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!!

Spring is Here!

Happy Spring Everyone! It has been quite an eventful couple of months for us, filled with the usual dinners, movies, marriages, birthdays, competitive game nights (my first turkey at bowling!), happy hours, parties, and bbq’s (finally) and so on!! We are hoping this finds you well – since we haven’t blogged for several weeks there is no way we will capture everything, but here, in no particular order, are some more recent highlights!
I think our last blog entry ended the week before we went to the San Juan Islands for an escape from the city. This was a perfect trip where we stayed in a B&B complete with entertaining animals that of course made us feel right at home. We also toured the entire island, where we sampled their locally brewed ales, tasted some great food, and truly had the feeling that we had found the very edge of the earth. The nature around us was so beautiful! And the views from the long ferry ride were spectacular!

The alpacas loved us...or was it the carrots?

One of many beautiful views from the ferry

Windy fairy ride...never a dull moment with this guy!

One of our last indoor house projects was the den. We went into HGTV-mode one day and basically did a 48 hour make-over of our family room. See for yourselves! We love the new look, especially the Alki Beach sign that pretty much sums up our experiences in Seattle. Now, every room is complete, except for the third bedroom. I wonder what we'll use that for!

Before... After.

Since we last wrote, we took part in just a couple of our ‘monthly’ must-do dinners with our usual crew which is always great. Everyone loves this because it is good quality time spent in each other’s homes.
We even got to tie in our weekly Taco Tuesday to one of them, a Turpin favorite. Erin was matched up with a new senior citizen whom she volunteers with through ElderFriends Seattle. Lois, a Wisconsin native, is now 80 and living in our neighborhood so this was the perfect match. She is always excited for our trips to the sandwich shop, Target, the drug store, or her kitchen table to discuss life. She might be mad at me if I post her picture because she hates her new haircut.
Hampton, our beloved brown dog and sweetest critter alive, is now down to attending West Seattle Doghouse Daycare only one day a week. KNOCK ON WOOD! For anyone who knows our situation this is equivalent to a miracle so of course we are more than thrilled. Plus, our budget has been increased by $320/month because of this. Thanks Hamps!
Big News on the Anderson homefront!! Big Brother Casey and his girlfriend Jen Reger tied the knot in Vegas on 3/13. To quote the brother, it was “the coolest thing” he has ever done and we could not be happier! Case and Jen also added to the excitement by winning $2700 while they were there.

Congrats to the Newlyweds!

We celebrated Elizabeth’s birthday in March by going up to the Whidbey Island to spend some time with the Turpins. We hope that the Obama shirt we gave her was her favorite gift.

The view from Deception Pass on Whidbey Island

Andrew is a traveling fool these days, returning from a big project in North Carolina in March, then adding another visit last week for the final launch of the project. Next, he will be off to California for a few nights in May to do it all over again. This guy means business and I am proud of him for all the great work he has been doing (at his job and at home!)
This same husband of mine was also the lucky nominee to be the manager/coach for his spring softball league this year, and of course is taking on the challenge with open arms. I am excited to get to his games. He runs really fast and he uses my old softball glove from high school - so fun to watch!
We hosted a dinner at our place on Friday night and also had the West Seattle crew over for a BBQ on Sunday. As our weekends tend to fill up pretty quickly, we made it a point to celebrate one of our anniversary dates on Saturday by heading down to Alki and enjoying dinner at Duke’s.

Our view was divine...

All that studying paid off….We also recently celebrated the passing exam score for Erin on her ACRP Clinical Research Coordinator Certification….a big accomplishment for her which got her a promotion and extra week of vacation! Woohoo!

Some more pics as of late...

"Anroo" and Fritz for his second bday party - one of our favorites to be around!

The girls over for some good bbq

Go Turp!

We hope everyone had a great Easter - thanks to Joe and Heather for cooking a great meal that day and I give thanks that my husband got home safely! We had lots of fun with Rob and Erin at the Mariners game last night too. What a bonus to be able to see Torii Hunter - I think he winked at us in the stands. Dinner at The Tin Room was great tonight - I think the best fish tacos I have had in Seattle! Tomorrow we start the building and planting for the new flower beds and veggie garden so hope the weather cooperates! More soon!!

Last Sunday. Oops.

With all the Oscar and Golden Globe buzz surrounding it, we decided to go see Slumdog Millionaire on Friday night. It was excellent and my mind is still reeling about the belief and meaning of destiny in our world. This movie prompts worthwhile conversation and deep thoughts - my introvert side was whirling with thoughts in my brain - we both highly recommend it. Saturday morning was girls breakfast with Ashley and Nola in West Seattle. We then took Nola walking along the wather at Lincoln Park. When she got tired, she would just give in and crawl, it was pretty darn cute. Andrew played frisbee with Joe, the other half of his bromance. After a nice walk with the dogs and some shopping, we headed south to Kent to have dinner with The Peeples and The newly wed Sumners. Out for coffee and a visit to the farmers market this morning, a trip to the grocery store, then some baking, walking, resume perfecting (eek!), phone calls, bird watching, turning the heat up, game playing, ...and evening has fallen!

HOT Dish....

