The Cupboard Under the Stairs.

Also fondly known as, The Room of Requirement. We have a closet/cupboard under the stairs that usually contains our "Costco mountain" or in other words, everything that I've purchased from Costco or other grocery stores over the last 9 months that we have yet to use/eat. It's a pretty crazy place and more often than not, we can't seem to find what we're looking for. The goldfish crackers are at the bottom of the heap, the cans of cream of mushroom soup have fallen behind the hot water heater, and the rolls of toilet paper were thrown to the back and I can't reach them without having Steven hold onto me as I stretch precariously over the mountain. So on Friday we took everything out and did our best to organize it in a way that allows us to see (and use!) what we have. With 21 boxes of cereal, well, let's just say I won't need to go shopping any time soon.

A quick glance at the rest of our weekend... Friday night we spent hanging out with the Piehlers.

Tim made these yummy snacks for us and we just sat and ate them all while playing a game of Cargo Noir. And then a little hot tubbing after :)

Aw, how sweet.

Saturday morning Steven and I spent tidying up the house, which felt SO good!! I pulled everything out of our closet and organized it and we scrubbed the bathroom and I tidied our room a bit (still needs some help as I've started to pull things out that we will be packing for Hawaii later this week) and weeded our little dirt patch out front and tidied up downstairs and cleaned the kitchen and it was just so great to do a little spring cleaning! The guest bedroom is still in desperate need of some attention as is the closet in there.

Saturday evening we went out for dinner with my Dad's family to celebrate Amanda's birthday. Sushi at Kiku. Yum. And then we spent the night at my mom's house so we would have a short commute to church Sunday morning. We played Cargo Noir with Mom and then crashed in Tara's bed since she was out of town.

Sunday was busy busy busy! We went to church and then I dropped Steven off at the Mayer's and I went to Alderwood Mall to work on wedding stuff with Joy (we got a nice little timeline going, excellent progress!) and then back to the Mayers for Chad's birthday party and then off to Uncle Scott's to celebrate Grammi's birthday, phew!

And right now, we're heading out the door to spend Memorial Day with Scott and Kristen in Vancouver, WA.

Hope Memorial Day weekend is treating you well!!

OH! p.s. Steven is moving on to the Chief's interview. It's this Wednesday at 11:20.

EFD Interviews: Round One

Steven has his Oral Board interview with the Enumclaw Fire Department at 10:20 this morning. I am both nervous and extremely excited for him. We've been waiting so long for these interviews to start and now they're finally here. I think Steven has every reason to feel confident going into this interview. He's been working really hard to prepare himself for the hiring process. Hopefully he will have an interview with the Chief next week for us to look forward to; I'll keep you posted.

We Made It!

Monday, 23 May 2011

Well, I think we finally made it. It was starting to feel like Narnia around here with that never ending winter but it would appear that spring is officially here. We have had some beautiful sunny weather and even the days that aren't perfect are still pleasant enough to go out for a walk in the evenings. It's so nice to wake up (at 5:30am -- that part's not so nice) to bright skies, fresh air and chirping birds. We can even leave our window open a couple of inches at night and not have to worry about catching hypothermia in our sleep.

I had the pleasure of throwing a bridal shower for my dear friend Lena a week and a half ago. In case you don't already know this I love, love, love throwing parties!! The listing and baking are probably my favorite parts...

(photo courtesy of Mandie at Sindisiwe Photography)

Hence these yummies that I put together. I'll admit, I didn't bake the brownies -- I bought them at Costco (I'm a working woman, some sacrifices must be made, plus, they're super yummy) and then topped them with a whipped chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries. Almond cake in the center, of course. That one's been a recent favorite.

(photo courtesy of Mandie at Sindisiwe Photography)

I invited everyone who came to the party to help put a srapbook together for Lena. I purchased a Sesame Street book from Goodwill and covered it with fabric, ribbon and paper and everybody else designed and glued-in their own page. It turned out beautifully. I'll have to get some more photos of it sometime.

(photo courtesy of Mandie at Sindisiwe Photography)

We played games and laughed and sang and Lena opened gifts and we ooed and awed and we ate and ate and ate :) It was fabulous!

(photo courtesy of Mandie at Sindisiwe Photography)

I think Lena enjoyed it as well.

Her aunt was gracious enough to host us in her home. She made quiches and scones and salads and a cheesecake and everything was just beautiful. Oh! And for anyone who cares (slash knows what it is) we also played Pass the Parcel!

