Memorial

We had our annual Memorial on March 31st....just wanted to post a few photos in my journal here so I can look back on them later.  I added some new napkins to the table and want to remember the setup for next year ha ha.

It was a lovely evening, as it is every year.  :)

Fête

We had a party (fête) last night at our house.  We invited everyone from our French group over after the meeting.  It was a 'thank you' dinner for our 3 French class teachers.  

We have a lot of people in our group that are allergic to cats and dogs, so we held the entire party in our backyard and on our sunporch.  I contained the cats in the laundry room, and the 5 dogs were contained upstairs in our library (more on that later).

This whole type of thing is sooooo out of my comfort zone.  I have social anxiety, I don't do well in large groups, etc. etc.  We don't entertain often.  But when we bought this house, we loved the outside and immediately thought it would be a great space to entertain.  And I really wanted to do something for our French class teachers.  So I started telling people about it to keep myself accountable to following through.  Then I made up invites and REALLY made it official.  

It turned out really, really well.  

I only had time to snap one photo before everyone came over.

After meeting, we rushed home and had about 15 minutes to put the cats away, put up the gates, feed the dogs, take the dogs out, put them upstairs in the library, change, light the candles, fire, lights, etc.  I had gotten downstairs and stepped outside, snapped this picture and then our first guest arrived.

We set up all of the food in the sunroom.  We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad, macaroni salad, a green salad, vegetables, chips & queso, s'mores, cake, bottled water, La Croix, hot tea, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and adult beverages for those who wanted them.  

We had the fire pit going, long skewers for roasting marshmallows, and chairs both outside and inside (for those who got too chilly).  

Dinner started around 6:30.  We prayed, ate, drank, ate some more, and then presented our gifts to our teachers.

We got them teacher mugs, little notepads and pens that say 'thank you for shepherding us'.

I also put together little bags for the wives with some chocolate, a little notepad, and a pocket mirror like this:

I loved these little mirrors so much that I got one for myself.  

We had 28 people come, which was great.  I was expecting between 20-25!  But we had plenty of food and lots of fun.

So....we decided to put the dogs upstairs for a few reasons.  We didn't want them to be able to 'see' what was going on because they would get all riled up.  And we really didn't want them to hear anything either.  So the most logical place was upstairs. However, when Watson gets nervous he chews things up (anything stuffed, blankets, etc.).  So I didn't want them in the bedroom.  So we put them in the library.  My first thought was 'well the only thing he could possibly destroy is my books and he's not interested in those.'  Ha ha.  I spoke too soon.

He destroyed one book.  Betty Crocker's Guide to Easy Entertaining: How to Have Guests and Enjoy Them.  Ironic, isn't it?  THAT'S the book he chose.  I had to laugh.  I'm glad he left my Jon Krakauer books alone.  AND, there was not a single accident in the room and they were up there for about 4 hours.  So I was pleased, even with my destroyed book.  And the book is still readable.  I taped the ripped off cover back on.

So last night went really, really well.  But I am SO GLAD it's over!!  It was a lot of work.  And now I feel like I can relax!  In fact, after I eat my lunch of leftovers, I plan to take a nap.  :)

October

Ah…October.  I don’t ever remember October as being that busy in the past.  But this year it’s a doozy!!  Such a doozy that it’s already October 22nd and I'm just now blogging about it.

October 1^st we had our Circuit Assembly in English (which was great by the way).

October 5^th I had an all-day work thing at a local elementary school.  It was fun, but super tiring.  Also, hubby had a French part.

October 8^th we had our Annual Meeting.

October 9^th we hosted a Fantasy Football watch party at our house.

October 9^th – 13^th – Balloon Fiesta.  This doesn’t really have MUCH of an effect on me, however it required me to be to work at 5:30 or so to avoid sitting in traffic for an hour.  Which meant I had to get up each morning around 4:45.  Ugh.    

October 10^th I had a dental appointment after work which took forever.

October 12^th  hubby had a French part

October 13^th practiced at the KH for part of our French Graduation

October 14^th French Graduation!  Yes!!!

October 19^th I had a talk in French (the 6 minute one).  Hubby also had two meeting parts, one in English, one in French.  

