Our new mud room is serving its purpose quite well! The project is about 90% complete – we still need to get a rack of hooks to hang things from but we’re still deciding on that. All we did was remove the carpet and replace it with tile and an indoor-outdoor rug to make the entrance from our backyard into our house a bit more mud and pet-friendly. Check out some “before” and “after” photos:
We are so very thankful to be able to own such a beautiful house and to have a backyard for our little pup to safely play in. That said, it sure is a lot of work keeping up with our bite-size backyard during the rainy season.
In the three plus years of living in our house we have undergone several big backyard projects and I think we’ve got another one coming down the pipeline.
Our dear dog decided last week that he would like to visit China by way of our backyard. He almost made it but then decided that he wanted to take a different route. If you get my drift, he dug two very, very large holes right off of the patio. The holes aren’t really that big of a deal themselves, but the area the holes are in turns into a complete mud pit for the duration of our 9 month Seattle winter.
To deal with the mud and grime inside our house we added a mud room off of the basement door. This has been so, so great. I will post some “after” photos of that once we get a different rug.
But, now we need to deal with the mud outside. We have a few ideas floating around but I think we might need to just bite the bullet and hire a landscape designer to help us put something together the right way, the first time. Either way, I think we’re going to lose some grass and replace it with pavers or something to alleviate the muddy mess off of the patio. We do want to retain as much grass as we can because Jackson sure loves to run around back there. For now, we’re mentally preparing to embark on yet another backyard project… Oh the joys of home ownership!
It has been a pretty low-key week here in the Allen household. We are finally easing our way into a pretty consistent routine and finding that we have some extra time on our hands. Here are some highlights from the week:
The week started off with a trip to the vet for Jackson. He had been battling a bit of a cough for a while and we got a little paranoid that it was turning into pneumonia so we thought it would be best to bring him in. Thankfully he just has bronchitis, so we got some antibiotics and now little Jackson is on the mend and his cough is almost completely gone.
At lunchtime on Monday I took Jackson out in the backyard to play. I was hanging out with him and Mr. Henry strolled up. Immediately I could tell that something was wrong with Henry – he just looked like he didn’t feel well. Ultimately I ended up bringing him inside, not knowing what was wrong, but when I went to check on him up in our bedroom a few minutes later I noticed there were a few blood spots on the mattress {the sheets were in the washing machine}. It took a few minutes to figure out where the blood was coming from but I was able to notice a pretty substantial gash on his back leg.
Not knowing what to do, I called the vet and they just said to keep an eye on it and to come in if it’s swollen or if his injured leg feels hot to the touch. Henry kept to himself for the rest of the day and ended up making himself comfortable under our bed. We figured that was so he didn’t have to jump up onto the bed or off of the bed, but the next day when he emerged I realized that his injured leg was more than twice the size of his other leg. Thankfully we were able to get him into the vet that afternoon.
The vet found an abscess and was able to drain some liquid and give him a shot of antibiotics. He sent us home with some pain killer and instructions to keep Henry inside for the week. We got Henry set up in his own little cat condo downstairs to make sure he was kept comfortable and away from Jackson.
Since his trip to the vet he has been recovering remarkably! His wound is now closed and the swelling is completely gone. Whew! We have plans to visit the vet again on Thursday for a re-check.
Alex and I have been through a lot of pet drama in the last year, but we are so thankful for our vet clinic. Four Paws Vets is absolutely fantastic. It’s so comforting to have a vet we can trust for the little things, but more importantly, for the big things.
In other exciting pet news, Jackson is a puppy school dropout! We got halfway through our third round of puppy classes (Puppy Junior High) and this class has been horrible for Jackson. There is something about the other puppies in the class that makes Jackson crazy. Because of that, and because we regularly work on training our dog, we didn’t feel like we were getting anything out of the class, so we’re done.
We finished off the week with a quick puppy playdate with Berkeley, Ryan and Mary’s 4.5 month old wheaten terrier, and we’re hoping to join them at the dog park tomorrow.
