Keeping Up With the Allens

The Happenings

Life has been pretty quiet for us the last few weeks. We have been enjoying relaxing evenings filled with reading, meeting friends for dinner whom we haven’t seen in too long, catching up with each other and hanging out with our goofy pets. We’ve watched a few movies over the last few weeks {Steel Magnolias, 22 Jump Street, Chef and something else I can’t recall} and got through the whole season of Transparent on Amazon Prime TV. We’re just soaking up the calm before the holidays and our 2015 travel schedule, which is somehow even busier than 2014.

{We had a really fun evening at Vio's, an ultra kid-friendly Greek restaurant in Capitol Hill, with the Furtwangler clan this past week.} — {We had a really fun evening at Vio’s, an ultra kid-friendly Greek restaurant in Capitol Hill, with the Furtwangler clan this past week.}

This week started with the highly anticipated arrival of our new iPhone 6’s! We are both hopelessly in love with our new phones. Our previous phones were great but they lacked application choices, so we are overwhelmed with the selection of apps in the Apple store. I have been loving the various health and fitness tracking apps that measure the number of steps I take each day – I really thought I was walking more than my phone is telling me I am, so it’s nice to pay attention to that.

Alex and I just started doing a Pilates mat class together on Friday mornings. So far we are the only ones signed up so it’s like our own private class! I’m sure that won’t last long, but we’re enjoying it while it does. Alex is really enjoying how it stretches him out and helps with his posture.

{Henry cat has been extra cuddly and snuggly with the chilly weather}

{Jackson is trying to pretend to be Henry, it appears.}

In personal organization news, I just got a new daily organizational notepad that I’m in love with. I don’t normally organize myself by each day, but I can see that it’s helpful to try to plan things out on a daily basis to be more realistic about what I can accomplish in that amount of time. I bought this here.

The weather over the last week has been unbelievably gorgeous but super chilly for Seattle. Every day has been full Seattle sunshine, but I added the removable liner back into my coat and have brought out my mittens because the temps have been in the low 30s, which is pretty unusual for here. The nice days have brought me out for more mid-day walks with Jackson this week which has been an extra treat.

I had a pretty rough day on Wednesday after an unexpectedly traumatic dentist appointment. I had my regular 6-month cleaning on Tuesday morning and the dentist told me it’s time to take care of two teeth that have several really big fillings in them {thank you childhood pop drinking!} by replacing them with crowns. I was less than pleased by this news and left the dentist office feeling very discouraged, wishing there was more I could have done to prevent this from happening, though the damage was done a long time ago.

Wednesday morning I arrived, bright-eyed and bushy tailed {ok, maybe not…} for my 8 a.m. appointment to get my first of two crowns. I sat back in the chair, the dentist started to numb me up and just a moment after he finished with the anesthesia my heart started racing and I started to feel my tongue swell and the area around my throat swell. It turns out that the numbness the dentist creates feels exactly the same as the feeling of anaphylaxis. Having gone into anaphylactic shock before, due to my severe shellfish allergy, I felt the same way that morning in the dentist chair. It was awful.

I really thought that my throat was closing and that set off a serious panic attack. I had no idea I was experiencing a panic attack until the dentist told me that was what was happening. I spent about 30-45 minutes sitting in the dentist chair just shaking uncontrollably, trying to catch my breath and calm down. Eventually I called Alex and he was able to hop off the bus and catch another one back home and come and calm me down. Needless to say, I have not gone through with the crowns and will likely put the appointment off until the new year, so hopefully the second time is better.

On to more exciting things like saving us from avalanches… We are still in planning mode for the upcoming ski season, and a few weeks ago we spent a wonderful evening with the Buffingtons and had the opportunity to test out our avalanche airbags just to make sure they work. Good news! They do indeed work! Hopefully we’ll never have to use them.

{The Avalanche backpacks blew up just like they're supposed to! It looks like a hot dog!} — {The Avalanche backpacks blew up just like they’re supposed to! It looks like a hot dog!}

Watch me “explode” my ABS bag here:

We are looking forward to another relaxing, low-key weekend at home and are really enjoying catching up on stuff around the house and planning for the holidays and ski season. Happy Friday 🙂

A Jackson Update

We have come a very, very long way with Jackson since this time last year. By November 2013 our wildebeest dropped out of puppy class, was always near us or on top of our feet, weighed 55 pounds, was 6 months old, didn’t have the slightest interest in playing fetch or with tennis balls, was the biggest cuddle bug ever, and loved to challenge us in any way he could.

