The Seventh Planet

falafel mix

2012-01-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today I learned falafel mix makes an excellent breading for chicken! Just toss the chicken in a bowl with just enough olive oil to coat it. Add enough falafel mix to coat your chicken and toss everything together. I made bite-sized pieces which was 425F for 8 minutes with the convection fan on.

To go with it I made a slaw with hummus instead of mayo dressing. I took a bag of slaw mix (shredded cabbage) and sliced some radish into it. Then I thinned out some hummus with some lemon juice to dress the slaw. After I mixed the slaw and the dressing I added freshly chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.

I warmed up whole wheat tortillas to put everything in. The recipe I adapted this from is here. The pita bread they show in the picture is the driest substance known to man. Get yourself some good whole wheat tortillas like I did (8 inches should be plenty.) TWSS. Or to treat yourself, get some soft and fluffy naan. Either way, stay far away from the pita pockets shown.

french ovens vs. dutch ovens

2011-12-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

Apparently they're the same thing. My parents sent me a red French oven for Christmas which I immediately tested by cooking stuffing. I don't have a lot of experience cooking with cast iron. First of all, wow it's heavy. Second, it cooks evenly! I was able to brown the sausage and vegetables on the stove top then transfer the pot into the oven to finish cooking. Win! I'm going to have a lot of uses for this pot.

In other news I slept 11 hours last night and it felt amazing! I'd been working long hours at work and needed the rest. I'm looking forward to having a more normal schedule in a week! My blogging frequency definitely decreased on this crazy schedule I've been working.

getting into the holiday spirit

2011-12-04T21:57:00.001-08:00

I feel like my eyes are always doing something weird. I'm either squinting or blinking. Whatevs.

Anyway, my job has been going really well and even though I don't work on the Adventures I was itching to try one. This one was Wreath Making and Three-Course Lunch at Smash Wine Bar in Wallingford.

When we arrived, we went inside where we had a choice of hot buttered rum, hot chocolate or cider. They had a breakfast spread laid out with the best banana muffins either of us had ever had. They were super moist and had a complex sweet and spicy flavor. While people nibbled, they went over a wreath-making demonstration.

Because I thought "arrive 20-30 minutes early" was for noobs, we arrived promptly at 11. It hadn't occurred to us to arrive early to secure your wreath-making station. So we had stations outside in the 35 degree cold. Fair enough- sort of our own fault. Each station had a gigantic pile of fir for your base plus pine, juniper, holly, and eucalyptus for accents. Making the wreaths wasn't as hard as we thought. All of the tools we needed were provided plus other accents like bows and pine cones. The glass of wine that was served during the wreath making helped as well. It turned out to be a fairly physical activity and only my feet were cold.

When we moved inside for lunch, there was one little two person table right by the window that was perfect for us. We warmed up while enjoying a delicious three-course gourmet lunch. I had mixed greens with apple and cranberry, buttermilk crispy cumin turkey tenderloin beside sweet potato frites (their description lols), and chocolate caramel lava cake topped with cranberry sauce served with ice cream. Since the Adventurers had the whole restaurant, the courses had a nice, natural pace. No rush to turn over the tables.

The whole event was organized and the staff was super helpful. I felt like it was definitely worth the money and I'm happy we tried it. Our wreaths are making the house smell like Christmas!

10 years can fly by

2011-10-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

Well almost 10 years.. 2 days shy of 10 years. Today I finally downloaded Spotify and have been poking around listening to some newer music. Something about the a Kings of Leon song triggered an Incubus flashback for me. I was remembering how I could not wait to buy Morning View and I was counting down the days to the release. Then out of curiosity, I looked up when it was released: 10/23/2001. Holy crap, it's already been 10 years. I can't even remember the last time I bought a CD. Do people even buy CDs anymore? This particular CD was in and out of my CD player so much it was scratched so I'm pretty excited to be listening to it on Spotify. And I don't care that no one seemed to like this album. This was a good album dammit and it's going back in my rotation!

good bye for now, asparagus

2011-10-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's definitely the end of the line for local asparagus this year. Before moving here, I had no idea Washington was so big on their asparagus crop but I have ended up eating it quite a bit. For dinner last night, I made roasted asparagus and prosciutto pizza. It takes about 10 minutes and was a win.

Because I hear pictures make a blog more interesting, here are the ingredients:

Manchego cheese

Garlic naan

Asparagus

Prosciutto

Preheat the oven to 400F. Trim off the woody bottoms of the asparagus and lay them out on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and salt/pepper. Go light on the salt because the prosciutto is salty. Pop them in for about 5 minutes to start the cooking process. In the meantime, shred the cheese on the naan and arrange some torn pieces of prosciutto. When the asparagus comes out, chop it as small as you like and add it on top of the naan. Put it back into the oven until it's done to your liking. I did about 5 more minutes because I wanted a soft and chewy crust.

This was super tasty and quick. I'm kind of bummed though because I think I'll need to wait until spring before the asparagus is back in season to make it again.

roasted green beans

2011-10-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

We stopped by the library yesterday so I could get more cookbooks. The Tyler Florence one had a recipe for roasted green beans. To be honest, it never occurred to me to cook green beans in the over but it's so good!

Making them could not have been easier. Preheat the oven to 400F. Put the green beans on a baking sheet and toss in a little olive oil. Grind some pepper on. Grate on a good amount of parmesan cheese. Cook about 8 minutes. (Note: the recipe said 10 which translates to 8 in my oven.) Eat.

*Don't cheap out on cheese. It's only like $5 to buy a good block of parmesan that can last you all week and it's worth it. I grate it on a microplane so a little bit goes a long way though I'm probably dulling the crap out of my microplane.
*Don't use pre-ground pepper. The disposable Mccormick pepper grinders are actually pretty good. I use it for everything and it lasts several months.

To go with it, I butterflied a chicken breast and pounded it flat. I breaded it in a mixture of plain bread crumbs, more grated parm, and red pepper flakes. It baked at the same temp but went it 6 minutes earlier (so 14-15 mins total.) Poured on some store-bought chicken gravy. Super tasty!

bad dream

2011-10-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

I had a dream that I was driving around Seattle and found a Publix. It was lunch time so I was super excited to get a Publix sub. The sub tasted like it was from Subway and the manager yelled at me when I tried to bring it back and explain how the subs are made in Florida. So sad.. it doesn't get any tastier than a Publix chicken tender sub!

it's official

2011-10-03T22:43:00.001-07:00

I hate gardening. I even took it out of my Facebook profile. That's how much I hate it. I have 75 bulbs that need to be planted and about 75 already in the ground that I need to avoid destroying. Sigh...

when you've got to feel it in your bones

2011-10-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure this is one of those albums I'll still be listening to in my 50's reminiscing about how things used to be. I feel like this one doesn't get the credit it deserves because all these years later it can still make me feel exactly like I did the first, second, and hundredth time I listened to it.

new job

2011-10-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

We've been super busy and I haven't had a chance to catch up with this. We went to San Francisco and then I turned around and went to DC to train for a new job. Once I'm settled in I'll be able to keep up on blogging more!

my favorite jeans

2011-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm resisting the urge to make an obnoxious "Dear denim manufacturers" Facebook status and instead venting here. This past week my favorite jeans got the tiniest rip in the knee and suddenly it's a gigantic hole. These were my dressier jeans and I'm sad to see them go. (Please note that in Seattle dark denim is considered dressing up.) They were perfectly worn in and were just the right waist/hip ratio.
Replacing them will be impossible because Express, like every other company, changes the sizing and cut of their jeans every other second. I've been burned by other stores in the past (I'm looking at you, American Eagle) so this time I bought both washes in hopes that new colors would come out before the store decided curvy is out again and skinny little boys are in. Sadly this didn't happen.
I'm going out tomorrow in hopes of finding a new pair of favorite jeans. Wish me luck!

if you had windows phone 7, you could be playing wordament

2011-08-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is the most addictive app ever but it's only on Windows Phone 7. The concept is just like Boggle. You get 2 minutes to find as many words as possible and your score is based on the point values of the letters you've used. There is only one game going on at any time, hence they call themselves You vs. The Internet. At any given time there are 200-400 users playing. My best ranking was second place but one day I will win!
Learn more about it here: http://wordament.com/

stop unwanted phone books or as i call them "door stops"

2011-07-26T14:13:00.001-07:00

We get tons of phone books. Who uses phone books anymore? I need one to keep as a door stop for when I want to open the windows on the porch and the rest just get trashed. City of Seattle has partnered with Catalog Choice to help us cut down on unwanted phone books and junk mail. It takes less than 5 minutes to do:

Catalog Choice

Some other cities appear to be participating. It's free and it reduces waste and hassle!

prosciutto and leek pizza

2011-07-10T21:40:00.001-07:00

I've been blogging a lot about food lately! Today I made this tasty pizza. It has a whole wheat crust and the only toppings are mozzarella, prosciutto, leeks, and parmesan. I was unsure about pizza without sauce but it didn't need it. I love the mild onion flavor of leeks. Just make sure after you slice them you wash them really well. Leeks get tons of dirt stuck between their layers.

Today we hit Seafood Fest in downtown Ballard and it was great. Tons of vendors were set up in addition to the regular Sunday farmer's market. In addition to all of the mobile food vendors, the regular restaurants added seafood items to their menus. The most intriguing was a seafood cupcake at the vegan bakery. I'm not really sure how that was supposed to work. The live entertainment was decent and the weather couldn't have been better. It's finally feeling like summer in Seattle.

