A Girl's Weekend

Here's a quick entry about my last couple weekends, you would think life would slow down with all this heat we've seen lately. The weather this last week hit a high of 94! Like the Seattle area, it pushed the bar for the highest temp for that day(I forget the actual day, sorry). I think it's been fun, however Richard can't stand the heat at all. A couple of nights this past week he didn't make it to bed until after 3am.

Weekend One:
Aside from having to spend the middle of my Saturday at work, last weekend was pretty good. I got a call from Cas asking if it's alright she comes over, without a husband or daughter. I was so shocked I hardly said anything at all but a hesitant sure. We hang out quite often without husbands, but no daughter and over night, where was I? She arrived in no time and I shopped my way through my closet to find something cute for dinner. Richard stayed at Lorrie's house and helped the crew there do work on her new house. Since Bella Italia is featured in the Twilight books and now movies, it's one of the busiest places to eat in town so we decided to skip the wait there and go to Micheal's. I always enjoy any chance I get to go there. It could be because I often see the employee's in the alley, since we share it, and I actually know who they are. I think do a great job. The food can be slow to come out but in my opinion it's well worth the wait! We each had a glass of wine there and delicious food, of course great conversation is a given. Once we decided we couldn't eat another bite, it was off for the local wine bar! I had the Harbinger Bliss, listed on their Summer Rose list while Cas had the Syarh from Olympic Cellers. Both are local winers to the Port Angeles area and good. I've only been in Olympic Cellers once and it was really quick, but when tasting in Harbinger once and I think it has a great atomsphere. I would have classified us as pretty happy but not drunk. Like good girls when we were ready to come home we called Richard. He actually walked down and got the car, then us. The only downside to the eveing was I puked. Yes, that's right and after only two glasses of wine. In my defense the wine bar pours really big glasses which had I been at home probably would have actually been two glasses for me. There is a first time for everything(yep, I've never puked before)!
In between leaving the wine bar and Richard picking us up we decided to take a look at the sand sculptures. They were just completed for Acts In Action, which is an art festival held each year. It's been going on since I was younger and one of the highlights is always seeing the sand sculputers they do.

The next morning Cas and I got up and went down to Itty Bitty Buzz for a coffee. Amazingly we weren't hung over at all. I was hungry though, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.
We hung out for a bit then Cas needed to be on her way. Once she left Richard and I went over to Lorrie's to help out again. I didn't stay as long as Richard as there was yard work, etc I wanted to get down around our house as well.

Weekend Two:
We decided the best way to get things done around the house is to make a list, this includes projects and items to buy. This weekend we completed some of them. Yay! We got the corner garden completely finished with landscape fabric and bark down. I left some of the large rocks in there because I think it makes it interesting. I love how the bark really sets it off nicely with the bricks and as an added bonus it smells good when you walk by. While I was doing that, Richard worked on fixing the mail box which had come loose. Our postman should be happy come Monday when he goes to open our box and it doesn't threaten to fall on him.
I fixed up our front baskets and changed out for a new basket style. These are a smaller but double hanging copper ones Cecile bought years ago for the house. They had been moved to the swing in the back awhile ago and I decided to clean them out and bring them up front. Two of the plants I got on a buy one get one free sale at my local plant nursery. I love a good plant sale! Plus they are more mature and already drape nicely over the side of the pot.
Tomorrow we're going to finally paint the hallway using the same colour as our living room. Also we have replaced the bathroom door trim so it matches the rest of the trim around the house. It's amazing how something so small can have such a difference.
Overall it's been a great productive weekend!

Vacations and more...

Starting at 5pm on July 3rd, I was on vacation from work and it was wonderful! I took the whole week following off and just enjoy myself with no real set plan. In the end, I went to Long Beach for a night, enjoyed a girly day in Seattle and spend a few days in Victoria. My vacation got started when Richard took me over to Kingston Saturday morning. I was asked how we felt about spending the 4th apart, but since the party was the weekend before it didn't seem like anything to us.
Cas picked me up in Edmonds and I spent the next two nights at their house. Al was ready with delicious bbq ribs for dinner that we ate outside on their porch, along with a nice glass of wine. Once Rhia was in bed, Cas and I went for a short walk around the track not far from their house. We got back in time for the fireworks set off by pretty much everyone who lives around them. I think some of them bought the same selection we had for our party in Quilcene even. There were some really nice displays.
Sunday morning, after we were showered and ready, Cas and I went into Seattle for a girls day out. We started with coffee at Caffe Vita in Fremont. Their mochas are made with Theo Chocolates; Yummy, it was one of the best mochas I have ever had! My breakfast was a bagel. As you can see they do ferns designs, sadly I spilled mine a little(good thing for the saucer!) but it still looked great!. :) It was a beautiful day too so we sat outside the coffee shop.

