couldn’t go this year but hopefully the next one will have these Nettles in attendance. Most importantly I got to hang out with my hairy red brother and had a lovely time with my momma. Plus! The next day I was able to go to lunch with my momma AND my sister ANDDDD we got our first pumpkin spice lattes of the season. Finally!On my way home I went to pick up some more boxes and packing supplies.. what would you spend for four medium boxes and some packing paper. Ya, I didn’t thing $45 was very realistic either.. I got home and Greg and I thought longingly about all the boxes and paper we had thrown away from our wedding presents. It must have been worth hundreds! Anyways, apparently that’s a good business direction to consider once I get around to choosing an actual direction to pursue : ) Best news of all though, was my glasses finally came in!
I can’t even begin to tell you how these dainty little things have rocked my world. I put them on and instantly got the giggles. I might have said a little to enthusiastically, “I can see!” and the lady in the shop gave me the most annoyed look. She was very unfriendly. I told her they looked a bit crooked and she replied, “that’s just your eyebrows.” So, I left a bit annoyed at having to tweak them myself but overwhelmingly delighted at how crisp everything was now! Trees have leaves again! I can see things across the room that I didn’t even know were there! Ah! Amazing. And, good news. Greg likes them more than my last ones : ) Success!
I’m kind of in shock that we really only have two more weekends here. I was especially sad we won’t be getting to celebrate Christmas in this cozy little place so this weekend my dear friend and Christmas LOVER, Laurah, came up to have an early Christmas celebration. To Greg’s horror, we listened to Christmas music, had plans to bake Christmas cookies and drink pumpkin spice lattes but considering the weather was pushing triple digits, the prospect of heating up the oven went out the window and the pumpkin spice lattes turned into pumpkin spice frappuccinos. We stopped by the Christmas store in town and I got this lovely little ornament.
I was SO excited to give it to Greg cause he’s rather sentimental for a guy and I thought it was just perfect! It was glass (my favorite), it had our bridge, and it had all the lil sailboats underneath to remember the America’s Cup that’s been going on and each thing! I was so pleased with myself and eagerly rushed back up to present him with such a fine gift. His response was, “Ohhhh! You got me an ugly ornament!” Sigh, my eyes were opened and I saw how truly ugly it really was. I guess being surrounded by tacky merman ornaments in the store, it made this one look downright classy. Nevertheless it WILL be on our tree this Christmas and will serve to forever remind me of our wonderful little time here : ) I still like it.
On Saturday, the America’s Cup was having their first race so we headed down to the playground to watch and listen to it on the monkey bars. I have never seen so many boats on the water. It was kind of incredible. (This picture was taken after they all dispersed… add about a thousand more white dots and you’ve got what it looked like) : )
Later that day we had a wine pickup in Napa so we headed up there for their little pickup party. It was quite fun – live music, lots of wine tastings, really good fresh salad and the most amazing pizza I’ve probably ever had – you really had to fight for it! One sour older woman server really didn’t like Greg for whatever reason and would look at us with her tray of fresh pizza and promptly turn completely around to give it to people who had already been served. It was rather amusing. Luckily there was a sweet young boy who we lured into giving us first pick from his trays : )
We sat out on the lawn and sipped and feasted and listened to a really good one man band who sounded a whole lot like Joe Cocker. At the end, we got to go into the caves to get our last pour of their big bucks wine. This is how Greg and I act when we drink.
^^My classy husband and his twirling wife
On Sunday we went back to the church we love and met a super sweet girl that seemed genuinely sad we were leaving. We were quite touched that someone cared : ) One of my best friends, Kristin, FINALLY came up to visit… nine months later… but it was so good to see her. Greg even hung out with us the whole time which was so nice! Since Greg and I met living many miles away from each other, we don’t share a whole lot of mutual friends so I love when we he has a chance to get to know people who are important to me. Anyways, that’s about all that’s been happening. Today I’m going to start packing… saaaaad dayyyy and continue praying we find the perfect next place! I’ve learned Greg’s more picky about where we will live than I am! Who’d of thunk : ) Happy Monday!
