Scarves Up!

I have to be completely honest with you -- while I have been looking forward to this Sounders game for quite some time now, I was almost more excited that it gave me an excuse to drag my huge box of sweaters, scarves, long underwear, gloves and hats out of storage. So the whole "scarves up" thing had very special meaning to me on this particular day. Not only was it the first day I've warn a scarf this season (I know, I held off for a long time) but I also got my very own Sounders scarf! It's cute and plaid and soft and I love it. We'll have to go to more games next year so I get some use out of it. We had a blast at the game and it was a really incredible match to get to attend but I'll get to that in a few minutes...

Lovely day for a protest don't you think? I know basically nothing about the "Occupy Seattle" stuff that's been going on. I haven't been reading about it. I just see the headlines here and there about people being arrested and I think it's pretty much petered out by now. The headlines the last few days made it sound like there weren't many people left.

I felt really bad for the people who were stuck in traffic. We were walking up 1st faster than the cars were moving, which can be very frustrating.

We were downtown super early so not only did we find free parking but we also had time to swing by the Pro Shop to get me a scarf, walk up to Pikes Place and eat some of those fantastic little doughnuts, walk back to Pioneer Square, get free t-shirts, eat dinner at Taco Del Mar, participate in slash watch the pre-march festivities, march to the match with a few thousand other people, and listen to Sound Wave. It was a full day of Seattle fun and sunshine.

(waiting to get free t-shirts, they only had 2,000 and ran out in a matter of minutes)

(in our fabulous Kenneth Cole jackets and Sounders scarves)

(enjoying the band -- love Sound Wave! they're so fun. I want to learn how to play the drums just so I can play with them)

(Drew Carey getting everyone pumped up for the game. it was fun to see him there supporting his team and chatting with the crowd.)

This game (last Saturday) was Kasey Keller's last regular season home game and what a celebration it was! People really like him a lot and you could just feel (and see) the spirit of respect and admiration. The place was packed out too! 64,140 people. It was a very exciting game that almost came to a disastrous end in which case I would have told you it was a terrible game (because it was looking pretty terrible for a while) but since we pulled out the win I have to say it was awesome.

We had a blast and I didn't even freeze. Of course I was wearing 3 or 4 layers plus scarf, hat and gloves and for the majority of the game I had two fleece blankets wrapped around me but...

Anyhow, we've spent the rest of the week trying to get rid of our cough. It doesn't seem to want to leave. We've already made a huge dent in that NyQuil we got from Costco. In fact, we took some at 9:30am yesterday because we were coughing so much and by 10:30am we were both asleep on the couch. We didn't really wake up until almost 1:30 and even then only stayed awake long enough for a quick snack and an episode or two of Seinfeld. Miraculously, we did manage to get a full nights sleep last night even after that long day spent on the couch in a NyQuil haze. I made us each a new "rice sock" this week (proper ones that aren't actually made out of socks) and we put the new flannel sheets on the bed -- we are ready for some extreme cozy time. We're trying really, really hard not to turn the heat on in the house until November. I think we're going to make it!

One last comment from the kitchen (simply because I haven't really mentioned anything food related in the last few blog posts) and then I'm off to bed: First of all, I made some marvelous chicken the other night. I dipped the chicken in egg and then coated it in a mixture of seasoned bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, paprika and crushed up crispy bacon that was left over from our breakfast. It was SO good! Secondly, I steeped a bag of Earl Grey tea in a mug of hot cranberry juice tonight and it was the ultimate feel-good fall drink. I loved it! I'm not that big a fan of Earl Grey but this combo hits the spot. You should try it some time.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! We've got lots of fun stuff planned -- I'll fill you in later.

much love,

Steph

Cough Syrup.

Nasty stuff. I've had a cough for going on two weeks now so we finally bought some cough syrup last Saturday. Oh. My. Goodness. I don't know if I've ever tasted something so awful! I could barely get it down. I actually have to do the plug-the-nose thing when I take it. It's amazing how well that works. Mostly gets rid of the horrid taste but doesn't do anything about the texture. It's so gloopy and thick. Yuck. Every time I cough I get the shivers just thinking about the next time I'm going to have to drink it. Ugh. I'm so super excited to be all the way healthy again one of these days. We did get some NyQuil at Costco yesterday. Much cheaper and much easier to swallow. And I definitely appreciated the fact that I got nearly 10 uninterrupted hours of sleep last night.

Voldemort Goes to Bruges.

When we got home from Oregon the other day, we decided to watch one of our library movies -- I've had quite a few checked out lately and it's no easy task trying to watch them all before they're due back. I had been wanting to see the film In Bruges for quite some time. I loved my weekend in Bruges and thought it was so beautiful and fun and cute so when I heard about this movie, I was curious. It's fun to watch movies filmed in places you've visited. I like recognizing things and pointing out places I've been and occasionally, learning about something that I should have seen but didn't know about while I was there.