October 22^nd Duke City Marathon - hubby ran a 5K!!

October 26^th I have another dental appointment

October 28^th we are having a gathering at our house to thank our French Teachers.  There will be about 25 people coming.

I have 15 work meetings scheduled so far for the remainder of October, and these are just the ‘regular’ weekly/monthly meetings that I have.  More will pop up.     

I’m trying to get as much done now as I can for our French gathering next weekend.  I have the gifts, most people have signed the cards, I have lists going of who is bringing what to the gathering, what I still need to get, and small things around the house to get done.  Oy.  It's a lot of work.  I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also looking forward to it being over with.  

Today though, my mother-in-law and I knocked out a big item on our list...cleaning the window tracks and windows in our sunroom.  Our gathering will be held primarily outside and in our sunroom, which totally opens up to the outside.  

Anyways....the sunroom door windows and window tracks have been neglected.  So today, we cleaned them.  It was quite the job!  But they look sooooo much better.  Since the doors will be open, I wanted the tracks to be nice and clean.  And now they are!

I ordered 96 feet of string lights that should be arriving tomorrow.  We hope to get them hung tomorrow evening (around the sunroom).  Hopefully it will turn out like what I have pictured in my head ha ha.  I'm glad they'll be here before the party though!  I hope the weather cooperates.  But we will have heaters in the sunroom, and plenty of space if we need to move the chairs in there.  And the fire pit will be going because we're having s'mores (of course).  And also a hot chocolate station!  :)

So October has been a crazy, crazy month.  November should be quieter….I hope!

Upstairs Downstairs

So....we moved.

I had written out this big long post about moving like a month ago but it was basically 6 pages of me whining about how stressful moving is.  Ha ha.  But really....it's the most stressful thing I've ever done.  Within six weeks, we put 2 houses on the market (both sold within 6 days), and we bought another one and  moved in.  In SIX WEEKS.  Two households into one house.  Five dogs.  Two cats.  Three people.  SIX WEEKS.  I know other people have done it quicker than that, but oh my.  Six weeks from the time the 'for-sale' sign went up to the time we spend our first night in our new house.  Yikes.

It's going really, really well.  We've been here for two months.  We have some big projects coming up (a small addition), so I've been trying to get everything unpacked and set up how I want it before then.  So far, so good.  In fact, as of today I'd say I'm about 95% done!  It's a good feeling.  The dining room (my nemesis) is officially unpacked. It became a dumping ground, because it's kind of the gateway from the kitchen to the front room to the upstairs, etc.  So I still had boxes of random things I didn't know what to do with in there.  Not anymore!  

Also, the front bedroom (aka the forgotten room...more on that later) is almost done.  We decided to make it into the gym.  Long story...for another blog post.  But it's cleared out and the bike and TV are in there...all it's missing is the treadmill, which takes some coordination and much more muscle than I have!  

I initially was going to do a room-by-room post of our house, but I got overwhelmed thinking about it, so I decided to just randomly blog and if I remember to take pictures of the room, I will and I'll post them.

So we moved to a house that has an upstairs.  This is a first for me!  Upstairs is our master bedroom/bath/closets and a library.  And a built-in desk/office at one end of our bedroom (where I'm sitting right now!)

I discovered that I was CONSTANTLY forgetting things from upstairs that needed to be taken downstairs, and forgetting things downstairs that needed to be taken upstairs.  And I REFUSE to have a constant pile of stuff on the stairs.  No way.  

So upstairs, I made this:

Anything that needs to go downstairs goes in here.  Easy-peasy.

And downstairs, I made this:

This is on the end of one of our kitchen counters.  The left basket is stuff my husband needs to deal with.  The right basket contains anything that needs to go upstairs.  I can just grab what's in there on my way up.  So far, so good.

It's just little things like this that I never thought of before that keep coming up. But trust me, after climbing the stairs 20+ per day on the weekend, this new system has REALLY come in handy!