Today, Jackson is a year and a half, weighs 80 pounds, is always near us or on top of our feet, is absolutely completely obsessed with any type of ball and/or playing fetch, is the biggest cuddle bug ever, loves to challenge us in any way he possibly can and has a mind of his own.

{I'm fairly certain he thinks that if he can't see me that I can't see him...} — {I’m fairly certain he thinks that if he can’t see me that I can’t see him…}

So, as you can see, not much has changed! In reality, there really is a lot that is different about Jackson and his behavior these days. He has gotten into a pretty good routine, though he still has bursts of uncontrollable energy and moments where he is so obsessed with a ball, squirrel or other dog/inanimate object that he can’t focus.

For the most part, he is a darn cute furry bundle of love who just wants to play ball and hang out with his humans.

Exercise is the key component to Jackson’s success and good mood {therefore our good mood too}. Right now our routine consists of taking Jackson for a 3ish mile run or playing fetch at the park with him each morning (plus a 20 minute walk to and from the park), then mid-afternoon or early evening I take Jackson for a shorter training walk, do some training at home, then we play ball in the backyard or basement.

When Alex gets home he plays ball in the backyard with Jackson and usually ends up wrestling and playing ball in the basement with him later in the evening before they curl up into a ball of dog/man cuddles if we watch a show.

Our amazing dog trainer, Katie, recently paid us a visit to check in on us and Jackson and give us some updated tips for our defiant pooch. We were very excited for her to see all of the progress Jackson had made since she last saw him in early May.

That said, we are always in favor of getting more ideas of things to do with him to keep him behaving nicely and to calm down his crazies. Katie’s biggest suggestion for us is to just be consistent and maintain the rules, as he is in another period of “testing us” right now. I feel like that’s just his life, though. Good parenting practice!

We are really looking forward to ski season with Jack man! He is such a snow dog and is so in his element as he is bounding through the snowdrifts, running back and forth as we throw ice chunks for him to catch. We are also very much looking forward to Jackson calming down a bit. He is such a goober, but we are so, so, so, so lucky and thankful that he is our crazy pup.

{No, Jackson is not aloud on the sofa!} — {No, Jackson is not allowed on the sofa!}

{Nor is he aloud on the bed!! Jackson waits until I get up in the morning and then jumps in bed with Alex because he knows Alex won't throw him off the bed... Stinker! He sure has us trained...} — {Nor is he allowed on the bed!! Jackson waits until I get up in the morning and then jumps in bed with Alex because he knows Alex won’t throw him off the bed… Stinker! He sure has us trained…}

Ski Season is Coming!

The snow has started to fly here in the Pacific Northwest! At the start of the week Crystal Mountain’s measuring stick was showing 9 inches of snow at the mid-point of the mountain, and resorts across the west coast are continuing to post similar updates and show photos of the progressions towards opening day on their Instagram accounts.

This year in particular Alex and I are extremely excited for ski season. While we don’t have season passes anywhere this year, we did purchase the Mountain Collective pass which basically gives us 2 ski days at around 10 resorts across North America {and one in South America}. We have plans to take advantage of this pass with a few ski trips this year, including a trip to Whistler, Utah {Snowbird, Alta, Snowbasin and maybe Park City} and Jackson Hole.

Alex is the proud owner of a new ski get-up. He wanted another set up to be able to mix and match with for all of the skiing we are planning on doing this year. I, too, will eventually get a new coat and pair of snow pants for the ski season, but will probably hold off for a little while.

Last week I signed up for a backcountry ski class that is so out of my comfort zone and really is a little bit crazy. Alex is pretty into backcountry skiing, which means skiing outside of the resort on un-controlled, un-groomed terrain. This has always freaked me out immensely because there is a serious danger of avalanches that you just don’t get when you ski in a resort. I am very un-educated on avalanche forecasting and the sheer nature of avalanches, so Alex has encouraged me to educate myself to see if that changes my opinion and makes me more comfortable around the scenario.