From there we headed into the city for a bit of shopping, of course, we stopped by the Tasting Room for a bit of wine. The above picture of Cas and I was taken from outside there. I had a delicious white(which the name of I have forgotten) and a dessert wine. What better to go with our wine but tasty Theo chocolates! Twice in one day, what more could a girl ask for?

While at coffee we decided to get pedicures done for sure. The last time we did that was a few days before my wedding. Neither of us had gone since then and we thought today would be a prefect day for it. We found a place called Myano among others online the night before when we were pondering going. While we were walking around downtown we ran across it and decided to check it out. For $35 we got the basic pedicure which took about 45 mins. It was nice. Not as great as the one before, but well needed. I stand on my feet all day and a pedicure is a real treat. I'm so glad Lauren got me into them! Here's a picture of our toes. I got a sparkly clear and Cas got a great shade of red.

We left, with Rhia, Monday morning for Long Beach, WA. The drive was like most drives for me, a lot of sitting but as we got closer it was more exciting as the scenery changed a lot. Most of it I hadn't seen since I was really little. I even saw a cranberry bog!
The weather in Long Beach wasn't the most ideallic, but then again it is right on the Pacific Ocean. It wasn't foggy so at least we could see. Cas found us a great cottage(Boardwalk Cottages) within walking distance of downtown, as an added plus they had scones for breakfast. They had a lemon glaze and were delicious. Hopefully we can go back with Al and Richard this next time.
We tried to go to the beach Monday night, however it started to rain pretty good size drops so we decided to head back, go to dinner and try the beach again the next day. We went to a place called Dooger's Seafood & Grill. I had halibut off their fresh catch choices. When we were finished we got a dessert to go, an apple crisp pie. Rhia went to sleep, while Cas and I sat on the porch swing ate our dessert, which also included fudge from a local shop, and drink wine. It was a nice night for it, not too hot but not too cold.
We did make it to the beach the next day and it started out cloudy and uninteresting. Soon it cleared up. At first Rhia didn't really want to go but then she really got into it and walked to squish sand with her hands and sit down in it. The tide was out so we could walk pretty far. It was a nice way to start the day, which had a rocky start. After that we set off for my house, although we never made it there. Rhia started to get pretty fusy and it turns out she had an infection. Of course at the time we didn't know. But this made it so we went back to their house instead of driving to mine.
Richard met me in Kingston that eveing, surprisingly I didn't fall asleep in the car right away. However I did go to bed almost as soon as we got home.
The next day, after very short notice from my dad, I departed for Victoria on the afternoon boat. I didn't come home again until Friday afternoon. It was a really nice time and I got a great new pair of shoes. :)

Since then it's been work with a weekend spent in Seattle area. Richard and I babysit Rhia one Friday night so Al and Cas could attend a concert. We all had a great time. Rhia did the unthinkable and fell asleep in the stroller while her and I were on a walk. Naturally I sent out picture messages. :) Her parents were jealous. The next day was SRS, which turned out to be an open meeting. So it was a huge discussion among everyone.
That night was dinner at a sushi place with Mike and Alicia. Richard then left me at their house and went on his way home. I stayed the night there because I was attending Alicia's baby shower the next day. It's one of the best I've ever been too! We sat around and talked and ate tacos. Yum.
Kami gave me a ride up to Edmonds and we stopped by Joann's then Al and Cas's house. Next thing they were asking if we wanted to stay for dinner. Sure! Afterwards Kami gave me a ride to the ferry. I didn't even have to run on to it but the timing was good enough that it left right away. :)

