10 random things i've learned recently

1. anything can change at a moment's notice. be ready.
2. reflecting on the past year: i love to learn, and i love to challenge myself.
3. marriage can be work - but I am reminded that I really do have the best and most committed, patient husband ever.
4. life is too short to be comfortable with whatever is easiest, or whatever "should be" next.
5. i think i would need to be checked into a mental institution if i was forced to stop traveling.
6. i feel better when i go to the gym regularly.
7. fashion IS ART, and a way of expressing yourself. i love that i work in such a cool industry. just watched September Issue...loved it.
8. the economy has definitely hurt my business (but thank God for a great tax return as a result! :)
9. i need to moderate my t.v. watching. it prevents conversation, and i don't need it on everyday.
10. i love trader joe's ice cream sandwiches! ahh, they are soo good - how did i miss them until now?

bainbridge island wine tasting

We love wine. Any excuse to taste new wines, chat with wine makers, visit undiscovered wineries, and taste fine cheeses is fine by us. A couple weekends ago we were in Seattle staying with my parents, and we all ventured over to Bainbridge Island (by ferry) for the day for their "wine tasting event". About five (very small) wineries were open for the day - when I say small, I mean SMALL; most of them import grapes from the Walla Walla area (which in my opinion are usually very good). The first winery we walked into was in this neighborhood right by the beach...then all of a sudden, there it was! We kept looking for a big building, or anything resembling the wineries we've known...but instead, it was a small "shed" type of building in someone's backyard! Completely awesome. My dad instantly bonded with the wine maker, as they both were wearing a "boot" after having foot surgeries. :) The day was filled with visits like this one, as well as lunch at a teeny tiny little homemade pasta joint, and cookies from the local bakery. Yum yum. Oh, and to top it all off, the weather was sunny and in the mid 60s. So - now we are all stocked up on some fabulous and local wines, and we got to experience something new for the day!

house update

Just to keep everyone in the loop...

Our house has been "on the market" now for a week (since we are selling by owner, all this means is we have a sign out in our lawn, haha, and an ad on Craigslist :). In that time, we have had about 14 showings, one offer, and many "serious" lookers. It is not up to us what will happen with this house; if we are not offered a price we both feel is right, then we are content with staying here for a while longer. It's as simple as that! Fortunately, we both love it here too, and would cherish just one more summer on that back deck...that being said, if it does sell, our plan is to move downtown and rent an apartment for a few months while we search for that perfect next house for us. Something just a bit bigger, a bit newer (okay, brand new would be great), and a bit closer to downtown where we both work. Interest rates are low, and so are home prices, so through this adventure we are taking a shot at seeing if we can have a piece of that pie. Watch for updates!

aruba

as a five-year anniversary trip, plus graduation trip, plus we-just-need-some-sun trip...we are going in May! More pictures to come!

spring has arrived! (right?)

Last Saturday and Sunday we worked our tails off to get the yard presentable. We are finally coming to the point where we are ready to put it our house on the market, just to see if we get any interested buyers. I would say we are fairly unmotivated sellers, more just testing the waters a bit...if we stay here a couple more years, then we will be happy with that too. Sometimes we look at the view out of our backyard and we think we never want to leave!

We had four yards of bark mulch (that's a lot = back breaking work for Jeff) delivered on Saturday morning. We spread it all over every surface of the front and back yards, and it's lookin' good! The rest of the day contained some weeding, planting of pots and flower beds, painting, building a new back roof for our mud room, raking 15 large bags of leaves and hauling them to the sidewalk...oh, and powerwashing the driveway! That was me by the way, who did that. I have never done it before, and wish I had taken a picture. I don't think many people would believe what they saw - I was covered/soaked in mud from head to toe - maybe I was doing it wrong? Not really sure! That thing is powerful though! :) Oh yes, and please note that normally I stay as far away from outside/yard work as possible, but with this much to do, I was forced to partake.

We took a little lunch/beer break in the field behind our fence, and soaked up some sun. Chloe is in heaven here, in her little Cook Park wonderland.

good food & good people

Last night we were lucky enough to have a fun and yummy dinner with the Fanslers at Piazza Italia! My aunt Chris was visiting from Ohio, my cousin Craig from Chicago, and of course Mark and Karrie already live here. There was lots of laughter and catching up! A beautiful day in Portland too - the sun was shining which we always love.

valentines day

This past weekend was my idea of a great Valentines Day weekend. We headed up to Birch Bay on Thursday night with our friends Maggie and Pete...Maggie's parents live in the Bay in a beautiful house on the ocean and have been wonderful enough to host us a number of times now. Their house is about 25 minutes from the Canadian border so it's a bit of a drive but definitely worth it!

Friday morning we woke up to an amazing breakfast of eggs benedict (compliments of Cheryl, Maggie's mom), and just spent the morning lounging around. Friday afternoon we all drove up to Surrey, Canada (just over the border) and took the Sky-Tram into Vancouver. It's a monorail/subway system that is super neat and efficient...only about $5 and takes you right into downtown Vancouver. I had never been before, and so it was double exciting...as you probably know, this was the same night as the 2010 Olympic opening ceremonies.

