Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Dinner:  An orange, frozen watermelon and splash of apple juice.

FYI:  It tasted like I imagine heaven does, if heaven has a taste.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I do love that Daijo...

And I love that he let me catch this beautiful portrait pose:

Of course, seconds later, he adjusted and threw me one of his goofy smiles, and I just have to include that shot as well:

Monday, July 25, 2011

There's this plant that is growing in our neighbor's yard and it's slowly, little by little, taking over our driveway.  If this plant had a brain, I'm convinced that it would be rubbing it's little leaves together maliciously, thinking that we'll never notice its total domination as long as it moves slowly. (Insert evil laugh here)

Everyday this rogue branch thwacks me in the face when I'm getting in and out of my car.  Even if I try to park away from it, somehow, I just keep managing to walk right into it.  (Obviously, the plant is somehow luring me into its clutches)  I have no idea what type of a plant it is.  I'm sure it's something incredibly common and everyone who sees the picture will know instantly and scoff quietly at my ignorance.  And I'm okay with that, because gardening is so not my forte.

Anyhow, today as I was battling the offending branch, I actually took a minute to notice the really rich color and some of the delicate details of the flowers.  It must look that way to draw people close to it so it can more easily whack them upside their heads....

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Woo Hoo!  One-of-a-kind customized wedding bands, here we come!!!!

Friday, July 22, 2011

With 3 nieces already on Brian's side of the family and my sister expecting a little girl in October, one little girl project automatically turns into 4.

I'm a little bummed I didn't take a picture of Quilt #1, but #2 is finally done! (And yes, I'm well aware that it looks like the color pink puked on this quilt.  Anyone who knows Emma will know that's exactly how everything in the world should look)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Admittedly, I love to get caught up in the magic of children's book.  (Sometimes I wonder if I missed my calling as a children's librarian)  These books have been a bit of an obsession recently.  Of course, they're a little different now than they were when I read them years ago.  Now, I polish off one a night. 
It's kind of amusing to think of Roald Dahl books as the nightcap of my evening :)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Flying to Atlanta isn't always bad.  Sometimes, I look out the window during the flight and things just fall into perspective...

Monday, July 18, 2011

After two days of swimming out in Edmonds, it was time to deal with the stinkiness of our boys.  Brian and I popped in a movie last night, each grabbed a pup and went to town combing them out.  All the swimming over the weekend really worked in our favor (we made a mental note to remember that for future "groomings").  Then both of the boys got baths.  It's funny how I always forget how pretty they are when they're clean :)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

A long day, a craving for nachos and a trip to the grocery store filled our evening with this:

Happy weekend :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Got a chance to spend a few minutes at Bite of Seattle and instantly ran into the Dock Dogs Competition.
It rocked.

I definitely had to think about the potential of my boys competing in things like this.  Then, I had visions of Daijo leaping in with all his might, but then not releasing the throw toy, because he'd rather play with it.  And Venn, running full power to the edge of the ramp and then skidding to a halt - staring at us with utter indignation because we expected him to leap off of a perfectly solid ground into the unknown.

Yeah.  Not so much.

Anyhow, I also got to spend time with Melisa and her little guy :)

I think it's safe to say that I needed this break from my normal programming.  :)

Friday, July 15, 2011...take 2

I'm sharing this just because I can.

I just took all of our wedding invitations to the post office.  That is a major victory for this household.

Of course, I should probably keep some perspective here.  Those were just for the Minneapolis celebration.  I haven't even started on the invites for the Seattle Reception.  Ah well.  For today, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that this part is done!  Woo Hoo!

Friday, July 15, 2011

The brooch bouquet is finally finished!!!  I've been at a loss for how to cover the base of the thing.  I couldn't get anything to look right.  After several different attempts, and stretching the limits of my creative abilities, I finally came up with this:

This is kind of a bad example because it isn't showing perspective.  In reality, it's not like anyone is even going to see it, because it's practically hidden when the thing is upright, but I wanted to have a finished product, and one that hid all the wires and mess on the underbelly of this.  Now, I do, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I snapped a couple blackberry shots of the Daijo-nator this weekend while we were hanging out in the backyard.

Then, I thought it might be fun if he and I posed for a shot together...he had other plans.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

It occurred to me today that Copper River Salmon season is over. That's kind of sad.

At least I got to enjoy it while it lasted....

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The wild kingdom display outside my office window yesterday....

The dogs came inside for a nap and all the birds in the neighborhood came over for a party.  I had no idea we had this many woodpeckers that played in our yard.  (I also had no idea how gross and dirty my office window was...ewwww)

Monday, July 11, 2011

This is the reason those prepare-for-the-wedding pounds won't come off.  Not only does my favorite bar in Seattle allow both of my pups to come inside and join us for dinner, but they also serve killer burgers like this.  Oh my....

Sunday, July 10, 2011

We began our Sunday with an outing to a new dog park bright and early before the crowds came and took away all the fun :).  So, with coffee in hand, we pretty much had the beach almost to ourselves with a killer view of the mountains in the background.  Not a bad way to start the day.

Love the matching floppy ears...

Check out Daijo's expression in this one :)

Much fun was had by all.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Ahhh....Saturday.  We started our Saturday bright and early.  Brian had arranged to meet some folks from work at the Arboretum for a guided tour, and I decided to invite myself along.  Although I didn't join them for the tour, I heard it was amazing.  Because I had never been there before, I wanted to do a little exploring, and I was kind of relishing the idea of wondering around in the woods (albeit on huge, manicured paths) by myself for the morning.  After a little chat with the very nice woman at the visitors center, I took off.  It was delightful.  There was hardly anyone there, and I was pretty impressed with the grounds.My camera and I had a lot of fun :)

I also went to the Japanese Gardens on the far end of the Arboretum.  They were gorgeous...so tranquil.

Once we got done at the Arboretum, we took a drive over toe Alki Beach in West Seattle.  It's Seafair season and Saturday was the big "pirate's landing."  If you look closely, you can see that almost all of the boats directly off the beach were covered in pirates.

The Coast Guard sent out one of its fireboats to show off for the crowd.

And in case you're curious, pirates come in all shapes and sizes...

We capped off the afternoon with a trip to Pegasus Pizza for an absolutely yummy way to sit and people-watch.

To top it off, after Alki, we went down to Seattle Center for a craft fair and a stroll by the fountain before calling it a day and heading home.  All in all, the day was wonderful and made me fall in love with Seattle all over again.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I love my dirty, filthy, nasty white-ish dog...