Annual 4th Party

Over the past weekend we held the Annual 4th of July party in Quilcene at Grandma Shirley's house. Yes a week early, however we still had fireworks and sparklers to celebrate the day. Not many were in attendance this year, possibly due to the date, but it was great to see those who were. Abby came up from California, while Kevin braved the border and two ferries to make it there Thursday night. Mike asked his friend to put together a nice display for us and it turned out well.
Lorrie and Dave came for the 2nd year in a row, only this time they decided not to bike over. Mostly due to having Dave's youngest, Xander, with them. I also think it was because they didn't want to go to sleep at 6pm again. :P It was fun watching Xander hover over Mike while lighting off the fireworks, the next generation taking notes! Richard got a great picture of the two of them together. Xander and Kevin also got into quite the water noodle sword fight, I'm not sure who the victor was.
Taylor and Noelle also came back for more, I think this is their 3rd year. As if Noelle wasn't a hit last year with stealing marshmellows from Alicia, she was even more so this year. She ran up and down the hill a few times often yelling for either Richard, Taylor or myself. She remembered "chubby bunny" when she saw Alicia, who taught her that last year. I got a cute picture of her picking up and carrying a chair to go and sit down by Lorrie. She even played swords with the water noodles. During the entire fireworks show she laughed, clapped and giggled. Once it was all over she looked at Taylor and said she wanted to go home. I'm really glad they could make it again this year.
With Alicia being 8 months pregnant got to find baby's butt, foot and head over the course of the weekend. Liz made a face when she found baby's foot that was just speechless. It will be fun at next year's party when they are almost a year old. 6 more weeks to go and we'll have a new niece or newphew.
When it came to food, we ate well. Of course the usual standards were there; chili, potato salad and hot dogs. Chris also brough ribs which were soaked in his homemade bbq sauce that we then cooked over the fire. Kevin and Richard boiled clams while Mike mixed up some garlic butter dip for it. Once they finished Kevin and Mike went around pushing clams on people. It was funny to watch the circle hovering around them. Since Alicia and Mike also bought brats, Chris mixed up some beer for them to cook in after the clams had finished boiling. The skin was a little hard to chew through but they had great flavor.

Overall one of the best entertainment features was watching Chris, Kevin, Mike and Richard put together a tent at midnight for Kami, our last minute camper, to sleep in down on the beach. In order to make sure there weren't any holes in the air mattress, Richard used the vacuume to blow it up before putting it inside the tent. This was a great idea, however the door to the text was pretty small. The guys, being who they are, decided instead of letting out some of the air they will make it work. Square peg and round hole? Who cares! Sure enough they got it in there. Liz and I should have taken pictures but we didn't. We all got a good laugh after they successfully got the air mattress inside the tent when Richard noticed they hadn't openned the door all the way.

Thanks again to everyone for another great year! See you all next at next year's party!

Yard work and more

As the title says I've been doing a lot of yard work lately. Thankfully it's been nice weather so that I can actually do stuff. Thus far the garden has been cleaned out, the upper part of the stream de-leafed and given new rocks. After I'm not sure how many months being taken over by grass the garden has been cleaned up and only the large plants remaining(and clusters of purple iris). There will probably always be a grass problem on that side but at least for the moment it doesn't reach the window. Here's a mid-way through project photo. To help give you an idea on how much there was. Phew. But I'm really glad it's all finished as doing that made the front yard look so much better. Here's a picture of the stream cleaned out. It took all day but I got it done and even added some new rocks.
Luckily our water hose is long enough to reach that side of the house, as running water in the stream is the easiest way to clean it out. All you need is a pair of rubber gloves to pick up the muck. The next step of this project is to remove the grass from between the brick path and the stream.

New toys, despite being stuck

Richard and I have successfully made it through half the month without driving to the greater Seattle area. In a month we typically make 2, sometimes 3 trips over there. In the beginning I kept forgetting the Hood Canal Bridge is closed though and planning things for over there.
I think it has also helped that the Juan de Fuca Festival of Arts is over Memorial Day Weekend each year, Richard loves voluntreeing for that so we tend so stay home more in the month of May anyway. If you happen to be in town or want to listen to some good music I highly recommend going. It's fun and there are some nice vendors and great food. I hope Micheal's Divine Dining will be there again; they make these great salmon sandwiches.

