Fun Times in the Emerald City

Be advised: this is a photo heavy post.

We spent the last week of September in Seattle, with a few days up in Bellingham visiting some friends. One thing you should know: Justin hates Seattle. Okay, so maybe he doesn't hate the city itself; I think he just hates the traffic, limited parking and then having to pay for parking. I'm with Justin on the paid parking thing - its a bit of a drag to add $10 onto the cost of an activity simply to park your car within walking distance.

But I digress.

We just knew that for this IVF cycle we wanted to stay near our clinic. And stay near we did - we rented an apartment a mere five minutes from our clinic. It was fabulously convenient.

We also knew we wanted to get out and see Seattle a bit, which we did as well.

Our first adventure was the Seattle Aquarium. It was Kendry's and my first visit. We arrived just in time to see the diver feeding the fish.

This octopus was really on the move when I snapped this photo. It was a little creepy.

The tide pools were pretty neat.

This seal was doing laps, coming right at the glass.

We visited Pike's Market after leaving the aquarium, not realizing it was packed with Seahawks and Packers fans for the Monday Night Football that evening. Craziness!

That evening I took Kendry to one of my favorite spots, Alki Beach, while Justin yelled at watched the Seahawks on TV. We met up with my friend Amanda for a walk on the beach and some yummy fish and chips.

Our next adventure was the Children's Museum at Seattle Center, which we conveniently found a groupon for earlier in the week.

This photo of Justin cracks me up.

Kendry was pretending to call his grandpa while driving. I didn't have the heart to tell him this is illegal in Washington.

He was pretending to fall off the ledge. I think he gets his dramatic side from me.

The weather was gorgeous all week!



Mid-week we headed north to Bellingham to visit our friends and their new baby girl.

It was nice enough to BBQ and eat dinner outside.

(It was around this time that we stopped taking so many pictures.)

Toward the end of the week we returned to the Seattle area, this time staying in a hotel so Kendry could do some swimming.

We later met up with Justin's dad to hand over the kiddo for two nights so Justin and I could have some time to ourselves.

My proposal for rounding out a great week in Seattle:  a Saturday morning coffee and pedicure with a bosom friend, an afternoon trip to IKEA (Justin actually agreed to go!), a short nap and dinner with my best man.

Such a great trip!

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

We're baaaaack!

I have missed this little corner of our world.

Did you miss us?

{2}

Who stole all the daylight while we were away?!

 

{3}

I love watching these two play together!

Kendry sure loves his Ava.

{4}

Some day, many moons from now, when I actually have time to make a quilt, that blue basketball jersey will be sewn into said quilt.

Kendry would wear it every day if we let him.

{5}

My fall decor may not be entirely on display yet, but at least I've got my front barrel done.

I like to think of it as one of those 'false fronts' they use in Hollywood; if the front of my house resembles a harvest welcome, you might be fooled into thinking the inside looks that way too.

{6}

Yeeaaahhh.

So much for my cool corn stalks in the photo above. We had a nasty windstorm blow in last night.

I think my corn stalks are goners.

{7}

Only two weeks to go and we still haven't made a final decision on Kendry's Halloween costume.

I would like to point out that I don't procrastinate in all things. Believe it or not, I'm designing our Christmas card this week.

{8}

Where did our baby go?

 

{9}
Seattle pics to come tomorrow!

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

The love of family and friends.

My cup truly runneth over.

 

Fall Film, A Sneak Peek & An Epiphany

This weekend I began my traditional Fall Film Festival, kicking it off with a Chevy Chase classic: Funny Farm.

At the start of the movie, Chevy and his wife move to the country. Their first night in their new home, however, is spent on the floor because their movers get lost.

"When they say hardwood floors, what they really mean is hard wood floors."

I never tire of this movie.

On the to-do list this weekend - you know, aside from spending half the weekend in bed with a stomach bug - was assembling Kendry's big boy bed.

When I say big boy bed, what I really mean is BIG boy bed.

Note to self:

objects on Craigslist may be larger than they initially appear.

Sorry for the blurry pic but I couldn't stop laughing over the fact that Kendry's new bed is almost to his shoulders. Thus the stepstool.

I will post a full reveal soon. Just gotta finish up the drawers and wait for the quilt to arrive.

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Pinned it and did it!

This is my new teacher tote for Sunday School.

