a mish-mash of sorts

It's raining like crazy and has been for days and days...Makes me miss this Mexican sunset we saw just a few weeks ago. :) We had so much fun on our relaxing honeymoon and are going on vacation AGAIN in 2 weeks! This time it's London and will probably be the opposite of our Mexico trip (little to no sunshine, lots and lots to do, not nearly as good food, no swimming pool) but still very fun. I am going crazy trying to figure out what to do and where it all is. There are so many cities with stupid long names and so many things to see! It's going to be awesome though.

Nathan has to work in London for the first week but my parents are flying in the same day as us so I will hang out with them while Nathan works. Then we head over to Glasgow where we meet Nathan's mom and sister (his sister goes to grad school in Scotland) to see that area. Nathan meets up with us in Edinburgh after his week of work and we keep traveling from there to Cotswolds and back to London and possibly Bath (and all kinds of little places in between- this is the very shortened version). Can't wait!

Nathan is in Australia right now. I didn't end up getting to go with because the trip was cancelled, rescheduled, cancelled and then rescheduled again and by then it was too late for me to jump on, not to mention he is only there for about 5 days and I would not see him at ALL. Not exactly how I wanted to see Australia so I will wait until next time (which there will most likely be every year). While he's gone I have a list of things I want to do around the house, one may involve painting - without him. Eeek. I need to do a second coat in the office/guest room and have been putting it off for too long. Chad is also going to be here for his spring break next week and I think he is at our house Tuesday and Wednesday. He wants a pedicure and I am happy to join! I might take a day off while he's here. I was supposed to have last Monday off (I am only paid for something like 172 days a year, 12 being in the summer so I have to take days off during the school year to make sure I don't work extra...which of course never seems to work that way and I end up working and not getting paid...but such is the nature of my career) but it was too busy for me to be gone. So maybe I'll take it this week.

I signed up to take an 8 week workshop to become a doula! I am super excited about it. I need to shake things up a little job-wise so this is definitely an exciting way to do it. Eventually I will probably just be a independent doula for hire so I can work as much or as little as I choose. Even doing a couple births a year would be awesome...My dream would be to be a doula for low income women. It's not ususally something they can have since not a lot of insurances cover doulas so people pay out of pocket. The fee can be expensive so I would offer a sliding fee or a much lower one that allows all women to have someone there to support them through their pregnancy, labor and after baby's born. Classes start March 22 and it's a small group of 10 or less women led by a really cool lady. I cannot wait!

I should probably write in here a little more so every entry doesn't become such a mish-mash like this one. I really want to get our website up and running so we have a much more fun and exciting blog. I'll have to talk about my computer geek.

trimmed

Our trim is being painted right now! When we bought our house we (I) had big DIY dreams of turning it into our special place. Painting, sanding, remodeling, decorating and making it our own were always on the docket.
Recently we tried to tackle one of those dreams and were quickly reminded that perhaps we aren't the greatest do-it-yourselfers after all, at least when it comes to painting trim. You see, I don't really have what they call a steady hand. I unfortunately did not inherit the left-handed artist gene that seems to have stopped with my dad...and therefore most things that involve straight lines (cutting, driving, painting, etc.) do not exactly come naturally to me. I have no problem accepting them as they are but when it comes to hundreds of feet of trim in a house that we will someday have to actually make presentable enough to sell to the next guy...well...then it matters.

And since the white trim my mostly only my dream...my hubby (with a somewhat steady hand but more importantly a resume that boasts a stint in the paint section at Home Depot) was none to thrilled to do it all himself. And do we blame him? No, not really. But, ever the sweetheart (or just lacking the guts to tell me no), he pushed our cart through Lowe's as I loaded it with primer, paint, rollers, sawhorses and crowbars (the reason for these will soon become apparent). $101.65 later we were on our way to live out his personal definition of hell on earth. Oh, did I forget to tell you he hates painting? Because he does. And did I forget to tell you we had just been at Lowe's the day before to purchase the third gallon of paint for the guest room because I still can't decide what color I like? Because yeah, we did that.

