Spring!

I am so behind in blogging- St. Lucia seems incredibly far away and it's been non-stop action since then.
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So I typed that first line 3.5 weeks ago and never managed anything further. As an example of why, this past week found me in Chicago for Monday to Wednesday, DC from Wednesday to Thursday, and speaking on a panel in North Dallas on Friday. My carry-on suitcase and I had a wonderful time, but were very glad to be home.

In reviewing this old draft, it seems I managed to upload some photos when I started it in March, so let's go through those to start. Like this random one I guess I took on a family bike ride. I do love those.

We have some house updates! Back then it was that our last little in-house project, the beautiful built-in we added to our game room, was complete! We spent a weekend unpacking the very last boxes in our house, which was soothing to my produtive little soul, and I think it looks so great!

Now I'm just waiting on the last piece of our orange sectional to arrive after the first corner piece was made with the wrong fabric. We're so close!

And, jumping back to present day, our pool, which has been a large hole in the ground since early November, is finished!! It was filled while I was in DC and it looks SO BEAUTIFUL. The final landscaping begins tomorrow and I just spent the morning agonizing over the selection and ordering of patio furniture. We are so, so excited to have a pool back in our lives. Until last summer I hadn't realied how much of our parenting depended on being able to say, "why don't you go for a swim?" or "why don't you invite some friends over to swim?".

We're all excited to have that back in our lives. Cora had two friends over today to swim, Claire had a whole gaggle over yesterday, and Landon had a friend over this afternoon. Maggie and I did have done our path along the lake every day for the last 3 days and she is feeling very fit.

Also something I'm always excited to have in my life- the brilliant Bonnie who came to style me for Spring.

I can't tell you the comfort and ease I get from her little album of outfits. Before a work trip I'll just flip through and pick a few that share the same pieces and bam, there's my packing list. And there's such a confidence that comes from knowing it's an outfit Bonnie put together. I still feel like me, just a more stylish version, and I trust her so implicitly that even when it's an outfit I never would have put together, I still feel like me when I wear them. I feel so lucky to have such expertise and joy in my life. And it has so completely changed how I shop and think about my wardrobe. Instead of buying one "outfit," I buy high quality, longer-lasting "pieces" that combine to form so many outfits. I've slowly reduced the number of items in my closet and I truly love each one of them.

Like this gorgeous silk top that was my Spring treat from Vince. Paired with the black pants from 1.5 years ago and the white Veronica Beard blazer that was my biggest treat of Spring 2022.

I wore that when I gave am in-person talk to a hedge fund last week and it may seem superficial, but clothes matter, and the way you feel in them matters more. Thank you Bonnie! Maggie loves you almost as much as I do.

Moving on! Backwards. As I mentioned in the last post I had an amazing little trip to Colorado at the end of March. My sister-in-law flew up from Houston to meet me in the airport and we met up with my sister in Boulder to do a yoga class and hang out with her three girls before our planned journey up the mountains to my parents' house in Winter Park.

Unfortunately a big blizzard descended upon the mountain and we all decided it was safer to stay in Boulder for the night, so while we were sad for our Chief Rice Lady to not be able to join us yet, we had a great time going downtown for drinks and dinner and then sitting around my sister's fire pit and drinking prosecco from the silly straws she ordered.

On Saturday morning we did a gorgeous and TOUGH hike up a mountain- 1.5 miles and 1300 verticle feet straight up to gorgeous views and a great sense of accomplishment.

From there my dad drove down the mountain and we drove up to meet our mama bird and go straight to the hot springs.

And then we dressed up Colorado style (jeans and sweaters) and ate at the famous and delicious Tabernash Tavern for a birthday dinner.

And after that we put on pj's and did EVERY favorite thing I have, which includes playing cards, eating chex mix, drinking prosecco, and watching Top Chef. It was absolutely everything I hoped a 40th birthday Rice Lady getaway could be.

On Sunday Tamires got up early to return to my brother and her babies and my mom, sister, and I went cross country skiing, something I'd never done before and found out that I LOVE.

It's so beautiful and serene and a great workout, but more relaxed and simpler than a day of downhill. If I thought I could convince my speed-demon husband and children to join me, I'd opt for cross country over downhill skiing every trip.

From THERE we stopped in Golden to meet my dad at our favorite pizza place and then I Ubered to my law school friend's house in Denver because crazy enough, years after graduating, two of my very best friends from law school moved to Denver and live about a mile apart and we got to meet up for drinks and dinner and it was so wonderful.

On the home front, Claire has joined the rowing team and now rows on our beloved neighborhood lake 3x a week. It's really hard work, but she's enjoying it so much and we love seeing her so excited.

I'll close here, because I've already posted too many pictures and jumped around too much trying to capture the last few weeks (months) of time, with a quick recap of the day, which is everything I hoped we'd eventually find in our new city. We woke up to a front yard covered in toilet paper and caution tape, something which apparently didn't happen in DC and Potomac, MD where James grew up, but is a sign of great favor and popularity here. We sent Claire out to start cleaning it up (because it's always Claire who is the intended recipient of this odd form of love) and then a car of boys (the very ones spotted traipsing about our yard around midnight) pulled up to help and I got to watch her flirt and hold court with a whole gaggle of 13-year-olds. James had gone to pick up Landon from a friend's house where he spent the night last night and take him to practice, and then met me, Claire, and Cora at Cora's soccer game, which they won, and in which Cora was a fierce defender. We brought a teammate home with us, dropped Claire off at a nearby restaurant to meet up with friends and eventually walk home. Landon had a friend over, everyone was swimming in the new freezing pool, I took Maggie on a long 5 mile walk along the lake, and Clarie swung by with her crew before she and Landon and their friends went to a friend's house one street over to play on a slip 'n slide. Friends were collected, our kids came home, and now our 3-pack is at the park at the end of the street while James and I chat and make dinner. We'll eat outside in the screened-in porch and listen to the waterfall in the pool and I am grinning ear to ear because this, this is what I wanted for us all.

Happy mid-April to you all!