Z Sisters

Here's the Z sister update for the week, oldest to youngest.

SARAH

Last Week:

• Organized and pulled off our season opener Rooftop Concert Series concert - Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arm (including Scott on guitar) opened for Fictionist (have you voted for them yet to be the first unsigned band on the cover of Rolling Stone?). Before Friday this included hanging posters, banners, meeting with volunteers, lots of coordination and managing our facebook page and the press coverage. On Friday this included spending the day setting up and delegating tasks and finding the circuit breaker when the power went out and bribing the trash can delivery guy to bring cans after 5pm since we'd forgotten to confirm it sooner and getting a major sunburn on one side of my neck (note to self - no more side pony tails out in the sun). But in the end there were over 1500 people there and the weather was perfect and it sounded great and was really fun. We let Brenden, Oliver, and June come and they all had a good time and Christine as always was my savior - helping with the kids and set up and clean up and basically doing any job she saw needed to be done without ever being asked to do it. I am seriously going to miss her when she moves away in 2 weeks. I don't know what I'm going to do.
• Discovered that the shop vac in the garage makes a great car vacuum. Not sure how this had escaped me before, but it was like a whole new revelation when I saw it on a Sears commercial the other day. I vacuumed out my car completely twice this week.
• Cut out the dead wood from the roses out front and sprayed and dead-headed the dandelions in the grass.
• Helped Scott fulfill his bishopric assignment of getting the Mothers Day treats for the ward - goodbye yucky weird truffles, hello Sweet Tooth Fairy cake bites! Pretty good timing that I became buddies with the STF founder whose son is on June's soccer team. Bought every flavor and did a family tasting - settled on double fudge & red velvet. Put together (again couldn't have done it without CZ's help) 164 packages at 1am Saturday night.
• Reserved a hotel in NYC and car rentals for NYC->BOS and RDU->beach. Bought Statue of Liberty tickets, researched "how to get around NYC with kids" and compiled lists of recommended "kid-friendly" activities and restaurants. I'm getting pretty excited for our time there. Not sure Scott feels the same quite yet. It looks like we might overlap in NYC with Mom & Dad for some of our time. 

This Week:

• Gotta get back to making progress on my work project. I've been coasting for a couple weeks but it's time to really buckle down and finish the first release before our trip
• Gotta get back to working out. I've let it go the last couple of weeks but I feel awful. Back on the treadmill and 6am yoga.
• Brenden's first baseball game. Brenden's scout campout next weekend. Oliver & June's last soccer games. Art show on Tuesday, school-wide track meet on Friday.
• More yard work - need to cut out the dead wood on the roses out back, and should really work on planting some pots and our garden before we leave. 

ANNEE

(picture coming soon)

Last Week:

1. Finished my quilt top.  Yay!!  
2. Did my first longish run since the 10-miler in April.  I only ran 8 miles, but it was fine, maybe even felt great.  I’m going to keep building from here.  I really want to run a marathon in 2011!
3. Saw my oldest friend Jana Caylor Bowcut (we’ve known each other since the 5th grade), who stopped by my house on Monday with her husband and three little girls.  It was such a treat.  
4. Hosted a massive playdate here at the house on Thursday for the boys.  They had a blast.  
5. Substitute taught Thursday and Friday.  The year is quickly coming to a close.  I’ll miss my little “job”.
   

This Week:

1. I’m going to run five times.  I will!
2. Participate in the Kids Clothing Week Challenge.  It entails sewing at least an hour a day Monday-Friday, in an effort to sew your kids clothes.  That shouldn’t be too hard, right?!  
3. I’m subbing again on Friday.  
4. Help the kids have a perfect week of practicing.  They will practice at least five times.  If I’m going to run five times, they need to practice that many time too!  It’s only fair.  (P.S.  If this comes true, it will be the hardest thing I do all week long.  Getting four kids to practice five times per week is so hard!)
5. I can’t think of anything else.  I’m too tired to add any more items to my list!  Except I really wanted to get a pedicure for Mother’s Day, and it never happened.  Does Mother’s Day carries over for a few days?!
   

IE LI

 (This was the only picture of me from the week.  Mei Li took it and you can hardly see us, but don't our azaleas look lovely?)

