Settling in

We finally had a weekend at home that was not full of renovations. WHAT?! How can this be?!

We had a quiet Friday night with dinner cooked at home and a movie streamed on Netflix (thanks again for your password, Mom!) 

Saturday morning we slept in (glorious!!) and then took MacKenzie over to the Fishers farmer's market. She's pretty popular around these parts and got lots of pets from strangers.

Slow Saturday morning

Begging for breakfast scraps from the balcony

I had a lunch and facial date with my friend Amber as a belated birthday celebration. I again chose to eat at Piada, this time in Carmel, and was not disappointed! The Farmer's Market Salad (I guess my day had a theme) is: made-to-order with field greens, ripe strawberries, all-natural roasted chicken, feta, avocado, grilled sweet corn & spiced pecans, tossed in our signature lemon-basil dressing. (The two ingredients marked out were nixed from my salad because feta is gross and spiced anything is the devil.)

Piada made me the best salad I've ever consumed

Amber's facial was terrible in that the esthetician got acid in her eye and had to spend most of the session washing poor Amber's eye out. Mine was lovely, though. I almost fell asleep it was so refreshing. I also got a much better report than I did last year about the state of my skin since I started paying attention to it now that I'm older. Sigh.

My other theme for the day was belated birthday celebrations. Susie and her boyfriend, CW,  took Jackson and I out to one of my favorite restaurants, Mama Carolla's for dinner. We got to sit outside and enjoyed a nice meal together. Thanks again, Susie!

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP at Mama Carolla's
The soup is worth the drive. From anywhere. 

Saturday evening Jackson and I returned to a store Amber had introduced me to earlier in the day, World Market, and got some housewares and patio furniture. We'd been looking for outdoor furniture for a month without success and we found what we wanted there was on a steep sale. Score!! Jackson even talked to manager into taking more money off of a spare chair they had that matched our set. He's nothing if not persuasive. Or is that persistent? Or is that annoying? In any case, he got what he wanted. (Shocking. Oh wait. NO.) After an interesting drive home with a car so full that I could only wedge into the backseat, he set off to assemble everything. About 90 minutes later we had success.

MacKenzie in her new spot

Watching the world go by in style

We have two chairs on the front balcony and then a matching table, chair and bench on the back balcony. The front one gets morning sun so MacKenzie and I had coffee out there Sunday morning. It was lovely. The Fishers Freedom Festival was going on in the park across the street so we took MacKenzie over to explore. She got even more pets and adoration from strangers and declared that she shall never leave Fishers again. (Except for the next time she goes to Evansville. Or Upland. Or wherever else she goes with us. HA!) We hung out a bit longer before Jackson headed out to golf with our friend Andrew and I went to Upland to visit Madison.

It was a lovely afternoon for a convertible ride and Madison was happy to see me. I ate Ivanhoe's and chatted with my folks before heading for home. Jackson wants everyone to know that he beat Andrew on the back nine. (I can only assume that means Andrew beat him on the front nine, but who am I to split hairs?!) ;)

Susie came over to watch the fireworks from our place and cashed in on the ice cream that we skipped the night before due to being stuffed with Italian food. These two  like Handel's down the street from our place. Luckily my favorite joint, Graeter's, is not within walking distance.

Susie insisted on ice cream and then they made the "fat face" once she got it. Typical. ;)

The fireworks were lovely and we all had chairs to sit on finally. Hooray!

Fireworks from the balcony

It was a great weekend settling into our new 'hood. It honestly feels like we've really relocated far from our old homes but that is entirely untrue!

Dinner date with LIAM!

We were lucky enough to get on the busy schedule of Sir Liam Mauck on Thursday evening. He is 8 months old now and moving fast. He's not walking quite yet, but man does he crawl with gusto! 

We spent time swinging while the boys played golf. He is the happiest little guy and so fun to cuddle.

Liam- the most handsome dinner date

Mr. Happy!

Can you even handle the cuteness?! 

Cute in his pajamas!

Jackson loves dining at the Mauck household because of Jason's self-made golf course on the land. Jackson has taken to naming said course, "Swine Lake Golf Links" since Jason is also a pig farmer and the piggyhouse (I'm certain that is not the technical term) is across the street. I don't think the name will stick, but it gave us a laugh.

"Swine Lake Golf Links" looking good!

Thanks for having us, Mauck family. Please feel free to make that corn stuffing for me anytime. ;)

STILL renovating...

