It's a Beautiful, Sunny Day in Seattle!

Spring is here! We had a beautiful, sunny day today in Seattle, a great summer preview, woo-hoo! Had lunch outside today, walked home in my t-shirt, ahhhh today was a good day :) The only thing I regret is not wearing contacts today so I could wear some sunglasses... And even more that my darling wife was at home sick today and not able to enjoy the nice weather, boo! Chels kept busy though. She's making something precious for our new little niece Delilah (I can't tell what it is or it would ruin the surprise!) who is due on April 11th. We get to meet her in June when we go home to visit my side of the family, YAY! I talked to Mama on the phone yesterday and Clarabelle was singing me a little song--it's so cute to hear her say her new little sister's name. Her new thing is to say "no way!" and it's so cute in her tiny little voice! :) Love it!

We had fun last weekend with the family. Aunt Cathy & Uncle Sandy's 30th wedding anniversary is this week and they had a party last Sunday afternoon to celebrate. We got to see a bunch of family friends and catch up which was nice. We also got to look at their wedding album and see all the fun pictures, everyone was so young! Cute baby Steph was there with her precious chubby cheeks, ha ha :) Couldn't believe how much cousin Joe looks like Uncle John, it looked like Joe in the album! Claire said she is excited to look back at our wedding album in 30 years...that will be interesting and funny, I'm sure.

We've got a pretty busy week this week, lots of fun things scheduled with friends which will be nice, and Chels is hanging in there so we're doing alright :) Bye!

Spring is Almost Here!

I am always happy when daylight savings comes around in the spring--losing an hour of sleep isn't that big of deal anymore now that I have weekends off, and I love when the daylight hours are longer. In Seattle during the winter months, you wake up and it's dark, and when you leave work at 5, it's already dark. Talk about living in a cave! So when it finally starts to stay light out for a few hours after you get home, you feel like you actually have half the day off and some time for yourself to do whatever you want to do. YAY!

It's been a few weeks since the last post. Here's what we've been up to: Chels' brother Andrew came for a visit the weekend after my birthday. He's interviewing at grad schools and had an interview up here at UW. It was fun to see him and it would be super fun if he & his girlfriend Rachel moved up to Seattle! :) But we'll see, I think he has other favorite schools in mind... Chelsea's parents were visiting last weekend and they got a chance to see some of the Seattle neighborhoods Chels and I like and are looking at homes in. We even went to a few open houses on Sunday. It was nice to be able to walk through the houses with them, instead of Barry & Cindy having to rely on our photography skills to get a good sense of the places we've seen. Aunt Cathy & Uncle Sandy had us all over for family dinner on Saturday night--we had a lot of fun and a nice visit with her parents.

As far as Chelsea's back issues, she's still having back pain as well as sciatic nerve pain in her legs. She had a spinal injection last Monday that has helped relieve her back pain temporarily, but she is still having leg pain and corresponding difficulty getting around. Chelsea was brave and tried acupuncture a few weeks ago and has had a few appointments a week since then, but so far hasn't noticed a huge positive impact from that treatment. We'll see... She hasn't had to use the walker over the past week, so that's good! Thanks for everyone's support, we appreciate it!

Last night we made a delicious dinner: mahi-mahi fish tacos! The recipe is from "Cooking Light" and you can find it here: http://bit.ly/g9Lnq8. Delicious! We substituted tilapia for mahi-mahi because the grocery store we were at didn't have tilapia, but I'm sure either would be great! Today we are going to play with two sweet cats Chelsea is sitting for, Jake & Zane, and then go to an open house. And make Cindy's tortilla soup for dinner tonight, yum!

Goodbye to my sweet Uncle Rodney, who passed this week after a courageous battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. We love you and you will be missed!

They Say It's Your Birthday, Happy Birthday To Me!

Well, today is my 27th birthday. On the downward slope to 30... :) I said that yesterday to one of my co-workers, and he said that from his perspective at 73, where I am is not even beginning to slope downward yet. I guess that's true! It's nice and sunny in Seattle for my birthday today, woo-hoo! I went to the gym this morning and I forgot they would have my date of birth in the computer, so when I checked in they all said "Happy Birthday!" and I was really confused... I've been going to a water aerobics class twice a week and it is super fun! I'm the youngest person there most days, and on Thursday night this cute little old lady said she thought I was the instructor :) Ha ha. But just because I'm the youngest, don't think the class is easy! The Saturday morning instructor is awesome and totally kicks your butt. I love it!

Chelsea and I have been laying low the past few weeks. Her back is still pretty painful, so we're trying to figure out where to go from here...more physical therapy, another surgery, acupuncture, etc. so send healing thoughts our way. We're going to get hair cuts today, and then out to dinner tonight for my birthday. And I am excited to relax this weekend! The new summer floor plan will be rolled out this coming week at work, so I'm gearing up for a big week. Whew! It's always fun to change things up and see the new summer colors. Hopefully the weather will hurry up and match the product we have in the stores--it's always strange to have patio furniture on the sales floor in March in Seattle, meanwhile the weather is crappy and you couldn't sit outside without getting soaked! Cold and rainy through the 4th of July, with the exception of one teaser-week usually toward the end of March where it is sunny and beautiful. Got to love the Pacific Northwest :) I'm loving my new design training job at Crate! I'm learning a lot and having lots of fun. This week I learned how to use a design software program called Auto CAD that we use to create our new season floor plans. It was fun and challenging! It's an awesome program that architects use to build skyscrapers--obviously I am not learning all of those tools, just the basics for a one-story floor plan, but still it's pretty cool!