Anyhow, here's something you should know about this movie: it was terrible!! We were beyond disappointed. We were also frightened, disturbed, scarred, and even a bit annoyed. The DVD box totally lies too. It says things like "A hilarious, twisted pleasure" and "Undeniably fun and refreshingly un-P.C." and the back of the box claims "...edgy, action-packed comedy, filled with thrilling chases, spectacular shoot outs and an explosive ending you won't want to miss!" and "Get ready for the outrageous and unpredictable fun you will have, In Bruges, the movie critics are calling 'wildly entertaining.'" What the heck?? It definitely tried to be funny and occasionally it almost succeeded but then you would think, should I really be laughing at that? After the first 45 minutes I turned to Steven and asked if we should just turn it off but the cover had been so promising that we decided to stick it out. Terrible. Just terrible. It makes me sad that Bruges has to be associated with it. I hope I forget all about it before the next time I go there. (And yes there will be a next time -- I can't wait to take Steven.) That is not what I want to be thinking about while I'm walking through Bruges eating waffles and taking in the storybookland-like sights.

I should have known it wasn't worth two hours of my time when I saw that Ralph Fiennes was in it. No offense to him, but out of the dozens of films he's done I only really like a small handful of them -- including, of course, the Harry Potter films. I think he does an excellent job making Voldemort's character incredibly twisted and dark and unlikeable. The Prince of Egypt and Schindler's List were good too but I don't think they can be credited to the work of Mr. Fiennes.

Fortunately, we watched the movie Legendary today, which I thought was really quite good. I'm always up for an inspirational sports film, especially one based on true events. It had good music and a good story and Danny Glover so all in all it was a success. We just finished watching I, Robot. Will Smith and Shia  LaBeouf in the same movie?! Wow. That's what I have to say about that. Ha! I had seen it once with Paige freshman year. I believe we watched it with a couple of friends in Moyer (the only time I was ever in Moyer) but I didn't remember too much of it. It was fun and relaxing watching it with Steven tonight. A great way to end the evening. No more of that crazy Voldemort-man shooting up the streets of Bruges. Yuck. My advice to you: do not watch In Bruges. Phew. Glad we sorted that out.

Mostly Food. What Else is New?

Fall has already proven to be a very busy time for us. Busy in a different way from the normal fall chaos of back-to-school life. I do miss those days terribly but this is fun too and the lack of homework is really quite wonderful. It's always hard to not get to do the whole back-to-school thing. As soon as the leaves start to change and we have those beautiful cool crisp mornings it makes me think of You've Got Mail and the whole "bouquet of sharpened pencils" thing. That never really sounds all that exciting until fall hits and all of the sudden it sounds like just the right touch. If ever I make it as a teacher I plan to have just such a bouquet sitting on my desk.

Steven isn't working much this month just because of the way that his regular days off worked out so we're just hanging out with people and visiting friends and taking advantage of the opportunity to be social. Last weekend we spent Sunday hanging out at my mom's house. It was relaxing and fun. We watched The Queen, which I thought was really interesting. Helen Mirren does a fabulous job portraying Her Royal Highness and the actual news footage that they used throughout the film really helped to bring everything together. The movie was a glimpse into the life of the royal family in the hours just before and the few days following the death of Princess Diana. Since I was only ten years old at the time of the accident, I really didn't know much about it so the movie was both informative and entertaining. We finished our time at Mom's with a little "family pizza night" :) It was fun making our own pizzas and putting all kinds of toppings on. They were yummy too. I put a little bit of everything on mine so I was only able to eat one small piece before feeling absolutely stuffed.

I also spent a bit of time sewing last week. I had the pleasure of spending a few hours at Sue Piehler's house on Tuesday. We worked at our sewing machines and drank tea and talked and ate lunch and it was so relaxing and fun. Sue is an excellent teacher. Mostly I was just working on my own but it was so helpful having her there when I made a mistake or angered my sewing machine (we're still getting to know each other... hopefully I'll learn how not to anger it with such regularity). Here's that quilt I found. Like I said, it's not much to look at but I've been working on the border and it really brings the whole thing together. I think I'll be quite proud of it when it's finished.
  

On Friday morning I took a quilting class. It was really basic but also really helpful. I made this little square thing. It's not something that I would make in real life. I wouldn't use such flowery fabrics (they were in that big tub of fabric -- figured I might as well use them instead of buying something) and I also probably wouldn't do a design like this but it was great practice for cutting and measuring and matching up seams for corners and pressing and everything. I can't wait until I can do more! I'm really excited about this. It's fun for me and a great way to just focus some creative energy and block out other useless thoughts that tend to occupy my mind.

