from one side to the other

hasta la vista grass

2008-07-19T17:56:00.003-04:00

Sod cutting was a success! now it's time to level that dry, dusty mess. gracie immediately found the hot, dry dirt to lie in.

good doggie. maybe I can get her to rake it nice and even!

Garden projects

2008-07-16T00:34:00.004-04:00

We finished building the beds last weekend. Now we have to dig out the grass, level the spot, dig the corners into the yard, level the beds and get soil. then we can plant!

But behold. step 1 is done. See how enthused the dogs are?

The first weekend we only got one bed made b/c the lame ass home depot rental saw was so dull it burned all the edges of our boards. After nearly smoking out the neighborhood, we stopped using the rental saw, and borrowed one from our neighbors. We returned the home depot saw, got our money back, and used the neighbor's saw to cut the rest of the wood. Built one bed and called it good. During the week, our car died for a second time, and Dan pulled his back pushing the car out of the street. so we had to wait a few days for the back to heal, but this past weekend, we were able to finish up and now have 5 great beds for planting!

Constitutional Quiz

2008-07-16T00:28:00.004-04:00

The 10th annual constitutional quiz on July 4th was quite the success. See for yourself.

Thursday night at the Red Hot

2008-07-06T19:03:00.004-04:00

dogs were okay, not fab. and no dill relish-which is criminal in my book. but we did manage to enjoy ourselves.

IDAHO

2008-06-24T23:03:00.002-04:00

We're off to Idaho for a few days of hot sunshine, R&R, and wedding celebrations. The first 2 weeks back at work after a month off has been brutal. Things should get back to normal with more posts next week.

Westward Ho

2008-06-03T21:20:00.006-04:00

We've made it to Wyoming rather quickly, as we really want to get home. We should hopefully be home in a couple more days. In the meantime, we'll watch the final primary results and eat cowboy steak in Sheridan. We were a day late to Mitchell-Obama spoke there Sunday night. And we missed Hillary in SD too. Just one step behind them!

Here's some pics from the trip so far

Chicago skyline from Sunday morning on an empty Dan Ryan Expwy. We've never gotten through the city so quickly. I guess everyone was sleeping early Sunday morning.

Dan stocking up on supplies at our old neighborhood fave, Holy Land. After a night in Minneapolis with our dear friends Chank and Heidi, we hit the road well stocked from Holy Land

Scenic Southwestern MN

Obama Headquarters in Mitchell, SD, Monday night before the primary

Corn Palace--my fave

the last DC hurrah

2008-05-26T14:50:00.005-04:00

Congratumalations graduate!

2008-05-24T14:13:00.002-04:00

here's to my last night in Oly!

2008-05-14T22:11:00.004-04:00

I'm packing up my stuff. It's my last night in Olympia before I go back east to DC on Sunday. I'll miss the 10-minute commute home and the nice dog that's kept me company at my strange rental, but that's about it. It's been difficult living apart from Dan and the dogs for 4 1/2 months, and not seeing each other much at all. We are both looking forward to resuming our life together, just a few more days!

Fence be gone

2008-05-10T21:39:00.004-04:00

Day 1 of homeownership - Giles and I got most of the fence down today.

Uncle Giles hard at work

After the fence is down, the front lawn is free. My neighbor even offered to weed whack the yard!

Pile O'fence

celebration of the keys

2008-05-10T11:36:00.003-04:00

got the keys to the new house last night!

Plotting plodding through the garden

2008-05-05T22:48:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to make mental maps in my head of how the new yard will look. I think once the hedge comes down and the fence gets moved, it will be easier to figure out. That, and just living there will help too! But I want to make space for veggie beds, patio area, shed for garden tools, doggie green space, plus loads of plants. Not sure where it will all go right now, but I'm sure the plan will materialize.

Bloomins

2008-05-04T18:51:00.003-04:00

Tulips at the Capitol. I get to walk by these every day.

Taube-san

2008-05-03T22:36:00.004-04:00

I spoke to my good friend Taube last night.

