The Coffey Grounds

The family expanded today!!!  Joseph and Jane wecomed Joseph “Joey” Martin V today at 4:32pm.  He was 6lbs 15oz and was 20 inches long.  He is absolutely adorable and a great eater.  Both Mom and Joey are doing great!

Just thought I’d share the wonderful news.

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Well, I’ve finally weeded through all 1,800+ photos from our PCH trip and uploaded them into our Web Album.   We are doing well…staying busy as usual.  School is going well, but definitely keeping me busy.  Mike has been working really hard with work and contract stuff.  Then, in our spare time we have been catching up on all the things that have been neglected around here (the yard, garage, etc.)  Last weekend we mulched the beds, bought a new lawnmower and cleaned up the yard.  When we bought our old lawnmower we were pretty broke, so it wasn’t the greatest.  But, it lasted a good 7 years, so that’s pretty good.  This time we got one that is self propelled.  It is soooo nice!  And to top it off, you can start it with a key.  I am in mowing heaven!

Unfortunately, while working in the yard, we discovered something not so great…termites!  Yep..no good.  We had the pest control people come out yesterday and we got lucky - they have not gotten into the house.  Whew!  We are going to have them treat agressively and monitor things for a year.  Termites are runnign pretty rampant in this neighborhood, so we feel pretty fortunate that we caught them early.

Other than that, we are basically just trying to do anything to keep cool!  It’s insane here.  We are on our 13th day of 100+ temps.  I believe it hit 105 yesterday and was projected to be 106 today.  Crazy!

Stay cool!

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Sorry for the lack of udates.  Since school has kicked in, it seems time is harder to come by!  Still working on tagging and sorting our 1,800+ photos from the trip.  There is a folder in our web album with some of the pics.  But, it is slow going.  School is going well…it’s a little boring for the first half of the summer.  But honestly, that’s a welcome change.

It’s been a fun week this week.  My birthday was on Wednesday and we celebrated with friends.  Then last night we had fun at a photography class we are taking.  The other people didn’t show up, so we basically got private lesson.  That was nice becuase we could move fast and ask tons of questions.  Tonight we are celebrating my birthday with the Coffey clan.  Then, next week it’s our 8th anniversary.  Wow - I still can’t believe it’s been 8 years.  Time flies when you are having fun!  Not sure what we are doing for that.  We had a few nice meals on vacation, so I don’t think we will do anything special.

Other than that, not too much is going on.  Boy I like the way that sounds!!!  It’s nice to be able to catch up on stuff.  Last weekend we cleaned the garage for the first time in about 2 years. It’s so nice to be able to walk around the cars and not trip on junk!  Anyway…I hope everyone is doing well!

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and 1,809 photos later…we’re home!  We had a great trip along the Pacific Coast Highway from San Diego to Seattle!  We are exhausted but had a blast.  While I have downloaded the photos, I haven’t even come close to sorting them for posting.  I’ll work on that this week, though.  But in the mean time…I have typed up what we did:

Day 1 (May 20th)
•    Landed in San Diego
•    Toured USS Midway.  Lunch on the USS Midway
•    Drove to LA.  Dinner at Pink’s, dessert at Pinkberry
•    Toured Hollywood and Beverly Hills
•    Stayed at the Intercontinental Beverly Hills/Century City

Day 2 (May 21st)
•    Breakfast at John O’Groats in Studio City
•    Toured Peterson’s Automotive Museum
•    Toured Hollywood and Beverly Hills
•    Toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House
•    Drove through Malibu to Santa Barbara
•    Toured Santa Barbara.  (Courthouse was beautiful!)
•    Dinner at Olio en Limone
•    Stayed at the Upham in Santa Barbara (great boutique hotel)

Day 3 (May 22nd)
•    Breakfast at Upham Hotel
•    Toured Santa Barbara Mission
•    Lunch at Splash Café in Pismo Beach (awesome clam chowder)
•    Toured Pismo Beach and Pier
•    Toured Hurst Castle
•    Appetizers and wine at Nepenthe at Big Sur
•    Drove to Carmel
•    Dinner at Allegro’s Pizzaria
•    Stayed at Carmel River Inn

