Because of various reasons, I ended up seeing an allergist yesterday. If you don't know, I've had pretty extensive allergies my entire life. When my mom was nursing me, she was down to 5 foods she could eat that I wouldn't react to. I would even react to the amount of wheat in one of those small, styrofoam-y communion wafters when she ate it.
Anyway, food allergies have been kind of a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. When kids would bring cupcakes to school for their birthday, I got a box of raisins. My mom would often cook two meals for dinner, one with cheese and one without. So when the allergist tested me for everything I've been allergic to for as long as I can remember (nuts, dairy, wheat, shellfish, cats and wool), I was completely shocked to find out each and every test came back negative!
How could this happen? Apparently, a change in allergies is common after pregnancy. The allergist said he sees it all the time - women who have never been allergic to anything suddenly having them or those that have always been allergic suddenly aren't. It has something to do with the baby's immune system reacting with the mother's or something...he explained it, but I don't really remember how it works. Apparently it's fairly common though?
My first graham cracker in more than a decade
Of course, I'm kind of taking this with cautious optimism. I mean, part of me doesn't really believe it. I've just been resigned to the fact that we'll always need to order two pizzas (one without cheese) and that when the ice cream comes out I'll just opt for a cookie with some sorbet. I did test this last night though, and the results were good. After my appointment I picked up some graham crackers (an item I've reacted to since I was about five) and tried two of them. No reaction yet. I guess over the next several months I'll keep trying food out, paying attention and seeing what happens...
Apparently this is one of those nights where I stay up instead of going to sleep. No, I won't make it to crew in the morning; 3 hours isn't enough sleep for me. Although at this rate I still might not get a full night.
I'm doing pretty well with my goal of at least one blog post per month. I know I don't have the most readers, but I still enjoy writing every once in a while, even if it's about nothing in particular. Besides, I'm pretty sure I have a couple of loyal readers that will read almost anything I write - my parents are dependable like that ;)
We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, we've been pretty busy the last couple of months. Work has been insanely busy. The good part is we've been having a lot more clients come in. The challenging part is simply getting everything done. We did bring someone new in a few months ago, and she's been working amazing. That definitely helps!
But besides work, December is just always busy with getting ready for vacation, visiting friends/family in California (we had a blast, by the way), and then returning from time off. I feel like I'm finally starting to get a handle on things again - more than a week after getting home. Is that normal?
The good news is I've realized my priorities have totally shifted in a good way. I'm giving God the credit for that one, by the way. While we were in California I started seriously consider if I'd be able to make it back to crew after about 3 months off this past fall. I decided I wanted to do it, and despite being swamped with playing catch up, I've been able to make it to practice twice so far! Yes, I'm skipping tomorrow to give myself a few more hours of sleep, but I'm confident I'll be back on Saturday.
With spending more time working, adding crew back in, and taking care of various other tasks (weekly events with church, writing newsletters for a couple of different organizations in my free time, etc), I started trying to figure out what I would let go. As it turns out, that's a decision God seemed to make for me. I've lost pretty much all motivation to keep up with TV shows. Don't get me wrong, I still like my shows, but I'm not driven to watch them the same way. I'm happy to just wait and get to it if I get to it. Instead I'd rather spend the time doing things around the apartment, reading a book, hanging out with Matt or going out with friends. I'm still me, though. I seem to find ways to keep myself busy that don't include doing the dishes, housework, etc. Go figure.
We'll see if this shift in priorities lasts. I'm enjoying it while it does, though. I recently found a cute new photo album and printed out pictures from when we moved to Washington in 2009 to this past trip to California, and I'm almost done putting it together. I've also been wanting to eat food at home that's more healthy, although I haven't wanted to cook anything for a long time. It's more convenient if the healthy eating goes with a cooking phase...
Matt and I spent most of this past weekend up in Seattle for my friend's wedding. In case you were wondering, I had a lot of fun. In addition to getting to celebrate one of my best friends marrying a really great guy, I got to see friends from college I haven't seen for a while.
I loved pretty much everything about my friend's wedding. She was an absolutely beautiful bride. The ceremony was a combination of a traditional Lutheran service and personal touches (mostly through music); the pastor's homily included a few personal touches as well.
The reception was at a nearby Sons of Norway hall, which is pretty much awesome in itself. In addition to that, they had Kransekake, a traditional Norwegian cake, plus strawberry shortcake. Before dessert, though, we were given the chance to eat our fill of delicious appetizers, pizza, a pasta dish and chicken.
All three toasts were great. I especially liked how her sisters tag-teamed it, and how a friend from college used pictures to make her toast even better.