She and her husband Julian are living in Japan for a few years, and we were lucky enough to visit them last May for one of my most favorite vacations. I think Taube was a travel agent in a past life, because she plans the best vacations!

One of these days, I'll get around to putting pictures up from that trip, but Taube has some right here since she's not quite as lazy as me!

It's kinda difficult to find the right time to call the other side of the world, but I realized last night that it was the perfect time, and we got to catch up a bit. Hopefully we will be able to visit again next summer, since they are staying another year. Thank god I'll be able to eat ramen again!

Lockers as storage?

2008-05-03T22:23:00.007-04:00

I think that school lockers would make great storage in the house somewhere, although now that Danly will be surrounded by lockers every day at whatever school he works at, I'm not sure he will enjoy seeing "work" furniture at home! Maybe I can convince him!

It pays

2008-05-03T02:00:00.005-04:00

It pays to read assloads of design blogs. How else would I have found out about the Kyoto Art and Antiques Warehouse Sale in Seattle that's only for 10 days, RIGHT NOW!

This is good incentive for me to write my irritating policy brief tomorrow that I have been putting off for 2 1/2 weeks. If I can't finish my report, I can go next weekend to the sale, but it will be the end of the event, and people will be desperate and cranky. I should go this Sunday!

Hurray for Japanese furniture!

Side note - 15 more days till I go home, thank goodness.

Kickin some ass!

2008-04-30T22:52:00.006-04:00

I got a new piece of art in the mail today. The artist is Martha Rich. I'm so excited to get it framed and hang it in my office across from my desk at work! That is until the legislative ethics board, or someone else at the office tells me to take it down! But until then, I will smile up at this ass kickin lady daily!

things to round out the new house

2008-04-30T00:24:00.005-04:00

We close on the house next Friday and I've been interviewing the first round of contractors to do floors, tree removal, etc. But I'm really just making lists in my head of things to plant in the garden and furnish the house. Maybe this shiny new "old" fridge will be added to the list. It would look great in the 40's architecture, say minty green?

or maybe one of these?

or these?

so many options, SMEG, Big Chill or Elmira Stove's Northstar? It will be a while before we do the kitchen, but I can dream!

happy pups

2008-04-28T22:35:00.002-04:00

3 more weeks till I get to be home with the pups! Happy photos will have to do for now.

Hopping Murray

2008-04-21T22:11:00.003-04:00

My two weeks of pet sitting Murray the hopping dog comes to an end tomorrow. I've been watching my co-worker's sweet and funny dog Murray, and living in a bachelor pad for the past couple of weeks. Murray likes to hop up and down when you get home from work, are putting on sweaters or shoes, or anything closely resembling what might turn into a walk. Plus he has an accompanying whine that goes with the hopping. It's pretty funny. He's been letting me give him big hugs and lots of pets, since my mutts are way too far away.

G'bye Murray, and thanks for the love!

one step closer

2008-04-19T16:53:00.003-04:00

They accepted our offer on the house! We have the inspection next week, and if all goes well, we close next month. I'm so excited to be in a new home. Living apart has become a bummer, and after 3-1/2 months we're all sick of it. We can't wait to be done with this phase of life and move back into one household. 4 more weeks to go.

we're almost there, hopefully!

Decisions, decisions

2008-04-11T00:33:00.002-04:00

After finding out that the fireplace "is sinking" in the 60's house and much heated discussion, we've decided to say goodbye to the groovy big house. I'm sad because it's really a great space, and it would have been nice to live in a totally different type of architecture than we've ever lived in. But I think it's the right thing to do. We're going to put in an offer on house #1, which pretty much everyone said we should go with.

