Good News & Bunny Food

I've been MIA on my blog - sorry. I've been sick all week. I still have the sniffles, but that didn't stop me from enjoying Easter! 

Josh and I started out Easter at church. The music was great - especially the drummers that were out front and then marched in to start the service. I love our church's music; it really makes it fun. It's like our own Switchfoot at chruch. Another thing I enjoy about our church is their cool marketing. Seriously. It's cool. Below is an image they have for Easter celebrate. Okay, I won't go ultra religious on you, just wanted to give my church some props (not to mention, it's what Easter is really about). 

After a good service, we headed out for a nice Easter brunch at Tilikum Place Cafe. I enjoyed a decadent Dutch baby pancake. It had bananas and bittersweet chocolate to drizzle on top. Josh had their special lamb eggs benedict on crispy polenta. A delicious way to start our day.

Then, I had to get some regular Sunday chores in - groceries, laundry, a bit of cleaning - but after that we were off to celebrate the sunshine we recieved here today. We took a walk along Elliot Bay starting out at the Helix Bridge (you may remember this from another post last year). 

The part was great. People out strolling. Dogs running around. Sun shining down on us. A slight breeze to cool us down. What a great day?! We walked all the way down to the waterfront and art sculpture area. We took a few photos on the way.

 

By 5pm, we were back at our car and ready to head home. I whipped up a yummy spring soup with ricotta toasts. Then, to celebrate a lovely Easter-Spring day some more, I baked a tangerine olive oil cake using the special tangerine olive oil Don and Nada gave us for Easter (this olive oil could deserve it's own post...if I have time).

 

Speaking of desserts, I wanted to give a quick mention to our Pastiera cake at The Fat Hen on Friday. It's a traditional Neapolitan (Italian) cake make for Easter. I'll have to make this next year. Quite tasty.

Rat City, Flowers, Tribute

What does Rat City, Flowers, and Tributes have in common? Well, pretty much nothing except for the fact that I've enjoyed all three of them in the past week. Let me explain....

Rat City

Get ready for this...roller derby. Here in Seattle there is a roller derby league called Rat City Rollergirls. These girls are rough, and tough, and so unique, they are the badest girls around and you're so weak (<--I had to, it's an old cheer from, well, let's not get into that).

Josh and I decided to twist up our weekend movie night and insert a night out watching some roller derby. I was pretty doubtful about the whole idea, but thought it wouldn't hurt to go for a few hours. Neither of us had any idea how the game was played. Luckily we had our iPhones to look up the rules. After a quick look-up, we had the basic idea, and enjoyed watching girls beat each other up. Get a glimpse of the action...

Flowers

Ready for something sickenly sweet? Josh has gotten me flowers two times in the past 3 weeks. Isn't he the best husband? Today, while in training at work, the knock opens up and my co-worker walks in with a big box from ProFlowers. I immediately knew it was for me, but I just didn't know why. Inside was two dozen roses with a little note wishing me a happy half year anniversary. Okay ladies, say it, "awwww." Yes, I do have the best husband. And I can't believe we've been married half a year - time flies!!

Tribute

If you've read the book or seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then I seriously need you to get with it or else we might not be friends. Tribute, District 12, President Snow...errr, okay, I guess I need to spell it out for you....Hunger Games. And I saw it opening weekend.

Sometimes when books are made into movies, I'm bitterly disappointed. But, this time, I can say with certainty that I was NOT disappointed. Sure, they switched a few things up, took a few things out, but they had to edit it or else it'd be too long - I get it. And they did a very good job. Highly recommend it. Go see it! It's awesome.

Tea for Two

Last Sunday, Josh and I did a "test run" for my first day at the Seattle office - the route, parking, timing. But why drive all the way to Capitol Hill without spending a bit of time.

We grabbed some lunch at a cute little restaurant called Plum Bistro. Afterwards, we decided to go check out a tea shop that Josh found out online. I was excited because I just spent the week prior in Chicago where every morning I enjoyed a tea latte from Argo Tea, a cool tea chain that I found (not on the West Coast yet, sad face).

I just love tea lattes. The love for them began when my friend Heather Richardson took me to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in LA many years ago. That is when I was introducted to the English Breakfast tea latte and the idea that you can have tea lattes other than a Chai tea latte from Starbucks. My favorite now is the Winter Dream tea latte...whoops, drooling.

Anyway, I digress. So, Josh and I took a nice stroll, in the rain (this is Seattle for crying out loud - deal with it), to a new place with high hopes of it being awesome tea especially since our favorite little tea shop in Queen Anne, TeaCup, closed it's storefront (you can still order online).

