Our Little Treehouse
Posted on July 3, 2020 by Ching under Travel.
Brian and I stayed in one of the cute treehouse cottages in Eureka Springs, Arkansas over Brian’s birthday weekend this year. I went to the Treehouse Cottages website last fall and, after some research, I booked us the Lofty Lookout cottage.
Here are some pictures of the treehouse cottage we had for the weekend.
Our treehouse had a lovely walkway that led from where we parked our car to the cottage door. It was a lot better than the other treehouses where you had to climb a bunch of steps. All of the treehouses are identical on the inside but almost all of them have stairs that go up to the treehouse. This was the only cottage with a nice walkway. I definitely picked the best one.
The deck wrapped almost all the way around the treehouse.
The treehouse was almost 30 feet above the ground and surrounded by beautiful trees. Inside it was both comfortable and cozy.
Here’s a picture of the fireplace. We didn’t need it, of course, because it was summertime but I’m thinking we should definitely return in the winter and fire it up. I think it would be amazing to stay in during the winter.
Here’s a picture of the little kitchen with a small table and two chairs.
Here’s a picture of our four poster bed, and of Brian enjoying it.
And here’s a picture of the heart-shaped tub surrounded by windows so you feel like you’re out in nature.
And a picture of me in it. The soak was relaxing but I think it would be even more awesome in the winter time.
Brian was a party pooper and didn’t want to get in.
These next set of pics are of the nearby treehouses.
This one is the Bungalow treehouse cottage.
This one is the Whispering Wood treehouse.
This one is the Towering Pines treehouse.
The Bungalow treehouse has a sunrise view. Towering Pines and Whispering Wood, like our treehouse, both have a sunset view. I figured Brian wouldn’t be down for being woken up by the bright sun so, besides the nice walkway instead of the tall stairs, the sunset view is one of the selling points of the Lofty Lookout for us.
Here are some pictures of our nightly visitor, Roscoe the raccoon.
Roscoe came to raid the bird feeder every night at nine o’clock.
Our cottage had a guestbook with fun messages from previous guests like this one.
I left our own note which wasn’t quite as fancy.
It was so beautiful out on the deck that we had to take a few selfies.
And I took this great photo of Brian.
It was the nice we decided to grill out.
Everything was perfect except for all the bugs. LOL. Brian lit a bug stick but it didn’t phase the bugs one bit. We still got a bunch of bug bites.
Other than the bug bites, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The cottage was lovely and I would totally stay there again. More pics from our weekend in Eureka Springs on the next post. Until then. GNG.
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Angler’s Restaurant in Eureka Springs
Posted on June 28, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Brian and I found a great little restaurant in Eureka Springs while we were there celebrating his birthday there a couple of weeks ago. He liked it so much that we actually ate there twice. Here are some pics.
While we were there, I discovered a new beer I liked. It’s a grapefruit radler by Stiegl and it’s absolutely refreshing.
They had stringent rules at the restaurant. You had to wear a mask unless you were eating. Lucky for us, Brian and I came prepared and brought several of our Sofibella masks on the trip with us.
On our first visit, Brian got a chicken sandwich with French fries while I got a shrimp basket with sweet potato fries.
Brian liked the chicken sandwich so much that he ordered it again on our second visit. And we both like the fries so we got an entire basket of it to share.
I got a fish sandwich this time. It was delicious!
Since we were in a celebratory mood, we decided to get a fried pie for dessert.
More pictures from our Eureka Springs getaway next post. Until then. GNG.
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Pickleball with #TeamModel
Posted on June 21, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
A few weeks ago, Karen had this idea to ask Jocelyn Devilliers and Patrick Smith to play with us. I didn’t think they would be open to it because they are way, way, way out of our league but I guess Karen is friends with Jocelyn and so, while I wouldn’t even dream of asking, she wasn’t afraid to ask. At the time, Jocelyn was only playing singles (because of social distancing) but both he and Patrick seemed open to playing with us. Patrick said the four of us could play once Jocelyn is ready to play doubles again. But even after he was ready, it still took some doing to get our schedules to line up. We finally got to play together a couple of weeks ago.
Here are some pics from that night. (Jocelyn is on the left. Patrick is on the right.)
Mom and dad came out to watch and also had dinner at Chicken N Pickle.
Karen, Brandon, Brian and I ended up hitting the reverse happy hour on the rooftop after our matches. Here are some pics of our food.
The guys were so gracious and nice. I had the best time playing with them. Until next time. GNG.
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Atypical Pickleball Weekend
Posted on June 20, 2020 by Ching under Life.
Instead of spending all weekend at Seneca Park, I found myself at the Wichita Country Club on Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t have a mixed doubles match lined up on Saturday so I accepted my friend Sharmin’s invitation to join her at WCC. It worked out because we wanted to do some shirt cutting after. Followed by a delicious poolside lunch.
Here are a couple of pics of our food.
While there, I got a glimpse of their new outdoor pickleball courts. They were beautiful and empty. It made me wonder how often these courts are actually used.
