Inauguration Count Down

Aaron surprised me tonight by decorating the house for our Inauguration Brunch on Tuesday. Like the new table, pictures don't really do it justice.

See you back here in just five days.

Real Live Grown-Up Furniture!!!!

In an effort to make our house more homey I've really been pushing for "unpacking". My idea is to actually take everything out of the box its in and put it somewhere in the house! Aaron is onboard with this concept and that's why two weeks ago he suggest we go furniture shopping to get some nice shelves and various things so we can start putting out some of our pictures, books, art and alike. You know: the stuff that makes a house a home.

We headed out to the furniture store where we saw a beautiful Indian rosewood dining table. We've seen them before but they are always in castle size; not ity-bity-cute-little-house size. After 2 1/2 years of looking one appeared. Unfortunately, a dining table wasn't on the shopping list. It's the one thing we had and were reasonably happy about. Lucky for us the furniture store had an unrelenting high-pressured sales women who even did us the favor of calling us at home....twice. We lamented it all afternoon and measured and remeasured our dinning nook. Then: we caved. A week later we were picking up our new fabulous table, chairs and dresser for Aaron. I mean, once you're buying why not justify it by getting at least one thing that was on the list in the first place? As a bonus we were able to get it in one minivan trip. Amazing.

LOADING THE VAN

THE VAN ALL PACKED UP


TESTING OUT THE TABLE!! Pictures don't do it justice.
Trust us - it's BEA-U-TI-FUL

CHECK OUT THE GRAIN

AARON'S NEW AWESOME DRESSER

Not Too Married for Mystery Dates!!

Last Saturday we had our first Mystery Date since last spring. We relized the last time we had a MD we ended up engaged by the end of the night. Although this wasn't quite an monumental it was still really fun: Seattle's own Gay Bingo. It's a monthly fundraiser for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. The theme was Studio 54 (think gay disco). We knew we did something right because Aaron and the Queen who hosted the evening both had the same belt. He's SO fashion forward....

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

What do homemade marshmallows + homemade graham crackers + fancy chocolate = ? If you say pure gooey goodness you'd be right!!! We rang in the new year with our friends Jack & Anastasia, games, and homemade smores. We made marshmallows during the big winter storm and took our first stab at graham crackers about an hour before we were expected for dinner. It was a super fun way to welcome 2009. I think a tradition may have been born!

This morning (it was technically still morning) we woke up and went to Seattle Town Hall to see two live recordings of NPR's "Says You". It's a radio game show about words. Aaron loves it and knows most of the answers. I give him 100 points. Me? I'm more of a "Wait, Wait: Don't Tell Me" contestant. That one is all about current events.

We're back at work tomorrow so, sorry, no time to make resolutions (unless it were to be to 'work less'). Hope everyone had an equally good time. Happy 2009!

Happy Solstice 2008!!!!

It's the first day of solstice and winter is letting itself be known with a rare and thorough dumping of snow. Here are some photos:

First thing this morning Aaron and I got a box of solstice gifts from Heidi and Mike. It was super fun to get to open them today as we ate our scone appetizer before breakfast. You'll see that little Ben (3 or 4) made us a beautiful painting. Add that to the art collection.

Sledding/skiing/goofing around on a hill a block or two from our house. They've been there all week straight. I see them every night when I'm hoofing it homefrom the bus stop on Aurora.

Aaron walking in the snow. He liked it because it was "crunchy snow". The first layer of snow had time to firm up and then we got several inches of fluffy snow so as you walk through it you hear crunch, crunch, cruch. He zig zagged our way through the neighborhood. I mostly walked down the middle of the road in tire tracks. When we're done Aaron probably walked twice as far as I did. We plan to go again tonight because I want to see the christmas lights and the snow and Aaron wants to go to get some fresh air and exercise. Win-Win!!!


Our back yard in the snow. Hard to image and ice cream social right now. Be strong little plants...STRONG!

Art on the wall….

Aaron and I have been collecting some paintings by Connie DeLaVergne. It all started with the one piece that Debby gave to Aaron. Then last Hanukah I gave Aaron another piece. Once we were engaged we decided to commemorate it with a couple of “big pieces” so we could put a collection over our couch. A year later we took a notion to take the four paintings in for framing and then just a few nights later we broke out the hammer and the level. We are happy to announce we have bonafide art on the walls!!! Just like grown-ups. The wall is still a little bare so we're going to add a bit more before we're done.

Baby it’s snow out side….and it’s cold too!