A while back as a very early Christmas gift, my dad bought us ABS {Air Bag System} backpacks. These ABS backpacks are like regular backpacks except if you pull on a cord, out pops an airbag {think of an airbag in your car}. The research that supports these ABS backpacks suggest they have a 97% success rate in avalanche safety – so that means if you are caught in an avalanche and use your ABS you have a 97% chance of surviving. What the airbag does is increase your size and helps you float to the top of the avalanche. It also helps protect your head from debris and trees that you could hit on the way down. Hopefully we will never have to pull the cord, but it is reassuring that we have the ABS backpacks in the event that we ever need them.

That said, I will be joining seven other women and a couple instructors on a guided backcountry ski course in late January. The point of the course is literally to help women feel more comfortable about backcountry skiing and learn about group dynamics and decision making in the backcountry. So, you can see why I am intrigued. I think I am pretty open-minded, so I told Alex that I would be interested in taking the course to open my mind and educate myself about backcountry skiing and see what all the fuss is about.

Sooooo, now I have to get ready for this intensive 3-day ski trip. Alex found a screaming deal on a pair of skis last week and I conveniently already had a spare pair of alpine touring bindings to work with the new skis. Other than that I just need to read some avalanche safety materials, figure out how to use my new backpack and practice with the new skis. Oh, and get my legs ready for 3 days of climbing mountains on skis.

We have a big ski season ahead of us and can’t wait for the resorts to start announcing opening days… Hopefully Whistler will open early and start strong because that’s our first trip… Let it snow!!

The Happenings

While this last week has been busy with random activities, mainly planning for winter, it has been so nice and quiet. Does that even make sense? Well, we’ve just had a lot of little stuff keeping us busy.

Our weekend was superb. My Fridays are finally starting to be “normal” {for me} so this past week I volunteered at the elementary school then ran a bunch of errands. I picked up some fun stuff for our house {and my closet}, and thanks to a very disgruntled employee at the ski shop, we got our skis tuned for free! I had dropped off three of our pairs of skis a few weeks ago to get tuned for the impending ski season and when I picked them up on Friday the employee was so annoyed with the computer system that he said “here… you can just have them… let me help you out to your car.” Ummm okay, not going to argue with that, thanks for saving us over $200!

Alex and his friend Nigel took a quick 25-mile bike ride after work on Friday then came and hung out in the kitchen while I whipped up some curry for our dinner. I had never made curry before and had been wanting to try it for quite a while and I am so glad I did! It was one of my most proud accomplishments in the kitchen. Curry isn’t hard to make, per se, but it requires a lot of ingredients that are unfamiliar to me, lots of prep and a whole lot of love. And boy was it a success!

Saturday was uber relaxing. One thing I got while I was out and about on Friday was a bunch of new blankets for our beds {think mid-layer blankets} and the one I got for our bed is basically like a sweater blanket. Needless to say, we did not want to get out of bed on Saturday morning! Eventually we did and had a great walk with Jackson, followed by a delicious breakfast of apple spice waffles. We got some stuff done around the house before Carrie and her mom stopped by for a quick visit.

Saturday evening we had dinner reservations at Crush, a restaurant in the Madison Valley, the neighborhood next to ours, that we wanted to go to. I’m not sure if this is a trend across the country, but in a lot of Seattle restaurants they have tasting menus that allow you to taste a variety of dishes. I personally love these because I am the one who always wants to try a bite of whatever anyone else gets, just to try something new. We were under false thinking that Restaurant Week extended into the weekend {oops!} but we were happy to be trying a new restaurant. We ordered a bottle of wine and several different tastes. We had a great time and enjoyed the food, but ultimately left with much to be desired. It’s so unfortunate to go out to a very expensive restaurant and be underwhelmed with the food and service and overwhelmed by the exorbitant cost of the meal.

Sunday, again, was super relaxing. Alex took Jackson for a run in the morning while I whipped up a yummy breakfast scramble and apple chips for a snack, then we got a few things done around the house before our dog trainer came for a quick session with Jackson. We spent the afternoon and sitting in front of the fire reading and chatting.

