A Great Day

Yesterday was a wonderful day. After spending Friday night running around Lake Union and eating victory nachos outside at the Nickerson Street Salon with my wonderful friend Annabelle, I went to sleep thinking it was a great night. And then I woke up Saturday and realized I was going to harness Friday night and turn it into a great Saturday. SO, yesterday I:

• Spent the morning with Ben lounging around the house
• Got new running shorts, that have a boy short underneath. (I can't wait to try them out on our long run tomorrow!)
• Ate a Molly Moon's ice-cream cone ('scout' mint) before lunch
• Picked up my library books that finally came in
• Enjoyed the beautiful hot Seattle late-summer day
• Watched the Huskies beat Idaho...Go Dawgs!
• Read one of my new books
• Watched a movie
• Made a salad out of my Runner's World magazine, which was delicious (sweet potato & bacon?...yumm)
• And thoroughly  embraced relaxing on one of my last day's before school starts.

I am excited for fall, but as long as summer wants to keep giving us these warm sunny days, I am going to make sure to enjoy them to the fullest. What did you do? 

A Lovely Weekend...and A Hint of What is to Come

The last week was filled with family, friends, love, laughter, good food and wine, and the beginning of my favorite season. My aunt Darla flew in from southern California Wednesday evening and we spent Thursday traversing throughout Seattle. We ate at one of her favorite old breakfast spots in Greenwood (Phinney Ridge Cafe), and window shopped our way through the University Village and of course Target, where she bought Ben and I a beautiful new house warming present: a living room rug that is soft to walk on and not covered in four years worth of memories. We then dined at Ben's restaurant, gorging ourselves on scallops, halibut, and the best dessert: peach crepes with black sea salt. 

Early Friday morning, Ben and I headed south to Eugene to be a part of Allan and Kelda's wedding weekend. There we ate well (Belly for the rehearsal dinner), helped with last minute adjustments as the less than 1% chance of rain decided it wanted to be a wedding guest, and watched our friends exchange their vows. 

(Ben and I before the ceremony)

(The lovely bride)

(Her grandmother's veil)

My favorite part of the evening was finding all of Kelda's personal touches, including little birds everywhere (my absolute favorite). Here is an example of one hanging out in the cream puffs (side note: I ate 7 cream puffs...and 1 cupcake...and a lemon bar--don't judge me...they were delicious). 

We then headed back North to visit more family and friends, and then drove to Seattle in a monsoon. I have never been on the freeway when out of the blue, all the cars slow down 20 mph, when there is open road. But you literally could not see out the window...scary to say the least. Back at the house we spent the rest of the weekend hanging pictures (no bare walls!), hanging out with family, and tackling a 14 mile run. Yes, you read that right...14. Now I know we're training for a marathon (26.2 miles), but 14 is still a big deal to me...it's the longest either of us have ever run (see Ben, I didn't write about what you thought I would write about...yet...).

Overall, the weekend was lovely...but the icing on the cake was that I saw signs of my favorite season: fall. I'm not sure if it was the cup of tea, the change in the air, or the fact that I heated up my frog warm-up that Therese gave me in an effort to loosen up my back...but I got a glimpse of it. And guess what...I LOVE FALL!

Why you ask? 

Well, the simple answer is because it's BEAUTIFUL. The leaves change and outside looks like a painting. But I also love: the beginning of football season , when the air turns crisp, and back to school and all the anticipation it brings. Plus, after a long hot summer, snuggling up with a cup of tea in a warm sweater starts to be very inviting. The cool nights allow for better sleeping, and there is the hint of the holidays, which brings fun movies that you save for those special times, meals that your mother made meant to put meat on your bones, and fun decorations. The speed also slows down for awhile (at least until the end of November). Gone are the plan-filled weekends that last from the 4th of July to Labor Day, and instead they are full of long runs through RED, YELLOW, and ORANGE filled streets, chili in the crockpot, my Jake Locker jersey, and a fresh start. 