Another fun part of the reception was a photo booth they had set up, complete with ridiculous costumes for guests to wear. What a fun idea! One of my favorite accouterments was the bicycle helmet we spray-painted gold back in college when we dressed up for the midnight premiere of Star Wars Episode III.
And then there was the dancing. This wedding would not have been complete without a fair share of dancing, and it did not disappoint. In addition to the standard couples dances and the mixture of crowd favorites and slow songs, there were a few songs that required specific dance moves; I love how everyone joined in. On those specific songs, the entire dance floor was mirroring each other: scooping up salmon, jumping in the line, etc.
I have a few hours with absolutelynothing to do for the first time in a while...and it is great! I've been enjoying the Giants game on Sunday Night Baseball while surfing online, reading a book and drinking a homemade smoothie. I figured I could take a break from reading to update my blog :)
Fireworks on the 4th were super fun - I even set one off! I think I still enjoy watching more than creating the show, but it was a good experience. I was able to snag a few photos, too. Here are my favorites:
The next fun event of note was Thursday night, when my small group spontaneously decided to go to a Tacoma Rainiers game together (too bad we missed the Grizzlies by one week). Sadly one of our friends is moving to Minnesota, and she mentioned she hadn't been to a Rainiers game yet and she wanted to go, so a couple of women stepped up and pulled it together overnight to make it happen. Here are a couple of pictures:
Then, the next night, our church softball team had a game - and we won! After 2 forfeits and 2 losses, it was really fun to actually win one. Here are a couple of pictures my friend Sarah took:
This week also included a trip to the mall where I actually found several items I liked (I'm really picky). I kept forgetting there was an Old Navy in Olympia; now that it moved to the mall I'm much more likely to stop by. The sad news from my trip to the mall: I found out bothAuntie Anne's and Wetzel's Pretzels are gone! Of course, upon this discovery, I started craving an almond flavored pretzel. I might have to venture up to Tacoma sometime soon...
This month has been busy. Really, really fun, but busy.
Weekend 1
It started out with the regular busyness: working 40-50 hours/week, rowing, church, small group...add a Sunday School teacher meeting, Matt coaching youth baseball, and me anticipating the busy month ahead and trying to work ahead a little bit...and it was busy.
Weekend 2
I knew I was taking a half day on Friday the week leading up to this weekend, so I tried to work ahead a little bit this week as well. Of course, I still managed to work about 50 hours in addition to attending our weekly small group, having dinner with a family new to the church (a fun couple with two really great kids) and trying to make it to crew practice.
So why was I taking off early on Friday? Well, one of my best friends is getting married in August, and her Bachelorette Party was this weekend...PLUS another best friend was flying up from California to attend! I got off early on Friday so I could pick up her up from the airport, get a few last minute things for the party, eat dinner with another local friend, and make cookies for everyone (also for the party). Of course, the actual party was a LOT of fun, too. I love the bride (she was a roommate for 3 years in college), and I like her friends - those from college that I'm friends with, and those from high school that I've only seen a few times. We had a lot of fun hanging out in Seattle - from dinner and a show to karaoke. Plus we all stayed in a hotel together and got brunch the next morning. All in all, a really fun weekend!
Everyone at the Bachelorette Party
Weekend 3
I knew I was taking half days on the Thursday and Friday during the week leading up to weekend 3 (more about that later), but this also happened to be the week Common Ground was in town! Last year was the first time in 15 years I didn't get to see their show, so I had to make it to one of their Washington concerts. Plus my brother is one of the sponsors - I wanted to see him, too! The night we ended up going, they were staying in host homes anyway, so Matt and I took my bro home with us so we could actually get to see him for a while. We went for pie at Shari's on the way home, and then hung out for a little while before hitting the hay. The next day Common Ground was coming back south through Shelton, so we decided we'd rather drop him off their instead of driving all the way back up to Auburn, so I took a few hours off to grab lunch at Daddy O's before heading out to Shelton. I had SO much fun seeing my brother, and I'm SO glad it worked out for him to stay with us :D
NOTE: I totally spaced and forgot to take a picture with my brother while he was here...so the above is a video he created (along with a few other talented individuals) for the show!
Of course, all of the above meant I still had a lot of work to do before taking off early on Thursday afternoon. Matt's parents happened to win a week a timeshare of their choosing at an auction through their church, so they picked one near Long Beach as it was about equal distance from us and from Matt's sister in Portland. So on Thursday, we packed up all our stuff and headed out to Long Beach to hang out with the in-laws. Of course, I still put in a few hours of work in on Friday (yay for Internet access everywhere and a boss that's really understanding!), but it was still a really fun and relaxing trip!