It’s back to work for both of us now! I have been really busy with work the last several weeks. I think next week things will finally start to slow down, but in the meantime, I am attending a conference this week, which is taking me out of my office and out of the schools. It’s kind of a nice change of pace, but holy cow is it exhausting to sit and listen to someone all day! That said, I wanted to share a part of a student enrollment form I received that states that someone’s child is allergic to ebola. I mean, really!? I literally laughed out loud…

Third Annual Leavenworth Octoberfest Weekend

We just returned from our annual pilgrimage to Leavenworth, Washington for their Octoberfest celebration. This is our third year taking this trip and we keep saying every year we get better and better at it. For sure this one was the best!

Our group changed a little bit from the last two years. This year we had Dave and Trish and their little dog Louis with us. We really enjoy the Hilliards {and loved meeting Louis!} and they were a welcome addition. We stayed in the same rental house as we did last year. This house was perfect for us – it had four bedrooms, a fenced in yard for the three dogs, a hot tub, and a really open kitchen/living area. Alex and I stay in a lot of vacation rentals and we really enjoy doing that, particularly with big groups of friends because then we can all help prepare meals and spread out and just spend more time together.

One other thing that we modified from years’ past is that we all left Seattle by 1:00, which got us to the rental house by 3:30. We practically had another day there, it felt, because in the past we have always worked a full day and then headed out, fought traffic and arrived closer to 8:00.

{The Millers made sauerbraten for dinner on Friday - it had been marinading/brining for FIVE DAYS before our trip! It was awesome!} — {The Millers made sauerbraten for dinner on Friday – it had been marinading/brining for FIVE DAYS before our trip! It was awesome!}

The drive was simply stunning. The drive on highway 2 through Stevens Pass is always beautiful but with the bright yellow and orange leaves popping out all over the place against the backdrop of the rocky terrain and the river it is just breathtaking. In retrospect I should have stopped for a few photos…

Since we all arrived so early on Friday we had a lot of time to catch up and hang out. Alex brought his famous new shot ski, so we took shots of wine, beer and/or water. No one brought hard alcohol or anything particularly good to take a shot of, so we had to be creative just to put the shot ski to good use!

Both evenings ended with some good old fashioned card games. Friday we busted out Cards Against Humanity, which is always a fun favorite, but we had a new addition this year. I got a brand new game called The Game of Things which was so fun! We all agreed that we liked it much better than Cards Against Humanity. It’s more interactive and you can be a lot more creative than Cards Against Humanity. It is still inappropriate {but could also be more innocent} and hilarious.

{Patrick is 6'6" and Dave is about 5'6", so it was fun to watch this...} — {Patrick is 6’6″ and Dave is about 5’6″, so it was fun to watch this…}

Saturday was our big day in the town of Leavenworth. After a delicious breakfast and leisurely morning we drove into Leavenworth and parked ourselves at a table and ordered sausages, pretzels and giant steins of beer {well, the boys drank the beer…}. Carrie, being the studious student she is, took a couple hours to herself to go study for an upcoming nursing school test she had, so Trish, Mary and I walked around some of the shops.

We popped into several wineries and did some tastings, we also did some olive oil and balsamic tastings, along with chocolate tastings. Needless to say we had our fair share of sugar! Leavenworth is such a cute town and it is just oozing with character on its own, but several of the shops are just adorable, so we had a great time dropping into them.

While we were doing girlie things the boys were drinking more beer and then they found a random mini golf course, so they did some putting and hanging out. All in all, it was a great afternoon spent in Leavenworth. The weather held out and didn’t rain and we had a really fun time exploring some parts of the city that we had previously missed.

We got back to the house just before dark and Carrie started to whip up our feast for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening eating, chatting and playing The Game of Things before retreating to bed.

The last day of a vacation always seems to be one of the hardest. You know it’s coming to an end but you want to savor the rest of the trip… I made breakfast on Sunday and we were able to relax and read by the fire. Because we got a late check-out, Mary led a pilates class for 5 of us in their bedroom. I asked her to take a picture and she told me to take a mental picture, so sorry that I can’t provide a humorous image of 5 adults doing pilates in a very small space. It felt amazing to get a good stretch in after our fun weekend and before our drive home.

