Califoregon Living

My wonderful husband recently turned 50.  At first, we were planning on a big party to celebrate him, but as we were getting closer and I was trying to nail down specifics, he became increasingly uncomfortable.  He did not want a big party at all.  So, I started to think about how to celebrate him and make it really special for this milestone moment.

Should we go on a family trip? Should we do a romantic weekend somewhere? A new guitar?

Then I thought about all the time he has spent watching guitar instructional videos.  He has often mentioned one of the instructors as being “the best guitar instructor ever”, and then would mimic his accent, (he’s from England, but has been living in Nashville for many years).

I decided to look this gentleman up to see if maybe we could go to Nashville and have David attend one of his workshops.  I sent an email to Robbie Calvo to see if this was a possibility.  He immediately responded that although he would have been happy to try to make something happen, the timing was wrong because he was thinking of moving to Hawaii.  Well, I promptly responded that we’d follow him to Hawaii!  He then suggested the possibility of him coming to our house and giving David a lesson, then from our place fly on to Hawaii.  Wow, really?! OK!

I kept it a secret from David until the night before.  When I shared with him what was going to happen, he freaked out a little.  But, as it all sunk in, he became more and more excited.

Robbie arrived early afternoon and worked with David for about five hours, then we all went out for dinner.  He is one of the most kind and humble musicians/men we have ever met.  It was a blessing to be able to share a little bit of our lives with him and vice versa.

As he leaves the rat race of Nashville and joins the lovely pace of the Hawaiian islands, we pray for him a wonderful community that surrounds him with love, joy, collaboration, inspiration, peace, vision, and friendship.

I think it’s been a while since we have done an interview, so here we go!

Name: ‘R’ Age: 11

Favorite thing to do? Playing football with friends/ Park Day with the Homeschool network/ Video Games/ Swimming/ Sleeping outside

Favorite thing to eat? Cheese Pizza!

Favorite thing to wear? Seahawks jersey and hat/ Pajamas

Favorite thing to read? Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Favorite thing to watch? Dr. Who

Favorite thing to listen to? Overwerk/ Toby Mac/ Mord Fustang/Perry Gripp

Things I loved about this year: Celebrating my birthday/ Traveling to Maui

Things I am thankful for:  My family/

Things I want to do soon: Go to Disney world/ visit my great aunt and uncle

Name: ‘A’ Age:12

Favorite thing to do? Going to the gym to workout/ snowboarding/ swimming/parkour

Favorite thing to eat? Sushi eel roll or the Benjamin roll at Mikuni

Favorite thing to wear? My Seahawks jersey or normal white cotton shirts

Favorite thing to read? Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Marvel comics

Favorite thing to watch? Phineas and ferb/ Dr. Who/Guardians of the Galaxy

Favorite thing to listen to? Owl City

Things I loved about this past year? Maui trip/ My 12th birthday/ Christmas/ watching Guardians of the Galaxy/ playing air soft

Things i am thankful for: My family/ technology

Things I want to do soon: Turn 13/ Go to Disneyworld/get good at working out and martial arts

The boys are having a great time getting into Airsoft Battles with their friends.  It’s kind of like a plastic bb.  It can cause some stinging and welts when hit on unprotected areas, but it does not keep them from playing!

A few years ago, my gal pal Heidi and I, went on a girls trip to Napa and Sonoma.  She ended up sick with gallbladder issues and I broke out into a terrible case of hives.  We joked about having a “do over”.

Well, the time came and we were able to do Sonoma over.  It was fabulous!

The weather was perfect.  Not too hot or too cold.  First stop t Gloria Ferrer

We popped across the street to Jacuzzi Family Vineyards.  They were hosting an olive festival and it was pretty busy, but not too crowded.  We enjoyed looking at the art work, and sampling olives, vinegars, and wines. 

We checked into our townhouse. It is a perfect space located a few blocks from Sonoma Plaza.  Easy walking distance.  You can see the property here: http://www.vrbo.com/563004

We walked through Sonoma Plaza and visited a few of the tasting rooms.  It was Valentine’s Day and we ended up having a very late dinner at Cafe La Haye http://cafelahaye.com

The next day, we shopped Sonoma Plaza, then visited the wineries Cline, Viansa, and Domaine Carneros. It was the perfect “do over” with a good friend.

This is long overdue.  We finally set aside time to spend with each of our boys.  David took ‘R’ to a Brazilian Steak house, and I took ‘A’ to La Provence, a French restaurant.

We both dressed up and made reservations.  ‘A’ was quite the gentleman, holding the door open for me, pulling out my seat, taking my coat. We covered table etiquette in a nice restaurant and talked about the different forks and when to use what.  It was cute to witness his reaction when I said that if the waitstaff does their job well, they will take the fork we used for our appetizer and replace it with another fork for our salads.  The waitress did exactly that, and ‘A’ stated, “wow, mom, she is doing her job well!”

He tried escargot for the first time.  They had been removed from their shells and sauteed in a garlic and oil base, with mushrooms.  Served over crostini.  We both declared it delicious and the way they were prepared made it difficult to discern when you were eating the mushroom or the escargot.

We had a four course meal and were STUFFED!  It was a special night and one I’m grateful to have been able to share with him.