Day 4 (May 23rd)
•    Breakfast at From Scratch in Carmel
•    Toured the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz
•    Toured Winchester Mystery House
•    Lunch at In-N-Out
•    Presidio in San Francisco
•    Window shopping in downtown San Francisco
•    Cable car ride
•    Dinner with Martina and Ara at Calzones
•    Gelato and drinks in downtown San Francisco
•    Stayed at Club Quarters in Downtown San Francisco

Day 5 (May 24th)
•    Breakfast at Le Croissant in San Rafael
•    Wine tasting in Sonoma
•    Drove towards Mendocino
•    Diversion to Ukiah (because of lack of hotel space on the night before Memorial Day.)
•    Dinner at Walters in Ukiah
•    Stayed at Holiday Inn in Ukiah

Day 6 (May 25th)
•    Breakfast at Holiday Inn in Ukiah
•    Visited Humboldt State Park
•    Drove the Avenue of the Giants (amazing redwood trees)
•    Lunch at Avenue Café in Miranda, CA
•    Redwoods National Park
•    Crossed Oregon State Border
•    Dinner at Bella Italia in Brookings, OR
•    Stayed at South Coast Inn in the Maybeck Room (Great B&B)

Day 7 (May 26th)
•    Amazing breakfast at the Sun Coast Inn
•    Drove through Bandon, OR
•    Lunch on the road via a local Deli
•    Ice cream at Bliss Hot Rod Grill in Florence, OR
•    Toured amazing Oregon sand dunes
•    Toured Sea Lion Cave
•    Visited Haceta Head Lighthouse
•    Visited local glass blower
•    Dinner at Local Ocean in Newport (awesome!)
•    Stayed at Tyee Lodge B&B in Newport, OR

Day 8 (May 27th)
•    Breakfast at Tyee Lodge
•    Yaquina Head Lighthouse and amazing coastline during low tide (awesome tide pools)
•    Drove Otter Crest Loop (great views)
•    Devil’s Punch Bowl State Park (cool – but it was low tide)
•    Cape Foulweather
•    Depoe Bay
•    Tillamook Air Museum
•    Tillamook Cheese Factory
•    Karla’s Smoke House in Rockaway (amazing smoked salmon and ahi.)
•    Cannon Beach (just breathtaking)
•    Astoria (fabulous town – visited the Goonie’s shoot locations.)
•    Crossed Washington state line
•    Drove on to Seattle
•    Stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue

Day 9 (May 28th)
•    Breakfast at Hyatt
•    Drove to Anacortes, WA
•    Whale watching in the San Juan Islands (saw a grey whale and minke whales.)
•    Dinner at Adrift in Anacortes, WA
•    Stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue

Day 10 (May 29th)
•    Breakfast at the Hyatt
•    Columbia Center Observatory (cheaper and better views than the Space Needle)
•    Tour of Pike Place Market (awesome!)
•    Walked around Seattle
•    Not much for dinner since we ate our way through Pike’s Market
•    Stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue

Day 11(May 30th)
•    Breakfast at Hyatt
•    Toured Mercer Island
•    Lunch at Fatburger
•    Flew home!

Needless to say, we are exhausted!  But, it was a blast.  We definitely want to get back to Seattle again and explore the islands more and drive on up to Vancouver.  I also fell in love with Santa Barbara (so beautiful!)  It was a great trip, but we are also happy to be home.  We crammed ALOT into 11 days.  Mike says we now need a vacation from our vacation!

I’ll post pics soon!

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As always…sorry for the lack of updates.  The semester ended last week and I have spent the last week recovering and playing catch up.  As promised - here are som *final* bathroom project pics.  I say *final* because we still need new blinds and curtains…but that will come in time.  But for now…here it is:

I don’t know if we are happier about the way it turned out…or that it’s just DONE!  I think that the project was just a little much to take on with school, Mike’s work, and contract work on top of that.  Since finishing, life has definitely been more enjoyable.  Mike has been working on his car nearly every weekend with his Dad.  While that pace will mostly likely not keep up, he has been enjoying it greatly.

For Mother’s Day weekend, on Friday Mom came up for a quick visit because I had a big final the following Monday.  It was GREAT and I really enjoyed the visit.  On Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day with Mike’s family with a nice brunch.