I have always felt like Fall is the true beginning of the year. There is just something about it that says clean, crisp, new, and refreshing. I could go on and on...carmel apple ciders, carving pumpkins, etc.  I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend, and please enjoy the last summer days we have...because the leaves are changing...literally.

Some Kitchen Context for my Mother

Here are a couple of photos to give the Mickey post a little more context.

The full kitchen and bar area:

When you walk into our place, the door is in the middle of the room and if you look left you see the above image, and to the right is the living room. There are windows on each side of the door, and underneath each are the dining room nook (you can see my bike tire in the lower left hand corner--it is leaning up against the table); and to the right under the window is my office area.

Here you get a glimpse of the living room and the neat bookshelf that our landlords didn't want to part with, but also did not want to ship to Atlanta. It originally was under the living room window, but after Ben and I both almost had a meltdown trying to figure out how to keep it under the window and fit a desk in the new place, we decided it fit perfect under the bar, and we didn't have any barstools anyway.

Around the corner of the bar is the hall/bathroom/bedroom area. These are all the pics for now--at least until we hang some stuff on the walls....

Secret Addiction

Thinking Ben and I have a  problem: 

What's even sadder is that this was just from the pencil holder, and does not contain the numerous Sharpies scattered throughout the rest of the house. 

Little Things Around the House

There are a few little things around our new house that I really enjoy. Not the place itself (although I am rather fond of the ice machine), but things that we brought with us. With the loss of my Christmas ornaments during the move, I realized that they were just "things," and what matters most is not the objects but the people around you that make the objects memorable (I won't lie though--I still miss my ornaments and hope that the person who found them really needed them...but I digress). So I'm not too attached to the "things," but since they were not accidentally left in the free box, I'm going to celebrate them, because they make me smile. Case in point: Mickey.

Now as most of you know, I am rather fond of Disneyland. Yes, the lines are long, and there are lots of kids, but if you go at the right time (during the week after Labor Day), you get to act like a kid yourself and run from ride to ride eating as much ice cream and churros as your little heart desires. I enjoy the uninhibited freedom that Disneyland invokes, and brings out the playful kid in all of us.

When Ben went with me to Disneyland for the first time I was a little nervous. Would he act like a kid himself, or laugh at how I skip from ride to ride? Although this is not entirely fair to him, I had predetermined that Disneyland was the deal breaker or maker. I needed to be with someone who could let loose, and as soon as he turned to me and giggled before our cart took off on Space Mountain, I knew I had a keeper.

After our long day of fast passing, Ben and I decided to buy our first souvenir together. We went through each shop and finally decided on some matching coffee mugs. Yet, when we bought them the sales receipt said at the bottom: "WARNING: PRODUCT CONTAINS LEAD PAINT THAT MAY CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS." The sales clerk told us that the state of California MADE THEM put that on the receipt, and he assured us they were fine (SIDE NOTE: thank you California for looking out for my health). Ben and I looked at each other, and back at the store and decided that we did not have the energy to find new souvenirs, and that we just wouldn't drink out of them until babies were born, and we couldn't harm our future kids with our "happiest place on earth" memorabilia. At the old place we hid them so none of our guests would accidentally be exposed to lead paint, but at the new diggs they are happily displayed on a top shelf (perfect placement by Margaret):

So when you come visit, please note that for your safety, you CANNOT drink out of them--cute as they may be.

The second time we went to Disneyland, we decided on something a little smaller, and that no one could get poisoned from:

I just love this little guy. He happily sits on the stove and watches over the kitchen. This was his spot at the old place, and he does such a good job looking out for the kitchen that he now has a permanent spot no matter where we live.

He shares the stove with my favorite green teapot Ben got me in San Francisco, the salt and pepper, and the adorable little vase that Blythe got me for Christmas that we hold oil in. You'll also notice the brown lump on the other side of the stove. It's a snake, although it kind of resembles a pile of poo. Mickey is not happy about it, and I am also not too thrilled, but that is where Ben wanted it. Since he tolerates the Mickey's all over and giggles on Space Mountain, this one he can have.