Spring in Seattle

We were blessed with a beautiful Seattle spring this year! The weather turned nice a good two to three months earlier than usual which has allowed us to spend a lot of time on our front porch, doing yard work or just enjoying a Saturday morning at the dog park.

Here’s what we’ve been up to this spring:

After spending a month in a splint with a broken wrist Alex finally got the green light from his doctor to resume his normal life.
After spending a month in a splint with a broken wrist Alex finally got the green light from his doctor to resume his normal life.
Porch time! Thankfully I figured out pretty quickly that we can prop a baby gate up against the two planters on our porch so we can all hang out there together.
Porch time! Thankfully I figured out pretty quickly that we can prop a baby gate up against the two planters on our porch so we can all hang out there together.
We got a very generous anniversary gift from Donna and Stan - they sent us some chair cushions for our dining room chairs. These are amazing and make us actually want to linger and enjoy our dinner, wine and company.
We got a very generous anniversary gift from Donna and Stan – they sent us some chair cushions for our dining room chairs. These are amazing and make us actually want to linger and enjoy our dinner, wine and company.
Henry cat is loving the warmer weather.
Henry cat is loving the warmer weather.
We have been drinking a lot of really good wine this spring in preparation for our trip to some of the best wine producing regions in Europe.
We have been drinking a lot of really good wine this spring in preparation for our trip to some of the best wine producing regions in Europe.

Other than that, we have been busily working on finalizing our itinerary and travel details for our big Europe vacation that is quickly approaching, as well as making plans for the rest of the summer and lots of exciting vacations that are in the works for this winter and next spring. I’m very glad I like to plan things!

 

Stitch Fix #2

After my first unsuccessful Stitch Fix experience I was eager to try it again and see if I might be able to get a few more pieces for my wardrobe.

This isn't the best picture but I really liked these jeans. They're really comfy and it's nice to have a pair of pants that's not denim.
This isn’t the best picture but I really liked these jeans. They’re really comfy and it’s nice to have a pair of pants that’s not denim.
LOVE this maxi dress!
LOVE this maxi dress!
I really like this orangy cardigan - the only trouble is I have one just like it!
I really like this orangy cardigan – the only trouble is I have one just like it!
This shirt is super cute and I love it but I don't really like button down shirts because they don't fit me very well.
This shirt is super cute and I love it but I don’t really like button down shirts because they don’t fit me very well.
A comfy, cute and casual striped top!
A comfy, cute and casual striped top!

Overall, I really liked this Stitch Fix but it was just bad timing with our Europe trip coming up so quickly that I didn’t want to splurge on a bunch of new clothes… Maybe this fall I’ll have better luck?

A Jackson Update

We have officially survived a month without our dog trainer. It has been really awesome thinking back to where we were with Jackson on his first birthday and how much things have changed in the 9 weeks since then. Certainly our dog is not perfect but he is so much better behaved. Alex and I have been exchanging a lot of high fives in the last couple of weeks for many small victories.

Our silly dog!
Our silly dog!

We are now well equipped with tricks {and treats!} to keep Jackson in line while we’re on walks. Our walks are substantially shorter now, but they’re more meaningful. Typically we walk up to the park to play ball and that’s how Jackson gets his exercise.

Keeping Jackson well-exercised has been a huge key to his success.
Keeping Jackson well-exercised has been a huge key to his success.

For the most part we can now go outside without Jackson and he will remain calm and collected. This is a huge milestone, as any time we would go out and do yardwork without him he would just cry and bark until we came back inside. Our neighbors love us.

Hanging out together on the porch.
Hanging out together on the porch.

While we have seen major improvements we still have a lot of work to do. Two of the biggest things we are working on are solidifying his ability to walk nicely on a leash, chill out when he is by himself and really just extensions of our biggest victories to date.

Our 80 pound ham!
Our 80 pound ham!

So, overall, we are beyond thrilled with the progress Jackson has made, but he still has a ways to go!

Yard Reno… Take 5…

With all of the time we spend working on our backyard you’d think we lived on an acre parcel, when in fact our lot is just over 3,000 square feet. Given those stats it’s a wonder why we spend so much time working on the yard. It is just a never ending saga with us, I guess!

The latest update with the backyard is that we decided to lay a walkway from our patio out to the gate this weekend. The grass seed we planted in that area wasn’t germinating and that spot seems to always turn into a mud pit in the winter. Since it’s kind of a thoroughfare we thought that a little stone walkway would help alleviate some of the mud from the rainy season.

Here is our new walkway! We are excited to see how the grass comes in around the stones.
Here is our new walkway! We are excited to see how the grass comes in around the stones.