V__4AFB — {this photo was taken in the back yard of the house we stayed at. simply gorgeous!}

Thanks Millers, Buffingtons and Hilliards for the best Leavenworth weekend yet! Here’s to an even better one next year…

Keeping up with the Allens

Well, it’s officially fall here in Seattle. The leaves have finally started to turn. Seattleites have begun to retreat under their hoods. The days are growing so short. The rain is kind of back. And I am feeling busier than a one-armed paper hanger.

{It took me SEVERAL tries, but I finally picked a new rain coat (well, two)!} — {It took me SEVERAL tries, but I finally picked a new rain coat (well, two) and maybe a new pair of black flats, too!}

The last week has been fairly low-key in some respects, but crazy in others. We are adjusting to my new work schedule. My main job is managing an after school tutoring program, which just started up again last week, so I am now out of the house from mid-afternoon until at least 6:00. Once or twice a week I do a Pilates class at 6:00, which means if I go straight from work to Pilates I won’t get home until just after 7. The new schedule will be just fine, but it’s requiring a bit of finesse in terms of managing our pup and his high energy level, as well as figuring out how dinner is going to end up on the table.

{Crock pot recipes will be my best friend!}

We have been re-focusing on Jackson’s training as of late. Our dog trainer is coming back for a check in soon, thankfully, because we have a rebellious teenager on our hands! With the major change in daylight these days and my schedule change we have made some big modifications in our daily schedule with keeping J man exercised.

{Case in point...} — {Case in point… bras are not dog pillows and people beds, in this house anyway, do not equal dog beds!}

Speaking of exercise, our day today started out with a nice run. It was great until we arrived home and as I was unlocking the door Alex asked what was on my leg, only to discover that Jackson had previously bitten at least 10 holes in the bum of my running tights. I have no idea how I didn’t realize this when I was putting them on or running in them, especially because the holes are a decent size, but yeah, sorry to anyone who was behind me on the sidewalk today!

In other news, last week I went to the eye doctor regarding my lazy eye and headaches. I had a terrible experience with the doctor and have sworn off Swedish Medical Center for good. But, the good news is based on me being my own doctor {I just told the DF what to do} my eyes are doing a lot better {not 100%} and I will be the proud owner of some new specs any day now…

We are gearing up for a big Octoberfest celebration this weekend! Can’t wait for pretzels, sausage, chilly fall temps, Ryan’s sauerbraten and a great weekend with our friends. Stay tuned for highlights!

Staycation

It was our original plan to celebrate our recent milestone of spending a decade together by taking a fun trip. Given our travel schedule this summer we decided to lay low and have a “staycation” in the Seattle area instead. This past weekend we had an awesome Friday night at home, then packed up our overnight bags and drove 25 minutes to the town of Woodinville for a romantic weekend “away.”

{A surprise gift was the precursor to our weekend... Alex got this custom dish for me to keep my rings in while I am cooking. I just adore it!} — {A surprise gift was the precursor to our weekend… Alex got this custom dish for me to keep my rings in while I am cooking. I just adore it!}

As a kick-starter to our weekend, we popped a special bottle of wine on Friday night and had a fun night at home reminiscing on the last decade, pumping up the jams and just enjoying each other’s company.

{Sad times when we drank the last of this amazing wine! One of our favorites ever...} — {Sad times when we drank the last of this amazing wine! One of our favorites ever…}

Our friends Mary and Ryan met us in Woodinville with two of their friends who were visiting from Kansas City and we toured three different wineries. We started with JM Cellars, which Alex and I hadn’t ever been to. JM wins in ambiance but lost, in our books, in the wine department. We loved the woodsy surroundings that JM offered but were underwhelmed by the wines. Perhaps their new release needs a liiiiitle more time in the bottle?

On to Darby! The Millers are wine club members at Darby and boy can we see why! We loved all of the wines at Darby. The best part, though, was that the sun made an unexpected cameo and we got to sit outside.

We stopped at The Commons for a quick lunch and glass of bubbly before heading on to Dusted Valley. Alex and I had previously visited Dusted Valley in Walla Walla with his parents over Labor Day weekend and we just loved their wine. Simply amazing.

