Leaving Legacy

Lovar 2000

This month started out fairly busy. I did a few renovations of CupaJava and I am very pleased with our new location, bewteen the Veronika Kent Medical Centre and the Apple Valley Academy. So student and patients walk by all the time and stop by for a cup of coffee or delicious cake from my baker Jolie Dawson. Eventually I will have S'Ahmisa start helping with the business since she has expressed interest in maintaining it. She has her eye on Pierce University and studying economics. I think it's never to early to map out your life, but my wife constantly reminds her that she's 12 and in the 6th grade and that she has plenty of time to think about her future.

However, we must both admit that she's growing up. Verde Herendez came over and took her to Apple Valley Metro to the new sports park. I wouldn't call it a date per se, but I suppose it was. I never seen that boy so dressed up before. He slicked back his hair and he even seemed nervous. I guess that is one good thing about losing that bidding war for the house at Greymount Pointe is that the preteens are not exactly neighbors now.

While I worry about the activities of my oldest, my youngest has her head stuck in the books. Not her school books mind you, unless it's science, but her favorite magazine "Nature Geeks". Si'Enya has started keeping a box of her collectables. Insects mounted to the cardboard, labeled specimens of leaves, detailed notes of bird encounters. Her love for all things nature has even effected school life. She's been having negative encounters with a group of students over ant hills during recess.

In other news, I sold our vacation home and am currently bidding on another larger cabin. I plan on taking the family back to the mountains soon so we can relax.

Whew!

Sandy threw a small party and when I say small, I mean the Herendez couple came over. We occasionally spend time with them since our net worth is amoung the top in the hood and we're both business owners, but of course things are always hetic. Sandy brought a new "bubble blower" and we were all in laughing fits on that thing. I can barely remember much of the gathering, but we had a good time!

Back to Business

Whew, I finally have CupaJava back and running like I want it to be and now I'm focusing on Smokey Jane's. Yes, I revived the old jazz bar and hired Faith Humphrey to play the piano for performances. There's a nectar bar, but I'm thinking of hiring a bartender and getting a real bar. Maybe even selling a few items? I sold my third business right to the hood and we have a nice cushion of money right now. Sandy wants to move to a bigger house, but...there isn't any. So we brought a vacation home on Schatazweitzier Mountain instead. We figured that with our love of the old mountain (that's where we spent our honeymoon) and Si'Enya's love for nature, then the cabin will be perfect. We need to make a trip to furnish it and Sandy's already talking about renovating the cabin.

Yep, she's spoiled

After our trip to Schatazweitzier Mountain and S'Ahmisa's comment about the soccer goal, Sandy and I relented and had the backyard redone to make room for her goal. Now we can't get her back in the house, so we might have to buy Si'Enya that tent so her sister can sleep outside!

More Family Vacation

More photos from our family vacation to Schatazweitzier Mountain. The girls enjoyed Lumberjack Training so much that they begged us to take them again, so this time Sandy and I tried our hand at the skills and let me tell you, log-rolling is much harder than it looks, especially when you have a bit of a belly to work with. Sandy's in excellant shape, so she stayed upright most of the time while I hit the chilly water! Sandy and I decided to try and spend some quality time with each girl, so I took Si'Enya and did a little fishing. She is very excited about being in the Explorers Club and returning to Schatazweitzier Mountain for a camping trip. I hope they have a good time and she loses a bit of the baby fat clinging to her midsection, but I can't talk. My "baby fat" never went away!

On the last day we spent some time roasting marshmallows and sitting around the fire. The girls were very curious if we were rich now since the insurance checks came in before the trip and with the new business restructing in the hood, I have a surplus of cash. Sandy and I tried to explain that we're not rich, yet, but are more comfortably. S'Ahmisa asked if we were comfortable enough for her to get a soccer goal in the backyard...that child!

Family Vacation

After my mother's death, Sandy and I decided to take the girls on a vacation. It was Fall/Winter break and they needed a change of scenery after losing thier grandparents. We went to Schatazweitzier Mountain and stayed at the campgrounds. After a few days we took the girls to Lumberjack Training so they could try thier hand at skills that lumberjacks needed to have. They were too young to try ax throwing, but they excelled at log-rolling, especially S'Ahmisa. She's such an active child and naturally good at all things sportsy. We did the usual things like grill hamburgers and fresh fish that we caught in a lake. We also took the girls into town to the Alpine Village to do a little bit of shopping and try thier world famous flapjacks. Si'Enya loved the camping trip and sleeping under the stars. She's been begging me to buy a tent so she can sleep outdoors. I doubt it.

That Si'Enya

That girl. I must admit, she is very much like her grandfather, always curious and stubborn. She was outside trying to catch insects-in her PJs!-when she messed with the wrong insect and was chased by a swarm of bees. I think the bees knew that she meant no harm since she wasn't stung at all, but now she is a bit more careful when she goes outside playing in nature. I have to let her since winter is coming and her outdoor days will soon be over.

Night Club

Ok-I've thought more and more about the lack of entertainment options and decided to utilize the space above CupaJava by installing a nightclub. Only open on nights and weekends, the club will have a DJ booth, dance floor and maybe a bar-or two. Mom gave me some of the insurance money to build the nightclub. I think it's a good investment and lots of sims will visit...I hope.

