Falling Water

After a week in Ohio, Jeff and I drove through Pennsylvania on our way to Washington, D.C. Our main stop along the way was a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, called Falling Water. The house was designed in the 1930's for a wealthy family and was constructed directly on the top of a waterfall. Jeff and I definitely enjoyed touring this house! Wright designed the house in a way that pulls nature inside, by using lots of windows and placing them just so. He also designed all of the furniture, which is still original. No rocks or boulders were removed; instead the house was built around them and you can see this from inside. So cool!! I just read that Falling Water is listed among Smithsonian magazine's Life List of 28 places "to visit before ...it's too late." You gotta go!!

lakeside in Ohio

Well, we arrived safe and sound (and a DAY EARLY! ha ha! We'll never make that mistake again). After flying into Cleveland, we found ourselves saying, "What just happened?!"

It began with such a whirlwind, but what a relaxing week we had for the first part of our trip to the East Coast. Jeff and I stayed at my Grandpa and Grandma Dymale's house, which happens to be on a gorgeous lake in Canton (and Ohio's cleanest lake too)!! We loved floating and swimming for hours in the warm weather, fishing, boating, and getting to spend time with cousins and family. Definitely a highlight for Jeff was when my Aunt Kathi and Craig took us to a Cleveland Indians game, which Jeff was SO EXCITED about, especially because we sat right behind home plate. It was so great to hang out with my cousins--we haven't seen Jina, Justin, Jordan (triplets) and Michael in a few years...so it was long overdue! And we definitely enjoyed just the fun talks we had with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Chris while sitting on the deck in the evenings. Thanks again too all of you who entertained us...it couldn't have been a better, more relaxing week for both of us.

barely made it...

Yikes! So after a miscommunication on our flight info (if you saw on your ticket a red eye for Monday at midnight, wouldn't you think "MONDAY NIGHT", or would you think "SUNDAY NIGHT"???), and after much scrambling to get packed in literally not much time...we are all ready and about to get picked up to go to the airport TONIGHT, not tomorrow!! Ha ha ha! This has been quite a night. Silly me. We will be gone until next Wednesday the 18th but will then have updates on our trip! ;-) We're off!

memorial day weekend 2008

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went with our friends (Justin+Jess) to Sunriver for a few days...it was much needed time to de-stress, get outside, laugh, and catch up on sleep. None of us wanted to go home at the end of our time...we found ourselves saying, "why can't every day be vacation?!?!" The house we stayed at had a beautiful view of the meadow, and was so comfortable. The boys played golf a couple of the days and the weather stayed decent for them. Jess and I treated ourselves...first to the Sage Springs Spa for massages and then to Zante in Bend for facials. Amazing! Saturday night was the Deathcab for Cutie/Decemberists concert at the ampitheater in Bend...we all had tickets but the boys only ended up going because the weather was getting chilly. The sun came off and on throughout the weekend, so we did get out to ride bikes and take walks, which is always something you have to do while in Sunriver! When can we go back?!

one tank at a time

Recently we added a more environmentally-friendly car to our garage...the Honda Civic Hybrid. It is also quite a bit more economically-friendly, costing $35-40 to fill up the tank which can go for 500+ miles! Gas prices are increasing every day (Civic Hybrid gets 40-50+ mpg), but we are so excited about the new technologies in vehicles that are in the near future. Check out these interesting articles:

http://www.hybridcars.com/gas-saving-tips/maximizing-mileage-honda-civic-hybrid.html

http://www.hybridcars.com/news/electric-carmaker-think-comes-us.html

relax

On Saturday we took off to Cannon Beach for the day. The weather was about 70 degrees with no wind at all...you can't ask for a better day at the beach! We took a long walk, visited our favorite brewery restaurant (it's a tradition now!), played frisbee with Chloe, took a nap...ahh it was so wonderful! Can't wait for summer.

warm weekend in Seattle

This past weekend was sooo fabulous! We spent a long weekend in Seattle with my parents and couldn't have asked for better weather. It peaked at about 82 degrees and all of us came away with sunburns. On Saturday my Dad and Jeff took Chloe on a run down on Alki beach and had coffee; later that morning the four of us visited the Ballard Locks and watched the boats and yachts passing between the Puget Sound and Lake Union. We had a yummy dinner that evening downtown in Belltown at an open-air restaurant and enjoyed the last bits of sunshine. I think the day was enough of a tease that we're ready for summer!!

before and after

We are finally finished with our kitchen remodel (although the drywall still needs to be patched up with finishing touches at the opening above the sink). It was a long month of late nights and a very dusty, dirty house! Lots of BBQ-ing, microwave meals and eating out too! We are so happy to have our kitchen back and are enjoying it so much.

Lake Tahoe

On March 15, my wonderful friend Chelsea got married in Lake Tahoe! We have known each other since the beginning of high school so it was fun to be a part of the wedding. Whitney, Kristen, and I all traveled together and had such a fun girls weekend. It was snowing off and on the entire time, which was so beautiful. I added the first picture because it is a hilarious shot of all of us getting pictures taken in frigid temperatures down by the lake...which didn't last very long as soon as the photographer made us take off our coats and Ugg boots! ;-) Brrrr! The weekend was definitely full of good laughs and catching up.

kitchen remodel...more to come!

This is actually a picture from two weekends ago--everything seems chaotic! We cut the hole above the bar, making the opening bigger and bringing in more light. The cabinets were painted, and at this point the granite countertops are on also (not in picture though)! All we have left to finish is building up and tiling the bar, adding handles to the cabinets, painting the walls, CLEANING EVERYTHING (wow, does it need it...there is dust and filth everywhere!), adding the backsplash...wow that does seem like a lot now that I've written it all out. We'll keep posting updated pictures as we finish. Fun fun!