Last Monday I finished finals.  It was a big relief and the semester ended well.  I have honestly spent the time since just catching up on things I have neglected and trying to get back into shape.  I gained quite a bit of weight this past semester (it’s weird how everything was fine then bam - it just all packed on at once!)  I have really neglected working out since the program started - only going to spinning sporadically - so I am starting to be more regular with spinning and yoga.  So far…so good.  I also got a great surprise from Mike - an early birthday present.  He got me a digital SLR camera!  I have been wanting one for a while so we decided to wait until Christmas (or so I thought.)  But, with our Pacific Coast Highway trip coming up, he decided that the time was now.  Needless to say, I was super excited. After much research we finally decided on the Canon T1i. While I haven’t had time to take any classes on it yet, I have had alot of fun experimenting.  Here are a few fun shots with it:

China berries in the front yard.

Action shot of Molly playing ball.

Cute close up of Molly.

Needless to say, Molly is a little sick of being my model.  And while these shots don’t perfectly capture the amazing potential with the camera…I’m slowly getting there.  We’re taking some classes after we get home so hopefully my technique and capabilities will improve.  But until them, I’ve been having a ton of fun experimenting and being creative.

Last weekend was also a blast.  We had girls weekend here in Austin at our house.  Unfortunately, we were missing two people, but we still had a good group of 4.  Summer flew in from Indy and Kris drove in from Dallas.  Katie and I live in Austin and rounded out our foursome.  We had a great time shopping, eating, having cocktails, and catching up on the last 9 months.

Other than that…not much is new.  Oh yeah…Grandma is now home!   Cousin Elaine came down to help her out.  She is doing great and getting stronger each day.

I’ll try to post pics from the road…

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Firstly…Grandma’s knee replacement surgery went well.  She will be discharged tomorrow and will go to a skilled nursing facility in Baytown for rehab for two weeks.  I talked with her today and she sounds great.  She said the pain has gotten better today. Things are going pretty well around here.

Last weekend we had a good mix of fun and work.  Last Saturday Mike went shooting at his parents with a work friend while I cooked for a game night we hosted with friends.  We had a great time and Mike grilled some awesome shish-k-bobs.  Sunday was fun as I studied a little then we went to Art Fest to check out some local and national artists.  The week flew by as usual with Mike working way too much and I had a big test and an even bigger presentation - both on Thursday…great timing.

On Friday I mainly recovered and we did our usual Friday night Costco run then had dinner with Brandon (the guy who introduced us).  We are really enjoying having him back in Austin.  Yesterday I studied most of the day while Mike worked on soda blasting (like sandblasting, but with baking soda) two swings my Dad made.  He is trying to refurb one that got damaged in the hurricane and strip the paint on one Dad made for Nanny that I now have.  Last night was fun as we went to our favorite burger place (Mooyah) and then on to the Pecan Street Festival.  It was nice to get out and see all of what keeps Austin weird Today Mike worked on his car with his Dad while I studied.  I have one exam this week and a big one next Monday.  We are trying to figure out if we can get to La Porte next weekend to spend Mother’s day with Mom or if I need to stay here and study.  We are just going to play it by ear as of now and see how the week progresses.  Mom is just so great and understanding though…and is so supportive of school.

Other than that…not much is new.  I took some photos of the bathroom completed and will try to post them soon.  The only thing not completely finished in the bathroom is the window treatment.  But, new blinds will have to wait a few months unfortunately.  Other than that, its completely done!  I’ll try to update more in a few days.  Hope all is well in your world!

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The past three weeks (I can’t believe it’s been that long) has been great.  The first week of April we went to La Porte for Morgan’s 4th birthday party.  Jamie and Mom hosted a great party and we had a wonderful time seeing family and friends.  Here are some photos, but more are in our web album.

Morgan in her new “girl power” truck - a gift from Neena.

Swimming in the pool.

The following weekend was Easter.  Also, that Saturday we got a great visit from our Cousin Andrew from Mississippi.  He flew into Houston to visit everyone and he and Jessie drove up to Austin for the day.  We did our best to sell him on Austin (we are always trying to recruit relatives here :-). We took him to Mount Bonnell, and had a good tour of Austin including Hey Cupcake (one of our favs), Mandolas Italian Market, Whole Foods, and a final wrap up at the Salt Lick with the rest of our Austin clan - Joseph, Jane, and Jenny.  Hmmmm…notice the food theme!

L-R: Andrew, Jessie, Michelle, Jenny, Jenny’s friend Emily, Jane, Joseph, and Mike.

