We hope everyone had a great week!! For this house it was softball, Tango night at Endolyne Joe's (only watched, but wish we could do the dance), lots of rain (until the gorgeous weekend), and a cavity-free visit to the dentist (that's 31 years folks). On Friday night we cheered on the Mariners at Safeco while they came back for a big win - it was such a great game!! Ichiro had two homeruns - he is good.

We headed down to Tacoma for a visit with Slade and Kristen last night, where we walked the water and had appetizers outside at Duke's, then headed back to their place for a wonderful dinner. It was fun to hang with them and their little baby boy on the way!

All mustache inquiries are to go directly to Andrew...

Wish we also could have joined the Winona crew for the Baby H shower - congrats Kate and Jeff for your little one on the way!

Safe and Back in the Sound

Tonight we are thankful that The Turpins made it home safely from their 6 week trip to Italy! Benvenuto A Casa! We missed them and we are excited to hear all about their travels!

The 30s Rule

I celebrated the BIG 3-1 over the weekend and it was a blast!! It turned out to be perfect BBQ weather for our party and we had a great time!! Thanks to everyone for the flowers, wine, music, chocolate, kind words, and all the other special birthday wishes!! (and to Andrew for my very first and much needed Seattle raincoat!) Also thanks to my family for sending so much love - I missed you a lot this weekend!

We are still standing as this is before we ate those giant burgers!

2 Cool Taurus-born folks giving the Bull sign. Yay for birthdays!
(Happy Birthday tomorrow Joe!!)

Yoda and Drew - the dogs got baths for one of my b-day presents

After the celebrations, coffee time, family walks, dinner at Pegasus, and more...

A nice way to end the weekend....a wish and some strawberry shortcake!

It was also great to share the day with Mother's Day -- we love our mothers so much! Thanks for all that you do for us!! And Happy Mother's Day to all my friends out there too - it has been such a treat seeing you all with your adorable children and it is such a great feeling to know that I get to watch them grow with you!! Thanks Moms!!

You Go Grad!

A huge congrats to sis-in-law Erin for getting her Masters Degree in Counseling today! What a huge accomplishment and the family is so proud of you! Reach for the stars!

Cool to Be Kind

It's definitely safe to say that any of our blog readers are avid animal lovers and most likely pet owners, so I am just giving a shout out to all the animals in our lives in honor of Be Kind to Animals Week.

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am. -- Unknown

We love our pets unconditionally, and we know you do too.
Even when they jump on the bed, or bark at passers-by, or leave vomit on the floor for the morning walk to the kitchen. None of that matters because they are really just trying to snuggle with us, protect us, or just make room for the next great treat. Some of our best memories are with these animals, and every quirky characteristic makes them the sweetest, most loving furry creatures ever. I will never forget the days that I met each of my pets and took them home from the Humane Society and kissed them goodnight (and got sloppy kisses) ever since! And the day that Andrew decided to say yes to this 'package deal' and love us all so much!! I love the furry Turpin members (including the bearded husband!)

Life is good. Have you hugged your pet today?

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Salud! for Cinco de Mayo!

This was taken on our honeymoon, and I thought I would post this Mexico memory since Andrew is in California for a couple of days this week and didn't get to celebrate. Hope you all enjoyed some Coronas or margaritas!

Good Times

Has anyone else tried the Kiva site? We were able to donate a small amount via a gift card to this great organization today. It is a great concept - I am sure you have heard of it but it was nice to finally contribute. So easy and what a difference it could make! Here is more on who we donated to. See if you like it too!

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=99341&_te=ty

Just showing off my new Richard Shorty art that I received for an early birthday present from my hubby. The salmon represents eternal life - I love my new NW art!

More happy spring -- I love getting flowers from the Pike Place Market. Yesterday we were able to get several fresh items like flowers, fish, a piroshky, and donuts from the market during our rainy visit. This same rain did not help when we attempted to use the smoker last night, but at least we had a great time! When the weekend started off with burgers and beer at our local favorite, Circa, I knew it was going to be a perfect weekend and I was right! Ahh, life's simple pleasures. Happy Sunday night!

Bragging Rights

How can I not brag over this adorable face?

Enjoy some recent pics of our niece Maddie!

Pretty darn cute!

Little Maddie is getting so big, and we miss her every day! Cor, just know that we are always thinking of you guys and sending lots of love! Can't wait for Maddie to have her first trip to Seattle!

Reason to Celebrate

Come On In!

One year ago - Diana, our realtor,and her husband, also our mortgage broker, on the day the house was officially ours. (her and I used to drive around forever getting lost as we tried to find the homes on our list)

It's been a whole year that we have been in our new house...and we almost didn't even realize it! As keen as we are at remembering our special occasions (or at least making them up as a reason to celebrate), this one almost blew right past us. How shall we celebrate? We're gonna try out the meat smoker for the first time, kick back, and enjoy the place ..at some point this weekend anyway! Diana gets a special note too.
Bless our Happy Home! (and yours too!)