I'm not usually a fan of ombre; it just sorta came together that way as I toyed with my paint.

{2}

While Daddy was busy golfing on Saturday, Kendry and I attended the Lewiston Round-Up Parade.

The parade was halfway over before Kendry understood how to run out and retrieve the thrown candy. He even had the grandmas sitting beside us rootin' for him.

Apparently the LC Valley has its down roller derby team. Who knew?!

Out of an entire two hour parade, the spectacle most ingrained on Kendry's brain was the guy dressed up as a Subway sandwich. He talked about it the rest of the weekend.

Well, that and the candy, of course.

{3}

We really aren't the type of people who buy seasons of shows on DVD - except for Friends, but thats just a given.

I'm not attune to the shenanigans going on between CBS and the makers of Person of Interest, but they sure are making it difficult to purchase/watch episodes online.

With the season premiere airing on September 27th we just couldn't wait any longer.

Movie marathon, anyone?

Amazon 

{4}

We will never forget.

{5}

Fertility injections = moody wife

Just ask Justin.

{6}

Our little Cubby:

I'm not gonna lie, I choked up a little when they fitted him for his vest.

{7}

Our neighbors assembled one monster of a swingset this weekend; it has Kendry gazing out the front window in longing.

{8}
This ugly plastic bag has been stuck up in our tree since a windstorm last winter.

And by stuck I mean really stuck. We've had a few good windstorms since its arrival and that little stinker ain't budging. To make matters worse, its become weighted down with a little water - how I don't know since I can't tell you the last time it rained here.

I'm not kidding, its been over a month.

Excuse me a moment while I wet (whet?) my parched troat.

Ahem!

Anyway, the bag is too high to reach with a ladder - not that we're bothered by it enough to become "those crazy neighbors who set up their ladder in the middle of the street".

I am open to any ideas you might have for bringing that thing down. In case you can't tell, it is driving. me. bonkers.

The only reasonable solution I can find is to cut down the tree.

Or resort to something like the giant poking device from Friends, except mine will have gardening shears at the tip.

I wonder what the neighbors will think of me then.

{9}

Speaking of ombre,
check out the grass by our front fence.

Yikes!

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

Musical dinner theater.

Normally we discourage Kendry from singing at the dinner table as it hinders his eating progress. Plus its noisy and not proper table manners. But I didn't even try to stop him Sunday night as he softly serenaded us with "His Banner Over Me is Love" and "God is So Good".

I hope he always loves singing to his parents, and to his Savior, like this.

A Touch of {Functional} Vintage

I love a little vintage here and there in my decor.

I snatched up these two old suitcases at a yard sale awhile back.

I could stare at their wear and tear for hours and ponder where these suitcases have been, who they belonged to, how old they are...

 

There are some incredible decorating possibilities out there for old suitcases like this:

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One reason I fell in love with the idea of using these suitcases in my decor:

STORAGE SPACE!

In my opinion, you simply cannot beat a fun accent piece that doubles as storage - something our house seriously lacks.

Would it have killed the builder to throw in a linen closet or a coat closet somewhere?!

Anywhere?!

Sheesh.

Anyway, back to my suitcase.

As much as I love these pieces, I couldn't bring myself to throw a cherished item like my Christmas quilt into an old suitcase not knowing what that inner lining has been exposed to. Eww!

So I ripped it all out. Then I picked out some spare fabric, fired up my trusty hot glue gun and got to work.

Hot Glue Guns 101:

STOP all projects by 11pm or you are sure to burn yourself.

Doh!

Here is suitcase #1 with her new pretty lining:

 

Not only does she add a little character to our guest room but she also provides storage for the beautiful tree skirt I completed in December. Remember all those 'ruffles, ruffles, ruffles'?

Yeeeaah, ruffles = poofy.

Very poofy.

"Where on earth am I going to store this mass?" poofy.

But she fits well into the suitcase, and now I have peace of mind that my tree skirt is staying clean and pretty.

On a side note, do you ever have those moments where you forget about a craft/project you have finished?

Last week I went to retrieve some old drapes from my fabric stash and stumped myself for a few minutes when I couldn't find them.

Then I remembered I used them to make this tree skirt.




My beautiful shabby chic tree skirt!

I swear I'm not looking to set up my Christmas tree any time soon, but that tree skirt is really calling my name.