See more about Seafood Fest on MyBallard.

wild rice salad

2011-06-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time cooking and researching new recipes lately. I like this one because it gets better the longer it sits and you can adjust the amounts of the ingredients however you like.

The components of the salad:
Cooked wild rice
Yellow pepper
Scallions
Pecans (toasted)
Dried cranberry
Parsley
Raspberry vinaigrette
Salt and pepper

The process:
Cool the rice completely. Since we were cooking for two we use these:

I am rice challenged so this stuff is great. Inside the box is always a coupon for your next box too. Anyway, after the rice is cooled, just mix all of your ingredients together. You can see I chopped everything about the same size. I used a store-bought raspberry vinaigrette because I couldn't find any raspberry vinegar to make my own. The Marie's brand in the refrigerated section was very tasty. A lot of salad dressings have a chemical aftertaste to me but this one was just the right combination of sweet and tart. I just kept adding and tasting it until I liked it. Here's the finished product:

We ate this as a main dish but you could definitely use it as a side. You can shred up some left over chicken if you want to add some protein but we found it satisfying as is. I like that this is more of a method than a recipe because you can swap out ingredients if you have something different. I put in roughly the same amount of everything but put in as much as you like until it tastes good to you.

cilantro pesto

2011-06-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

I love basil pesto but I usually just get it from the jar. My food processor is small and doesn't like to chop basil. I like pesto sauces because they're very bright tasting and are healthier than creamy sauces. Last week I experimented with making pesto from cilantro.
It's super easy and I didn't follow an exact recipe. If you've made pesto before, you know what I mean. You have a rough idea of the ratios but you make adjustments based on texture and taste as you go. Here's about what I did:

2 cups cilantro
1/8 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup manchego cheese
2 cloves garlic
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Combine in the food processor until everything is evenly mixed then start streaming in extra virgin olive oil. I made mine thick because I used it to stuff chicken breasts and spread on sandwiches. You can thin it out if you're making a dip or a pasta sauce.
I've seen a lot of variations online using different vinegars, red onions, shallots, different cheeses, parsley, etc. Just make sure your cheese is a hard cheese. I've seen recipes using cheeses like cojita which have a higher water content and if heated will turn your food into a gluey mess. If you've never made pesto, I suggest following a cilantro pesto recipe you think sounds good first and then make adjustments to taste from there.
I want to experiment and see what other leaves make good pesto since this small batch has gone a long way.

spicy chickpea patties with cilantro, lime and chilies

2011-06-22T07:09:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:
1/8 cup canola oil or olive oil
1/2 medium red onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (15 3/4 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
3 scallions, minced
Juice of 2 limes
Salt to taste
Extra chickpea flour for dusting cakes
Cooking spray

On the stovetop, saute the onion, garlic, jalapeno, curry powder, and cumin for 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the food processor and mix for 20 seconds until coarsely chopped. Add chickpeas, chickpea flour, bread crumbs, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, and salt. Mix for 20 seconds more or until a thick paste (below) forms. If you have a small processor like mine, you'll need to do this in batches.

From here, you can choose the size of patties you want to make. I went for silver dollar sized so there would be more crunchy surface area. Form the paste into your desired patty size and dust each size with flour. If you are cooking them on the stove top, heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Put a thin layer of oil in the pan and fry on each side for about 4 minutes or until golden brown. If you are cooking them in the oven, preheat the oven to 375F. Spray the patties with cooking spray and bake for 10 minutes, turning them halfway through.

I served them with Thai chili sauce and peanut sauce. It would also be good with a curry sauce.

I will need to work on my food photography skills! This batch was made in the oven. Next time I'm going to try to fry them.

From my favorite cookbook: The Whole Foods Market Cookbook: A Guide ot Natural Foods with 350 Recipes
[I got this before I knew what Whole Foods was so don't hold it against the book that it's Whole Foods!]

what aisle IS velveeta on?

2011-06-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

By far, the top search query that leads people to this blog is the above question. In response, I'm going to start compiling a list of grocery stores and their Velveeta aisles. I've only seen it near crackers so far, but I have seen varying locations of the crackers so I'm also listing other products on the same aisle. This is for the original block of Velveeta and not the mac and cheese packages or slices.

1. Albertsons- crackers, sports drinks, gold fish
2. Fred Meyers- crackers, cookies, gold fish
3. Publix- soup

Please add your grocery store/Velveeta aisle in the comments and I'll update the list.

um... bus?

2011-06-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Today both my morning and evening bus were MIA. You know what makes a commute difficult? The bus never coming. It wouldn't be a big deal if I worked somewhere where I could just stay later to still work a full 8 hours but that is not an option. I hope my regular bus driver is having a nice vacation and not reassigned or no longer working!

navigating costco

2011-06-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

We're becoming pros at navigating Costco on a Saturday. When we arrive, we already know exactly what we need. I'm not sure why they make us walk through the electronics to get to the rest of the store other than they are cruel people. I almost got distracted by a laptop and Nate got me moving. Laser focus!
We were rewarded for our effort. Somehow we managed to arrive at the sample stands just as they were putting out the fresh food. Some notable samples were Bagel Bites (which I hadn't had since childhood) and Falafel (which I was able to sub for meatballs in a recipe last night). We pretend sample calories don't count.
Costco Gas has been a win as well. $3.76/gal unleaded is definitely the cheapest I've seen in Seattle so I was pumped! (Ho ho ho pumped. I'm sorry.)
When we remodel the kitchen, the big fridge is definitely going to need to go on the list because we are in need of more space for our Costco bounty.

i ate salad

2011-06-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

I finally found a salad recipe that I can have again and again. From the Food Network website:

Caramelized Pancetta and Fennel Salad

Ingredients

1 bulb fennel, halved and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
5 slices pancetta
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces (about 6 to 7 cups) mixed salad greens
Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, toss together fennel, pancetta, garlic, brown sugar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place the ingredients on the baking sheet in a single layer. Cook until the pancetta is crisp and the fennel is caramelized, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, place the salad greens, crumbled pancetta, and caramelized fennel. Toss the salad with the Red Wine Vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Red Wine Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Yield: scant 1/2 cup

Prep Time: 5 minutes

On a work night I'm lazy and just use store bought salad dressing and it's still really good. I get the Boarshead pancetta from the deli counter. You can ask them to just cut a few slices and it's far tastier than the prepackaged kind. The taste of the fennel mellows out from roasting it so it's not an overwhelming flavor. I'm not sure how healthy it is but I'm definitely a fan of this salad.

smart phones part 2

2011-06-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, it was brought to my attention that I sounded cranky. Maybe that's true. It's frustrating when you're expectations aren't met- especially when they seem reasonable.

Exhibit A:
From PC World
Smartphone Etiquette: Mind Your Manners for the Holidays

"Rule 4: Holiday parties are a time for socializing, not social networking. Seven out of 10 respondents think it's unacceptable to check emails, send text messages and make phone calls while in the company of others, let alone while on a date. And more than half said they would be offended if they were at a holiday party and someone secretly tried to tap the Internet at the table. I'm assuming they would include tweeting and playing Texas Hold 'Em on the iPhone as inconsiderate, too."

Exhibit B:
The Emily Post Institute is generally considered an authority on manners. Welcome to the new world of tablets and smartphones

"How are my actions affecting others and how am I perceived? Both are important aspects of good etiquette. If you are perceived as being disrespectful it can be as damaging to a relationship as actually disrespecting someone. Be clear with the people around you about how you are using your new device so they don't assume the worst."

Exhibit C:
Debrett's is another authority on manners.
Mobile Phone Etiquette

"Don't carry on mobile phone calls while transacting other business - in banks, shops, on buses and so on. It is insulting not to give people who are serving you your full attention."

I don't expect perfection from people and I've certainly been guilty of peeking at my phone while in a social setting before. I'm just requesting others to be considerate of how that distraction can be perceived by others.

smart phones

2011-06-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Most people I know have a smart phone now so it's time to establish some basic usage guidelines. When you're in a social situation, stopping what you're doing to text or check Facebook is just as disruptive as talking on the phone. Our manners haven't caught up with technology apparently. I'm always shocked when I'm out with friends at how much time they spend looking down at their phones instead of paying attention to the live people in front of them. When I get home and look at Facebook, entire conversations between the people I was just with have taken place online instead of just speaking.

I think it's selfish and inconsiderate.

If there is an important text or email, excuse yourself before you respond. Even if it's something quick, I feel I deserve an explanation for the interruption. "My mom had a question." "It was my sister." Something.

I'm curious to know how other people feel because it's obvious not everyone thinks it's rude to check Facebook every 10 minutes while out with friends. What is acceptable smart phone usage in a social setting?

This is important because I love technology. Clearly, I love Facebook. All I'm asking for is some balance.

a visit from my parents

2011-06-06T22:23:00.001-07:00

My parents just left after a 10 day stay with us. It's really nice to have family around. I didn't have any time off work since the trip was moved to accommodate their home sale but we still spent weekends and nights together.

We walked around Discovery Park which was beautiful. The park is only 5 minutes from Ballard but we'd never been before. You can hike a trail that follows a ridge overlooking the Sound.

We finally hit the 70's so the weather was perfect. The grill got a lot of use and we did tons of walking. We've been here almost 3 years and haven't run out of things to do yet.

grilling season is here

2011-05-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

The best time of the year has arrived: Grilling season!!

