Monday, July 20, 2015

Mid-Summer Update

The beach trip was a success... although, next time, we'll take our espresso machine & stuff to make our own mochas (instead of having to get dressed to drive to a coffee shop) and we'll sleep on the Queen bed upstairs (instead of the Double downstairs); Princess will just have to get up when we do. We hadn't explored the north side of Lincoln City much (my mother's beach house was south of town), so this was a good chance to do so. The beach house is between Surftides hotel and Chinook Winds Casino. We had one lunch at The Mist At Surftides (pretty good; Ace's first time having fish tacos), one brunch at Pig 'n Pancake (because a trip to the coast isn't complete without eating there), one dinner at Blackfish Cafe, did a lot of walking on the beach and exploring the neighborhood, and of course hit up our usual stores (smoked meats, fudge, and misc chocolate). A couple of things to note: we hadn't been to LC in about four years, so there were some new things in town to explore, we discovered that Jetty Drive runs almost the full length of LC so we didn't have to make any unsafe left turns to get back to the house, and what used to be Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (on 101 at SW 32nd) is now an independently-owned store. She makes all her own chocolates, in-store.

After multiple short drives out with Princess, we have decided she's not ready for the class that was supposed to be next month, so we canceled it. We will put her in a Fall one (and hopefully, KP will be able to join her). Because of this, she is now able to go to the coast with LeC fam before GrandCamp. I may join them, if there is room at the B&B. The trick here is figuring out transportation; T&D's Suburban has crapped out, so they have no vehicle that will fit six... If I join them, that's not a problem, but since I'm not staying for camp, too, they would need assistance getting back home. Mom has offered to Greyhound back home, so that may be a solution... Renting a bigger vehicle may be an option, as well.

My new salon studio is just about done; I have some finishing touches to do, but I am officially in that room now. Saturday, I used my new pedi chair for the first time, and figured out a couple more quirks I need to find solutions for, but that's typical. Took me a good six months in the old room to get everything the exact way I wanted. The room is functional as-is, but I will have an Open House when it's completely done, I think. One bit of good news to note - I found an app to help me keep track of my retail sales. I only have a small amount of things I'm offering to start out (starting with lotions, body butters, and cuticle oils, plus some foot care, and mini home-care stuff), but will add more as I figure out what is & isn't selling. My friend, JC, has been doing some sewing for me; she called yesterday to tell me that my closet curtain is hemmed and she made a liner for the new clean towel basket. I'll pick those up later today.

Speaking of work, I've been pretty busy! Enough so that it delayed working on my new space... It's good for my wallet because it means I'm not having any problems paying my new rent. But, I'm feeling very overwhelmed because I wanted to be in there and done with the details two weeks ago. That being said, I do have space in my books for a couple new clients (Thursdays & Fridays, every other week). If you, or someone you know, are looking for a quality nail tech in Portland, come see me!

The last few days brought the Air Show to town. I live in the path, about 3 miles from the local airport, so we got to see quite a bit of it from our yard. A few different teams rotate for the "big attraction", but when the Blue Angels are here, it's quite a big deal. I was teasing Ace yesterday (remembering that as an older child, I lived a few blocks from the same airport, and we used to climb out my bedroom window to sit on the roof to watch) that he should build me a platform with a canopy (collapsible, of course) on our roof so we can climb up there to watch. He just laughed... but he did take his nice camera out and actually got a few good pics.

Our son (I don't remember if I mentioned this previously) got accepted to both University of Oregon and Oregon State; he chose UofO, as their Master's program for his chosen field is better (in his opinion) than OSU's. A couple months ago, he did the research for financial aid and made sure his credits all transfer, and about a month ago, he went down for orientation and looked at a couple places for rent. He officially moves down there in less than two weeks, and will be starting classes in the Fall. Ace will be helping him move, as he will be on his sabbatical at that point.

Princess has started a list of school supplies (basics for now, we'll get the class-specifics lists at registration), and has started to go through her clothes & shoes. She's already pulled two bags worth out... I usually give the good stuff to friends' kids, and we donate what's left. Four small bins of clothes and misc household goods were donated yesterday. We'll be school shopping probably by the end of this month.

I think that's it for now...

No comments:

Post a Comment