After our fun afternoon of tasting wine with old and new friends we parted ways and headed to the hotel, Willows Lodge, to get checked in. Alex and I were both exhausted so we took a quick snooze before our 8:00 dinner reservations at Barking Frog. Embarrassingly, when we woke up we were both still so tired and not hungry that we didn’t even go out for dinner! We just curled up on the king size bed, flipped on the fireplace and watched a movie. As lame as that sounds it was actually really nice! Our movies at home are few and far between, and when they do happen, they’re frequently interrupted by a particular animal demanding our attention. It was very nice to have some uninterrupted chill time.

The next morning rocked. We had coffee in bed in front of the fireplace, we got to sit around in bathrobes just hanging out chatting together, then we went for a walk without getting our arm pulled out of its socket, and someone else made us an amazing breakfast. I think Sunday morning was my favorite part of the whole weekend.

Even when we spend a lot of time together it’s rare when we get a chance to have hours upon hours of time where we just have a conversation. I so cherish those moments whenever we can get them. We were so happy to pick up Jackson and get back to Henry and our house after our little weekend getaway, but it was certainly nice to have a break from normalcy.

A Perfect Weekend at Home

We are still recuperating from our very busy summer, so that made it extra nice to have a quiet, relaxing weekend at home. As if that wasn’t great enough on its own, the weather was absolutely fantastic. We are having quite the Indian summer here in Seattle and I am loving it, though I have to admit I wish it was a tad bit cooler…

{These leg warmers will be great this fall once the temps actually do drop...} — {These leg warmers will be great this fall once the temps actually do drop…}

I was a bit under the weather for most of Friday. I realized {on Saturday} that I had been having some eye troubles. I have a condition called strabismus, which means I am cross-eyed. I had corrective surgery as a child but every now and then it flares up out of nowhere. I am having a pretty good flare up now, which started last week {yes mom I’m going to the eye doctor, please don’t worry!}. Friday was the worst of it and at that point I hadn’t connected the dots that it was my eye that was causing my awful headache and nausea. Anyway, this is not a blog titled “Whining with the Allens” so I’ll move on…

{got these fancy new reading glasses to try to help!}

After sleeping for the better part of the day, I eventually rose and felt well enough to attend dinner/drinks and the movie premier for Almost Ablaze, a Teton Gravity Research ski movie, with our friends. Ski movies are always really fun and get us stoked for the impending ski season. The best part of the night was when Alex won a shotski! It’s pretty high-tech and I’m sure it will make a few appearances this winter.

The theme of Saturday and Sunday was nothing. We had no agenda, nothing to do, and we were so relaxed! After a quick breakfast on Saturday we decided to head over to the dog park and throw the ball around with Jackson and take a nice walk through the trails over there.

I have been shopping at Whole Foods more lately and there is a really nice one near the dog park in Redmond. I have loved Whole Foods for some time now, but more recently I have been realizing how surprisingly affordable it is. Yes you read that right. I have been shocked the last two times we were there with how much I bought and how little it cost. And the best part is that Whole Foods in our area just partnered with a company called Insta Cart that is basically a personal grocery shopper. See ya later, Amazon Fresh!

Anyway, after our excursion I set off to the kitchen to whip up some chili while Alex took our new carpet cleaner for a spin. We had a really fun last two weeks with our pets {insert sarcasm} which led us to purchase our own carpet cleaner. The results are in and it is AMAZING. This is the one we bought. We love it not just because it works well {should be obvious}, but also because it has a separate compartment for clean water and dirty water, it’s easy to use and the attachments are fabulous.

In other fun household purchases, I got these incredible silicone baking cups {aka muffin liners} recently and I just cannot get enough of them. If you ever plan to make muffins, cupcakes, egg cups or anything using a muffin tin ever again in your life you must consider these. They are a game changer in my kitchen!

The rest of the weekend was oh so relaxing. Alex spent some time playing his video game. We took Jackson for a run on Sunday through the arboretum. I made a killer Mexican egg scramble on Sunday morning. We made a killer batch of pad Thai on Sunday night. I did a little fall gardening to freshen up our front porch. We even squeezed in another trip to bottlehouse for a happy hour glass of wine on Sunday afternoon. Oh it was a great weekend!