There hasn’t been too much going on lately.. it has been, what my roommates fondly refer to as “shark week.” I’m not sure if that was because you turn into a vicious animal, or because sharks are attracted to blood, but either way, this “occurrence” caused Greg to cautiously ask, “why are you slamming all the doors?” to which I may have yelled, “get OUT of my kitchen unless you want to get hurt!” Yes, that happened. Don’t worry, we laughed about it for the four hours we couldn’t sleep last night. We’ve also been enjoying soup after soup as there seemed to have been a minor glitch in that doggon budgeting system that may have put us a few doll hairs over, yet again. We’ll get a hang of it eventually. Luckily we both love soup ESPECIALLY fall soup : ) : ) so it’s been quite tasty, if not as hearty as we were accustomed to. I broke my first wedding present which made me rather sad.. especially since we only have a month left here before we move. So to confirm from before, we are now looking at a September 28th move out date which seems to be approaching rather quickly. Yikes! I am very much looking forward to seeing how the Lord will provide again as we seem to be in the state of full reliance on Him once more – which is, as we all know, the best (but from a human standpoint, the scariest) place to be. We did meet the couple that will be taking our place – a super sweet Australian couple who came in and even had a cocktail with us. If we were staying, we’d probably be friends : ) I got my hair cut finally (I had attempted putting in just “a few layers” myself, only to have a very lopsided hairdo for quite some time now) so the prospect of getting it done professionally was quite exciting. Unfortunately, that bit of yelling referred to up there ^^ may have led to some making up which may have contributed to some, ahem, love bites on the neck region which, when I realized I had my hair appointment the next day (the one day of the year someone would actually be looking at my neck), and my makeup decided to rebel and say that it will not in fact, give the slightest effort to tryto cover anything up, I became quite embarrassed. C’est la vie. Greg didn’t see why I was the least bit ashamed stating that I was after all, married. But, nevertheless I went to the hairdresser like a bashful puppy with his tail between his legs. Yusss I made out with my husband….. I’m sorry…… As usual, I can’t decide if I like it or not, and I have discovered, one side is still longer than the other but at least I think it’s an improvement from what it was before. Just waiting for those blasted bangs to GROWWWW
^^ picture for you mommy : )
OOOoo!! I also FINALLY got some new glasses!! But I don’t get them for another week… but I’m awfully excited about the prospect of being able to read traffic signs once more. Other than that, we’ve just been working away. I’ve really been enjoying working on this painting of my little winter boy, and Greg’s just been kickin buttocks as usual. He seems to really be enjoying his job. I love hearing him talking in his meetings. I’ll miss not having him around all the time buttttt then again I think we’ll both benefit nicely from just a wee bit of space : ) So, let’s see… 23 days and counting! PS Greg totally set a date in the far future for baby makin’ time. Be happy soon to be grandparents. It’s in the calendar ; )
This morning I woke up before 7 (I know, woah) and it was so very quiet and peaceful and just magically lovely. The fog had covered the city and the sun was just peaking over the clouds, all I could do was stand in awe of how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful place. I tried to take a picture but failed to capture it at all so instead just stood there soaking it all up. The day before our landlords told us that it looks like the person that had come to look at the house would probably go through and that we are looking at an October 1st move in date.. So, being that it is the first day of September, I am determined to enjoy every bit of this month : )
We went to a church in San Rafael that we (finally!) absolutely loved! It was so refreshing and the sermon was such a burst of truth, I left so happy. Then we got to go to Tiburon for lunch which is one of the cutest towns ever and less touristy than Sausalito so naturally I liked it more.. : ) We met the sweetest dog there which I had never heard of before called a Chinook. Wikipedia describes them as “an affectionate and playful family companion with a special devotion toward children.” Could that be any more cute? Eeeee I can’t wait to get a dog someday : )
But let’s back up a bit.. not knowing when we would have to leave, we’ve been trying to have everyone we can up because well, things are just enjoyed better with other people. SO Friday, my parents and aunts and uncles were all miraculously able to come up at the same time for an impromptu birthday dinner for my dad. Also, they had all put SO much work into our wedding, we really wanted to throw a little party to thank them. I mean, my aunt Cindy made this gorgeous cake all herself! How could you not be forever indebted to such a person? She saved me from waking up early to make my own cake (which I was fully planning on doing ; ) )
So, I was feverishly trying to get the house clean and the food ready for the party and in came a text saying someone was coming to look at the place right before everyone was due to arrive. We told them it was not a good day but received the reply that it will only take three minutes. Sigh, but everything came together in time and we were able to even relax for a bit before everyone arrived, which really just means we were able to wander around the house, trying not to sit on anything so we didn’t get that indent in the seat for everyone’s first impression. We are weird. I should say I am weird.. I’ve just corrupted my poor husband. He now fluffs pillows cause he knows it makes me happy.Plus! I finally got to get some new flowers which made me so so sooo happy cause they had little acorn tree branches for fall which I loved. PS Williams Sonoma finally has their fall candle out!!! I keep my old ones in a cabinet so I can smell that loveliness year-round, but I always look forward to getting a new one each year : ) : ) I love fall.
