Awesome August in Sacramento

Our return to Sacramento started off with a matinee of In the Heights at Music Circus on Sunday, Aug. 3, and it was our first time seeing the live musical rather than the film version. We both noticed some differences, particularly the fact that the character of Nina's mom was entirely cut from the film, which seems like a rather odd decision, especially since she's such a strong character and has a fabulous solo song during the musical. We met up with L for dinner that evening by introducing her to Thai Time, and we were so glad that she liked it as much as we do!

We got together with our monthly brunch group on Saturday, Aug. 9th at Bernardo, and then Mr. E and I went to an afternoon showing of The Fantastic Four at the DOCO Cinemark. The next morning, we had brunch with E at Roc & Sol, and I had breakfast with her that Monday as well at Fox & Goose. I also managed to meet up with A for dinner, S for breakfast, and B for dinner over the course of the month, along with my new Evanston Mystery Book Club via Zoom on the 14th, my usual Sacto Book Club at M's on the 17th, and my ongoing French Book Club on the 24th. So great to be able to keep all of these connections and gatherings, both in-person and virtual!

I attended two in-person California Groundbreakers events as well, including a presentation about ICE and another about how technology can help seniors age in place. Both sessions were really interesting and thought-provoking, and I'm so glad to see that this organization's programming has resumed and increased.  

I was able to go to several of the 4:30pm Pilates classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Capital Y while we were in Sac, but unfortunately, the pool temperature was too cold for any regular morning routine. I managed to get in twice in the early evening, but each time, I got really chilled even though I did a shorter workout and wore my wetsuit. Disappointing! 

I'd been toying with the idea of going purple with my hair for some time and decided to finally take the plunge while we were in Sac. The color was darker and not as brilliant as I'd hoped, although it looked really pretty in the sunlight.

The color has faded a bit over time, and I'm thinking I'll likely return to my Red Hibiscus the next time I need to refresh, unless I can find a different purple option that looks more promising!

The kitties resumed their Sacto habits promptly, and Louis XIV even discovered a new spot to hang out in the closet. Apparently, he felt some rearranging was needed...

On Thursday the 21st, Mr. E and I headed to the Crocker for an evening Watercolor & Wine studio art class. It's been awhile since we've been able to do one of these classes, particularly together, and it was so nice to have some dedicated time to be creative and indulge our artistic sides. Mr. E painted a forsythia for me, and I did a more structured painting of the flower display on our table plus a looser painting of just the roses. I think they all turned out pretty well!

The next evening, we returned to the Crocker for the New Director's Reception and were able to bring E & C with us as our guests. We enjoyed some snacks and adult beverages and then headed back to our place for takeout dinner and a round of the "button" fame (aka Michigan Rummy). 

On Saturday night, Mr. E and I attended the Mole Festival at Casa de Espanol. The weather was quite toasty! But we both enjoyed the eight artisanal mole offerings, and I was really pleased that they offered a vegan option so that I could try everything.

Both Mr. E and I had several health appointments that we had scheduled in a cluster for our time in Sac, including visits to the dentist, a stress test for Mr. E, massages and blood donations for both of us, and Botox, a pedicure, and two chiro sessions for me. 

I also took Louis XIV to the vet on the last Saturday we were in Sac to get his annual check-up and rabies booster. Unfortunately, I learned that our ginger boy needs some dental work! A cleaning and at least one extraction. *sigh* We decided we'd try to get the treatment done in Evanston so we wouldn't have to wait until mid December when we're back in Sac. Unfortunately, since we don't already have an established vet in our second home location, we encountered challenges with scheduling anything in a timely fashion, especially since we needed an initial appointment before anything more extensive such as the dental work. Mr. E had the brilliant idea of seeing if our usual Sac vet had availability during the week of Oct. 14th when I'll be back in Sac for 4+ days for work gatherings. And luckily, they did! So Louis XIV will be accompanying me solo for this future trip while Marlene remains in Evanston with Mr. E.

We finally decided that we wanted to move forward with exploring options for remodeling our main bathroom and replacing the flooring in the library and office upstairs. Mr. E reached out to several of the contacts that N had recommended, and we had a couple of consultations with B to discuss the project and options. We were pleased by his bid and signed a contract to get the project going when we're back in Sac for the winter. So in December, we'll be starting to choose all of the finishes (tile, cabinet, countertop, lights, other fixtures, carpet) with the intent to have the demo and construction start up in January. Exciting!

Our return to Evanston was on Tuesday, Aug. 26th, so that we could get settled back in for a few days before heading to Austin for the Labor Day long weekend. The kitties are getting to be pro travelers! Although Marlene still looked a bit out of sorts during part of the trip...