Minnesota Trip: Family, Friends, Reunion!

Another Minnesota trip has come and gone. Alex and I recently returned from spending several days in Minnesota to visit my family and attend my 10-year high school reunion. The weather really couldn’t have been much better. It was in the mid/upper 70s for the most part and gorgeously sunny. The mornings and evenings sure felt like fall, especially with the color changes the Midwest is experiencing.

I arrived on Tuesday and was whisked away to my family’s cabin with my dad where we spent a couple days just hanging out. The weather up north was quite cloudy and cool, but we enjoyed getting out and taking a walk through the property, as well as driving around the lake to see the fall colors and the lake level and how it was affecting the other residents.

The last time I was in Minnesota was in mid-July. The water at the lake was exceptionally high – so high that the lake had taken over the side/back yard and had started coming under the cabin. The water has receded a bit since then, but the cabin is still in jeopardy, especially with winter on its way.

{This is the yard between the cabin and the lake - you can see sandbags, the pump that is pumping water from under the cabin back into the lake. The hatch that is partially lifted is the access point to the crawl space under the cabin.} — {This is the yard between the cabin and the lake – you can see sandbags, the pump that is pumping water from under the cabin back into the lake. The hatch that is partially lifted is the access point to the crawl space under the cabin.}

My dad and brother are about to embark on a pretty major project up there that includes replacing the foundation, more than doubling the boulder wall and re-grading the yard. These projects will help ensure that the cabin survives the winter. If the water underneath the cabin freezes it could be a game changer. They are doing everything they can to prevent that from happening.

Since I won’t be much {read: any} help with the foundation project I asked my dad to put me to work when I was up there. He didn’t do a very good job of assigning me tasks, but he did ask if I could help get my late grandmother’s room back in order. Since my grandma died over a year and a half ago, her bedroom up at the cabin had become a black hole for random stuff. My dad had been doing some de-cluttering and all of the clutter was shifted to my grandma’s room. I really wish I would have taken before and after pictures, but I got a ton of stuff cleaned up and re-organized. I was able to use some of the “clutter” {aka knick knacks} to “re-decorate” the space. I think my grandma would have really liked it!

Other than that, we drank a lot of coffee and sat around catching up. It’s always so nice to have uninterrupted chat time with my family. It seems to happen so seldomly.

On Thursday I met my mom at the mall and we walked around in search of a new rain coat and jeans for me. Not surprisingly, we left empty handed. From there we headed to White Bear to have lunch at Rudi’s Rooftop and do a little browsing in the cute shops in downtown White Bear Lake. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, catching up and eating. We were joined for dinner by my brother and my high school friend Kelsey.

That night Alex arrived very, very late from Seattle. His trip started bright and early on Friday morning with pumpkin pancakes at my dad’s, then I left to meet my friend Sarah for an afternoon together. Alex dropped me off at Sarah’s parent’s new house, which I had not yet seen, so it was really fun to see her mom and get a tour of their beautiful new home. From there we drove into White Bear and had lunch out on the patio at Washington Square, then made our way to the spa for our pedicures.

Friday night was my high school reunion. We really had no idea what to expect! The reunion took place on a boat on the St Croix River which separates Minnesota and Wisconsin. The weather was exceptional. We met up with several friends at The Green Room restaurant and enjoyed dinner up on their rooftop before heading to the reunion.

I’m not sure why, but of our class of 275 people, there were only 50 people at the reunion, and that includes guests! It was a very small turnout, but it was nice to catch up with a few people I hadn’t spoken with since we graduated in 2004.

After the reunion was my favorite part. Most of my closer group of friends who I still stay in touch with congregated at Whitey’s bar and had an awesome time. The husbands of my girl friends all get along well and are generally just hilarious. A few in particular just keep the laughs rolling…

Saturday morning came very early. I met my good friend Kara, who wasn’t able to attend the reunion, for coffee that morning. I hadn’t seen her one-on-one for years, probably. She has had a big year and just started law school, – it was so, so good to catch up with her!

From there I hustled to pick Alex up and head over to my aunt Sarah’s for coffee and conversation. We had a great time seeing my aunt’s new home and catching up with her as well. I only wish we had more time in our trips to spend with our friends and family and truly get a chance to have more lengthy conversations.