When we registered for our wedding, I wanted to ask for some more plates but Greg said 1) he didn’t like them and 2) we would never need more than six. Guess who was eating off of salad plates when we had nine guests over. I think I can successfully argue that with our next set, more will be needed : ) Anyways, Greg and I both said this night was one of our favorites here. We had such a wonderful time with everyone and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It seemed like the “If you’re going to San Francisco” song was on repeat and I stood at our window looking out over to the city thanking the Lord for our time here. It seemed like one big last hurrah as the move becomes more of a reality. Plus, we had prayed that it wouldn’t be foggy just for one night and boy did He deliver.. it was the hottest night of the year it seems!
Everyone rented a room down at Cavallo Point so we got to join them for a lovely breakfast the next morning. We feel so so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. My favorite memories of my childhood were sitting back and soaking in the happiness at the dinner parties my parents would throw. I love each of those people so much and it brings me SO much joy that I have a husband that loves them as much as I do : )
After getting the go ahead from our landlords regarding cutting our lease short, Greg’s company was nice enough to fly us down to LA to do some house hunting. Right before we left, we received a somewhat panicky text from our landlord now stating that we could not move until we found someone else to rent the place. So, as life would have it, nothing is as easy as it sounds and we began our journey not knowing when we could actually leave or move in, making it a less than productive trip then we had hoped. But, it was nice to drive around and scope out areas that didn’t have that impending doom feeling and the possibility of getting shot any minute. So turns out, most of LA doesn’t have that green, palm tree lined street look portrayed in the movies. It’s ugly. With lots of traffic. But! if this allows us to someday have a driveway where we can leave our car for more than 72 hours if we wish, and a backyard where we can have dogs and barbecues, and a front porch where I can finally have a place to put up my own flag on the Fourth of July, then I can grin and bear it for a couple years : ) Good news is, it really really really makes me want to work hard and contribute to make it happen sooner so finally some legitimate inspiration! Anyways, we did find what we call “the Sausalito of LA” which is really just a gorgeous neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills that pretty much looks like Italy. I also found the street of streets in Pasadena which I’m pretty sure had a heavenly chorus sing when you looked down it. I told Greg it looked like the Father of the Bride street which, in my opinion, is one of the most idyllic streets in history. Turns out it was filmed over in that area! Aha! I knew I was close to perfection. It just screamed “happy place to live.” So, unless we happen upon millions and are able to purchase one of those mansions to settle down and raise our lil family, we will be back before you know it ; ) Needless to say, apartment hunting is exhausting and I see now we got extremely lucky finding our current place on the first day of looking. Duh! While we were there, our landord texted us again saying someone was interested in our place and wanted to buy all our furniture with it – which would make moving a whole lot easier but also was kind of like having everything familiar ripped from you at the same time. I may have crumpled into a sobbing ball of despair at this point. But! I know that God is in control and will lead us to wherever He wants us, so that gives me an enormous amount of peace. Turns out she didn’t want just our furniture but also Greg’s guitars, all our books, our pictures and art etc. haha. That offer fell through : ) Anyways, we came home awfully discouraged from our galavanting only to be greeted by this: The sign of sadness. Something about seeing the actual sign makes it all the more real and especially not finding anything remotely exciting, put us both in a deep funk. Anyways, the next day we woke up and “journaled” which is really just a communication