To our delight, we walked into Remedy Tea, a cute, cozy tea shop. I really enjoyed the way they decorated the store and had the teas organized. They labeled the teas with numbers and then had rows of the jars labeled with the tea's corresponding number. So hipster, Capitol Hill.

 

They had a few options for tea lattes, but back at Argo I had an Early Grey Creme tea latte that I really loved. They had an Early Grey Creme tea so I asked if they could make a tea latte (note: this would be called a London Fog tea latte). They said they could totally whip that up - hurrah. Josh ordered off the regular tea latte menu and got a chai tea latte. We were both very impressed with our drinks. 

 

(I guess with all this tea talk, I'm a tea freak)

We got our teas to go, and walked happy back to our car with a warm cup in our hands.

New Beginnings

Last week was my first week with my new position as Program Manager, Customer Success at Responsys. For the first week, I was out in Chicago for training. It was a week long with information coming at me everyday, and by the end of the week information was flowing out of my ears. But, it was a great week - fun people, great weather, awesome city, and lots of good learning..

Although we were in training all day and lunch was provided, I did manage to get out and have some fun in the evenings. Monday and Thursday night, the company treated us to dinner. Tuesday and Wednesday nights I got to meet up with family.

Monday we had a welcome dinner at Rivers. It was good, but mainly it was close to the office and had decent food. I had some grouper (fish) and veggies. Afterwards, a few of us went out for a drink at a cool bar along the river called South Branch - very posh, trendy stuff.

Tuesday night my Uncle Terry picked me up at the hotel and then we met up with Beth at a very cute restaurant called Janes. Beth and I usually both like the same food and again we both saw two dishes that sounded good. So, naturally, we each got one and split. We had a fig pork chop and goat-cheese chicken with marsala pasilla. I'd definitely go back here. Not to mention, good company and good conversation.

Wednesday night Beth picked me up and this time meet up with Uncle Chris. We headed to the West Loop area (I think - I'm not the greatest with the neighborhoods - I just looked it up on Yelp though) and ate at a place called Vivo's. We enjoyed the awesome, warm weather with a table outside. Who'da thought we'd be sitting outside, without jackets, in Chicago during March. Crazy. So we enjoyed our meals al fresco. Good times with the family as always.

Thursday was graduation dinner. Yay - I graduated! (or, whew, I made it - j/k). We all headed over to Rock Bottom to celebrate. We had a great last night together and let loose. A great evening. Here's all of us:

My last day, Friday, was short. We finished up training by 11:30am. I hopped on call for client, then I went and got lunch on my own. It was another great day (have I mentioned the great Chicago weather? Like 80F, crazy awesome). I picked up lunch at Med Kitchen, then found a nice spot in a park in the sun and soaked up some rays. Then I roamed around a bit, saw a green fountain, and then headed to the airport.

That was my first week of training in Chicago. Now, I'm starting up my first day at the Seattle office. Wish we luck!

Green, Guinness, Shamrocks

Green, Guinness, Shamrocks --> Happy St Patrick's Day

No need to pinch me, I definitely wore my green today. And, I even though my last name has changed, I'm still an O'Neill on St Paddy's Day. That, and, it will always be in my blood. 

Josh and I are having  a low key St Patricks Day. I had a long week (which I'll write more about soon), so we thought we'd keep it easy. We started off getting crumpets downtown at The Crumpet Shop. Now, you might think, those are English treats, not Irish. Well, did you know St Patrick was actually born in England. Read up.

Then we got some coffee at Fonte, and cheese at Beechers cheese (yum). Why not, we were downtown?

After relaxing and doing this & that at home, we got some Guinness steak pot pie at Hilltop Ale House. It seemed Irish enough. Josh ordered some Guinness too. I just pretended to drink it. I really don't like beer, so a photo with it will do it for me.

 

This afternoon, I baked up some delicious Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies. I searched at three stores for the mint green chips, but no luck. ( I guess my Irish luck was faulty). Instead, I bought some Easter M&Ms and picked out all the green M&Ms and placed them on top of the cookies before baking. And there was my touch of green.

Lastly, we are about to get a pizza delivered (mine half will have spinach, so it'll be green too). Then we're off to see John Carter - note: that's a Josh movie pick. 

Go Irish!

To The Summit

Thursday was a beautiful day, and what better way to enjoy it than go outside into it. And we really went outdoors....we went snowshoeing.

You know it's a clear day, when you can see Mount Rainier. So that's exactly where we decided to go showshoeing, at Mt Rainier. Not to mention, that the guy from REI went on about 45 minutes on how great Mt Rainier was for snowshoeing than Snoqualamie, the other place we were considering.