I got Nate a Weber charcoal grill for Christmas because that's what I think of when I think of summer grilling. The weather is finally starting to get a little warmer so we can BBQ on the weekends. Friday night we had some beer brats at another couple's house and Saturday we grilled burgers here. Nate even toasted the buns which was a nice touch.

The weather hasn't improved to the point that you want to eat your food outside but it's getting there. And when it does, we need to be ready with a patio set which we've yet to purchase. I always thought of it as "fake" furniture so I didn't expect it to cost as much as a regular dinette set. Clearly I was mistaken. I'll be keeping my eye on the circulars for a sale!

syttende mai

2011-05-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Swedish Pancake Drill Team

Kids on unicycles

On Tuesday we went to the annual Syttende Mai parade. Ballard has the largest Syttende Mai celebration outside of Norway. The weather was perfect, though the pictures came out a little dark because I was in the shade.

no more leaks!

2011-05-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

After having our house leak in various places nonstop since November, we are finally free of leaks! The latest leak was in the shower. It's over the unfinished part of the basement so we just stuck a plastic bin under it and let it be. We were deciding whether or not to fix the leak or bite the bullet and redo the whole bathroom. After we checked the 20 qt bin and found it completely full of water, we decided to call the plumber and just do the leak. A $75 service fee + $125/hr later it turned out the shower head needed to be replaced. We are officially plumbing noobs.

In other news, Pandora keeps throwing Kings of Leon at me.. wearing me down. They're starting to grow on me...

most practical baseball souvenirs

2011-05-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a late post but a couple of weeks ago we went to two Mariner's games. The weather was terrible. They had to close the roof for one game. However, we got these awesome souvenirs- compost! Cedar Grove Compost was giving out free bags which were made partly of waste from Safeco Field. Compost isn't cheap so I made everyone grab some!
We forgot about it in the trunk until yesterday when I got in the car and gagged from the smell. Don't leave compost in your trunk.

tulip festival 2011

2011-04-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

We drove up to Mount Vernon for the tulip festival today. As you can see, it's a bit sunnier than last year but the rain was lurking just up the road. Afterwards we had a nice picnic lunch. They looked to be blooming about a week later than last year because there were still several rows that hadn't bloomed and no rows had been cut. I ordered several new varieties to add to my garden.

kinecting

2011-04-14T22:50:00.000-07:00

Nate's brother bought an X-Box with a Kinect and we had a good time testing it out today. The video chat worked really well and has a feature where the camera will follow you if you move. We also tried out online play with the Adventures game. The competitive events worked really well. The cooperative ones- not so much. It's hard to steer a river raft with someone in another state, even though the device does have a microphone so you can chat in the game. The Kinect snaps photos of you while you're playing and you can trade them with your opponent afterwards so there's an added level of interaction. I had a really good time and can't wait for more games with the online play option.

financial housekeeping part 2

2011-04-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again when taxes and finance are on the mind. Today we sat down and evaluated exactly where our money goes each month and what our goals are.
When we divide out how much we spend per month on home repairs and renovations it's like a second mortgage payment. We joke that we could have just spend more for an updated house and saved time and energy. I think after 2 or 3 more years it will be pretty well updated though with the mortgage payment of a smaller house so I still think we did it the right way. We're on super saver mode to get the kitchen and bathroom knocked out since they are failing on us quickly. Once those are done we can ease up a bit and do other projects at a slower pace.
I know finances can be stressful for a lot of people and they procrastinate going over them but I truly find it relaxing. Even when we find we ate out too much one month or had an unexpected expense, it still feels a lot better to be aware of what's going on so we can make adjustments for the next month.
I made a similar post last year so I wanted to follow up with something related. I think it's really important to be honest with yourself about what you spend your money on. I found it really helpful to take some of our larger expenses and divide them by 12 to see what they would be as a monthly expense. Sometimes "one time" expenses can add up to quite a bit over the course of a year.
I also found it helpful to look at our loans in terms of what they will cost if we pay them off as scheduled. If you already have an emergency fund, it might make more sense to direct extra money towards a loan with a higher interest rate. Our loans are all higher interest rates than we make in our accounts at the credit union. With online payments it can get tricky to make sure your payment is applied to principle so read the instructions carefully!
This has been your annual reminder that money is not your enemy and you should befriend and nurture it so it will work for you not against you. =)

jury duty update

2011-04-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

I got back a response from King County Court that my jury duty was rescheduled and there is no fine or penalty! I felt so ridiculous for missing it since I looked at the date so many times. So I'm officially announcing that it's on June 15.
That's June 15.
JUNE 15

It doesn't tell me what time or place but by God I will be somewhere on June 15.

amazon- subscribe and save

2011-04-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

I discovered a whole new area of Amazon.com while re-ordering my favorite tea last night. You can now set up subscriptions to common household items and get 15% off the regular Amazon price and shipped free at the interval of your choosing. Visit the site: here.
This seems like it could be competing with Costco on the bulk prices. We just got a Costco membership from my parents and went on Saturday. First, OMG what complete madness. Families had multiple overflowing carts and weren't afraid to use them to jockey for position in the sample line. Second, you have to really pay attention to the unit prices. Some items were half off of the price we typically pay at Fred Meyer and others were about the same. Since we have a small freezer, we had to be somewhat selective about what we got.
I like this Amazon option because Costco doesn't have everything. I reviewed the set up and cancellation looks easy. You get an email before your delivery so you have a window of time to skip the shipment if you need to. Though at the rate I drink green tea I don't think that will be necessary.

something to sleep on

2011-04-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

My parents haven't seen it yet but they bought me a new bedding set for my birthday. We got a really nice fluffy insert for the duvet cover and I slept so well last night. Before this we had several queen-sized blankets layered on our king-sized bed. When we moved into the house we splurged on a Tempurpedic mattress which has been one of the best purchases of all time. We also splurged on really high quality sheets and now we've got this nice bedding. The problem is the bed just sits on its box spring on the ground. Cats are destructive so we don't want to do any bed that has space under it. I've seen a couple of storage beds that are basically a platform bed with drawers underneath. I'm debating whether we should spend the money on it and get it over with or continue feeling like we're sleeping on the floor.

the golden beetle

2011-04-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and we had an excellent dinner at a new restaurant in Ballard. The Golden Beetle is a new Mediterranean restaurant from Maria Hines. She has an impressive resume. She beat Morimoto on Iron Chef, competed in Top Chef Masters on Bravo, and won the 2009 James Beard award for best chef.
The food lived up to the hype! It's described as elevated street food and I think that's an appropriate description. We started with wood fired pita bread and hummus. The pita bread had the perfect soft, spongy texture almost like a crumpet. I could have just had that with different dips all night. We also had spinach cigars (kind of like spanikopita), falafel, and ground beef skewers. Everything was so good so we'll definitely be paying them a happy hour visit soon.

civic duty fail

2011-03-31T06:54:00.000-07:00

I accidentally missed jury duty yesterday. This was my first jury summons ever and I've known about it for 6 weeks. I'd notified my employer and put it on my calendar at work. Unfortunately, I had it on the calendar for today and it was yesterday.
I'm not sure how I went 6 weeks continuing to read the date wrong, but I did. Since they don't provide any phone number with a live person or even a voice mail, I just wrote them back with an explanation and the card to request to be rescheduled. The card says very specifically that intentionally not appearing can be a fine or jail time! I promise I'm not intentionally absentminded. ;)

In other news, today is my last day of being 25. We have reservations at The Golden Beetle tomorrow night and I'm very excited to try it.

you need a keurig

2011-03-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

When I'm having trouble sleeping, I watch QVC because I find it soothing. I typically don't buy anything, but it makes good background noise. They finally sold me on this Keurig brewer and it's great!

You need one of these if:
- You brew a pot of coffee every morning but don't finish it
- You are too lazy to wait for a tea kettle to heat up to make tea

A cup of coffee or tea brews in under a minute and actually tastes really good. They come in portioned k-cups that you pop in the top of the machine. Because they are in their own containers, you don't have to clean the machine to brew a different drink.

The package from QVC came with 48 k-cups (mostly coffee) to start with and I stocked up on jumbo packs of my favorite teas from Amazon. It also came with a reusable k-cup to brew your own coffee which is much cheaper to do and creates a lot less waste. We're excited to brew some Dunks with it.

I'm really happy with it because I'm drinking a lot more tea and a lot less Diet Coke.

how to not fall asleep on the bus

2011-03-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Everyday is a struggle to not fall asleep on the bus. Risks include getting robbed, unwanted snuggles, and missing your stop. I've compiled several images that help ward off bus naps:

(The best part is around 3:00)

I've also
- been on a bus that side swiped the street car and kept going
- sat next to a man wielding a samurai sword
- stepped on a banana peel (the bus did not spin in circles like Mario Kart)
- witnessed numerous fights

Public transportation is certainly more entertaining than sitting by myself in my car everyday.

high school reunion

2011-03-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

I got an invite to my 10 year high school reunion on Facebook. They are planning early because it won't be until 2013.
1. Do we really need reunions now that we have Facebook?
2. I don't recognize the vast majority of the names. (And all of the faces are pictures of babies.)
3. Isn't the purpose to compare lives and see how everyone turned out? If yes, see #1.