After spending a solid month in a splint with a broken wrist Alex was tired of feeling like a useless gimp so he gave himself a little project. Ever since we moved into our house we have been eager to stain our back stairs but we never bit the bullet and did it. Finally, Alex got the ambition to check that off the list and the stairs have never looked better!

Back stairs before...
Back stairs before… This is after the stairs got scrubbed with TSP – we didn’t get a true “before” photo.
Back stairs after!
Back stairs after! Now we just need to muster up the motivation to stain the fence to match the stairs.

I am having very mixed success with the plants and flowers that we have in our yard. We’ll see how they fare over the summer… We are crossing our fingers that the grass seed we’ve planted {for the 9th time} will come in sometime in the next year. Ultimately, we are really frustrated with our yard right now and are hoping things finally start coming together and we can enjoy the fruits of our labor.

 

Alina’s East Coast Bachelorette Party

With just a few more weeks until Alina and Alberto’s Italian wedding, I jetted off to the east coast to join her and several friends for her bachelorette party.

The bachelorette and her entourage
The bachelorette and her entourage

After taking the red-eye from Seattle, I arrived in Baltimore mid-day on Friday, met up with Alina and Atalie who drove down from New York City. We met up with the rest of the girls in DC then headed out to Annapolis, where we spent the night. Atalie ended up driving us and she found some bachelorette-themed window decals and bumper stickers {magnetic!} that we decorated the car with. We had to let everyone know there was a bachelorette on board!

Too Hot to Trot!
Too Hot to Trot!

I was ill prepared for the trip and really didn’t know much about the town of Annapolis, much less where it was on a map. It turns out Annapolis is absolutely adorable. It’s a picturesque east coast town right on the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a busy harbor town with a huge naval academy.

Adorable coastal town
Adorable coastal town

We spent a couple hours at what is apparently the place to go in town, Pusser’s, a restaurant right on the water. Don’t ask me who came up with the name Pusser’s because it certainly wasn’t me. The restaurant had a very lively bar and Alina got a lot of attention from the rowdy patrons, especially because she was wearing a cute tiara with a veil attached to it, along with a “Bachelorette” sash.

Someone playing a musical instrument...
Someone playing a musical instrument…

One of our bachelorette activities for the weekend was to complete a photo scavenger hunt, which meant we had to take a photo with a variety of different people, including a guy with a tattoo; doppelgangers of all of us, Alberto, and Alina’s family; a set of twins; a 3-legged dog and a cop. I think we found about 2/3 of the things on our list. We had fun chatting with the locals trying to accomplish our mission.

One of the photos we had to get was of twins - what are the chances of us finding twins working side by side?
One of the photos we had to get was of twins – what are the chances of us finding twins working side by side?

Saturday morning came bright and early. We got up and moving pretty quickly so we could make it back down to the waterfront to hop on our boat to take us to St. Michaels, the island where Wedding Crashers was filmed. The weather on Saturday really couldn’t have been better. The sky was perfectly clear and it wasn’t too hot. It was just ideal the day for a boat cruise. Our boat trip was two hours each way with just enough time to hop off the boat and grab some lunch and explore the town of St Michaels.

White pants party on a boat
White pants party on a boat

We ate lunch at the famous Crab Claw, where Elena reserved us an awesome table right out on one of the docks where special people get to park their yachts. The girls ordered a dozen blue crabs and had a blast taking instructions from our new friend Brad who was so patient in explaining how to open up the crab and eat it. It was a great stop-off and we had an awesome time on the boat trip.

The Crab Claw
The Crab Claw
St Michaels
St Michaels

After we docked in Annapolis we hopped in the car and headed back to DC to stay at Elena’s apartment for the evening. We took a late evening stroll through the National Mall and got to check out the famous monuments and the White House. I had been to DC before, but not since our 8th grade trip, so it was fun to see the city again.

The White House
The White House
Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial

I think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed our east coast trip and got pumped for Alina and Alberto’s wedding in just a few more weeks!

We Quit!

Whose idea was it to do a detox, anyway? We made it 2 and a half days before giving up and caving in to our caffeine cravings.

I thoroughly enjoyed my last glass of wine on Sunday.
I thoroughly enjoyed my last glass of wine on Sunday.

Since Monday afternoon I had either a throbbing headache, nausea or just an annoying headache in the background and I was really sick of not feeling well. I knew the solution would be coffee. I curbed my craving and made a half a pot of coffee and served myself two cups along with some biscotti and I’m not looking back!

Caffeine got the best of me!
Caffeine got the best of me!

