The month of January started with a continuation of Perrin's birthday. We met up with Perrin's teacher, Mr. Williams and his family, at the mall so we could have his daughter Davy and Perrin's ears pierced. It was quite the event and was celebrated afterwards with a extra large serving of frozen yogurt at Froyo's.
The Friday following we had Perrin's birthday party for her class at Laser Quest, which was a hit for all but a few of the girls. It was a great venue, but as all birthday parties are, it was a bit stressful and high energy for my tastes. I would prefer a quiet afternoon with just a few friends, maybe at a spa, but I guess that's the difference between 10 and 45.
I found out that Sam's teacher lives 2 blocks from the Perry district, where great food and drink are to be had, so I asked him if he and his wife wanted to go out one night. They were all for it so we gathered a couple of friends together and dropped all 10 kids at his house and we joyfully walked the two blocks to Casper Fry's for drinks and appetizers. So. Much. Fun for a Sunday late winter afternoon.
This fall I had been lamenting to Balin with the kids in school I was a little bored. I needed a project - something to fill my days with purpose.
Hah! I'm not sure about the purpose part but I think we filled my days with our new project.
Welcome to the Driftwood Cottage.
It's a little 3bed/2bath home in Coeur d' Alene, south of the Spokane River. It's a secondary lot to the river with a public park but 2 blocks away, perfect for swimming, paddle boarding and boating. We purchased it after running a ton of numbers to see if it would actually be a good investment. I don't have it on the market yet as I'm waiting for a few furniture pieces, but we're getting close. I'm really hoping it's not only a good investment of our finances but also of my time.
I'll post more pictures as we finish up the details this next week.
In late January some friends and I went to a boys Gonzaga game. It was pretty fun. The best part though was hanging out with the Liberty Lake girls and having dinner and time to talk. Love these ladies.
Winter pretty much finds us up at the condo every weekend as the kids have ski school every Saturday. Sam has found it to be enjoyable, due mostly to his friends in the class, while Perrin continues to beg for freedom every Saturday at 9. Both kids have improved so much in their skiing, it makes their suffering worthy, in my opinion. We can now all ski blacks and Sam can manage double blacks, though I haven't personally witnessed it as I'm not willing to go down them.
Last weekend a friend and I headed down to Austin, Texas for the If:Gathering held at the Austin City Limits Theatre. It was a great conference that focused on the idea of "If we believe that Jesus lives, how does impact our life and world?" I have been leading a bible study called If:Equip for a couple of months now in Liberty Lake and thought it would be fun to join others in Austin. And fun it was. My friend Debbie adventurously said "yes" when I asked her if she wanted to go and within minutes we made plane, hotel and conference reservations. It turned out to be a great weekend seeing Austin, hearing great speakers and getting to know Debbie much better.
The food was spectacular in Austin. Tacos and more tacos. So good. And then there was the music. Thursday night we went down to 6th street and walked by a ton of bars, each with their own flavor of music. "Too loud, too young, too old..." Finally we came upon a bar that was "just right" with a singer songwriter band that was really, really good. So we sat and had a drink or two and listened to some amazing music. Very memorable.
My friend Debbie is a body builder, like the kind that gets into a bikini on stage and flexes all her muscles. True Story. Better yet, she's in her 50's. Pretty cool I know. That does mean she likes to exercise, like EVERY DAY. I decided that I could run with her and check out the city of Austin...and it was a pretty spectacular run. In fact, I met Oscar. He's a Hungarian Komondor - but I know secretly he's a giant Bichon. I fell in love with him and probably spent a half hour petting and snuggling him. He leaned in and licked me and I seriously thought maybe I should get one of his breed. So. Stinking. Cute.
On Sunday, before our flight, a friend of Debbie's from high school, who lived in Austin, met us and took us out and about to see the more natural side of Austin. We went to the highest point, pictured above, and then to some awesome parks on rivers that were swimmable. Austin captured my heart until I started looking around at the price tags. Wow. What an expensive city. I enjoyed the sun and the company, but was more than happy to go back home to my little slice of paradise.
When I got home, I got busy making the Driftwood Cottage beautiful and while shopping at my favorite store, I got run into. They left a note and information for insurance, but they ended up doing a pretty good job on my rear end. Bummer.
I did get the bedrooms all put together, save some artistic flair. I used Perrin's bed in the master at Driftwood so I ended up putting together Perrin's room that week also. No wonder by Friday I was in bed wanting to go to sleep at 7pm.
Perrin wanted her room to be "French" so I painted her walls a bluish-gray color, swapped out the chandelier and bought a sleigh trundle bed that I finished in "Louis Blue". I think it turned out lovely and she'd thrilled with it. Now we just need some accessories to fill in the blank walls.
Getting tired of the squabbling that happens between Perrin and Sam so we instigated a new policy in our house:
It's working well so far...I'll keep you posted.
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