Toasting Farewell with a Chocolate Martini

It's been a busy Memorial Day weekend. However, it's also been great to have some time to catch up on our home life. I think it's amazing how our schedule can spin so fast during the week with daily demands that when you do get a few days off from your regular routine, it's hard to relax. In fact, it sort of annoys me when I can't sleep in on Saturday morning because my brain turns on the moment the sun comes up. I find myself almost struggling not to bounce out of bed and starting working on all the personal projects I've put off all week. This weekend was no exception. We tried to chill out and enjoy a "date night" on Friday night with a hamburger at Red Robin but after we inhaled our dinner in less than 15 minutes, we were so mentally tired from the week that we just headed home. Frustrated with ourselves for not being able to dive into the holiday weekend mode, we tried to salvage the night. We made popcorn and piled up on the bed and watched one of our favorite movies to try and capture the softer side of life...Grumpy Old Men...which seemed to do the trick. However, the next morning, we both jumped right back into "performance mode" and spent most of the day cleaning house, doing laundry, running errands, and John tended to the yard. By five o'clock that night, we were exhausted and determined to enjoy some "playtime" by golly! So, we went to the movies and saw, The Hunger Games. It was fun to spend some time together. On Sunday, John helped our neighbors Brad and Sage with some moving projects while I watched their 4 year old for a little while. Then, as sort of a final farewell to Brad and Sage, we all got together with Jai and Vidya for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then made a farewell toast with chocolate martini's and other yummy drinks at The Flatz. It was awesome to hang out with our sweet friends. We are so sad to see Brad and Sage and their boys move away. However, we wish them the very best in their new adventure in Studio City, California and can't wait to see Sage accomplish her dream as an actress and be a leading lady one day on the silver screen in a big movie.

Celebrating Friends

It's been a while since I last blogged and so I thought I'd say hello again. It's been a rainy, chilly Saturday...perfect for napping and doing some quiet, relaxing things. This morning I created my first Pinterest page filled with some fun Boards for my friends to explore. I'll try to link it to this blog so you can check it out. I'm also going to teach John how to make one for fun. Anyway, we have a dinner party to go to tonight to celebrate our friends Jai and Vidya's 5 year anniversary owning their lovely home. It will be fun especially since the weather is so icky. Our dear friends Brad and Sage and their boys will be there and will soon be moving to California. I hope Jai and Vidya will have enough red wine to keep the spirits cheery...our last neighbor gathering with the Porters. We are so blessed to have such precious neighbors. They are all so dear to us. We have shared so many wonderful memories together over the last five years living here surrounding by all their warmth. Some of my favorite memories are: celebrating my 39th birthday with an amazing fondue party hosted at Vidya's house with Sage as the co-host (who dragged her new wooden dinner table across the street into Vidya's house for extra room for all the guests and food, the Oscar party at Sage's where we all dressed up and voted on our favorite actors, watching football together at many different houses (and SuperBowl extravaganzas and Jai & Vidya's), lighting sparklers at 4th of July on the Porter's deck and trying not to burn it down, buying makeup at Arbonne parties (thanks Fraya for getting me hooked forever), John dressing up as the Easter Bunny at one of Wyatt Porter's spring parties, handing out candy at Halloween to all the darling trick or treaters (and trying to keep from eating all the leftover sweets), supporting each each other with Wine N' Cheese gatherings when parents were visiting from out of town, sipping chocolate martini's at The Flatz, gathering under a white event tent between our house and the Porters for an Autumn covered-dish social, dressing up in costume for a Murder Mystery Dinner, casual gathering at Tracy and Michael's bringing over whatever we were making for dinner to share with the neighbors for a impromptu Sunday dinner, sipping wine on our front porch at dusk with a candle glowing and time to catch up with friends...and so many other amazing memories...to many to list. All these sweet neighbors around us have become more than friends...they almost feel like extended family.