Revamping CupaJava

We have an exclusive contract with Pennelson Publishing to provide their titles to the residents of Apple Valley. They will ship the books and we'll sell them. In fact, my baker has signed a contract for a series of cookbooks centered around baking. So we're hosting a book signing at CupaJava for her.

With the new changes, I want to revamp the store. CupaJava is a three-in-one establishment (bakery, bookstore, coffeeshop) and I want them all to blend seamlessly, also I would like to install a small cafe so patrons can snack on desserts. I found a cart to have the desserts displayed on (the buffet wasn't working to my pleasure), but I still need to do some rearranging. Perhaps set up zones for the store, with a bakery/cafe zone for dining on desserts/coffee and choosing desserts to take home; a bookstore section with stacks of the newest titles and a register area of course. Yea...I like that set up better, might cut down on some of the traffic around the bakery stands and best of all-no simoleans spent.

Scoping the Crowds

The election is coming soon and I put my name in the hat for Financial Director. I wondered what was on the resident's minds, so I grabbed some simoleans and walked to the Green Tables. There I played the card tables (and lost quite a bit to Li and Tobi-I still think they cheated, but you can't accuse the Security Director of cheating and expect to be dealt with lightly) and picked the brain of my fellow residents. I am developing my platform and it seems like most of the residents have complaints about the lack of entertainment options on the isle. Since the FD is in charge of builds and real estate, perhaps I could give incentives to area businesses to add more entertainment. Heck! I have an empty upper level at CupaJava, I could build a nightclub...or sports bar for after hours. It would require more employees and perhaps some shift work, but it could work...hmm...

Busyness

What a busy time. Sandy wanted to throw a party and since the big game (Llamas vs the Rabbits) was on, we threw a sports party. Lots of sims showed up, including the new resident. Sandy seems intrigued with her, I guess since they both immigrated from big hoods and now they're living in a teeny tiny hood. To keep the children occupied, we allowed S'Ahmisa to invite a friend and even they were struck with sports fever, talking about the vollyball competition on North Shore.

My Growing Family

Sandy and I can not wait to welcome our new little one, until then we're trying to spend extra time with S'Ahmisa to let her know that she's loved very very much. Teaching her how to walk will make things much easier once the baby arrives.

Love

I love my wife so much. I can't keep my hands off of her. She's the light of my life, the sun in my sky, the ying to my yang. I love her so much! How can I show her?

The doctor said that fat around my middle is dangerous and can lead to bigger health issues. So now I am exercising and watching what I eat. It's so easy to gain weight, to overeat a little bit here and there and not be active and then you're stuck with extra pounds.

Working

Work is going well, we remodeled a bit and customers have said that the change is good. I am glad, especially with our custom coffees to sell and yummy baked goods. Sandy and father were right about the free samples, they have increased sales as residents taste the goods and then want to take them home to families.

Remodeling?

Thinking about renovating CupaJava, at least designing a logo and getting a sign and matching uniforms. That would be nice, must think about it some more.

Summer

I love the summer and grilling, especially since we had our backyard landscaped-it may be small, but it's very nice. There are plenty of plants and a nice shady area for sitting and having conversation. S'Ahmisa loves it out here, she's always crawling after the butterflies and playing with her doll.

Birthday

S'Ahmisa had her toddler birthday this simday! She's such a beautiful little girl. Sandy and I are also expecting another child which is very exciting. She's been so tired lately, I wonder if it would be twins. Elda and I are twins, my cousins Ayanna and Ajani are twins, Ayanna's children are twins. I wonder...?

Husband

Sandy and I are married now. The ceremony was held at home and we spent a relaxing honeymoon at Three Lakes...well, I thought it was relaxing..at times. Sandy kept me a bit busy *wink wink* since we want to give S'Ahmisa a little sibling soon. Hopefully we won't have twins, but who knows. O, on our honeymoon we did a lot of camping, hiking and fishing. I thought Sandy wouldn't like it and so did she, but she said that she had a good time. After the vacation I feel so refreshed and alive! I can't wait to get back to work with CupaJava!

Going well...too well?

CupaJava is doing well and dad has taken to supplying local weddings with custom cakes-he started with the Vanderburg-Garris wedding cake and is now working on a design for the Shazad wedding cake. With him busy with that, I decided to offer the baker's job to a university student. Once she graduates she'll bake for us full time. I need to review the menu and make condense the baked goods we offer...or at least switch them daily. We have breakfast pasteries...which are a treat and families love them as well as individual servings of desserts and cakes...should we stop the individual servings?

Baba

I'm a baba (father), Sandy delivered our first child, S'Ahmisa Warwick. A beautiful little girl. She is my pride and joy.

We're moving, the question is where. There is a house for sale on Granny Smith, it's not yet on the market, but the owners are looking at a house on Royal Gala because the owners of the second house are looking to move to an affordable house on Fuji. Whew! Such a circle. I hope things work out. The house is nice, two stories, three bedrooms, two baths and a spacious common areas. Only thing is that it is a bit expensive, but we're going to get a mortgage on the home. Of course it would need redecorating in our own unique style. I can't wait to start S'Ahmisa's nursery and start making another baby for her.