We are very thankful for our animals and for the ability to provide adequate care and attention to them. It sure is a lot of work to raise a puppy, but our cat and dog make our lives so, so, so much better, more fulfilling and more enjoyable. Honestly, I don’t know what we’d talk about half the time if we weren’t talking about Henry or Jackson, or remembering silly memories with Oliver or Aspen. Even with the drama, the never ending visits to the vet and the frustrations and stress they cause us, we are so happy they are in our lives. They’re well worth the effort and investment.
Last weekend our friends Tricia and Dave hosted a Halloween party at their apartment. It was a great chance to spend some more time with them, along with the Millers and Carrie {Patrick was out of town}. Alex and I didn’t have any brilliant ideas for costumes, so Alex went as a man in a suit and I was Audrey Hepburn.
Today marks the day when Jackson became a 7 month old puppy! It’s so hard to believe that we’ve had him since he was 7 weeks old and now he is 7 months old. Time has gone by soooo fast. Alex and I were recounting some memories this morning and it’s amazing how much our lives have changed since the middle of May when he became a part of our family.
Our little Jackson is now older than Aspen was when she died, which also means that we’ve had him for longer than we had Aspen. We were remembering that the last few weeks of her life were definitely the best – she was starting to turn into a dog and our hard work was beginning to pay off with her behavior. We are definitely seeing some parallels with Jackson – the last few weeks have been so great!
Aside from a very terrible, horrible, no good, very bad puppy class, Jackson, too, has started to turn into a dog. He is making mature decisions like finding an appropriate toy to play with or chew on {as opposed to a slipper or dirty laundry}, he is better able to regulate his energy and knows when it’s time to take a break/nap, and he has started to become protective.
For the most part, he is pretty well-behaved and seems to be following directions about 75% of the time. He recently learned “stay” but hasn’t totally mastered it yet. We’re working on “around,” “play dead,” and also coming up with more tricks for him to learn.
Jackson is such a sweet dog. He is always near us and wants to always be in the action and have someone paying him attention.
We are so excited to see what the next milestones are since we never got to see them with Aspen – we have no idea what is in store for us, other than continuing to live with a fantastic dog.
Since May Alex and I have employed the mantra “go, go, go.” Now that it’s late October I am elated to say that I look forward to a “boring” winter with few activities, trips or get-aways planned. While the last 6 months has been unbelievably fun and exciting, time has flown by WAY too quickly. We can finally sit back, relax and spend some time at home and watch the time pass a bit more slowly.
In between our trips and visitors we managed to get a few things done around the house. We are currently in-progress with the creation of a mudroom as an entry point from our backyard to our house. Stay tuned for photos once it’s complete!
Three years later, we finally have a bookshelf. It truly took us three years to decide on a bookshelf for the office. It really was worth the wait. We ended up picking a Threshold bookshelf from Target and the price couldn’t have been better! It fits perfectly in the office {photos to come!} and is a great height for when we decide to add a TV to it sometime down the road.
Right now our bedroom and the office are our decor priorities. We are hoping to purchase some curtains, a headboard and some art for our bedroom to go along with the rug we recently got. Our office was thrown together because it was so boring, but now that we’re getting some newer pieces we’ve decided to replace and/or rearrange many of the things that litter the walls.
We have a to do list that only grows. Every time I check something off the list I think of 3 things to add, it seems. The top priorities are a major deep clean {tomorrow!}, detailing the car {tomorrow!}, getting the house ready for winter {this weekend??} and re-grading our driveway {this weekend!}.
I found the time one Sunday to make a delicious pot of chili. I have been excited for fall cooking for several weeks now and I am really looking forward to taking advantage of having a little extra time on my hands to hang out in the kitchen and whip up soups, stews, and hearty meals.
I’m also looking forward to trying new fall vegetables via our CSA. Our food box has been so fantastic this year and I’m really excited for the winter squashes, brussels sprouts and fall veggies we have in store.
Our puppy isn’t so much a puppy anymore! Little Jackson is days away from being 7 months old. We have him enrolled in puppy junior high and we have been taking him to agility classes. After some very rough weeks between months 4.5 and 6, I am pleased to say that Jackson is doing very, very well in our home. He has been quite well-behaved, eating very well and just being a great dog.