technique my mom taught us to “open up the doors of intimacy” as you stand in each others shoes : ) It really helped us both to see what the other person was really feeling about all this and made us unite as a team again. Our landlords came down to confirm that “if you find a place that is worth paying double rent, you are welcome to move” …as if we needed their permission. At least they confirmed that we won’t be moving till the place is rented which can be anytime from now till January, and then once that happens we’ll have 30 days to find a place. So, if anything it’s all in God’s hands now and I don’t feel nearly as anxious. I’ve really been soaking up the beauty of Sausalito, the drive down 280, and all of Santa Cruz. This trip really showed me how blessed I am and to never ever ever take that for granted. I will definitely be appreciating each thing from now on : ) On a happier note, Greg and I got to go see my dad’s band play down in Capitola and dance and eat and drink and be merry which was so so lovely and wonderful. We had the best time. Plus, Greg and I just celebrated our 7 months of being happily married so if anyone wants to hear our over the top wedding march again, my mom finally put our wedding video on youtube. Just skip to 2:27 and it’ll begin : ) Things to watch for: 1) Taylor booking it down the aisle to get to the stairs in time to see ME comin’ on down.. 2) My dress making a lovely ripping sound as we go up the stairs 3) The ridiculous amount of times I had to make sure my veil was still on and not in fact coming off.. 4) The “face pet” that happened out of nervousness 5) Overall, an extremely fidgety bride 6) Greg tripping over my dress on the way out. Enjoy! Also, while we are on the whole wedding note, if you didn’t get a chance to see our reception video made by the wonderful Kelly Welty, here it is! I’m off to work in my garden while I still have one : ) Lots of love to all of you!
Alrighty, let’s go back a couple of days. We were having a very slow, very boring work day (I had the lovely task of looking for even more apartments… gotta admit I was overly bored) and we heard the lovely little brrringgg!! of our adorable little doorbell.. seriously, look at it.. it’s precious.
No one ever rings that bell except my family or our landlords so naturally the curiosity set in.. and it was……. my momma!! With a BIG bouquet of the most gorgeous flowers I have seen in a long time! Brilliantly blue hydrangeas and happy happy sunflowers. (I spent three months of our flower budget a while ago so I’ve been going through flower withdrawals ever since) She was coming back from Sonoma and decided, to our delight, to drop in! It was such a nice surprise – no one ever drops in unexpected anymore, it made our whole day!
On Friday the lovely realization set in that I had quit my job one year and five days ago and therefore have technically been unemployed for over a year, which was a bit depressing really. Sure Greg proposed the day after my last day at work which pushed back the job search a bit as we planned for a small little get together known as a wedding and set out for a big move up north. Then there was the whole, settling in and getting adjusted to married life but now I have a bee in my bonnet, yes my bonnet, to hunker down and focus on the art. SO I made up a lil business plan (err goals really), and went out and got myself some pretty office supplies (they inspire me an unusual amount) and I’m ready to go! Pretty excited really. Mostly I’m excited cause I finally got a paper calendar. Greg cannot comprehend why I would want a paper calendar when I can use the one on my phone, but for whatever reason I have to write things down on paper to really comprehend them so now I feel much more organized. Plus it’s an August 2013 – December 2014 one so I feel they knew I would have a breakdown in August and therefore made it special, just for me.
I think Greg was proud of me since he insisted he take me out on a date. We walked down into town and both realized it had been days since we really got out of the house and how very nice it was to do so. The night was warm and lovely and there was live music and this elephant. I never realized how very sad he looked and I loved him all the more.
We had delicious food and naturally, analyzed the couples around us.