And just for good measure, here's a picture of part of our laundry room.  The washer and dryer are on the opposite wall.  This wall is our freezer, plus a table with the cat food on it.  The only dog that has access to this table is Abby, because she can climb the stairs.  Every night, I feed the cats their wet snack and every night Abby patiently waits for the leftovers.  I usually try to intervene and take the bowls away before she gets up there, but she is sneaky.  (She has no interest in their dry food that is left out daily, thank goodness).

And one more....this.  This is consuming my life right now.  But, we only have a few more weeks of class.  It is HARD.  It's killing me.  I'm being dramatic.  But it is really hard.

That's all for now my friends.  More completely random blog posts coming your way soon!!

Catch Up, Part 2

Our life lately is so busy it's hard to describe.  I keep telling myself that 'next month' will be better.  But 'next month' is never less busy.  If anything, things are always picking up.

So I'm going to attempt to do another 'catch-up' blog while my computer is already on and running.

*March.  In March I was sick.  For a few days.  Ick. I saw Beauty and the Beast twice.  I was looking back on my phone for pictures (to see what we actually did in March) and we were so busy that I only took like 5 pictures.

*April was crazy.  Crazier than March.  Our French Memorial came and went.  Then a Circuit Assembly.  Then we had some health issues (we're fine).  Then hubby and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. We went to Truth or Consequences (known around here as 'T or C').  We went to Elephant Butte Lake.  It was very nice and low-key and perfect.  

*May.  My work picked up...not necessarily in volume, but in responsibility.  Communicating with physicians.  Educating others on audits.  More writing.  More researching.  More meetings.  I got promoted, which was nice.  It's been a long-time coming!  Our service dog also officially graduated.  We are so proud of him!  I saw Guardians of the Galaxy twice.  I don't know why I keep seeing movies twice ha ha.  We lost a very dear friend.  I think about her every day.  We prepped our house to sale.  The pictures were taken and 3D virtual tour filmed yesterday.  It will go on the market tomorrow (I think).  We started our 'official' French class.  

When I think of WHY we are so busy, it is mostly spiritual things (French, service, assignments, hubby has a LOT of responsibility both locally and beyond).  Which is good.  But it's also house stuff, work, and just everyday life.  Errands.  Appointments.  

But mostly, it's French.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE our French group.  We are a family.  I mean that 100%.  A true family.  But I NEVER thought it would be as time consuming as it is.  And it seems like the more we get into it, the more time consuming it is (we are in year 4).  My husband usually has a part each week.  I usually have one at least every 3 weeks, sometimes more if I am asked to fill in for someone.  The studying is time-consuming.  Preparing comments is time-consuming.  Everything takes at least 3 times as long as it does in English.  The reason I had my computer open tonight is because I was helping my husband translate his part (a 10 minute part) for tomorrow night.  There are just so many little rules an things you have to think about when translating.  Like the word face.  In English, we use the word face for many different meanings but it's the same word.  You have something on your face.  You are going to face a challenge.  You are getting your cabinet re-faced.  One word, multiple meanings.  If you type in 'face' into Google Translate (don't ever use Google Translate, I beg of you), it comes up with the word face (pronounced 'foss').  But that word in French means to 'face something head on'.  The word for your actual FACE on the front of your head that includes your eyes, nose, mouth, etc. is 'visages' (VEE-SOJ).  Yep.  So when translating something like 'look at their faces in the picture', you have to use 'visages' instead of 'face'.  That's just ONE little example of things to think about.

And sentence structure....oh my.  Totally different.

One of our recommended reading articles for our French homework this week had a whole paragraph on how things can't be translated word for word in any language.  That's not how it works.  The examples it gave were really good and really shows how you can't plug something in to a translating site and expect it to come out perfectly.  It will make no sense.  Google is not that smart!

Our Saturdays are full for the next 18 weeks.  Yep.  French class is from 10:00 - 12:00.  Then service right afterwords.  Then French meeting from 4:00 - 6:00.  On Sundays we usually clean, get groceries, and try to get ready for the week ahead.  But 18 weeks of class.  Homework.  Studying.  At orientation they told us we would each be writing a story.  They said we needed a quiet place to study.  They said this is a big commitment.

All of this while trying to sell two houses and buy one, working full-time, etc.