Wouldn't it be cheaper if we all agreed to make our profiles public for a day and read about each other? Or better yet, could we all be comfortable enough with ourselves that we don't need to confirm that the people we disliked got what was coming to them?

back from hawaii

2011-02-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hawaii was excellent! I put up tons of photos on Facebook. We spent a lot of time just relaxing on the beach and reading in our cabana but we also ventured around the big island as well. I was in an SPF 85 force field the whole time and did not tan one bit.
I haven't been able to readjust my sleep schedule since we've been back. The time difference is only two hours, but we couldn't sleep on our turbulent red-eye home on Saturday. Also we've come home to a bit of chaos.
Our pipes were leaking. Not from where they connect, but they were so deteriorated they were just leaking out of the pipes themselves. We already had a leak in the pipe outside the house so we ended up having to completely re-plumb our house. Once it was finished we realized we no longer have hot water because apparently draining the water heater killed it. Sure, it was 19 years old which is ancient for a heater but I really can't take a shower in 40 degree water. So now we have a new water heater too.
I was hoping that I could ease back into real life after the vacation, but apparently that won't be happening. It's been one thing going wrong after another so at this point my goal for tomorrow is to not have to write a huge check to someone to fix something in the house. No such luck on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday so maybe Thursday will be our lucky day!

maple-bacon oven pancake

2011-01-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

Dinner tonight was this maple-bacon oven pancake. I recognize that it's supposed to be a side dish, but tonight it was a main dish. The maple syrup gives a hint of sweetness to complement the saltiness of the bacon. This was super cheap and easy to make.

happy 2011

2011-01-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!
I hope everyone had a fun night. We went to a party with friends and had a nice time. Our new favorite game is Wit and Wagers which is trivia game where you bet on correct answers. You can complete a round in about 20 minutes and you don't have to be good at trivia to win- you just need to make smart bets.

My resolution this year is to learn some of the recipes of my family. Whether they turn out successfully or not isn't that important. I just want to make an effort to try.
Yesterday I tried to make pastizzis. Mine came out pretty tasty, but no where near as buttery and golden as they are supposed to be. Part of the challenge is the older generation of Maltese women didn't really write down the recipe. Our family has a video of my great grandmother making them (filmed in the 90's) and she doesn't measure anything. A quick You Tube search shows that apparently that's all anybody has to go off of.
My recipe was as follows:
Combine 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of cold water, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. When it forms a ball of dough, refrigerate for 30 mins. Roll out the dough as thin as possible and rub Crisco over one side of the flattened dough. [Two things here- 1. I could not determine how much Crisco to use from the grainy videos available. I did a very thin layer. 2. I had to split the dough ball in 3 and repeat this 3 times due to lack of space to roll out the whole ball.] Roll the dough up so it ends up as a tube shape (as if making cinnamon buns). Rotate the tube of dough 90 degrees and roll out as flat as possible again. Crisco that layer and roll up like a pinwheel again. The idea is to create layers and alternating direction helps make it flakier. After 3 roll outs, take the final tube and refrigerate for 1.5 hrs. [Again, in my case I had 3 tubes since I'd split my dough.]
While that is cooling, make the filling. These are traditionally made with either cheese or meat. The cheese filling is just ricotta, egg, salt and pepper. My estimate is about 1 egg per small (I think it's 16 oz) tub of ricotta. I used 1 tub of ricotta and did not need all of it. The meat filling has a lot more variation. Brown ground beef (about 1/2 lb) and drain well. Place it back in the pan on medium. Add enough tomato paste to make it sticky. I needed about 2 heaping tablespoons to do so. Here you add some frozen peas and there is no exact science to this part. Just add however many peas you want to have in your filling. My filling was probably only 10% peas total but you can use more if you like. Frozen peas only need to cook for about 2 mins. The seasoning of the meat filling differs by family. Mine uses a small amount of cinnamon and I think salt and pepper. I didn't have cinnamon so I used allspice and garlic power (2 parts all spice/1 part garlic powder) until I liked the flavor. Other recipes call for curry which would also be good. Once the peas are cooked, remove the meat mixture from heat. It will be easier to work with if it's cooled so you may want to just leave it on the counter until you need it. It's important that both mixtures are not wet.
Once the tube of dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375. Cut the dough in 2 inch pieces (just like making cinnamon rolls). Use your fingers to flatten each piece into a circle about 4 inches across. You want to try to create more layers as you do this so flatten it from top to button, not turning it to the spiraled side. Scoop filling into the center of the circle and pinch closed in a half-circle shape. This is just like making a dumpling or ravioli. The amount of filling is however much it takes to fill the pastry and still allow you to close it. Coat the pastizzi in another layer of Crisco and bake until golden brown.

As you can see, I did not achieve the flaky golden brown texture I was supposed to. [If you are unfamiliar with pastizzi, do a search online to see what they are supposed to look like.] It should be as flaky as a croissant and these appeared more bread-like. Next time I will use about twice as much Crisco in my layers. These actually did have flaky layers when you bit into them, so my roll out technique was right. I just didn't have enough fat to create the golden brown color. I'm going to definitely make a second attempt in the future because I feel like with some tweaks, this could be correct.

first christmas in our new house

2010-12-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

Since we were in Texas last year, this is the first Christmas spent in our house. It felt really good to be home and have a relaxing holiday. We started a Christmas Eve tradition of baking lasagna which turned out most excellently. Then we went on a drive to see the lights. I love that this weekend has one more day and then a 3-day weekend next week.

christmas dinner

2010-12-25T22:29:00.000-08:00

Steak, crab legs, salad, twice baked potato, broccoli salad, brussel sprouts, sweet potato casserole, struffoli, plus a lot more food not pictured...

a tasty recipe

2010-12-19T12:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I made Curried Rice, Bacon, and Cabbage and it was so good we're making it again. I got the recipe here. I modified it to use way less butter, but other than that, I stuck to the recipe. This week I have some pine nuts to use up so I think I'll throw them in. I'm not a huge green cabbage fan, but this is an excellent use for it.
This week I'm also going to try a struffoli recipe that I'm excited about.

Florida Trip

2010-11-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

We just got back from an excellent trip to Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday. We started in Fort Myers and I had a chance to visit some friends. Then we went up to Ocala for Thanksgiving. The first night we played Hand and Foot (see the rules I had to write on the clip board to avoid total chaos) and Nate won. We also had an intense bocce ball game. You can see some highly scientific foot measuring occurring in the photo above.

I also had a list of foods that I can't get in Seattle that I had to complete:

Lobster Nuggets at the Fish House
Sausage and Lentil Soup at Carrabba's
Banana Milk Shake at Steak N Shake
Chicken Tender Sub at Publix

[It was all as good as I remembered it.]

The weather was perfect (sunny with highs in the 80's) and we missed out on all of the snow-induced chaos in Seattle. It was great to see our friends and family and I wish we could make it down there more often. The trip went by too quickly.

the basement is done

2010-11-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to report our basement is finished. We put down flooring, added recessed lighting, painted the wood panels, and added trim. And by we I mean http://www.jacobreid.com/index.php . The next step will be to put up some curtains and hook up a TV. The hard part is done and now we just need to decorate. Nate is much happier to keep his desk down there now that it doesn't feel like a dungeon.

trick or treat in ballard

2010-10-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

We like to keep it nerdy. You can plot your trick or treat route online or on a smart phone with Google Maps. The idea came from our neighborhood blog My Ballard. Anyone who is accepting trick or treaters can add their address to the map.

View Ballard Trick-or-Treating 2010 in a larger map

crock pot win

2010-10-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

My new crockpot arrives tomorrow. My old one has been kind of worthless because it doesn't have a timer. I'm gone for too long during the day so everything overcooks in it. This new one has a timer and a probe!

Work on the basement has been coming along. The ceiling is up and the wood paneling is sanded and ready to be painted. Next week they will lay the floor and paint the walls and trim. It should been done on Thursday. We have a new sofa bed that should also be delivered Thursday so that will be the new guest room.

Autumn is in full swing here and we're at the peak of the fall colors. We've had wind and rain all weekend so I don't expect them to last until next weekend. Nate's brother is coming into town Thursday and we're having a Halloween party Saturday so we've been busy with lots of planning. You can expect something served out of the new crock pot!

dim sum

2010-10-17T09:08:00.001-07:00

I may officially be addicted to dim sum. I crave that salty, savory goodness at the most random times. We did not have this delicious concept in Florida that I was aware of. You sit at a table (often sharing it with other parties) and they wheel around carts of small dishes you can choose. They mark off what you've taken on a little card and by the end of the meal that card is covered but your bill is still somehow under $25. In the International District, it's customary to get dim sum on Sunday mornings so you have to wake up super early to get a table without a long wait. You may think your body will reject Chinese food before 10 but in fact it loves it.

In other news, we drove up to Mt. Vernon yesterday to pick up our tulip bulbs that we ordered last spring. We also picked up a variety pack of daffodils. I love that the daffodils are the first flowers to bloom and most of our neighbors had them last year. It brightened up the neighborhood after the gray winter. Between the tulips and daffodils, we're talking about 75 bulbs. I wish they would magically appear in the ground for me....

As for a basement update, work begins next Tuesday. Off to get ready for dim sum...

house projects

2010-10-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

We will be finishing one of the basement rooms soon. It will be a game/guest room. More to come soon.

busy week

2010-09-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit from Perla this week. She one a contest at work for an all-expense paid trip here to Seattle to visit her home office which we found out is the building directly across the street from mine downtown. Since she came last year, we got to skip the touristy stuff and just hang out which was really nice.
I'm now further convinced that we should get a Wii. I realize that most people who want a Wii probably have one by now but I'm a late adopter! Maybe it's the huge financial commitment that comes with it since you have to buy the console, game, and tons of controllers and accessories to actually use it. I think I've just talked myself out of it again and I should stick to board games and cards.

