Ho Ho Ho!

Home from work a little early today, yay! That gives me the afternoon to do laundry and dishes! My favorite pastime = cleaning...oh wait, not really :) But I DO want to re-organize the closets and clean them out. I need help from cousin Claire to tell me what's hideous and absolutely must go! And then we can make a trip to Goodwill, which is always fun. I'm still doing a little work from home--I have to "tweet" about the goings-on at the C&B (our handle is CBUVillage for those of you who use Twitter), which is not usually my job but our assistant manager is on vacation (jealous!) so I'm the new "twit" at work, ha ha. Twitter is a little funny because I'm not too interested in what every one is doing every minute of the day, but I can see how it's good advertising and great for people who are into social-networking and are more social than myself. I'm in charge of the wedding parties at our store and we have an event this Sunday morning which is why I got to leave a little early today, which is a blessing on a busy Monday! And guess what? The holidays are here! Okay, well almost here... Those of you who did not know, I feel it is my duty to tell you: Christmas ornaments are arriving at the C&B daily and will got out onto the sales floor next week! Yesterday someone told me that it is only 12 weeks until Christmas...do I hear jingle bells? PS: Stay tuned to see my favorite ornament this year, I already know which one it's going to be (hint: it's an animal in menswear)!


Here's a picture of me and Todd with our favorite ornament from last year. Since one of his many nicknames is teapot, it just seemed so fitting! Though technically, I think it's a teakettle...

Day at the Dog Park

Today is a rare day for me--having Saturdays off, that is. Kind of fun! Especially since Chels has this weekend off, too :) I do have to work tomorrow, which is okay because today is a beautiful fall day in Seattle and I'm sure the weather won't hold up for two days in a row. We rarely get to experience fall in Seattle--usually summer ends abruptly and the rain comes, bringing winter and no sun for months. So a rare sunny, cool autumn day is awesome! We brought Marley, a Shar Pei mix dog Chelsea has been dog-sitting for this week, to the dog park. My first time at the dog park! There were many cute dogs and it's fun to see them all run around and play together. We even got to see a few puppies, a black lab puppy and an Australian Shepard puppy. Marley was pretty good, except for the times when he tries to be "the biggest boy at the park" and jump all over the rest of the dogs. That's a little embarrassing...Chelsea wants to say "He's not mine!" when he acts like that :)

It's been a pretty lazy Saturday and I love it! This morning we went to get hair cuts and then went to lunch. There was even time for a nap :) Chelsea starts another dog-sitting job on Tuesday and this one is for two weeks! Kitten is going to miss her! Me, too :) Here's some pictures of Chelsea weeding around the flowers she planted and Kitten "helping". We let her go outside and now she tries each time we open the door, oops! So we came up with a solution: we're the crazy cat ladies who got her a leash & harness and thought maybe we could bring her out with that on. Yeah, right. She's terrified of it, and terrified but curious of going outside, so we'll see what happens... Oh, what will the neighbors think? :)

Last Tuesday, I went to try on a bridesmaid dress for one of my best friend's weddings. Emily is getting married next June in Minnesota, yay! :) Since I'm the only bridesmaid not in MN, I tried on the dress in Seattle and here it is:

Emily, Joni, and I have been friends since 7th grade! Heidi and Joni are cousins and grew up next-door to each other, so we all became very close. Emily, me, Joni, and Heidi make up the "four musketeers" who spent much of our time together from middle school on--and Heidi, Joni, me, and my sisters Bonnie and Ashley all worked together at Taco John's in high school. We were all friends and became part of each other's families. Here are some fun old pictures of us:

Here's me and Emily

Emily, Heidi, and I, in MN sometime in college

This is from our trip to MN this past July

Chels, me, Heidi, her daughter Reese, Clarabelle, Ashley, and Joni

Me, Heidi, Joni

Here's Ash & Heidi from Ashley's 21st birthday

Em was in Grand Forks, so here we are with Emily's older brother Josh standing in for her

Ash, Heid, Em, Bonnie, & Joni sent me this :)

Ash, Em, me, Joni, and Bon at my wedding last summer

Emily, me, and Joni--tears of joy!