I know what you are thinking, Andrew is talking about Erin again, and it's true, but there's also a little Minnesota tribute going on here... Yeah, that's burger.

Porter on the other hand, while awfully cute posing with his brother, can be quite the persistent pest when he wants his Hot Dish!

Here are the 3 musketeers on the way to Lincoln Park.

Day of Hope

Today will be remembered as a historic day. Our nephew Jack will forever get to say, I hung out with Barack back in '08, man, that is one righteous dude.

True Story: this really is our nephew Jack!

Erin and I both were able to witness the speech live, although she in the awkward din of the Hospital waiting room and I in the surreal company of corporate america...Regardless, today we are proud and will work to take into action the promise of the new day.

Kate Elizabeth Turpin!

Everyone is healthy and happy down in Texas!! Congrats!!

Sending all our love and hugs!

Weekend Re-Cap

Congrats to the Texas Turpins!!! Our niece Kate Elizabeth was born on 1/9/09 weighing in at 7lbs. 2oz. and cute as can be! It is safe to say that lots of pics will follow!!!

The rest of the weekend, summary style:
-First homeowners issue - Leaky roof, getting repaired on Monday. Thank goodness Hampton was licking the floor and we decided to look up.
-Friday dinner: Erin ate bacon for the first time in over 3 years. So gooood.
-Marley and Me. See it, you will love it. Of course Hamps and Portie got to sleep in bed that night.
-Cleaning. No different really than any other weekend but I appreciate a clean house so much.
-Shopping/Errands: Focusing on Andrew and his desire for a new wardrobe. The mall wears us out, but it was a successful trip.
-Dinner at Cactus on Alki, then West Seattle Bowl with friends. Since these Turpins tend to get a bit competitive over games, it was a relief that each of our combined scores for 2 games was 226! Whew.
-Comcast fixed our internet this morning.
-Waffles and coffee for Sunday breakfast.
-Studying, Target
-The coolest Alki beach sign ever for the den
-Burger night with the Walker/Barge duo over at B and Ashley's tonight
-Then I will come home to watch the Red Carpet and Golden Globes on DVR!

Love me some Bloedows, Lehdeburs, County Road YY and Pickwick (blend)

So we are still catching up. But it's because we had such an awesome time back in Minnesota, that it takes a few posts to really get there. We had three great days in Winona with Col, Erin, Corey, Mary, Jay and Jane. Started it off with a great trip to Chula, and just kept trucking from there. Mom's new house off of County YY (on the other side of the river) is awesome. It was great R&R and back alignment out there. Not to mention good Wisconsin cheese and killer summer sausage. The homemade Baileys is pretty darn tasty too as the lovely ladies below can attest.

We made it out of Southeast Minnesota after New Years in Pickwick by having some tasty Pickwick Blend from Mugby. It was just a perfect topper to a great trip!

Baby Mania! Sweet Madelyn and Newborn Nova

Talk about a cute babie and proud papa Corey. Maddie is just the sweetest thing and here chipmunk cheeks are so awesome! It was a blast hanging with Corey, Casey, Jen, Jo, Mar and Aunt Erin. Watching Maddie as she explored her new world. The light in her eyes was amazing as she began playing around in her new jumper (thanks Aunt Jane!). I have a feeling that will provide hours of satisfaction for her. Maddie's Aunt and Uncle in Seattle were so thankful they got to spend some time with Daddy and Daughter.

It was also a special day because in addition to Maddie, we got to meet the Newborn Nova Joy Deitering. She is only four days old in the pictures below. Looks like someone is going to be a great mom, huh? She has so much hair! And she just cooed the whole time. Shawn and Jill, here's to you, may your beautiful Nova Joy be blessed.

Back to Minnesota

So we're getting caught up on the blog a bit. Not sure if I'll have enough time to get everything I need to say about how great our trip to Minnesota was. I'll give it a try and see where it goes. It started with a rendezvous at the Chatterbox in St Paul. It was so fun to see Brandon, Beth, Brian, Ryan, Megan, Ballard, Susie, John N, Ricky, Nick, Dhalia - it's nice to come home to good times with good friends. Thanks everyone!

This was just the start of our great trip...

Christmas Traditions

So another year and another successful Whidbey Christmas beachwalk with the TurpMurphFords. It was a gray dreary day, but considering all the snow that had been falling, it was a bit of a nice break - until we started to lose feeling in our fingers!

After our time on the beach, it was time for to settle in for libations on Hastie Lake. The Bedfords always put on a good show, and despite the fact that 4 year old Tane is as large as me (well at least 3/4 and i've got him by 29 years) I came through unscathed. Erin had a good time sharing a laugh with the ladies.

cheers to traditions, the Whidbey Beach Walk stands tall in the Christmas heritage.

Indoors

With all of the snow that we had in Seattle leading up to Christmas, you would have thought there would have been time to update the blog. Erin and I spent a lot of time indoors because leaving Casa De 26th Ave was like a 4x4 track. Yes Seattle can do some things better to prepare the city, but it sure is fun to look at and to make fun of those less fortunate who don't have wives from Minnesota to coach them with their winter driving - karma, I'm waiting.

Hampton sure does love rooting for rodents in the snow