Seattle is having an unusual cold and snow spell. You’ll laugh but the weather man says it “feels like 11”. I suppose the Minnesotans are not so impressed. I’m getting used to navigating my way to and from North Seattle in inclement weather. It’s been about 2 hours one-way this week. Blech!!! This is a big change from being no more than a 45-minute walk from home and always within a cab’s rides reach, but it is what it is. Compared to a lot of folks I’ve had reasonably reliable bus transportation. Today at work nearly everyone who was there was an admin person. We ordered pizza for the admin staff that showed up. I bet it’s practically deserted tomorrow. I’ll be there!

Sleepy time for dahlias....

It snowed here yesterday. Big. Fluffy. Wet. Snowflakes. They came down in sheets and it was just lovely. We were downtown and I think it really put me in the holiday mood (caramel corn is in the oven as I type!)

Luckily it was AFTER I planted some new plants yesterday morning. I've had some snap dragons blooming for 2 years now so we planted some new ones. It's nice to have the color in winter even if the snap dragons don't know they're 'spose to die. We did bring in two of the hanging fuchsias inside. We’re hopeful that the snow will signal to the dahlia’s “time to hibernate” since they are re-sprouting in they’re pots. Watch they are going to wear themselves out and not do anything this summer. Good thing we can buy more tubers at the Flower and Garden Show. Aaron is working on getting us a guest blog spot there. That will be fun!

"Shh the dahlias are snoozing..."

Dreidel - it's not a brand name!

I thought it would be fun to make some dreidel shaped sugar cookies this year. I thought I’d just head to the local kitchen store and pick up a dreidel cookie cutter. Easy. Off to Northgate mall where. I walked in, “One dreidel cookie cutter please.” The sales lady responded with, “Sorry. We don’t carry that brand.”

Hum? “Ah, it’s not a brand. It’s a shape. You know….a dreidel.” She looks confused so I thought I’d job her memory. “No, it’s a top thing….’dreidel, dreidel, dreidel I made it out of clay….lalallalala….”

Blank stare. In over her head she reached for the mic, “Manager to the front!”

In comes the manager who was very nice and seemed to have a pretty good idea of what a dreidel was because she immediately informed me they don’t carry them but she does have a Star of David has she showed me the five pointed star. Hum? So she had a general idea of what I was talking about. I give her credit for trying. It beat the associate that chimmed in with "Maybe you could cut them out free-hand." He had a good point although it defeated the idea of looking for a cutter, doesn't it? I thanked them and left the store.

I thought over my situtation and decided that perhaps a dreidel was too obscure for a north side suburb. I needed to go downtown. The big city. The melting pot. I went to my favorite kitchen store, City Kitchens. It’s a tiny, tiny little store with a brilliant sales team that is VERY helpful. They devote an entire wall to cookie cutters. They knew exactly what I wanted but sadly they were out, “torah instead?”

“No thanks.”

Next, Seattle’s own, Sur la table. No perfect cookie cutter there.

Finally my last hope, the Mother of all kitchen stores: William Sonoma store. The glossy lipped sales girl said “Oh no we’re out….they’ve been hot sellers” and points to the blank space on the display. I was surprised that they were hot sellers but on the other hand it reinforced my notion of the big city having everything I could ever want. She sprinted away to look it online. I took a closer look at the display. It had a blank spot with a picture and one word: “Ornament”. Apparently “Ornament” and “Dreidel” are interchangeable. It was a relief when she said she couldn’t find any others in town because I didn’t have to explain. She recommended City Kitchen and when I told her they were out she just went off on how bad they are….which was about all I could stand. I wanted to scream, “at least they really know what I'm looking for...take your ornaments and.....” Instead I got a grip, grabbed my complimentary cup of tastey W-S Cider and did a 180 and headed home.

After much thought, we’ve decided to make marshmallows instead. Sugar cookies are over-rated anyway. Plain, square, marshamallows. Much better. We hope you have a good holiday no matter what shape your sugar cookies are!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Another successful Thanksgiving is in the books!!! Aaron and I enjoyed the traditional Seattle thanksgiving I have celebrated the past decade or so. There was the traditional dinner plus 12 desserts so you KNOW it was good!!! Hannah and Adam are getting so big. Hannah played guitar with us which is really fun to watch. There was singing and game playing. Now I'm ready for a nap!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Nagigi Fiji Book Drive is Underway!!!

The Fiji Book Drive is going great!!! We put out word about a week ago and so far we have 28 books! That's just great. Our goal is 153 books -- that would be 1 per student (grades K-5). So if you know anyone who has older kids that needs to clean out their books at home tell them about us!