We did order our new toy online and it arrived Monday. We now have an LG 42 inch LCD tv. It's amazing! I keep using the computer down there just for the sake of being able to read all the icons. We have had a computer plugged into our tv for about 3 years and this is the first time we've been able to read anything on it. When the choice was narrowed down to two items I left Richard to make the final decision between them. Partly because the features involved were ones I wouldn't notice or didn't understand about. I'm also really impressed on how the corner we have our tv in looks completely different now. Before I felt the corner was kind of dark and closed in, now it seems open.



We have been doing a lot of work in the yard, so here's a recent picture of a new garden I made. The spot was taken up by a rather large juniper bush and upon removing it we discovered it had been planted in sand. Instead of letting the grass grow up, I decided to make it into a garden. I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out. It's got a few more plants in it now, including a bush fushisa, and peony.

Sometimes you need to be a geek for a weekend...

For those of you who know me, you'll remember that for the past many years each spring I attend SakuraCon. It's boasted itself has the largest anime/manga convention in the Northwest. And yes, I dress up. Although, this year I wasn't able to make my own costume as we were kind of busy(confused? see the previous post) however I wore, for the first time, a yakata I was given when I was in high school by a Japanese student, from our town's sister city Mutsu City, who stayed at our house. One of the many fun things about it is seeing all the other people who dress up and one of my favorite sports, people watching. Coffee shops, restaurants and SakuraCon are, in my opinion, the best places to participate in this.

Richard and I arrived to put up our pre-reg badges early Friday morning. We were met with a rather long line which almost prevented us from seeing the opening ceremonies. Lucky for us those usually start late. :) A couple years ago we sat in on the opening and discovered that it's the best way to preview what's going on at the con, from there we decide what we want to do. Sure they publish the event schedule that gets placed in every attendees goodie bag, but it doesn't really tell you who the people are. Naturally, Richard and I don't stalk the website to read about who's there and what's going on. Plus we started having more fun when we stopped trying to plan our weekend months in advance. We did such things as waited in line for autographs, attended a couple discussion panels, went to the concerts, previewed an anime being released in the US, and went to the dance.
Sadly we missed the question/answer panel for Peter Fernandez(that's right, the voice of Speed Racer!) but we did catch the last 15 mins of it. I got his autograph and a picture with him earlier in the day. This was really cool since I grew up watching Speed Racer and at the time it was my favorite. It was nice his shirt had the checkered pattern on the edge of the sleeves. He gave me an Easter egg too. I was fairly speechless the whole time since I was so excited.

The next exciting moment was meeting the man who did the mecha art for the 80's Transformer series. Yes! Another one I grew up watching! I got a picture and autograph with him as well.
I also met the very polite Greg Dean(Real Life Comics) and his wife Liz. They were also selling shirts, so I bought the "body by Nintendo" one. I couldn't resist. I wish I would had something more profound to say or ask, but I'm shy and well it just didn't happen.
I think the final large highlight of this year was meeting Smile.dk. They are most popular for their many tracks on Dance Dance Revolution(yes the very reason I wanted a PlayStation 2). I didn't get their autograph but I did better and go a picture with them after they finished their question/answer panel. Ooh I was so excited! Any they are just too cute! We missed the beginning of their panel but caught most of it. It was a lot of fun. With the help of a double shot latte at 10:30pm I was able to stay awake for their concert which was part of the dance. Richard and Kami didn't really dance. I'm not sure why Kami didn't but when I asked Richard about it later he said it was because he was holding everyone else's stuff. I had a good time though. I stood next too the cameras and from the tiny monitor could see the stage.

When it is released on dvd I'd like to buy Romeo X Juliet. It's the one preview anime we went to over the weekend and quite good. The English voices did a good job and it's fun. Yes it's the story of Romeo and Juliet so there can't be that many episodes, but I like the twist they put on it. Plus I think it will be really interesting to watch it in English then watch it in Japanese with subtitles. We all know how the story goes and read through it in high school, after all it's one of the English language classics. I'm curious to see how some of the language translates into Japanese. I would be really interest to see the notes from those who did the writing for it's US release. Knowing the story and having it readily available, it must have been hard to keep with the raw translated script and make it normal English.