So, back home, hubby is convinced we can't paint the trim without removing it (the whole steady hand thing). We set up the sawhorses in the garage and after watching You-Tube videos about how to safely remove trim without breaking it, he got to work while I stood by (of course this is not the best arrangement but there wasn't a whole lot I could do at this point). 4 pieces in (which took foreverrrr, involved lots of grunting and frustration and seemed to make happy hubby into grumpy Gus), one large piece began to crack and wouldn't come off. At all. We began to realize that there was no way we could get a whole house-full of trim off without ruining both it and our marriage.

We sat on the floor and he admitted that he really doesn't want to paint all the trim nor does he know how and would be so much happier hiring someone else to do it. Not one to argue with the truth, I agreed. Luckily Nathan has a friend who owns a paint company so one quick call to him and Phinney Ridge Painters were scheduled to come out with an estimate in the coming weeks.

Until then, the guest room remained untouched, 4 pieces of trim laying on the floor, the bed and desk in disarray after being moved in order to fit into the small corners of the room and the walls empty of any hangings due to our paint the night before. We shut the door and without saying it, seemed to agree that it would be best we not revisit that near-disaster for a couple days.

Fast forward to Monday, we were given the estimate at a deep [friend] discount and it was decided that we would begin with the bottom floor of the house and see how far the painters could get in two days. We set a limit for ourselves and agreed that this would be phase one (the living area), phase two (the bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs) could come later after we've traveled a few of the trips set to happen this spring.

The exciting thing is it's HAPPENING! Our house, built only a few years ago, has been looked sadly dated due to its drab wooden trim. This little update is sure to bring much needed cheer to our happy home.

Not to mention we have to buckle down and start project #2: painting the kitchen cabinets white! Maybe we should go in for a few sessions of marital counseling before tackling that one though? Just brush up on loving one another through our least favorite projects maybe...I think I need to pack my vocabulary with the most encouraging of phrases so my sweet hubby will only be a little angry when I ask him to paint a few more straight lines for me:)

happy new year!

2011 has begun! Above is a picture of us with friends on New Year's Eve in Vegas. We spent four days there and had a great time.

It is no question that 2010 has been an amazing whirlwind of a year. I have been looking forward to its re-cap for months as it was a year marked by three major events:

At the start of the year, we decided we were ready to become homeowners. For five months we made lists of our wants and needs, visited potential homes on the weekends, dreamed of the perfect location for our Christmas tree, furniture and dog door in every house we saw while riding the homebuying roller coaster. We made numerous offers, waited with bated breath for answers and heard more bad news than we thought we could handle. Finally on May 24, 2010, we closed on a home, our home.

2010 also was a hard year at work. As the stress and unhappiness boiled into my relationship and home life, my search for a new job became a more serious one. In April I was contacted by a school district for an intensive round of 3 different interviews for a position as a social worker. I was excited about the possibility for something new but even more I felt like I was finally being recognized by a staff who would value me. I was offered a position and began in May. While the job has been a challenge, it is a good one and I do sincerely enjoy the change of pace (and the amazing schedule).

Most importantly, 2010 was marked by love, joy and excitement. We began the year in full-on wedding planning mode - both Nathan and me and our entire families. For 8 months we all rallied around the details of caterers, DJs, flowers, invitations, chairs, tables, decorations and preparing my parent's lake house for blue and yellow love.
On August 7, 2010, we threw the biggest and best party of our lives. I truly married my best friend. Surrounded by 200 of our closest friends and the family with the sun beating down and the lake sparkling in the background, we made promises that now hang on the wall in our bedroom, reminding us daily of the commitment we made to take care of one another, forever. The day was perfect and our joy was punctuated by fireworks, dancing, laughing and so much love. We spend two wonderful weeks in Montana reliving the moments and enjoying the calm after the storm.