Some folks have ordered books and sent them to us and a few have just dropped off books. It's fun to see what people have sent. Charis has also gotten at least one order which is good for Fiji AND good for Atlanta! Thanks everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

AnnerAaron Fall Flowers Review

About once a day Aaron or I will say, "hey, did you see what's happening in the Garden Room....?" So this is the time of year stuff should be dying, and in fact some of it is, but some of our plants aren't ready to go to sleep yet! It's really fun to see the things that we received as wedding gifts still blooming. We are hopful that almost all of them will come back in the spring and we get to watch them grow even more. Here are some pictures we took yesterday:


Fuchsia is quite happy:


Fuchsia from the groom's dinner (there are others like it):



This is more like what we expect in fall. Here's our Wedding Tree. It's leaves were BRIGHT red this fall but we didn't get out there in time with the camera.



This dahlia doesn't know it's time to go to sleep. The Dahlia Barn experts told us to cut down the dahlia's once they start to die. I explained that they are still blooming. Puzzeled, the Barn people told us to just cut them down anyway, wait for them to go dormant and then dig up the tubers and save them until next year. We've had some trouble. First, we couldn't even cut this one because it was still way too beautiful.

We did manage to cut down all the rest and we put them in a dark dry spot, but look what this one did....it started to sprout again!

This is what it's supposed to look like. We'll dig it up next week like they told us. Speaking of the Dahlia Barn, we're going to go there next weekend. They said they have "dried dahlia wreaths". We've gotta see that!

Finally, a plant that is SUPPOSED to bloom in fall and winder, the Helabore (spelling?). This was in the front for a year or two and barely did anything. We moved it to the back and this is the first of about 8 blooms. Aaron got excited and went and bought two more with our Sky gift certificates. It's going to be very cool in a couple of years!

Married People Still Have Fun!

Packing Party!! Helping Jane Ann Move.

Truffel Class!!!

Election Party 2008!!

Halloween - I married Shrek!!!

Being Married is One Party After Another...

With the exception of insulating the studio...

A couple of months ago my new hubby decided to insulate the studio. He even got up early. I didn't really believe him when he said it was a one person job. In fact, I might have felt a little left out. But I had to make lunches for the week and I still own him his official birthday cake (you know, not just any cake but The Cake you identify as your own personal Birthday Cake.) I had my own work cut out for me so I wished Aaron good luck. He headed off he went to Home Depot (the place where we like to keep all our disposable income). I went for a run.

I came home.

He came home.

I offered to help again. He said stuck to his guns, "No I think it's one person job". I wrote up the grocery list and grabbed by purse when about ten minutes later a voice from the doorway, "Ahh, Honey....ah...do you think you could help after all"???

Well, I put down the list and headed out to the studio. I figure insulating the studio is probably amoung the many things that come with the married deal. He said it would only take an hour to up the insulation up. Now lying about estimated completion times of tedious project is NOT a part of the deal. Given Aaron's typical time managment skills I can't hold it against him because I'm positive he aboslutley meant it. He had a perfectly straight face when he said it. I looked around and figured in my head that he was probably correct that it would only take an hour if you have half-a-dozen guys from the Home Depot parking lot there to help you but sadly he was he was stuck with just me.

Fast Forward: FIVE hours later and the insulation was up!! I must say, it looks pretty darned good! Turns out the insulation was a little small so we had to put it over the rafters instead of just tucking it up between the rafters. My Job Of Honor was to use the end of a broom to help "guide" the insulation over the rafters as Aaron stood on a ladder pulling and pushing the insulation. I managed to knock down a light in the process. This is the price he pays when I help. I break things. Never on purpose. Just like he didin't mean to underestimate the time by 400%, I didn't mean to break anything. Turns out it gave Aaron a good excuse to rearrange lights while he was at it.

By the end of the day we rearranged the studio benches and declaired it USABLE!! (In the 2 months since theyn we've re-packed it full of stuff and redeclaired in unusable. It gives us something to do on the weekends. Clean the studio. Clutter the studior. Clean the studio...) The fact is though, we need to get it all squared away because I'm counting on him getting us back to our return to Fiji!! I'm doing my part with a 70 work-week. In the end it worked out great. I wrote-off making lunches and ordered pizza (and reason to order pizza is good by me) and baked the cake. I had time to make frosting while he washed off the insulation. By prime time we were sacked out on the couch watching a movie.

Good times.

So much fun...let's do it again: The Re-Wedd

As if it wasn't enough fun to have a 3-day weekend and 2 weeks in Fiji...we weren't done yet!!! The one big thing missing on Wedding Weekend was Grandma Elsie.  Grandma just moved into the nursing home less than a year ago.  Aaron and I mulled over the logistics of getting grandma to our back yard wedding but it just didn't seem feasible.  I really hated the idea of her not being there.  She actually married Dad and Diane (not to each other) -- I just wanted her at the wedding to see it.   I had imagined the beginning where we would say, "We especially want to welcome Grandma Elise for being here today..." But that just wasn't in the cards so we went for the next best thing: "We'll bring the wedding to you Grandma!" 

