Wonderin' Wanderin' Wednesday - Houses & More Houses

Thursday? For some reason I can’t remember what we did. Chika thinks we did something special, because we didn’t go to salsa, but I think we were just beat and turned in early.

On Friday I got a ride to work from Will (Strait), who I often commute to work with from Greenville, and Chika met me in Spartanburg after work so we could look at a house. We checked out the house and I could see that it had potential, but this was the first house we looked at.  It had cranberry colored, wall-to-wall carpeting and was packed to the ceiling with crap. After seeing some other houses nearby and in the same price range, I can only conclude that the people selling this house smoke crack. No, really. They’re shooting about $30,000 too high, in my opinion. Afterwards we were beat, so we had dinner at Swad.

Saturday was a lot of hanging out in cafés and reading, a bit of writing, and I finished The Fault in Our Stars and The Girl in the Flammable Skirt. The Fault in Our Stars was fantastic, whereas The Girl in the Flammable Skirt left me … enh. Though there were some enjoyable stories, overall I was underwhelmed.

I sat down Sunday morning and, by 3:00pm, finished both critical response papers for both books, putting me way ahead of where I was last three week period. Yay!  We met my friend Ken (Keith) and caught the 4:50pm showing of Safe House at Cherrydale. I also started reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius for my next set of critical response papers due. I have to admit it's going to be a bit tough that, completely by chance, I'm reading two cancer books back-to-back. Just missing Dad.

Monday we just chilled at home. I read a bit and wanted to crash early, but story ideas kept popping into my head, so I was up until midnight-ish.

The Valentine's Day Card I Made for Chika

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a wondrous Valentine’s Day with my wonderful wife. I made her a card like I usually do, and thought we weren’t buying presents for each other. This is how amazing my Chika is:

White Chocolate Lavender Brownies!

• She baked white chocolate-lavender brownies
• She made French style macaroons that were A-MA-ZING!
• And she put together a scrap book of all the tickets and such that I kept on wanting to organize, but kept not having time to get to. 

French Style Chocolate Macaroons!

Super sweet, my wife!  I’m a lucky, lucky man.

The Scrapbook Chika Gave Me

Then, having made some 7pm reservations, we had some fantastic sushi at Miyabi on Congaree Road. We had a rainbow roll, veggie tempura appetizer, 5 pieces of shaki-shaki salmon (my favorite!), and some others. The ceiling of Miyabi is gorgeous, an arched ceiling with a mural of a night sky.

The Inside of the Scrapbook

This afternoon, we may have found a house that we’re interested in buying. It’s walking distance to both work (Spartanburg Day School) and downtown Spartanburg. It’s in the posh section of town, Converse Heights, across from where I’m getting my MFA, Converse College. It’s also priced right, is yellow which might have to change, and built in the ‘20’s. After getting home, Chika made a fantastic Cajun-style dish of beans, rice and eggs. Yum!

Finally, I helped out an old student, Phylicia, with a lab report, and I have faith that she will succeed in her pre-med ambitions.

Chika & Trav @ Miyabi - Arching Night Sky Mural

Still rockin’ my beard, the longest I think I’ve ever stuck with one. Next stop, Grizzly Adams!