Keep your fingers crossed!

house#2-cool 60's house

2008-04-10T01:24:00.008-04:00

here's the 2nd house. It's a big sixties house, one story. a little bit further west than the first house, but it's just a few blocks west from another 60's house we really liked. maybe a half mile or so west of the 40's house. located at 1416 n highland. this one is a bit bigger, about 1800 sf. and the 40's house has been on the market 3 months, this one 4 months. this one just dropped the price. it was 390K and is now listed at 335K, but we may be able to get for even less. this house had great light, a huge old beautiful tree in yard, and with the removal of 2nd garage, and fencing in the area, a huge backyard. it has 3 brs, a huge lr/dr area, really big kitchen with attached rumpus room that needs a new configuration b/c it's just a huge space with fireplace that's odd. need design assistance! but again, this house is move in ready with remodel down the road like #1. oh, and it has central air, even though it's not hot in the NW! again, super close to freeway like last house for commute to work.

this one needs:
new roof at some point-looks about 10 years old
possible new water heater---i saw water below it, not a good sign
new kitchen and rumpus room remodel-70's kitchen, functional now so could move in and figure out space configuration
new master bath-tiny and gross
remove 2nd bath wallpaper and paint. put in new bathroom cabinet.
pull up carpets-perfect wood floors underneath
tear out giant stone fireplace and put up sheetrock or something else b/c it's frightening
tear down detached garage and remove. add fence to that area -this will increase the backyard to make huge and awesome!
at some point put in new windows b/c they are old aluminum frame

front of house

stone floor entry

Living Room-immaculate wood floors under carpet. scary stone fireplace that needs to have stone removed b/c its hideous

Dining room

kitchen and rumpus room

the doorway off the rumpus room leads to a big laundry room. door on right in laundry room goes to the garage. straight ahead in laundry room you get to master bath, then master bedroom. the master bath is gross and tiny, so you could take half the laundry room b/c it's pretty big and make a nice master bath. the garage is huge and houses the furnace and water heater, and could easily hold a bunch of cars/storage.

hallway, bedrooms & 2nd bath--hallway looks a lot longer in photo. it doesn't really have that long hallway feeling, & there's lots of closet storage in the hallway

yard with huge tree, it might be an ancient japanese maple, but i'm not sure

lots of boxwoods to tear out!

2nd garage and concrete to destroy. this will enable us to gain a huge amount of square footage for the yard by fencing in this whole area. more garden!

this garage stays, it's attached to the house, and there's still plenty of room!

house choice #1-cute 40's house

2008-04-10T00:17:00.007-04:00

I've been house hunting and found 2 good options today which can't be more different. I'm stuck. We've looked at a bunch of solid houses from the 40's. they have great circular floor plans, nice sized rooms, lots of windows and good yards. This one has all that, and hasn't been touched, so we'd have to put in the work. It needs:

-master bed & bath to do-it's an attic now
-remove front fence, as it's creepy and unnecessary
-take down back laurel hedge--huge and ugly.
-replace back hedge with fence from front of house--savings!
-plumb attic for bathroom
-redo kitchen and downstairs bath--both are liveable as they were updated in 70s or so. plus kitchen has new appliances, so that's nice
-remove popcorn ceiling
-tear down walls in basement to make a nice big space-none of walls are structural, I don't think
-plant garden!

this one's 295K and is located in a neighborhood we like, close to freeway for work, quiet street
located at 4829 n 8th. it's about 1500-1600 sf house (when attic is finished). yard is 7695 sf. nice and big. gets sun, but is on the north side of street.

front of house w/huge fence that would come down. behind fence is a nice front lawn that faces south, so it would be sunny all day. along side of house, i could plant veggie garden!

LR w/fireplace

dr to the right of LR

enter kitchen from DR. Kitchen has door to backyard

downstairs bedrooms, decent size & bright

steps to attic

attic with unneeded yellow walls, but maybe some structural beams holding up ceiling!

bathroom-forgot to post pic last night

basement with weird interior walls that can be torn down to make one big space. walls are not structural

yard is ginormous, but with big laurel hedge on back that needs to come down!

the fugliest house ever

2008-04-04T23:13:00.004-04:00

I'm house hunting for a new home for me, danly and the mutts. The realtor and I have seen about 50 places already in Tacoma. A few good ones and lots of shit. But this one takes the cake. I swear, it's the most fucked up house I've ever seen, and we've lived in tons of homes, plus looked for 6 months for our first home, so we've seen a lot. The only redeeming thing about this house was the 9,000 sf lot and garden that the house was on. but you'd really have to bulldoze and start over. Not only is this the fugliest ever, it was so damn funny, weird and confusing the realtor and I couldn't stop laughing.