We walked through the Olympic Village and took in all of the excitement...the city was clearly buzzing and people were everywhere. Vancouver is such a beautiful city from the little that I was able to see. Definitely want to go back. Anyways, we posted up at a fun restaurant right by the stadium, on one of the main streets in Vancouver. Ate some delicious food, watched the ceremonies on TV, and drank yummy beer and delicious cocktails. It was a good night - we took the train home later that night - so tired!

Saturday was our "Valentines Day" (please remind me who even began such a ridiculous holiday). Jeff and Pete went snowboarding all day at Mt. Adams (that morning I was awakened to Pete bursting in our bedroom like a little kid at Christmas saying "JEFF, JEFF, 31 degrees and 11 inches of NEW!"...they were very excited for the great conditions :). While the guys were having their fun, Maggie, Cheryl, and I went to the Chrysalis Spa (just love it) in Bellingham for some services. We had a relaxing morning there and then enjoyed some yummy seafood at the Big Fat Fish House for lunch. That evening we caught up on Thursday night TV shows, played cards, drank wine, and ate yummy spaghetti.

Sunday afternoon we headed home. It was a beautiful and sunny morning at the Bay, and we took a nice long walk...didn't want to leave! We were able to stop at my parents' house in Seattle for dinner which was great, and then we were on our way.

creative and beautiful jewelry for a good cause

My friend Venessa makes her own jewelry (and headbands, etc.) and sells it on ETSY.com and at trunk shows. She gives half of her proceeds to Invisible Children and Missionaries of Charity (two organizations in Africa and India she has worked at before). Here are a couple of her latest creations...I just love the natural style and delicate beauty of these flower necklaces. I get compliments on her jewelry all the time - I am always wearing it!

Below is her ETSY website where you can purchase jewelry. The best way to see everything she has made is to look at "other items" that have been sold in the past (right hand column)...if the item you want is not currently in the "for sale" category, you can contact her directly about what you are interested in.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/hopevenessa

Weekend with my parents

So happy my parents came to visit last weekend! The weekend always goes way too fast though!

Friday night we took them to Por Que No - one of our favorite little funky (and always jam-packed with people, might I add) Mexican restaurants on Hawthorne for some yummy tacos, chips, and guacamole. Of course later that night we were all exhausted from the week, which resulted in Mom, Dad, and Kelly all falling asleep on the couch within minutes of one another. :) Poor Jeff. What a lame bunch we are.

Saturday was the highlight of our weekend. We got up early (8:00) and headed up to Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge for some breakfast. The lodge there is old, big, and beautiful. Huge fireplaces are on every floor. If you've seen "The Shining", it was filmed in this lodge. We sat at a table right by the window, and it was snowing lightly. The breakfast buffet was amazing, and we all stuffed our faces. Fresh squeezed orange juice, an omelette bar, a belgian waffle bar, biscuits and gravy (my fav), fresh fruit, bacon, sausage...I am already getting hungry again! After breakfast we carried our stuffed selves all around the lodge, just admiring the details of the old building. A few games of shuffleboard and ping pong may have been involved...

Saturday afternoon we all went over to our gym downtown (Hilton Athletic Club), for some exercising, swimming in the indoor pool, and hottubbing. How relaxing. That evening we enjoyed some chicken parmesan at home, and watched "Hurt Locker" (goood movie!).

All in all, a great weekend, and didn't want them to go home of course!

Jeff in Shanghai

Last week, Jeff returned from six days in Shanghai. He went there to visit a factory that will be producing a product that his office (and he) is working on currently. It was a very quick trip, with fifteen hours of travel each way, plus a sixteen-hour time difference.

Hopefully he will log onto the blog and add in some of his adventures for you all to read, but for now I will just give some of the highlights I heard about:

*First night: meeting at the factory. The factory owner invited Jeff and his business travel partner Mike (from Microsoft) to an amazing dinner at a fancy restaurant. They got there and were served nearly fifteen courses. The Chinese people seem to be extremely hospitable! They kept serving the guys more and more food, more and more wine, and were not satisfied until all was eaten. The picture below of a lobster-like creature (maybe it is a lobster? not sure) was put in front of them for presentation, while the meat was actually served in small egg shells. Sounds like an amazing event.

*One of Jeff's favorite qualities about the Chinese workplace is that all employees remove their shoes and put on slippers upon entering the office or factory! Wonder why Americans haven't adopted this tradition? I could definitely get used to working in my slippers...

*The trip consisted of meetings at the factory for a couple of days at a city two hours outside of Shanghai; then the last two days were spent sightseeing in Shanghai. Unfortunately it was raining (pouring) there, but Jeff still got a soak up some culture in his free time in Shanghai. Not sure of names of all of the pagodas and things they visited (Jeff knows :)...who cares about the sights anyways...what's the most important is the food! haha.

*Funny, but I had recently finished in a project on business culture in Shanghai, so before Jeff left I told him a few things. But mainly, what Jeff found interesting was that the business people there make exchanging business cards a very important practice. Upon meeting the factory owners/employees, everyone presented Jeff with their business card (and because Jeff's smart wife had told him of this practice, he was prepared and then gave them one of his :). It is considered very rude to just shove the business card in your pocket, as most of us Americans would do. Instead, you must examine it very carefully and sincerely, before putting it away.

Wish I could've been a fly on the wall for those factory business meetings! Jeff said they lasted for hours (negotiating - the Chinese are big on negotiating and getting a good deal), and all three languages were being spoken and translated (Chinese, English, Japanese). What a cool experience. Here are some pictures.