Greg made this many faces and we had a lovely time.
We walked back up and looked out over the city on the first clear night in a long time. Greg said this is where he would always pause before coming in from work and thank God for me. He’s precious. It’s kind of one of those places that take your breath away – partly from going up the steep hill but mostly cause it’s magnificent and reminds us each day how blessed we are.
On Saturday, Greg made the most delicious egg breakfast for me and proposed we go get an espresso machine today. First, he needed a haircut. I don’t know how I got into cutting his hair – I have no idea what I’m doing and usually it revolves around him turning his head rapidly and telling me I’m not doing it like the hair people do it. This time, his buzzer wasn’t charged so we had to work a bit, then wait for it to charge more, cut a bit more, then wait. You can imagine, our patience was running thin but an hour later, he had probly the best haircut I’ve ever seen. He just needed a tiny bit more off the side and ziiiiiip! too much was cut. I crumpled into a ball on his lap and said I was sorry, I didn’t mean to cut a hole in the side of his head! So, off we went to make it shorter all around which ended up being a good thing – he looks quite handsome : )
Then we were off to run our errands with a lighter head of hair and stumbled upon a glasses shop. My eyes are decreasing rapidly but I haven’t decided whether to shell out the money and get new frames or keep the ones I have which Greg just informed me, he is not a fan of. So until I can make up my mind, the distance shall remain fuzzy. Ironically, we did have money for an espresso machine ; ) I’m actually really excited about this – Greg has wanted one forever and he’s been working so hard, I’m glad he was able to get one. Aaaand it makes the frothy milk so I can have my cappuccinos : ) Oh happy day. It even came with a gift card so I was able to get two cappuccino cups.. and we can finally use all those espresso cups we got for our wedding!
That night, we were finishing up dinner and the power went out! Naturally, we lit all our candles and Greg played his guitar. It was so strange to look over and see the whole hill black. I love love LOVE when he plays his guitar. He tried to get me to sing but I’m back to being shy about it. But, if me singing keeps him playing his guitar then it’s worth it so off we went making our own little band : ) It was actually quite fun. The power stayed off for quite some time so we decided to walk down to the water and split a cigar and some port. One of my favorite nights in Sausalito ever : )
Sunday I had to leave my dear husband to go camping with my family. So bummed that he couldn’t go but we had a real great time. My dog (always afraid of the water) learned to love swimming – we couldn’t keep him out of it! He even jumped out of the boat he was so excited to be in it! Weird little guy.. The weather was glorious (the only time I’ve ever camped and not been freezing at night), the lake was gorgeous and not crowded with people like usual, and the company was fantastic. We even could hear thunderstorms nearby (favorite!) It was awfully relaxing and made me excited to start collecting our own camp stuff to venture out on our own!
^^ you know you’re at a higher elevation when…
^^ pawents mush mush mush
^^ boat rides
^^ feasting time
^^ watchin the storm come in
Best of all, I got to come home to the most wonderful husband in the world. He had the house spankin clean with all the candles lit and glowing, real nice music on, and my favorite cocktail in hand. Happiest. time. ever.
I have a major flaw.. I hate to speak up and would rather just go with the flow.. If the barista at Starbucks thinks my name is Mallory, or Valerie, or Kelly, well then it is. Yesterday I woke up and the dish fairy had come! I had fallen back asleep (hard) and didn’t hear Greg working away doing all the dishes from the night before. I was so blown away and grateful that I decided I’d return to my #1 love language: food. I’ve been kinda lazy about meals lately so I wanted to try something new and tasty to say thanks for being so sweet. Going back to my flaw.. I was talking to the butcher at the store and asked him if he had any beef tenderloin. I don’t know my cuts of meat well yet and really don’t know which ones are nice or so-so minus a few obvious selections.. the recipe called for 4 POUNDS of beef tenderloin so I assumed it wasn’t super nice. Well, that’s a lot of meat for two people and as he handed me the first package (since it wouldn’t all fit in one) I realized the extravagant mistake I had made. Instead of speaking up, I smiled and gulped and thought about what we could possibly celebrate to make such a costly gesture worth it. As I was walking away realizing I had just blown our whole budget on steaks, he shouts out “those are the best steaks I have!” and I nod slowly, really wanting to run back and say, “please take four of these back! We are only two people!”