We also went to a kimono workshop where they helped me tie my yakata properly. Richard couldn't dress up since they didn't have any male ones with them, however we finally convinced Kami to put one on. We had a good time. I really enjoyed watching the family who came in shortly after we did. The two little kids were like dolls to the people dressing them up. You could see how much they were all enjoying themselves. The kids like being dressed up and posing for pictures while the adults liked dressing them in the cute clothes.

For pictures visit my website.

Our Wedding

Our wedding has successfully come and gone. I even think I'm mostly rested from it, although not yet unpacked.

The week started with driving my car onto the Coho ferry for the first time ever Tuesday afternoon with Al and Cas in their car nearby. I have gotten on the ferry many times before as a foot passenger by running, and sometimes a small hop, on the car deck. So driving on was a big deal for me. They pack you like sardines under there. I was put next to the inside wall by the stairs up to the main deck and had to hope over my door in order to get out. It was easier on the way out than the way back into my car that's for sure. Cas and I took Rhia around the ferry for a walk. She got tired quickly but wanted to see more so Cas put her up on her shoulders. At that point the boat was starting to get a little rocky and caused unsure footing. Rhia loved this. Each time Cas would stumble just a little she would break out in laughter. We noticed a stuffed animal above and I had to get a picture of it. Once we got to Victoria we waited through customs by playing with the Sirrus radio. My car was almost right next to theirs going through the line so I set my station to the same one they use to listen to their sirrus. Al and Cas had great fun finding different stations and watching my reaction to what was playing. We went our separate ways for the evening.

Wed proved to be a very productive day. It started early with my making it to my Popo's house by about 9am. Cas picked me up there and we stopped by her hotel. After stopping by we walked to the Bay Centre in search of a few items that I needed to pick up as last minute things. We found everything in about an hour and a half. It was amazing. Since I was looking for such specific things I was worried I would get stuck on the idea in my head allowing room for nothing else. We were so pleased with ourselves when I got everything so quickly and easily. It was great.
Our afternoon was spent at the Willow Stream Spa located inside the Empress Hotel. I can't describe how wonderful it was. We did the Relaxation massage, their signature pedicure and manicure. I've never been to a spa before that so I didn't know what to expect. I can say now that I'm looking forward to the next time I'll be able to go. The pedicure tickled a little bit but nothing I couldn't handle. I loved the paraffin treatment; it was so nice and warm. We ended the evening with dinner at my Popo's.
Since Wed was such a successful day, Thurdsay was pretty low key. It was good as Al had to rush home that morning for a family emergency so Cas and I had Rhia as our companion all day. It was nice to just kind of hang out. We did some grocery shopping and caught a bit of lunch inside Mayfair mall. Since Al was gone for the night we went up to Russell's where I was staying and packed up my stuff. I then stayed with Cas in their hotel room. We took our wedding favors to the restaurant and made our way to Butchart Gardens for our rehearsal. Finally we got a dinner of spaghetti at my dad's with Richard, Andrew, my dad, my mom, Jason, Theresa, Leaha, Diven and Theresa's boyfriend Ben. It turned out well I think.