After the party I made my way over to my mom's house where Tara was getting ready for Prom!! So fun. Amanda and I didn't do the whole prom thing so this was kind of exciting. Tara was super cute and super excited and looked fabulous in her dress! (well, a dress that was -- is? -- mine but happens to fit her perfectly) I don't have any photos yet of Tara in her dress but I do have this photo...

Mikey picked Tara up in this lovely little Lexus -- the product of his father's mid-life crisis I'm sure.

Continuing our super busy celebratory weekend, we also had the joy of getting together with the whole Parducci clan in honor of Mandie, Rick and Barry's birthdays. Mom picked up some new glasses for the occasion. We ate and laughed and talked and ate some more. Uncle Scott's German chocolate cake was unbelievable, as usual. I could eat it every day and be a very happy camper.

Here's what I was most excited for this past week -- this monstrosity of a TV was picked up last Monday by a guy who runs a local recycling business.

So the ginormous TV that hasn't worked in over two months is finally gone!!! I was so excited to come home from work and have a new project. I think the results are pretty great. Check it out.

We moved the little TV and bookshelf down from our bedroom and we're now using my laptop as our "TV" upstairs. Do you love it? I do. I think it's a huge improvement. The space feels bigger and I think this little TV and shelf are much better suited to the small space we have available to us. Having the big screen TV was nice, when it worked, but I think this will suffice until we have a bigger home and a bigger budget :)

So those are my happy thoughts for the week: spring is finally here and our living room just got a fresh new look -- love it!

Celebrating Mom.

Well Happy Mother's day! A couple of days late I know but that's okay. I have the best mom ever (well, unless if Grammi is reading this because you always have to make exceptions there in which case they're both the best mom's ever but let's not get technical). She is generous and kind and thoughtful and she loves us to bits. And she's silly and funny and she makes me laugh. Just a few of my favorite things.

We had a very fun Mother's day. I kind of abandoned Steven, which was rather unfortunate, and my sisters and I took Mom to the Mariners game. We would have taken Steven with us (we do really like to have him around) but we only had four tickets. He doesn't much like baseball anyway.

Sunday afternoon at Safeco field was absolutely beautiful! It had been raining earlier that morning so I was surprised when we drove into Seattle to blue skies and sunshine! It was certainly cold though. We haven't quite made it to perfect baseball weather yet.

The Mariners (who have actually been playing decently well this season) decided that it might be fun to lose a series to a team with one of the worst records... just for kicks. You know. So, sadly, the White Sox beat us in extra innings by 3 runs. Very sad ending indeed but we stayed until the very last out!

I also remembered to wear my Mariners earrings that Tara gave me for Christmas probably 10+ years ago, so that was fun :)

And here's the picture that was on card I gave to my mom. I just thought it was super cute and wanted to include it (this is a Hallmark card by the way. Wallgreens had a pretty sad selection of Mother's Day cards so I got this one instead). On the iside it said Get ready for the thank you dance! and it made me laugh, so I bought it.

Other random news from the weekend: Steven's test went pretty well on Saturday. He hasn't received his results yet but he felt good about it. If anything I'd say he was disappointed there wasn't more of all that crazy math he's been studying. He was looking forward to using his new skills :) We decided to take it easy after his test on Saturday and just celebrate having it over with. I made some cookies and we peeled a grapefruit for lunch and then we went to the Mint for happy hour. We shared a drink and a huge plate of fries while playing a game of Scrabble. We attempted to play Checkers first but my brain just doesn't do Checkers. I don't know why, it just doesn't. Just as we were about to go back home someone changed the TV to the Sounders game. The second half had just begun so we stayed for a while... until the other team scored and then went home to watch Million Dollar Baby. Fabulous movie!! I loved it but let me warn you, it's no Disney movie! I think I was expecting an inspirational sports film like The Rookie or Remember the Titans (another favorite of mine) but um, well, it just wasn't. This is only the second Clint Eastwood film I've seen (if you haven't seen Gran Torino you need to. Now.) and I've decided the man is brilliant. He and Morgan Freeman made quite the odd couple in this film. They were really funny together. Hllary Swank did a nice job as well. Not only did Clint Eastwood direct, produce and star in this film but he also composed the music, which was lovely. The Academy Awards they received for the film were well deserved.

So that's all I know. Steven's out making some money (modeling for his brothers art class) and I'm here all alone. I think I'll watch another episode or two of Lucy and then call it a night.

Fridays are Fabulous!

