Every New Beginning: Glad It Is The Weekend!!!

This has been an unusually busy week! I started it out sick on Sunday and Monday and then went back to work on Tuesday. After a LONG day (that included an extra hour of tutoring) I hurried home to get ready for a Columbia City Jazz Ballet event Glenn and I were attending with his grandmother, Mr. Rick and his stepmom. It was held at this gorgeous home on Lake Katherine that was unbelievably decorated for Christmas! Each room we saw downstairs (at least 8!) had a Christmas tree! Actress Andie McDowell was the guest of honor and the students from the studio peformed several selections by the pool.

View of the back of the house...you can vaguely see the lights of two of the trees in the windows!

Us with Andie McDowell

On Wednesday I had another LONG day that included an afterschool district writing coaches meeting. Again, I had to hurry home to get ready for another event at another gorgeous Columbia home! This time we were there for Kirkman Finlay, a local businessman who is running for Columbia mayor. Again, we had a great time with wonderful finger foods (boiled shrimp, fabulous dips and chips, sushi...YUM!) Afterwards, Glenn, his grandmother, Mr. Rick, their friend, LuLu and her friend, Nadia (who had been Miss Ireland in the 1960s) went for a real dinner at Dianne's!

On Thursday (can you see how this week went?!?!) I had to work in aftercare for a short while afterschool before getting ready to meet Glenn in the Vista for dinner and Vista Lights. We started out with sushi at Tsunami, always one of my favorites, before heading up Gervais to see what all was going on. I was really disappointed in this year's Vista Lights. Maybe it was the warmer weather, but it just didn't feel as "magical" as I remember in the past. The tree lighting was short and typically it is lit by the mayor, but he wasn't in town! We did run into a few friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in a while. And, we stopped in Paul D. Sloan Interiors to check it out. The owner is a friend of Glenn's family and the store is fabulous! I think I picked out at least $5000 worth of things I'd love to have --- my most favorite being the pink leather ottoman! It probably won't show up under the tree, but who knows, I pointed out a few other things, too!