Our friend Aaron joined us in the morning to partake in the snowshow adventure. So, the three of us hopped in the car and headed for the mountain. Before we headed onto the open road, we made a quick pit-stop at Wholefoods for some sandwiches to pack along.

The drive took about 2-something hours, with us arriving at the Paradise parking lot around noon. We slapped on our snowshoes and headed into the snow wonderland. And the sun was still shining bright as beautiful as ever. In fact, it was so warm, that we hardly had to wear any layers. I was even rolling up my sleeves it was that sunny & warm.

We're not entirely sure what trail we took. Maybe Alta Vista or maybe Mazama Ridge. We just picked a direction and went. We saw another snowshoeing couple ahead of us that were blazing the trail for us. We walked through a valley and started upward. We we got to the top and had a little lunch.

We continued on, doubting the ridge that lay ahead. It was quite steep, but Aaron trudged ahead - the trail blazer. And after some huffing and puffing, we made it to the peek of the ridge (or, as I like to say, the summit). It was a dazzling site, with views of the surrounding mountain ranges - we saw Mt Adams and Mt Saint Helens. Here's a little video I took from the top:

2012 March Snowshoeing from Heather Brown (O'Neill) on Vimeo.

Lastly, we headed back down the other side of the ridge, making a nice little loop with us ending back at the Paradise parking lot.

But that wasn't the end of the day. Not sir ye. We also got two beautiful views of Mt Rainier on the road home. One from inside the park at Kautz Creek and another from a small town near at Clear Lake. Can't beat these views....

And was one fine day of beautiful weather and showshoeing.

Friday Harbor

Josh and I had this week off. No work. No stress. Just fun. To celebrate the changes (see Ch-Ch-Changes), and to enjoy our "free" time together, we decided to have a mini-trip.

Our destination: Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. The San Juan Islands are nestled just north of Seattle right inbetween the US and Canada. It's actually several islands clumped together with the biggest being Orcas Island. Apparently, this is prime whale watching waters (unfortuntely just not right now - another time...). 

Tuesday we woke up a bit early (and for me, early is anytime before 8am) to get on the road so we could be sure to catch the 10:20 ferry. Before we headed out, Josh made us some french toast for breakfast. I decided he should be the official Brown household french toast maker....hm, hm good. So with fully bellies, we headed out. 

The car ride up was mostly just me falling in and out of sleep while Josh listend to his favorite radio talk show. We arrived at the Anacortez Ferry Terminal in perfect timing. Then it was an hour something ferry ride to our destination.

 

We arrived at Friday Harbor just around noon and we were more than ready for lunch. I had done some Yelp searches the night before and was equipped with some options. We opted for the Bakery San Juan. Boy, did we enjoy the pizza. The crust was perfect - crispy even on the botton. Yum! 

 

Next, it was time for island adventure. We headed out on the open road with just our iphones for directions (my dang nav system apparently doesn't know the San Juan Islands). Our first stop was at the San Juan Islands National Historic Park, the English Camp. [Quick history note: Apparently the English & Americans were in a little tiff about property and it all started with the killing of a pig hence it was called the Pig War.] There were some placards with the history of the camp, but mainly it was a nice view. 

 

Then we headed a bit more north to Roche Harbor. We found out that this area use to be the largest supplier of lime west of the Mississippi. There used to be lime kilns and a little village. Now, they have converted it into a little resort village with a hotel, harbor, and little shops. We noted this place in our memory banks for a future summer visit.

 

Lastly we continued down the island. We made a stop at Lime Kiln Point (hmm, I wonder why it was called that, hmm). Here there was a lighthouse and more good views (and "the spot" to whale watch from land). There were a few more stops along the way to ohh and ahh at the views. Not to mention, we were enjoying the beautiful sunny weather (finally, sun).

 

We ended our day at our cute hotel on the bluff, Friday Harbor House. Lucky us, we got an awesome room with a view straight at the harbor. There was a nice fireplace, and just a cozy room. We enjoyed dinner across the street at a place called Vinny's. Just a lovely evening.

 

Wednesday was the day of our departure. We had a leisurely morning with a nice continental breakfast at the hotel. All the while, we looked out the window at our view. While I slept, Josh said it was a gorgeous sunrise, but he didn't take any photos. Sheesh.

We grabbed a coffee at a cute coffeeshop called Churchill as we waited for the ferry to arrive. Then off we were back home. P.S. We made friends with Big Foot and a lady Gnome.

