Monday, May 26th, 2014
We are making more progress. The house is about half sided, we now need to figure out what color to paint it. We are thinking a darker grey with a little brown… So far the favorite is the color to the right of Page.
The rock steps are going in, they look awesome! We are having another retaining wall built below the decks and that will be our veggie garden. I am so excited to see how it all turns out!
Friday, May 16th, 2014
It has been boiling hot here this week. Los Gatos has this lovely little water fountain that is perfect for the girls to play in. Sienna loves to dive right in…
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
Today is a great day! I started consulting with newly renovated Los Gatos Theater. The theater is absolutely gorgeous, completely gutted and remodeled inside and out. The theater was going to be torn down and turned into commercial space, but a Sequoia Capital VC bought the building to keep the theater alive.
I’ll be working with the owner to build their special events program and help produce the events. The goal is to also have a film festival down the road. The best part is that I can work from home so I still have the flexibility to be with the girls. Eek, so excited!
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
All the new doors and windows are in and now the guys are getting going on the new siding. Its cool to see where there was once old doors and windows. Pretty amazing that these redwood boards are 100 years old and still going strong.
The lower deck is now done, we love the railing, apparently the new thing in deck railings. Surprisingly Sienna has actually slept for 2 hours amidst all the noise!
Sunday, May 11th, 2014
Happy Mother Day to all the Mama’s out there! We took the girls down to Capitola and Page had a go at her second time surfing. The weather was amazing today. Its so awesome we are just 20 minutes away from some beautiful beaches. Sienna and I played with seaweed and tested the water while Brendan and Page took to the waves. Page caught a pretty big wave and had her first wipeout. She needed a break after that. After some burritos she wanted to head back out for some more waves. Afterwards we headed to Testarossa Winery for some Mother’s Day wine and snacks. Its been such a good day, so much to be grateful for!!
Saturday, May 10th, 2014
Little Oak Art Day was a chance to see the work that Page has been doing through the year.
The highlight for us was seeing one of Page’s artworks framed and hanging in the office.
This year Page worked on Native American totem poles and dream catchers as well as the food-themed items shown in her classroom.
In the art room we also saw Page’s collaborative work inspired my The Masters and her inspirational art teacher, Miss Jenny.
Sunday, May 4th, 2014
Page can be a bit challenging at a certain point in the day. Before she eats breakfast its hard for her to crack a smile. But she has certainly mastered the grumpy face. Oh boy, we are in for it…
A few minutes later, after she has had a few bites of food and she has warmed up… She said, “Mom, I’m just waiting at the bus stop for Nick, so he can take me to the dinner date. I’ll let him pick where we should go…”. I love her outfit of choice today, mandatory magic hat for the trip to the farmer’s market.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2014
Yes, its true. This is the house that Qwikster built. We bought a very old home, 100 years old, in a mountain community outside of Los Gatos. Back in the day this area was reserved for city folks from San Francisco who wanted to rent a weekend cabin “in the mountains”. A few famous writers chose to call this place home, John Steinbeck owned land within walking distance. I don’t doubt for a second why he chose to call this place home. Its peaceful and wild and yet just minutes away from civilization. Huge, massive grizzly bears used to roam these hills. Now we have an occasional kitty cat and I am hoping we don’t see a big one anytime soon…
Stuff is happening. Solar panels are in. Windows are in, waiting on doors. Deck is started, waiting on wire mesh for the railing. Retaining wall is started, waiting on steps. Some plants are in. This next month we will see a lot of changes – fenced in garden area, siding, doors, 2 decks, new shed, more yardwork…
It’s all about deer resistant plants around here. We have already planted tons of lavender (ask me about sleeping in a lavender field in Provence) and rosemary. Here we have rose stone, sweet pea butterfly, and society garlic. Everything a deer dislikes. Some mornings we wake up to 8+ deer on our lawn… We also have some native grasses coming in and olive trees. Our veggie garden area is bigger than we thought, so excited to get that started.
Our lower deck is in. Redwood with soon to be cattle wire railing which has been hard to find.
New windows! We had very flimsy single paned windows before that made me nervous being the helicopter parent that I am. Now we are insulated and safe. A huge relief!
We picked out a pretty stone for our retaining walls and stairs. The walls are Camaroon blocks and the stairs will be Camaroon flagstone. Brendan liked the look of very little mortar and after seeing it, I love the natural look, too!