Not too much else has been happening here... Last night we played banana-grams with Sean and Claire which is my most favorite game right now. I had never heard of it until recently, but apparently everyone else in Seattle loves it! We had a local author do a book signing at Crate last fall and she challenged the customers to play banana-grams with her while trying tasty appetizers from her game-night cookbook. Pretty fun!

Happy Saturday!

Chels and I have had a busy week! Last Sunday we went to brunch with our friends Erin & Ashod before going on a tour of houses for sale. It was great to see them! Ashod lives in Portland and Erin lives in Seattle, so when he comes up to visit we always like to get together and catch up. Ashod owns a house in Portland so he was giving us some tips. We're excited to be searching for a perfect little house for us :) When Chelsea's parents were visiting over Christmas we talked about the housing market in Seattle and how now is a great time to buy. Since then, we've had home-buying on the brain and have been going to open houses every weekend. There is so much to learn! I read "Home Buying for Dummies" and we attended a home-buying class, but still! We're having fun so far, but it's a lot of work. I feel a little more savvy after seeing 20+ homes--we're still trying to figure out what we do like (what we DON'T like is always much easier), what we "have" to have, and what we could compromise on. Very exciting!

After our open houses, we went to Sean & Claire's for a little mending party with some of our friends. It's nice to get together and do stuff with friends that you never want to do alone :) I had a sad mitten to repair, a hem to secure on a pair of jeans, and a hole in the shoulder of a sweater. I wish I would have paid more attention to my mother's sewing over the years--I made it through, albeit not gracefully :) Then Sunday night we went to Aunt Cathy & Uncle Sandy's for Steph's birthday dinner with the family. Her birthday was the Tuesday before, happy 30th Boo! We got her the most hilarious gift: cheese! Anyone who knows Stephanie knows how much she loves cheese--well, there is a sharp cheddar cheese made at Washington State University called "Cougar Gold" that is delicious. It's a big wheel of cheese that comes in a tin, which Chelsea knew would be the perfect gift for her sissy, and it was :)

This week we've been equally as busy--we've been celebrating one of my best friend Todd's birthday as well. Thursday night we hosted a sushi making party at our place for some friends in honor of his birthday, and last night we went over to his place and he made delicious pulled-pork sandwiches. Todd is currently in culinary school so it's always excellent when he cooks for us :) And my wife, the vegetarian, LOVES pulled-pork sandwiches! Isn't that funny? We're getting together with friends tonight for drinks to celebrate as well, whew! And then tomorrow the house-hunting continues before I have to work (inventory Sunday, my favorite Sundays of the year!). Wish us luck!

I also want to say "CONGRATS!" to my big sissy Bonnie for her recent promotion from associate designer to full-fledged designer for Target, a well-deserved promotion! Way to go, Bon! :)

It's Saturday and I'm Not at Work!!!

Woo-hoo! I've officially survived my first week in my new design training position! I have a few bruises, but didn't fall off any ladders so I think I'm doing pretty well :) I now have weekends off like everyone else (okay maybe not everyone, but like those who are not in the service industries) and I'm loving it! Apparently my plans for my first weekend off did not live up to the standards of some of my jealous co-workers: gym, laundry, and house-cleaning. I was told I need to "rage" and "get crazy!" to start this weekends-off thing with a bang... We'll see about that :) Chels also returned to work this week. I think she's thrilled to be out of the house and back among the living. She's working in reception until her work restrictions are less limited and she can get back into her vet assistant position again--her co-workers have been very supportive and understanding which is great! Alright, I'm off to enjoy my Saturday! :)

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I guess the rain matches my mood: I'm sick, boo! I've been home from work sick the past three days and I'm going crazy! It's always the worst being cooped up at home and feeling crappy--the only nice thing is that Chelsea is still home from work so she's been taking care of me :) She's still home from work after her recent back pain episode that happened in mid-December, but has been going to physical therapy twice a week and is hoping to return to work next week. I'm supposed to be training my replacements at work this week so I can start my new design job next week, so I need to feel better ASAP! Send some healing thoughts our way!

Sushi Making Party!

Chels and I went to Sean and Claire's last Sunday night for a sushi making party! Sean and Claire got a sushi making kit from Chelsea's parents for Christmas, and we also have one from them that we've had for a few years. So we decided to try theirs out together! Here are all the tools we used:


The sushi dishes are ours, gifts from Chelsea's mom. The mandoline is Sean & Claire's newest kitchen gadget. Pretty neat, we might have to get one!


Here are the small and larger sushi-making molds we used.


Chels is excited to use the mandoline!

Edamame, yum!

Sean and Chels, hard at work making sushi rolls with nori

Stuffing the inari sushi

Fixings for the sushi

Sean's masterpiece

Chelsea's masterpiece

The smaller sushi rolls are hard to make! Too small to fit all the stuffings! :)

Claire's work of art

Ta-da!

The finished product

The final product was pretty and delicious! Thanks Cindy and Barry :)