enjoy

granite and coins embedded in the floor!

stained glass window on an inside wall

wood floor installed incorrectly, so it buckled. this was like walking on a carnival ride!

faux-destroyed kitchen island. why faux? just destroy it all!

crazy, rickety, windy, weird staircase. most frightening to walk on!

mr. realtor looking up in disbelief. the support beams are railroad ties, or something like that with electrical conduits, or doo-hickeys sticking out of them. crazy!!!

i didn't bother taking pics of the moldy ceilings, mismatched floors, and huge facade. there was no remnant of the original house, it had so many additions. weird ass home. good luck mr and mrs homeowners!

Sakura Time

2008-04-04T22:06:00.005-04:00

It's cherry blossom season in both Washingtons. I'm in Olympia, so there's cherry blossoms all over the campus. Here's a few outside my office and the House building. They're blooming along with the daffodils all around the capitol. And the tulips are starting to open now. Smells and looks great. Apparently, the legislature gives away tulip bulbs to staff after the season ends. Hurray, this year's are so pretty- a pale yellowy-green. can't wait to plant them in my new garden!

Merry Christmasakkuh

2007-12-24T09:25:00.000-05:00

and a Happy New Year!

you can go home again, and again

2007-12-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

Looks like we're moving back to the NW within less than 2 years of leaving, for the second time! I've gotten a new job, which is great news. It happens to be back in Washington State, and is beyond amusing since we only left a mere 15 months ago! We really weren't planning on leaving DC for a few more years, but this opportunity just came along. We're sad to leave all our new friends, who we had hoped to get to know better. We'll just have to do that from afar!

I'll be working at the state legislative level, so that's exciting for me, since all things political make me happy. Dan and the mutts are going to stay in DC till Dan's done with his semester at MD in May. I'll be able to come back to DC for long weekends and stuff after the session is over mid-March.

And just to add more insanity to our lives, Dan and I just moved to a new house (twice) in the last two weeks. We found what we thought was a great old victorian to rent in Mt. Rainier, MD. After 2 days there, we realized it was a complete disaster, uninhabitable and a total nightmare. We wound up moving again down the street to another great house we had found earlier in November. It's a really nice bungalow, only now I don't get to live in it! But I'm going to unpack it for Danly, so he doesn't have to live among boxes while I'm gone!

Needless to say, this has been quite a ride the past few weeks, but we're looking forward to the next year and adventure.

3 houses in 4 days

2007-11-24T18:37:00.000-05:00

Well, we are in our new house, but it's not the one we thought we'd be in. We moved Sunday and Monday into this giant old victorian that was getting remodeled. The remodel didn't go so well, to put it mildly. Tons of things were wrong with the house; broken furnace, old rusty pipes, leaky pipes, leaky toilet, carbon monoxide leaking from furnace. windows installed wrong, fucked up kitchen cabinets, and polyurethane reeking smell from everywhere!

We stayed 2 nights, one without heat because the furnace repair men said the furnace wasn't safe. We spent 2 days dealing with 6 sets of repair men, and by that time we decided that we didn't want to live in someone else's money pit. We called another place that we had seen a month ago that we really wanted, and it was still available. So we moved into a cute bungalow on Wednesday and Thursday. We were able to get out of our lease no problem at the money pit, and are trying to figure out how to get all of our money back from the first house.

We're almost done dealing with the moving hell of 2007, thank goodness. But the new house is great, we love the neighborhood, and the dogs have a great big yard to run around in!

new art for the new house

2007-11-12T14:11:00.001-05:00

Even though I'm in the midst of packing and thoroughly unmotivated to box up all our wares, I purchased some inspiration to get me through the next week. My sis turned me on to all these design blogs on the interwebs, and I found this great poster from WWII (I think) in England, for sale from one blogger/designer in SF. Not sure where it will live in the new digs, but it will most definitely make me smile every time I see it.

first freeze

2007-11-07T07:19:00.000-05:00

It's supposed to freeze tonight, so I have to drag all the plants in after work so they don't croak. Good thing we have lots of surface area with all the boxes around the house from packing up for our new digs.

