Bulgaria, Work Hub-bubb, Wrestling, and London?

                 

We traveled for 19 hours or so and arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria.  Immediately, Will pulled out his computer and got on an all-hands company meeting to announce Complete Solar's merger with the panel manufacturing company, Solaria.  

The next day we walked around Sofia and bit then Will went back to work so he could announce at another all-hands duo company meeting that the new company, Complete Solaria, would be going public in a SPAC.  No big deal.  Big deal, it is actually a huge deal.  Complete Solaria will trade on the New York Stock Exchange some time in early 2023.  Bonkers.

Sofia is the big city but not really charming.  Still kind of industrial.  We toured a cathedral and ate the most delicious carrot cake any of us had ever had.

               

After just one night in Sofia we drove out to Plovdiv, the town where wrestling would happen.  The tournament had been moved to Plovdiv from Sofia a few months before because Bulgaria was having an election and the sports arena was needed for voting.

Plovdiv was beautiful, old and so charming!  For the first few days it was preparing for wrestling and wrestling time.

Will wrestled hard and took home bronze.  He won his first and second matches.  In his third match he tweaked his hip and the injury set him behind.  It was his only loss.  He wrestled in his fourth match for 3rd and won.  The guy he lost to won gold and was also on team USA so we were proud.  Team USA ended up winning the whole tournament!

                 

  

It was a stressful but fun day.  We were all relived and proud of Will.  Andres came along to cheer Will on (and help work on the merger/SPAC) it was nice to have some company in the stands.  We laughed a lot about the stuff we didn't understand in wrestling (most of it).

We explored Old Plovdiv and the downtown the next day.  It was beautiful...I love old things and old places.  Plovdiv delivered for me.  And Google Translate delivered on helping me understand signs and things all around town.

We had to cut our trip to Bulgaria short in favor of a hop over to London.  Some of the investors in Will's new company were in London and wanted to celebrate.  They also set up some more investor meetings for Will.  So we packed our bags and scooted over to England.  My brain had no way to relate to or understand this.  We landed, got to the airport, went to Selfridges to buy nice clothes (we only packed wrestling and casual clothes) and went directly to dinner.  

We ate at a Michelin starred restaurant.  It was delicious.  We sat with fancy people down at the chef's table in the kitchen.  We ate fancy food.  I talked comfortably with people it would have given me a self-concious-tummy-ache to talk with four years ago.  I was proud of me.  I didn't cry about it or beat myself up over it.  It was a miracle of self-development.  

        

 

Between meetings Will and I spent the next days checking out London.  London also over delivers in the old-places-old-things department.  All of the roads are about seven feet long and you have to zig and zag like crazy to get anywhere.  We took an uber a few times before learning how to use the Tube.  The Tube was waaaaay better (and cheaper) even with a train operators strike! 

It was an amazing trip.  I cannot believe all we got to do!  I feel like I am living someone else's life...but it is my life and I love it.

We came home to a hero's welcome.  Lorien had taken really good care of the kids and the house.  Truthfully, the kids took good care of themselves and Lorien let them.  Then it was a team effort led by Lorien to keep the house clean.  All good things.  Lorien made this great poster for Will and a gold medal for me.  It was sweet.  

It was fun to be away and to see new parts of the world...but I missed my kids very much.  Home is a wonderful place too.

September 2022

 The saga of the broken lazy Susan cupboard door:

About a year into living in this house one of the hinges on this corner cabinet snapped in half.  It probably wasn't attached correctly and was taking too much strain when we opened it.  We found a handful of lazy home renovation items as we lived in the house over the first year.  I took the door off and saw the hinges came from IKEA.  I went to the store and tried to find a person to help me order a new hinge.  The only answer I got was I would have to order a whole new kitchen cabinet (shelves, corner piece, and doors) to replace the hinge.  That seemed crazy.  So I found another person in customer service who said they could order the hinge.  

A few weeks later the hinge arrived in the mail...and was the wrong size!?!  So the door stayed broken open for the next four years.  Nice.

Colter asked me if we were ever going to fix the door and I decided to get my butt into gear.  I looked on the internet and found a hinge that looked close enough to the ones we had already.  Ordered from amazon and installed the hinge in a few minutes.  The biggest chore was wiping all the dust and cob webs off the door before fixing it.  Sigh.  I love being a homeowner.  I really, really do.  That is said with zero sarcasm.  It just takes me a long time to fix some things.  

 

As long as we have lived in California the hottest week of the year is always the first week in September.  Always!  I know it but it seems to be a surprise to everyone else every. single. year.  This year was a real whopper.  The temperatures were record matching.  A few years ago we broke records in the first week of September with 111 degrees.  This year we matched it.  School was hard.  Home was hot.  It was unpleasant.  The weather people called it a heat dome not a heat wave because the weather showed up and stayed for the whole week!  It was bonkers.