 

Check out all photos here.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Got David Bowie in your head now? 

Josh and I have been experiencing some changes. Yesterday we both had our last day of work. It was totally coincidental; definitely didn't plan it this way. I think it's pretty lucky though. We have a week off together with no work to stress us out. How nice is that?

We both finished around 1:30pm yesterday, after 2 weeks of "got to get this done" mentality. We didn't want to leave our companies off in a bad place, so we've been working hard. Now, that the work is done, we can relax. 

I get a week off before I begin my new job. I'm transitioning from a working at home position to being in an office again. I was starting to get lonely working from home, and felt like I really need to get outside and be more social. So I took up a job very similar to what I did at Acxom - both in what the company does and what I'll do. In case you can't remember, I worked at Acxiom as an Account Manager. Now, I'm going to Responsys as a Program Manager, Customer Success. The titles sound different but my responsiblities will be very similar. I think this will be a good transition to getting me going in the Seattle business world. 

Josh, on the other hand, will begin his job search next week. His work-life balance was totally off, so we just felt he needed to leave and take quality time to find out a position he'll enjoy and have more balance.

What are we doing now?

1. First & foremost, Josh got a burrito. This was immediately after. Careful, he'll bite if you try to go near the burrito.

2. We watched trash TV (Millionaire Matchmaker) for a bit. Wow, watching TV during the workday afternoon sounds so rebellious. 

3. Went to Friday Happy Hour with friends. 

4. Got Haircuts (on Saturday).

 

5. Baked Cookies.

Ahh, look what you can do when you have free time on your hands! 

Breakfast Biscuit

This morning, Josh and I headed to Tom Douglas' restaurant cornucopia. It's a corner restaurant that houses both Serious Pie and Serious Biscuits. In the morning, it's all about the biscuits.

Now, you may have guessed, but I have a serious sweet tooth. That goes to say, I prefer my breakfast on the sweeter side. Muffins, pancakes, french toast; you know, sweet things. I was doubtful of going to a biscuit place because I register the word savory with biscuits. But, Josh loves biscuits. And he especially loves it if you can make a sandwich or pour gravy all over them, or both. So I decided to give it a try.

I opted for jam on my biscuit, to stay on the sweeter side. Josh got gravy. I have to say, these were pretty darn good. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The jam, for me, added that sweetness that I love. Yum! And, of course, Josh loved his.

What makes this place too is the atmosphere. There is this big guy, the biscuit guy, and he's in the kitchen laughing and talking. He calls out the biscuits in a jolly voice. I guess if you work around biscuits all day, you're happy. And I liked the atmosphere. The used mason-like jars for your water, high, loft ceilings, yet still had a warmth to the place.

Maybe I'm a biscuit girl yet. Oh, and we enjoyed our coffee too. What's morning without a cup of joe?

Weekend Visitors

This past weekend, Josh and I had some visitors. My parents! Of all the weekends we've had recently, they picked the one with the most rain. Sad face. But that's okay, there is plenty to do indoors.

Saturday - Wine Tasting

We jumped in the car and headed over to Woodinville, WA. There are about 85 wineries in this area (at least, that's what one of the winery people said). Sha-right, like we could visit all 85, get a grip...we did manage to visit 6 of them.

1. Chateau Ste. Michelle


2. Challenger Ridge


3. Patit Creek Cellars


4. Trust Cellars


5. Delille Cellars


6. Novelty Hills Winery *

*Bet you didn't know our visit last weekend was to preview the wineries and ensure it would be a good place to bring my parents.

We had a jolly good time. I got introduced to ice wines which I found awesomely sweet and yummy. My dad got a taste for Washington wines. And Josh and my mom just had a good time.

Sunday - Theo Chocolate Tour

What better way to follow up a day of wine, a day with chocolate. Theo is a local chocolate maker (just 1 of 10 in the US) just across the bridge from us in Fremont. This place is so popular, you have to have to make reservations to get on the tour. Since we didn't really plan ahead on this one, we go there early, got on the waiting list, and then prayer we got on the tour. And we did!

We all enjoyed the tour, especially the tour guide who made many Willy Wonka references. We got to taste some chocolate along the tour, and learned quite a few new things about chocolate and Theo.

Some of you who were at our reception may recall the little chocolate bars on your place settings. Those were Theo! My parents bought got the limited edition scotch chocolates which he is enjoying this week.

After a quick bite to eat at Fonte, my parents had to head down to Portland for a Burger King convention my dad was attending for work. See, even rainy day weekends can be fun weekends.

Red and Wine

That's what I said. Red and Wine. Not red wine. I'm talking about a red wall and wine (which was white).

