A Fabulous Weekend, part I

My first "installment" blog, as it were... We just did so much, that I must break it down into parts....

Well, Friday night was awesome because Ron got off work early and we went out to dinner. He had asked his coworker where she liked to go with her husband so she gave him a couple of suggestions. We ended up going to the London Grill, which just happens to be in the same hotel (The Benson) where we spent the first two nights of our honeymoon! :)

Ron thought he was "safe" because the name of the restaurant had "Grill" in the title... Buhwah-ha-ha... :) I agreed whole-heartedly to go there because I knew it was a posh place, and that he usually didn't like posh places.... So, I took advantage of the situation. As soon as we got there, I could see his face squinch up in a "hmm." kind of fashion. But, he grinned and bore it. And we both had a great time and a good dinner.

The embiance was very formal, though I will admit that the piano player was a bit loud. He must have had a microphone or something. They sat us at a table in the "long" direction, so we were further apart than we were used to. Sometimes we had to speak up to be heard, but it was nice anyway.


We started our meal with the crab cakes appetizer. They brought it out and it looked so floofy! :) it had dancing shredded lettuce on the top with two types of drizzled glaze over it forming an artistic rendering of stained glass or something. Next came our main course. I ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon which was Aioli crusted Wild Salmon Filet with a yummy sauce and many types of mushrooms on it. The potatoes were circle-cut with an interesting seasoning. And, I had asparagus and carrots for my veggies. Ron ordered the Mixed Grill which had Lamb Chop, Pork Medallion, Beef Tenderloin, Scallop, and Prawn. When they brought it out, it was still on a sword-shaped skewer and they poured some flaming liquid all over it. (Flambe'e, I guess?). They also left a yummy Bernaise sauce with him to pour over everything. (he also had the same potatoe and he had green beans for a veggie). Little did they know that Ron loves pouring stuff on his meal. :) It was good. Finally, for dessert, we shared the cheesecake. Yummy.

I almost forgot about this secret room that was located just behind our table. I guess it was the wine room, because waitors would enter every once in a while and come out with a bottle of wine. I call it secret because the "door" is actually one of the wooden wall panels, with a sconce light on it and everything. You wouldn't know it was a door, unless you already knew! I actually found a picture of it online! You can see The big open door in the back? Our table was just to the right of it. I never saw the door open that far, though. (You can kind of make out the sconce light on the panel).

Anyway, we came home and yada-yada-yada, fell asleep. ;)


"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside"
-Mark Twain

The Yearbook

OK, Ashley, here's mine. This is what I would look like in the years between 1950 and 2000... I don't pull off the 1978 look as well as you do, though.



I couldn't help throwing some of my own (real) pictures in there at the end. scary how close some of them are!!!

Anyone else reading this can also play! Just go to the yearbook site, and book yourself! Don't forget to send me a link so I can laugh at you as much as you laughed at me.... :)

"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death"
-Albert Einstein

(I'm not sure If I agree with this one, but I thought it was appropriate for this blog).

*Our House....*

Is a very, very, very fine house! with two cats in the yard.... life used to be so hard! :)

Yes, this is the current state of our future (distant future) home. it's actually starting to look less like a jail cell and more like a structure. The piece here is just the garage, but it has an apartment above, so definitely livable. We won't start the main structure for a while yet, but it's fun to dream about it.

Yes, you might think we're crazy, biting off way more than we can chew (what with working full time, renovating the house we live in, building a new house 3 hours away, foster kids, cats). Yes, it all adds up, but better to do it now while we're young, right? This is more of an investment than anything, so I don't feel too guilty about it. A little overwhelmed sometimes. We do alot of the work ourselves. (We contracted out the framing.... but now it's our turn to do the siding! :)).

Anyway, before you ask if you can come visit, keep in mind that we still have to drive to the state park to use the bathroom... it's a slooooww process. (We've had the land for 4 years, and this is as far as we've gotten! :).