We also had Amanda over to spend the night. We had met up with her in Seattle for games and Sushi and then decided to just have her over for the night... which gave us an excuse to spend yet another day in Seattle when we drove her back to her place the next day. I made cinnascones for breakfast -- they were SO YUMMY! Steven says he likes them better than normal cinnamon rolls. I don't know about that but they're definitely easier. It's a scone recipe  and then you roll it out, spread the cinnamon/brown sugar/butter mixture over it, roll it up, and cut it into one inch pieces. I made cream cheese frosting for the tops of them because I think it's far superior to a powdered sugar glaze.

New exhibit at the Science Center -- the Design Zone. They have all kinds of interactive things that show how video games work and how ramps are designed for skate board parks and how photos are edited and how music is mixed and just all of the sciencey stuff that's involved in those things. They have another exhibit there right now, the Puzzle Palooza, with the giant Rubics Cube but we didn't have time for that. We'll have to go again soon. We did, however make time to see an IMAX. Rocky Mountain Express was all about the railroad being built through the rocky mountains. There was some beautiful scenery and a lot of interesting history. Mostly, it just made us want to travel to Banff.

We also made a quick little trip down to visit Jeremy and Ronnie. We only stayed one night but we played lots of board games and ate some yummy food. It was so nice of them to host us! Their friends Hannah and Mike came over to play games and make pizza -- the boys fixed dinner while us girls just sat and talked and then we stepped in to make a dessert pizza with the left over dough. We put apples and cinnamon and sugar and some icing on top and it was surprisingly yummy.


Our growth group started yesterday. Steven was working so there were only two of us (me and another group member) but we still had a a nice time. We played games and had lunch at Cafe Mox and we're already looking forward to next week. I expect to have at least three group members there in addition to Steven and myself and possibly Amanda. My sewing group starts tomorrow! So that should be good too. I bought some really fun fleece at the fabric store yesterday. One is red with frogs on it and the other is black with these adorable colored monsters all over it. I want to make something for myself out of that one. And that's pretty much my update from the past week. Well, for now anyway.

Falling Again.

I feel like Fall just slammed into us today. We've had some cold rainy days mixed in with our sunny warm ones these past couple of weeks but with today being October 1st it was as if the cold, rainy weather could mean only one thing: the season has officially changed. And for some crazy reason instead of having my first official pumpkin-spice-latte craving and planning a harvest party and looking up fun recipes that involve squash, I found myself thinking about Christmas. I know!! It's absolutely ridiculous and I'm trying to fight the overwhelmingly merry thoughts but they just make me so very happy. It's hard to block them out. Maybe I just need a little more magic in my life. A trip to Disneyland, a cozy day spent listening to Harry Potter, another read-through of the Peter and the Starcatchers books or a little holiday sparkle. I decided to start listening to Harry Potter audio books in the car again and I'm currently watching Hook. I hope these two activities will be an adequate suppressant for my ever present hunger for fantasy.

After bonding over our desire for Christmas to come early this year, my mom and I spent the morning at the craft store. We bought boxes of clear glass ornaments and paint to swirl around the insides of them. We also found a couple of really fun items on the clearance shelves including a cute little pitcher and some fake flowers. I made one small purchase at Tuesday Mornings -- a 99¢ snowman ornament. I love having a miscellaneous tree that can accommodate any cute (bargain) ornament that I happen to come across.

Back at home we attempted to make the swirly paint ornaments. I had already decided we should really save the project for sometime closer to Christmas so we only tried one to see how it worked. We had done this project many many years ago (and LOVED the result) but Mom hung a bunch of them on the railing last year and unfortunately, Charlie managed to knock most of them to their shattered demise on the tile floor below. So this time, we're going to try it with clear plastic ornaments. Hopefully the paint works just as well in the plastic ornaments and then we don't even have to worry about Charlie!

I also tried my hand at floral arranging today. I think I love it. I might have to make it my new hobby -- how many new hobbies do you suppose one girl can have? Sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, floral arranging... looks like I'm going to be spending lots of money! This project, however, was very inexpensive. The flowers and the new pitcher (on the right) were all 80% off and Mom already had the other pitcher. I'm not much in to fake flowers and I probably wouldn't have chosen these specific ones but I think the finished product is really pretty. I was impressed. Mom offered to let me have the new pitcher and the flowers inside but I don't think Steven would really like it. And besides, it's really pretty and I made it so I think she should probably keep it in her house. It's good for a mom to continue showing off her daughter's art projects for many, many years after elementary school :)

After indulging the holiday spirit for a few brief moments this afternoon, I believe I have succeeded in setting it aside for several more weeks... at least until Whites Nursery opens their incredible Christmas display sometime next month. I can't wait to go searching for a new fire engine ornament for our tree! Maybe learning how to cook that acorn squash I bought yesterday and sipping a pumpkin spice latte will get me back on track. Here's to a beautiful fall season with crisp October mornings, changing leaves and many, many cups of tea.