Matt and our nephew at the beach
On Friday we wandered around Long Beach, played cards and enjoyed [some of] the Ole & Lena jokes Matt's dad was reading from his new Ole & Lena joke books. On Saturday, Matt's sister came up with our adorable 3-year-old nephew! Over the next couple of days, we went to the beach, went swimming in the hotel's pool, and just hung around enjoying each other's company. One activity I really liked was seeing the pictures Matt's parents took on their recent cruise to Alaska. It was fun seeing what it was like - from life on the ship to their excursions of whale watching, flying over glaciers, dog sledding, zip lining and kayaking - and really inspired us to want to go on a cruise (we'll see if that happens within the next few, or 20, years).
Our nephew playing with bubbles
Weekend 4
The week leading up to weekend 4 was actually a bit quieter. I actually had 5 full days to work, and was even able to get a little housework done, too! Yay for clean dishes and clean clothes that are actually put away :) Of course, I've had a lot of work to get done this past week, too...and I also got to go to dinner with a friend from college that was in town visiting her sister.
One perk from this weekend is I actually got to sleep in on Saturday. I usually get up at 6am to row (yes, I'm a crazy crew kid that rows instead of sleeping in every weekend), but practice was cancelled this morning since half the team was already at the regional regatta down in Vancouver (more on this in a minute).
Anyway...after sleeping in on Saturday I got to go to lunch with a couple of good friends from college, which was super fun. I always love seeing good friends! After that they took me over to Shari's and a teammate picked me up so we could head down to Vancouver for the Masters Regionals regatta at Vancouver Lake.
Talk about a big regatta. I don't remember the numbers, but over the course of the weekend there was something like over 1000 races...? There were a lot of crews there from all over the region - even one as far as Los Gatos, CA. Our team's guys were already down there since their race was on Saturday; all of our women's races were Sunday. Saturday night was fun. I always enjoy hanging out with the team, and steak fajitas/tomalito from Chevy's never hurts, either (guess where we ate dinner). Anyway, I was in two races on Sunday, and I felt like both went well. We didn't make it into the final for either race, but I felt like we had a strong showing and we hung with the rest of the pack. We were only a few seconds away from making it into the finals, too, so that's encouraging. Now we have even more motivation to train for next year!
Vancouver Lake
So after we were done racing Sunday afternoon, we packed up the boats, stopped for lunch, drove back up to Tacoma, unloaded the trailer, and got home around 5:45. Just in time to start getting ready for the youth BBQ. As it was our last meeting of the school year and the first week for new 6th graders to come, we fired up the grills at our apartment complex, ate hamburgers and hot dogs, and played on the basketball and tennis courts. It was really fun, despite being worn out from the regatta (leaving the hotel at 5:30am, hanging around in the sun, 2 races plus moving boats around really takes a lot out of you). Again, I always enjoy hanging out with people.
The Rest of June
So it looks like the last few days of June will be a little bit less crazy...last night we went to dinner and Super 8 with a friend, and tonight I finally had a chance to sit down and play online for a while plus talk to a good friend from California for a couple of hours on the phone. I'm looking forward to getting back to our regular amount of busyness as opposed to being just insanely, crazily busy.
A few other random items of note:
The Giants have been doing well, despite all the injuries. That makes me happy (the doing well part, not the injuries part).
We downgraded back to dumb phones (as opposed to smart phones...), and the transition has been amazingly smooth. I miss browsing Facebook from my phone sometimes, but actually prefer calling and texting from a regular phone...and ultimately that's the point, right?
My mom is awesome and sent me a couple of really cool items in the mail...don't want to give away the surprise for when I pull them out, but if I'm ever invited to another white elephant / ugly sweater party I'll be prepared.
You know what I'm excited for? Harry Potter! Only 2 weeks until the Deathly Hallows Part 1 comes out. This is the first time I'll see the movie after knowing the story - I read it for the first time last year after seeing the Half-Blood Prince.
Harry Potter definitely grew on me...I read the first book when it came out and actually didn't like it. Of course I ended up seeing the movie because it was put on at a sleep-over or something, so when my friends wanted to see the second one when it came out I was willing to see it. I started liking the movies more and more as they came out, and after the Half-Blood Prince came out last year I couldn't wait to see what happens and ended up reading the entire series. Twice.