Approaching Halloween in Rock Creek Park

2007-10-28T16:07:00.001-04:00

Hillary O'Lantern

O&G in the woods

Farmer's Market harvest

2007-10-28T11:59:00.001-04:00

Fall bounty at Dupont Farmer's Market. Hopefully next year, we'll have our own backyard bounty again!

cheddar cauliflower and pumpkins

pretty colors in fruit and flower

uptight grocer!

Seeing Double

2007-10-27T18:48:00.001-04:00

Dan's sister Anne had twins two weeks ago. Everyone is happy healthy and very cute. Jackson and Sarah for all to admire.

still martha after all these years

2007-10-27T16:37:00.000-04:00

went to lowe's this morning to pick out paint for our new house. We couldn't go totally upscale this time, since it's not on our dime, but we were nevertheless determined to find some nice colors for the house. Oh, and most importantly, the contractors are painting, not us! Hurray. The colors we found at Home Depot last week were too bright and reminiscent of our old house in Seattle, and I just wasn't feeling it. I remembered when we were living in Minneapolis 10 years ago the Martha paints at KMart rocked, and were super cheap prices for good quality paint. Well Martha and KMart are no more, and I had long since upgraded to Benjamin Moore. But I discovered Martha's new paints at Lowe's, so off we went. We will now have a house covered in silly named colors like "Flying Jib," "Tin Pail" "Andiron" and "Birds Nest." Can't wait

Hopefully they look awesome, and the silly names will fade away into the night!

on the move

2007-10-21T20:19:00.000-04:00

We're moving to Mt. Rainier next month. No, not that Mt. Rainier, this one. We love our current neighborhood, but it's really hard to find what we want in Mt. Pleasant, so we're moving on.

We found a great, big, old east coast Victorian house, with a sunny yard for the dogs and the garden. Since we only got 2 or 3 tomatoes all summer long, it's definitely tine for a sunnier yard. Mt Rainier is a few blocks over the city line in MD, so we get to vote again and have federal representation, which makes us ecstatic. And we get to live in a town that was founded by Washingtonians, so that makes us feel a little bit closer to Seattle. Plus, you don't get to live in a town famous for the Exorcist every day!

We're packing up and moving next month, but now we're helping our new landlord decide where to put walls and what colors to paint the house. He's totally remodeling the place, so we get to move into a brand, spanking newly renovated place. We'll have lots more room, and a good yard for the mutts and garden. I get to grow seeds in the basement all winter, and can't wait!

pictures soon.

sacrilege

2007-10-18T07:20:00.001-04:00

it's october 18 and we have the air conditioner on! I'm outraged!

islands in the stream

2007-10-04T14:08:00.000-04:00

I've decided that fake celebrity sitings are just as much fun as seeing the real thing. It's especially fun after a few pints of beer in the middle of a Saturday in NYC. We saw fake Kenny Rogers in NY recently. Now it was hard to tell him from the real thing because Kenny Rogers has had so much fucking plastic surgery, I could barely recognize him on American Idol last season. That's right, he made the rounds of shameful Idol self promotion. I guess he's gotta pay the bills. Anyway, this guy really looked like the new and shiny Kenny Rogers, not the old sexy one from the 70's singing duets with Dolly and everyone else.

Chelsea flea market finds

2007-09-28T11:14:00.000-04:00

Danly and I went to NYC a few weekends ago to get out of town and see friends. Sunday morning we went to the Chelsea Flea Market, where the people watching was amazing, and the stuff for sale was pretty good too. Since I couldn't get sneaky pics of all the characters at the market, here's some shots of the cool stuff for sale.

pretty pretty signs

2007-09-23T21:53:00.000-04:00

cool signs I took shots of in San Pedro. As I was taking these photos, I realized that I have been taking pics of signs everywhere I go for years. Have to find them all and do a comparison. San Pedro still has an abundance of groovy 50's signs, which makes for lots of fun. Here's a sampling.

pretty garden in long beach. i love how this gardener combined bright plastic flowers throughout the real garden plants. so bright and cheery!

nice neon bar signs

Oh My God...I Think I Just Blogged!