As though we needed more activity to fill our day, we ran some errands for my mom, stopped back over to my dad’s to have lunch, then made our way to my mom’s for the rest of the day. My mom was hosting her cousin and her husband, along with my friend Kelsey and her boyfriend, for a turkey dinner that night. Between helping prep the food and getting the house ready we had a few minutes to sit and chat before the company arrived. It ended up being another gorgeous evening and we had an awesome time with friends and family. Most of us are pretty outspoken in one way or another, so it was a pretty amusing and entertaining evening.

We crashed the second we hit the bed that night, only to be rudely awaken the next morning by our alarm clock informing us that it was time to head back to Seattle. Another jam-packed Minnesota trip is on the record books…

Babysitting + Nick + Catching Up

Nice weather sure seems to be sticking around these parts lately! No complaints from me, especially since it provided great weather for our most recent house guest. About a week ago, Alex’s long-time friend Nick came to visit for a week from his home on the east coast. Alex has several very good friends from high school who he still regularly keeps up with, and I know Alex had a really fun time catching up with Nick.

Before Nick arrived, my Friday was a bit busier than usual. I felt like I was running a drop-off daycare service! My friend Mary found herself in a pinch when she had brought her dog to work with her in her car during the day and it ended up getting pretty warm, so she asked if she could drop him off so he didn’t overheat in the car. Of course Jackson was happy to have Berkeley come over for a play date!

The two pups are BFFs and hilarious together. It’s hard to imagine a dog with more energy than Jackson, but Berkeley has Jackson beat.

Just after Mary came back to retrieve Berkeley after work our friends Ali and Tyler came to drop their two kiddos off with us for the evening while they went out to dinner. Vivian is a year and a half and her little brother Conner is 4 months old.

It was such a nice evening so I strapped Conner in the carrier {which Ali pointed out that I put him in incorrectly! Oops!} and put Viv in the stroller and we hoofed it up the hills to the park.

It was apparent that Vivian loves the swings. She kept saying “higher” and smiling – I’m pretty sure she had a good time! We adore the littles and had a great time hanging out with them on Friday evening.

After Ali and Tyler came back for their kids Nick arrived for the week. It was quite the day of transitions and people coming over. Jackson was exhausted from his playdate with Berkeley {and another one with our neighbor’s 4 pound terrier, Bruce, who is Jackson’s other BFF} and being overstimulated by children and visitors. Meanwhile, Henry was his cool self.

Alex and Nick hung out at our house for a bit, just catching up, before they headed out for an evening in Capitol Hill. I apologize in advance that I took all of zero photos while Nick was here. They grabbed a few beers at Chuck’s Hop Shop near our house and then ended the night at Quinn’s with some pretzels and an old fashioned.

The next day I woke up and got to sit on the sofa with my coffee, some fresh biscotti and a magazine! I can’t tell you when I did that last. It was so nice. The boys woke up late, then we had a really nice, leisurely breakfast at our house. Our original plan was to go for a hike in the mountains but by the time we were done with breakfast it was nearing 1:00 in the afternoon, so we nixed the hike and decided to go to Woodinville to do some wine tasting.

We spent the whole gorgeous afternoon wandering around Woodinville. We did a quick tasting at Trust Cellars then we went over to J Bookwalter and shared some rose and a cheese plate. From there we went to The Commons for “lunch” at 5:30.

After our Woodinville adventure we hung out at home, the boys smoked a cigar and then we went to dinner at Red Cow around 10:00. I guess this is what happens when you sleep until noon!

Sunday was a “funday” for the boys. They got tickets to the Seahawks versus Broncos game, so they got to watch Seattle defeat Colorado once again. As a treat, they decided to indulge in a very nice dinner at El Gaucho. Not sure why I wasn’t invited to that hurrah!

{For my "Sunday Funday" I took Jackson to the dog park!} — {For my “Sunday Funday” I took Jackson to the dog park!}

The rest of the week was pretty mellow in comparison. Nick had to do some work, and so did Alex. I left for Minnesota that Tuesday, leaving behind the boys to run the show. I don’t think I missed a lot, but I noticed my absence was clearly felt when I returned home on Sunday.