Hump Day

Happy Wednesday Ya'll! Another great day to give thanks, of course. Tonight we hit Happy Hour at a newly opened lounge in West Seattle, then headed home for some home-made pizza and good conversation. Joe and Shawn joined us for HH, then Joe joined us for dinner so it was a great night.

Dos Equis, Dos Amigos

So much better than it may appear in this picture.

PS - Thanks for the ice cream Joe!

I was also happy today as the Red Cross approached me to do some volunteer work with a new emergency preparedness team who participates in workshops and fairs around King County, educating the public about disasters, community plans, etc. In the past, I have volunteered there as a coordinator, where I interviewed new candidates wanting to be part of the ARC. It was a great gig but the weekly interviews were cramping my style and I had to step down temporarily until something else worked with my schedule. The art of preparation is very interesting to me, so I think this new opportunity will suit me just right. It is a flexible and valuable position where I have an opportunity to excel as one of the team leaders so I look forward to it!

Austin Was A Hit!

We were so lucky and happy to be able to fly down to Austin for a long weekend with the Texas Turpins! Thanks Dan, Kristen, Jack, Kate, Finn & Murph for having us! We had a blast and loved our time with all of you -- but Jack and Baby Kate really have us missing you guys now!

Arriving in Austin on a warm sunny day

Look Out! Six Turpins in Texas!! Lunch at Shady Grove


Irresistable Kate - she is perfect.

The One and Only Murphy - our weekend shadow. I really did want to take him home!

Chillin in Austin

Uncle Andrew and his favorite nephew

The Turpin Boys

Happy to be here...

We love Kate!

Jack loves cupcakes

The hottest rock band in Texas - practicing during an afternoon trip to the Children's Museum.

The 'Bat Tour' from a pontoon on Ladybird Lake -- this was fascinating as an estimated 800,000 bats dropped from their sleeping quarters inside the Congress Street bridge at dusk. It was amazing to watch thousands of them endlessly swarm above us and fly into the night. I highly recommend this for anyone visiting Austin.

Texas was a blast! We were able to have family time, eat a lot of good meals and ice cream, do some babysitting, dog walking, game night, family happy hour, and lots of play time too! Wish we could have stayed longer!!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Happy 29th Birthday to my Sis-In-Law, Erin!! Hope your day was wonderful! We miss and love you!

Earth Day Every Day!

I think I am taking this Pacific Northwesterner thing pretty seriously because we do get out to the parks pretty often and I love every minute of it. Happy Earth Day everyone!

Thanks tree!

Look closely and you can see the sea lion who floated along with us on our walk tonight.

It was nice to stick around the house tonight, order a pizza, and shower the animals with love since tomorrow we have to drop them off at the doggie kennel for our trip to Austin this weekend. We miss them already, but the Texas Turpins are waiting for us!

Go Limes!

Andrew's softball team, the Liquid Limes (named after their sponsor), went 2-0 tonight in a chilly double-header in the burbs!! We had a fun time and what a way to start off the season! Go coach!

More junk food today as we made a lunch date and headed to the Pike Street fish fry for some cod, chips, and tempura. Not part of the diet plan but it was oh so good.

Yum

It was a flip-flop, shorts-wearing kind of day in Seattle today so after work we ventured the 8 blocks up to Joe and Heather's for a beverage and a brat, the perfect way to end a Monday in style. We hope that everyone else had a happy night too!

Another Great Weekend

As I am trying to be better about blogging our days, I sit and listen to the new Andrew Bird CD and realize that I should share our weekend here. So, here we go. Saturday morning began with a waltz around the 5k loop at Seward Park -- check out the view of Mount Rainier. It almost looks like a painting here.

My favorite walking partners as always...

Double-O Turpin....with his dreamy Aston Martin. Wowsa.


Lunch down at the junction was very much needed and enjoyed as we had fasted all morning for our life insurance exam, which occurred in the comfort of our very own home, right at the kitchen table. Weird.



Then it was off to the Baby Burt shower, where we had a great time celebrating the soon-to-be arrival of Nick and Kate's little son!! Congrats to you both!! We will be thinking of you this week and send positive thoughts!!
After the shower, a group of us headed to Capitol Hill for a night cap at the Elysian Brewery -- what a fun night!


After a hearty breakfast at Endolyne Joe's this morning and a quick run to Target, the coffee shop, book store, and the local fruit stand, it was home for some more work on the raised beds and remaining planting that needed to be done. You gotta love a guy with a tool belt on.
I was also able to sneak away for a quick lunch date with Lois at one her favorite hang-outs.

Here is one of two of our new raised beds that we are making....our list of attempted veggies this year: spinach, carrots, radishes, onions, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes and strawberries. And some new dahlias, poppies, and other flowers for the front. We hope that all this love will get our garden to grow a bit better this year!

We swung over to Rob and Erin's for some brats and Koob tonight -- where I was part of a winning team (a total Midwesterner) but who's counting.? Always a blast when you combine games, food, and great company.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!