The lede for this update is a bit weird for
me; but apparently should have been part of my report yesterday.
According to Rowen, and quite a few of the
other girls – and women – around town; I should have mentioned that Jake is
even hotter now than he was when he and Stephanie left for Europe last August. Okay, it’s probably more-fair to report that
every girl and woman in town with a pulse has that opinion of Jake, including
me, but I am over my little-girl crush on him now; so my perception is
different. I also found that sort of
attention for Jake fairly amusing – especially when the girls didn’t seem
nearly as interested in noticing that Stephanie is equally changed – and looked
especially beautiful in a trendy, favorite sundress that she brought home from
Europe.
Abby might need to do a bit of shopping with
her suppliers to offer some of the clothing styles that Stephanie has in her
new wardrobe, and if she does that; I’ll be happy to pick out some new outfits!
;^)
While my girlfriends wanted to talk about
Jake’s hotness; the boys did not do the same for Stephanie – or at least they
had the good sense not to do that while their girlfriends were around. That seems incredibly unfair for them, but it’s
a fact of life; and they’re used to the double standard. Jake and Stephanie were among the most-wanted
collegians to visit with at church because they’d been away for so long, but
Violet and Dillon were popular too; and so were the rest of the students that
had returned to town over the past week – including Josiah and Christina. They got home earlier in the week, and were
at the party last night at the Wingborough’s house; but I haven’t mentioned
them before now because I haven’t spent any time with them yet. I should mention that Christina is staying
with Josiah at his house this summer, and while that isn’t a trend with the
non-married couples their age; I am okay with the precedence my favorite
collegians are setting for Michael and me – especially when we’re only a couple
of years away from heading off to college too.
I’ve started this report closer to the
middle of the news for today than the beginning; so let’s back up now and cover
the early-morning news.
I was up early today and ready for Tai Chi
before anyone else in the house; so I had time to put a pot of coffee on to
brew and a bit of quiet time by the river that Michael joined me for before
Mom, Dad, and the twins joined us for our Tai Chi workout. That was fun, but then I needed to hurry up
and get ready for the day so that I could get to Michael’s house in time for
our first Sunday morning breakfast with Jake and Stephanie. Violet and Dillon went with me for that; but
they’d already been well on the way to getting ready for church by the time I
got back inside again. We don’t need to
discuss how they managed to do that so quickly – or that I’m not the only one
in the family with acute-enough hearing to know that the shower in ‘their’
bathroom was only used once this morning.
Jacob and Jake were both cooking special
dishes for breakfast today, so we were at the best breakfast in town for sure;
and Lucas was as happy to be there as Violet, Dillon, and I were. Having the smaller group allowed us to have
more fun with story time too – and none of the distractions we had yesterday
with the extended family and so many friends figuratively or literally pulling
Jake and Stephanie in a dozen directions.
The food was truly amazing, and if that meal was a taste of what to
expect; everyone in town is going to benefit from Jake’s studies over the past
school year.
While I’m thinking about studies, nobody is
even mentioning Stephanie’s school year in Europe, since international business
accounting studies are boring compared to studying with some really great
chefs; but Stephanie’s education is going to be very helpful at the Inn,
ValleyView Furniture, and especially with our family business.
Moving along, Michael and I were on the
work crew for the post-breakfast clean-up, but we had extra help for that
today; so it didn’t take long. We were
at church early-enough that Jake and Stephanie could begin the meet and greet
with as many members of our congregation as possible. Michael and I were out of the loop for that
because we went to hang out with Rowen and Tim instead; and we were with our
friends most of the time through the first part of the service and during
Sunday school while we worked on a few things to get ready for the holiday
weekend service instead of having a lesson.
All of that was fun, but when the service went a bit long; we needed to
get straight to the Inn to help out with getting ready for the lunch rush.
Jake and Stephanie were told to stay for
the meet and greet after the service, but Rebecca and Jenny came with us – as did
most of the staff working the lunch shift.
I don’t actually have a lot to write about from my shift at the Inn,
since the work doesn’t exactly change much; but having Jake and Stephanie back
again does make life more fun there! First
up, Jake had fun teasing Michael at every opportunity – whether that was
because Michael got to have all of the worst jobs or for other reasons
including the frequent hugs and kisses I share with Michael while we work
together. The added dimensions of fun
that Jake and Stephanie both bring to the Inn really does make a difference;
and I’ve missed that a lot – even while we always have fun with Jacob and Miranda
regardless of the mix of friends, family, and co-workers we have there at any
given time.
Michael and I took our breaks, but we spent
most of that time doing our weekend homework.
Exams start two weeks from tomorrow; so we’ll be working on that a lot
between now and then – though it will be tougher this year with all of the
extra things we have on the go. We did
get our assignments finished, and while that didn’t leave us with much of a
chance to relax; we managed to keep going until we were done all of the work by
ten o’clock. I went home with Michael,
but only long-enough for a bit of quiet time with him by the river while we
wound down from the last big clean-up push; and then I came home to get started
on my bedtime computing, studies, and family business work.
While I was at the Inn, I missed out on a
lunchtime barbeque and afternoon family and friends play time, but Dad had a
lot of work to get done too; so they had a quiet dinner and evening at home
that included parents working in the office while Ethan and Ehlana studied for
their college courses. They were
wrapping up for the night by then, and Violet and Dillon had gotten home from
more wedding-related fun shortly before I did; so we had a bedtime snack and
chat in the sunroom before heading up to our rooms for the night. I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana
tucked in for the night since I didn’t get to spend much time with them today;
and then I came up to my room and hopped into my Jacuzzi for a soak while
multi-tasking the first part of my work in a time phase.
That allowed me to still be in bed by
eleven-thirty, but I didn’t have enough left in me for more time phasing; so I
worked as fast as I could to get everything else done at ‘normal’ Magi Master
speed. I would have liked to have the
extra nap time instead, but the work needed to get done; and I also want to
make sure that I have my language studies finished in time to take the summer
off. Keeping up with everything is
exhausting, but I seem to be handling it better right now than I was back in
January and February. Maybe it’s because
it isn’t winter or thanks to the fact that summer holidays are almost here, but
whatever the reason; I’ll need to keep handling the long days for at least
another three weeks.
Since the busy will be kicking up a handful
of notches tomorrow and through the holiday weekend, I don’t need to drag this
report out with my meandering thoughts; so I won’t do that. It’s been a fun weekend even with all of the
work, but it’s definitely time to get started on my nap now; so, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