Canvas on Demand + Groupon = Win

2010-09-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

This is the result of my very first Groupon I got a couple of months ago. It was a coupon for a 18x20 canvas from Canvas on Demand. You provide the photo yourself. This is a picture I took in Rome when I went with my parents in 2007. We're going to put it up in the dining room. I'd highly recommend them as an alternative to expensive art work!

labor day weekend

2010-09-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

Our cabin in Leavenworth

The mock-Bavarian village

Wine tasting

I hope everyone had an excellent Labor Day weekend. We rented a cabin in Leavenworth with some friends and had an excellent time. Nate picked me up from work and we headed straight there Friday night. On Saturday we went tubing which was freezing but fun. The tubes we rented had mesh bottoms so you didn't have to get too wet. A separate tube was rented for our cooler resulting in fun times such as "I can fit my tube between these pilings" and numerous beachings. Sunday we went into the mock-Bavarian downtown area which is what Leavenworth is known for. We went on a wine walk and hit 5 of the 15 or so wineries that offer tastings in the village. In between we played a lot of cards and spent many hours in the hot tub. The weekend flew by and I wish it could have been longer.

We didn't celebrate Nate's birthday last weekend because one of our friends had her birthday while we were there. To prolong the celebration, we'll have Nate's birthday next weekend. Then, Perla visits next week which will cap off what has been officially dubbed Best Summer Ever. The goal from here on will be to attempt to top the prior summer to continue the tradition of naming every summer Best Summer Ever.

recommended books

2010-09-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

I had a late-night need for a new book yesterday so we drove to Fred Myers hoping to get lucky. If you don't have Fred Myers, it's somewhere in between a Super Walmart and a Super Target. They have a few aisles of books, so not a huge selection but I figured I could find something off the best seller's list at least. It was the strangest book section I've ever seen. The shelves were constructed with rows built in that would only fit the small size of paperback. Plenty of room for for your James Pattersons and Sue Graftons but completely ignoring books that were not made in that size! I made it to the very last aisle and was excited to find a "recommended books" section. Behold! Books of different sizes! The shelf was constructed without the dividers so any sized book fit. Conclusion: Fred Myers recommended book section consists of the books that will not fit on any of their standard shelves. Based on the content of the section, I hope for their sake my conclusion was correct.

I went home without a book.

hobbies

2010-08-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about hobbies and what I enjoy doing with my time. I usually struggle with this question because I don't think I spend a lot of time doing activities. We go out to bars, we go out to eat, we have house parties. We go to soccer games but it's not something I'm an active participant in. The only two things I can think of are reading and cooking.
I recently discovered I can read on the bus without getting motion sickness, which suddenly frees up and hour and a half everyday for reading. I've read three books this month- all fiction. I keep hearing I need a Kindle but I'm not sold on them. I like going to the book store and taking an hour to pick out something. I like the smell of the book and feeling how many pages I've read and how many are left.
Cooking is something I've only recently started to consider a hobby. It started out of necessity. We realized we spent too much eating out and needed to start cooking at home more. It's evolved into a Sunday routine in which we plan out our meals and actually make a grocery list. I have a "recipe box" on my computer which is a folder I keep PDFs of recipes I want to make. Some meals are winners- tonight's frittata with edamame, scallions, and cilantro topped with cheese. Others will not be made again- the ridiculously sour lime/herb chicken salad.
Maybe it's because reading and cooking aren't relaxing to me, but they don't feel like hobbies. Cooking feels more like an obligation that I'm making the best of. And I enjoy reading, but it's a difficult balance to stay in the now rather than let myself be absorbed in the book. It ends up being a lot of work to stop myself from just reading straight through a book and participate in what's going on around me. So I need ideas for other things to do. Is there a craft for the artistically challenged?

blog neglect

2010-07-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Whoops, haven't written in awhile. We've been pretty busy lately. It's the last day of a 4 day weekend so I actually found some time to sit and write.
Our first major home project was completed a couple of weeks ago. We've done a complete rewire of the electrical and added in some recessed lighting in the living room and finished basement room. Each room has about 3 outlets now instead of 1 which makes life much easier. We also put an outlet outside for Christmas lights. It feels good to tackle a large project and improve the house.
I've been trying to go on more hikes lately. A few months ago a walked a half-marathon with some friends which I enjoyed but I get bored of walking around neighborhoods. Luckily, there are tons of places to hike within a hour of here with lots of waterfalls and views to explore. We finally bought ourselves some decent athletic shoes which has made a huge difference.
Yesterday, we tried to continue our 4th of July tradition by spending the day at Gasworks and then watching the fireworks. They did not have a corporate sponsor for the $500k show this year and had announced it was canceled. In 24hrs, businesses and individuals of Seattle rallied and raised the funds to keep the show going. The weather was not as cooperative. By 4pm it was pouring and we lasted about 20 mins before we joined the mass of people leaving. It continued raining until about 15 mins before the show started so we ended up just watching it on TV. We were both really bummed out about missing it.
Note to those filming fireworks: Keep the camera in one place. No one cares about your artistic interpretation of fireworks.

sick of being sick

2010-04-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Being sick was not what I had in mind for the in-laws' visit this week. All four of us ended up sick with a nasty flu of some sorts. Each of us took it a little differently, but all 4 of us were miserable at some point. Mine started Thursday at work when I started to feel a little nauseous. I was really nervous about taking the bus home because I get motion sickness. Apparently somewhere around Belltown I tried to get off the bus and blacked out. The driver and someone else got me off of the bus and made sure Nate was coming to get me before leaving me. Not long after getting home, both of us were throwing up more than we've ever thrown up in our lives. Very fun times.
Yesterday Nate, Jane, and I were feeling up for the Tulip Festival so we drove up to Mt. Vernon. It's not a lot of walking around and we wanted to salvage a little of their vacation. The tulips were amazing and it was definitely worth the drive. I ordered 50 bulbs for the fall when it's time to plant! There are a lot of pictures up on my Facebook and I'm sure Nate will be posting a shared album soon.
As pitiful as it sounds, the tulips wore me out and I'm exhausted today. I'm also just tired of being sick. I've never had to take so many sick days before because usually when I'm sick it's something I can work through. I also just feel really bad that Doug and Jane came all this way to spend most of the time sick. Hopefully they can come back soon!

financial housekeeping

2010-04-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

With spring being filing season, it seems like a good time to review all of your finances to see how you're doing. For the first time, we filed our 1040 long form by hand. I had previously done an amended return by hand but did not know what to expect. And given my profession, there was no excuse to not know how to do this.
IRS does offer free efile with all the bells and whistles of the tax software you buy but you have to meet an income requirement. If you don't meet that, they will let you use a program that does nothing but add and subtract the lines for you at the end. And pretty unreliably. The 2009 1040 instructions are available on the IRS website in PDF format which makes it super easy to search for what you're looking for. We actually found using the instructions very straightforward. We easily figured out what schedules and forms we needed and the tax tables could not be clearer.
The funny part is we'd actually started online with Turbo Tax because it said it was going to be free. When we got to the last page where it's submitted, it suddenly wanted to charge $50. The fee is what prompted us to try to file ourselves in the first place. And it was nice to see in the end that our total matched theirs, so we're confident we did it correctly. The only thing I'll change next year is not relying on the IRS-provided software to do the math. We had to double and triple check it because it would ignore your entries until you left the page and returned. A calculator will be faster . =)
Since we had all of our records out for filing, I wanted to try to take care of something else I'd been putting off. When we moved from Bothell, I thought I'd updated our address with every company we deal with. At work, I updated it on our payroll site and our HR site. We also had our mail forwarded with the post office. A few months ago I received a somewhat threatening letter from my TSP stating they know I moved (via USPS) but I haven't updated my address with them. At the time, not knowing where my records were for them, I couldn't find my account number. But there is a button! And when you submit your info, they advise you that they are not emailing your account number. They are mailing in USPS and it will take at least 10 days.
Fast forwards several months, because I kind of forgot about it. I was getting concerned because I've now been employed for a year and want to re-evaluate how my funds are distributed. I found my password when we have all of records out doing taxes. I was excited to finally be able to log in to update my address. The website informed me that only my payroll can update my address. Now I'm completely confused, because my pay stubs get mailed to our home address indicating they already have our correct address on record. Morale: The government is frustrating to deal with even if you work for them!
While I'm on the topic, if it's been more than a year since you updated your distribution of funds in your retirement account, you need to do it! It only takes 5 or 10 minutes but can mean a difference of thousands of dollars when you're ready to retire. Also, if you haven't requested your free annual credit report in the past year, now is a good time! www.annualcreditreport.com is the only one recommended by the FTC. And finally, if you haven't filed your taxes yet and your income is such that they are going to charge you a fee for it, try it on your own. The tax prep industry wants to perpetuate the idea that taxes are intimidating and should only be handled by professionals. Or another I've heard is that you'll miss out on credits. If you know how to use the find feature on Adobe and search for "credit" (with a few find nexts to make sure you catch everything), you really won't miss out on anything. There aren't secret tax credits that aren't in the instructions, they just want your money.

sounders opening night

2010-03-26T07:31:00.001-07:00

Last night was opening night for the Sounders. After having a blast at a game last year, we decided to get season tickets this year.

This is the cheer leading section. They're a group of fans who have taken it upon themselves to create chants and cheers. When they are all jumping in sync, it's mesmerizing.