But....I wouldn't change any of it.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  It's sooooo totally worth all of the time and effort it takes.  I can't imagine life without our French family.  It would feel empty.  It's worth the extra time and the crazy Saturdays and the feeling of panic when you raise your hand on the fly without completely knowing what you're going to say in French.  It's worth it!!!

I am hoping to post more (I always hope!) and most likely it will be 'French heavy' because, well, that is our life right now.  And I blog about life.  

That's it for now...it's past my bedtime and I still have about 30 minutes worth of chores to do.  :)  

Los Angeles

I am wayyyy behind on blogging.  So I’m just going to dive right in.

At the end of October, my mother-in-law and I took a quick trip to Los Angeles to attend the French assembly.  It was so much fun!  We went a couple of days beforehand to be tourists.

We arrived at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday morning and picked up our rental car. I had forgotten how completely horrible Los Angeles traffic is.  It took us 2.5 hours to get from the airport to our hotel.  About 20 miles.  Of course, we were right in the middle of rush hour traffic.

Once we found our hotel, we didn’t check in (it was too early), so we found a place to eat breakfast instead.  Then we drove to Hollywood.  Because….why not?  We walked all up and down Hollywood Boulevard.  

We saw the stars on the pavement.  I always take a picture of Vivien Leigh’s star:

We saw the Chinese theater.

We saw the Jimmy Kimmel live building.

Then we decided to take a 2-hour bus tour through Hollywood and Beverly hills.  It was fun!  We saw some pretty fancy houses, mostly belonging to celebrities.

First we saw the Hollywood sign a bit closer though. 

And some views of Los Angeles.  Sorry these pictures have a weird tone….there was some kind of filter on my camera that I didn’t know was on.  Oops.

The Hollywood Bowl.

And then some houses in the Hollywood Hills.

Jason Statham:

Katy Perry:

Quentin Tarrentio:

Part of the valley….lots of TV studios down there (including Warner Brothers, where my favorite show on the planet was filmed:  Gilmore Girls!).

Then onto Beverly Hills:

Ellen DeGeneres gate ha ha:

Ringo Star (see the stars on his gate?)

Apparently Mr. Starr is super friendly and if he happens to be outside when the tour bus stops he will come and shake hands and sign autographs.  Unfortunately, this didn't happen on our trip.

The Osborne house where the Osbornes lived when their TV show was filmed.  Christina Aguilera lives there now.

Tom Cruise.  Can you believe that he raises a flag  at his house when he’s in town?  And when he’s out of town he lowers the flag.  On this day, the flag was raised.  He thinks he’s the queen of England I guess.

Lucille Ball’s former home.

The house where Michael Jackson died.  He was renting it for $10,000 a month.

Rodeo Drive.  Lots of stores….Hermes, Vera Wang, Prada, Louis Vuitton.  Oh, and a Rolls Royce.

After our pretty full day of being a tourist, we finally checked into our hotel.  It was so cool!  Very retro.  Beverly Garland (of My Three Sons) and her husband owned it and now their son owns it. 

Every night outside they play a movie on the big screen by the pool.  They have actual beds out there and pillows for people to get comfortable.

The first night we watched Back to the Future.

 On our second day, we drove a fantastic breakfast place recommend to me by a friend called the Blu Jam Cafe.  Their specialty is crunchy French toast….it’s French toast coated in corn flakes, then fried and served with diced strawberries and blueberries and a vanilla rum sauce.  Oh my goodness.  It was amazing!  We also ordered omelets.

After breakfast we drove to Santa Monica.  We walked along the pier.  We rode the Ferris wheel.  We laid on the beach and read our books.  We had drinks.  Then we watched the sunset.

 Saturday we made our way to Mira Loma for the assembly.  It only took about an hour, which was a nice surprise.  The assembly was wonderful!  Over 600 in attendance.  Four were baptized.  The assembly hall was great.  Very nice and comfortable.  We enjoyed our lunch outside by the fountains and palm trees.

Saturday night we grabbed some Mexican food to-go and ate back in our hotel room.  Then we made our way downstairs to the pool and we watched Jaws on the big screen while sipping a drink.  It was a great end to our little mini-vacation!