A week after returning to work we packed up for second Wedding Weekend.  Dad had done a lot of organizing and my good pal Heidi agreed to "officiate" (on her 12th wedding anniversary no less).  She immediately nominated her boys to be in the wedding .  Old people LOVE little kids and Morgan and Bed provided a lot of entertainment.  My nephew Michael got to be in the wedding too which was totally awesome.   

We arrived late on a Friday night.  Our job before getting to bed was to make about 50 little vases of flowers that Mary put on the lunch tables on grandma's floor.  Mary made goodie bags full of candy and had gotten permission to give them out to the residents.  The plan was that the boys (dressed in suits and being really cute) hand out the goodie bags and invite the other residents to the wedding after lunch.

Dad arranged for the "metro mobility" van to pick up grandma in the wheelchair and take her a few blocks to a family restaurant for brunch with the family.    Everyone went all out!  Dad had his tux on again, Grandma dressed in the outfit Mary wore to Diane's wedding - so very nicely, and everyone came pretty much dressed for a wedding.  Aaron and I showed up in our gown and tux.  We walked into the little diner and everyone averted their eyes (good Minnesotans do not make eye contact...). People pretended not pay too much attention to our spectacle, but you could tell it was the sort of thing where they were pointing when we weren't looking.  

Grandma was excited to see us and mostly loved that my gown had pockets!  And I couldn't agree more!!  She asked me what was going on and I explained that we were going to have a wedding at the nursing home.  "Really!?! I can't believe it!"  She was pensive, "Are you sure?"  I told her were were absolutely sure.  She thought again, "Ya know, I saw you in this dress and I thought you had made a mistake getting dress, but I guess you didn't!"  We had that conversation a couple more times during breakfast.  Later she explained that the activities board said "Elise and Family" and asked if I knew what it meant.  I knew exactly what it meant. We were on the board!!!  I explained it to grandma one more time.  She seemed to pretty much get it and she participated in most of the conversations.  It was great to be with her when she was pretty much "getting it". 

Dad and Mary talked to the nursing home activities director and to our excitement our Re-Wedding made the official "Activities Board".  That's right, we were "on the board" just as grandma had noted at brunch.   The nursing home people were just awesome making us a wedding arch which was covered with white chaser lights, red garland, and cupids.  Nobody has had such a cool arch outside of Vegas.  We played crooner music to get people in the mood. The lunch room was full.  The nursing station was full of staff staring at us.  The chaplain came up and told us how she had brought her interns.  That was an education for me because I didn't know preachers had interns but there you have it.  The activities director from another floor was filling in and introduced herself.  I had a bouquet and a corsage for grandma.  The boys went around with candy and talked to the residents who, of course, loved it!!!  We had absolutely no idea what we were doing.  We huddled up with Heidi and talked about what parts of the first wedding we'd re-do.  And then it was Show Time!

Dad got the attention of all the residents and put grandma in the front row.  He explained we were renewing our vows today.  There was the arch and chairs for the 3 boys in our wedding party.  Andy, Dad and Michael (brother, not nephew) all took pictures.  It was just about as much excitement and anticipation as the real thing!!   And then it was time to walk.  We processed down the hospital corridor.  It was much longer and straighter than our first walk down the aisle.  And this time it was Sinatra not Take Me Out to the Ball Game playing.  

The boys sat in their chair and Heidi started the wedding.  Aaron welcomed everyone and I finally got my chance to say, "We'd especially like to thank Grandma Elsie for having us today..."  Grandma's marriage officient days aren't that far gone.  She took the opportunity to give us a little talk right then and there.  It was so awesome to get to hear my grandma tell us how happy she is for us and just to be able to give a little talk.  We had a poem reading and then Aaron did his vows.  I looked out and saw Andy handing grandma a tissue and then it was pretty much all over for me.  Aaron was busy projecting his voice so the old people could hear him and I could hardly choke out a "of course I do!".  Then it was my turn and somehow or another managed to say my promises back.  And then as fast as it started it was done.  All the old people clapped and someone turned the music back on. 

We immediately got our hugs from grandma and then we tried to make some rounds and thank the residents for having us.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!  It was so special.  It was so everything.  Everyone should do it!!!

Dad said we were talk of the town for a few days and we have are already trying to think up what would be an other good thing that would get us on the activities board!!!