Only part of the seats are under the roof (which is crazy considering this is Seattle.) Good work Nate picking covered seats because it rained for the entire game and we stayed warm and dry! It looked absolutely miserable for the people in the rain.

Sounders win 2-0!!

tired of being sick

2010-03-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

The cold has gotten a bit worse. My voice is down to a pitiful whisper which means I can't work. I took Nyquil last night because that used to knock me out but I woke up at least 20 times during the night. Apparently the TemperPedic commercials are true, because my tossing and turning did not wake up Nate at all.
I was slightly amused at being so sick when health care reform was being passed. We're in the minority who actually likes their health insurance coverage so I'm not excited about our new tax liability. It will be really interesting to see what becomes of the states that are suing. I love watching checks and balances at work.
I had some really good conversations about the bill with coworkers and have concluded that both sides agree on about 75% of the issues. It is a shame that our lawmakers couldn't see past their party lines to craft a bill that encompassed those things that everyone agreed on. The only people who seem to be completely satisfied are the ones who will get a hand out from it. I feel like this doesn't do enough to fix the problems and is wasting money by throwing it at the symptoms. Kind of ironic, as I thought that was part of the problem with our health care philosophy to begin with.

first day of spring

2010-03-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the official first day of spring, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out with a high of 68. The tulips in the front yard look like they are ready to bloom any day now. I am really glad to finally get to experience seasons.
We went down town for a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl since it fell on a weekday this year. I really meant to take a picture of Pike Place Market while we were there because the entire roof is covered in daffodils right now. The windows on the bus are always too dirty and we didn't make it that far south in the crawl yesterday. I tried to find a picture online but wasn't able to. I always see other people on Facebook constantly posting pictures of the things they are doing and I wish I was better at remembering to do that! I love having pictures after the fact, but while I'm doing something I hate to be bothered taking out my camera.
In other news, I was feeling decent and worked a full week last week. Several coworkers who were clearly sick but did not want to use more sick time spread their filth and germs everywhere and now I have a cold. The point of sick time is not only for you to get better, but also for you to not get more people sick. I was just finally getting my appetite back to normal the past 2 days and now it's all out of whack again. My body is putting me on an involuntary diet.

spring forward

2010-03-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean to go a whole month without updating, but we've been busy. My parents came for a visit which was a lot of fun. It was only for a weekend, but we did squeeze in some good food and some house projects. My dad and Nate put up a couple of light fixtures and my mom and I planted tulips in the front yard. I've haven't taken pictures of either, but both look really nice. Instead of the ugly brown light fixture in the living room (see previous post), we now have a pretty crystal chandelier. And instead of whatever random things the previous owner planted, we have a bed of tulips and hyacinths.
We've been really enjoying getting out in the garden when the weekends are sunny. We did a bit of planting last weekend try to spruce up the front of the house. Neither of us know much about plants so we still have all of the little tags sticking out of the ground to tell us the names of the plants. In the back yard my herbs are just starting to sprout.
We're definitely settling into a routine which I guess is both good and bad. It's nice to start to really feel comfortable in the house and the neighborhood. We know our way around Seattle, public transportation, our jobs. On the other hand, sometimes it feels like we're living in a foreign country. Like when we were buying plants, we didn't recognize half of them because they didn't grown in Florida. People's attitudes and mannerisms are different. People's values are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from ours. Even the road signs confuse us!
We love living here, especially in Ballard, but I wonder if there is always going to be a sense of not quite fitting in. Because no matter how long we live here we won't drive a Prius, give money to pan handlers, or understand wasting millions of dollars on public art when we can't fund schools. The beautiful views and mild weather will certainly keep us happy for while though.

painting

2010-02-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

We painted all of the trim in the living/dining room white yesterday and it made such a huge difference. The whole room is brighter without the weird 70's wood trip. We still need to replace the light fixture, which I hope to get some help with when my parents visit. =)
The new couch arrived! My parents got it for us as a housewarming/Christmas gift and we absolutely love it. I suppose I could have straightened up the pillows before taking the picture. The Ikea coffee table looks really sad in comparison to everything else, but we have a lot of other projects that need to be done before we buy any furniture.
This was my project in my office. I had this swatch of blue on the wall for at about 3 months before finally getting around to painting it. I haven't figured out how to deal with the futon yet. I suppose I'll need to find a slip cover for it that matches. Then, I plan to put up this really girly white chandelier I saw at home depot.

spring is here early

2010-02-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

We had beautiful weather yesterday so we took a walk to the library to get some more cookbooks and then down to the locks. While walking, we noticed many plants starting to bloom and the trees starting to get leaves again- in the beginning of February! We were excited to start planting since it seems we won't get another frost so we stocked up on seeds last night.
We spent the better part of today mowing, raking, and pulling up weeds. The pictures above are the beginning of the herb garden. The vine on the trellis had huge woody roots which were hard to get out and unexpected on such a small vine. We planted parsley, basil, rosemary, thyme, chives, and cilantro. A lot of them can grow indoors, so I'm not sure how they'll do out in the elements when they are starting as seeds.
In other news, I would like to announce that I finally made good chili. We watched the Super Bowl on the comfy new couch, extra careful not to spill any of it. The commercials were a huge disappointment, by the way. We laughed at a couple of Dorito ads, and started to laugh at the Green Police until it was actually for something green. I would have laughed harder if it was for a Hummer or something, but instead Audi got an eye roll.
All in all, it was a highly productive weekend rather than a relaxing one. Next weekend we have some painting to do which has been put off for months. More pictures to come as projects are completed...

sunset hill/golden gardens

2010-01-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the sun peaked out so we decided to take a walk to the beach. The first photo is on Sunset Hill. If you notice how far down the marina is in the photo, that is how far you have to walk down to get to the beach. The path is a little further up the street and consists of a series of steep staircases and hiking trails. (You can also walk the long way on the bike trail which is much less steep and is probably an extra mile.) The beach pictures came out pretty dark even though it seemed bright to us (in comparison to normal winter days.) They had several fire pits, so I'm thinking bonfires are in our future.
In both the first and second pictures, you'd have a stunning view of the Olympics if it had been a clearer day.
It's funny that we moved to an opposite corner of the country and we are still 2 mins from the beach- even though it's a completely different kind of beach. I look forward to many sunsets in the future!

the green roofs are coming

2010-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

(image from www.greenroofs.org)

As I mentioned last week, we made a visit to our library down the street. I had no idea what the point of putting grass on the roof was so I did some research on it. Read about it here.

Speaking of plants, many of the books we got were about gardening. Nate was out in the garden this weekend. (I was being lazy inside and not feeling well.) He got rid of a gigantic plant by the garage that did not look like it belonged in WA . In it's place he moved the ridiculously heavy cement sink that used to be in the basement. That will be our bed for planting herbs. He did a lot of work raking as well. The only thing not done is disposing of the gigantic branch that fell off our neighbor's pine tree. I don't want to have to pay for the city to take it so I think we should toss it back over the fence into their yard. They are lucky it didn't damage our house when it hit. Nate said I was being cranky. =)

We also checked out a Rachael Ray 30 min meal book and have been trying recipes. Some have been good; most have been misses. All of them have gotten us eating more veggies than we had been previously so I suppose that's good. The kitchen is really well laid out for us both to be in there and not bump into each other. The best recipe by far was a chicken piccata pasta toss- here. I'd recommend using less than a full pound of pasta and choosing a whole wheat one. The sauce is flavorful enough that you can't tell it's whole wheat, but there wasn't quite enough for a full pound of pasta.

While exploring this weekend, we found the best grocery store ever (and only 5 mins down the street). We used to love going to Trader Joe's for all of the unique things, but they don't have everything you need for a weekly trip (trash bags, cat litter, diet coke, a deli counter.) Ballard Market has to be the best idea ever. It's 50/50 with regular grocery store items and unique/organic things compared to about 90/10 at our regular grocery store. It's arranged with the organic stuff mixed in with the regular stuff so you can see what the price difference is without going across the store to the organic aisle. They've also got a ton of stuff from local companies and the best produce section ever. Best of all, I didn't feel like a tool like the one time I went in Whole Foods to use the bathroom.

first weekend of the new decade

2010-01-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

It's bedtime but I'm trying to be better about blogging this year. A quick summary of our weekend:

Had a fun time ringing in the new year with some friends (by the way, Seattle watches the ball drop in Times Square on delay instead of something on the west coast live- wtf is up with that)
Finally got library cards and checked out our local branch. Found lots of books about gardening in the pacific nw so we can start our vegetable garden. Also found they have tons of the Food Network chefs' cookbooks so I'll be trying some new recipes this week.
Put away all of the christmas stuff. We were the only people who put up our lights on thanksgiving weekend and the only ones who took them down on new years weekend. I thought that was standard but seattle is working on some other schedule.
Got living room furniture courtesy of my parents!! We are so excited to have a comfy couch, though we have to wait 6-8 weeks for delivery because we picked a custom fabric.
Speaking of my parents, my mom turned 50. They had a fabulous looking party last night and I wish I could have gone.
Gave the house a good cleaning/ finally finished unpacking from TX
Got lots of reading in

We were very productive this weekend, leading me to believe every weekend should have 3 days. I'm thankful another federal holiday is right around the corner...

last post of 2009?