On Sunday, Josh and I wanted to get out of the house a bit. We thought we should go out to someplace we've never been in the general Seattle area. Yes, we like to do this kind of random stuff. Sunday's pick was to go to the Eastside and Woodinville was the place. We thought we'd grab lunch and then see a winery or two out there.

And that's what we did. We had lunch at a cute sandwich place called the Twisted Cafe. It was a tasty sandwich with homemade bread. Then off we went to a winery.

We ended up at Novelty Hill winery. I'm not a huge wine fan, which I know for some of you is shocking considering I'm my father's child (if you don't know, my dad is a big wine affectionato). I do, however, enjoy a nice sweet, white wine. Yes, the kind you drink for dessert that are all syrupy sweet. Those wines. Maybe in time I'll develop some taste for nicer, red wines. For now, this is it. So it was lucky for me that the "bonus" wine on the tasting had lots of residual sugars (aka sweet!). So we bought a bottle.

As for red, well, the patio of the winery had a red wall at the back. See a red wall in the background...

And here's some close ups at the wall:

There was also red in the front of the winery. I like the gray to red contrast (trying to be artsy).

Then we headed home.

A Hearty Meal

Happy ♥ Day!

Today could have been any other day, except for two cool facts.

Fact #1: I made our polenta cakes into heart shapes. How cute is that? It was a sausage ragu sauce on top (which happens to be red). Then we sat and ate a heart-y meal together. (PS the recipe is from Anne Burrell on Worse Cooks In America)

Fact #2: I got Josh a cute card and had it sitting on the table for him when he arrived home from work. Isn't it a cute card and fitting for us Seattle-dwellers?

National Frozen Yogurt Day

This is a big deal people. Big. Today is National Frozen Yogurt day [Learn more]. Finally people are "getting it" - taken them years to realize what I've known practically my whole life. Frozen Yogurt is the BOMB. (<--do people still use that phrase?).

Anyone that becomes my friend finally sees the light after my insistance upon the glory of froyo (and forcing them to go ALL the time). I've even created other froyo monsters along the way. I think my friends in Germany and Holland are mad at me because I got them to love the stuff and then they returned home and couldn't get it anymore. I'm glad I'm able to impart the love of froyo around the world. Perhaps that's why people call me the Froyo Queen (or, the fact that like 5 people send me the article about it being National froyo day).

In honor of National Frozen Yogurt day, I shall tell you about the beginning of my love for froyo. It started when I was in junior high. My soccer team had a pizza part in the Ralph's shopping center in Encinitas. Some of the team members left saying they were going to get dessert. I shrugged and kept at the pizza place. When the girls returned, I saw the deliciousness in their hands. I HAD to HAVE some. So I gathered some other friends and trip #2 to the froyo shop ensued. I got vanilla with oreo topping. Heaven in a cup. I remember the night vividly. The froyo shop was called Penguins. It's not there anymore, but it'll always remain in my memory. And now, in it's place, there are mega froyo chains: Menchies, Yogurtland, Red Mango, Pinkberrys (the last two are more tart, ehh, not quite the cookies n' cream brands that are my fav). Awesome.

Now do your duty and go get some froyo.

Wallflower

This weekend Josh had a lot of work to do, so I had to find a way to occupy myself. And I had the perfect craft in mind. I noticed a friend had this awesome flower thing on her wall. It was love at first site. I really thought she bought it, so I asked where she got it. It turns out it was handmade! It was made out of book pages. She took it off the wall and showed me how it was done. I was impressed (and jealous). I found myself thinking, "I want, I want."

(To get you to read on, here's my final product)

So I did some rummaging online and came across a few sites that did wreaths with book pages - eh, close enough. With seeing the actual product up close and some DIY sites, I managed to figure out how this would come together. This is how I did it...

1. I went to Goodwill and found an old, cheap book with some solid pages (e.g. a hard bound book with thicker pages rather than a flimsy romance novel (not that flimsy, romance novels are bad)). My book was about Pompeii...odd, but the pages were too good to pass up.
2. I went to Bartells (drug store) and bought a small glue gun and some glue sticks.
3. I had a hefty poster board that I had left over from my wedding projects. Then I took a big bowl, made a circle, and cut it out.

Those are the supplies, and then came the putting it together.

• Rip out all the pages in the book (this hurt a little being an avid book reader).
• Roll about 1/2 the book (it was a big book) into curl-cones. To make the cones, I took the bottom, right corner and rolled toward the top. It should look like a sugar cone almost. And staple the bottom.
• Grab the glue gun, and starting from the outside, glue the cones along the edge. After you've made a full circle, start again one layer down.