Unfortunately Easter was a little dull around here.  I had a big exam the following week and spent most of the day studying while Mike worked on his car with his Dad.  My schedule has been nuts lately, and since the bathroom is done, Mike has been enjoying spending Sundays with his Dad working on the car.

This past weekend we worked around the house on Saturday afternoon trying to do some long needed projects (changing car oil, etc.) then we headed over to Joseph and Jane’s for fajitas (Joseph cooks awesome fajitas!).  Aunt Carol and Uncle Joe were in town, so it was great to catch up with them.  Jane is so cute with her belly.  They are doing great and the baby is due late June/early July.  They are wishing for a little earlier though so they can enjoy a full summer with the new addition.

On Sunday I had a blast with my friends John and Steven.  We have season tickets for Broadway in Austin and went to Avenue Q.  It was hillarious!!!  John and I met at Eastside Cafe for brunch which was great.  I love the Eastside brunch and Mike never wants to go.  So this was a great treat.

Last week also brough other great news - I was accepted into the CNS program!  CNS stands for Clinical Nurse Specialist.  Its an Advanced Practice Degree along the same lines as a Nurse Practitioner.  However, as the name suggests, its a more clincically focused role typically with a speciality.  For instance, I am really interested in Cardiology.  So, I might work with a Cardiologist seeing patients in and out of the hospital, adjusting meds, writing new orders, etc.  You can sit for an exam to get prescriptive authority (which I plan to do as of now.)  I’m excitied.  I think eventually  I will get back to the business end of things, but from what I have been told by many sources, this is definitely a better (and many times faster) route and provides more flexibility.  Mike is really excited for me - he thinks this is a smart move, too.  He likes to tell people that in August we are “recession proof.”  Haha.  But, it IS nice to know that if God forbid something happens to him or his employment, I can find work anytime and anywhere and can make ends meet.

Mike is doing well.  He’s had more free time to do things he enjoys like work on his car now that the bathroom is done and there is less stuff to do around the house.  He’s also been enjoying little “piddle projects” like changing all the door knobs and stuff.  It has taken 7 years, but we finally nearly de-golded the house!  The guy that built this place LOVED gold and I’m sure spent a pretty penny putting in the stuff.  But we HATE gold and have had to de-gold things steadily.

Other than that…not much is going on.  I have 3 weeks left of school, so things are pretty crazy getting wrapped up.  Then we leave for VACATION!  Yea!  Oh yeah…we finally decided on a trip.  I’m a little bummed that its not France, but its just not in the budget right now.  So instead, we are finally taking our PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) trip.  Right now we are flying into San Diego and out of Seattle and will be on the road 10 days.  We are both looking forward to getting away and relaxing a little.  Plus, this is a trip we’ve always wanted to do.

Hope all is well in your world!!!

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The past two weeks after Spring Break have just flown by.  Unfortunately, not with the best of news, either.  Our immediate family is fine, but the extended Hampton family has had a tough two weeks.  First, we found out that Cousin Andy’s pacreatic cancer is not curable.  Then, a few days after that - Uncle Levon passed away.  Only to be followed by Aunt Loree’s (Uncle Levon’s wife) stroke right after the viewing.  Yep…pretty rough week.

On the positive front - Mike and I are doing well.  School is super busy - we are in the last month of this semester - woo hoo!  So excited about that!  Also, I just found out yesterday that I will be able to apply for a transfer to the advanced practice clinical program.  For a while they were claiming it was full, but I was able to work the communication channels to get the word back that they should have two openings based on people that have had to drop out or transfer themselves.  I’m just happy that I will have the opportunity to apply!  While its not a done deal - I feel pretty good about getting in.  I should hopefully know about that within the next three weeks.

We still don’t know where we are going on vacation yet.  We were trying for France, but I can’t seem to find any great flight deals for when we can travel.  Also, Mike really wants to stay in the states.  He feels that we should be supporting the US economy in these tough times.  I can’t say that I disagree - I just really wanted to go to France.  We are still working on that, but do need to book something soon.

Today we are headed to La Porte.  It’s been way too long - we haven’t been since Christmas!  Morgan’s 4th birthday is Sunday and they are having a party for her Saturday at Mom’s.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone.

Sorry I haven’t posted final pics of the bathroom yet.  It’s all done except for the stinking medicine cabinet.  I painted it on Sunday but it didn’t pass Mike’s inspection, so we have to redo it!  He’s such a perfectionist.  We are really enjoying it though.  It’s so nice to wake up and have your clothes in a closet!