2009-12-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

I feel compelled to summarize the year so here it goes:
- Rang in the new year in London on our honeymoon. Had a frost bite scare but my toes recovered!
- Took a quick trip to FL for a friend's wedding.
- Started a new job.
- Moved from basement apartment to our top floor apartment.
- Bought house and moved again a few months later.
- Went to Austin for Christmas, visiting Perla, and meeting our new niece.
- Celebrated 1 year anniversary yesterday!

Next year we're hoping for a slower pace so we have more time to spend on the things that got overlooked last year. One of our goals in buying a house was having enough land to grow a vegetable garden. Starting in Feb we can begin planting! I also want to make more time for reading, trying new recipes, and exercising. I had to cancel my elliptical because the ship date moved to when we were on vacation, so now I'll have to reorder it. I would like to say I have a plan for improvements to the house, but I feel like the house has a plan for itself. I'm sure as soon as one thing breaks, it will lead to other projects so I don't want to get my heart set on anything cosmetic just yet.
Happy New Years, everyone!

Texas Photos

2009-12-29T15:54:00.001-08:00

Leighann posted all of these to her Facebook already, but I figured I’d post them here for anyone that isn’t on the Facebook wagon.

View Full Album

Salmon Bay Photos

2009-12-29T15:42:00.001-08:00

I was walking around our neighborhood the other evening and came across this park on the edge of Salmon Bay. The Bay sits between Lake Union and Lake Washington on the East, and Elliot Bay (Puget Sound) on the West. The bodies of water are connected by the Ship Canal and the Ballard Locks. The park overlooks where the Bay reaches the Sound. The sun was setting behind the hill (Magnolia) and it was really pretty. I snapped these pictures with my cell phone, so they aren’t super detailed, but they stitched together nicely.

Photos are here

London Photosynth

2009-12-14T15:44:00.001-08:00

My laptop died the other day, so I’ve been going through the long process of recovering some of my stuff off of it, mainly photos. I came across a bunch of panoramic type photos that I took on our Honeymoon that I had sort of forgotten about. I’ve always wanted to give Photosynth a try, but didn’t really have any good photos for it. So, here’s one. I’ll post more if they are any good.

left overs

2009-12-13T19:34:00.000-08:00

Why do I hate leftovers so much? I was looking forward to them all day until it was time to heat them up, then I talked myself out of it. I turned to Nate and said " I wish we had more of the asparagus ravioli we ate last week." Then I opened the freezer and there it was. We can't figure out where it came from or remember buying another bag. I hope the freezer fairy brings me some Ben and Jerry's oatmeal cookie dough ice cream next...

a niece

2009-12-10T22:53:00.001-08:00

Congrats to Doug and Helen on the birth of Ophelia on Monday. She's got a blog here. We can't wait to meet her.

In other news, we haven't posted in awhile but my parents were here for Thanksgiving which was really nice. It's tough living so far away from family and I'm glad they are able to visit regularly. We got up Christmas lights, which I keep forgetting to take a picture of. It's been below freezing for days. I don't linger outside of the house much.

Also, I ordered an elliptical machine. It's the only thing I ever use at the gym anyway so it makes more sense just to have one. Mine isn't as fancy as the gym one (which had a TV built in), but I'll never have to wait for someone to finish using it. Apparently it weighs 150lbs and we have to assemble it. I'm a little concerned about building it wrong and it falling apart during use.

super quick update

2009-11-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

- Sewer fixed.. we hope
- Got a new, bigger christmas tree with some led lights for nerdy flair
- 1 week until doug and helen's baby arrives
- 2 days until my parents come for thanksgiving
- Sun came out today for the first time in awhile and instantly gave me a headache

That Was Fast

2009-11-17T01:00:00.001-08:00

We officially feel like homeowners, and it only took a month and a half! We finally got over the fact that our plane tickets to Austin weren’t going to come down in price any more and just bought them. We accepted it, and moved on. Leighann went to cook dinner, and I went to take care of the cat litter and get the trash out ( side note, Seattle has ridiculous trash and recycling rules - http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/GarbageatYourHouse/WhatsAcceptedasGarbage/index.htm ), so I headed downstairs to find three inches of standing water in the basement.

It turns out our lovely flat sewer line backed up, just like we thought it would. We had really hoped to get more than 6 weeks out of it. We got a plumber out to clear the line and the water all drained away. A few hours of cleaning and a few hundred dollars later and it’s back to how it was. Isn’t owning a house fun!? We don’t really know what caused it, but I’m willing to wage dollars to donuts that it had something to do with the fact that this has been the 10-day forecast for over a month now:

neighborhood gossip on the internet

2009-11-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

It's an excellent concept. We've been following the My Ballard blog since we moved in and we're loving it. There isn't a local paper just for Ballard and not much media attention is given to it, so it's great to know what's going on around us. For example, tonight we heard a really low flying plane that gave us a scare. I spent years living within a mile of airports and had never heard anything like it before. Within minutes the forums were alive with activity of other people hearing the same thing. Without the blog we would have just shrugged it off. Same with when we saw all of the emergency vehicles in front of Matador. The blog was the first to report the stabbing and I'm not sure if the newspaper ever ran a story on it. Thanks to the internet we don't have to go out into the 40 degree rain to talk to our neighbors to stay up to date on the neighborhood news. =)
In other news, we're making progress on the house. We've painted the entry and the living/dining room. Did I mention we're horrible painters. Not good at staying in the lines... Anyway, we have a contractor coming tomorrow to see how much it will cost to get some trim work done and the wood floors refinished. We're not handy people.

painting

2009-10-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

We bought a bunch of little sample paint pints from Lowes to decide what color we want to have on the walls. Last night I commented that I'm not going to get to see them in daylight until next weekend. I'm afraid of picking colors that look great in artificial light but then look horrible in daylight. There WILL be daylight in our lives again eventually =)

first day of yard work

2009-10-18T22:12:00.001-07:00

The rain finally let up enough for us to do some yard work today. The grass needed to be cut and there was a gigantic vine that had wrapped itself all the way around the house. Luckily, the previous owner left us an awesome rotary lawn mower and hedge clippers so we had everything we needed. We completely filled the yard waste bin which I think means we were successful.
Our goal later on is to get rid of all of the crazy mismatched plants and make a cohesive design. I like the look of evergreen shrubs and not so much the weird tropical-looking plants we have now (which aren't pictured here.) Also, they're fairly easy to shape so they won't block the basement windows and we can get more light down there. Maybe I'll make topiary...

starting to feel like home

2009-10-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple weeks now and we're starting to get used to living here. Nate's dad and sister just visited us, and it was really nice to see them. Nate and his dad did a lot of work around the house. They ripped out all of the carpet (that smelled like cigarettes) in the basement. We're thinking about using concrete paint for that room since it'll be used for a rec room at some point. They also did some electrical and duct work for the washer and dryer to bring it up to code and got the furnace working. Upstairs, they got my closet fixed so I can actually hang clothes in it. And of course they found time to watch baseball.
Kim joined us on Saturday for The Pogues show. Beforehand, Kim tried out the flat iron and it was epic. It took about an hour and I'm pretty sure it made her hair about 5 inches longer. We had a good time at the show mostly thanks to the excellent parking spot Nate found. =)

A Blast of Winter

2009-09-29T08:01:00.001-07:00

Now that we've moved out of the west-facing oven of an apartment, summer has apparently left us. I don't know what normal weather is around here, but it sure feels like we skipped fall and went right to winter. Mornings are in the high 30s or low 40s, and it almost gets up to the mid-50s in the daytime. Oh, and anyone that tells you it doesn't snow much up here is a liar; there is already rumors of snow in the foothills, and it's not even October! We don't mind though, after the 110 degree days of July and August, we're quite happy with the cooler nights. In fact, we still refuse to turn the heater on, but that is mostly because the ducts and filters need to be cleaned. I should probably do that soon so my Dad and sister don't freeze when they're here next week.

closing

2009-09-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

We officially closed today! The locksmith is here right now changing our locks because there are so many copies of the key out there. I'm in the process of cooking our first meal (Zatarain's black beans and rice with turkey sausage in case anyone is curious.) We both successfully took our buses this morning. Unpacking is about half-way done. A lot of what is still packed is stuff we don't have the right storage for so it will have to wait until we can make a Target trip tomorrow. I took some "before" pictures during the unpacking yesterday. I'm hoping very soon to have some "afters".

first night in the new house

2009-09-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

We are finally in but only slightly unpacked. We were afraid it wasn't going to happen yesterday. Turns out the title company found a lien on the property about 3 weeks ago and neglected to tell all of us, including the seller. The seller had acceptable proof that the debt had been paid, but wasn't asked for it until it was too late to close yesterday. Now we are closing on Monday, but the seller was nice enough to give us possession of the house as scheduled. I'm sure he was as frustrated as we were, considering this all could have been avoided if the title company (that we both paid) had given him or his agent a call.
Moving was stress-free. We hired movers who were professional, friendly, and even showed up early. It cost exactly what they said it would- no surprises. Because of timing, Nate stayed in Bothell with the movers and I hung out here in Ballard waiting for the Comcast tech to come. While I was waiting I walked to downtown Ballard for some lunch and hung out at the locks watching the boats go out to The Sound.
The Comcast guy showed up 7 minutes into the 4 hour window which is amazing. Our signal was not strong enough so I watched in horror as he pulled out a ladder with giant hooks at the end, hooked it to the power line, and climbed up to run a new line our to our house. I did not know power line wires are strong enough to rest a ladder on.
After the cable was fixed and the movers had left, we drove back to Bothell to get the cats. They are adjusting pretty well, though this house is far bigger than any space they've ever lived in. They are also terrified of the basement stairs which is fair because they are weird, crooked stairs. I put the litter box down there, so hopefully they get over it fast.
I'm so glad we are finally here, but at the same time it doesn't feel real. I've been in apartments for so long, it's strange to listen and not hear anything. Our street is super quiet and I love that about it. Unfortunately, we completely forgot to take pictures today.. maybe tomorrow we can take some pictures of us unpacking.