Henry continues to surprise us with how cuddly and affectionate he has become. In the past, Henry has preferred to keep to himself, but be near the action. Lately, he has let us hold him for more than 1.5323 seconds and he has been overly playful – even our cat sitter says she has seen a big change in his demeanor lately.
Alex and I are certainly going to enjoy our “shoulder season” before we begin skiing again, but we’re also looking forward to a pretty laid-back ski season this winter, too. This is our year of saying “no” to trips, so we don’t really have any upcoming trips to look forward to until next summer. I think my posts are going to be pretty boring for a while – at least I hope they will! 🙂
It has become an annual tradition with one of our groups of friends to make a pilgrimage to Leavenworth, Washington to partake in Oktoberfest shenanigans. This year marked our second trip together. Our group included the newlyweds {Carrie & Patrick}, Mary, Ryan, Sara and Carsten, and three dogs {Berkeley, Emma and Jackson}.
The Millers found a fantastic house for us to rent for the weekend. The house had a very open floor-plan with a huge kitchen, a bedroom for each couple, a hot tub and a fenced in backyard {perfect for the pups!}.
We all arrived on Friday evening. We had enough time to have a few bottles of wine, some snacks and some great conversations before hitting the hay for the night.
Saturday morning we woke up and took the dogs for a walk and had breakfast together {breakfast burritos, courtesy of Sara} before going into the town of Leavenworth for the afternoon. Last year we went to the official Oktoberfest celebration, which included a hefty entry fee, no drink tickets and a lot of chaos. This year we decided against the actual celebration and instead found a place to grab some lunch and then did some shopping around town.
The girls split up to pop into some shops while the boys found a great beer garden with food that was better {and over an hour faster} than the restaurant we had lunch at. If only we would have found that place first! While the boys were enjoying their beer steins us girls did a wine tasting, Mary and I tried on the “world’s best leggings” and we did some olive oil sampling before meeting up with the boys for beers and pretzels.
The weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny, crisp and clear, so we got fabulous views of the mountains. Leavenworth is situated in the Cascade Mountains along the Wenatchee River. Given that it is currently fall, the colors were spectacular, which made the idyllic scene that much better.
On our way out we walked through an art fair and Alex and I bought a black and white picture of aspen trees that was taken outside of Aspen, Colorado. I think this picture will make its way to a wall down in the office. Mary and Ryan got a black and white image of Mount Rainier for their home.
We got back to the house around dusk and let the pups out to play while Carrie warmed up some hearty chili and cornbread for dinner. It was a pretty low-key night, but we all really enjoyed being able to relax so much. Alex and Patrick got a great fire going outside and then we all piled in the hot tub for a bit. I’m not sure how this happened, but we ended up watching Beauty and the Beast until we all fell asleep on the couch…
Sunday morning came way too fast and we had to pack up and get ready to go back to Seattle. Mary made a really good breakfast casserole with spinach, goat cheese and tomatoes, along with some rosemary roasted potatoes to fill our bellies up for the beautiful drive back home.
My wonderful friend Cammy came to visit Seattle last weekend. While the purpose of her trip was primarily to attend a conference for work, she was able to extend her trip and spend the weekend with me and Alex. Back when Alex and I lived in our condo downtown Seattle, Cammy had come to visit us, so she had the opportunity to do a lot of tourist attractions then. We were able to relax and enjoy some different things that the Seattle area had to offer this time around.
Friday we met up at my house in the afternoon and went for a run before heading back downtown for the evening. We bellied up to the bar at Purple, a wine bar, for quite a few hours and enjoyed an array of different wines, cheeses and a delicious pizza before calling it a night.
On Saturday we decided to treat ourselves to a pedicure and more wine! Big surprise 🙂 We savored in the luxurious Pro Club Spa’s fantastic service and then our chauffeur {my lovely husband} whisked us off to wine country {aka Woodinville}.
We ended up just going to one winery, Mark Ryan Winery, because the other winery we had planned on stopping at was unexpectedly closed. We all really enjoyed Mark Ryan but felt it was a bit expensive for what it was. Even so, we took home a bottle and still have that to look forward to.