Speaking of movies, I got to see the Sound of Music on the big screen last week! We went to the sing along with a few friends, and I had a blast. Not only did I get to see one of my all-time favorite movies on a GIANT screen, but I also got to sing along to all the songs! It was kind of funny when the nuns were singing in Latin towards the beginning, the words were up on the screen, but the theater was silent. Until they sang, "Amen" that is - then everyone joined in!
Other big news lately: THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!
My Build-A-Bear & Matt's Flying Monkey celebrating
I was sooooo excited. Once they made it into the playoffs, my life became overrun with baseball. It probably would have been before that had the games been on TV up here. That's what happens when your team is two states south...I do think it's kind of funny that I've lived in Washington both times they made it to the playoffs - at least since I've been old enough to understand what's going on. Don't worry, San Francisco - I'm planning on staying up here for a while.
Anyway, it was really nice to have a husband that understands the love you have for your team. Granted he's not a Giants fan (sadly he's not perfect), but he was really supportive of me taking over the TV for 3 hours every night and even skipping out on a few regularly-scheduled activities to watch the game. I also realized that this is the first thing that really made me miss living in the Bay Area. Yes, I miss our friends and family - but they aren't contingent on that geographic area. Okay, and I also miss Kinder's. But as much as I love Kinder's, I don't long to physically be in their shops...although I do long for their Ball Tip Sandwich from time to time...but my point is that not having the glimmer of hope of getting to go to a game or the World Series parade made me miss home just a little bit.
To change subjects a bit, this was the first year Matt and I ever both dressed up for Halloween. It was really fun! We went with his and hers costumes, but tried to pick something not too mushy - Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! I thought they turned out pretty well for being homemade costumes:
We wore them to a Halloween trunk-or-treat our church did in a nearby neighborhood. Not only did we line up five or six cars in front of a couple of houses (thereby providing five or six times the candy to kids), but we also handed out hot chocolate / apple cider, took pictures of anyone who wanted them (to be mailed to them later) and had a car with games for kids to play. All in all, it was really fun.
...and here are a couple more pictures I've taken recently that I've especially liked:
One of my best friends from high school came to visit! She's visiting the U.S. for a while and made a special trip up to see me :D We had lots of fun. Highlights included exploring boutique antique shops, watching movies, making homemade Norwegian pancakes & Belgian waffles, wandering around Seattle and more. Here are a few pictures:
Nice hat!
I think this dress is SO FUN (it comes in blue, too)
Yummy prawns
The fuzzy penguin in Seattle
While we were in Seattle I also picked up another jar of Tayberry jam (combination of raspberry and blackberry?). AND it started raining. I was one happy girl!
So far my new 'domestic system' is working out well! We've tried 5 of the 6 recipes (the Chicken Curry in a Hurry being planned for dinner tomorrow night). Our favorite so far? The Beef Teriyaki. It was delicious! The sauce tasted like the sauce used at our favorite Japanese restaurants around here. It was so good I'm planning to make it again next week.
Second favorite was definitely the Big Beef Burger Stack-Ups, followed by the Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops. Neither of us liked the Chicken Schnitzel, and we agreed that the Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry was better the second night after sitting around in the sauce all day. Funny how that can help...
I'm really excited about this next week because Matt bought me a Slap Chop. It will definitely go to good use. After a week of chopping onions, ginger, parsley, cilantro...I'm ready for a nifty kitchen gadget. The menu this upcoming week includes the Beef Teriyaki in addition to Crispy Rosemary-Orange Chicken and Chipotle Chicken Rolls with Avocado Dipping Sauce. I'm also planning to make ice cream out of goat milk this weekend. I'm really excited about it - especially since I've been craving a milkshake for almost a month!
So my life in the last couple of weeks hasn't revolved around food completely. Other recent updates include (in reverse chronological order):
Seis de Mayo party! Our life group (small group) had fun celebrating Seis de Mayo with a Mexican potluck today because it was more convenient with our schedules. Matt and I were bringing the beverages and we found a recipe for virgin sangrias which meant we needed something to put it in...so Matt bought one of those summer-y pitcher things I'd looked at several times we were at Fred Meyer but couldn't justify buying. It was on sale and we needed it, so the buying was justified :)
Dollhouse & Bones - I recently got into these shows thanks to the Netflix Instant Queue. Dollhouse is slightly addictive...I went through almost the entire first season within a week. Sadly the last episode is available on disc only, but the good news is it arrived in the mail today! I also started watching Bones. Not nearly as addictive, but the first few episodes have been fun so far. It's nice to watch when I feel like watching TV for about an hour without committing to a full movie.
