Teeeeexas Surprise(s)

I spent the last 10 days or so visiting my family and Jeff's family in Texas, but I couldn't put anything online about it because I wanted to surprise a few people while I was there. The main reason I was in Texas was to go to Jeff's sister-in-law's baby shower. I was so happy and excited to see Paulina because I hadn't seen her since she found out she was pregnant and I won't see her again until after baby Alexander is born. I had seen pictures, but now that I've seen her in person I can confirm that Pau is cutest pregnant person ever. (She is also lucky to have a friend who is also a photographer so I would hate to post this pic without including her website).

Anyway, since I was going to be in Texas for the shower I figured it would be a good time to see my youngest sister Kate who goes to Baylor University in Waco. I even convinced Margann and my parents to meet me there. Yeah! Family reunion in Waco! When we showed up at Kate's house, the three of them went inside to say hi while I waited outside for 30 minutes or so for Maximum Surprise Effect. These things become very important after being in transit for 16 hours and changing planes twice and then driving 2 hours. The surprise was achieved with great satisfaction by all parties involved - once Kate realized it was actually me and not a housemate who had gotten shorter and paler and dyed her hair. Funny how for a split second that actually seemed reasonable...

My visit was timed so that we could attend two of Kate's soccer games. I haven't seen her play in ages it seems. And when I say I haven't seen her play recently, that means I haven't seen ANY soccer played recently because, frankly, I'm only really excited about it when she is physically on the field. Even if she is on the bench, I probably spend about 75% of the time watching her ("Oh now's she's sitting. Ok, she's standing now. Her arms are folded. Is she pissed? Her biceps look great. Oh wait, is she looking over here!? She is! Hey! Hey Kate! Over here! Hmm I wonder if she saw me."), 23% of the time wishing she were playing and thinking how much better she would be playing than all those other wusses currently on the field, 1% of the time paying attention to the score, and 1% thinking, inevitably, that I need to work out more.

It was probably a good thing that I wasn't paying attention to the actual "game" since I'm not sure there was so much of that going on.

Margann and I wore the appropriate supportive gear.

Kate's 21st birthday was October 3rd so we had a belated celebration in our hotel room.

To be honest, there is not really that much to do in Waco. Over the years, I have been conditioned to expect that being a tourist = fighting the crowds. Not so in Waco! Determined to do something besides eat and shop at Target, we sniffed out the Historic Waco Foundation, which has preserved several historic homes in the area. We decided to visit "Fort House", where we were very eagerly greeted by a few elderly female volunteers. It was only then that it dawned on me that there probably aren't a lot of visitors to the historic homes in Waco. (To be honest, there are probably not a lot of visitors to Waco, period.) Between one volunteer who seemed to run out of breath after every three words and another who continually talked over (and possibly contradicted) her, it was pretty exciting. At one point, several minutes (and rooms) after telling us about the life and travels of a woman whose portrait hung in one of the main living rooms, the breathless lady said "Oh, I forgot to finish the story of [haha yeah like I remember her name??! Are you crazy??]" We adopted our polite listening faces (you know, when you literally have to force your eyes to focus), ready to stand there for a while since she'd left off her story when the girl was still pretty young, only to hear "She got sick and died 6 months later." Good story.

My parents went back to Portland on Monday, leaving Margann and I to stay with Kate until Thursday. I'm a little pissed that I missed out on decorating Kate's room when she first moved in, but her and Margann did a very nice job. I love her room! And her private bathroom, and her walk-in closet, and her adorable house (which is in a gated community and has a pool... wait HOW CAN THIS BE COLLEGE?).

Super cute, right? Margann took that pic above the bed our Italy/France trip earlier this year. I love it.

While Kate was in class, Margann and I got our deep clean on. I could not help but marvel at her counter and under-sink space since I have exactly zero of either one. Put everything in the cupboards and drawers - et voila! Clean! I'm jealous. Not quite as jealous as Kate's housemates when they saw us cleaning and doing her laundry though.

Staying with Kate reminded me of how horrendous it can be to live with housemates. Luckily, Kate lives with only three other girls (and each have their own bedroom) but somehow they still manage to make a serious mess of the place. Obviously, everyone is bound to make messes sometimes, but it doesn't matter too much when they clean up after themselves. Well, somebody (they know who they are, and they WILL know that someone else knows who they are when I figure out how to work this voodoo doll thing) decided to do a helluva a lot of baking on Sunday. Baking is messy. God knows I'm the messiest baker in the world and I can see how cleaning up might be a bit tiresome, but ya do it anyway. Two days later, the baking mess is STILL there, only it has gotten a thousand times more disgusting - all hardened frosting and stagnant water. Blech. Of course, no one knows each other well enough to be like "Dude, clean up the kitchen" so everyone is tip toeing around the mess as if it will magically go away. The mother of said mess seemed quite convinced this would happen when I saw her at the scene of the crime making a sandwich whilst blissfully humming to herself, completely impervious to my negative vibes.

