Long Overdue Weekly Update

Rediscovering a Forgotten Château in France’s Auvergne Region

Restoration Architecture and Interior Design by Joseph Pell Lombardi
Text by Joseph Giovannini/Photography by Jaime Ardiles-Arce

Mmmmm, my long overdue weekly update. So much has happened.

- Oscar's little brother in law, Danny spent Monday-Wednesday with us up here. It was fun hearing about his high school crushes and exploits, not to mention how OLD Oscar and I are. He is a lot of fun and did a lot exercising with Oscar and helping me cook.

- The night before Christmas Eve we turned all off the electric lights, lit candles and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Oscar and I drank a bit of wine, Danny drank apple cider and tasted the wine, but declared it was disgusting and he would never be a big drinker. We encouraged him to never get used to the taste of alcohol. He had a lot of questions about the Bible and it was really great having him there.

- After Oscar worked on Christmas Eve, we drove down to our hometown to exchange presents with my sister. She got Oscar and I a snuggie (which we enjoyed very much taking pictures with, and wearing). My mom got a Starbucks cup and my dad got a Western DVD, we gave Melinda a Japanese cookbook and cookware.

- That night, we went to Oscar's sister's house for posole, tamales, and lots of family fun. Eli curled all the girls' hair and had them in the cutest outfits, she looked pretty beautiful herself. We got there first and then came the rest of the family. It was a lot of fun. The babies are getting older (they are 2 and 3 this year) and REALLY enjoyed Christmas a lot! Sooo adorable. We hadn't seen the family much this year and the older girls really had missed us and borderline resented us for it. We will have to come down more in 2010.

- I got Oscar a 23" LCD high def computer monitor. :) Oscar got me snowboarding clothes for an upcoming snowboarding trip!!!! I have to say, I am really excited. He also saved up some money to update our apartment. I don't know if it was the wisest thing, but we both scrimped together enough money to get each other something really special for Christmas.

- We spent Christmas day with my Mom and Dad and extended family. It was a wonderful Christmas!!! Seeing baby Vanessa (2 years old) playing with my Grandma brought tears to my eyes. My Grandma lives for her family and I wish we all got to see her a bit more often. My mom and dad spoiled Oscar and I with gifts to update the kitchen (VERY exciting!!). These were mainly storage containers, called OxoPops and then something called the _____ Bullet which includes a food processor and more, I can't wait to use it (I haven't yet).

- After Christmas, we took Danny to the mall to use one of his gift cards, Oscar used his gift card for Road Runner Sports and I used Oscar's gift card for Express. I bought a dress which was originally marked $69.99 for $17.00. It was on Clearance for $50.00, so I have no idea how that happened. What a blessing. After that we went to Eli's house and the ENTIRE family was there again. Just like Christmas, except everyone was in their PJs (except us). Oscar played some basketball with his brothers and brother in-laws and I talked with Claudia and played with the kids. Then off I went to hang out with an Out-of-town friend (who was in town). I got to meet her boyfriend's family!! We had a murder mystery, played an extremely fun game called Quelf and then roasted marshmallows and other random objects at their firepit. It was a lot of fun.

- Next day, was my day to hang out with Kaitlyn and Kristen. On a lark, we went to Seaworld, using Kaitlyn's two passes she had inherited from a friend. The guy at the ticketbooth also gave us a AAA discount, even though I had forgotten my card. Ooooooh, it was so much fun. We got to watch the dolphins do some tricks and feed the batrays, which was just magical. As it got darker and colder, we huddled around a lamp post, next to the Otter exhibit and talked about boys and life. We ended the day with a Christmas shamu show, which had a little bit too much Christmas singing and not quite enough of Shamu. However, it was an end to a good day.

- Since then, Oscar and I have been trying to figure out how to use our gift cards to best improve our home. It is exciting.

**Today, I got a horrible sinus/migrainish headache after my first kiddo. I came home early today and slept and slept. I feel better now, though it is not all the way gone. At least I got some extra time to update my blog, right?

CHEERS!!!