The Liz List - December 13, 2019
Photography: Shelly Borga
Happy Friday, everyone! It’s good to be back this week with another Liz List. 💃🏻 Today I’ve got a life update for y’all.
We’ve had quite a bit going on over here, and to be honest my anxiety levels are high. In addition to the usual holiday madness, I’ve had a bunch on my plate the past couple months, and I’m definitely starting to feel the effects of it all. I’m very run down. Some of what I’ve got going on is my own fault (travel, construction, social obligations), but some of it I can’t really control (mainly work-related and new mom struggles, but some other stuff, too).
The other day in the car I told my husband that 2020 is going to be my year of NO. The bottom line is I’ve got to be better at setting aside time for myself to relax at home and spend quality time with Kate. I’m the worst at putting too much on my plate, and honestly I’ve done a poor job recalibrating my life to the reality of having less time to give post-baby. It’s one of my top priorities to fix that next year! My mental and physical health need to move back up the priority list. 💆🏻♀️💪🏻
I mentioned on Instagram stories earlier this week that we’ve been dealing with some construction headaches related to our attic-to-playroom conversion project, so now I’ll spill the beans on that situation.
As part of the project, we had to replace our existing upstairs A/C unit. The company we’re using came out and gave us a bid, we verbally approved it, and they installed everything. Then come to find out… the new unit isn’t compatible with Nest. That’s a major issue because we’ve already spent a lot of money converting our home to the Nest “smart home” system. All 3 of our air conditioners, our smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, plus our doorbell are all controlled with the Nest app. The A/C company saw we had a Nest thermostat, but I guess didn’t think it relevant to tell us the new unit wasn’t compatible with it. 😑 We’d have to download a different (and really, shitty - might I add) app to control the new unit. Which negates all the money we’ve spent up until now to have everything on one smart system.
Of course we immediately called the owner of the A/C company to try and figure out a solution, but he dodged our phone calls and has done nothing but blame us and our general contractor (who, FWIW, is on our side and has been super helpful and professional). To be honest I expected to call the A/C guy to explain the problem and assumed we’d all work together to figure out a solution. I wouldn’t be near as upset about it if he’d just be willing to have a conversation with me about it. But that’s not how it went down! I’m not going to name names as we’re still in progress, but fingers crossed they do the right thing! The good news is there is no signed contract and no money has yet exchanged hands. But suffice to say it’s a MESS. We’re still trying to figure it out. 🙏🏻
I wish I could say that’s the only complication we’ve run into, but just today I learned that the builder who renovated our home ran illegal electric wiring, improperly cut ceiling joists, and didn’t properly install adequate support beams when they knocked down the wall to open up our kitchen. In fact, as of this week the walls near our kitchen now have cracks in them - not good! SO now we’re working to fix all of these very major issues. I know I’ve shared before how many problems we had with our previous builder (who we ended up firing, btw), but it’s so frustrating that two years later we’re still paying to clean up his mess.
Silver linings though. I’m super relieved we decided to do this new project because we never would have known about these safety issues otherwise. Left unfound, they could have caused a fire or resulted in a collapsed ceiling. Fortunately, paying for these fixes isn’t going to kill us financially. And even though it’s stressful now, at the end of the day I’ll sleep better knowing it’s done right.
Another positive… I really like our current general contractor. We’ve had such negative experiences with pretty much everyone we’ve worked with in the construction industry, but thankfully this time around we seem to have found a good actor. In fact my husband and I just got off the phone with him to go over his plan to correct all these mistakes. We trust him to get things fixed and safe! Assuming everything continues as it has been with him, I will share his information after the project is over.
Finally, as if this week wasn’t crazy and terrible enough, today we will be putting down our sweet Scottish Terrier Charles. 🌈 If you’ve followed me for a while, you know he’s been battling bladder cancer for going on two years now. Until this point, he’s shocked everyone (including our veterinarian) at how long he’s made it. We didn’t do chemo, but I guess the meds he was prescribed really did prolong his life. Over the past month or so, he’s really regressed and some new tumors have popped up. So it’s time. The last thing we want is for him to suffer. He’s been an incredible dog (minus the fact that he’s literally always dirty 😅) with the best personality. His absence will be felt. 💔
Tomorrow all 3 of us are headed out of town to see my cousin Liza perform in the Houston Symphony Choir. 🚗 Then next week we’ll be out of town again. We’re headed to the California wine country with some friends. Typically we stick to Sonoma or Napa proper, but this time we’re staying in the Healdsburg area which we’ve never done before so I’m excited for a new experience. 🍷
On Monday I’ll be sharing my Mamaw’s Mashed Potatoes recipe in time for Christmas! Aside from that, you probably won’t be hearing much from me between now and 2020. Given everything I’m juggling, I’m going to cut myself some slack and take a couple weeks off from posting on the blog. Taking a couple mental health weeks, if you will! 😘
If you’re still reading this, here’s what I’ve been into lately:
CELEBRITY: Earlier this week, Chrissy Teigen (love her) did a 2-hour long Twitter Q&A answering any and all questions related to being a celebrity. The questions she answered were FASCINATING. She talked house managers, nannies (they have four), making restaurant reservations, mean celebs, house payments, making friends, traveling with staff and how that works, her struggle with anxiety, whether celebrities pay their own bills, how they find assistants, her favorite perk that comes with being a celebrity, and more. Read some of her answers here. And here’s a link to her Twitter page… if you scroll down a bit you can read the Q&A in its entirety.
BIZ NEWS: IHOP is opening a new fast casual restaurant called “Flipd”.
BIZ NEWS: For the first time in decades, the world is getting a brand new apple variety. The Cosmic Crisp is “the result of crossbreeding two varieties: the Honeycrisp, which growers find finicky but which gives the Cosmic Crisp its texture and juiciness, and Enterprise, a late-ripening, long-storing apple.” Pretty wild.
SPORTS: The MLB removed marijuana from its list of banned substances and will no longer be testing for it. It will, however, be testing for opioids.
MOTHERHOOD: Turns out women aren’t naturally better multi-taskers (something I know I’ve heard before), we just have no choice.
HOME TOUR: My friend Ellen recently sent me this home tour. It’s a really cool mix of traditional and modern style. I’m really into the new trend we’re seeing in design of using natural wood tones in cabinetry. So pretty! I also really like the entry rug, so here’s a link to shop it.
ORGANIZATION: Kourtney Kardashian’s pantry. I like her tip for writing the expiration date on the bottom of the jars so they’re available but not visible.
FRIENDSHIP: Specifically, how they change with age. I found this article pretty insightful. I had my fair share of friendship challenges in 2018/19 (it was rough!) and can relate to a lot of the topics discussed in this article. Especially the bit about letting a friend know when they’ve hurt you. I’ve been trying to be better about this, whereas in the past I just internalized hurt feelings which is helpful to no one!
CELEBRITY: Kanye just bought a second ranch in Wyoming. Here’s a peek inside.
RECIPE: Here’s a bomb salad recipe. Looks delicious.
JUST FOR FUN: Local Austin, green cleaning product company Puracy recently filmed a holiday commercial in our home. Watch the cute spot in its entirety here.
XOXO,
Liz