Just spent another Friday night out with my husband! We went to the $2 theater in Federal Way (dodgy place) to see Gnomeo and Juliet but they're only showing it in 3D. When the man announced that to see it would cost a total of $8 as opposed to the $4 we were planning to spend we decided to see I Am Number 4 instead. Um... yeah... maybe we should have forked over the extra four bucks! Haha! The film was, well, rubbish to be completely honest but somewhat entertaining so not a total loss. They chose pretty good music too so at least there was that one redeeming factor. We attempted to go to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a gift card we've had for almost a year. Second bad decision of the evening -- the place was packed. We skipped out and went to Red Robin instead (still had a gift card for there anyway).

Steven's test is tomorrow morning so it's early to bed for us tonight. Maybe just a quick episode of Iron Chef to finish the week off right!

April Showers Bring...

Thursday 5 May 2011

Gloriously sunny May days! Okay, well, only two of these last 5 days actually count as "gloriously sunny." The other three were mostly cold and rainy with bright/dry moments here and there. Sunday May first was absolutely stunning though and I think it gave us all hope for the summer we know must be on it's way.

We spent last weekend celebrating Steven's birthday and had just the best time ever! We had our own little date Friday night. We shared the biggest burrito I have ever seen at Gorditos (anyone ever heard of the "baby burrito?") and then walked across the street to see a play at the Taproot Theatre. The show was about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and it was very interesting. I can't say that I really know much of anything about him but now I'm curious to read/learn more. We still prefer musicals to straight theatre but I would say this was probably the best non-musical play I've ever seen. The actor who played Bonhoeffer was really quite good. P.S. the burrito was even better warmed up the second day. Next time we'll just get a whole extra one to bring home -- should last us a couple of meals.

Saturday was a very long day. we were both so excited that it was Steven's birthday and rather disappointed that we had to wait all day long for friends to come over and celebrate with us. I made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast and then we just kind of hung around the house and played Phase 10 for most of the afternoon. I always feel like a little kid when I'm waiting for a party to start. I love hosting and feeding people and I just get so impatient :)

The food was really quite fabulous, if I do say so myself. Chips and soyrizo/black bean dip, pita chips and hummus, apples and peanut butter dip (parties are all about the dip you know), lemonade cookies, almond cake, sangria and rum slush! Delish! Our friends finally started showing up in the early evening and we had so much fun! Lyle and Samantha brought their little Liam who is now 6 months old and actually not very little at all. I hadn't seen him since the Superbowl and he's grown so much! Lena and Aaron showed up as well as Tim and Annika and Jeremy (Ronnie was unable to make it this weekend) and Michael and Apanda. We pulled out the bandanas and played a very exciting game of Bang! I was the Sheriff and had a deputy on either side of me; it doesn't get much better than that. The evening reminded Steven and I of all the fun parties we had when all of our SPU friends lived within three miles of each other -- I miss that! It's so much easier to plan a big party when people only have to drive 10 minutes to get there (or better yet, walk!). We were really missing Chad and Whitney and Paige and Rachel and Hilde and Chelsea and all of our favorite people who can't just drop by anymore (well, Hilde could kayak over from Norway but she just chooses not to).

Sunday morning was another fun day at church (um, do all of my posts pretty much sound the same...? I hope not but I feel like I just recognized that line as one that appears quite frequently).

Did your heart just melt? Mine did.

And here's the birthday cake I made for Steven. I literally spent 5 hours on it and it looks like I just slapped it together, haha! It was a little "fall-apart-y" but super yummy. The recipe came from Macrina. Coconut cake with lemon cream and raspberries. The cream was made by mixing lemon curd with whipped cream and the frosting was made with melted white chocolate, butter and cream cheese (no sugar, so weird!) and the whole thing was fabulous. I wish I hadn't been too full to bring home left overs because I could really go for some right now. We celebrated Steven's birthday as well as Papa's birthday with the Parducci family on Sunday evening at Uncle Scott's house. Mom barbecued flank steak and Scott made fettuccine. Our family knows how to eat.

For the most part, the rest of this week has been filled with work but Steven and I were able to spend a couple of hours last night studying with Maryn. Our study sessions wouldn't be complete without snacks... Maryn provided the tea and the tapioca and I brought the cupcakes! Brain food, right? The Enumclaw FD written test is this Saturday and we will all be so glad to put it behind us. Maryn and Steven have been studying like mad for the past couple of months and neither of them seems to be able to find any reason to talk to me these days unless they have a math related question :)

SO glad that tomorrow is Friday!! I get to teach second grade in Auburn tomorrow. I hope they're cute and sweet.

Time to sleep.

Beyond Our Bipolar Weather.

