On vacation, & life is good

Work has slowly ramped down (finally!!), & I can feel myself starting to relax a bit. We are at the Oregon coast, enjoying the vacation house for what will surely be one of our last visits. We had friends visiting all day on Thursday & yesterday, & my parents arrive this morning. We're happy to see everyone & connect while we're in the area, but the beach house is usually a quieter place. ;-)

I defrosted some leftover spaghetti for the first dinner, and our neighbors came over at the last minute, so I threw more pasta & meatballs into the pots. All worked out. We received a reciprocal invitation for pizza at their house last night, so I have lots of leftover spaghetti that we'll have to get to for lunches. :-)

My parents should be arriving shortly, so we'll be doing grilled burgers, corn, & I still need to figure out how to prep the fresh beans I purchased. We'll also make our traditional goat cheese crostini & pomegranate martinis for happy hour. Yum! I've definitely gained a pound or two over the holidays. Good times have been had by all. :-)

I'm *very* excited to see my nephews & sister when they arrive tomorrow. We'd planned on pizza, so that's on the menu again. I did find some extremely inexpensive fresh/local crab marked down the day after Christmas, so I may make some crab cakes as an appetizer.

Other than all of that food-related stuff, we're doing our regular clean out at the vacation house (clothes, toys, books that the kids have outgrown), as well as laundering all of the rugs & really cleaning things out of the freezer & pantry.

I committed yesterday to Michael, as we talked about our goals & plans in California & the future in general, that we will sell the vacation house (or, list it at least, the market here takes a long time to close) in 2014. It was a big step for me, & I get all teary just thinking about it. But, it's necessary & the next step in moving us towards buying a home in California.

Hope you have a fabulous last weekend of 2013! I'm already thinking of all of the things I need to go to kick off my 2014 goals! Can't wait. :-) What are you up to this weekend?