Saturday evening we decided to stay in our neighborhood and settle in at Naam Thai and Bottlehouse. We loved our Thai food and then enjoyed a bottle of one of Alex’s and my current favorite wines, a cabernet Franc, at Bottlehouse, along with a decadent pumpkin cheesecake and a chocolate pot de creme.
It was a beautiful day on Sunday, which ended up working out perfectly for our stroll through the Japanese Garden and arboretum. The fall colors were gorgeous and there was even a maple leaf ceremony at the Japanese Gardens.
Cam and I have been friends since middle school but rarely get to spend time just the two of us. It was such a treat to have so much quality time together. I really enjoyed our time and getting the opportunity to learn more about her upcoming wedding, her job and recounting silly stories from our past. Until next time…
Our last stops on our Midwest Tour were in Illinois and Wisconsin, ultimately to attend Alex’s good friend Kari’s wedding on October 5th. We arrived in Illinois early Wednesday morning after our superfast flight from Minneapolis. Since we had been bouncing all over Minnesota for almost a week Alex and I wanted to just plant our feet in one place for a few days, so instead of staying at his parents house for a night, we just stopped there to have brunch and see some renovations they did on the house and then we headed north to their lake home in Wisconsin.
We knew that the weather was probably going to be the nicest on our first day, so we changed into our shorts and tee shirts and sat out on the deck and drank Donna’s newly famous {and delicious!} Sangria for most of the afternoon.
One of the best parts of being up at the lake is not having an agenda. We spent most of our days relaxing, catching up and just hanging out. There is always a new puzzle waiting to be put together whenever we go back to Illinois or Wisconsin so that kept us occupied for a bit too. It’s always a highlight to be able to take a boat ride around the lake – especially at sunset!
I had somehow never been to Lake Geneva before, which is right next to Lake Delavan, where the Allen’s lake home is. Lake Geneva is a pretty famous summer vacation spot in southern Wisconsin and is home to some local celebrities and really, really nice houses. We spent the better half of one afternoon popping into some of the shops and we enjoyed a nice lunch at Scuttlebutt’s.
On Friday Alex’s sister flew in from New York. It was so nice to see her! It had been since last Thanksgiving since we had the chance to see her. The day she arrived we went back to Lake Geneva for lunch to a really fun place called Pier 290. After lunch Donna, Alina and I split up and did a little wedding shopping – I got to see Alina’s wedding dress {!!!!} and Donna tried on a few mother-of-the-bride dresses. So fun!
We had a mini Iowa State reunion on Friday evening when Bryan, Alex’s cousin, drove up from Chicago to spend the evening with Alex and catch up. It was really nice for the two of them to spend some time together! We’re hoping that Bryan and his girlfriend will pay us a visit in Seattle this year {hint, hint!}.
Saturday morning we headed back to Illinois pretty early because Donna had booked hair appointments for the girls! Alina wanted to get her haircut, so Donna scheduled a blowout for herself and an up-do for me for the wedding on Saturday evening. I love that my mother in-law makes having nice hair such a priority!
Alex and I left mid-afternoon for Kari and Mike’s wedding at the Morton Arboretum. It ended up pouring just a bit before their wedding, so their original plan of having an outdoor ceremony was out the window. Alex’s friend Nick, who lived next door to Kari growing up, was their officiant and did a fantastic job of making an extremely personal service for them. It was really fun! The wedding was beautiful and it was nice to catch up with some of Alex’s friends from high school. I ended up getting sick mid-way through dinner {no, not from drinking, I had a virus}Â so I went back to the hotel and then sent Alex back to the wedding so he didn’t miss any time with his friends. He reported the next morning that the rest of the wedding was great and that he enjoyed catching up with his friends who he seldom sees.
The next morning we decided to order room service in our hotel room, and conveniently the movie Bridesmaids was on TV at the same time, so that’s how we spent an hour or two Sunday morning before heading back to his parents house for a family brunch.
Once we got back to Batavia, where Alex’s parents live, we got a chance to see Alex’s nana, his aunt Chris and two uncles named Mike, along with Vince and Nora, two family friends of the Allens. It is always nice to get to visit with everyone.
Before we knew it it was time to head to O’Hare to fly back to Seattle!