The “real food” part of the detox was hardly a change, but the things we changed were definitely a challenge. We already eat so well {overall} that there were few things I wanted to modify. It seems like those remaining few things are the hardest to omit. It turns out it’s really hard to find whole wheat bread with five ingredients or less! Also, everything seems to have white sugar in it! We accidentally cheated a few times – I had lemonade which has five ingredients, but one of which is sugar, and both of us accidentally had chocolate chips in some homemade trail mix that I made and there is added sugar in there too. I also had mayo twice that wasn’t the organic stuff I usually buy…

Overall, this was a bigger challenge than I realized. I’m sort of glad we tried it, but mostly it just taught me to not make a drastic diet change like that ever again! Perhaps ease into something next time? It is really hard to just quit something cold turkey. I didn’t have cravings, per se, I just felt awful and I knew that having caffeine would make me feel better. I guess that makes me a caffeine addict? I do have more of an appreciation for alcoholics and drug addicts, realizing how hard it is to quit something that is not only so addicting but just habitual. Coffee is a part of my every day and I certainly don’t intend on giving that up.

Now excuse me while I go pour myself a glass of wine…

The Rest of the Weekend

On our way home from our trip to Vancouver we made a pit stop at Overlake Hospital to visit baby Conner. Our friends Ali and Tyler had just delivered him that morning. Ali and Tyler are our only friends in Seattle who have kiddos and we just adore their daughter Vivian. We are both looking forward to watching Conner grow up, as we have Viv. We’re so happy for Ali and Tyler!

Such a cutie!
Such a cutie!
He's a natural!
He’s a natural!
Baby Conner :)
Baby Conner 🙂

From the hospital we drove out to the boonies to pick up Jackson from the farm. Both of us were a bit nervous about how Jackson would do overnight with our sitters, but we got an amazing report that he was “a joy” and that if we had other dates to add to the list for summer to let them know. It is so reassuring to know that he did well and that we have a confirmed spot for him to stay this summer while we’re in Europe.

jackson

We got a ton of photos of Jackson on the farm and it’s safe to say, Jackson is turning in his skinny jeans for a pair of overalls! He LOVED it there. I didn’t think he was going to get back into our car when we came to pick him up. But, when he did, he crashed. I have never seen him so tired!

Sleepy pup!
Sleepy pup!
So tired he didn't know what to do with himself!
So tired he didn’t know what to do with himself!

Alex’s Birthday Weekend in Vancouver

Alex and I took a little road trip to visit the Canucks up in Vancouver this past weekend. Before we hit the road we celebrated on his actual birthday with a trip to Bottlehouse. It was perfect. The weather held out so we could enjoy the evening on the patio. The icing on the cake, though, was when we were informed by the staff that my aunt Sarah called and picked out a very special bottle of Priorat wine for Alex. We can’t wait to drink it!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to drop Jackson off at the farm where he was to spend the weekend, then we continued on the drive up to Vancouver. It was a pretty easy drive, other than long waits at the border.

We got to take a ride over the new Port Mann Bridge.

 

We were pleasantly surprised when the weather turned out to be quite nice on the other side of the border. I believe the anticipated high was 58 and it was supposed to rain, so both of us were dressed for the forecast. Reality set in and it ended up being 72 and partly cloudy. Oops!

Gorgeous day for walking around Vancouver!

Gorgeous day for walking around Vancouver!

After we checked in to our amazing hotel {The St. Regis} we headed for ramen! We ate at Gyoza King. It was lovely :)

After we checked in to our amazing hotel {The St. Regis} we headed for ramen! We ate at Gyoza King. It was lovely 🙂

With full bellies we set out to do a stroll through Stanley Park, Vancouver's Central Park.

With full bellies we set out to take a stroll through Stanley Park, Vancouver’s Central Park.

Totem Poles

Totem Poles

Great views back towards the city from Stanley Park.

Great views back towards the city from Stanley Park.

After our stroll through Stanley Park Alex decided to pick up a few cigars...

After our walk through Stanley Park Alex decided to pick up a few cigars…

We then set out to explore Gas Town, a very trendy part of the city. This neighborhood reminded us a lot of two neighborhoods in Seattle. We had dinner at the Alibi Room before making our way to a wine bar for a nightcap.

We then set out to explore Gas Town, a very trendy part of the city. This neighborhood reminded us a lot of two neighborhoods in Seattle. We had dinner at the Alibi Room before making our way to a wine bar for a nightcap.

I just loved the Salt Tasting Room. It's a little hole in the wall wine bar that lets you pick and choose your cheese and meat boards, and of course has great wine.

I just loved the Salt Tasting Room. It’s a little hole in the wall wine bar that lets you pick and choose your cheese and meat boards, and of course has great wine.

We had a great trip in Vancouver! It was really awesome to do a precursor to our Europe trip this summer and work out some of the kinks and figure things out. Even though Vancouver is only a 3 hour drive, we felt like we were a world away from Seattle.