Last week:

• Spray-painted our brass chandelier black.  It will go in the kitchen over the table.  The ceiling fan will replace the fluorescent light box near the cabinets.
• Transferred all of our plants into bigger planter boxes. I have two tomato, one cucumber, and two bell pepper plants.  I also planted some watermelon seeds and some more cucumber seeds.  We'll see how they turn out.  This is my first real garden and I am loving it.  It's so fulfilling.  Maybe one day I will be a farmer.
• The Elders' Quorum sponsored adult dinner activity dinner is over and it was a success, except for the part where we planned for a hundred people and only forty-something showed up.  Thank you, Rachel, for babysitting for us that night.  It was a big help.
• Steve and I worked out twice and we did eat pretty healthily, minus the BBQ at the activity and the french toast for Mother's Day.
• Hung up one piece of Stephen's art and two of Mei Li's, completing one skinny wall of the craft room.

This week:

• So far, I've purchased hanging geraniums for our deck, baseball gloves for T-ball, and helmets for bike riding.
• Plant some green beans, herbs, and flowers.
• Exercise and eat well.
• Hang three more things on a wall.
• Send Sarah our New York City for Kids travel book.
• Live outdoors as much as possible.

 RACHEL 

 Last Week: 
 
--The work at the client has been great.  The commute is all on the freeway and fast.  Plus, my gas mileage is back up to 12.5/gallon!  I miss commuting a bit, although I don't miss the traffic of my old drive. 
--I've had to find creative ways to wear business professional-ish all week.  Not really a full blown suit, but a jacket is needed.
--Volleyball was canceled this week, and may be over forever because the girl with the keys to the building no longer has them.  I'm so sad!!  May join a city league with Dawn.
--Spent time with Mei Li and Stephen on Friday night - it was so fun!
--Ken and I saw Jane Eyre.  I definitely didn't prepare him for how dark Bronte is compared to Austen. 
--Bought some plants for our front stoop area.  I love seeing them through the window!!

This week: 

--Continue the organizing and sorting through clothes and bookshelf decor items.  Do I say this every week??
--Hang pictures on the wall in our bedroom.
--Help finish Ken's crazy long Bar application.
--Start working on the base tan for OBX Beach Week 2011.  Three weeks from today!!!
--Scrape paint off window panes.  It's bothered me for so long, finally towards the top of the list.

CHRISTINE

Last Week:

- Ended up working four days, they called me in on Friday and Saturday because the store has been crazy these past couple weeks.
- Got a massage.  My back has been killing me so I thought finally I would give in and do something about it.  I did think twice as I was walking into some man's house to get a massage, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds.  This man and his wife are both massage therapists and have been running a legit business out of their house for 16 years.  He was shocked at how tight my back was and kept asking what I was doing to make it so tight, to which I had no answer, but I think it at least helped a little bit, I'm considering going back before I leave.

- Found and got started on an independent study class that requires six assignments, and that's it, no midterms or finals.  This seemed like a much better option than my original choice which required 18 assignments along with a midterm and a final.

- Made it to yoga once.  I think I'm gonna have to start going at 6am if I want to go much while I'm working so much.
- Helped Sarah with and very much enjoyed the rooftop concert.  It was a huge success and I was super impressed/proud that it was all because of my sister.  

This Week:

- Work everyday Tuesday-Saturday.  I don't know why suddenly I'm getting so many hours, but I'm happy to have the work and something to keep me busy.
- Start making arrangements for getting my things moved out to DC.  Luckily I don't have a ton of furniture, but I do still have some things I'd like to get out there.

- Start packing my room.  Ideally I'd like to pack a box a day, but I'm not really sure I see that happening.
- Finish at least three assignments for my class.
- Apply for the CPA exam!!  Didn't quite get to this last week, but I must get it done before I leave so that I can actually take the exams in July and August.  

- Figure out if Anthropologie will be able to transfer me out to a store in DC.
- I'm sure there are a ton of other errands that must be done, but I'm having a hard time thinking of specifics at the moment.  

(This picture isn't actually from this last week, but I just needed to find one so that it wouldn't be holding me up anymore from sending this in.  This is from the butterfly exhibit at the National History Museum in DC when I visited in October.  There is a butterfly on my finger.)

Thanks for the updates, sisters!  I love you all.