Me and Heidi

Heidi and Ashley, college times

Sissy and me

Here we all are at Heidi's wedding, New Year's Eve 2006

New Year's hats!

Ash and Joni at the wedding

Heidi and Em

The Four Musketeers

Home for Christmas in college

We look so young!

April 2009 Chels' and my engagement party in MN
Ben, Bonnie, Chels, Craig & Heidi, me, Ash & Blake

Another trip home for Christmas in college

Me and Heidi at Ashley's bridal shower

Me, Em, and Joni on the pig at Pike Place Market in Seattle

I'm grateful to have such amazing friends! :) Miss you guys--we'll have so much fun next June, I can't wait!

Sleepless in Seattle

That's how we've felt lately, we've been so busy! We've been having a lot of fun, though :) A few weekends ago we went out to brunch with our friends Nick & AnnMarie and Steve & Caralee, yay! Steve & Caralee are good friends of ours who moved to DC a few years ago and we miss them! They come to Seattle to visit occasionally and each time the other four of us keep trying to encourage them to move back...maybe soon! Chelsea and Caralee became friends in college when they went to study abroad in Rome in the summer of 2005. We met Nick & AnnMarie through them a few years later, and we've all been friends since.


Nick, Steve, Chels, Caralee, AnnMarie

Nick, Steve, Chels, Caralee, & Candace

Last week we went out for AnnMarie's birthday to a really neat place: check it out at www.mikadoteppanyaki.com and I highly recommend it! Yum! :) You sit at a horseshoe-shape table and watch the chef make the different courses of your meal. We were there with Nick & AnnMarie and three other couples and had a lot of fun! Here are some of the pictures from Friday night:

Since it was AnnMarie's birthday, we all sang to her and the staff helped out, too. The best part was the banging of the gong--poor AnnMarie, it was so funny!

She was a good sport!

The only one in the Tovigby family who hasn't been busy lately is Snuggie, unless you count lounging around and napping all day "busy". She's so cute!

The Life You Can Save

A few weeks ago, Chels and I met with some friends to discuss over dinner a book we'd all recently read. "The Life You Can Save" by Peter Singer is the book--we were invited by Sean and Claire after they had read the book and felt it had a powerful influence on them. Together with their friend Jessan they decided to host a dinner and invite friends to chat about our experiences with the book. Peter Singer discusses global poverty in the context of charity--he takes an in-depth look at people giving to charity, and discusses the reasons why people choose to give or not. He makes many arguments for giving, and it is difficult to admit to yourself that buying that Starbucks mocha is more important that sending money to try and save someone's life who is living in abject poverty. I found it very thought provoking, and noticed myself re-evaluating things in my life that I could live without. The beginning of the book may seem a little "extreme" at first, as Peter makes the argument that living beyond your absolute necessities is frivolous and selfish, when that extra money could save someone's life in the world--nevertheless, I think it's a great read with a valuable lesson. Later in the book, he discusses that realistically, people are not going to give until they themselves would be sacrificing "too much", so he helps you make an action plan that's modest and best for you. For everyone who has always wanted to give but didn't know where to start, this is a great book for you. Peter discusses many organizations that give the most effectively and have the best chances at diminishing global poverty. Please also check out the website: www.thelifeyoucansave.com if you are interested more information. At the very least, the book discusses some interesting facts about US foreign aid--I was shocked to find out how little we actually give. In some instances, we give .30 to every $100! I think I can afford to give more than that!


Dinner was great!

Here's the group. Read the book! :)

Puppies, Puppies, Puppies!!!

Look at these precious puppies! Our friends Mandy & Nya have a border terrier named Weezy who had four puppies and they are so sweet! The puppies are 6 weeks old, three females and one male. This weekend they go to the breeder and then onto their new homes, so this week we went over to play with them. I want a puppy! :)

I'm so tiny!

Look at that precious face!

Chelsea loves their "puppy breath"

Chels and Mandy with puppies

Jackson does not love the puppies like they love him!

Jackson in his "safe chair" where the puppies can't reach him :)

Stacy, Candace, and Mandy

Exploring the yard

Such a snuggler!

Stacy, Lindsay, and Chelsea with puppies

Stacy and puppy

All tuckered out! So sweet!

I think Chelsea wants one, too... :)