Anniversary Art and a few other bits and pieces

We are thankful for a great many things (including not working OR shopping on Thanksgiving Day).  One thing we love about our lives is Anniversary Art!  (Okay any art, but Anniversary Art is extra special).   Every year we have a tradition of buying "Anniversary Art" ...a tradition closely tied to the annual experience entitled: "What did we get last year????" So just so we keep remembering, here's our art in summary:

 

ENGAGED!

 

 

Before we got engaged this was a big blank wall. Now we have paintings by Connie DeLaVergne. Aaron's mom gave him the brown one (bottom left) and later I gave him the blue square one (upper right).  Once we got engaged, Connie was kind enough to make a series of them and then let us have first pick of the two big ones that we wanted.    

 

FIRST ANNIVERSARY

We found this at a garden arts fair.  The entire first year we had crows that delighted in hopping up and down on the edge until the whole bird bath flipped over and onto the ground.  Oh the fun...if you happen to be a crow. A little annoying if you're one of the humans constantly picking up and re-filling the birdbath. 

This is the birdbath five years later...after multiple tree limbs have fallen on it, crows have tossed it, the elements have gotten to it.  We could say it's a metaphor for marriage, but we're pretty sure our five years together have been a lot easier on us than the birdbath.

SECOND ANNIVERSARY

There is some debate over what was our second anniversary art - so lets say we got both of these.

In 2010 we went to Santa Fe, NM for a friend's wedding.  While we were there we stumbled into the Fabio Napoleoni gallery.  All his paintings have a little squishy heart in them in honor of his little baby girl who has a heart defect. This one says "Love me?  Yes. No. Always." 

That same summer we were walking through out neighborhood and some neighbors were holding an art sale.  How could we resist the giant jacks made of railroad spikes?  They line the way to our front door.  Kids love them and it's a great landmark, "we're the house with the jacks out front". 

THIRD ANNIVERSARY

These fellas are part of the Gnomes be Gone series by Fred Conlon.  The little guys are made from cut up cannon balls.  He also has tanks made out of old army helmets with these critters riding in them....Anner wants one of those BAD.

FOURTH ANNIVERSARY

Last year brought about a bit of patriotism.  This metal shield is not exactly the same as Captain America's shield, but we both loved it.  We had admired it on more than one occasion at various art fairs and Aaron was on a break at Salmon Days when he returned to the booth with a special anniversary gift.  We both were thrilled. 

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

That brings us to present day.  We searched and searched for some anniversary art this year to no avail.  Awhile back, though, Aaron's mom gave him a little painting by Juli Adams.  (Notice the theme here: Debby gives us a cool little piece of art and then a couple of years later we go hog wild??)  Juli ended up having a booth just down the row from Aaron in the Bellevue Festival of the Arts show this year, but neither of us could commit.  Secretly I decided to get Aaron a painting for Chrismanukah, but when we couldn't find anniversary art I asked Aaron what he thought about a Juli Adam's painting.  The very next day, I arrived to work with an email saying, "we have an appointment with Juli tonight at 7:00...can you make it home in time?"  Well, yes I can! And these are the two sweet little pieces we picked after visiting her studio.  We love, love, love them and can't wait to hang them.  These are from her "Companions" series and the titles make them even better - the top one is "Lucien wants to tell us a story" and the lower is called "Socializing the fish".  So nice when an amazing artist is also clever with their namings!  We're still working on the best place to hang them up.

RANDOM THINGS

Christmas Came Early

Here's another kind of art.  The kind my family makes.  Mom gave me this quilt when I visited her last week.  At first glance it's just a cross-stitched blanket.  It was made by my Tante Mamie (my great aunt) and her sister, my grandma Obermeyer.  Yes, they cross-stitched all the flowers, but look at the amazing quilting.  The precise curves and the perfectly parallel straight lines.  Those were made by hand, my friends.  Not "on the machine by hand" but really and truly with a thread and needle by hand. Sit yourself down and try sewing a perfectly straight line, by hand...I know I can't do it! I have no idea how long it took, but I love it. 

 

For the record, all my cousins can sew.  One makes hundreds of crazy fun pillow cases for kids in the hospital with cancer -- loaded up in crates in the photo.  Another only quilts by hand, just like grandma. 

  

The Dessert Shirt

I call this Aaron's Dessert Shirt.  His mom made it for him.  It's filled with deliciousness: s'mores, framed by red raspberries, with a bit of chocolate chips and books for a base.  It's super cool looking and he's been wearing it a lot.