The pictures don't really capture the disgustingness (or the smell). You would not believe the evils that granite countertops can hide. One morning, Kate leaned on her forearm while eating cereal and HER SWEATSHIRT STUCK TO THE COUNTER. Dude. That ain't right. Anyway, you know the end of this story... forced to choose between having a nervous breakdown or swallowing my pride and cleaning up the mess of someone who has done nothing but annoy me, I chose the latter. It took like half an hour, by the way.

Between Kate's classes and soccer practice, Margann and I had a lot of time to do nothing - which is exactly what we did... by the pool, in perfect mid-seventy degree not too humid weather.

On Thursday, Margann and I headed to the airport. She flew back to Portland and I hopped on a 35 minute flight to the Houston airport, where I met Sherri and her mom, Dorothy, who had just flown in from Seattle for the baby shower. Michael and Paulina did not know I was coming, so I hoped it would be a good surprise and not a what-the-heck-is-she-doing-here surprise. They are nice though so I would never know if it was anything but a good one. The baby shower was Friday night and since guys and girls were invited it was more like a fun cocktail party. The food was yummy, the desserts were even better, and there was plenty of good wine to go around. We didn't play any of the usual lame baby-related games, but Paulina opened some of her presents. It was so fun to see all of the adorable baby stuff.

On Saturday, Paulina invited us to go to an ultrasound with her. Did you know they do 3D ultrasounds now???!!! It is amazing!! You can seriously see what the baby looks like. Unreal. It is in real time too so we could see the him frowning and yawning and smiling (and generally trying to prevent us from seeing him properly).

Big cheeks! I can't wait to see pics of this little (big) guy outside the womb come December!

I left Houston on Sunday and Jeff picked me up from the Birmingham airport on Monday morning. I'll be back on a plane in 3 weeks though headed for Seattle and Portland for Thanksgiving. I think some bake mac and cheese and broccoli slaw will be on the menu.

Sherri was here

It was a busy week around here with Sherri in town at the tail end of a trip to Spain with Paulina and Michael. If I could have predicted the future I would have told her not to pack any warm clothing for the UK part of her journey because the weather has been practically as warm as Spain! High 70s and even 80 degrees around here. I was eavesdropping on a couple walking by our house last week and they summed it up perfectly -  "it is so strange to be walking through piles of fallen leaves in summer clothes."It is also strange to have all the windows open, but watch the sky get dark at 7pm. I had completely given up on summer (normally a healthy thing to do once October rolls around), but that was a nice surprise.

Sherri is still recuperating from a nasty injury to her toe after dropping a gym weight directly on it not long before she left the US so despite the sunshine we stayed in for a few afternoons to power through all the previous episodes of Downton Abbey. Can you believe I have had that saved on our DVR since last year? I seriously love that show. Jeff has learned to stop asking if he can delete it. We're 3 episodes into the 2nd season and just so you know Sherri - I refuse to spoil it for you!! According to wikipedia, it will premier in the US on January 8th.

After all these ladies, and sirs, and earls, and countesses we were in the mood to visit a historic house so I hit up the National Trust app (woohoo another app! although not sure this one contributes to my coolness so much) and picked Coughton Court, 25 minutes away. Personally, I think the most interesting thing about this house is that a family still lives there. In fact, members of the Throckmorton family have lived there for 600 years. I find that kinda mind boggling.

The weather was fantastic and, as expected, the parking lot was packed. The cool thing I've noticed about the National Trust sites is that even when they are quite full they rarely feel crowded. The grounds of Coughton Court are extensive and beautiful so it was a perfect day to wander around outside.

Mother-son portrait. I think Sherri will agree when I say there are too few of these!

Jeff and I acting casual on a cute bridge.

Apparently, visiting a historic house put Jeff in the mood to represent for the west coast. Nostalgia, you know, as in "mannn I never had to do this shit when I lived in Seattle".

YEAYAAHHH. You're welcome. If you're lucky, maybe we'll stand closer next time.

Sherri and I chillin' by a huge pot of flowers which Sherri did appreciate despite the fact that it wasn't the Sherri Special.

I'm not going to lie, I find the interiors of these kinds of houses a lot less interesting and beautiful than the outside. So, no pics of the inside except for this one of Sherri and Denny looking like they own the place.

 We were able to climb to the top of the tower to take in the views.

It never ceases to amaze me how flat the horizon is so much of the time. I look at these pictures and wonder "where the heck are all the mountains???"

Last night was Sherri's last night here so I (ok, I know some peeps around here are going to want credit too - Sherri chopped an onion very meticulously and Jeff operated the oven) cooked up some bean and cheese enchiladas and Mexican rice. Is Mexican food not the easiest, most delicious food to make ever??!? I love it. I tried a new recipe for the rice btw and it was delish. I'm really glad there are leftovers available for dinner tonight because just thinking about it is making me hungry.