signing our lives away

2009-09-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

We signed all of our closing papers yesterday. It wasn't nearly as long as I thought and a lot of the paperwork seemed redundant. We took one final walk-through of the house afterward. The bee keeper had removed the honey bees from the back yard which is nice. They're now living on a bee farm somewhere. With all the weird furniture and dark curtains gone, it looks so much more cheerful inside. I can't wait to see it with our stuff. Tomorrow is closing and we get the keys. Then we immediately change the locks.

the digital transition has been going on for some time now

2009-09-15T21:35:00.001-07:00

I got a letter from Comcast in the mail telling me I need a digital converter box to keep getting digital cable channels on any tvs without cable boxes. I logged in to see what I need to order, but apparently over 250 years ago I already ordered it. I can be forgetful sometimes. It's been over 3 days since my order so I wonder where it is...

appraisal

2009-09-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

The appraisal came back and was fine. So far we are ahead of schedule to close on the 25th. We picked an insurance company and we're working on finding movers. We learned our lesson trying to do the last move ourselves.

things to consider at work

2009-09-10T22:36:00.001-07:00

Not naming names or speaking about any place in particular but there are a couple things that I'd like to have stopped:
- grunting noises in the bathroom
- talking baby talk to your kids/wife on the phone outside of my cube
- pot luck
- heavy breathing when you walk- seriously you shouldn't get out of breath walking to the printer

Bringing me candy and/or diet coke is acceptable.

Things to not do on the bus:
- talk to me
- have any part of your body cross the cushion divide
- sleep next to me
- smell like lysol
- wait until I pull the chain, then come sit on the aisle seat so that I now have to walk over you to get out

Ok. I just wanted to clear these things up because clearly this week there's been some confusion.

a house in ballard

2009-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

OMG we're under contract on a house. We were out with our real estate agent and getting disappointed because anything that wasn't a fixer had something wrong with the location. This was the very last house we looked at and we loved it. It's just a few minutes walk from the shops and restaurants in downtown Ballard. Nate can walk to the connector and I can walk to my bus stop. It's the smallest house on an expensive street which is smart from an investment standpoint.
The inside definitely needs work. The floors REALLY need to be refinished. Several windows need to be replaced. Many of the appliances could go at any moment. The electrical and plumbing are in need of updating. The sewer needs to be fixed. It's a shame that it wasn't well taken care of because the house itself is great. It has really high ceilings and a really nice floor plan that fits our needs perfectly. We're really excited to work on it over the next few years.
So I've watched a lot of these home buying shows on HGTV and still didn't really understand how stressful the process is. They often end the show with the offer getting accepted and you assume after that it's smooth sailing. It's been over a week since our offer got accepted and I still feel like everything could fall apart at any second. The negotiations for repairs were stressful because this is an estate sale. I felt the seller took us asking for repairs as an insult to his late parents, which was something I didn't expect. For us it's a business transaction and an exciting time, but it must be difficult selling your family's home for less than you think it's worth.
Now we're worried that something will go wrong with the appraisal. There are so few sales in that neighborhood (I think it's a good thing that people don't want to move?), coming up with fair market value was difficult. Our lender assured us that it would be fine and we wouldn't knowingly have overbid on a house so hopefully all goes well.
We went to Home Depot yesterday to start adding up the costs of all of the things we need or will need in the first year. Turns out things that we need aren't that expensive if we do them ourselves, but if we hire someone labor costs won't be cheap. With that being said, Nate's dad is visiting a week after we move in and my parents are visiting for Thanksgiving. We're hoping they can teach us how to do some of the easier projects because we are clueless about this stuff. We actually tried to buy some tools yesterday and gave up. What is the difference between a $100 drill and a $400 drill? LOL we have a lot to learn. If all goes well, closing is on Sep 25th. I'll keep you posted.

oh yeah.. i have a blog

2009-08-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, I've been a little distracted lately. The job has been keeping me busy and feeling pretty drained during the week. My coworkers love potlucks which is a practice I have trouble understanding. We sit at desks all day so forcing junk food on one another doesn't seem like the best idea. Also, I've noticed a disturbing number of women not washing their hands in the bathroom. That doesn't make me want to dig into the bag of chips after them.
In other news, we've started up the house hunt again. Apparently we want the same thing everyone else wants because anything we like has multiple offers on it. Some are sold before we have a chance to look at them. Others have been bought in cash which we can't compete with. It feels ridiculous to be considering offering over asking price on a home considering the market conditions. It also pains me to think we could have waterfront property back in Melbourne for less money than we're considering spending on a tiny cottage in need of updating. I'm trying my best to enjoy the process however long it may take.

baseball and pigs on wheels

2009-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to my first Mariner's game! Safeco Field is conveniently located just a few blocks from work so Nate bussed in to meet me and some friends and walk over.
Deciding on what baseball food to eat for dinner was challenging. Besides all of the classics, Safeco has a lot of good local restaurants like Garlic Jims and Ivars. Not only that, but the road you have to walk up to reach the stadium is lined with vendors in tents selling food that can be brought into the game.
This brings me to the highlight of the night: MAXIMUS MINIMUS! This pig had been eluding us for many weeks now and then.. there it was parked right outside of the stadium. The wonderful tangy aroma of BBQ sauce could not be denied. We got the maximus pork sandwich and omg yes it was most excellent. Pig, if you can hear me can you please come park in pioneer square for lunch and stop feeding the tourists on 2nd and pike??

fireworks! cont'd

2009-07-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 more fireworks videos. The second one is the grand finale.

fireworks!

2009-07-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

We went to the fireworks at Gasworks again this year and they were even better than last year. My little pink camera took some decent videos, so here are some highlights:

Nate is still uploading them, so I'll post a couple more (including the grand finale) tomorrow.

Fremont Solstice Parade

2009-06-21T10:56:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we experienced our first Fremont Solstice. What can I even say about it? There were a bunch of naked hippies on bikes. We walked by hundreds of vendor tents- only the obese nudest tent was memorable. We bar hopped a little. Things started to make more sense after a couple drinks so I've arrange the photos in the order I wish they had happened.

At the street fair

The Taming of the Shrew performed in front of the famous bridge troll

Gasworks Park

A blur of naked bike riders

A few more

Today's plan is to drive back into the city to look at a few open houses. Then we'll try the world-famous Red Mill burgers! I've been hearing about this place for awhile and I'm excited to finally try one.

im still here

2009-06-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting the blog lately! Work is keeping me very busy. While it's fun being in the city everyday, the hour bus ride gets old. (Let's reopen the convention center express lane exit, ok?) I get home around 7, eat, get mad that nothing good is on tv, and go to bed by 10. I'd love to live about 30 mins closer, but at least it's narrowed down the areas we're looking for houses in.
Off to work!

why seattle real estate is absurd part 4

2009-06-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I skipped 3, but let's just count yesterday's post as 3. Anyway:
MLS#: 29078424
Possibly the worst listing photos ever.

Seattle Real Estate Update

2009-06-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

WTF is this?
MLS#: 29078582
Who wants to live in a studio out in the suburbs for that price?

white water rafting

2009-05-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

My parents are in town and today the four of us went white water rafting on the Skykomish River. It's supposed to be the best rafting in WA and it's only 45 mins away. The water temperature was around 38 degrees so we had to wear wetsuits and booties. The air temp was almost 70 so it felt really nice in the sun. My parents and I have been rafting many times, but it was Nate's first go at it. Nate stitched together this video from the 83 pics the photographer took of us going down Boulder Drop.
We'd be happy to go again if anyone visiting wants to go! =)

city officials acknowledge snow reponse

2009-04-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

A new report in the Seattle Times questions the city's response to December's snow.
An excerpt:

Because of poor record-keeping, the report said, "how many miles of residential streets (were plowed) and why they were plowed during the snowstorm cannot be confirmed or explained."

During the storms, according to the report, Seattle transportation officials kept snowplowing records on dry-erase boards and in handwritten notes, and let road crews decide which streets to plow first.

Also, the city did not follow its own procedures. A team of people was supposed to be ready to respond to road emergencies, but that team was not activated for the storm's first week and a half because it "did not formally exist," the report said.

They also touch on their no-salt policy, stating there was no scientific basis for banning salt. I'm prepared to watch in amazement as not a single responsible party is fired or resigns.

a quicky

2009-04-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

First day of work tomorrow! I'm more nervous about taking the bus than anything else. The ipod is charged to minimize the risk of small talk.
Celebrity Apprentice was absurd tonight. I don't think anyone believes a single one of the contestants is in it for the charity. The producers did a good job of picking people that represent all the stereotypes about fame.

I'm bringing my pink lunch box tomorrow and I don't care who knows it!
Good night!

why seattle real estate is absurd part 2

2009-04-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

This is the next installment of "people attempting to sell their garage"...
MLS#: 28139698

At first, this seems like a steal. After all- getting into the Seattle market under $200k is quite an accomplishment. But check out the price/sq ft. If you apply the $250 neighborhood average it should cost about $81k. Also they claim to have a walk-in closet! I'm calling BS on this one unless they are counting the house itself.