I’ll take lots of pictures this weekend and will hopefully post them soon.  The next month will be nuts, so I’m not sure how often I will be able to post.  Sorry!  Have a great weekend!

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We are back from Chicago and exhuasted…but in a good way!  We had an absolute blast!  I have posted photos in our web album.  The extended weekend was action packed.  When we arrived, Melissa had the whole trip planned out (with plenty of relaxing time to adjust as needed!)

We even had this awesome itenerary (Melissa is so talented!)

The first full day began with the river dyeing.  Here is Mike and I at the bridge for the dyeing.  Ohhh..and yes, your not crazy…I chopped over 10 inches off my hair 2 weeks ago!  Unfortunately, I couldn’t donate it because it was so layered.  That was a bummer!

It’s amazing how green it looks! (And yes…it’s biodegradable)

Next, it was off to Hot Dougs!  This place has the most AMAZING hot dogs!  And the duck fat fries were awesome!  I think Cath has pic of the table with the food…I think we all gained 10 pounds that meal alone! I’ll try and post it later.  That night we went to Second City which was a blast!

The next day we started off with breakfast then headed to MIllenium Park and THE BEAN! Here is Mel, Me, and Cath goofing off at the bean.

And here was more goofing around at Millenium Park.  Not sure what we were thinking here…I’m relating it to sleep deprivation

After that we had a 3 hour Segway tour with Steve’s Segway Tours.  We were lucky enough to get Steve as our guide.  It rocked!  That night we headed back to Jason and Mel’s house in Glen Ellyn and ate the BEST italian meal of our life.  It was amazing and a perfect way to end a great day. (L-R  Cath, Marc, Michelle, Mike, Jason, Melissa)

The next day we went to the Frank Lloyd Write House and Tour.  We walked alot around Oak Park (gorgeous) and had luch at a wonderful bistro.  Here is me, Mel, and Cath at lunch.

The final day was just Jason, Mike and Me as Mel had to work and Marc and Cath headed back to Houston.  We had so much fun going up to the observation level of the Hancock building, seeing the Stained glass museum at Navy Pier and going to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The photos just don’t do the trip justice.  We had a wonderful time making memories with special friends and enjoying a great city!

Now…back to reality with school and work….

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I’m officially on Spring Break and loving every minute of it!  Unforutnately, I have alot of school work to do on break, but only after our trip to Chicago.  We are very ready to get away with wonderful frends and have a great time in a fun city.  But, I thought before we go, I’d post some pics of the bathroom.  While it’s not *completely* finished (we have alot of finishing touches to do,) it’s functionally complete.  The shower surround was installed yesterday and Mike hooked up the second sink last night.  We even took showers last night to test things out.  Mike needs to adjust the temperature settings, but other than that, it works great!  Here are a few pics:

Here is the tub and shower together.  We still have some work to do - the blinds should be in next week and I need to find something to put over the tub.  But, I’m picky with art, so that might take a while.

Closer view of the shower and surround.

The vanity area.  The vanity is in, but the backsplash mirrors, towel bar, etc. aren’t up.  We also need to refinish the existing medicine cabinet and put it in to the hole in the wall.  And what’s that up towards the ceiling, you ask?  Yep…it’s a TV.  Long story short…I told Mike one day that it would be cool to watch TV while relaxing in the tub, and he said “why not” and did it.  Yes…we know its crazy, but it’s also kinda cool and didn’t cost much since he can do all that stuff.  The people who buy our house next will think we are nuts, but it’s probably a little true

Closer view of the vanity.  Yes…that’s the one they have at Costco right now.  We took the one back that we ordered a few months ago because this one is larger (72″) and has more storage.  I think it turned out well.  I wanted it centered on the wall, but that was creating an electrical nightmare for Mike, so I gave up.  But, now I have room for a trashcan to the left.

All in all, things are good.  My projects after we get back from the trip are to finish up settling in to the bathroom and try to get our house back to normal.  I also have alot of school work to finish.  I have a HUGE project to present on the Monday after we get back…yeah…our program is sick like that - that way we HAVE to work over spring break.  They love doing stuff like that us often!  Anyway.  I hope your week goes well and you are staying warm in this aweseom winter weather!

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