Reuse Fair - Last weekend we helped out at the Community Garage Sale and Reuse Fair. With about 200 vendors, there were a lot of people selling stuff! After the fair ended, vendors had the option to donate their stuff to the Goodwill truck on-site. There was a LOT of stuff leftover. We stuck around to help load the two trucks and filled them completely. There was another truckload and a half leftover that we put aside for the Goodwill to pick up on Monday. As tired as I was from hauling boxes, bags and coffee tables the next day, I had fun helping out.
Girls' Night - A couple of my friend's friends also came into town last weekend for a wedding, so she invited me to come hang out and watch girly movies with them. I forgot how much I like Ever After. It's just a really good story. I know it's Cinderella, but I like they way it's told and the various liberties they take. While there, I also learned how to play a new card game, and there were freshly baked chocolate chip cookies so I was a very happy camper. Mmmm....cookies.
Dinner & Games - Last week we had another young couple from church come over for dinner and games. We had a lot of fun - they have tons of games that were quite entertaining, including the Newlywed Game and Scene It. Matt and I lost at the Newlywed Game, but in our defense they've been married about a year longer. That and Matt should have read my mind better...haha. Scene It was really fun, too. I was so close to beating Matt. I made it into the inner circle first, but he got the answers correct first and therefore won :( We still had fun, though.
It's 2am again and guess who's blogging...me! A lot of nights I fight sleep I really am tired, but once in a while I'm awake and productive. Tonight is one of the awake and productive nights.
I am my mother's daughter in so many ways. Yes, we have a lot of differences, but I love creating new systems and methods of organizing things. My most recent new system involves another one of our similarities: a love of food! Cooking dinner has become one of those chores I don't look forward to, and after thinking about why, I think it's because I want to be good at it without practicing (sounds like my years of playing piano and flute all over again...haha).
Anyway, numerous family and family friends that I consider talented in the kitchen have given me all sorts of cookbooks over the years. I should be using these resources! So, this past week I pulled a couple cookbooks out and thumbed through, writing down the entrees that I wanted to try (I intentionally skipped over the desserts). Then I did another one of my favorite things: created a spreadsheet! I organized the meals into two categories: "30 minutes or less" and "over 30 minutes." After the spreadsheet was complete, I had Matt pick out six meals for the next two weeks, created a list of groceries to buy and scheduled cooking into my calendar. I'm really excited about trying the following recipes:
Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops
Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry
Beef Teriyaki
Big Beef Burger Stack-Ups
Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry-in-a-Hurry
Chicken Schnitzel
On a related note, another fun tool I'm excited about is an application on my phone: OurGroceries. It allows me to create a shopping list on my phone that I don't have to worry about losing, but the coolest part: I can share it with Matt so either of us can add / take off anything. That means if either of us goes to the store, we just have to pull the application up to see what's on the list. Isn't that fun??
I finished the jigsaw puzzle! After I'd given up, I wasn't ready to put what I'd done away and Matt started working on it. His progress inspired me to give it another shot and, after a couple of days, we placed the final pieces. Yay for teamwork =) Sadly there was a piece missing even though it was brand new. Oh well, if we'd had it, we would have known where to put it. Here's the completed puzzle:
Every once in a while I crave BLT pizza from Peppe's Pizza (a restaurant I thouroughly enjoyed in Norway). This afternoon we ate at Brewery City Pizza, and I was delighted to discover that their Cool Ranch Chicken was reminiscent of the delicious flavor. Plus the crust on their pizza is amazing. I could really go for some more...
Today was fun! After pizza we hung out at the apartment with a couple of new friends and played Nine Card, a version of Skip-Bo (I won twice, thrice if you count our warm up), and Munchkin, a card game that "captures the essence of the dungeon experience...with none of that roleplaying stuff." I have to say, I personally have nothing against Dungeons & Dragons...it's just not my cup of tea. This game was really fun, though! It took me a while to get the hang of it so I'm eager to give it another try sometime soon. It reminded Matt and me a bit of Quelf, though - especially with the random cards that were really funny.
All in all, we both feel like we're settling into Lacey very nicely. It was fun to connect with a couple of people from church this afternoon, and they live pretty close - that will be nice. I'm also really excited about everything in our apartment being set up, including the pictures on the walls and all our stuff having a home. It's crazy how much more relaxed I feel when there aren't boxes all over and I don't see things that need doing as I look around. Now Matt's Xbox just needs to return from it's journey to Texas and we can enjoy watching DVDs and playing Rock Band again!