Friday morning we packed things up. I got some really cute pictures of Rhia playing with my camera while Cas was in the shower. We went "flying" and painted on the window in the steam while Cas packed up some supplies for day. Our first stop was the Dolca Vita coffee shop. They have pretty good coffee and do neat designs in the milk.
After that we picked up Kami at the ferry, then ran up to my dad's house. We dropped off her, Rhia and some of Rhia's stuff. Kami was than on known as Nanny Kami. She kept an eye on Rhia until after the ceremony and Al showed up. Sadly he just missed our ceremony by about 15 mins. However, we were really glad he was able to make it back at all. Our
photos started at 2pm. We ran all over the Japanese gardens and Italian garden. Our most entertaining moment has to be when a group of Asian tourists passed by. We were just outside what used to be the main residence facing a glass paned door. Richard and I were being posed by our photographer assistance, Peter and then were told to look at our photographer, Ute. When we did we noticed the 5 or 6 cameras in the glass door all with flashs going off. Of course we all started laughing, while Ute is telling us to not to laugh until she turns and sees them all. This was the first of a trend as we were told to not laugh many times throughout the day. If anything you can't say we were uptight for our photos. In fact we had a good time. The ceremony started almost exactly at 4pm. Richard lately told me that many people asked about our walk in music for Andrew, himself and Cas. Here's where our geekiness comes out as it's a track from the popular video game, yes that's right, Katamari Damacy. Towards the end of our ceremony Richard and I declared a thumb war, which resulted in some muted chuckles from our crowd. After all was said, it was time for more photos! This time it was family photos, which we did down in the Sunken Garden.
We had a little bit of socializing time before departing. Richard, Andrew and I were the last to leave the gardens.
Next was dinner, the three of us arrived for what we thought was early however a good number of Richard's family was already there. Krysta and the staff at Mee Wah's did a fabulous job at dinner. One table didn't leave a drop of food and in fact went looking for more. Another table looked like they didn't eat at all but they also only had about 6 people sitting there. It turns out the people missing on short notice were suppose to sit at that table. We had plenty of leftovers for a great lunch the next day at my dad's. Jason and Russell got into a camera competition during our family photos which was quite funny to all in the picture. We agreed that Jason had won. It seems that everyone had a good time at dinner.
Saturday we did a small gathering at my dad's, viewed and exchanged pictures. It's been neat to see the different pictures people took and what they thought of our wedding. Joi treated us to dinner at San Remo's about a half block down from my dad's. It was quite good.
Sunday Richard, Jason and I went over to Popo's house for a short visit. Afterwards we met up with Dad, Joi and Andrew in Beacon Hill Park. It was a great day for a walk around the park. We got lunch in Fishman's Wharf, which is where all the house boats are, named Barb's. Had to be the largest serving fish n chips. We then caught the ferry home.
Our home-coming was a treat of pizza made by Tom St. Amand. It was great, although slightly too spicy for me. Richard and Jason quite liked it though.

I think that about sums things up for the week. For more pictures of our wedding see either my website gallery or Richard's at Fenchurch*org

Only a few things left to finish up

Thus far our wedding planning only has a few things left:

• we need to finalize flowers(bouquet, etc)
• find Richard a suit to wear
• book our hotel
• finish making favors
• start making thank you cards
• clean house
  

So that's it. Cleaning the house up for all those who are staying here on the way to Victoria or afterwords is probably the biggest thing we need to get done.

A very bridal kind of weekend

Saturday started out as an all day bachelorette party. Richard, very kindly, took me to the Kingston ferry where Kami met me on the other side. It was really great timing too. The ferry was just docking as she was just about to taking the road that came down to the terminal. After stepping out of the terminal I waited probably about 2 mins before she pulled up. I doubt that will ever happen again so nicely. Ooh, and I managed to get a savery crepe from the place in Kingston. It takes forever sometimes, but they sure taste good. :)
Kami and I went from there to Al and Cas's house. We traded cars, as Cas was driving and headed for what's probably my longest car ride from Lynnwood to downtown Seattle. It took close to 2 hours due to road construction. We made it and even found some parking at a good price.
Our first stop turned out to be wine tasting at a place called The Tasting Room. They do only Washington State wines, probably about 7 wineries at that. We all tried slightly different things. The Theo Chocolate plate was quite good though. From there we went to a tea shop that does free samples. They had probably 100 different teas, all from China, and serve the samples in traditional style with the mini tea cups and making sure to rinse the tea, etc. It was fun and I picked up a new tea. Plus I now know where I can get some more Chinese tea when I run out.
We ended the daytime shopping with a trip to Babeland. All high class and no smut. What bachelorette party would be without?
For dinner we went to place called Purple Wine Bar and Cafe. There's a few around Seattle, but we went to the one in Woodinville. The main dining room was full so we got to sit upstairs in the "lounge". It's not closed off to the dinning room but it's got lower tables and love seat sofas to sit on. We had a great dinner and tasty dessert. Plus good wine! They even gave us my dessert free and said "Cheers" on the reciept in place of the price. It was cool.

Today was the bridal shower half of the weekend. Going into today I didn't really know who was all coming. Cas asked me for a list of people to invite, so I did. It turned out pretty well, although slightly ackward at first. I'm not used to being a center of attention so ... yeah. It was also my first time attending a bridal shower! The cheesy games were even kind of entertaining.
I've got cards with advice written on them that I can now add to my wedding scrapbook when I get around to making it. Richard and I enjoyed reading through them after everyone had left. I think everyone had a good time.

First up

Here's my first blog, exciting eh?