On the way up to Brinnon (pictured above), we stopped by Wendel's and Ashley's house. (My bro and his wife). They took us to see some cool parts of Seattle we'd never been to before. We ate at this really yummy restaurant called the Rusty Pelican. (I should've taken pictures...). Then we went to Alki Park (I think?). These are some of my favorite shots:









You know, I thought I would like the blue (less exposed) night shots better, but now looking at them, the red (more exposed) looks like the city is on fire. I like it!!

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." Newt Gingrich

A Place of Love and Beauty

I almost forgot to post some of the pictures we took of the temple a few weeks ago. There are a few that I really like....



















Ron never fails to find the beauty wherever we go. I love the picture of the bee doing a dance (on the red flower -- if you zoom in, you can see the leg doing a jig. believe it or not, he has the same picture without the leg, too. We could make a flip book! :)).

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

"And, Finally, the quote of the day"

Since the last three posts were on the same day, I think it still counts:

"It always seems impossible until it is done."

-Nelson Mandela

The Memory game

This is a fun little post, to encourage comments from everyone! :) If you post on mine, I'll post on yours!

.................................................................

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is the most memorable for you.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you.

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A lifelong project....

For the last ~8 years, Ron and I have been renovating our house, one room at a time. Technically, I started with the deck since it was falling apart. My dad came up to help me, and Ron volunteered (since we technically weren't dating at the time, I thought that was very generous!). Once we started dating seriously, We started together with the kitchen. We bought one of those demo models from Home Base when it went out of business. (Got a pretty good deal, too -- cherry cabinets, solid granite countertops, stainless steel, etc). We figured since we'd be pulling out the whole kitchen, we might as well re-plumb the place. Our pipes used to be galvinized steel, and the house had sat dormant for several years before I bought it. Yes, we had red sediment in our water, no matter how long we let it run. It was gross! And, since half of the walls were torn out, we decided to re-wire for internet, cable, and phone. Then, we went from there...

We've done 95% of the work ourselves. (So far, the only thing we contracted out was re-installing the granite counter top. And, Ron's dad comes down to help us with our floors). Ron has knocked down more walls than I can remember, and he's built a few back up as well! At this point we have most of the house done... except for the fancy guest bathroom upstairs with the velvet and gold-leaf wall paper, the gold-vein mirror, and 1972 vinyl floor. (I took down the chandelier and mirror surround on the tub back when we actually had to use the bathroom (the other two were taken down for repair....). That and this one wall downstairs that I haven't quite finished. We took off the dark wood paneling and I just need to mud it and paint it. And then we'll just have the trim work left.

So, my whole point in starting this diatribe was to state that I have been trying to get motivated to finish that one wall for the last 18 months. In my head, I have to finish that before I can hit the last bathroom. So, I'm going to follow my sister-in-law's lead, and post the "before" pictures here. You can all look forward to the "after" pictures as soon as it's done. (Thanks for the inspiration, Ashley!)
Yes, I know it's bad. It doesn't help that this corner has become the latest place to collect clutter.... And, yes, that IS weepy brick in the corner. As of right now, we're not planning on doing anything with that (though I'd love to re-grout it and paint the thing or something... I haven't quite figured out its destiny yet).

So, first step will be to clean it up. Second, will be to mud the tears on the drywall (They show through if you don't), then sand and paint! It will be the same light yellow that is next to the door (though you can't really see the distinction in this picture), and I want it to coordinate with this wall on the other side of the fireplace:

You can see we chose to paint over the dark brown paneling on this wall. I'm starting to think that was a mistake.... Maybe someday in the future, I'll tear it all down and start again, but not until I'm ready to change colors! (By the way, I took those three pictures on the wall at the Oregon Coast and framed them. I love the PAC NW!).

And, once it's all done, I even bough curtains to hang... I have everything I need, just need the little push to get it all started! :)