We had a great trip in Vancouver! It was really awesome to do a precursor to our Europe trip this summer and work out some of the kinks and figure things out. Even though Vancouver is only a 3 hour drive, we felt like we were a world away from Seattle.

Detox Week

I never thought of myself as being someone who would get on the detox bandwagon. I even recently mocked someone for doing a detox. Then he told me why he was doing a detox and it resonated with me and I decided he is probably right. I crave coffee. Literally the first thing I think of in the morning is coffee. While there are a lot of great health benefits to coffee {and wine for that matter} I just want to start fresh and clean out my body with water and nourishing foods. And if we happen to lose a pound or two before swimsuit season that would be a-okay! So, here we are… Day one of detox week…

Here is what Alex and I will be eating and drinking this week of detox:

  • Lots of fruits and veggies
  • Whole grains
  • Water
  • Honey and maple syrup as sweeteners
  • A little bit of meat here and there

Here is what we won’t be eating and drinking this week:

  • Coffee 🙁
  • Wine 🙁
  • Other alcohol 🙁
  • White flour/refined grains, including cereal, white bread, white rice
  • White sugar

In our everyday eating Alex and I truly do pretty well. I think our biggest challenges will be to eliminate white/refined grains and sugar from our diet and to reduce the amount of meat we eat. The hardest, though, will be coffee. I think that it will be tough to give up wine and alcohol for a week but it’s not something either one of us drink on a daily basis so I am guessing coffee will be more challenging. My goal in doing this detox is just to jump start a week of super clean eating with the ultimate hope that we do make a few consistent changes in our diet, like eating less meat and fewer refined grains. Alex has been complaining about not feeling great, especially since his bike accident, so I am crossing my fingers that he will get a lot out of this, too.

In preparation for our big detox I have put together some meal ideas:

Breakfasts:

  • Whole wheat banana nut muffins
  • Smoothies
  • Whole wheat toast with yogurt, fruit and granola
  • Breakfast casserole with lots of veggies, fruit on the side
  • Scrambled eggs or an omelet and toast with fruit on the side

Lunches:

Snacks:

  • Homemade trail mix
  • Homemade hummus with sliced veggies
  • Apple and cheese
  • Popcorn
  • Yogurt with fruit and granola
  • Peanut butter bites

Dinners:

  • Chicken with dill, quinoa, roasted veggies
  • Sole minuere with salad and couscous or quinoa
  • Big veggie stir fry with brown rice
  • Whole wheat pasta with pesto, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts, roasted veggies
  • Portabella mushroom burgers with Asian slaw, green beans and a small fruit salad

A Low-Key Week

I have a feeling we’re in the midst of the calm before the storm right now. It’s a bit strange for us to not be overwhelmingly busy. We call the months of May, October and early November our “shoulder season” because it’s sort of the gap between our always busy summer and winter. I think this is our last weekend of calm before the summer craze kicks in.

This past week has been very low-key as we have been nursing Alex back to health after his bike accident. We had another great training session with our dog trainer and then kicked off the weekend with an early Saturday morning trip to the dog park.

Dog Park days are back!
Dog Park days are back!

 

This week we hired a landscaping/lawn service company to help us in our yard. The timing of us hiring them couldn’t have been better since Alex is unable to mow the lawn with his broken wrist. We had them pull out all of the crabgrass and weeds in our yard and level off the yard with new topsoil then re-seed. We will be having them mow our lawn, trim our hedge and keep up with basic lawn maintenance while we’re away this summer so we thought it would be good to give them a shot early on in the season to get our yard looking nice.

Here is what our backyard looks like right now... I am hoping we get a good combo of sun and rain over the next few weeks to jumpstart the grass seed.
Here is what our backyard looks like right now… I am hoping we get a good combo of sun and rain over the next few weeks to jumpstart the grass seed.

Our rhododendrons, azaleas, peonies and roses are all on the cusp of blooming. I can’t wait to see what our yard looks like this summer! Maybe next year we won’t have to put so much into it to make it look nice?

Hoping for some blooms in the next day or two!
Hoping for some blooms in the next day or two!

We have a summer full of weddings, our monthlong trip to Europe, a few weekend getaways in the Pacific Northwest and a couple bachelor/bachelorette parties to look forward to. I am trying to get ahead of the game and plan as much as I can right now. Our Europe plans are really coming together and we are getting more and more excited as the trip is getting closer. We have an extremely busy year coming up so right now I am just enjoying the rare moments of solitude. Who knows, I might even just curl up and read a book this weekend!?

A great morning playing ball at the park with Jackson.
We enjoyed a few great mornings playing ball at the park with Jackson this week.