• Keep layering until you get to the tiny center. Here I had to ripe more pages length wise and make smaller curl-cones. Then glue those in until you get so no more fit.
• I used the top of a soda can to make a little thing to hang with. I just glued it to the back, and then hung it on our bedroom wall.

And that's it. A beautiful wall flower.

Here's the artist with her piece + Josh admiring my craftiness:

[Note: This is not a DIY blog now. I just had a crafty spirit take over me. I am not a crafter, although I sort of aspire to be one; they're so crafty.]

Yuppified

I think it's time to announce it. Josh and I are yuppies. No, that is too drastic. Let's say we're on our way to becoming yuppies.

I liked how Urban Dictionarysays yuppies "usually congregate in Starbuck's, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and a wide variety of vintage clothing boutiques." Dang. We go to all those places except the vintage clothing boutiques. So, 75% yuppie maybe?

What makes me think we're on the edge now? The fact that we just join a produce delivery service, Full Circle. This service brings fruits and veggies from local farms to your door (or drop off place). This means you get fresh, organic goodness every week.

Our first order was supposed to come on Friday; however, you may have heard on the news or by reading my blog that we had a tiny storm here. That basically stopped everything. Instead our order arrived Saturday.

We opened the box and what did we find:

As you can see, we received carrots, cauliflower, oranges, chard, kiwis, pears, and apples. Some of it's hiding in the photo under the leaves of the chard.

I made the chard last night. This was my first time using it. A friend told me what to do since I didn't feel like scouring the web for recipes. I basically tore the leaves off and chopped them. Then I chopped the steams alongside some leeks. I put some butter and olive oil in a plan and sautéed the leeks and stems. Then, once they softened, I added the leaves. Add in a pinch of salt, pepper, and some crushed garlic. Voila, a veggie side.

This is our trial period. We'll see how this yuppified life goes...

Down Low, Up High

On Saturday our bed went from being down low to up high. How? We got our bed frame!

You may recall back in early November I wrote about our new mattress (Comfy at 35 and 60). This was our wonderful Sleep Number mattress bed. Unfortunately, our mattress came before the frame because the frame was on back order with Crate and Barrel. Translate this to mean: we've been sleeping on the floor.

Okay, well it wasn't the floor, but the mattress sitting on the floor. Luckily, the mattress is pretty high, so it turned out to be a relatively a normal height. HOWEVER, now that we have the bed frame, that normal height isn't so normal. We are now sitting a royal 30 inches from the ground.

We sort of feel ridiculous being so high. If it were a bigger house and a bigger room, it would look very elegant. But being a smaller apartment with a smaller room, it's a bit tight. My feet dangle as I sit on the edge of the bed. I'm just fearful, I'll wake up in my usual slump to get out of bed, forget it's high and fall flat on my face. I can picture it now.

 

Take a careful look at the pictures. Look at the bed stands...see where they compare to the bed? Yes, my friends, that's how Josh & I roll, I guess you could say we're high rollers in a way.

Snows Hits Seattle

Before snow ever comes to Seattle, there is always chatter around town. You hear people talking, "Did you hear? We're getting snow." And then everyone starts to freak out--people posting stuff on Facebook (for instance, this video), articles in the paper come out, people get worried about our buses and streets. And while everyone who has lived in a city where snow is normal, laugh and chuckle, it's really quite a production when it snows here.

This snow news has been up and down since Friday. While we've been getting some snow everyday since Saturday (none of it really sticking, at least by us), we are all waiting for the "big day." The day we'll be bucketed with snow. And that day kept changing...Wednesday, no Tuesday, no wait it really will be Wednesday. Then, Wednesday, but not as much snow as predicted.

And Wednesday it was. Last night we got our first real snow of the winter. And the snow stuck. Not a huge amount, but a solid few inches here in the city. I do know that outside the city, there was quite a few more inches though.

While I'm in my cave (cough, I mean office), I look out and see swirls of snow falling. I also hear kids laughing since apparently folks have picked up sledding down the street. Even when I walked out at lunch to take a few photos, I saw a few teens with their snowboards walking up the street. Did I mention I'm still working today? No snow fun day for me (nor Josh for that matter). Jealous glare.

 Now let's just hope SeaTac is open and running like normal for my flight to Portland tomorrow.

 

Things I've Been Doing

Sorry I disappeared for awhile with posts. Here's a peek at what I've been up to...