For this one reason, I will never forget 2010 and still often finding myself thinking upon the moments of our rehearsal dinner, our wedding and our morning-after brunch and crying with happiness. Every second of each of those days makes my heart tingle. I never want to forget the way I felt, the way it looked, seeing my husband for the first time as he pulled up in the boat, standing up with 12 of our friends circled around us, looking out upon 200 smiling faces, dancing until the music died, laughing, hugging, holding...
After nearly everyone had left for the night, Nathan and I found our parents huddled in a circle, smiling and already talking about the details we had accomplished. We all hugged and high-fived. "We did a good job," someone said. And we knew we did. we threw a good party, we wrote good vows, we picked our best match and even more, 20+ years ago, our parents met one another and raised us to eventually fall in love. It was good.

The forecast for 2011 is travel, and lots of it. We will go on a ski mountain getaway at White Pass, travel to Mexico for our honeymoon, visit Montana and Wyoming, use a wedding gift certicate we got to cozy little Winthrop, WA and go on 3 seperate trips to Australia, London and then Toronto, Canada. It's going to be good!

Happy New Year to you!

merry & bright

Christmas always goes by waay too quickly. Usually a few days before the actual day I start to realize it's almost over and wish I would have done more: decorated more cookies, given more presents, stayed home longer, put up more decorations, made homemade eggnog, listened to more Christmas carols, hung more garland...All the things I did but not enough. I always find myself thinking, "Next year, I want to..." There's just so much that comes with the holiday, with this time of year. I love every part of it and the warm cozy carefree feelings that tend to follow.

We had a really really great Christmas. Wintery white Christmas in Montana is way too good and I'm thinking it's going to be a very long time before we end the tradition of traveling over to celebrate. We both sat at the table eating dinner tonight and agreed we wished we were still there. We couldn't have stayed longer than the 8 days because Nathan needed to get back to work and really I think it was the perfect amount of time where we didn't wear out our welcome (I think) or get tired of being there.

Now we are preparing for our New Year's trip to Vegas. We are going with 3 other couples on Thursday night. I haven't been to Vegas since I was 16 so I'm thinking this trip will be a bit different than a visit to the M&M factory. It should be a good time I'm sure. I have the week off since I work at a school so I am cleaning up the aftermath of our overly stuffed car, doing laundry and reading for pleasure.

flossing

Tonight I am going to try my hand at homemade caramels-Apple Cider ones to be exact. I am slowly but surely working on becoming a good (key word here...I can cook and bake but I want to be GOOD) cook and baker. Every so often I try a recipe that doesn't turn out so great and I am thankful for my good-natured taste-testing hubby who never complains. Unfortunately I ruined the pecan pie at Thanksgiving and that was a big letdown...I know, that's one that is very basic and shouldn't be so hard, especially since I topped that with an amazing white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake with gingerbread crust...But something went wrong. My goal is a redeeming Christmas pecan pie.

Speaking of all this baking and sweet eating, we had dentist appointments today. The running joke is always that Nathan, when we started dating, had not been to the dentist in like 3 years. I encouraged him to go, both of us expecting many many cavities after years of poor dental health. Surprisingly, he left with NO cavities and the dentist even said his teeth looked great. I left with THREE cavities (my first ever) and got a serious lecture about taking better care of my teeth - even though I had been practicing regular check-ups, brushing regularly and even flossing. Ugh. Nathan has some amazingly perfect spaces between his teeth that make flossing nearly unncessary. I hate it. So today we went to the dentist - he still doesn't floss and still often forgets to brush his teeth - and the dental hygienist not only told him his teeth looked great but that she could tell he had been flossing...and he lied and said he does! What a turd. Luckily the dentist finally (after two years of us going there) also told me that my teeth look good. Sheesh. I have been flossing like crazy.

