The perfect childless weekend

In a couple (several? more?) years, when we have little ones who take up every second of our days and nights, I hope we can remember this past weekend fondly, because even as it was happening, I thought, "we could never, ever do this with kids and we are having so much fun!"

First, we threw a double surprise party for our friends who are getting married in a couple months (sort of a late engagement party/early shower), which we claimed was a surprise birthday party for ANOTHER friend, in order to get the engaged friends here, but then we double surprised the birthday girl (who knew it was really an engagement party) with a special dessert and singing. Got it? Any way, it was amazingly fun and everyone had a great time. The guests of honor ended up spending the night (yay!) and we played Rock Band until 3 AM. Not possible with little ones, though we probably got more sleep even doing that (and waking up at 8 AM to make breakfast) than we will with kids.

I then took a nap (Nap #1), worked on my thesis revisions, then we went tubing on Boulder Creek with some other friends. I have wanted to tube Boulder Creek ever since we moved here four years ago, and spent the majority of that time living right on the Creek. However, I was always too scared because the water was too high (at least a person a year has died in the creek since we've been here, though not all were participating in water sports), or then the water was WAY too low to even imagine being able to float in anything. Luckily, this year has been a very wet one, but it's late enough in the season that the flow is more normal. Plus, it's nice and hot, which is VERY IMPORTANT because the water is effing cold.

I need to buy a waterproof camera because then I could have captured at least some of the incredible beauty we saw. It was ridiculously idyllic. As we floated under the bridge of the public library, families picnicked on the banks, dogs fetched sticks in the creek and children cooled their feet. A mandolin and banjo player provided the soundtrack, in counterpoint with childish laughter and splashing. The dappled sunlight came through the wide shady trees and highlighted the creek as it fell over small boulders, looking like jade lit from within. And then, as we watched the people watching us from the bridge high above us, the cottonwoods let loose their fairy puffs to drift down over the scene like light, glittering snow.

It was impossibly beautiful and I'm almost glad I didn't have a camera because I don't know if a physical image could live up to the one in my own mind.

When we were numb and shivering, after about four trips down the creek, we called it a day and ate pita sandwiches (this IS Boulder!). Then I took Nap #2. It was lovely.

And there you have it. A weekend made all the sweeter for the fact that we were actually able to do it at this point in our lives.

Nothing like a deadline

We are entertaining on Saturday, partly as a way to create a deadline for ourselves to finish up some of out projects. Thanks to this looming deadline, we (read: Peter) have:

• installed the new faucet in the guest bathroom
• finished painting ALL of the kitchen drawers and doors
• installed all but two of the previously painted doors
• installed hardware on most drawers and all installed doors
• made the under-cabinet light switch look pretty and not all janky
• bought a new-to-us rug from Craig's List for the living room
• lowered and fixed the dining room chandelier
• bought a leather ottoman/bench/coffee table for the living room
• put most of our electronic paraphernalia in said ottoman (storage FTW!)
• fixed the wire nest of doom trailing from the TV and router off the mantle (Peter is magic)

And then, the bestest thing of all, Peter went and surprised me by getting these super sweet chairs from Costco that we had been wanting, but that were all sold out at our local store. They are super pretty, SUPER cheap, and basically two-for-one! I will definitely take some pictures once everything is all snazzy for the social engagement.

Too bad that even with all of that done, we still have so much more to do. Installing the last 5 kitchen doors, caulking the counters, putting trim on, touching up paint, etc. etc. The worst part is that the more we get finished, the more the unfinished stuff sticks out. I guess we'll just have to plan another social engagement in a few weeks!

And don't worry, pictures will be forthcoming, once things are a bit more cleaned up!

Summer time!

Bad blogger, bad! Other than passing my thesis defense (woohoo!!!), very little has changed around here. The week between my return and Peter's was only punctuated by the defense and the awesome friends who came out and supported me, and then meeting with a few friends to get me out of the house and give me a reason to shower.

Other than that, we have started unpacking some of the boxes, I found and filled my awesome "new" dresser that I scored on Craig's List (I love the first blush of ogranization, when all of the shirts are neatly folded and every category of clothing has its own space. We'll see how long it lasts) and I slept and read a lot of Internet.

Since Peter got back, we've been at warp speed, but doing lots of social things with friends who were probably just so thankful I am done with that stupid thesis! We've moved friends, Rock Banded with friends, danced at our friends' wedding, and breakfasted with friends at far too early an hour (you are awesome for getting up so early on a Saturday, Dan!). However, the kitchen looks exactly the same as it did three weeks ago, no doors have been painted nor installed. Ah well, can't have everything!

Oh! And we got new iPhones after my 3.5 year old phone leapt to its death. We had been planning on getting them very soon anyway, but this sped the process up. Hooray!