Sorry that the last couple of posts have been so brief. How silly is it that the weather has been the only thing worth updating the blog for this past week? Pretty darn. Actually, we've had fun stuff going on I just don't tend to have time to type more than a sentence or two. The 36 or so hours of clear weather we had were absolutely marvelous! It was warm outside with beautiful sunshine in the day and a sky full of stars at night. I think summer in Enumclaw is going to be pretty great (minus the fact that when it warms up even a few degrees the smell of cow seems to become so much more intense). On Friday evening the Ottos invited us over for a BBQ!!! Can't wait for more of those. They have a fabulous backyard with an incredible view of Mt. Rainier. I suppose maybe I should have taken a picture of that but Chevy was looking pretty cute on his lawn mower so you get this photo instead :)

Steven started a game of hide-and-seek with Colby and all of the sudden Colby was instructing everyone where to hide so that he could find them. I balked when he directed me under the slide and tried telling him there would be spiders under there but he didn't seem terribly concerned. Howie was happy to accompany me though she was mostly worried about getting a little head scratch. We had hot dogs and chips and salad and then roasted marshmallows at the fire pit. It was a lovely little taste of summer and I hope there's more to come in the very near future.

The weather was just as nice when we woke up the next morning so I chased Steven outside to help me reorganize our little storage room. I've been wanting to do this since last October! It felt SO GOOD to take everything out and see what was there and then put it all back in stacked nicely and in such a way that I could actually find and retrieve something if I needed it. It was a slightly sad experience though... I know that I have a lot of stuff but it was somewhat difficult seeing all of these lovely things, especially the kitchen things, that I just don't have room to keep in the house right now. We have a great little apartment that I really do adore but a bigger kitchen, well, obviously I would never pass that opportunity up. Steven kept rolling his eyes at all of the things that we were pulling out of there. I keep a lot of stuff "just in case" because you never know when you're going to need something and chances are -- we'll have it when we do need it.

Our reward to finishing the storage unit was a little picnic. Steven said he felt silly sitting on our front lawn eating our lunch but I told him people probably thought it was cute. Besides, it's not our fault that we don't have a nice, private, fenced-in back yard to hang out in and everyone should be outside on days like these. We were definitely having some trouble taking a photo of the two of us with our picnic but I thought maybe I'd just post this one and let you think I was trying to be artsy or something. We shared tuna and cheese paninis, pickles, wine and tea :) Yum!

It was hard to leave the sunshine but following our picnic we drove up to Woodinville for a little study session outside of Jamba Juice and then dragged ourselves into the freezing cold warehouse we call church for Easter-Eve service. It was such a treat going to church Saturday evening and not having to worry about getting up early or working in the nursery (though I did miss those cute little kids!). Easter weekend was not at all lacking in food... following church we went to dinner at my dad's (salmon and rice!!), Sunday morning Steven and I went out to breakfast, Sunday afternoon we had lunch at Steven's parents' house and Sunday evening we went up to Papa and Grammi's for Easter dinner. I feel full just thinking about it!

It was such a treat to go out to breakfast just the two of us. We went to The Kettle again (same place we went for Christmas Eve breakfast) and shared a waffle and an order of biscuits and gravy. I don't know why but going out for breakfast just feels so special.

Steven's dad spent the afternoon telling me all about his trip to Orlando and what he learned at the Disney Institution! He had all sorts of fun facts about how they run things down there and it was all really interesting. I want to go to the Disney Institution... he even had a little "graduation cap" with Mickey ears on it.

The evening with the Parducci's was wildly entertaining, as usual. I've recently decided that the whole family needs to go on a Disney cruise together. Can't say the uncles are too stoked about that idea but I've got at least 6 people on board -- that's half the family! It might take a bit more time to talk the others into it.

And yes, I was serious about the snow the other day. I couldn't believe it. It only lasted an hour or so, thank God.

My fun little project these days has been planning a bridal shower for Lena :) I love love LOVE planning parties! Especially for people who I love. I finally finished and mailed the invitations just yesterday. Steven kept trying to tell me I was spending way too much time on them ("they aren't wedding invitations for goodness sake!") but I was just having such a great time making them cute and Lena-esque. The shower isn't for a couple more weeks but it's coming together beautifully and I think it's going to be a really fun time. Great food, great friends and a beautiful bride-to-be!

In other exciting news, as of this morning I am officially employed by the Auburn school district. Woohoo! So that means I'm now in 6 different districts. I'm hoping May is going to bring in lots of work for me.

Well, Steven and I are off to Gorditos for dinner and to see a show at the Taproot Theatre.

TTFN. Ta-Ta for now!