Oh well. So, instead of wallowing in sorrow over how dumb I am sometimes, I decided to make a party out of it. Sure all this was a little overkill just to say thanks for doing the dishes this morning… but we had lots more things to celebrate! The day before, I had stretched my first 70″x48″ canvas singlehandedly and I was pretty proud – there’s one thing.. consequently I think I sprained my wrist from twisting it and squeezing the heavy stapler BUT I was able to get through the whole day with my broken wrist! ..even if my cart kept running into the aisle cause it refused to push the same amount as the other wrist- but I got through so there’s another thing. Greg’s boss had sent him some really nice places in LA that really encouraged both of us – another! But the thing to celebrate most is letting go of the past and moving on.. I finally wrote a letter to someone that had unintentionally really hurt me and was able to finally let go of that whole drama. And better yet, the Lord was so sweet and allowed the person to respond in the most gracious and amazing way I could have ever thought possible. So I had a huge thank you to my wonderful God for carrying me through that. So NOW we had a reason to celebrate. Greg made us the most delicious shots which I normally hate but these were amazing. We dressed up fancy and thanked the Lord for being so good. Annnndd Greg even let us open up one of our special bottles of vino : ) : ) And after all that, I overcooked the meat.
Hands down, one of our favorite trips of the year is to my cousins houseboat on Lake McClure. It is the most relaxing time you’ll ever have. Well, for me at least.. there are no electronics (ahem, yippee!!), the weather is ridiculously warm, the water feels divine, I’m surrounded by family and it’s just heavenly. The only activities available are relaxing, swimming, tubing, wakeboarding and other water sports, relaxing, eating, drinking, wading, reading, relaxing, relaxing, sleeping, relaxing and hmm that’s all I can think of. It’s wonderful. Anyways, we were ever so sad because we thought we’d have to miss this year but the day before everyone was set to leave, we checked our calendars and it turns out, I had gotten my dates mixed up and we were able to go! Hallelujah. Plus! this weekend there was supposed to be an epic meteor shower, and since Sausalito has been decidedly in winter mode for the last month and a half, we really really wanted to get out of fog land and see it ..especially because on the boat, we all sleep out on the roof, under the stars : ) : ) I hate shooting stars cause I can never see them and I usually get frustrated hearing about how cool they are as everyone around me tends to have telescopic eyes. It is a rare occurrence for this fuzzy eyed girl to actually see one and not just *think* she saw one. But I can say with absolute certainty that IIIIIIII saw SO many HUGE ones! Happy Hillary, I was. Also, this was the first “camping” trip that I got to zip my sleeping bag up with my hubs : D I don’t think he liked that much, but I was happy…. even though we were on separate cots with a big hole between us. Who cares if it was ridiculously uncomfortable, it’s so allowed now ; )
Bella the cutie on the swirly stairs
I normally take tons of pictures on this trip but I was feeling especially lazy this time around so I apologize. You’ll just have to use your imagination. I can say that we are getting very old very quickly and our bodies do not recover like they use to… I did a very easy tube ride (no hanging on required really..) …I never even fell in the water! …but man I am sore even today and that was days and days ago. Ohhh dear. Anyways, we had a lovely time and got to spend the weekend with wonderful family and friends and diss doggy!
He’s REALLY good. Sunday, we headed home to the wonderful Thompsons who took us out to a delicious dinner in the city! It was such a treat and so so good to see them. And today I am plodding on, attempting to find a place in the lovely LA area…… happy Monday ; )
And then the darndest thing happened! These Nettles not only stayed up past ten (if you have visited us, you know how boring we get once 9:45 rolls around) we were OUT past ten : D dining at this place. It was delightful.
And those were some of the best oysters I’ve ever had. PS look at my dashing husband. He even wore a jacket! <3 <3
thenettlesnest.com 