Things are progressing nicely at the Petefish household. The hardwood floors have been installed on the second level.

Floors are in!

My custom closets are in and look lovely. (They've since been organized, I promise!) 

Closet is in (but not organized)

Moving day was terrible. As always. The worst part was that the washer was broken during its move to the 3rd floor and leaked all over. The water soaked through to the second floor ceiling and suddenly we had a skylight of sorts. CRAP! In good news we wanted to move the light fixture anyway so when life hands you lemons...pay a ton of money and drink lemonade.

A new hole in the ceiling! Hooray! ;)

Heinzy saving the electric day- AGAIN

We moved the entire lightbox and bought a new fixture. Said fixture was not installed as of publishing, but one can dream it will one day hang proudly in its new spot above the dining room table. So for the small price of a new washing machine and a repaired ceiling ($1,000), everything has returned to normal.

MacKenzie is about over all of the remodeling and would prefer more ballgames.

MacKenzie's electric hero, Derrik Heinzen

Can't we just play ball?!

We finally got around to hanging the wall map in Jackson's office. It was far more of a process than we expected and we were grateful for Amber's expertise and assistance. 

Amber and Jackson hanging the map

Applying the glue

SUCCESS! 

The map hanging was not really a three person job so I sat around keeping them company. Hey- when I did try to assist my perfectionism got in the way and I was relieved of duties. What can I say?! ;) Slowly but surely we're wrapping up the renovations here.

June

June has both flown and crept by. Working on the house feels like a second career, but we've managed some fun stuff, too.

MacK and Jack relaxing in adorable fashion 

MacKenzie has a new favorite place to stand and request ballgames so there's that.

"Let's play!"

We had a few nice days (mainly rain, though) and MacKenzie agreed to a top down ride. She wore her seatbelt, of course, and brought a ball for good measure. You know, in case a game breaks out wherever we stop. ;)

"I love the convertible"

Jackson sent me flowers at work for my birthday. It was sweet.

birthday flowers at work

Some local yoga studios had a Summer Solstice celebration in a downtown Fishers park on Sunday June 21st and I convinced my friends to go. We pretended to be hippies and enjoyed the outdoor session.

Summer Solstice yoga with Shaya

and Amber! See- she does things other than housework for us! 

We'll try to make July a more exciting month to follow, I promise! :)

The renovations continue...

We are in the final stretch of the home remodel. What a long month it has been! We seriously have let this consume our lives and we are ready to be back to normal! 

The kitchen floor was ripped out and readied for the new floor (which will finish being installed today). The new appliances have been installed. The new counters are in. All of the light fixtures are in place. All of the carpet has been installed. The window coverings have been replaced. My custom closet is finished. The accent walls are painted. The appliances that came with the home have been sold- hooray! The hole in the ceiling from the removed wall has been repaired. You name it, we've done it. WE ARE EXHAUSTED. This weekend is moving time, though. Finally! 

What used to be a kitchen...

Ripping out counters 

NEW CARPET!

NEW GRANITE!

Susie cleaning the bathroom :)

Jackson...let's make our next project a nap!

Lately

I've been battling an ovarian cyst and some kidney stones recently and just have not been 100%. We even had to make a midnight run to the ER because we thought my appendix had burst. Turns out that's just what it feels like. Sweet. (Note: Said trip to the ER was billed for more than $7k. I know the current fix to healthcare has not panned out quite as expected, but clearly something needs done. That's insane. We are SO fortunate to be insured and have money to make our deductibles. We are also excited to announce that we are again not pregnant. Whew! I got to have two tests in a matter of days to prove it. If I never pee in a cup again it will be too soon. TMI, sorry.)

We did get a quick date night in to visit a new restaurant downtown that we'd been to in Miami this winter. It was not as good as we remembered, but it was still fun to hang out and do something besides work in the townhouse!

Date night at Yard House downtown

One person not upset about my not feeling great lately is Miss MacKenzie. She is the world's best little nap partner.

Keeping dad's spot warm

"Unfriending" Uncle Aaron ;)

Imagine MacKenzie's shock when he best friend and favorite puppysitter, Uncle Aaron, posted an ode to another dog on Facebook. I caught her trying to unfriend him on Jackson's phone. ;)

The cutest dog to ever live.

Reporting for nap duty, mom!

"Time to get up already?!"

Can you tell I've spent a ton of time taking pain pills and sleeping when I'm not trying to help out at the townhouse? Yeah. Lame. I'm hoping to be on the mend soon!