2007-09-17T20:27:00.001-04:00

Now that Naomi's put a picture of gnomes on the blog...I guess it's time for me to chime in. Danno here, btw, coming to you straight from Chocolate City. I have to say that I have mixed emotions about blogging. Part of me thinks they're great, part of me thinks they can get self-indulgent...which is at odds with my protestant family history. So, if I ever start reading like an Andy Rooney piece on 60 minutes, please...you have my permission to whack me.

Ok...that's out of the way. I'm sitting here in DC, in graduate school, I'm pushing 40, my dogs are just as neurotic as me, my sister's about to drop twins...wow...how did that happen? Sometimes I look around and realize a lot has happened in the last year.

I'm in grad school. Me... When I graduated from college way back when, that was it, baby. I was done! Things change, I guess, cuz not only am I in grad school...I'm getting a Masters in Special Ed. Yes, you read correctly, Special Ed. Basically I thought general ed. would be to EASY...yeah...that's it. too EASY. I went to a grad school fair about a year ago, met a woman from the University Maryland Special Education department...talked with her, set up an appointment, met a couple professors...started applying and what do you know--they accepted me! I gotta give some props to my buddy Bruce at this point. He was the person who kept telling me to stop THINKING about all this and just do it. His help was invaluable to me, and I owe him big time. More on that later. So, now I'm in school, careening towards a teaching career...go figure. It's great and I love it, stress and all.

I know Naomi's already mentioned our feelings about DC, but let me just add a couple of things. First of all, it's a beautiful city. The neighborhoods, the architecture, all the monuments, parks...it's a pretty place. Having said that, there is something weird about it. I know we'll probably go on and on about this as we post more, adding our latest theories as to the weirdness of DC. Here's tonight's installment. As I was walking the dogs tonight, it suddenly occurred to me that this city is full of people who's lives are somewhere else. They are here for their stint in DC, doing whatever work they're doing, but they don't bring their lives here. It's like they've put huge parts of lives on hold, or they're keeping them going in the city they came from, and probably will return to. It makes for an interesting community dynamic to say the least. You've got this huge part of the city that doesn't invest in the city they live in, and another huge part of the population here, who have built community and lives here, who don't have the resources or municipal infrastructure, or representation to invest in the city the ways they'd probably like to. We've all heard about the schools, the crime, the poverty, the racism, the plantation mentality of our capital city. The amazing thing to me is that all that's going on while money is simultaneously floating all around this town. Someone told me the other day that something like 3 of the 10 richest counties in the US are in the DC metro area. But in the actual city, there's more people living poverty than I've ever seen before. By far. It's interesting that I'm learning all the nuts and bolts of No Child Left Behind. It seems to me that the first child left behind was, and continues to be, Washington DC.

How's that for a first posting! Sheesh--I guess that Andy Rooney reference didn't take long to materialize! Didn't mean to get so damn serious there...quick---LOOK AT THE GNOMES!! happy happy gnomes.

I'll sign off on a lighter note, really. We going up to NYC this weekend to hang out with buddies and go to the San Gennaro Festival!! Woo hoo! Man I'm going to eat my way through Little Italy! I'll be sure to eat a cannoli for y'all! Maybe I'll get a tattoo! What?

Stay tuned!

Dan(OhMy!)

Gnomes run wild in Long Beach

2007-09-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

in Long Beach for work this week and was doing a little investigating on the internets, in case I have a free moment to explore. Holy cupcakes, Batman, look what's going on down here in SoCal!

ramen and chuhai make the world go 'round

2007-08-29T23:17:00.000-04:00

I heart Vancouver. I'm here this week for work, but my mind is really only on one thing - my next meal! Vancouver has always been a place that I love, but since traveling to Japan this year, I can truly appreciate this city. They have Chuhai! my favorite beverage of choice in Japan.

