Aron’s birthday is coming up and I still need to plan something special. For years we used to go to Yosemite to celebrate—and looking back over one of our travelogues from a fall visit made me miss it so much! It’s been far too long since we’ve been in that majestic valley. I’m not sure we can swing it, however. Time is tight with all of the kids’ activities—soccer and such. Plus, we’re supposed to play in a pickle-ball tournament on the Saturday… which should be interesting as I’ve never tried it!
This weekend we’re looking forward to attending the UC Davis Homecoming game and Neighbors’ Night Out. The city helps people host potlucks and meetups for neighbors all over the city, closing off streets for people to gather and connect. I’m also hoping to do some home organizing. We moved everything out of our garage for the construction and if you just looked along the sides of the house you’d think we were hoarders.
Finally, tonight I can’t wait to watch the 10th and final episode of Bad Sisters. I’ve been listening to old Sharon Horgan interviews this week because it has been so hard to wait!
There are pumpkins appearing all over town. Always a bit jarring to see while we are just hitting our tomato-salad eating stride. This one from the Salad Freak cookbook has my name on it!
We all drove into the foothills, to Apple Hill, on Wednesday to get into the fall mood –lots of apple cider donuts and pie but no apples this year. I feel for those farms: pandemic, drought, wildfires during the fast few seasons, and now a cold snap destroyed their apple crop. The kids didn’t notice, of course—the sweet baked goods were still plenty! And we found a new-ish stop with some cider to taste.
This past week was a busy one—I’m hoping to bring back the print edition of the local events calendar I run, (The Dirt) this December, and I’m trying to remind myself of all that it required in 2020. I’m putting out notices for help from interns and looking to pull together a team to work on everything from layout to reporting and ad sales, if anyone has leads.
I’m on my way to meet Aron in Vegas right now, though. The kids are staying with grandma and they have a full weekend of soccer and birthday parties, etcetera. Thankful for that village!
I finished listening to Hello, Molly—the Molly Shannon memoir I mentioned last week. Tears streaming as it finished, I called Aron to recommend it. I’m a fan for life, now. Told Aron she makes you want to be a better person, a better parent. It’s definitely worth listening for her voice.
After studying various, very similar shades of white for the past few weeks, our house is getting painted this Monday! We had landed on Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee for both the facing and the beams/eaves and then had a last minute change: Ben Moore Dove Wing for the facing and White Dove for the eaves. The difference is very subtle, but I think it will be good to have a slight difference between the two to accentuate the MCM lines. Ours is a Streng (similar to an Eichler), some of you may recall.
Next I need to turn my attention to the new garage’s storage situation and set up. A lot of people recommend the Elfa systems. Any alternatives to suggest or opinions are welcome!
Our good friend is having a commitment ceremony this weekend and I’m excited to dress up and gather with friends to celebrate. It’s the first of two weekends of overnights without the kids. Next weekend we are headed to Vegas—Aron has a conference—and I’m looking forward to our first visit back since the pandemic. Any new recommendations for restaurants or activities? Some of our favorite places have closed, I believe.
Have you started planning costumes for Halloween yet? I have a lot of Halloween-themed posts that I return to for inspiration on here and Pinterest. I’ve got to get on it!
Finally, thinking of all of those who have been or are in the path of Hurricane Ian and hoping you’re safe.