The following day (Sunday), Karen and I had mixed doubles matches with Rick Thompson and Chris Wilson. We agreed to meet at Seneca Park at eight o’clock in the morning. I usually get there early to secure a court but, when I got there at 7:30 AM, all six courts were already taken. I’m always prepared so I had my portable net in the car. Rather than not playing at all, I managed to convince the other three to meet me at Aley Park just a couple of minutes South so we could still play.
Aley Park has six lined pickleball courts but no nets. It’s a great overflow option for days when Seneca Park is super busy. The only downside is you have to bring your own net. I think this is why Aley Park rarely gets used. People don’t want to lug around nets and hassle with assembly and tear down. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. Had I not had my portable net with me that day, I think we might have had to raincheck.
After we played our mixed matches for a couple of hours, Karen and I returned to Seneca Park to join Jimmy and the rest of the Asian pickleball posse for a cookout. The funny thing is, they didn’t even have a grill. Instead they had a burner and a wok. I called Brian to bring our portable propane grill over to help them out.
That night, I got to use my portable net again when I met mom and dad at Styx Creek Park in Mulvane. It was a full weekend of pickleball. Until next time. GNG.
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Lunch Dates with My Foxy Friend
Posted on June 18, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink.
I don’t know why “Karens” get such a bad rap. All of the “Karens” I have ever known have been warm and kind and generous. This is why I wasn’t surprised when Karen Fox and I easily struck up a friendship. Then again, Brian will counter that I shouldn’t be surprised because I think everyone is my friend even if they’re a complete stranger who smiles or winks at me one time.
I’d seen Karen before at various pickleball events. She even attended the pickleball-birthday-slash-Halloween-party that Matt Mayfield hosted for me last year. She actually wanted to have a Halloween party but Matt was throwing a pickleball birthday party for me at the West YMCA so they agreed to combine the two parties and just have one party. We knew each other then and I would have considered her a friend then but the pandemic has really brought us closer together.
You know how Jumanji and detention (The Breakfast Club?) have this weird way of bringing people together who probably wouldn’t normally hang out? I think that’s what COVID-19 did. I started doing the #BruceLeeAbsChallenge during the stay-at-home mandate because the lack of social connection (and lack of anything to do period) was taking a huge mental toll on me. I asked if others wanted to do it with me and she volunteered. We created a group text for accountability and we texted everyday. Sometimes the conversations weren’t even about our abs workouts. They would just be random (absolutely hilarious) conversations. I was also doing ZOOMba during this time and Karen couldn’t figure out the ZOOM thing (or just didn’t like how the technology worked) so she came over to my house to do Zumba in my garage with me. I totally thought she was joking until she sent me a text that morning asking for my address. Karen holds the record as my first pickleball friend to have ever set foot inside my house. Matt, my first ever pickleball friend, has never even been to my house (despite having known him the longest). I guess disasters have a weird way of bringing people together. And because she was there for me during the lockdown we got really close. She even invited me and Brian over for a delicious lasagna dinner at her house one evening. (SIDE NOTE: They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well, it works the same for me. The best way to become my favorite person is to feed me.)
Besides meeting up for pickleball dates (we’ve arranged mixed doubles matches and womens double matches with other friends), we’ve also met up for lunch dates. Most of the time it was just sharing a burger at TJ’s which is conveniently next to our favorite park but the other day (when I say the other day, it usually means any time between yesterday and a few weeks ago – LOL) we both finished with our appointments at the exact same time so it worked out that we could meet for lunch. We decided to meet at Homegrown.
Here are a couple of pictures of our food.
Most of the time I just see pickleball friends while playing pickleball and there’s not really much time to visit and get to know each other on a deeper level. Lunch was nice that way. While we still mostly talked about our favorite sport, we visited and chatted about all sorts of other things too. It was great!
Here’s a picture of my Fox-y friend at TJ’s one day while we had lunch and rootbeer floats. We typically grab our lunches to go when we’re playing at Seneca Park but that day, while we were waiting to order our food, I was a rootbeer float go by and it called my name. So I talked Karen into dining in so we could enjoy some rootbeer floats with our lunch. Plus, it’s a lot easier to eat when you have a table. I don’t even have a chair sometimes when we’re at the park. My folding chair is always in the car but I only bring it out occasionally (when I expect to sit around a lot like on #SangriaSundays but most of the time I’m playing the whole time so it’s kind of pointless). I’ve learned not to pull it out all the time because I don’t even get to sit in it most of the time. And there’s always plenty of other chairs to rest your butt on because we’re rotating in and out and most people are willing to share.
Anyway, it’s been really nice getting to know Karen better over these last few months. As someone who has been playing pickleball a lot longer than me, I really appreciate her guidance and all the knowledge that she’s willing to share. I feel like she’s kind of taken me under her wing and has been almost like a “pickleball mentor” of sorts. As someone who is hungry to learn anything and everything, I have really enjoyed this time immensely. I suppose that is the one silver lining that has come out of the pandemic.
I guess that’s all for now. Big day today as it’s the day I get to spend all day learning from Ben Johns. Gotta start getting ready. Until next time. GNG.
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