Tomorrow we are going to get massages! So excited. We are also getting our Christmas tree and making a final decision about whether or not we'll put lights on our house. We only have a couple weeks to enjoy them before we leave for Montana so we need to decide if it's worth it. The neighbors have some simple icicle lights that look adorable with the high peaks of our roofs so we might be easily sold on them. It'd be a loss to not decorate our first home!

snow day(s)

Today was a snow day. Tomorrow is a snow day. There is about 2 inches of snow on the ground. I guess they should call it an "ice day" here because that's really more the issue. When the streets freeze people get really dumb...not to mention much of the Seattle area is on hills so there is a lot of sliding all over the place and hitting other cars, light posts, etc. Truthfully though, the area where we live and the radius in which my school district sits is just fine. Canceling school was probably not necessary at all. But I must remember we aren't in Montana anymore Toto.

Of course I won't complain about a snow day, especially right before Thanksgiving! I worked one day this week and will get paid for the whole week. But I had every intention of returning to work Tuesday which meant I left a to-do list of things to do, thinking I'd have until Wednesday to take care of them. One of them was getting winter clothes for a family...it worries me that I can't take care of that until next week. I know they'll be okay but I just hate knowing the amount of time that will lapse in between now and then. I also have stats to turn in and brought my computer home to do them yet I can't access my files without being connected to the school's server. I am literally driving to my high school tomorrow and parking in the parking lot to try and pick up the wi-fi just long enough to save my file and go home to finish the stats. If anyone is there I will go in but otherwise the building will be locked and there's no way I am going to try and turn off the huge alarm system without the police coming.

Beyond that I have some baking to do. I ordered a Strawberry Rhubarb pie from a delicious bakery but I am going to make the other two pies: Pecan Pie (Nathan's favorite and the only pie he ever requests) and White Chocolate Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie (with a gingersnap crust...yeah, yum). I also want to make some homemade granola and pumpkin streusel bread. Oh and a french toast casserole for one of these mornings. And chili for tomorrow night. So maybe a day off is helpful. We are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time so there is much to be done but it should be really fun.

I am watching tons of Black Friday specials appear each day...I want so badly to take advantage of ALL of them. I have never actually been in a place with good shopping on Black Friday, I've always been in Montana. Not to mention the cyber shopping is the best I've ever seen it this year. Probably not so good for my shopping addiction but oh it's fun to look.

montana

Recently Nathan called me on his way home from a rough day at work. He was stressed and wondered outloud if moving to Montana would make life easier. Of course there is a little part of me that thinks everything is easier in the mountains of Montana but if we realistically think about moving back, it won't be all sunshine and rainbows.

The thing about Montana is that it's our refuge, our safe place, our vacation spot, our HOME. And going home always feels good. But that's the thing, if we move back permanently, will it still feel as great as it does when we visit 4-5 times a year?

Moving back is always a constant theme around here so I apologize for a topic that has already been discussed, it's just something that we always have in the back of our minds. Like a dream that always runs through our heads, makes us feel warm and cozy but never really comes to fruition. Someday we will move back, there's no question. But we just have to be real with ourselves about the big changes that come with it and whether or not we're ready for them yet.

Seattle is definitely growing on me. I love the culture, I love having a million places to eat, I love the diversity of people, architecture, desinations, things to do, etc. I love how green it is here. But as I was reading the online version of 406 Woman I saw a lot of smiling happy faces, ads for new businesses and pictures of wide open spaces...and Montana looked pretty darn good too. In 2010 we will have gone back to Montana almost 10 times I think. If we keep that up, it's not so bad to live over here and get to travel back and forth often.

ANYWAY!
Nathan leaves for London in a few hours. He is going to get to see his sister for a few days too, so that will be really nice for both of them. She requested Wheat Thins and some face product stuff so I made sure his suitcase has those key items. I wish I could go but it makes me very excited for my turn in April. I already found a cupcake bakery that will be my first stop in London. Priorities.