Florida Trip

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

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

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

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

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

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

busy week

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

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

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

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.