 

And finally...this is not so much about art as it is about always trying new things.  I did my first ever 5K on Thanksgiving morning.  Not sure I liked it, but now I can cross it off the to-do list.  Thanks to Hubs who did it pretty much because I wanted to.

Happy Thanksgiving/Hanukah everyone!

Where Oh Where Did Summer Go??

We haven't been good bloggers this summer.  So here it is: The sweetened condensed version of the summer of 2013.  Ready?  Here we go!

 

More Sock Critters

Anner made several adorable sock critters for co-workers who have had babies at works.  Lots of pregnant co-workers means a lot of resulting critters.  It also means Anner has decided to bring her own water to work.  No need to take chances.

 





This one is named, Cheeky, because of her cheeky little look out of the corner of her eye.  She was barely finished in time - as Anner tied the bow she simultaneously received a text that the mom-to-be was headed to the hospital.  Turns out the critter is slightly bigger than the baby, but everyone is doing great.

 

 

 

 

Here's another one named, Bunny, for obvious reasons (and a lack of creativity) 

 

 

More Ice Cream

This was our sixth annual Ice Cream Social.  You can see the toppings go right into the horizon.  This was one of the most successful ICS's yet. We had about 65 guests and over 40 toppings.  That's the right ratio in our minds.

 

 

 

Then suddenly the rains came.  It was like this for days.  It was mother nature's cruel trick to let us go from 90+ days of sunshine to epic Noah's ark rain all in a day, but she did it to us anyway.  We are happily stunned that the rain has turned to heavy, heavy fog with afternoon sunshine.  Ahhhh, much better.

 

A Lot More Rain

 

 

Aaron's mom visited this summer in between hers and Aaron's birthdays.  It was as good of an excuse to eat dessert twice (three?) times a day as any!  Dee-licious!

 

A Visit from Debby/Birthday Celebrations

We spent one afternoon at the Chihuly glass garden and it was really cool.  Anner is drawn towards anything colorful and shiny...this place was made for her.  Aaron liked it because they give away little plastic cards that are also colorful.  He took them home and made earrings out them.  Now you'll find him loitering outside the gates to the garden hoping to find more little plastic cards dropped on the ground.

 

 

 

Nothing says "happy birthday" like being on a harbor cruise with your spouse's work.  Well...no need to say "thanks", Anner had it all arranged.  While Anner worked the boat making sure everyone had a drink in their hand and brownie on their plate, Aaron took in the giant cargo ships in the Sound. 

 

The good news is that Anner promised him a weekend out of town which is set for just a couple of weeks from now.  The big question is, Portland or Vancouver?  (Aaron says, "anything that doesn't involve Anner's work!")

 

 

Anner got around to making his birthday cake a few weeks late when Debby was visiting.  This turns out to be Debby's mom's recipe...no pressure there.  eh hem.  Anner filled the cake with mini M&M's (a la pinterest) that spilled out when Aaron cut the cake.  This helped quell any comparisons to the family recipe AND it was pretty cool.  Aaron liked it a lot.

 

 

Happy Birthday Aaron and Debby!!

 

 

 

As long as we're celebrating, Aaron and Anner had their 5th Wedding Anniversary.  (The "wood" anniversary, if you're wondering.)  Anner went to work the next day and her boss was pretty outraged that Aaron hadn't gotten her any jewelry.  Anner wasn't too worried about it because every summer they buy "anniversary art" together.  Boss was displeased...shook his head...turned away.  When Anner came home from work she was totally shocked to find that Aaron HAD bought her a pendant from the Bellevue Art Fair.  Apparently there's a Man Code she was unaware of and that Aaron was nearly in breech of!! She wore it to work and luckily Boss's faith in Aaron has been restored.  Whew.  That was a close one.

 

[Side Note: It was Anner's 10 year anniversary at work a few weeks ago.  She went to her boss and asked "What kind of jewelry did you get me...where's my present??"  He nervously looked around and offered her to take her to lunch.  A deal was struck.]

 

This picture is right before dinner with our friend Professor Lisa.  We always eat well and have a great time when Lisa is in town.

 

Anniversary Time

 

Also for our anniversary we donned our safety gear and went to see "Big Bertha" the giant tunneling machine that's making its way below downtown Seattle.  This is the sister project to the one Anner works on.  We were both impressed.

 

One of Anner's co-workers Amie wedded this fall.  It was a beautiful reception and we had a great time.  The bride was absolutely stunning! She's originally from Wisconsin so Anner was sure to give her a hot dish recipe and a can of mushroom soup.  They both thought it was hilarious.  For some reason, no one else did.

