Moved Out...

We made it! We are moved out of the Aeolia house and living in the Russell Rd house...not moved in mind you, but living here. There are boxes everywhere and as much stuff as we got rid over the last month, I predict more is on it's way out! Today I need to get laundry done (washer is working but not the dryer), move boxes to their respective rooms so that the living room and kitchen both function, make sure my homework is done and make sure I spend at least 30 minutest practicing the piano today. I am loving learning how to play the piano! One of those life long dreams coming true.

 

I'm sure there is more to share, but I am simply scatter-brained and can't stay focused on one task for more than a few moments. That's what happens when there is complete disorder in ones house! Happy Monday and more so, Happy Fall!

Total Chaos!

Hey Friends,

We moved this weekend and we are still up to our eyeballs in boxes, paper and general chaos. I'll catch up next week as I am expecting that all of the physical moving part of this move will be over by Saturday and then we will just need to concentrate on setting up house and getting situated. Keep your eyes peeled for a housewarming invite in the near future as we aren't truly "home" until our family and friends come and share our space!

 

Moving and Winning!

Happy Monday, and happy it is! We are in full blown moving mode and next weekend we will be living in the new house. The nice thing is we have more time than just the usual weekend-move. Between packing boxes, moving boxes, submitting change of address cards, and school Mason and I have been training to run a 5K in November. We just finished week 3 of our running program and along with that, I've been in a killer PE class at school. I've lost 6 lbs since school started and other than my knee needing some periodic special attention, I'm getting stronger.

This weekend was the Gold Country Fair in Auburn and Mason and I entered both the brownie contest on Saturday and the cupcake contest on Sunday. Mason took first place both days winning a whopping $50! I took first on Saturday ($25) with my Ooey-Gooey-Decadence-Brownie and second on Sunday with my fig cupcake. Kudos to Mason, in the brownie contest, he was the only entry in the youth category but the judges called him up to face the crowd when they announced that if it was a single category, he would have won the whole thing! Holy cow! And I just got done being sassy and telling him it was a good thing he wasn't competing against me. It looks like the student is becoming the teacher. Congrats Mason, you earned both of those prizes.

 

So this week is full of football practice, homework, packing and moving some more. Pop over to my blog to see pictures of brownies, cupcakes, and the new house. On September 30 at 1 PM, Mason will be doing a cooking demonstration at the Auburn Fall TomatoFest. He has been practicing and has two great kid-friendly tomato recipes on tap...and maybe one more. If you want to come, let me know and I will get you tickets, it's going to be lots of fun.

 

 

 

Let me leave you with my original poem, "Ode to My Aching Back."

 

Ode to My Aching Back

Oh the bruises we will get,

When it's time to move our shit.

Boxes, beds, dressers and more,

Makes our muscles more than sore.

Once we get there, time to unpack,

"Holy Cow! There goes my back!"

Rest, then stretch, then walk a tad,

Pop some pills, it's not so bad.

No matter what, you have to finish,

Escrow closes, it's the business.

Find your vice and imbibe! Imbibe!

Our rest is coming, crawl in bed and hide.

My Weekend A'la Carte!

The Labor Day holiday brings a short work and school week, and according to Mother Nature, fall is on the way! I had the most amazing weekend, actually all the Partak's did okay in the fun department this weekend. Dave and Mason were in the bay area for a game convention (bi-annually, Memorial and Labor day weekends every year) so I made some weekend plans of my own.

 I went to Lake Tahoe and spent two glorious days with just me, myself and I. I took off Friday afternoon and took the long way to Tahoe. I went up Hwy 80 through Truckee stopping at my favorite thrift store. The tone for the weekend was set when I found a registered Brighton handbag for $24 and guess what? Everything in the store was 50% off! Wahoo! A Brighton handbag, likely sold new for $190-230 for $12! I got into South Shore, checked into my hotel and headed back to Emerald Bay to see about taking some pictures of the blue moon. Full and magnificent, it was a sight to see over Lake Tahoe, but there just wasn't a safe place in the dark to set up the camera and take some pictures. I made my way back to do a little gambling and then called it a night.


Saturday, bright and early, I went for a run (found a pretty silver bracelet along the way), grabbed a coffee and then tootled the neighborhoods yard saleing. I had no idea that South Lake Tahoe was such a garage/yard sale meca! I scored again with a pair of darn near brand new Burton snow board pants for Mason for $3. After a full morning driving around with the top down, oh yeah, I was in the Solstice. Lots of fun for a weekend away, but not so good pulling up to yard sales in a little red convertible sports car. The thing is, it looks way more expensive and ritzy than it is so it made it hard for me to haggle when all people wanted to talk about is the car. I grabbed a veggie sandwich, a trashy tabloid magazine, changed into my swim suit and hit the beach. The day was simply perfection. After getting a little sun-kissed it was time to shower and get ready for my date, yep, I had a date with Sammy Hagar! The show was outdoors at Harvey's and it was fantastic! Sammy rocked for nearly 3 hours first with the Cabo Wabo's (his current band), then Michael Anthony of Van Halen came out and jammed and finally, Denny Carmazzi and Joe Satriani joined him on stage for some old school Montrose tunes. If you are not a fan, this all sounds a bit Greek, but for those of you who are, you are totally kicking yourself for missing this show! I was completely high dancing and singing and dancing some more. I ended up at a Let It Ride table where I won, tripled my money, played a little more and left with twice as much as I came in with! I bet you are thinking, Wow! What fun she had. Yep, I did, but there's more. Sunday morning I headed out early and with a pumpkin spice latte in hand,and made my way to Apple Hill. The trees are chock full of apples and fall is in the air. I finally made it home with apples, peaches, a pie and a great big smile!


So let me ask you this, when was the last time you took off for a weekend all by yourself? If it's been a while or you've never done such a thing, make plans and go! There is nothing quite like doing whatever you want, whenever you want to do it...especially if your life is nothing like that usually...like all of us working/students/mothers/fathers/etc. Give yourself a gift and if being by yourself makes you uncomfortable, just to get you started, pretend you are me! Hey, how bad can that be? Smiles!