I'm not a jigsaw puzzle person. Amazingly enough, I felt like doing a puzzle earlier tonight so I pulled the one I hadn't done yet out of the closet to put it together. It actually entertained me for about 2 hours...and then I couldn't handle it anymore. It didn't help that one of the side pieces is missing. Don't you hate that? It was a brand new puzzle out of the box and there was one side piece missing. Grrr. Anyway, 500 pieces is too much for me...I should stick to the puzzles with bigger and fewer pieces.
You know what I do find relaxing? Baking. After going to the gym 5 days in a row, I felt like I was able to justify baking cookies, so I mixed up the Pillsbury funfetti cookie mix I received for Christmas - which was done much more easily with my brand new hand mixer (also a Christmas present). This was especially nice because my arms were already tired from the gym, so I really didn't need the extra workout for my right arm. I thought we did a good job of spacing the cookie-eating out over a couple of days, too, so we didn't gorge ourselves too much. We should probably reinstate the "no baked goods unless we have someone to share it with" rule, but as we don't know many people in our new town, I have no idea when I would get to bake again...and it's just so fun! If only I had self-cleaning mixing bowls and baking pans, too...
I must say, now that our apartment is 95% complete (all we have left is hanging a couple pictures in the bedroom, although we did put some up in the living and dining room), I feel very accomplished. Within a week, we made more progress than we did in Bremerton (we never got around to hanging our pictures up). It's amazing how a little extra space and a better laid-out floor plan can help. It's kind of fun to move into a new place and reorganize everything again...although I'd like to hold off on moving again for at least a year or two if possible =)
It’s been a super-long time since I’ve posted anything. Things have been busy! We decided to move to Lacey on November 30 and got our new apartment December 1. After two weeks of shuttling our smaller stuff down to our new place, we rented a truck for our bigger furniture and loaded/unloaded it (with a HUGE thanks to those that were able to help). The day after we moved the big stuff down, Comcast came to set up our Internet and phone, and we drove down to California for three weeks.
While we were in California, we had a great time celebrating Christmas and New Year’s with family and a few friends. I have a lot to say about the last month, so I’ll break it into chunks for your skimming convenience ;)
Dead Laptop
Isbjorn, my most recent laptop, died this past month. Apparently computers don’t work when they can’t find the hard drive. Despite the frustration, a part of him lives on in Matt’s laptop as the battery was able to replace his broken energy source.
Joe’s Crab Shack
If you have a chance to go to a Joe's Crab Shack, I definitely recommend it! We went to the one in San Francisco with a few friends even though I can’t eat crab or shellfish. Their burger was good, though, and the servers dance. Ours even got up on the table to get her groove on! She also convinced half our table to get up and dance with her (and the other servers).
Family Events
We had a great time seeing family for a variety of Christmas activities including:
Christmas Breakfast at the Claremont Hotel with Matt’s family.
Decorating Matt’s parent’s Christmas tree to the Oak Ridge Boys.
Christmas Eve with my family.
Christmas day with Matt’s family.
Indonesian Chicken Curry in Woodland with my family.
Traveling through Redding and Portland to see Matt’s grandparents and Moses (our nephew), Cara and Dustin (his parents). Okay, that’s not really Christmas...but it was fun.
Other Fun Stuff
Here are the other exciting activities we were able to experience while we were in California:
We had a chance to see a few friends in the area that timing worked out with. Activities included Spades (yay team Women!), hanging out in San Francisco, various dinners and watching movies.
We saw Avatar and Sherlock Holmes. I really liked Avatar, even though I’m not a huge fan of 3-D. I actually forgot it was 3-D while I was watching it. Sherlock Holmes was fun, too, although it wasn’t the best movie ever. I would recommend renting it instead of spending the money on a movie ticket.
The Browns won the last four games of the season! Even though it was a rough year, ending on a good note was nice.
We got a free cake for our 1st anniversary! The baker that made our wedding cake included one free cake for the first anniversary, and she agreed that it would be easier to pick it up a month late instead of shipping it to Washington. As we expected, it tasted delicious =)
Disneyland
Just for the record, Disneyland is really busy on New Year’s Eve. I’ve never seen lines that long. Especially in the ladies’ room. I really appreciated that Disney knows how to handle crowds, so we were able to get where we wanted to go. That was very convenient. A few more comments about this trip to Disneyland:
The new dragon in Fantasmic! looks really cool. WAY better than the first one.
Certain foods just taste better at Disneyland. Like churros. And corn dogs. I’m pretty sure Dole Whip tastes good everywhere, but I’ve only had it at Disneyland so I can’t be sure.
