On Sunday, we opted for David to take a photo in front of the Hello Kitty Cafe branded with Bruno Mars and send it to Madi.  That seems like a reasonable merch momento, right?  Sunday, we pooled for a few hours and then went to dinner at Vic and Anthony’s which led us to my first adventure on Fremont Street.  Wow.  It was like being in another world compared to the Strip.  I don’t have a strong desire to go back but I love the energy.   We took photos with some Chippendales - we didn’t buy them (so no evidence) and some things can just remain between David and I.  HA!

For the first time in 16 years, I didn’t host Easter.  Devin went to see Morgan Jay in Eugene, OR, Maleah’s family was coming to see them on Easter, Eddie was in Arizona, Isabelle’s never really home on Easter because it’s so close to her finals week.  And, I quite frankly forgot to send an invite to the fam so with Eddie away, too, we had an idea to go out to brunch.  We went to Ascend for Easter brunch.   I didn’t think it was going to be as pricey as it was…but still worth all the time and effort to just go somewhere and be served!  Hannah and Madi came home and we had a great time.  We went to W in Bellevue - David taught Madison how to play pool. 

I was very excited to support the soft open of Cafe Lolo.  They had a Pop Up at Three Full Sacks last fall and I’ve been rooting for them to be in their own space cooking their delicious food.

Our clients, Conjure Catering, had their last Pop Up Event at Holy Mountain Brewing in the Phinney neighborhood.  I invited the whole G6 Retail Renovation Team to join in celebrating their last hurrah and celebrate their upcoming birth.  Sadly, we didn’t get photos of the food.  The food is incredible.  Ryan and Cooper are so talented - Ryan’s genius-ness with these dishes make it easy eating.  I am looking forward to the next time they cook!  We cannot wait to do more work with Conjure Catering as they expand their business.

I packed myself up, David had to work to finish the Laurelhurst Project, and headed to Portland early morning.  Madison was home and Hannah was on her way to help with Obi-Wan.   I left early in the morning and got to Portland early in time for brunch.  We had a mission to do Flattop and Salamander for their boozy brunch.  Sunday morning was busy so we went over to Bialy Bird to explore their bialys.  We ordered one and Devin had his first drink, a mimosa with yuzu sake. 

Hannah officially moves out this week.  Her accident has made this experience anti-climatic as we work on getting her a new vehicle and prepare for her moving.  Hannah’s moving an hour away from us and it’s hard to believe I can’t walk down the hall to chat or eat dinner together decompressing the day.  Or best of all, listening to her and Obi-Wan wrestling throughout the house.

A week of work and prepping for Hannah to move out.  Devin was home for spring break.  Devin spent all of his spring break working.  The perks of having kids who are baristas, I get to visit them at work.  We occasionally geek out on coffee. 

Week 8 actually ended with a Doomsday (February 19th) tradition of something going horribly wrong.  February 19th, 2019, Isabelle, after a visit home from college, ended up in the hospital with bacterial meningitis.  February 19th, 2020, our house experienced a catastrophic flood from our primary bathroom that put us out of our house just before the pandemic for 9 months. 

This week was interesting.  Business always fluctuates, and I think that what I do know is that it's unpredictable.  I think David and I have run on adaptability since the beginning of our marriage with 4 kids.  We understand that things change, and we gotta roll with it.  I will say, he is better at it than I.  I can definitely wiggle through chaos better, but he is very good about woozah-ing the tough shit and pushing forward.  I dwell…a little.  Okay, maybe a lot.

I planned our Ohio trip, not thinking about two things - the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day.  I ended up doing it again, we traveled on Super Bowl Sunday (Seahawks won - that’s about all I know), and I did watch Bad Bunny’s performance, which was incredible on TikTok. 

Did anyone notice that February is a perfect 4 weeks?  Starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday - makes my brain happy!  I have no real reason other than it’s a high-straighten serotonin lift. 

My favorite once-a-month job is being an Aunt.  My sister had a baby at the end of 2024, and being an Aunt is the best.  I love spoiling her, squeezing her, and sharing the experience with my kids.  We ALL adore Baby Z and love when we get time with her. 

This week, Isabelle started her fellowship at the Washington Post. She was onboarding and figuring out the best route to work.  She lives and goes to school at the University of Maryland as part of their Ph.D. program.  She is a political and government research assistant; she applied for the fellowship and competed with other classmates.  Okay, we are incredibly proud if you couldn’t tell. 

The next kid was heading off…Devin was getting ready to head home for his spring semester.  He and Maleah just moved into an apartment just before Thanksgiving with their college buddy.  Devin and his college buddy were living in a house with 5 other boys.  Gross. They decided to move out into an apartment near campus. 

The new year always feels like a time I should revisit my own goals. Something about starting anew and focusing on the learning that happened the previous year makes for a brilliant plan coming into the new year.  Right?!

Week 52 is always the most chaotic week for me the whole year with retail. I wanna laugh and cry nearly the whole week. I think most of the time I want to cry. It’s stressful. Getting all the things done and getting more of all the things done both personally and professionally. I don’t compromise on either end so I end up wigged out.

My favorite part about working with David (sorta) or at least sharing biz responsibility with David is when worlds collide. He does a project for one of my clients. We get to hang out and clients get to know him, too. I love seeing him at work... He did a custom drawer for the retail shelf at Hey Bagel. It turned out well and achieves the goal of us hiding the folded or rifled through shifts that hang at the bottom of the shelf.

I didn’t want to limit our business to always be one set price or package for a small business. The vision was always to support small businesses. However I could; no matter where they are in their journey. If that means they need to chat it out for 2 hours once a month, or help with their financials... whatever it is I want to be there.

If reincarnation is a thing, I’d like to come back as a dog. I’m often not sure what Obi-Wan is thinking but I don’t see how he has many responsibilities and lives a pretty great life. I’d love to lounge on furniture, nap, and bark at random shit outside.

Madi’s move week - she found we had a group chat without her.  Hannah, Devin, Maleah and I had a special group chat where they/we complained about Madi not hanging out with us before her moving away.  She was on my phone and found the chat.  Then snapped this unflattering photo to alert the group chat.