We took the kids to a Benihana restaurant one afternoon for some fun lunch.  We had watched a Jackie Chan movie.  We have our favorite Chinese food place in town but we decided to try something different in the Asian theme.  We also went to a Japanese ice cream place where the cones were these pancake like things in the shape of a fish.  

I took Colter to the pool one afternoon.  But it was so hot the top of our heads would get scorching hot as soon as we came up out of the water.  We quickly decided it would be night swims for the rest of the week.  It didn't cool down much at night, it went from 110 down to 90...but it was a lot of fun to have the pool to ourselves every night.  

My brother, Chris, built a race car for a race called The 24 hours of Lemons.  It is a spin on the 24 hours of  Le Mans but instead of an elite race experience it is a junk car race experience.  Teams have to build a car for no more that $500 and it has to race for 24 hours.  Chris and his son, Keaton, headed up the team.  They rebuilt a 1974 Mercury Capri with a Ford Mustang engine and parts.  Other dudes signed on to be drivers and team sponsors.  In the end, the car made all 24 hours and won the prize for Organizers Choice which meant it was the car that kept to the spirit of the race the best and went the full 24 hours.  It was so cool to watch from afar and hear all the funny, frustrating, exciting stories.  

I am pretty sure Taylor Swift sings: "I don't know about you but I'm feeling forty twoooo." which is great because I turned 42 this month!  On the 13th of September to be exact.  I gifted myself a Human Design reading.  Human Design is a spin on astrology.  I learned that I am a Manifestor which means I have a closed and repellant aura.  Spot on, right!?!  Like all astrology/personality tests some rang true and some sounded bogus.  I loved it!  My family treated me right with lots of hugs and love.  We had dinner at a favorite place, Va de Vi Bistro.

I treated myself with new sparkly sandals.  You can see my old ones were well worn after 3 years.  (old on the left, new on the right)

I took a quick trip to Salt Lake City to hear all the drama of the Lemons race from my brother and to go to a comedy show with my sister.  Her birthday is on the 26th of the month and we both love Pinky Patel.  When we found out she was doing a show on the weekend between our birthdays near my sister, we had to go!  It was super funny!

While I was away Adell went to a dance and had loads of fun with friends.  

Lorien got a new snake tattoo this month.  She texted me saying she and her roommate got matching tattoos.  When I looked at the picture I broke the devastating news to her, those snakes do not match.  She was super embarrassed and wished they had figured it out before going under the needle.  I kid, she loves it and her roommate loves her snake too.  Lorien's tattoo is inspired by some textile art her friend, Travis, made for her.  Lorien's snake is on her forearm.  The one on her shoulder is a dragon...if you are confused.  

Because I am a grown up, and because I didn't get to party properly in 2020, I threw myself my own birthday party.  One friend sweetly told me it was so exciting to get an invitation to a party that was not a kid's birthday party.  We are almost back to normal!

I decided on a "When Harry Met Sally/Autumn in New York City" theme.  After the 110 degree heat we got a storm that gave us chilly temperatures, cloudy skies, and some rain!  It was glorious.  I thanked the weather Gods for favoring my party theme.  The following week...the week of my party...the first week of September weather showed back up!  What!?!  It wasn't as hot...a measly 96 degrees BUT!  Grrrrr.  

  

Saturday donned as hot as Hades. Will cranked the AC to make the inside of the house feel like fall.  Adell was a super daughter and helped me party prep all day long.  She made apple pie filling and cut leaf designs for the top of the pie.  She arranged ALL of the flowers and set the table scape.  It was wonderful to have her help.  I couldn't have done it without her.  

My friends were charming sports and came in their best autumn outfits.  Bulky sweaters and blazers reigned supreme.  We were roasting.  

They also played along with my little quote/question game from the movie.  Lots of chatter and lots of laughs.  It was just what I needed after a bumpy few years.  I am a lucky girl in that my best friend tier is very large. 

"Best friend isn't a person, it's a tier." Mindy Kaling 

I reproduced Harry's Ruben on Rye and Sally's Turkey on White (with everything on the side) along with a Katz's Deli sign.  It was perfect!

The party was a success!  And I am still so grateful for delightful friends and a darling daughter willing to help.  (Clare and Lorien would have helped too but they were not home.)

Speaking of Adell.  She is quite the fashionista.  This was her cute fit for church one Sunday.  The glasses are new...and adorable.  

Clare was at a choir retreat for the weekend.  She had some unpleasant interactions with a fellow student so we are in the middle of resolving that.  Bummer!