If you lose an Indiana Jones hat on Grizzly River Run, there is a chance you’ll get it back. It just might not look the same. Chris’ hat decided our raft wasn’t good enough for it and jumped out on a drop...and then sat in the water for a while before Disney mailed it back. Sadly I haven’t seen the recovered hat, but I can’t wait for pictures (hint, hint Chris)!
Disney’s merchandise this year is really cute! I was very proud of myself for not giving in to temptation and buying something.
I won a Dumbo! The boardwalk area of California Adventure was completely re-themed to include Disney prizes. We played the clowns running up the ladder game (where the water shoots out of the cannon and you hit the target to make them go) and I won =)
Our New Apartment
We love it! Not only is it bigger than our last place and include a pool, hot tub, gym, sauna, etc...the rent is the same price! As much as I love that there’s a gym on-site, that also means I have no excuses not to use the gym on site. We’ve been really good about going over the past week. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up!
We’re also almost completely set up. We have a few more pictures to hang up and need to find spots for a few more items, but all in all it’s starting to feel like home. It’s nice how quickly we were able to get settled. So far the only thing I don’t like about the apartment is the lack of counter space – both for cooking and for stacking dirty dishes. Haha.
Of course, I can't possibly include an entire 3 weeks that were full of activities into one blog post, but that's pretty much the gist of what's been going on in our lives lately.
This past weekend Matt and I had the opportunity to visit Portland to see my sister-in-law (Cara), her husband (Dustin) and their son (Moses). Of course, the reason we went was because we wanted to see them, but the trip also gave us a great taste of Portland (literally) as we were shown around by locals. Now, I'd visited Portland before with a few friends when I was in college, and we had a great time, but I wasn't previously aware that this city is rumored to have the most restaurants per capita than any other city. Whether it's true or not, the fact they have that rumor makes it an even cooler destination for me. One of my all-time favorite activities is eating. As is hanging out with people. So a weekend full of hanging out with people while eating makes it a trip well-spent.
I'm a strong believer that hole-in-the-wall or family-owned restaurants taste better than giant chains. Don't get me wrong, I love the big guys, too, but when I'm traveling I like to try places I can't get at home. Although we were only there for a couple of days, we had the privilege of experiencing six different food businesses (not all of them were for full meals):
1. After trying to go to a couple of Ethiopian places that were closed, we decided to give Russell Street Bar-B-Que a try for lunch on Saturday. I had the Pulled Pork Sandwich which was quite tasty, and everyone else seemed to enjoy the Smoked Beef Brisket. I think what I liked best, though, was the decor. They had a lot of cute pigs all over, and there was a sign by the entrance that said abandon children would be given double espressos and...something else I can't remember right now, but remember thinking it was amusing.
2. I had read about Voodoo Donuts online a few days before our trip, so I was sure to request that as a location to stop by. The line was really long -- out the door and down the street -- but it also went quickly and was definitely worth the wait. My two favorites were the one that had oreos all over the top and the maple bar with bacon on top. I know this sounds a little odd, but the bacon combined with the maple flavor is quite tasty.
3. Something came up over the course of conversation about these Food Carts at SE 12th and Hawthorne that have fries, burritos, BBQ and crepes. As soon as I heard crepes, we had to go there. These sweet and savory crepes are made with all sorts of ingredients. The one part I didn't like was how long it took to get my crepe - Matt was able to think about getting a burrito, go over, get one, wait for it, come back, think about eating it, eat it, and still wait around...but my chocolate and pear crepe was still delicious and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
4. Cara happened to have a coupon for Cha Taqueria, so we decided to go there for lunch on Sunday. Now, Mexican food can sometimes be a bit tricky for me since I can't eat cheese, don't like tomatoes, and can't handle spicy food. I'm always able to find something I can eat, though, and I usually like it okay, but the "something" I found to eat at Cha Taqueria was amazing. Even without the cheese, the Alambre (Grilled steak, bacon, ham, peppers, and onions served on a sizzling skillet with handmade tortillas and all the fixings) was quite delectable. I was really sad when I realized we forgot our leftovers in the hotel fridge on the way back home...because it was GOOD. The restaurant overall was really nice. It had a chic feel, and you could tell from the decor that dinner/nightlife was where most of its business came in. Their prices on the lunch menu seemed quite reasonable, though, and the portions were large enough that I could've easily made at least two meals out of my entree.
5. Dustin happens to be a very talented musician, and he also happened to be playing at Mississippi Pizza Sunday evening, so we got to eat some good pizza while listening to some good music. Overall, I really liked the feel of Mississippi Pizza. It had a kind of eclectic feel, and had a separate room where they featured the musicians. While a lot of places with live music turn into people listening to the performers as background music (which doesn't make much sense because you have to yell at each other to hear the conversation and don't have a chance to appreciate those on stage), the way the room was set up made it easy for people to sit, listen, enjoy the music and socialize afterward. The pizza was good, too, which certainly gives additional motivation for people to come back.