Chuhai is barley or potato booze mixed with juice and it's the most heavenly concoction i've ever head, although they are a bit like wine coolers for grownups. Plus no hangovers, and you can get it in a 40 oz. can from the vending machine across from my friends' apartment in Himeji! Can't get much better than that.

Anyway, I digress. In between working and sleeping, I've managed to wander around town in the beautiful pacific nw summer weather, sit by the water at Stanley Park, and pig out! My sweet friends drove up from Seattle to meet me at Kintaro Ramen on Sunday for a hot steaming bowl of soup. The miso ramen tastes like Japan. I ordered a different kind on Sunday that didn't quite live up to Japan ramen, so of course I had to go back on my last night here and order some. It was delicious!

Also on my gorging spree was a stop at Gyoza King, a great place where I found the chu-hi. Sort of like a mellow izakaya, lots to choose from on the menu. I was all set to go back to the Gyoza King my last night here to have a final chuhai, but they were closed, no dishwasher. I was sad for a moment, then promptly walked around the corner to have more ramen. I immediately got over the chuhai.

I stumbled upon good coffee during the week, too, at a downtown cafe near my hotel. Even though I gave up coffee years ago, something beckoned me to try it here, and it was great. Had to go back the next day for more!

Lastly, I had read a bunch of reviews of Phnom Penh, a Vietnamese-Cambodian restaurant that both Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain have given high marks. I had to find this place. I walked through Chinatown, kind of like the Tenderloin on steroids, to find the place and it was great. I went early, so no line, thank goodness. I ordered the requisite fried chicken wings, as was instructed by the 1000's of reviewers. Salty, crunchy and great. And this amazing lemony dipping sauce. Every table in the place had a plate of wings on the table. I also got some dried nooodles w/meat, veggies and broth. Good, but not as great as everyone said, and the wings were soo much better. I thought I was being gluttonous ordering 2 dishes, but the teeny hip couple next to me had five different plates of food/soup on their table, so I didn't feel so piggy in comparison!

On my walk home I found this roosteria, a rooster store! how fantastic. it was really just a poultry butcher, but how great if all they sold were roosters!

Next to the roosteria I found a chinese herbal medicine shop.
I wonder what the kangaroo essence is for?

Another excellent trip to Vancouver, thanks to a work trip. And oh, I got a bunch of good work done too!

hot jesus for my sister

2007-08-28T22:59:00.000-04:00

I'm in Vancouver this week for work, and as I'm having breakfast at a cafe this morning, I pick up the Georgia Straight, the local weekly. I find a story about hot jesus, and almost spit my coffee out in hysterical laughter. My sister is obsessed with hot jesus. My poor jewish grandmother is probably rolling over in her grave. I don't know why, but my sis already had this fetish before we watched Jesus Christ Superstar for our short lived "musical nights." You can't tell from the movie poster, but Jesus has a lazy eye and is not really hot!

Anyway, maybe you need to go to Copenhagen, Michelle, to see the hot jesus statue that the ex-Mormon writer was lusting over on his recent trip!

homecoming 2007

2007-08-28T22:07:00.001-04:00

Danly and I made our first trip back to Seattle a couple of weeks ago since we moved last August. We had a great time, saw lots of friends and family and pigged out! It was wonderful to see as many friends and family as possible, but inevitably we weren't able to see quite everyone. Till next time. Anyway, here's a few pics from the trip. Just note the blurry ones are all Loren's fault, as he plied us with god-awful grain alcohol cocktails. I of course managed to drink several of these. Unfortunately no pics from the second party of the night because we could barely function!

Clean Michelle House. Compliment her on how clean it looks as it may never happen again!

Mom admiring the fountain in the Belltown Pea Patch Garden

I took my mom here after we went to the new SAM Sculpture Garden. Go visit the sculpture garden if you haven't been yet. And the pea patch is great too! one of the nicest in town.

Kei and Ed's new-to-me sister. Such a sweet pic I had to share

Danly cracking up at something Uncle Giles said, as usual

I don't know what Carol's eating, but she's sure making it look tasty!