Reading

I've been swept away with the Hunger Games. Those of you who have read the series know what I'm talking about. I mean holy cow this series is good. It like Harry Potter all over again; I just can't put the book down. It's serious a problem. I'll be working and then find myself thinking about the book.

I actually thought I wouldn't like the books. I read the synopsis a few times since I've heard people say its good. But really, a books that takes place in the aftermath of a wasted North America? Sounded lame to me, but my friend highly recommended it so I thought why not. At the Orange County airport after Christmas and on our way home, I downloaded the first book to my new Kindle (my big xmas gift). As soon as I started, I was hooked. Now I'm on the third and final book and already half way down. I can't believe I've managed to stop reading to write this post - must have serious guilt for not writing. 

If you're feeling lazy, or you can't really take on another book at the moment, you can always just go see the movie in March. I know I am!

Soup

I've been spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen lately. Since the year started, ever Sunday I've made a soup. I'm going to try and keep it up too and have a little Sunday tradition. The past three Sundays we've had Chicken & Dumpling soup, Butternut Squash Chowder soup, and Vegetable-Salad soup. The inspiration for all this? A book Don & Nada spent me for my Kindle called Mr. Sunday Soups. The favorite so far is the Butternut Squash Chowder soup. Yum.

 

Organization

I'm generally an organized person, however, I always have this desire to be even more organized (oh, and the little fact that I married an unorganized person). As I was reading my Better Homes magazine, I came across an article on home organization called In-Box Rx. It's a system that helps you organize all the paper that comes into the home--mail, receipts, bills. The article suggests setting up a Paper Processing Center. Sounds right up my ally. So last weekend, we stopped off at Storables (a secret favorite store of mine) and bought a few items to create this system.

How's it work? Well you made a main inbox and you put any incoming papers into it. The everyday (or so) you go through this pile and sort it into one of three piles: Do Now, Do Later, or Pending. Then you go through Do Now every couple of days, the Do Later every week, and Pending once a month. The last been something to file away (which is another project for me--a filing cabinet organizer).

So far, it's been working out. Check with me in a few months.

 

Dinner & Movies

A favorite thing Josh and I do on weekends is go get dinner and watch a movie whether it been at home or in the theaters. The other weekend we saw Tin Tin in 3D at the theaters. It was cute and fun. We both agreed the 3D effects were pretty cool and made the movie. Otherwise the plot is pretty predictable, but hey it's really a kids movie. I haven't seen too much in 3D so it was fun and a nice change for the norm.

As for dining, we've been trying some new places. The restaurant that sticks out the most is Ocho in Ballard. It's a tiny restaurant and really only meant for parties of two (three max), but it makes for a great and delicious date night. We shared yummy tapas with my favorite being goat cheese balls fried with roasted pepper almond sauce. Josh's favorite was the trout ( I can't remember the preparation, sorry). Oh and the sherries mushrooms. Mouth is watering.

With my friend Beth, I've also tried the Back Door at Roxy's which had tasty but reasonably priced drinks and food. Oh, and the Leary Traveler which was a fun, pub-like place. Good food. Good times.

Farmer's Market

Yes, we still love to go to the farmer's markets. If you attended the wedding, you may recall the caramel favors we had from Jon Boy. These were from our farmer's market adventures. This time we bought some new items (new to us, that is): 

• Jam - I recently got on an English muffin kick (had one over xmas at the Brown's house). But with two crucial ingredients on top: butter and jam. We ran out of jam (probably from all my muffin eating), so we got some blueberry jam. The verdict: it's delicious with butter on muffins.
• Pasta & Sauce - This was actally a new stand at the market, so we had to try it. Everyone was crowding around. I finally got a taster and thought, "this would be excellent on pasta." So we bought some. And we also bought some pasta at another booth (pasta not picured, it was in the freezer).
• Mushrooms - Just a booth on mushrooms. We love mushrooms, so we bought some (and that's how we roll).
• Toffee - This was deliciousness. They had several kinds, but we ended up with the scrap box. It's all the crumbs that the place gets sold in a box. I put it in some chocolate chip cookies - uhh, yum. And Josh has enjoyed it on ice cream.

 

That's really not ALL that I've been doing, but it's a good preview. Well, actually, this is a rather long post so maybe we have been doing a lot. I take all that back.

Maybe next weekend we'll doing something exciting and I can blog about it (Josh needs to stop working weekends!).

Twenty 12

Before we go all crazy about 2012, let's remember 2011. It was a fabulous year. I had so many awesome things happen. To name a few: 2 bridal showers, a bachelorette trip/party, snowshoeing, visits to SoCal & Chicago, people visiting me, a Hawaii honeymoon...oh yea, and got married. Not to mention, I continued to bake and drink coffee (even though I left the SBux position) ((hence those pics in my collage).