 

It's not Summer in Seattle without a Wedding

 

 

If a can of soup wasn't enough, Anner pulled out the glue gun and glitter stars and made this awesome "Date Night" activity for the wedding reception.  Guests were invited to fill out pretty little cards with ideas for date nights for the bride and groom.  This was was much more highly regarded than the hot dish.

 

 

 

 

 Art Shows!

Aaron also did a bunch of art shows and art walks this year.  He's made a bunch of really cool "earrings of the month" that you can find on Facebook.  We're looking forward to the last two shows - one in November and the final show of the year is the second annual studio show right here in our back yard.  Way to go Hubs!

 

 

 

That pretty much sums up summer in a nutshell.  Add a little more art show and all the brain cancer walk stuff and there you have it!  We're both looking forward to a quieter fall and more time together doing fun things instead of work-like things. Wish us luck on accomplishing that!!



Seattel Brain Cancer Walk 2013 - Big Success!!

 

Just like that – the 2013 Seattle Brain Cancer Walk is in the books.  Every year I think the same thing: this is just like a wedding.   You spend a whole year planning and then *poof* is over; the whole time you’re saying “hello” to all sorts of people and promise “we’ll get together soon”, pose for a quick picture and the onward! It’s all a big whirlwind but so wonderful while it’s happening.

 

The first thing you really need to know was that the weather forecast called for 70% chance of rain (not showers, but actual rain) AND possible thunderstorms and that’s just not normal for Seattle.  For a week we did our “anti-rain-dance” and hoped it would just stay dry from 7:30-10:30.  That’s all we needed.



Group shot of this year's Patients & Survivors.

After months of prep it was show time.  The alarm went off at Aaron and I turned it off and went back to sleep.  I woke up when Aaron rubbed my shoulder and said, “Guess what?  ….it’s not raining!”  That seemed like a good enough reason to get out of bed.  That and my ride was due in the next ½ hour or so.

We made it to Seattle Center at 5:00am – quite a while before sunrise and started to setup and just after 7:30 all sorts of brain cancer patients and survivors started to make their way to our area – the Patient/Survivor Pavilion.  


Entry into the Patient and Survivor Pravillon



Just one of the tables holding 169 donated Experiences
for patients to chose from.



This year Aaron ended up volunteering in the Pavilion and reports “it was fun!”  I know he didn’t say that for my benefit because it really is the place to be on walk day.  Ben and Karen also volunteered there too and that was a big help!  We gave about 100 patients an “experience” to enjoy, like sports, dinner, movies, etc. 



Patient/Survivor picking an Experience.

Cute kids having special treats while waiting in the
Patient & Survivor Pravillion

Aaron volunteering.  A patient called me today and reported,
"Your husband is just adorable".  ...ya, he sure is!  :)

We had a great time with Karen and “aunt” Janice who the two most positive and upbeat people I know. We just have so much fun with them.  Karen and I actually got to spend a few hours together earlier in the week.  I love her company so it was a treat to have a little time together before the walk.  Plus the entire team went out from our traditional post-walk brunch which has become one of my most favorite times of the year. 



I love this phot of me, aunt Janice and Karen. The SBCW photgrapher captures this one every year.
He's gotta be getting tired of us and our boas, but too bad!!

It’s hard to sum it all up without droning on and on, so just let me way this--- we had over 2,500 walkers, about 100 brain cancer survivors, and raised $460,000 so far.  The day was a huge success, super-fun and I’m absolutely exhausted. 

BIG thank you to all of our friends and family who support us every year, come out to the walk, donate, volunteer, wish us well…all of it makes it even a more special.



Ben and Karen both volunteered all day. 

Cynthia and Brigit both suprised me and joined us for the walk...
along with Maggie the dog.

Plus, as luck would have it, the weather stayed dry all day long AND the sun came out during closing ceremonies.  The day was meant to be perfect, and it was.


A few more pictures from the walk: 


Balloons in walk colors.  Kids LOVED them and we ran out.



Seattle Philharmonic has played at the walk for four years. 
Plus they donate a pair of tickets for every patient.  Pretty darn generous!



Karen's cousin Holly on the left. She's a survivor and gave a speech at the Walk.



Karen's sister Linda...who's glamorous as always!



BRUNCH!  I was hungry by then and the
truffel mushroom omlett will require it's own blog entry
and don't get me started on the gourmet donut holes!



Nan (my co-chair and partner) makes these amazing bouquets
for every walk.  They are alway sunning and I never turn her down
when she sents one home with me at the end of the day.