Here I am on my way to being a loud drunken mess at party #2, Rosemary's 40th. And I'm with Uncle Loren, the man who poured all that heinous liquor down my throat. Marisol, where are you when we need you?

Me and Bryn reuniting as Seattle ex-pats. Dan's hand is getting less steady with that camera as the night goes on!

Loren looking amazingly fuzzy - drunk camera taking at its finest!

Valerie and David's wedding. The Seattle gods smiled on your wedding day, stopping the rain with 2 hours to spare! It was a beautiful event.

don't go chasing waterfalls

2007-08-26T20:19:00.000-04:00

I got into the taxi at the Vancouver airport today and my cab driver changed the radio station right away. Waterfalls was playing and I couldn't get the image of drunk Danly doing a stellar impersonation of TLC out of my head. Next time you see Danly, maybe you too can ply him with liquor and get a glimpse of this beautiful rendition!

Thanks Mr. Cabbie for a great ride into Vancouver

pretty fleurs in the neighborhood

2007-08-22T20:40:00.000-04:00

the gardens aren't as lush as what we're used to back in the NW, where's it's garden paradise, but there's lots of nice things to see in our neighborhood. of course, most of it's fried now, but it was pretty for months on end!
I walk by these sunflowers and hibiscus plants every day on my way to work. they look great together, and i've never seen hibiscus plants so huge. i ran out and bought 2 after weeks of staring at them.

the elephant in the garden is great too, i love the spikes. and there's lilies all around him.

these pink roses are everywhere in town. they're the most luminescent roses i've ever seen. they practically glow!

crapemyrtles are all over town and are bright pink in the park by our house. we walk by them on the way to the dog park.

black eyed susans everywhere are minis, so small and cute and they just float in the air!

on the road again

2007-08-22T18:26:00.001-04:00

Been out of commission this month. I've been traveling lots for work, and dan's learning statistics! We just got back from vacation in Seattle. It was great to be home with friends and family. Things should go back to some semblance of a normal routine around here in a few more weeks

garden butcher

2007-08-04T14:50:00.000-04:00

I had to hack down one of my hydrangeas today. It was really hard to do, because the blooms were so big and white and fluffy on my annabelle! Here's what it should have looked like. Instead, after a couple of weeks of really nice blooms, the leaves started dropping, losing the pigment and a downy white web covered everything. i can't seem to find my plant pests books to look this up, and I didn't want whatever evil garden pest this was to jump to my super happy oak leaf hydrangea right next to it. So now, my annabelle is going to be all stumpy till next season. so sad!

street art

2007-07-28T18:54:00.000-04:00

i went for a walk in the neighborhood today to do some window shopping and i noticed these signs hanging on different doors - for several blocks in a row. random art in the neighborhood is always good!

synchronicity

2007-07-24T22:02:00.000-04:00

I work around the corner from the place that started my career, CCNV. It was, at the time, the largest homeless shelter in the country. CCNV is an old federal building and is a city block long.

A few months after I got to town I was walking down the street with a co-worker and walked by a big building that happened to be a homeless shelter. We came upon the building from the side, so I didn’t notice what it was right away. But I got that tingly synchronicity feeling and I knew something special was right around the corner. I peeked around the corner and asked my friend what this place was. When he told me it was CCNV, I was amazed. So many years later and I’m working steps away from the place that sparked my spark, inspired me to start a career. Synchronicity! Here’s hoping DC can spark my spark once again.

initial observations on DC

2007-07-21T20:34:00.000-04:00

-you have to keep your legs shaved and toenails painted year-round here!
-bug spray makes a wonderful summer perfume
-rats are not afraid of dc residents
-it's nice to be dry in the winter, instead of soggy like in Seattle
-But being soggy in the summer from humidity sucks so much more

new blog

2007-07-21T18:06:00.000-04:00

we've been talking starting about a blog since we moved from Seattle to DC last summer. It's finally here! We survived the sale of our home, road trip across the country with the mutts in August and setting up a new home at the hottest point in the year here in Washington. I still have the same job that brought us here and Dan is a student again! Once I figure out how to post photos to this thing, I'll have something interesting to say.