Now off we go into 2012. This year I'm a Brown. My first year as a Brown; should be interesting. Will it be easier to tell people my last name? Will I be the first to be called or in line? Only time will tell.

You know, everyone talks about resolutions in January. Honestly, I think they are a bit overdone. I mean, how often do people finish, or even remember, their resolutions? Oh sure, I make a few myself, but they tend to be pretty broad - be healthy, go outdoors, bake more often. I think I can manage. I usually do these things anyways.

I read a blog called Joy the Baker. She has some good stuff. She says some funny stuff too. For instance, her blog about resolutions (last year, still applies tho). I really like her approach on mini-seasonally resolutions (here). Now that's more like it.

Okay, enough on resolutions. How about NYE (that's New Years Eve), you say?

That was fun. Chill, but fun. We had our friends Aaron & Liddy over. I made some mojitos, we got some Vietnamese take-out, and we played Bananagrams (<-- it's like speed Scrabble). Fun times. Sorry, no pics, we were too busy chatting and playing. Imagine a small living room, a small coffee table, and four people sitting around the table. That's what NYE was like.

Here's to a great 2012!

Family + Festivities

To sum up Christmas this year in one word I would chose: Great! It was Josh and my first Christmas together as husband and wife. Although our Christmas festivities were the same, there was that tinge of something extra in our hearts. More complete. (Aww, isn't that sickenly sweet?! At least, that's what my sister would say.)

Now that I have the sentiment stuff out, let's talk about what we did. Well, we headed down to our dear families in SoCal. Wednesday night after work, we caught a plane down to Orange County. Josh's parents picked us up (with hot cocoa and tea in the car) and drove us to Palm Springs. We spent a few days in Indio (to be specific). Christmas morning we all--Don, Nada, Josh, me, and Gus--got in the car and headed to Encinitas. We spent Christmas day with my parents including Christmas dinner. Josh parents stayed at a hotel, but then drove home that morning after breakfast. Then Josh and I spend until Tuesday with my parents.

That was our trip in a nutshell, but let's talk some specifics:

Dates.

We ate quite a few dates in Indio. Did you know that Palm Springs area grows most of our nations dates? There is a famous store there called Shields that sells dates and date shakes. They have a little cafe where I enjoyed some date pancakes. We bought some dates for our Christmas appetizer, Goat Cheese stuffed dates (recipe here). Not to forget, we had a salad with dates and then Christmas Eve we order proscuitto wrapped dates. Whew, lots of dates.

  

Dogs.

I've been on a dog craze lately. I want a dog so bad I can't see straight. Alas we can't have a dog in our apartment, especially the kind I want. So I got my dose of dogs with Gus and Keely. Aren't they the cutest doggies?!

  

Food.

I could have made dates part of this section, but I thought it deserved its own (seriously, we ate a lot of dates). We had all sorts of yum-yum foods over the holidays. Nada and I made some dark chocolate walnut fudge and peanut brittle. We also made the date appetizer. Then we had a feast for Christmas dinner--turkey, ham, carrots, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, & jello. Along with dessert which included a selection of cookies and an apple spice cake. Deliciousness.

  

Family.

This is the #1 thing about the holiday. We got to spend some awesome time with both of families and time with the families all together too. Nada, my MIL, and I got our nails done. Josh and Don went to Salvation Mountain together. We played scrabble. My family went to dog beach together. We watched movies together. It was lots of togetherness.

  

Friends.

Although our trip was short, we got to see some friends too (and eat out a bunch). In the desert we saw Kevin and Genny with their two kids (@Red Robin). We also saw the Harvey family (@ Tommy Bahama restaurant). Pat and Heather Richardson (@ Solace). Don & Sue Hartley (@ Solace too). Jonathan Hartley and Nikki (@Xmas Dinner).

 

Gifts.

You can't deny it, the gifts are fun too! I got some aweome gifts this year. Josh got my a Kindle. The Browns a great jacket, shoes, and a few other winter weather wear. My parents got me a useful gift for Seattle...a new rain jacket. I got slippers too. Then all the little stocking stuffers. Awesome. Some gifts I gave include: Josh lots of of clothes (I hit it big with Gap and Black Friday weekend). My mom some sapphire earrings (I lost the ones I borrowed for the wedding-sad), dad and Nada both got wedding calendars. My sister a Lucky shirt. Don got a Kindle too. Lots of gifts all around.

    

Want more photos? Go to my Wintertime Flickr album.