6. The last food establishment we had time to visit was The Waffle Window, a window off the side of a restaurant that serves waffles topped with sweet or savory flavors. Sadly, Cara wasn't able to join us (although hopefully we'll be able to go again next time). I ordered the Berry Bliss which was quite good - I really liked the sweet taste of the batter with the fruity topping. Matt seemed to like the banana/nutella waffle he ordered, and Dustin tried the Farm Fusion which had more of the savory toppings. Although it wasn't a large piece of waffle, the amount was just enough to be filling.
Okay, now I'm really hungry again, thinking through all the delicious food places we visited this past weekend. We had a lot of fun doing things besides eating (i.e. bowling, walking around a street fair), but since food is my hobby and I love it even more with good company, I felt I had to share. Now I'll be on the lookout for more places to try next time we go back down to Portland, too =)
I know it's been a few days, but I thought a couple of things from Friday would be interesting to share. After working in the morning, Matt and I took the ferry over to Seattle to meet up with a friend from California that's also moved to Washington, although she and her husband live on one of the islands further north.
The three of us had a late lunch that afternoon at the Museum of Flight at Boeing airfield. It was really fun to watch planes take off as we sat outside the cafe to eat. Someday, I'd love to go back and explore the Museum of Flight. Although it wasn't nearly as large as the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, OH that my family visited a couple of years ago, it still looked like they had some pretty neat attractions. Here's what I'd love to go back and see:
The Airpark, which features one of the former Air Force Ones and the world's fastest jetliner, the Concorde.
The Great Gallery, which includes Cockpits, Flight Simulators, the Museum of Flight Tower, and a lot of cool looking planes.
The Lear Gallery, which is all about space exploration and includes a full size replica of the International Space Station’s Destiny Research Laboratory that guests can climb in.
After we finished up lunch, we went back to Seattle because Matt and I had tickets for the Mariner's game. We got there right when the gates opened, so we had a few hours to walk around and look at the park. Of course, I've always loved the roof at Safeco Field - I think it's so cool that it can open and close depending on the weather. It ended up raining during the game, so we got to watch the roof close that night! Yes, I know I get excited easily...
Beer Battered Onion Rings and Poblano Artichoke Dip
Hummus, Sundried Black olives with Pita chips
Ribeye Steak
Mini Corndogs
Cloverdale All-Beef Hot Dog
Fish and Chips
Chocolate Cake
We ended up sitting on the third deck because that's where are tickets were for, but it was a fun game. We also discovered that sitting in the front row up there = a great view of the game. Not only did the Mariner's win, but so did the Giants (although I didn't see that game beyond the score updates in the park). The game even got out early enough we were able to briskly walk (plus a slight run at the end) to the ferry terminal and hop on one that left almost an hour earlier than we had planned on leaving.
A few years ago I discovered my love for Applebee's Chocolate Lava Cake. Warm chocolate cake with hot fudge pouring out of the center...I still don't understand how anyone could not like it. It seems like since then all sorts of other restaurant have realized how popular lava cake is, so they began selling their own versions - none of which were up to par with Applebee's (I try them everywhere I go).
It just so happens that a few days ago we saw a TV ad for Domino's free lava cake when you purchase an order of Domino's BreadBowl Pasta. Matt and I had been talking about ordering pizza for dinner, and although I'm not much of a pasta person, I wanted that cake. Needless to say, for dinner that night we ate pizza, a pasta breadbowl and two lava cakes (Matt knows I have a really hard time sharing dessert). I have to say, this lava cake greatly exceeded my expectations. It was amazing. The cake part was a bit more crunchy than I anticipated, but it had a really nice flavor and it turns out I ended up liking the outside a little crunchy (crunch like a cookie, not like a cracker). The chocolate on the inside of the cake was rich, milky, and warm - even though it'd been sitting in its box until we were done with the more substantial part of dinner.
Applebee's, you've met your match. Not only did Domino's lava cake taste better, but it's about a third of the price, and you don't need to leave a tip (unless it's delivered). Yes, it's much smaller, but that's good. The smaller serving was much more reasonable for a person to eat on their own, and it left me wanting more instead of feeling sick to my stomach. Applebee's cake has been demoted to second favorite and Domino's now gets the distinction of finest lava cake in all the land (at least according to Emily). I kind of want another one now...
