Weekend Coffee Share....Come Sit with Me

It's another week of Weekend Coffee Share. I always love everyone's posts. Are you like me and try to visit everyone? It doesn't always happen but I try.

If we were having coffee we'd probably talk about: 

The weather: Not much new to report, feeling for those on the east coast who have gotten hit with so much snow. We should be getting some sunny days next week and in the PNW that is exciting. 

What we're thinking about: I've been thinking about vacations lately. We are taking a family trip to Ohio in August...people look at me funny when I say that, but it's because we have family there and will be spending most of our time on Kelly's island where my aunt has a vineyard and winery. I secured a rental house (owned by a friend of hers so they gave us a great deal). I've shared about the island in other posts. It's pretty neat and we visited there often when I was a little girl. 

Our 30th wedding anniversary is this October so we are planning a 10 day trip. We have decided we want to hit the New England states..I've been a few articles that layout a timeline of sorts which is helpful to read. If any of you live in one of them, or you have visited, I'd love to hear your suggestions of must sees. We think we'll fly into Boston area and head north from there. 

What we're thankful for: I'm thankful that we are great friends with my daughters in-laws from parents to my son in laws siblings. We've known them for years (even before they were dating) and it makes for nice get togethers. Though they are a large family and we almost didn't have enough room for everyone.

What we're reading or want to read: I've read quite a few e-books lately. I upped my Goodreads challenge number because I think I can read more than I thought. I'm 3/4 of the way through the How the Penguins Saved Veronica. It's a great read. I'm currently reading The Sleuth's Miscalculation by Kimberly Rose Johnson. Before that I read Her Last Breath by Hilary Davidson. That was one of my Kindle first read choices. It was good with some unexpected twists and turns but I felt like it left me hanging, then ending was too choppy. 

Around the house: We are sooooo close. We are actually celebrating our granddaughters birthday this weekend so we have pulled up all the paper from the floor so we can use the new kitchen area. It looks so good. It's all the little things now. Island Pendants, bathroom wall sconces and mirrors, switch plates, rope lighting, hook up gas fireplace. BUT we're close. 

My hubby and I went to look at furniture for that space. Ugh. I have such a hard time with decisions. I think it's because my hubby and I have very different tastes and so finding things that we both will like is a lot of work for me. Sometimes I just want to say "oh, I don't care, get what you like", but I know that's not the right thing to do either. We're going to back to look again next week with the gal who has helped us design our space. We have things narrowed down. We just need to decide a few things. 

We took the paper off the floor so we could have the birthday party in this part of the house. We brought in some folding chairs and a couple tables for people to sit at. But soon, hopefully there will be furniture in there. 

Angle looking from the entryway.

Adding the pipe for the stove. The installer game today after birthday party. We also have to add a bit of trim to the bottom still. 

Well, got it hooked up before I got this posted. We are missing some "rocks" and also it is supposed to have an "ember" effect so we have to figure that out. We bought this in 2007 and it sat unused just waiting for this part of the house to be done. We fell in love with it because it's called The Tree of Life. 

From the kitchen: This morning (Saturday) I'm helping my daughter put food together for birthday brunch. It's now afternoon and birthday party brunch for granddaughters 1st birthday was a success. She made a Very berry french toast bake, GF/DF cake pops, and quiche. The birthday theme was Peppers Berry 1st Birthday. I just made my menu for this week. Burgers, Tuscan Garlic Chicken, Bean soup, tomato and tortellini soup, chili lime cod and Thai noodles. Nothing new this week. I've made all of these at least once. 

Favorite quote: This week on Writers Quote Wednesday our theme was communication and thoughts on blogging. Here were a few I really liked. Maybe we'd take time to discuss them and see what you think.

"Help them somehow, whether commenting well on their blog, offering advice, or introducing them to other cool folk. (about other bloggers) ~Tim Ferriss

"Communication is only effective when we communicate in a way that is meaningful to the recipient, not ourselves". ~Rich Simmonds

What we've watched or listened to: Hmmm...other than music, I don't think I listened to any podcasts this last week or really watched anything either. 

Favorite photo:  I don't think I took any photos this week. Just goes to show the kind of week I must have had. Haha!

Random thoughts: Funny story. We live in the country, in a small town. We have a couple acres. Deer are a common site on our property. Last week I was leaving to go to the store and met an Amazon driver in my driveway. We said hi, he hands me my package and then asks, "are those your deer?" I said "what?" "Are those your deer" as he points to the front yard. I look and sure enough there are two deer. I did my best not to laugh, and kindly said "oh, no, they just like to visit the yard often". He must live in the city. I should have said something like "oh, yah, but tomorrow they'll be dinner". 

Check out all the other posts on Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I'm off to go visit some now. #weekendcoffeeshare

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin