Jenn

Big news! (or perhaps more appropriate would be HOLY SHIT BIG NEWS!!)

2012-02-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

In August 2012, we will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary. Last year we were drinking wine and then heading to Hawaii...

This year?

We will be welcoming this little guy or gal, SAY HI little baby V! (And on a related note, holy shit that little peanut is INSIDE OF ME)....words I have repeated to myself about 4 million times in the past couple of months.

We also think he/she has inherited his/her dads dance moves. Look at that leg rocking around already...straight up in the air. He/she does not inherit flexibility from me.

Let's back up a bit, shall we? For the sake of documentation and the blog, I will post belly pictures even though I find them sort of revolting and not something I think people really care to see. But, for my mom and anyone who does care, and just for sake of memories, here is my growing belly (note that the pictures start at around 9 weeks...why so late? More on that later):

At 9 weeks.

At 10 weeks.

At 11 weeks.

At 12 weeks (yes, I am very well aware of the fact that over the next few weeks the belly button ring is going to have to come out). And also: Apparently I didn't rub my lotion in very well that morning. Whoops. And one more note: holy CRAP it is weird how big my boobs are. I have never had boobs but holy hell... (sorry to draw attention to that feature but if you're reading this post about a pregnant lady, you better get used to TMI or don't read. Seriously, WOW).

And to back up further, here's rundown of where we are right now and where we've been and how the hell we got here...well, not the nitty gritty, you guys are smart enough to figure that one out:

When are you due?

August 24. This is BIG news to us. Remember how I said the picture started at 9 weeks? We thought originally that this picture was at 5 weeks. I had JUST taken a pregnancy test in early January after several signs pointed to um, HI, something is up (you know, like thinking I'm getting the flu every day at the same time, or being unable to wear shirts because my boobs hurt so bad and then liking weird things I have never liked like blue cheese and bacon and being revolted by foods I love like peanut butter...and the final straw? I realized I ate a whole jar of dill pickles in a day. A DAY). So, after a couple of weeks of this, I took a test, figured it out and I figured I was newly pregnant. That being said, we thought when we originally found out that I'm pregnant that our due date was in September. Nope, apparently that "period" in November was not a period, it was implantation bleeding. So I guess I am the weirdo that doesn't have a period for oh, I don't know, NINE MONTHS and then just gets pregnant. Cool? I need to let the shell shock wear off on that one before I fully decide myself.

Will you find out the sex?

I originally said no way, I wanted the surprise. Now I'm dying to know. This remains to be seen. Stay tuned. (As a sidenote, I think it's a boy. We can take bets on if I have any instinct whatsoever).

Surprise or planned? And, how did you know?

SURPRISE! We were just trying to get me to have A period, much less regular cycles, we had no plans of getting pregnant this year, nor did we even think it was possible (in fact, we were told it was blatantly NOT possible). Like I said, I had very sore breasts in December but thought it was my body trying to figure out my cycles (as did my doctor). We went to New Year's with friends in Oregon and I was feeling nasty each day (remember that brutal pacific coast highway run? Apparently it wasn't a hangover...which makes sense since I hardly drank at all since I thought I was coming down with the flu). And like I already said, after we got back from Oregon, when I STILL had sore boobs, was repulsed by peanut butter, loved blue cheese and bacon, ate a whole jar of pickles, and was feeling sick every morning, I decided it was time to take a test "just to make sure." And guess what, big fat plus. (insert minor, er, major freak out!) The freak out as a result mostly because I had literally JUST signed the offer for my new job and was all set and reved up to go get em this year in a new firm I was excited about...

While Justin and I have always said that we'd like to have a baby, we just didn't think it would be this year for a myriad of reasons, one being that we were told it wasn't possible. In fact, I had just told my friends in Oregon that I didn't think we'd get pregnant in 2012 and that it would probably be a year or two before I was even able to get pregnant. This conversation also happened while sitting in a hot tub, sipping on a cocktail...all while I was pregnant, unknowingly, clearly. WHOOPS (hot tub and drinking are clearly both pregnancy no-nos). So yeah, total surprise. A good surprise but a surprise nonetheless...it definitely alters the plans a bit for this year.

How I'm feeling?

Much better now. Much of the 1st trimester I had no idea I was pregnant, I just thought I was getting the flu and that my boobs were incredibly painful as a result of my body trying to figure out my cycle (WRONG)! It definitely sucked and there were some rough days but I definitely didn't have it the worst of the worst. Made it even better when I realized that I didn't actually have 4 weeks left of my first trimester and instead, it was essentially over! I actually never really dealt with feeling super tired until now. Now I've been feeling exhausted in a way I've never felt before. Maybe it's the whole getting up 4 million times a night to pee two squirts (ANNOYING and also? I don't get this...it's not like my bladder is being crowded yet).

How I'm changing?

My pants don't fit. Lately the new thing is that I become hormonal pregnant crazy woman around 7pm every night. My boobs don't hurt anymore even as close to as bad and feeling sick is fleeting now. Still happens but not twice a day and not every day. I can deal. I can (finally) eat peanut butter again! I'm still totally repulsed by runny eggs. And I'm totally over pickles. Gross.

What I'm eating?

Pretty much anything now. I WAS having massive cravings for beef, raisin bran, pickles, olives, and macaroni and cheese (I literally could only stomach mac and cheese for about 2 weeks straight. That was it. I ate about a box a day for those two weeks figuring I would just get the calories I could. It was the Annie's organic kind so I figure that made it a little bit better). Oh yeah, and bread and butter. I could NOT eat chicken, peanut butter, eggs or anything sweet whatsoever (weird as I typically LOVE peanut butter and have an incredibly intense sweet tooth). Now that I'm in the 2nd trimester, my cravings have settled and I'm eating more normally, although I am eating a lot. I don't understand women who say they don't have cravings. Holy hell, mine were INTENSE. As in, nothing could satisfy them except exact things.

Weight I'm gaining?

I've gained about 5 ish pounds which is right in line with where you should be 1st trimester. Like I said, though, my pants are slowly getting tighter. I'm still working out 4-5 days a week. I'm not running as much as I was (duh). They say that people who run before pregnancy can still run during, but it definitely feels different. I only do 2-3 miles at a time now and disperse it with walking. I am definitely NOT doing a marathon in July as I had originally planned. Other than that, I've been lifting weights 3 times a week and doing yoga and long walks. I've found that when I am most exhausted, going on a walk helps most. It really messes with your head when you feel like you are still as healthy as you always were but your pants stop buttoning. Clearly you KNOW you are pregnant but it's still an odd feeling.

How I'm sleeping?

Pretty good, though I've noticed some positions are starting to get uncomfortable. I typically sleep on my stomach but now it hurts my boobs and my back gets more sore now too. Guess I will have to start learning how to sleep on my side. And the whole pee thing. Again, annoying.Other than that, by about 9pm every night I totally crash in a way that I have never experienced before. It's pretty funny.

What's the baby doing?

-The baby is about the size of a plum and is considered a fetus

-This week (week 12) the features on the baby's face become more defined

-The fingernails are forming

-The heart and brain have already formed but this week the brain continues to develop (note that our baby's heart rate was 186 at the ultrasound.... people have theories on what that means but I don't know what that means)

-Reproductive organs have formed

-All other vital organs have formed (this happens by week 10)...seriously?

Random thoughts on pregnancy (pregnancy brain?)

Pregnancy is WEIRD. Everything listed above is just odd...the cravings, the places that hurt or feel weird, the things that you can't do because they feel different. It's all just strange. Granted it's beautiful and it's cool but it's just so surreal that there is something growing inside of there. Seeing the ultrasound and hearing the heartbeat were pivotal moments for me... it was as if everything was all worth it. That is our baby in there, growing and moving and eventually going to be moving around in this outside world. It totally messes with my head a little bit but I love it and we couldn't be more excited. We'll be tracking the journey here, of course, along with all of our other happenings. I'll make random posts about this whole thing and then (cross your fingers) I will try to do a post similar in format to this one with a weekly update. Cheers (with sparkling water, of course) to what is probably going to be quite the adventurous ride!

Post #1000

2012-02-13T18:38:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would note that I have hit 1000 posts on this humble blog. A milestone of sorts. To start this new milestone, stay tuned for some exciting news in the next couple of days...

A productive weekend.

2012-02-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

We have had quite the productive weekend. What was going to be a low key weekend turned into quite an exciting weekend. We have been thinking lately about getting a bigger car since we drive the mini a lot (much better efficiency than the truck) but when the four of us are together, the mini gets understandably cramped. As much as I have loved my mini coopers, we decided it was time to move on.

So, last weekend we test drove some cars and yesterday we went back and drove some more after narrowing the field down. We ended up at BMW of Bellevue where, at the end of the day, it was basically our second home (SIX HOURS there, people).

We test drove a 335d that had all the fancy packages that Justin had researched (premium, sport, la la la- I have a tendency to tune this stuff out as I just decide if it's a cute car or not and then, if it's zippy. This one was. I loved it. And also, I don't like to dwell on making decisions like this...my theory? Just do it.) So, we had decided to run the numbers to see where we'd end up if we decided to purchase it. Here is Justin as we are waiting on the sales manager and all of the head honchos to decide what they could do for us. After about an hour of back and forth arguing, we ended up with a compromise we were all happy with. I like to think we came out ahead especially since they accidentally plugged in the wrong sales price to all of the calculations (it was about $1500 lower than the actual sales price)... we all didn't notice until the end but it was their error and it worked in our favor!

FINALLY after the arguing and the waiting and dealing with the finance people, the car was ours. Isn't it pretty? I wish I could speak more to the features it has but honestly? I really don't care a whole lot. All I pretty much all I know is that it's a 2011 335 diesel which means it has more torque/is faster (and apparently diesels are pretty highly regarded in the car industry... Sidenote: my dad used to have a diesel Mercedes so when Justin first told me diesels were cool, I remembered his clunker with a cloud of black smoke going down the highway and I thought NO WAY. I was FLOORED at how quiet, efficient and fast these new diesels are). Anyway, it also has some sports package, cold weather package (seriously, I was sold on the heated steering wheel), and premium package (which, to me, basically means it has navigation which I probably won't use much anyway). But, it's really fun to drive- in the test drive I was going 95 not flooring it and felt like I was doing 60. Again, I'm really not the person to speak to the specs of a car, like I said, Justin can say more in much more technical ways. I just think it's pretty and fun.

A front shot.

Me in front of the new car (name to be determined)...it's got to be some studly name, I think. (And also: it was FREEZING yesterday).

A picture of Oliver, Justin and I with the new car and poor little Alfred, the old mini (bye little mini cooper! You will be missed! Although I do have to say, it needed about $2000 of work on it- new tires and some strange noise it was making... I don't deal well with "car problems" so it was a good time, in my opinion, to make the move for the new car). I'm a pretty lucky girl, I must say. Boys that I love and fortunate in life to be able to get cars like this.

Me sitting in the new car (sidenote on this picture: at this point I was OVER it. We had been there almost six hours and were starving. I just wanted to go home).

After all of the excitement of the car thing, we headed to the grocery store quickly (because we were all starving!) and then home to make homemade pizzas. Yum!

This morning Justin and I got up bright and early before Oliver and headed out on a walk. It was a pretty nice morning out but the thing I (still) couldn't believe, was all of the buds on the trees. Um, it's mid-February?

A shot of the lake- always beautiful.

And one more...

I just finished completely cleaning out my closet which was LONG overdue and Justin did some home improvement stuff as well... now, I just need to get motivated to do our taxes but that seems to be a daunting task (or scary... I know we owe!) I'm thinking curling up with a good book sounds much better. Maybe I'll go read it in the new beemer just to soak in that new car smell!

All in all, a great weekend!

Once again, Seattle gets confused.

2012-02-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

As typical of Seattle in February (or so I've noticed over the last few years), typically we have a few days that feel like spring. 60+ degrees, sunny, the trees and flowers start budding. Everyone gets happy with the spring-like weather, so much so that when we are plummeted back into rain and cold for the next 4 months, we tend to be quite monstrous assholes because the weather fooled us once again! (Welcome to Seattle folks). Well, this past weekend was our "spring" fix. True to form, the trees were budding, it hit 62 degrees on Saturday and 65 on Sunday. A few picture of the gorgeous days:

As a result of the spring feeling, I decided to go back to my roots aka: my blonde hair. I'll blame it on the sun.

I also chopped several inches off of it. Truthfully, I love it. Blonde feels so much more like me and I like having all of the dead stuff cut off at the bottom.

One more attempt at a self portrait... at least I know that a part of me will carry on that spring-sunny feeling vai my hair. Especially considering that we are forecast to be 40s and rain for at least the next week.

Happy birthday Justin!

2012-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

In about 2.5 seconds you will understand the irony of the title of this post. Both the happy part and the fact that there is a birthday element involved. You see on January 25, I was 2 days into my new job and while it was going fabulous, I was just having one of those "off" days. Happens to the best of us, I guess. I'd already managed to lose my debit card somewhere and was just all kinds of out of place that day. So at around 5pm that night, I went to the gym to pick up Justin's truck to run a few last minute birthday errands (we had carpooled that day as my neighbor was borrowing my car).

Well, the particular garage that we park in has giant poles that line the interior of the garage separating the two ways of traffic. I'd like to say that some asshole was parked ridiculously bad jutting out to where I had about 3 inches in a GIANT truck to squeeze between a pole. This is quite true, however, I still made an error in judgement. I managed to miss the car but I did not miss the pole and the poor truck met the pole in quite a profound and direct way. On Justin's birthday. Happy birthday honey?

In my defense, yes the truck is a freaking boat compared to the mini BUT I still managed to do quite a bit of damage on the poor truck. And then I had to call Justin to tell him of his not really awesome birthday present. Pictures are the proof:

Nice yellow stripe and pole indent... check.

And one more shot... whoops. It actually is bad enough to where it is going to make the most sense to submit an insurance claim to get it fixed.

Luckily, I have quite the patient and nice husband who was really very kind about it all. And in truth, it IS just a car that can be fixed but that doesn't make me feel like less of a shmuck.

Once I picked him up from work and had swapped out the damaged truck with my little car I knew I wouldn't wreck, I made him a Thai dinner and we just had dinner and did a few presents at home (we'd celebrated the previous weekend with his family in a more elaborate celebration).

I had grand plans of making a cool cake that night but I was too flustered by the pole incident so cupcakes sufficed. And no, I did not make these.

The birthday boy with his cupcakes and birthday presents (minus the little gift on this truck). Love this guy (and happy birthday honey- I promise to not run your truck into anything else!)

Snow day, er, week!

2012-01-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

So this week has been much more R&R than anticipated as we've essentially been trapped for 3 days in our house due to an insane snow system that came through Seattle.

It all started on Sunday, see above. Don't laugh...this was just the beginning. Over the course of only a couple hours on Sunday, we had 3 inches of snow. It was a mess. By Seattle standards, 3 inches of snow has the ability to shut down the city. Monday brought a little bit more snow but not a ton. By Tuesday, we started to get rapid amounts again around lunch. Justin and I ran to Costco and Whole foods and they were empty. It was sort of awesome to have Costco all to ourselves.

Ashley made it in safe and sound Tuesday night before the big storm hit Wednesday. We woke up wednesday to predicted amounts of snowfall of 5-8 inches. I didn't really believe we'd get that much snow but yep, we sure did. EVERYTHING was shut down, the airport was closed, the roads were a disaster. This was snow day #1.5. We hung out, watched it snow, played games, ate.

The snow really started to accumulate (notice the black pot on the right? By the end of it all late thursday, the pot was completely invisible).

Wednesday we did decide to leave the house to go to the gym for our sanity. Justin has 4 wheel drive so we figured we could make it. We did.

No one was going in or out of our neighborhood, though. It was dead.

As were the freeways... middle of the day in a work week and the freeways were completely empty. It was sort of weird.

Thursday, we all expected things to get better. Nope. Not only did we get more SNOW, we got a massive ice storm. So Thursday actually ended up being WORSE than Wednesday as far as shutdowns and roads go. For our activity of the day to maintain our sanity, we went on a walk through the snow around Kirkland. It was pretty (and cold and slippery) but nice to get out of the house.

A picture of the ice build up... insanity.

Driving around we saw cars like this all over the road (well, at least wednesday). Justin trained a couple of clients last night and said that the roads were the worst he's ever seen them. And saw cars like this all over the road. It took him 45 minutes to go 5 miles. We are pretty lucky in that we've had our power the whole time... most people have not been so fortunate.

Today we are expected to warm up so hopefully all of this snow will met. Of course a massive rain storm is on the way which means, flooding! Ashley is really hoping things improve as it's her last full day in Seattle and she has things to do to secure a move up here... that definitely don't get done by having snow days inside the house! Cross your fingers that this is the last of the snow we see here...until next year...

2012: empowerment

2012-01-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

So the start of 2012 has been, well, interesting. We'll call the first full week of 2012 a wash- I flew to Spokane for a client on the 3rd, then the last few days of the week no one was really working THAT hard. Plus, I had my own things to take care of.

I mentioned that my word for 2011 was passion, right? Well, the word that kept resounding in my head as we plowed full force towards 2012 was empowerment. I wasn't exactly sure why or what this meant for the year ahead but it became inherently more clear as the first couple of weeks of 2012 unfolded.

Basically, empowerment for me this year means taking my life into my own hands and embracing whatever it hands to me. Including change that may be hard especially as I am fairly comfortable with many things in my life just as they are.

I don't talk about work much on this blog for obvious reasons. There is a lot of confidentiality in the business that I'm in and plus, I just think that discussing work matters in a public forum can really not do much for you other than get you in trouble. That being said, I'm going to talk about work now.

Before I left for Kansas City, I had a rather serious talk with a partner at the firm I am with now. That conversation, coupled with MANY conversations I have had over the past two years with about a thousand different people led me to seriously consider my future there, or lack of. I didn't see any growth potential for where I wanted to go in my career at this firm but on the other hand, I also was very comfortable in this firm. I turned down a job offer a few months ago because I liked my staff and was comfortable with the status quo. I liked working in the same building as Justin and honestly my job was EASY. I have grown complacent and really didn't have to try very hard to do well. Frankly, I just stopped caring...it was easy and I really didn't have to care much And at the end of December, I finally admitted these truths to myself fully, even though I'd known them all along deep down. The discussion I had with the partner at my current firm centered around where I wanted to go in my career and my thoughts prevented me from fully admitting that I had a future at this firm.

Finally accepting that myself, one thing led to another and as we rang in 2012, I resolved that this year I would be empowered to take control of my life. It's my 30th year here on this earth and I deserve to be truly fully happy and fulfilled in a career that I am good at and working with people that I respect, that I value, and that value me and what I have to offer. Currently, that was not happening.

We got back from the Oregon coast, and with the amazing contacts that I know, I was able to get a job offer from another local firm in town that I have always admired for their integrity, for their willingness to grow people, and for their culture and reputation within the local community. They are very highly regarded in the region and my only regret is that I took so long to seek them out in this more aggressive way. Sometimes it takes a shift in focus to really do what's right and best for yourself. Pay is the same, job is the same. Growth potential is HIGHLY different as is the culture and the reputation of the firm. Big plus.

That brings us to Monday January 9th:

The alarm went off at our normal time of 4:50 am (yes, trust me, I throw up a little in my mouth every day at the audacity of this time). This was, however, anything but a normal day. It was the day that I was going to tell my current firm I would be resigning. A hard, but easy, decision if that makes any sense. Hard in the regard that I don't WANT to leave the people I know there and the comforts that I know there, easy in the regard that this IS the best decision for me and my family long term.

I told my boss and as expected it was a big shock. I kept getting the question, "Are you sure?" Um, yes. Not many people in this industry give notice in January, nor at the level I'm at, and certainly not to go to another public accounting firm (especially a competitor only a block away). Of course, my main priority was transitioning my clients in an easy manner and of course, not burning any bridges on the way out. As much as it was time to leave that firm, I do cherish the time I had there for many reasons. We came to the decision that, given my workload, my last day would be Friday the 13th. So, I worked the week and on Friday, I had my last day of work at the firm I'd been with for almost 5 years.

It was bittersweet, but really, honestly, mostly sweet. It was a relief to feel that I'm going to a better place and am not just going to be going through the motions for the next day/months/years as I've been doing. There is so much better use of my time.

On Friday the 13th, I packed up my office, worked out at lunch one last time with Justin, and right before my exit interview, I got the above care package from the best husband.

I then headed out to happy hour with some new colleagues. Above, a thai sangria.

We also ordered what was called "death in the pacific" a giant skull drink that tasted pretty much like a cherry jolly rancher.

After celebrating with friends, new and old friends and colleagues, I went home to our family- Justin, the boys, his mom, Jordan (Justin's brother), Stephanie, and baby Isla. We made a big pasta dinner for everyone and celebrated some more for the changes in Justin and I's life.

We then spent the weekend with the boys- watching football and having a snow day on Sunday (QUITE entertaining getting them to Seattle to ride the bus home on Sunday afternoon...and even worse for them, it took them 8 hours to get home. It's normally a 2 hour drive. YUCK).

Bonus for the next week: I don't start my new job until January 23 so I have a full week off work to relax and recharge AND my friend Ashley is flying in from Texas so I'll have time to spend with her. I think the bottom line in all of this is simply, 2012 is going to be a great year.

Hawaii, day #5

2012-01-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

August 26, 2011. Last full day on the island. Boo hoo. It was highly reminiscent of a couple of days prior where we went running first thing in the morning along the ocean, then laid by the pool all day. Later that night, we headed north to Mama's fish house, a must go to restaurant on the north shore of Maui.

We had 6:30 reservations so we got there just in time to see our last sunset in Maui.

Gorgeous ocean.

And another one... I think I need to move someplace like this. Ah, someday...

And an attempt at a self portrait of us before we went in to sip cocktails...and then an amazing bottle of wine followed by an even more amazing dinner. It was an incredible evening and the perfect end to a week in one of the best places (I think). Now to plan when we'll go back.... (now, please?)

Hawaii, day #4

2012-01-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

Still plugging along with the catch up in the dead of winter from our warm retreat in August 2011. On this particular day, August 25, 2011, we decided to explore more of the island by heading east.

First stop: the Iao needle.

This spot has some historical significance for the island of Maui as a big fight took place here hundreds of years ago. The history is almost as cool as the beauty of the landscape.

We saw a wild chicken on the way... weird! I thought those only existed on Kauai!

Beautiful stream...

Me with the Iao Needle behind me. We got out of the house so early that we were pretty much the only people there first thing that morning. It was pretty awesome.

Justin with the Iao needle as his backdrop.

One more shot of me...it got a little cold and windy up there!

We continued north along the western part of Hawaii and found a hike that we wanted to do. It was sort of desolate so we weren't really sure what we were getting ourselves into but it ended up being really cool (how's that for foreshadowing?)

We started off trekking through woods that were surprisingly like the forest we have here in Western Washington but brought out of them quickly to stumble upon this view.

Justin with the awesome view.

So my preparedness for this hike was not awesome. I brought hiking shoes but I didn't anticipate that it was going to be as freaking HUMID as it was. So I promptly stripped down into my bikini. And hiking shoes. That's how I roll. Justin, of course, loved it. And I got about 4 million comments on the way up and down the mountain (probably all the while thinking "crazy city girl.")

We continued to hike upwards to even more awesome views.

And finally, about 3.5-4 miles later, we reached the end of the trail. But this was an up and back so we had to go 3.5-4 miles back down. And let me tell you- the down part? It was a challenge. At the top it was so foggy that everything was wet. Meaning: massive mud. We basically slipped and slid back down to the forest part. How I didn't eat it in my white bikini and mud, I have NO idea. Justin took some great videos though of me attempting not to. It was quite entertaining.

A couple of hours later, we were back in the car and continued our drive around the west part of Maui. It was like the drive to Hana except on the west side of the island...and not as much traffic since most people do the drive to Hana. I'd almost venture to say that made this drive so much cooler. Still beautiful views, still a crazy curvy, narrow, steep road but you had it basically all to yourself.

...and you got to see more of the "local" areas. This was a cattle ranch. If I was someone that had cows, this is where I'd want to raise them, hands down.

Gorgeous view right before we came upon a little village where we bought maybe the BEST banana bread I've ever had in my life. AMAZING.

And some more gorgeous views of the coastline.

We eventually made it around the island and stopped in Lahina again where we had a late lunch at Kimos right on the water.

And of course, we were total tourists who ordered a giant coconut with fruity drink inside. We then headed back to the east side of the island to our little "home" and had more tofu for dinner (a la the dinner from a couple of nights before) and enjoyed another spectacular sunset from our porch.

Hawaii 2011, day #3

2012-01-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

August 24, 2011... a long while ago but it's nice to reflect on a warmer time as I'm currently freezing my ass off. So, the third day in Hawaii, we deemed as a beach day. We got up, went on a hot, sweaty run by the ocean, lounged around, and headed straight to the pool for the better part of the rest of the morning and afternoon.

It was perfect. Nothing better than relaxing by the pool. We both decided we are not huge fans of the ocean so this was fabulous.

Later that day we headed to the west side of the island to Lahina. We spent a good hour or two walking around historic downtown Lahina. Such a cute little town.

An old historic landmark in Lahina... I love that kind of stuff.

After exploring Lahina, we made our way back to the Feast at Lele, a luau we were going to that night right in Lahina. I've been to it a couple of times and it is amazing.

Waiting for the luau to start.

Our cocktails at the beginning of the luau.

The beginnings of yet another gorgeous sunset in Hawaii.

Justin and some taro chips at our front row seats at the luau.

More mai tais.

Continued beautiful sunset.

Our "congratulations" dessert plate as we told our waiter we'd just gotten married. Still an awesome luau, still an unbelievable day in the tropics.

Hawaii 2011, day #2

2012-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

In an effort to get totally caught up on this silly blog, here is the Hawaii Day #2 post, which dates back to August 23, 2011. We determined this day as the day we would do the drive to Hana. We were still on Seattle time so it was easy to wake up early and get going.

Driving down the road, top down first thing in the morning...and WARM. That sounds so amazing right now.

Leaving Wailea...

A view (sort of) of the big Volcano, Haleakala. Justin decided he wants to ride his bike UP the volcano next time we are in Maui. I will take my fruity drink and meet him at the beach.

First stop on the drive- a little beach on the north shore of the island. Beautiful.

And a shot of us.

Quickly, it became hot enough to strip down and drive in a bikini. Now the question is: WHY don't I live somewhere warm??

We immediately became immersed in all of the views that the road to Hana has to offer... stunning.

Windy, small road.

We made a stop at a black sand beach along the way.

And we did a little hiking here along the coastline.

Yep, that's me- bikini and hiking shoes. Awesome.

After making a couple of more stops on the road to Hana to get banana bread and exotic fruit, we quickly hit the back (south) side of the island. The part where they tell you not to drive. It's fine. I've done it before and really the road is not bad at all and beats going the same way you came. It offers a totally different view of Maui than on the way to Hana.

The back side of Maui- desolate and dry.

Eventually we made it home and after a long day out exploring, we decided to cook at home and eat on the porch of the condo we rented.

We made an amazing tofu curry stir fry that totally hit the spot after our day.

And of course, we had a nice bottle of wine to accompany it.

And almost better than the food and wine, but not quite better than the company was the amazing sunset we watched through it all. Second day in paradise down... (and now as I'm reliving this, I am wondering even more why don't I live somewhere like this?)

Better late than never- Hawaii 2011, Day #1

2012-01-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

So, since I have a bit of time and have never done this, why don't we relive the glorious week we spent in Maui for our honeymoon? I've never appropriately documented it on this blog so why not now? Besides, it will bring back good memories now that it's freezing cold with no hope of summer anytime soon in the pacific northwest!

On the morning of August 22, 2011, we woke up bright and early after a weekend of playing in all of the wedding festivities. Justin juiced to get us going and then we were off to the beautiful island of Maui.

We arrived at around 11am, Hawaii time, and immediately soaked up the sun.

Before heading to our condo in Wailea, we drove around a bit to several of the south end beaches where we took pictures of crabs...

...of each other....

And of us together. There really is nothing better than being on the ocean. LOVE.

Above is a picture of the rather rustic road that I took us down. Justin was afraid I was going to kill the car as I just plowed through it. Needless to say, he drove on the way back. (and to my satisfaction, the car was FINE).

After stopping to buy a few groceries, we made it to our condo where we relaxed for a bit and then headed out to dinner at Nick's fishmarket in Wailea, an amazing restaurant where we had gorgeous views of the sunset (also note: we already had gotten some sun just from exploring that day!) We both got salads, then I got the Island snapper and Justin got Ahi Tuna. AMAZING. There literally is nothing better than freshly caught fish.

We finished off the evening by enjoying our dinner, a bottle of wine, and the beautiful Hawaiian sunset in paradise.

2011 year in review

2012-01-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

So, here we are, another year...2012. How is it possible? 2011 was a year of many things...many unexpected things, many wonderful things. So, to really break it down, let's revive the year in review post, shall we?

2011 started out a little rocky with a broken foot. Boo hoo. The year before I had injured my achilles severely so I was due for my yearly injury. This one happened fully while playing ping pong, although it was probably a long time coming since it was a stress fracture. I spent 3 months in that stupid boot.

Also, in January, we took a quick trip to the sunny state of Arizona to visit friends in Phoenix and to get a dose of sunshine before hunkering down for the winter here. It was fabulous! We also celebrated Justin's 30- something birthday.

February was valentine's day and our 3 winery tour dinner. Also known as the night I attempted to wear heels to look cute, even though my foot was still broken. Despite that stupidity, this night was so much fun!

March brought about a proposal....

To have the Valente men in my life forever and ever. Of course, I said yes.

April started off racing season for Justin and the end of busy season for me, as well as my 29th birthday.

April also brought some sadness at the sudden passing of Justin's grandpa.

In May, we got a new niece, little Isla Lamb.

...and we also started wedding planning in full force.

May was also the start of "hiking" season and we did Mount Si a couple of times to warm up for the season.

In June, we went to Justin's grandfather's memorial service...

had nice enough weather to lay on the beach and get a little color...

And went to Kansas City where we celebrated my dear friend Jill's wedding.

...and where we also got to spend some time with my family.

Of course, this meant that Justin got golf lessons, too.

In July, we celebrated the 4th, went to another wedding east of the mountains, and took our engagement pictures.

August was the start of the wedding craziness month where we spent a TON of time planning and tying down final details.

We spent time with family right before the wedding...

And of course, had the best day of our lives.

Love, Love, Love.

The day after the wedding we partied at our favorite winery with our friends and family.

Then took off for Hawaii for a week of sun and bliss.

In September I was introduced to Cafe Flora (this DEFINITELY deserves a mention here as it is amazing!)

And we started to see signs of fall.

October brought even more fall...

And walks around the beautiful pacific northwest in all of its fall glory.

October also meant a revival of the brown hair! And our first visits to the naturopath who completely "180-ed" my life and eating style.

In November, we had a long weekend in Leavenworth with friends where we got to play in the mountains.

We also got to spend Thanksgiving with my brother, Jon.

...even though I bought some natural candles that almost burned our house down on the day of.

Justin also had a lump/benign tumor removed from his head and, thanks to the naturopath, I got my period for the first time in the better part of a year (DEFINITELY big news in my book!)

In December we had the first of several holiday parties with my WINOS group.

We also had beautiful weather in the northwest, strangely enough...

We also celebrated a wonderful Christmas #1 with Justin's family in Suncadia.

And then we traveled to Kansas City to spend a week with them to celebrate Christmas.

We went straight from Kansas City to the Oregon coast to ring in 2012 with friends...

And as the sun was setting on 2011...

We reflected on all that defined this special year- marriage, family, friends, and mostly, love. 2012 is going to be a year of many things. Perhaps many firsts, many memories, and much love. I always try to come up with a word that resignates with me for each year. Last year the word was passion and although I've never really put the word thing out there, I think that "passion" defines 2011 from its beginning to end. Cheers to what was 2011 and to what the year 2012 holds.

New Years 2012

2012-01-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

This year for New Years, we spent the holiday on the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach with a group of friends. We flew in from Kansas City on December 30 and pretty much drove straight to Oregon. It made for quite an interesting (and long) day as we were up at 3am west coast time to catch our flight out of Kansas City. We made it safe and sound to Oregon, though, even though we traversed through some snow on the way there... hey, at least it kept us entertained and awake!

We spent the first evening hanging out with friends and then crashing hard into bed.

The next morning, New Year's eve, we went on an early morning beach walk. It was actually not too cold out. The Oregon coast is beautiful.

Later that evening, we brought in 2012 in style with all of our friends complete with a fabulous group dinner. Sadly, the picture above of our champagne cocktail was the only picture I took of the evening.

The next morning Justin and I got up and decided to go on a New Year's day run along the pacific coast highway. I thought this was a brilliant idea until we started doing it and I felt like I might die. Perhaps I was dehydrated or just tired or maybe it was the fact that it was ALL HILLS, but WOW. We went about 5 miles and I was over it by the time we hobbled back in. Gorgeous views, though!

Later that day we all went out to Cannon beach to play on the beach since it was 65 degrees and sunny (SERIOUSLY, what place are we in?)

We caught a beautiful beginning of a sunset...

...walked along the beach...

and let the dogs run and play while we enjoyed the weather, too.

A shot of us on the beach.

Our friends Rich and Stacie. Love this shot!

And one more sort of awkward kiss picture of us. After playing on the beach we went and had a drink and crab cakes at a local restaurant per the recommendation of Stacie and Rich that these were the best crabcakes around. They were, hands down. I was too busy eating them to even think about taking a picture.

Later that night, we all hung out some more for our last night...

Jen and Alex made an AMAZING last night dinner of pork and mashed potatoes. After we were sufficiently stuffed and had been drinking the better part of the afternoon, the night gets a little blurry. The night ended with a big bonfire on the beach so I'd say all in all, it was a success.

It was a fabulous way to ring in the new year- great location, great friends, wonderful memories. Cheers to 2011 and the amazing things it brought and to the promise of what 2012 holds for all of us!

Kansas City, here we come!

2011-12-31T07:48:00.000-08:00

On December 23, Justin and I flew out to Kansas City to be with my family for the actual holidays.

The trip started off on a good note as we had packed our bags just perfectly, exactly the limit- 50 pounds. Of COURSE we meant to do that.

After dinner with my family and my cousin Patrick, we played a few games and then crashed. We got up on Christmas Eve ready to work out. Fail. The gym wouldn't let us in. Boo hoo as it is always a hilarious experience to workout at a gym in the midwest. We figured we'd try again in a few days and just go on a run on Christmas eve since it was mid-50s and sunny. It was GREAT weather for a run, even though we went pretty far and were both pretty sore, surprisingly. I think the flatness makes the runs go longer than we are used to.

On Christmas eve night, after going to the Christmas eve service, we pulled out the ole monopoly game. Not my favorite but I always say I will play once a year. This was my one time. I actually ended up winning although towards the end, Justin took over for me because I was over it.

We also dug out old pictures circa about 1984. Pretty cute.

The next morning, Christmas day, Justin and I got up to make the typical Christmas day breakfast- quiche and blueberry coffee cake.

Don't be scared of our morning picture. Yikes. Sadly, in a few years we will think how young we looked in this picture.

The quiches ready to go... one was cheese and meat, one was veggie.

Something weird happened with the crust- it exploded! Oh well, it still tasted good.

Another angle of the exploding crust.

A while after breakfast we all gathered to open presents. Above: my brother Jon.

And my grandma, eating her breakfast.

A picture of the "kids."

My family...man, we definitely are getting older...

And Justin and I. First Christmas as a married couple. Aww.

One more shot of my brother and I sitting by the tree. It was a lot harder to get down there than it used to be as a kid!

Justin and I with our loot, pre-opening. We really must have been pretty good this year. Santa really liked us even in Missouri.

Perhaps his favorite present- gummy bears. I am a good wife to support this habit (addiction?) of his.

Later that night my aunt, uncle and cousin Patrick came over (they moved back to Kansas from California in April). After Christmas dinner, played ping pong for about 3 hours...it was quite fun.

My brother and uncle.

The day after Christmas, we all took off for Lamoni, Iowa for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. Here is Justin getting ready for the car ride (and playing on the new phone I got him and gave to him at his family's Christmas).

We also celebrated my dad's birthday up there (it's on the 27th). It was quite an eventful day in Lamoni as my cousin's 2 year old son woke up from a nap with a very high temperature and started siezing. One thing about living in small town Iowa: my uncle is the parmacist and the doctor lives 2 doors down so they were able to quickly treat Connor and diagnose him with strep throat. Unfortunately later that night he had another siezure after we left and my cousin and her husband had to spend the night in the hospital. Bummer (of course, he is all better now).

Meanwhile, we played more ping pong with my dad's family...

My mom and I... we were out of the game for the moment, apparently.

Action shot of Justin and I!

The following few days Justin and I just hung out in Kansas City. We were able to weasel our way into the gym (thank god because I REALLY wanted to amuse myself by watching someone attempt to run on the treadmill in cowboy boots and carharts!), we walked in the 60 degree days (so weird, but gorgeous!), we visited my aunt and uncle at their house in Kansas, we saw some college friends, we watched KU with my parents, we went shopping and we just relaxed and spent time with family and friends. It was a great week and a very successful Christmas #2!

Valente family Christmas, take #2

2011-12-20T08:01:00.000-08:00

This year for the Valente family Christmas, we went away for a long weekend to Suncadia. For those who don't know what Suncadia is, it's a little pre-planned community just on the east side of the mountains. Justin's mom had rented a cabin there from Friday-Monday. And by "cabin" you should know that we are talking about 8000 feet of "cabin." It was HUGE.

Justin and I arrived at around 4pm on Friday with a truckload of stuff that his mom had us bring for her. We unloaded and then walked in to the above. We realized immediately: we are stocked. (notice the plus-magnum bottle of wine. We got the same one last one for the Valente family Christmas from our winery, Woodhouse). We may have punished that bottle on Friday night. Maybe.

Saturday, the 17th, was officially deemed "Christmas" so Friday night Santa came. I guess Jocelyn was Mrs. Claus or just a helper?

And one more shot of the gifts from Santa being delivered.

Justin and I were responsible for breakfast on Saturday morning (Christmas). We made pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sausage. We also had some fruit. It was quite tasty. After breakfast we spent about 3 hours opening gifts. It was quite the long haul! Santa was very nice this year. I surprised Justin and Bailey with new phones so that was fun.

That evening was a mexican fiesta planned by Jocelyn and her friend, Becky, who had come for the weekend. It was a good time. Bailey and Oliver both brought 2 friends so we also had 6 teenage boys with us. Luckily they had their own "man cave" downstairs that included pool, darts, TV, and golf simulator. We pretty much didn't see them all weekend.

The following day was filled with more R&R complete with a walk that Justin and I took. It was beautiful out, though a little cold. See more pictures, below:

Following dinner and more games Sunday night, we all were up early on Monday morning to head out and back home. It was a great weekend full of laughter and family and friends... after that, it was onto Christmas #2 in Kansas City!

Random December things...

2011-12-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

In the midst of our holiday parties in December, we were able to get out and about as well. And, Seattle being Seattle, the weather was actually decent. It was cold but totally sunny. Weird, but we'll take it.

A shot of Seattle during one December walk.

Justin looking through binoculars at the city skyline.

Justin again.... look at that sun! Crazy!

And, one more... I swear, when it's sunny in Seattle it's just the best. Even if it is about zero degrees outside

Holiday parties 2011

2011-12-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

We had a couple of holiday parties in December, of course, it's the month that means: party party party. The first holiday party we went to was by far the most fun: the December WINOS party. A bunch of girls that I know do monthly wine nights (called WINOS) and in December we decided the wine of the month would be champagne and we would dress up and invite our boys. It was a great event!

See Stacie's recap of the night, too, as well as her pictures below:

All of us, including boys...picture taken by our (literally high as a kite/stoned out of her mind) caterer.

And the beautiful ladies!

The day following the WINOS party, we headed down to Puyallup to help Justin's mom celebrate her 65th birthday. This was so fun as we got to meet so many friends of Jocelyn's as well as several people who knew Justin when he was just a little kid. I slacked with the camera at this party too. Bummer.

The second holiday party we went to was my work holiday party in Bellevue. Nothing really notable from this event other than it was just one of those things we had to go to. We didn't even take any pictures...again. Perhaps this needs to be a 2012 resolution? (Even though if you know me, you know how I am about resolutions...)

The thanksgiving that almost wasn't.

2011-12-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about this in my Thanksgiving post. As I was going through my phone, I stumbled across the photos and was all, OH RIIIGHT. THAT.

To preface: I have always been one to try to hop on the healthy bandwagon. You know the whole eliminating "crap" thing... eating well, not eating the fake stuff (like trans fats), trying to use products that don't have a lot of fake stuff- from laundry detergent to deodorant, to cleaning products.

I hadn't really given much thought to candles until the day before thanksgiving when my brother and I were in whole foods and I realized that I did need candles to burn in the bathroom on Thanksgiving. Need might not be the appropriate word but I wanted candles to burn in the bathroom. I like having candles burning. They (generally) smell good.

I saw these cute little candles in the aisles of whole foods and thought, "Hmm. "Natural" candles and they match the color scheme AND they smell good." SOLD.

The next day, I lit them around 1pm and sometime around 2:30 pm or so, I just happened to be going pee when all of a sudden "WHOOOOSH crackle crackle WHOOOSH" I look over and I.KID.YOU.NOT there was about an 1 foot flame coming out of one of these "cute" natural candles that was threatening to take over the hand towel directly above it. (And also, REALLY? After only an hour and a half MAYBE two hours of being lit??)

I did not know I was capable of stopping a stream of pee so efficiently. Perhaps being scared shitless does that to you.

Related: I have a weird phobia of fire. Always have. Used to have nightmares about fire and burning down houses. Weird as I have never been in a fire but something has always left me traumatized and fearful of being in a fire.

So: being scared shitless because you have a fear of burning down a house someday makes you able to stop peeing abruptly when you really had to pee.

I screamed, splashed water all over the erupting candle, and Justin came running in to his crazy wife freaking out with her pants around her ankles, pee still in the toilet, and flailing water all over. Until he saw the candle and he was all, "Holy SHIT what happened?" It ended up, thankfully, being quite the funny situation. He probably should have taken a picture of me... but, clearly, it was too chaotic at the moment to think about that (also, sidenote: when something crazy or bad or unreal happens, how DO people think, "Man, I should snap a shot right now?" The twin towers is a good example. I would have just been freaking the EFF OUT but many people took pictures that day... Perhaps why I am not a photographer).

I still have no idea what happened with our little candle that blew. The other candle did not blow up but I did light it at a later date to find out that the glass gets REALLY hot so it probably would have eventually.

Lessons learned: 1) Thank god I had to pee when I did and 2) Don't buy natural candles, specifically the Pacifica brand and 3) I definitely still have a fire phobia and 4) If ever in crisis on a toilet, I will be able to maintain control of my bladder (good to know?)

Photos for evidence:

Update to that health crap...

2011-11-30T12:09:00.005-08:00

See the last post for more info but further detail that this (what I used to call "stupid") diet is working:

I got my period today.

Huh.

I hate it when people are right and I am wrong.

But, seriously, OH MY GOD. THIS IS WORKING!!!! IT'S WORKING!! It's one of the few times in my life I have actually almost died of happiness to see blood. (TMI? I guess I should disclose that this blog is not censored).

A cut.

2011-11-30T12:09:00.003-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Justin had a minor surgery to remove a lipoma from the back of his head. His general practitioner did it and it was expected to take 20-30 minutes, no big deal. They'd get the whole thing out and send it to biopsy where they'd determine if it was cancerous or not. They figured it was most likely not.

Well.

2.5 hours into the surgery, the growth was stuck to his brain. And of course, since this was just outpatient surgery, Justin was conscious. Awake. Listening to them rip this thing out of the back of his head (that right there would make me UNCONSCIOUS. I mean, REALLY GROSS). They didn't get it 100% out but 3 hours, a sore head, and 8 stitches later, Justin was on his way. And it did turn out to be non-cancerous. (WHEW!) For the following couple of weeks, I had a new patient:

They didn't even shave his head- weird. I think he is glad that whole experience is done and behind him.

A journey to health.

2011-11-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

Isn't that the tag line of life?

I'm not really sure where to start this post.

But I'll try.

Remember how I've been a vegetarian/vegan on and off for about, oh, the past 15 years of my life? There are about 2 distinct periods where I remember decidedly NOT being a vegetarian and one time was when I first started dating Justin and ate some meat with him (keyword here is "some"). It's one thing to tell your trainer to basically go screw themselves (in nice terms) when they tell you to eat "animal protein" after working out because you don't believe a) that you need it to build muscle and b) you hate it, but it's an entirely other thing to tell your new non-vegetarian boyfriend to screw off when he tells you to eat protein after working out when he spends enough time with you to know that you do in fact probably need that animal protein. That lasted for about the first 3 months of our relationship and by the end of 12 months? He was pretty much eating vegetarian with me. In September of this year? We were both vegan after he had researched it more and found out varying health benefits and that you do not, in fact, necessarily need animal protein to be an athlete (a win for me! ...Or so I thought at that time).

The other time that I ate animals in the past 15 years? Well, it wasn't really isolated like the time I just described before but it was more one-offs where I'd have a bite here, a bit there just to see if I still did hate the taste of meat. Pretty much without fail the answer was always YUP. I ate the occasional piece of fish or occasional eggs but for the most part I was solely vegetarian, if not vegan.

I posted about it here. Mostly that post centered around the fact that I was always an "on the fence" vegetarian, meaning that I generally was vegetarian but not really for animal cruelty purposes but for taste purposes. Simply put, I just don't like the way meat tastes. The book I wrote about in this post was all about the inhumane treatment of animal, which, I still agree, is disgusting.

All of that aside, fast forward to October 2011 and we are successfully through the wedding and married and happily living our life as healthy as we thought possible- as little vegan warriors (what the hell that means, I don't know... I don't know where I come up with this stuff sometimes). But, slight problem in this whole health thing? Remember this post when I talk briefly about how I quit birth control in April? Yeah, well I never really expanded on that but basically I haven't had a period since then. Yeah. Um 6 months of no period sets off fire engine alarms of "AMENORRHEA! NO BLEED NO BLEED!" Apparently it's a problem. Right.

So, I started going to acupuncture to regulate my cycles. It was good for a lot of reasons but didn't help old Aunt Flo to show up. My (stupid, now fired) OB doc wanted to put me on medicine to give me a "fake period" to which I said less politely "fuck off, I'm doing this naturally." I gained weight thinking if I put on some body fat, that would help. (HELLO, peanut butter!) No dice. So, that left me in October with the "natural" method of birth control which meant erratic temperatures, no period and thinking "hmm. Should probably do something about this."

So I went to see a naturopath. A renowned naturopath. He's in Tacoma... an hour away from me. I was committed to solving this naturally, without MORE drugs since a major part of the reason I was screwed up was the birth control pill in the first place (another post entirely on how stupid it is that we don't teach women about their bodies to control birth naturally, without just popping a pill... at LEAST give people the option!)

Anyway, for my first naturopath appointment, I headed down to Tacoma for my full metabolic/chemistry workup. Pee in a cup, spit in a cup (and sidenote? Spitting in a cup to get the "right" amount? Takes FOREVER. Try it if you don't believe me).

I sit and wait and they run a few initial tests on my pee and spit along with ask me a million questions on various bodily functions/eating habits, etc. The result? He said basically that I am deficient in every way possible. And this was just the INITIAL appointment. He told me to drink salt water, eat as much fat as possible, and TRY to eat animals or at least drink animal broths (IE: chicken broth). Well, that week in between the initial appointment and follow up I did two of those things: salt water and fat. I wasn't giving up life as I knew it as a vegan, especially since my husband was now living that way too especially just for some stupid naturopath.

A week later? My world was rocked. ROCKED.

I went back for the follow up where he had all of the actual numbers in his hand from the tests that were run alongside various blood tests that I'd had from my other MD's. They showed what I hadn't wanted to believe the week before: deficient, not holding on to any nutrients. Why? Because I essentially had no amino acids in my system. None. Zilch. Yeah, that's what being vegan does for you and no matter how much pea protein you take, you're never going to successfully get a complete amino acid. Well, since I was so deficient, my body basically said, "screw the reproductive cycle, we don't need that, we just need to keep her alive." Your body is never going to support a period, or even more so, a baby, if it's deficient in nutrients. Plus, my hormones were all whacky from running so much (cardio produces hormones or something).

It was, apparently, the perfect storm... or so I'm told.

Justin was there with me and I'm SURE wanting to dance around in some giddy rain dance hi-fiving everyone on the planet for how right he was (yes, this was truly all about stroking his ego, of course).

So, I said FINE. Screw you both. I will accept that this is now a matter of science and perhaps, just maybe, I've been wrong. If I ever want kids, I will do this. For SIX WEEKS. If there is no change, and then after that, no period, I'm done.

And we shook on it and walked out the door. Where I cried in the car. I was totally overwhelmed. It is a tough realization to find out that what you thought you were doing by living the healthiest life you thought possible and all the while feeling pretty damn good actually turned out to be harming you.

We went to whole foods and bought fish. And eggs. It was a start. The doctor would, however, like me to eat liver and raw eggs to which I said that there is no way in HELL that will ever happen. Ever. Seriously, barf.

So, since that appointment in October, here's a sampling of my meals:

Salmon, quinoa, and spinach...this was actually a shot of the "first" non-vegan dinner I'd had in quite a while.

LOTS of eggs and veggies... also: soft boiled are the best, and runny fried eggs (no scrambled- it ruins the integrity of the yolk which is the best part for me now... YUCK)

Lots of juices

More juice...at my desk. I had to start off this diet with lots of juices- basically treating my stomach as if it were a baby's stomach to get it acclimated/adjusted.

And I have even eaten ground beef. I literally have not eaten cow since I was about 15.

So.

The result?

I went back in mid-November to find out that everything had completely flipped. OF COURSE. The diet is working, I'm no longer nutrient deficient and am much, much healthier. So I'm staying on it...still eating fat, protein, and drinking my salt water. We'll see if I get a period and what happens from here but I have adapted for now and have realized that, right now, this diet is the best thing for me. My body type has a metabolism such that it functions better on high protein. I've accepted it as it is for now, and have grown to like the taste of runny eggs and salt. I've also since put on 8 pounds of pure muscle. Body fat is the same, clothes still fit, but 8 POUNDS of muscle. Holy hell! I do feel much, much stronger and like I am operating on a daily basis with more clarity. And, another bonus? I've been approved to run again! Yay!

Justin even went after I went to get tested himself. The MOST hilarious part of all of this? His body type tested as one that would do better with no salt and totally vegan. (He had more salt in his spit that I had initially in my urine!) We are exact opposites. Ying and yang? Perhaps. So while I eat cow and drink salt water, he eats tempeh and avoids salt like the plague...literally less than 100 mg a day (do you KNOW how hard it is to avoid salt?! It is literally in everything.) And, in the meantime, we both are secretly jealous of the other's diet. At least for now.

We will keep you posted on this journey to health... It's something that I think every person will always be on in some form or another. Maybe it's just called life...and living as healthily as possible.

Brother is in town: last day.

2011-11-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the prior post, the Friday after Thanksgiving we took my brother to Leavenworth so he could see the town. It was just a short little day trip following a late breakfast once everyone who stayed at our house from Thanksgiving ate and left. We got to Leavenworth around 1pm and once again, a huge FAIL for the lack of pictures. Here's all I got:

Justin driving (exciting shot #1)

A picture of the road (oooh, it is sort of exciting- look, sun!)

And a shot of the mountains right before we arrived in Leavenworth. I know, I know, really not exciting at all.

The day was nice though- we walked around the village, tasted a little bit of wine somehow, tried samples, and finished it all up by eating at South, the restaurant we always go to in Leavenworth. We headed home to basically crash for the night before we got up early the next morning to take my brother to the airport. All in all, a successful week!

Thanksgiving 2011 (and also: brother is in town days #2 and #3)

2011-11-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

Wednesday November 23, Jon and I had a little day trip again over to Seattle. We ate sushi at Japonessa, explored pike place and walked around the streets of Seattle... in the freezing cold pouring rain. It was fitting for how people would typically think of Seattle (cold, rainy, gloomy). After spending the afternoon there, we went home so that I could start prepping for Thanksgiving with my brother. We made all of the mashed potatoes (mashed sweet and mashed garlic), cut up all of the green beans/mushrooms/beets, and made an apple crisp. On top of it all, we made more fish for dinner that night- Black cod.

The next day, Justin and I got up and worked out before starting all of the Thanksgiving preparations. We were determined not to spend all day in the kitchen again. So, we worked out, came home, started the (much smaller than last year) turkey, showered, and then starting cooking more. Items we made? 2 types of stuffing, normal and gluten free, a healthy green bean casserole, roasted beets, and, of course, turkey. Everyone else who was coming was responsible for bringing the other Thanksgiving items.

By about 2pm we were just sitting on the couch relaxing waiting for our guests to arrive. It was fabulous.

A few shots of our stuff:

The little bird.

Justin in the kitchen cooking.

Green beans and mushrooms to become (eventually) the guts of the green bean casserole.

Our funky beets (we got a bunch of them from our organic farm delivery on the day of Thanksgiving).

Gluten free stuffing.

At about 5pm we sat down to eat. I was having some much fun talking to everyone that I totally spaced on taking a picture of our table or anyone else that night. Bummer. We had a good group this year- 8 people for dinner, with another 3 to join us after dinner for dessert. It was a late night full of shenanigans and, well, we can just leave it at that. Needless to say, everyone who was there that night probably has a very special memory of Thanksgiving 2011!

Following Thanksgiving our weekend looked like this:

We decorated for Christmas... (YES! For being on the ball)

...and we worked off some of the Thanksgiving goodies. Again, YES!

But, before that, we had another trip to Leavenworth to show my brother the cute little town before he headed back to Missouri...

Brother comes to town day #1.

2011-11-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Monday November 21 my brother flew into town for a few days from Kansas City to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us. It was a vacation for him and it ended up being a mini-vacation for us, too. The day he got in, we headed over to Seattle to a coffee shop and to look around for a while. After our Seattle adventure, we headed to the Wilde Rover, an Irish bar in Kirkland, to watch Monday night football seeing as the Kansas City Chiefs (our home team!) were playing.

I learned a few things this first day: 1) I still suck at parallel parking and now my brother and an entire coffee shop in Seattle can testify to it. 2) The Chiefs new quarterback (Palko?) is very weird looking... and also? He is terrible.

The next morning I went into work for a few hours before my brother got up. Justin has Tuesday afternoons off of work so we decided to take him on the Woodinville wine tour that afternoon. There are SO many wineries in Woodinville that you could probably spend HOURS doing this. Luckily for us (and our livers) the wineries are only open from about 12-5 so you can't do too much damage.

Our first stop was the Chateau St. Michelle. They have beautiful grounds and for this reason I like to take people there. Their wine is ok, really, it's good for the price and most people have heard of this winery. This time, actually, I was pretty impressed with some of their wines and we ended up joining their wine club. Stop number one and we already joined a wine club? Evidence it MIGHT just be a long day ahead... After getting booted out of St. Michelle due to a fire alarm, we headed to the Delille Carriage house.

OH MY GOODNESS. I love Delille. I have never had a bad wine of theirs. We did the tasting where we got to have tastes of both a $140 bottle and a $170 bottle. The $140 bottle was ok, not great (especially for the price) but the $170 bottle? Oh my, I am in the wrong profession. It was SO GOOD.

My brother and Justin at Delille. Don't worry, Justin is not drunk, he's just a bad picture taker.

Ah, this one is much better.

Next stop? Mark Ryan. Also another great, fun winery.

I tried to get a shot of Justin and I... it was dismal at best. Partly due to the wine, partly due to the yucky old iphone and it's bad photos, partly due to the darkness outside because it was pouring rain all day. Oh well!

Next stop: next door to Mark Ryan was Amavi. I was not super impressed by this one. We hadn't been there before. It was decent but not great. We bought a bottle of white for Thanksgiving.

Another shot of Justin and Jon.

After making a final stop at Woodhouse Winery (where we belong to and where we got married), we headed home. It was time to call it a day. Of course, we had to take a picture of our loot... we definitely did some damage but it was well worth it. Notice the GIANT bottle in the back? If you're a faithful blog reader you know that we got the same bottle (different vintage year) last year for Justin's family's Christmas. It was fabulous and a great deal so I think this might just be a new holiday tradition. After a dinner of salmon, sweet potatoes and salad, we curled up on the couch and declared it was a very successful day.

Snowy weekend with friends.

2011-11-20T23:09:00.000-08:00

I'll just preface this post by saying that, yes this post is backdated. No, you are not crazy. It just went up and I dated it back to when it happened. Oh well.

So, the weekend of November 18, we were invited to spend the weekend with 3 other couples at a cabin in Leavenworth, Washington. You remember Leavenworth, right? I've only talked about it a MILLION times on this blog. The little sleepy bavarian village that Justin is from right at the base of the cascades? Yes, well. We are always looking for an excuse to get to this little mountain town and it was even better that we had a group of friends to go with- one of whom had a birthday that weekend.

We got off work around 2 on Friday and decided to start the trip off right by wine tasting! Ok, just kidding. We aren't really that lush. We actually had to go to our two wine clubs to pick up our fall deliveries. And one of the wine clubs (Dusted Valley, above) we had to taste to decide which bottles we wanted.

Above: Justin tasting wine. After another quick stop at Woodhouse (without tasting), we headed over the quite snowy pass (very unusual for mid-November). We made it to the cabin around 7pm where a competitive game of WII tennis was going on.

After Shauna and Erin beat the boys' butts at tennis, we bundled up and got out in the snow to walk a few blocks to town where we had dinner at south...complete with Justin's tequila flight.

After that, we headed to Icicle brewery where we played connect four. Yes, connect four. In a bar. It's quite fun. That night ended with more drinks at home and of course... the hottub party.

The next morning we woke up to snow! It was very cool. It was so snowy all day and I was completely enamoured. You would never have guessed that I grew up in the midwest and have ever seen snow in my life. I think there's just something magical about it- especially in the mountains. We bundled up again and headed in to town for breakfast at the cute little Renaissance cafe.

Above: a shot of the scenery we passed every day walking from the cabin into town. Gorgeous!

After shopping around town all morning, Justin and I decided to head out on a snowy hike. This would have been a great decision had I known that it was actually going to be 2+ hours and an actual workout. Then, I would have chosen NOT to wear my uggs. Bad planning. Above is a shot of Leavenworth from our hike and below are several more shots from our hike.

After slipping and sliding back down the mountain, we rolled in frozen and walked in to more WII action.

Eventually we made it to dinner at Visconti's where we met up with another couple who'd driven over from Seattle for the day. It was fabulous! We then meandered back to the cabin for more hot tubbing and a little bit of a dance party that I royally sucked at! The next morning, we had breakfast with the group again and then we all went our separate ways before heading back home. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and hopefully it becomes an annual tradition. What was only 2-3 days, felt like a much needed mini-vacation!

Settling into domestic life.

2011-11-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of more "serious" posts I need to put up but in the meantime- Round about 400 of typical fall weekends around the Valente house: no kids, complete with wine, a birthday party Saturday night (Jordan's brother) and fall walks. Exhibit A and B, below, for the walk part. We were supposed to go to a couple of fall wine release parties on Saturday but ended up not going for a variety of reasons. I'm pretty confident we'll make it up. The rest of the weekend was about the same as usual... getting crap done around the house, laying low, relaxing, getting some work done. I figure we'll work on spicing these weekends up over the course of the next couple of months when we have about every weekend booked for the last part of November through December... enjoy the stillness while it lasts!

Exhibiting my inner nerdiness

2011-11-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

Evidence that I live in a box:

I stumbled upon this a few days ago and was totally intrigued. I guess I haven't rented a movie except for on demand or netflix for, I don't know, YEARS? The idea that you can just find one of these red boxes and have a movie instantly for $1 totally blew me away. I am not even going to express here just how cool I thought this was because just the fact that it's getting a blog post of its own should probably be enough to embarrass me.

So I rented two movies. It was cool. I was way more excited than I probably should have been. Just ask Justin. He laughed at me for about an hour straight. Whatever.

Signs of the season...

2011-11-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

November 1st. How in the WORLD is it already November 1st? I literally cannot wrap my head around the fact that we only have 2 months left of 2011. I swear I'm still in the mindset of "any day it will be summer in Seattle." Oh wait. But that never happened AND that was, oh, 3 months ago. HOW?!

Regardless of the fact that my poor little head can't process that it's November and almost the holiday, it most certainly is.

If nothing else, Starbucks told me so today:

Oh my goodness. Not possible. (oops and apparently I spilled out of this festive cup. Tends to happen, now it's on camera).

A Halloween story.

2011-10-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

So, the Friday before Halloween the lights in our bathroom flickered when I turned them on at 5am. They came right back on and no other power was out so I figured it was just a fluke.

The next day?

Same thing. Weird. Starting to feel a little like some sort of weird ghost story... especially with Halloween so close and the thought of all things ghouly on our minds.

BUT! The power comes back. Then 5 minutes later? Flickers and POOF. Gone again. Huh.

We start screwing around with other switches and outlets to find that all other outlets work aside from the two bathroom outlets. All other lights work in the house aside from 3- the overhead bathroom lights, the bedroom overhead lights, and the stair lights. We flipped all breakers but no success.

Weird.

So, next step? Aside from candle light showers, of course. (WHICH, by the way, are actually kind of romantic... I think I might adopt this practice in the future just because it is quite nice. Although I will say: Shaving your legs by candlelight leaves for WAY too many missed spots. Good thing it's freezing up here and my legs are pretty much always covered...) I will mention as well: a dark candlelit shower on Halloween? Not really sure I'm a fan.

Anyway, next step is to get an electrician out here. We've already had two stand us up (really? Are electricians that much in demand around Halloween?) The one we just talked to thinks it's probably either a) a loose wire or b) an animal that ate through a wire. He somehow didn't validate my idea of a ghost. I am hoping for option a here.... I'm not sure that I like the idea of an animal OR a ghost. Though as Justin said, perhaps the ghost made the wire come loose? Spooky.

Happy Halloween! Maybe we'll give our ghost lots of candy... maybe then he/she/it will let our power come back on to our several (weird) select outages....

Another one down.

2011-10-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Another weekend, no kids...again. We thought we'd have at least one of them so we were pondering what to do, what to do once we found out we had neither of them.

And also, another post entirely: teenagers! You guys know I like to do things backwards, that's why I started with teenagers, not babies. I figure I have my 30s to figure life out in the appropriate manner, right? Or at least that's what some people like to believe. I think I've got it figured out just fine. The way I see it: I was a god-awful teenager, admittedly. It is by FAR the biggest reason I wouldn't have kids (well, that and puke...but I think I can pawn off the puke thing to my much more puke tolerant husband). To start off being a mom (well, a step mom) with the age I am most afraid of? This is BRILLIANT. I actually KNOW what I'm getting into (or at least more than I would otherwise) before deciding to crack out a kid. Anyway, I'll leave all that for another day's post.

On to less important things, like, what we did this weekend when the kiddos were busy being teenagers with dates and halloween dances....

Friday night, we headed over to the Meyers for the 3rd annual pumpkin carving. I have no pictures to commemorate the event but you can see Stacie's post by clicking here.

The following day, we hung around in the morning before we really started moving and at about 2pm we headed to do some errands and then to Seattle to explore.

First stop: Queen Anne and all of its cute little shops. It was a great day for walking around Seattle and doing some shopping.

After Queen Anne, we headed to Discovery Park. I'd never been there before but Justin used to live over in Magnolia so this was his home turf. It was a HUGE park and absolutely beautiful.

The breathtaking Puget sound on yet another sunny Seattle fall day.

Funny story about this picture: someone saw it on Justin's facebook page and told him that they were going to yell at him for taking a cute picture with some other girl (and ask if I knew about it!) He had to explain that it was indeed me... with brown hair. And sunglasses.

After Discovery park, we headed into Ballard for more shopping and putzing around. LOVE Ballard. Wish I got over there more often.

Eventually we landed back at Cafe Flora for dinner. Once again, it did not disappoint. And after a glass (or two) of wine, I got camera happy and took a bazillion pictures of Justin...like the one above and the few below (trust me, I only included a few here for your viewing pleasure and for his sheer embarrassment).

I will say here: he got hard cider to drink. It was PERFECT for a chilly fall day. So good.

One more shot....

Today we've spent the day cleaning up around the house, working some, going to yoga and generally just laying low. It was another great weekend.

We'll call it: in honor of fall.

2011-10-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

What can I say? I was bored. And pasty white. We'll thank the pacific northwest for the latter. It's been about, oh, two months since my body saw a ray of sunlight enough to create something more than what I like to call this "casper effect". As a result, my beach blonde look really wasn't working for me anymore. And, like I said, I was bored. I've been blonde for the majority of my life. So, I changed it up a bit. The hair that is, we are talking about hair.

First up, I had to fill in my hair shafts. I did not know this was a step but apparently it is. So, I got to be carrot top for a while. I had a similar experience back in 2007 when I moved up to Seattle and SOMEHOW my crazy hair person made me a goth freak with black hair (read also: the definition of TRAUMATIC. Big giant HUGE life changes- you know, divorcing, new job, moving across the country and on top of it? Goth black hair!) Anyway, I lived. But, to get back to blonde back then? I went through every shade of red. Including the one above! (except for in 2007 I was this shade of red for a week, versus 10 minutes). (You can read that hair memo from way back when by clicking here).

The end result? A chestnut brown brunette with shades of red in it... but really, you can't see the red much here (and pardon the "I just worked out look." I had just worked out...clearly).

The next morning, I tried to take a more presentable picture. It was 5am, still not the best shot but you get the idea. And there you have it. I like it for now. It's warm, I look less pasty. Brown hair, fall colors. It's definitely fall up in here.

And the thing about hair that really makes it so fun? You can always change it again.

Another weekend... in pictures. Sort of.

2011-10-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

It's the second to last weekend in October and Justin and I found ourselves without kids... again! There really isn't too much to report other than we did the married couple thing- got things done around the house, worked some, worked out some, relaxed some. So, pictures:

We got "boo-ed" by our neighbor kids in honor of the upcoming spooky holiday. I have to say, I've never been boo-ed before. It's a first.

The weather dropped below 50 degrees...as a high. And I promptly wanted to roll over and die... or maybe just roll over and have 400 blankets around me. Under 50 degrees is CHILLY. And we still haven't turned our heat on. I have a feeling that will be short lived.

We went on a long walk. As in, like 2.5 hours. It was really nice but, yeah, long. Here's Justin about 25 minutes before we were done... I might mention that the day before we did the workout from hell with our workout buddy Cedric. These workouts are called: "survival of the fittest." No, they aren't really but they should be. We basically compete until one of us dies. Needless to say, they are great workouts and we all feel them the next days.

Justin grabbing his sore, aching boobies... the survival of the fittest workout from the day before was a chest/triceps workout. We literally couldn't raise our arms up. Our plans to yoga were foiled as there was no WAY we were going to hold a warrior 1... or 2... or basically any posture. Again, with the lifting of the arms.

Gorgeous fall trees...

And again...

More leaves...

And once more. As much as the cooler temperatures symbolize the turn of the seasons, the leaves scream it even more. Can't get enough of the colors this year...it was the one thing I hated about Phoenix. No fall. But here, I get it and it's beautiful!

An annual affair.

2011-10-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Ready for the annual rant? You better buckle up and have a while because it's also going to be about 5 posts in one. (and if you are grossed out by talks of doctors or anything of the sort, skip this post altogether).

Remember my rant last year on why I really despise the lady doctor? NO? Well, refresh. It's right here for your reference. If you're too lazy to go there (trust me, I don't blame you), here's the cliff notes version along side an update for this year (from when I went several weeks ago). Last year, I outlined quite a few things that I absolutely HATE (not even a strong enough word) about the lady doctor.

Last year I hated:

1) The freak out of the innocent bystander (me) standing beside someone who was quite literally minutes away from giving birth in the elevator. This year, I didn't quite have that experience exactly (thank god) so things started off on an immensely better foot. Although, I did follow all four people in the elevator to the same damn doctor's office so I knew I'd be waiting for a while.

2) The waiting room. Yeah, not any better. Kids were insane, and in the midst of the insanity of the kids and uncomfortable looking soon-to-be moms, I waited for at LEAST an hour as the true outlier of the group...late twenties, not pregnant, no kids. In other words, no kids, no problem- welcome to wait time. What.in.the.hell. (And the irony in this is that they call me the day before to tell me to be EARLY...really?)

3) The actual appointment and peeing in a cup. Yes, I still hate this. But this year, the nurse told me more about how they actually analyze my pee... oh how joyful that was to watch her spin the little color wheel as she is holding my cup of pee (awkward learning experience?)

4) The up-sell. Two years ago it was a cluster of blood tests, last year it was the triple crown of shots. This year? Oh yes, you better believe it there was another upsell. This year: OH, because I haven't had my period since going off the pill 6 months ago (because I hate it... have I mentioned this here? Oh maybe I should back up.

I went off the pill because I hate it, it's evil and there's no point in taking it if you are a responsible adult and are willing to take two minutes a day to avoid pregnancy naturally. SO. I consider myself to want to be natural and I am a mildly responsible adult at least when not under the influence of bourbon, therefore, I chucked the pill in a dramatic effort one day late last April (actually Justin did this for me...bye bye evil crazy pills) and am now practicing the more natural methods of birth control that no one ever talks about so that I can get my body back to normal eventually... another blog post, another day- oh there has been so much to learn!)

ANYWAY.

The doctor basically told me that was crap, this "natural thing" and I needed to dope up and stop taking my temperature because it doesn't matter. Um, HI. I just TOLD YOU I am doing this naturally. That THIS is what is important to me. And then I'm thinking, the 60 pound, unhealthy looking, overweight doctor is telling me not to be natural and to pop drugs. Huh. What part of popping a god damn pill is natural? So since I refused to do that? Blood tests to see if she can support her solution of putting me on more hormones even though I just ditched the fake hormones of one variety. Fine. Do the freaking blood tests and let my blood prove to you that everything is NORMAL.

ENTER EXHIBIT A:

Oh yes, the lovely war wound of blood draws. (they took about 5 vials, not kidding).

And one more shot. It should be noted that this was taken about 5 DAYS after the actual draw, too. Yeah. So. Choice words for you, doc.

And since I'm writing this in retrospect, I can tell you the results: GO FIGURE, absolutely everything in the blood tests came back normal. Huh. When I got that call the nurse said, "But we still think we should put you on progesterone to jump start your periods, " I nicely asked what the point was when all my tests were measuring normal. If they are normal, my body is normal, so eventually it will get it itself, right? She hemmed and hawed and eventually said, "well, yes." At which point, I said, "Well, then no thank you for trying to up-sell me more things I don't need."

AND THEN.

"But it does appear that you aren't vaccinated against Rubella." And I'm all, "WTF is Rubella?" And the nurse asks me if I ever plan on having kids and I say yes, we'd hope we'd be so lucky and she then proceeds to tell me that if I don't get vaccinated against Rubella pretty much RIGHT THIS SECOND, I am going to kill whatever baby I eventually have if I'm not vaccinated against this disease.

OH MY GOODNESS.

I understand what Rubella is and how there can be harmful affects if you do get it while pregnant. That being said, I also believe in some way, there are ways to treat things naturally so that your body does the vaccinating for you. Call me a hippie if you want, but I truly believe that. So that I don't get on my soap box of all things wrong with Western medicine vs. taking a more natural approach, I'll stop here but let me tell you: the upsell this year was RIDICULOUS. As one of my largest clients happens to be a doctor practice, I find this laughable.

5) The fifth thing I hated last year was freezing in basically nothing while the doctor talks about everything under the moon after you've been waiting and trying to grow a fur coat on your body after freezing for a million years in a little sheet that doesn't close behind your bum. And the doctor comes in and talks and talks and you're all like, "DUDE, I'm FREEZING my ass off, can we please just get this over with before I become an ice cube?" Yep, nothing has changed there.

6) The whole body exam. Still a violation. Still hate it. Still sucks. A necessary evil I guess.

And of course, again, I have an abnormal pap smear. Hey, at least this year they told me in a timely manner and not 6 months later while I was having wine with a girlfriend... Remember that whole debacle from last year? Refresh by clicking here, if you choose. They wanted to mutilate my damn cervix AGAIN but neglected to tell me that my 6 month earlier pap was abnormal until I was at home in Kansas City drinking wine with a girlfriend....at which point, they make you feel like you have cancer and you are drinking wine which makes EVERYTHING more dramatic so you're all, "OMG, CJ, I have cancer, this might be the last time I EVER have wine with you or am EVER home again!!" Right. Well.

Every year since I've started going to this doctor I have an abnormal pap smear. Every damn year. They call you, treat you like you are pretty much dying of cancer and tell you to schedule a colposcopy. This is a very lovely procedure where they stick more metal and awkward devices that should NEVER see the inside of any vagina, much less fit in there. This all allows the doctor to see "MAYBE" mild dysplasia but they eventually decide to rip out a chunk of your cervix anyway "just to be sure" after you've already spent 40 mintues freaking out at the reading materials in the room that read "how to cope with terminal illness" or "how to survive cancer." And the chunk they rip out? For all of you that have never had this done, imagine cutting a dime size ball out of the most sensitive part of your body. No numbing, just going for it. And not a quick swipe, you take it out and then you kind of dig and dig and rip just to make sure if fully comes out. Good mental picture? Ok, now times how that feels by about 100. (And I have a high pain threshold- note the running on the almost exploding achilles tendon for 9 months!) At the end of all of this ordeal... thinking you're dying of cancer, then to freaking out, then to experiencing more pain in your cervix than you ever should, you're told, "Oh, there's absolutely no abnormal cells at all. Fluke test." RIGHT.

So, this year, what I'm gathering is that you're telling me I have to go through this MASSIVE upsell in this stupid test that has been repeatedly a "fluke" AGAIN? You are fucking shitting me. And also, I would like to punch you in the nose. And then the throat. And for good measure, then I would like you to tear out a chunk of YOUR cervix that has nothing wrong with it and give me a few thousand bucks for your pain... then we can talk about how this all feels. And, also, I am calling your bluff, doc.

I'm going to stop here because this is long and I'm just annoyed with all of this. I think that the moral of the story in this all is that I need a new OB doctor. And stat. Mine can currently consider herself fired.

Random weekend musings.

2011-10-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had both kiddos for once. Weird, as we've only been having one at a time lately. It was a nice change and good to see them both! We picked them up Friday night in Seattle and headed home to a nice dinner of tacos (the staple, of course).

After that, it was on to Fast and the Furious 5... in which I got honorary thug status from Bailey (note the hat) and read a book. I watched about 20 minutes of fast and furious before I decided that my book was much more entertaining.

The next day we hung around and then made our way down to Justin's mom's house to help her with her yard. Above is a picture of Justin (aka Rambo) who decided to really go balls out and weed.

And another with the saw... his biceps felt awesome that night as we had a massive bi/back workout the day before.

During this yard work, we made a lot of new friends... the one above was the cutest of the bunch. The others I did not stick around very long to get any pictures. After working outside for a couple of hours, we had dinner with Justin's mom, brother, sister in law and the four kids before heading home (seriously, I'm calling two teenagers kids now... I HATED that when I was young. Oh, how the times change).

The next day we also took it easy before driving the boys back across the mountains. This is what awaited us at the top of the pass- beautiful fall colors and SUN!

Heading back the other way, let me just point out the wall of clouds... (sadface).

And, on the west side of the mountains, aka: home (isn't that crazy how one side of the mountains is all clouds, other side all sun?) Hi Seattle, you and your fall cloudiness sucks. Can we go back to the sunny fallish weather, please? All in all, despite the gloom, it was a great weekend. Another one for the books!

Monthly wine night...

2011-10-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

One of my friends, Stacie, started up a monthly girls wine night (called WINOSS) back in June for ladies on the eastside of Lake Washington (vs. Seattle proper who have their own group). It was a GREAT idea to get a bunch of girlfriends together at a location that varies every month with a type of wine that varies every month. This month? We were drinking tempernillo at my house!

Above: a shot of the wines post party. There are a couple of bottle not featured as we had a couple of repeats in the mix. Apparently tempernillos are not super popular in Washington state yet (but they are still quite delicious). As it is every month, this was such a fun night to get together with friends, eat, and drink good wine.

Just another weekend....

2011-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was not really anything to write home about, but a weekend is a weekend, right? And we all know that weekends are good things.

This weekend started off with wine and appetizers at our favorite little wine bar, Purple.

Justin looking all dapper... reading the menu trying to decide on wines. In the end? We ended up getting several different glasses to try a few. Oh! And the next day we went to hot yoga and right next to us was the bartender. Pretty cute.

Also noted before we went to purple: shades of fire red in front of our house. If this doesn't scream "BEHOLD, welcome to fall!" I'm not sure what does.

Another shot up the tree with a few green leaves interspersed.

On Saturday, we picked up Justin's dad from the airport who flew in for a conference and then headed to meet Justin's brother, sister in law, baby Isla for a Thai dinner. After that we headed back to Jordan and Steph's house to hang out for a while.

The next day, Justin's dad spent with us so we made him dinner. He's recently changed his diet a bit to adopt more of a plant based diet so we showed him how easy (and fun!) this can be. Above: spring rolls with tofu. (Sidenote: I doubt that Joe would totally agree that he had a blast making these. In fact, I think he may have thought that Justin's little creation was insanity). They were quite tasty though, although the prep time always takes a little while.

We also made another batch of soup. This time? Pumpkin/squash/sweet potato/coconut. Very good.

And another apple crisp to represent this fall season we are in, whether or not we really are ready for the change of seasons.

Two plus two plus two.

2011-10-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

On October 2nd, Justin's cousin's daughters turned two years old. They are twins. Two year old twins on the 2nd. Lots of twos going on around here. In honor of their special day, we went to their house to celebrate:

Twin number 1- Luca... a little unsure about the whole thing.

And twin number 2, Tessa: definitely not the shy one. We had a great time at the birthday party and the girls got a TON of good stuff (although I'm not sure that they really cared about anything other than their new big girl beds and babies/baby strollers). It was hilarious to watch them... I think they were a little overwhelmed by everything going on! (And, by the way, isn't it crazy to believe that one of them- not sure which- was only 2 pounds when she was born?!)

And for good measure, another shot of that precious baby Isla with Justin looking like a pro feeding her.

October 1.

2011-10-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, it really started to feel like fall up here in the pacific northwest. Meaning: rain and cold. And also? Goodbye temperatures over 60 degrees until next August (sadface). Let's just cross our fingers that we don't see ANY snow this winter and specifically none in November. This is the compromise we make to live in the northwest: Temperatures that aren't really hot or cold but we don't have 110 degrees or snow. When Seattle screws with us and gives us 110 degree weeks in the summer or 10+ inches of snow in November, it just upsets the whole balance.

Anyway, besides the point.

So, October 1st. A new season, it felt like fall and what better way to really bring in this changing season than the following:

A 1.5 hour fall walk... (notice that red tree in the background).

Look out across the water at the city of Seattle.

We ran into asparagus on the side of the road. Really?

And pumpkins.

Later that night as we were freezing and refusing to turn on the heat on October 1 (since it won't be turned off again until July...), we made apple crisp to make the house smell good...

...and a pumpkin/squash/sweet potato soup that was just amazing. Although I don't really love the darker days/imminent cold weather, I do like the slightly crisp, cooler days along with the changing colors and fall foods so in that respect, I guess you could say I am embracing this change of season that is so evidently right upon us.

Leaving a legacy.

2011-10-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Pretty much everyone is going to be talking today about yesterday's passing of Steve Jobs. And here I am to jump on that bandwagon. I'm not a computer programmer, I know how to do the simplest of all things computer related and on my iphone. But, nonetheless, I think it goes to say that somehow, someway, I am still affected by Steve Jobs influence.

In college, I was in one of my core business classes (I cannot for the life of me remember which one- senior seminar? Maybe?) and I had to do a report (or what FELT like a dissertation at the time) on an instrumental person in the business world who had overcome adversity and succeeded. I selected Steve Jobs (I bet I still have that report somewhere... it would be interesting to find it right now!) Anyhow, from that report, I learned so much about him including how he brought Apple back in the late 90s after being fired from Apple in the 80s. I learned about his personal life. I learned about how he operated as a businessman. I learned how he viewed success. All of this was circa about 2003, well before the release of the iphone, ipad, or hell, maybe even before the ipod. At that time, he was still successful with many, many great things to come. I don't know that any one person can ever fully be solely responsible for a company's success but I DO believe that these individuals who are credited with it are responsible in that they understand what it takes to run a successful business- from product to the people surrounding them. I do believe that Steve Jobs had it right and that his loss will be felt deeply- and for a long time- from people like me who just use and love their Apple products to higher techy people who work with these products every hour of every day, using them to their full capability.

To end- a few quotes floating around out there today (of course) that Steve Jobs was credited with during a commencement speech at Standford in 2005, right around the time he was initially diagnosed with cancer. Pretty good words of wisdom:

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true...."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.....Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Interrupting the August recap...for...September!

2011-10-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm through the wedding recap and, really, just need to post about the honeymoon adventure in Hawaii. So, before I do that, I'm going to just go ahead and get all caught up on September. Track the posts as they come up here:

The beer olympics, take #2.

I swear, we both have college degrees.

Lucky number 15.

Being helpful.

Secret chef.

What was supposed to happen on Friday night...

What was supposed to happen on Friday night....

2011-09-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to get the kids all weekend.

As such, were supposed to leave at 4pm to drive to get the kids.

We were supposed to then get home, eat kid-friendly food with them... pizza, tacos, you know, what teenage boys like.

Then, we were supposed to sit on the couch, catch up with them, and go to bed early to catch up on sleep since we had a weekend of the kiddos ahead.

None of this happened (foreshadowing).

Communications got crossed and instead, we ended up with an entirely free weekend. So, what to do? Head in to Seattle for date night at Cafe Flora, an entirely vegetarian restaurant (and supposedly one of the best in Seattle):

We got there around 4:30pm, the time we were supposed to be in the mountains driving to get the kids.

Instead we were picking out wines (sorry for the sketchy iphone photo).

And ended up with an INCREDIBLE 100% cab...

...one in which was not only amazing, but all profits go to a non-profit organization (even better!)

After sipping on some wines, we moved on to the menus for more happy hour options... at around the time we would have supposed to have been heading back down the mountain.

We had fried green tomatoes (pictured above... how have I never tried fried green tomatoes in my life?), sweet potato fries (delectable!), and coconut tofu. At which point, I died, went to heaven and begged the question of "Why I have NEVER been to Cafe Flora in the 4.5 years I've lived in Seattle?"

And this sweet guy looked at me (kind of like this!) and said, "I knew you'd love it, want to stay for dinner?"

Dinner at an amazing vegetarian place in Seattle when we were supposed to be eating kid friendly foods at home? Yes, please. Not that I'm not the first to love a night at home...

BUT. This was not that night.

So, how about dessert too? More wine perhaps? How about all of the above?

That's what we did... gnocchi for me, oaxca tacos for him, brownie and peach crisp for dessert. Oh yes, and amazing spicy pumpkin soup somewhere in between with another glass of wine and some bourbon to cap off the four hours we spent here (seriously).

And then we went home late, stayed up late talking and sharing when we were supposed to have been fast asleep for several hours if things had gone according to plan.

And sometimes, even if the night or days or weekend were supposed to go one way and would have been just as great that way, the way things end up working out are just as good than they were supposed to work out originally...especially when you relax and just take things as they come, for exactly what they are.

(always a good lesson to remember for those of us Type A people who like to plan...)

Secret chef.

2011-09-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

I had happy hour with a girlfriend tonight. Since I've been the sole responsible person for making dinner most nights as Justin gets home later than I do and I have time right now (it's our slow season at work... that October 15 deadline that we still have? Yeah, we kicked it's ass. Non-issue for two years in a row!) So, going back to the point- I had happy hour, I've been making dinners, and so I casually said to Justin on my way out the door to happy hour, "Hey, you could make dinner for ME tonight since you're home and I'll be home later." You know, thinking he'd do something like a salad or soup or leftovers or something easy.

NO.

Of COURSE, he has to be the best. (OVERACHIEVER SYNDROME, I call it).

He made FROM SCRATCH a Thai dinner: spicy green curry spring rolls stuffed with peppers, tofu, veggies; miso soup with thai peppers/onion; and thai mashed purple potatoes with a hint of red curry. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I sort of thought the wine I'd had at happy hour had seeped into my brain and was making me delusional when I walked in the door. But nope, I watched him as he was finishing making it and I have picture proof (sorry for the yucky iphone picture... the blog at the front are the purple mashed potatoes. I forgot to take a picture of the soup so you'll have to trust me on that one):

Not only did this look good, but it tasted incredible. I've decided that I should officially hire my husband as my personal chef. He is amazing.

Being helpful.

2011-09-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering how to kill a GIANT dragon fly that just so happens to be in a gym locker room when you are trying to shower, I thought I'd offer my advice (GROSS on the bug, by the way). Enter exhibit A.

Smother it in soap. Gobs and gobs of soap. (IT WORKS and yes, I am aware this was not the "eco-friendly" thing to do... Hi, I'm Jenn, innocently trying to take a shower. This was a GIANT DRAGONFLY in the wrong place at the wrong time and it flew at my face. Frankly, I do not care if I killed this particular bug and if you have a problem with it might I suggest some soap on your head as well?)

Lucky number 15.

2011-09-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

September 18 was Oliver's 15th birthday. We were lucky enough to have him for his birthday weekend (and his cousin, Eli) so we celebrated on Saturday, the 17th. Justin and the boys did some work that morning while I ran around doing birthday errands- buying things for the birthday dinner as well as running around to get presents. After I finished doing errands I ran home to make the birthday dinner. At the request of the birthday boy: lasagna (with no spinach, since I try to put spinach in everything) and chocolate chocolate cake. Done. Except for the small fact that I was making 2 of everything. A regular lasagna and a vegan/gluten free lasagna (a new thing I haven't tried before and had no idea how it would turn out) and vegan cupcakes. And then it was on to wrap presents before everyone got home and our guests arrived. Pictures:

Justin and Oliver before opening presents.

Justin and I attempting to take a self portrait before opening presents. Sadly enough, this one of Justin looking crazy is the best we could get.

Opening presents... Grammy got Oliver a graphing calculator and a bunch of school supplies... practical!

Showing off the calculator (with the snack of cheese crackers on the table while the lasagnas were finishing cooking).

And the big present- a new laptop! He was super excited for this as he had asked for it but I don't think he expected it. It was fun to go out and get it for him.

After the present fun, we had dinner. Apparently I should never be a food blogger since I always forget to take pictures of things I make but everything turned out great. Honestly, the vegan/gluten free lasagna was the favorite over the normal cheese/meat lasagna (it was seriously incredible). The vegan cupcakes were delicious and so chocolate-y too. These are definitely going to make a reappearance in our house soon. At that point, we'd lost Oliver and Eli for the night to the new laptop so Justin, his mom, and I spent the night sipping on wine and chatting away. It was a good night, and a great birthday weekend.

I swear, we both have college degrees.

2011-09-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

But whether or not we should remains in question after our relapse in judgement after returning from the beer olympics. See this post for beer olympics recap.

We returned from the beer olympics earlier this year as I mentioned in the previous post. Sunday night vs. monday morning. We'll just go ahead and blame me. Perhaps I was just over it but in all reality I felt a little less than stellar. The combination of drinking keystone light (yuck) and then moving on to walking around all night the prior night drinking a bottle of wine OUT of the bottle (we'll go ahead and blame the influence of keystone light for that one), then tent camping after all of this (not much sleep) resulted in a rather grumpy Sunday. And the thought of playing more beer games and drinking more just made me want to hurl. I couldn't rally. <----- getting old. So, yes, go ahead and throw keystone light cans at my head and blame me for coming back early. BUT, we did. It was for the better. And our livers thanked us. (Truthfully it was for the better anyway as we missed traffic monday).

So Monday was the labor day holiday. We figured that since we came back early and we'd gotten a good night's sleep Sunday night that we were just fine that day to do whatever. No hangovers here!

And in our defense? We really weren't ever THAT hungover. Perhaps "that" is the imperative word here.

But that's beside the point.

After hanging out on Monday and getting some things done around the house, we decided to go to hot yoga at 4:30pm. A power vinyasa class (meaning, the more "workout" of the hot yoga series. Power vinyasa is all about flow and strength, not stretching like a Hatha class would be). You see where this is going right?

Um. Yeah.

About 10 minutes in (I kid you not), Justin and I were not only about ready to die but we were DYING. DY-ING. As in, about to puke, pass out, and just surrender to the world to take us now. (And also? We were probably sweating out keystone light). For the next 50 minutes we both laid there in child's pose debating internally whether or not we should leave the room or not (they frown upon you leaving while in class). Or rather that was Justin's scenario. After about 15 minutes in child's pose, I decided I could tough it out. Mind over matter, right? Well, I tried that for about 20 minutes at which point I died again. Luckily shortly after that started the stretching rotation so I made it through the end of class (though Justin said when I was up trying to do some poses, I was sweating on him which made him feel even more queasy... oops!)

When we left the class, we both sat outside for god knows how long. We were both shaking, spinning, having hot/cold/chill flashes, and felt like we were high. At which point we both turned to each other and tried to blame the other for this form of torture (I think I lost).

At the end of all of this brilliance, I think the lesson to be learned was this: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go to hot yoga after a night (or weekend) of drinking...even if it is the best detox around.

Beer olympics, take #2

2011-09-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember when I posted about some Squalor in the Holler thing last year? No? Yes? Maybe? Well I did. See here. Please. I was much better at documenting last year because I guess the keystone light hit the "TAKE PICTURES" button last year and this year it hit the "DO NOTHING" button. And also, please refrain from calling the nearest psychologist as Justin and I subjected ourselves this AGAIN on labor day this year. What? We're responsible adults 99% of our lives... this accounts for the other 1%.

However, this year, it was much more mild on our end. Perhaps we are getting, um, OLD. Actually, I don't think that's it. I think that part of that was due to the fact that we were coming out of the wedding craze, just back from Hawaii where we spent the better part of the week drinking fruity drinks, and just not all reved up to partake in the beer olympics of the world. I mean, this kind of event requires TRAINING. And last year at the time of the beer olympics of the world, we'd spent the better part of the summer training in the form of bourbon. That is pretty much the best training in the world. This summer? Wedding planning. Does not qualify as training for the beer olympics. So, like I said, it was much more mild.

This year we went over on Saturday morning (versus Friday night last year). We stopped at safeway on our way up and bought a case of Keystone light, the official sponsor of this event, whether they know it or not. I'm pretty sure we do a good job of funding all profits they make in the state of Washington in September. But holy crap, Justin and I were BLOWN AWAY. 30 cans of Keystone light is ridiculously cheap. Who knew?

After picking up some beer and snacks, we made it to the official site for the weekend, Justin's friend Jesse's house. In the middle of bloody nowhere. If someone were to just plop me down there, aside from the mountains, I'd guess we were in Iowa. We did rally. Oh yes, we did. But, we were only there for 2 days (instead of the 3.5 last year) so we didn't WIN, though we participated in most events. That in itself is no small feat. All in all, it was a fabulous time. Good friends, great weather, good to get away and "rough" it by all accounts for a couple of days before we got back to Seattle to really bring in fall.

The only pictures that I took are below: on our drive out of the middle of nowhere on our way back to Seattle.

Justin driving... note the "official" Squalor in the Holler shirts this year were white v-necks. Classy.

Pretty mountains. (Like I said, it was GORGEOUS up there this year. Not too cold, warm during the day, perfect for tent camping).

Wedding recap

2011-09-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have been dreading doing these posts for, oh, I don't know a month now... ok, maybe not quite that long but for a while. Not because I don't want to relive them- THAT part sounds fun. But mostly because every day there for about 10 days was so full of so much going on that to remember every thing takes a lot of work and to sort through all of the pictures takes a lot of work (and also, yes, I am being dramatic). If I'm being totally honest, I just wanted to savor in the moment of being a newlywed (oh, right, and that small detail of coming back to work and digging through the 20 piles that culminated while I was away meant that I had no time to even think about my blog. Wait, I had time, but I had no capacity once I finally got some free time in the past two weeks since I've been back). So, here we are now and things have calmed down. Alas, here's the post that will be your go-to as we march through the events that were our pre-wedding, wedding, reception. Click on each link below to see each post as I get them up.

The first day.

The second day...rehearsal, sort of.

The Wedding Day, Getting ready.

The wedding day... It's all in the details.

The wedding day.... pictures, pictures, and more pictures.

The wedding day... the ceremony.

The wedding day... post ceremony happy hour.

The wedding day... more and more and MORE pictures, and finally a chance to relax.

The wedding... the next day, the party!

The wedding day... the next day, the party!

2011-09-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 20th.... The day after the wedding ceremony. Justin and I woke up in downtown Seattle to completely sunny skies. AGAIN. And a prediction for even better (and warmer!) weather than the day before. Awesome.

We left the hotel around 10am to head home to hang out with my family for a while. Of course, we had to stop by Ladro first. After loading up with a couple of coffees, muffins, and cinnamon rolls, we spent the morning with my family... Justin made juice (another post entirely), I ate peanut butter (of course) and we just hung out until around 1:30pm when the day sort of resembled the day before (and by the way? It was SO nice to have a relaxing morning following the ceremony and before the party. Again, this was definitely the way to have a wedding). Around 1:30, I headed to get my hair put up again, Justin and my family went to pick up cakes (plural), salads, cheeses, etc for the night ahead. Then we were all off to the winery to set up!

Since this is the last of the "official" wedding shots, one more HUGE thank you to our amazing photographer Tara of Red Thread Images. Here's how the party went:

We got to the winery around 3:30pm to start the set up (clearly the above is from later... post set up). A few things for this night: we wanted it to include all of the things WE love so that we could share them with people we love. So first up, the venue: Woodhouse Wine Estates.

We absolutely love this winery. It's local and we are wine members. We know the owners, we know the winemakers, we know the people who work there. Honestly, we've never had a bad wine there, even a white- and that's saying something because both of us generally HATE white wines.

We fell in love with this winery after trying their Tempernillo, a reasonably priced bottle of red for $20 that we tried on a whim. We drank it one night and were BLOWN AWAY. I'm pretty sure it wasn't long after (maybe the following weekend) that we went to the winery to wine taste, loved all of the tasting wines and became members. Then we kept going back- to releases, to tastings and grew our relationship as well as our love for their wines.

Their top shelf wines are AMAZING, of course, but even their $10 bottles drink like $50 bottles. It's just incredible. And their winemaker's family has been making wine in France since the 1500s. He's currently on a personal mission to make the best damn Riesling in the nation (and honestly? He's pretty damn close! Sidenote on this one: ask anyone at our party, we served it there... and ended up having to buy more that night, it was that popular. I KNOW, a RIESLING! It's a dry Riesling, really. We couldn't believe it either...but seriously, it was dry. And delicious. And I still can't believe we're talking about Riesling, either).

Anyway, we love the personal touches of all of the wine- how each bottle is named after someone who means something to them, how the winemaker and owners are always there and willing to talk about their wine. We are passionate about this winery, so, when it came down to it? Perfect place for our wedding celebration (also note: not a reception. We did not want any of that typical wedding hoopla. We've both been married before, we don't need to toss any flowers or garters or have some sort of "wedding timeline" for the reception. We really just wanted to share things we love with people we care about in a cocktail party type of setting. Pretty simple).

We spent the next two hours setting up...a huge THANK YOU to my family for helping to set up the venue...even my dad and brother stuff roses in wine bottles to decorate. It was pretty cute. It was also a little chaotic there for a while but mostly organized. Organized chaos? Yeah, maybe that. We had two bigger tables that people could sit at but mostly wine barrel tables that people could socialize around... a cocktail party at its best. Above: the decor on the tables. A wine bottle of woodhouse wines that we drank in order to make these centerpieces (a tough job but someone needed to do it)... in it, we put some black/red sticks, tied a black ribbon around them and put in a white rose. And voila! The material is all due to my mom who graciously got all of the material for both the wedding and reception and brought it in from Kansas City (lifesaver). Also, I bought the above cards and my mom ran to every Hobby Lobby in Kansas City to get the little spiral holders to put them on the tables (again, lifesaver!)

I like this shot of the word cards (what the hell is the right name for those things?) with our rings.

I think this picture is from Friday but I like it so I put it in here... it's a good segway to what happened after the set up: more pictures! Some of me, first. Then, of all of us together before the guests started to arrive at 5:30.

LOVE these doors that lead into the barrel room.

Pictures in the barrel room? Perfect.

Love this shot. Not totally sure what was going on here but it looks cool.

OH, turns out the last shot was the one leading up to him getting on his knees and kissing me. Cute.

Mmm... our first sip of wine. Perhaps the magnum cab franc we got? (By the way- the cab franc is our personal favorite).

A line of up of chocolates from S'chocolat that I mentioned here. And also? All 350 chocolates were basically gone at the end of the night. We may have had 30 left. Impressive, maybe, but not really considering that the things are like little chocolate crackballs. Once you start, you can't stop!

Details- the chandeliers. Aren't they cool?

More details- the wineglasses ready and waiting for guests.

And the wines we picked for the night, all by Woodhouse of course: Kennedy Shah reserve Riesling, Kennedy Shah Chardonney, Dussek Cabernet Sauvignon, Hudson Shah Cab, Kennedy Shah Tempernillo (the newest release-2009- 2008 was better but they ran out... waaah), and Hudson Shah Malbec. Not picture here was the Dussek reserve Syrah and the Kennedy Shah reserve Cab Franc (the magnum we got that I'm pretty sure Justin and I killed ourselves...)

A picture that Lauren drew me the day of the wedding. So sweet.

One of the cakes! And there were three. The place I wanted a wedding cake from "didn't do wedding cakes." WELL. FINE. Then I want three sheet cakes. And they were all, really? Yes. Three sheet cakes, white buttercream frosting. I'll decorate. And I did. With black ribbons and roses and letter initials. About 1.5 hours before the party started. Good thing I didn't really care how it turned out (but luckily it turned out great!)

More details.

A shot of the wine friendly food spread that we had there... cheeses, fruits, salads, various appetizers. It turned out pretty awesome!

Bailey (middle) was our deejay and responsible for the music mixup. Here are the three Valente boys trying to figure out how to make it all work.

About an hour after people started arriving, Justin made a toast. It was very cool.

We went through a lot of wine....

And cheese.

And bubbles?

Oh yes, DEFINITELY with the bubbles.

A shot of the crowd. We ended up with a little over 100 people that turned up, which was perfect but we wished we would have had more time to talk to everyone! We have a TON of individual shots of people at the party so if you were there and you want yours, email me or I'll email you but I'm not posting you on the blog in the case that you hate the picture. And really, that would be a lot of downloading on my end....

Kristi- our woodhouse gal who worked our event that night... she was AMAZING.

More chocolates.

Isla, again, with the right idea....

Bailey doing his deejay thing. He actually did awesome, I was very impressed.

At one point, we decided to cut the cakes because no one was touching them thinking we were going to do an "official" cutting. We weren't really but it sort of turned into one to get people to start cutting away and eating it themselves. Of course, I wanted one specific kind and it was the last one we cut so we ended up with a giant plate of cake. Which I ate...

Nope, not the right one...

"Just a little bit..."

Giving one of the kids a rose off the cakes. She was so sweet.

Here I am eating the pile of cake with Justin's mom. See, I shared!

Eventually, as the party got later, some people started to strip....

And we danced...

As did the little stripper...

And I guess I also ate more cake. Hmm. Don't remember that....

But so did Oliver, so it's all good. We burned it dancing, right?

But some people just had to work...

This is a little random for this post since it's not in sequence but I LOVE this shot of Justin's brother's family.

I also love this picture of Ryan and Lauren...

As well as this one.

This shot, taken towards the later end of the evening... empty wine glass and all. All in all, it was a fabulous event and everyone seems to have had a good time. We've even had requests (and have gone out to Woodhouse) with some of our friends that came that wanted to try more of their wine since then! More importantly, WE had a great time celebrating with everyone who joined us... and sharing all of the special things we love- food, wine, friends, and of course, each other. A big THANK YOU to everyone who came to our events, shared with us in some way and who made these two days everything they were, incredible, full of love, perfect, more than we could have hoped...we cannot wait to share the rest of our life together with all of you as an instrumental part of it.

The wedding day... more and more and MORE pictures... and finally, a chance to relax.

2011-09-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

After we left everyone at the ceremony site, we had about another hour that we gave to Tara solely dedicated to pictures of the two of us. First up? Shots at the gym where we met (and where Justin still trains and I still workout). These were SO FUN (and it felt so good in there as it was air conditioned in there to a minus two degrees, as per usual. Usually I freeze my ass off but this day it felt so good!) Gym pictures:

Doing squats, my favorite (SARCASM... I HATE squats and if I never had to do another one in my life, I would for sure die the happiest person in the world. Blah blah blah but they're so good for you... whatever!) Cute picture, though...especially considering I probably usually make a terrible face whenever I am forced to do squats (and yep, Justin always laughs at me when I do them. I think he enjoys torturing me when he trains me...either that or I just whine so much about how much I hate squats that he has nothing left to do but laugh at me!)

Love this.

And this.

Justin pumping iron. Apparently he had done a big chest/bi workout earlier this morning so his arms were shaking after a few rounds of pictures doing these.

...and if they weren't then, they definitely were after he pressed me up and down a few times! Sometimes we'll do a chest workout together and he'll have me sit on the bar to press me as a part of his workout. Seemed like a good photo op, even with his sore chest (I think I was laughing at him groaning in this picture)!

Ugh, another one of my all time least favorites- pull ups!

Love this along the weight rack.

After the gym shots we went to a local park to get some pretty pictures, especially since the weather in Seattle was the epitome of a perfect summer day.

Here we are laughing....

Because all of a sudden everyone below noticed us and started to cheer for us as we were kissing for a picture!

We looked down to see about 50 little girls who had moved over and were looking up at me. Of course, we had to get a photo. Hilarious as all of their moms were yelling "Don't touch her with ice cream hands!!" (They did anyway and I got all kinds of ice cream hugs... they thought I was a princess. Flattering, of course, and adorable).

Absolutely beautiful. We couldn't have planned this weather or sunset.

Another sequence of us on the dock on Lake Washington.

One of my favorites- seriously, this is Seattle?!?!

These next few pictures (including the one above) are a few of my absolute favorites out of ALL of our wedding pictures...

LOVE this one.

But I might love this one even more. It's just classy and timeless and someday we are going to freak out over how young we looked... (but of course, we'll still be that happy!)

I included this one here as evidence that yes, indeed, we did lie down in the rocks along the water for a picture.

And my groom carried me to get up and down.

One last shot of our park photo shoot- perfect sunset in Seattle.

After we left Tara, we headed across the water to Seattle. Look at that sky (Olympic mountains in the background).

We had dinner reservations at Canlis in their private dining room for 2. It overlooks Lake Union (see above picture) and is entirely private. In fact we felt like we were in our own little tree house with our own personal butler, chef, and server. It was pretty nice (understatement... it was INCREDIBLE).

One more shot.

A picture of us enjoying dinner.

And the fabulous bottle of wine we got to go with it. Delectable.

I would HIGHLY recommend Canlis to anyone, even if you don't do the private dining thing. But if you do want a special evening, DO the private dining thing. It is totally worth it. You have the room for the night (I think we got there at 8.30pm and left at 12.30). And yes, we totally did a cheesy wedding ring shot with the menu. Our attempt at photography after a glass or two of wine.

A sort of attempt at getting the moon (look at the middle of the picture). It was all red and so cool.

After an appetizer and salads, and some amazing little soup they just brought us, it was time for the main course. I got eggplant ravioli and OH MY GOD. Just looking at that picture makes me hungry and wanting to go back there for more. They were so light and flavorful.

Justin got the more manly thing- I think filet minon. He said it was just to die for. I wouldn't know but we'll just take his word.

After more wine, we got chocolates for dessert (me, of course), that won for best dessert of the night.

And Justin got the lighter version- Hawaiian donut type things.

A shot of us with our desserts. Like I said, we left Canlis around 12.30 and it was seriously the BEST way to do this wedding thing. A very romantic evening enjoying each other after the ceremony and then having the time to relax before the big party. (And I think we've found the perfect place to celebrate our first anniversary, too!)

We had reservations to stay at Hotel 5 in Seattle after we left Canlis. It is an awesome little urban hotel downtown and we had one of the suites thanks to our friend who works with the hotel (and who also left us a sweet present upon arriving to our room).

A shot of the living area.

And the bedroom area... definitely would recommend this hotel for anyone who wants to stay in Seattle! Very chic and cool. And that, concludes our wedding day... next up- the party!

The wedding day... post ceremony happy hour

2011-09-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Part of the plan for the ceremony day, Friday, was that after the ceremony, we'd hang around for a little while (and hour or two) with all of our friends and family to drink/toast and eat small appetizers before heading off to enjoy the evening to ourselves (before the big party at the winery the following day. By the way- in retrospect? This was GENIUS. It was absolutely the perfect idea for us to split the ceremony and reception and really relax in being married for two seconds before the big party).

Directly after the ceremony, a shot of us- and hey, this is one picture from our camera, not our photographers!

We also spent a little bit of time post-ceremony taking family pictures that we missed pre-ceremony since we didn't see each other. Above- picture of me, Justin and the boys with my family (mom, dad, and brother).

One of us minus the boys. Holy cow my *little* brother is tall. And I am short. Stating the obvious, clearly.

One of Justin's family- mom, dad, Jordan, Steph, and Oliver... minus baby Isla who kept sleeping and sleeping and sleeping....

A shot of us with Justin's mom, Jocelyn and dad, Joe.

I absolutely love this picture of Justin and Joe. They both look like they are playing and laughing and it's how I see them a lot when they are together. Great job, Tara, for capturing this moment!

One of us with the twins- Ryan and Lauren. So cute! Love how Lauren's dress is pretty much the opposite of mine (and no, this was not planned, unless you count last minute planning as "planning"). Also love how sharp Ryan looks in his suit!

Next up? Happy hour food. OH MY GOODNESS. When I asked Justin's mom Jocelyn to help out with the little appetizers on Friday night after the ceremony I had NO IDEA she would do everything she did. Seriously, she went way above and beyond what I ever expected of her. She completely blew us away. She sent me a listing a few days before the wedding of everything she was thinking of making and I kind of blew it off thinking that she was just going to make a couple of the items on there. NOPE. I mean, the spread was just incredible- like we had a gourmet chef on hand. And seriously, how cute are those little spoons?

Another shot- cheeses, mmmm.

Oliver eating- I love this picture of Stephanie and him.

A shot of us and the hikers from Texas (my girlfriend Ashley and her boyfriend Dave).

Talking with my neighbor Cindy and drinking "red bubbles" a red Shiraz champagne we got hooked on a while back. Pretty tasty! (By the way, no, I do not really know what Justin is doing here...)

Drinking champagne, just had a snack, and completely relaxing (or at least it looks like it for this moment).

Oliver eating a cupcake. Sidenote: these cupcakes were OUT OF THIS WORLD. If we hadn't have planned a big, nice dinner later already, I probably would have eaten all 100 of these.

One more shot of the amazing foods/decor that Jocelyn (in the middle of the picture) put together.

Love love love this "ring power" shot of all four of us.

Right before we left we got a couple more family photos. I think here I am being ganged up on and tickled. This is not an uncommon occurrence. At least no one went for my feet!

And a perfect family photo. Love.

And after that, we were off....

The wedding day... the ceremony

2011-09-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

August 19, 2011. After getting ready and pictures, it was time. Part of the reason for having the ceremony on a separate day was to keep it intimate with only immediate family and close friends. In all, there were only about 20 people that were a part of our ceremony and it was perfect.

A little story about, really, the only slight drama of the day- I started to get worried around 4pm as I hadn't heard from my girlfriend Ashley (she was going to show up around 3.30-4ish). And it wasn't a bridezilla type of worry but genuine worry, like "I hope she's ok." Finally around 4.30, I hear from her and apparently she and her boyfriend Dave decided to climb Mount Si that day and sort of miscalculated how long it would take. To their credit, they are from Texas and aren't used to those big hills, um, mountains. I sort of wish I had been there to see them sprint down that sucker because apparently once they hit the top there was a big fat "uh-oh, we gotta book it!" And book it they did... they were sitting in traffic after coming down the mountain, somehow made it to Kirkland by 4.15 then showered AND made it to Bellevue in traffic by 4.45. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW. Additionally, pretty much everyone got stuck in traffic since it was a Friday.... We weren't really too firm on the start time as it was just 20 of our closest friends and family so it didn't really matter how early or late we were running.

Around 5pm-ish, everyone had made it, several minor crisis' were averted and we started. Ashley was my right hand gal and helped coordinate all of the important parties getting down the aisle. (Again, all of the credit for the below photos goes to Tara of Red Thread Images).

First up- Oliver and Bailey walking Justin in. I secretly spied on this part and watched them out of the back room I was hiding it. Completely melted my heart.

Next up- Jordan walking Jocelyn (Justin's mom) in.

Then my brother Jon walked my mom in.

Then it was flower girl (s) and ring bearer time. The two older twins, Ryan and Lauren helped the two younger twins. They younger girls had been practicing their flower girl skills all summer and started off great. About two seconds later Tessa (the one on the left ) decided she was not a happy camper. Poor thing. It's so cute in this picture though how Ryan is trying to help her.

And one more of the group because I just think it's so cute- the really did REALLY good considering! (And sidenote- this picture cracks me up- Tessa is crying and Ryan is just smiling and holding her hand. Meanwhile, Lauren and Luca were figuring out the whole flower girl thing).

Then it was my turn... everyone up front watching as my dad and I got ready to come down. This picture makes me choke up a little bit even as I'm writing it. I just love Justin's face in this picture.

Out and walking towards the groom... the first time we'd seen each other all day (well, minus when I peeked and watched Justin walking down the aisle with his boys).

Start of the ceremony prayer- I included this because I think it is hilarious that Justin is look at me (caught you honey!)

Again start of the ceremony from the back.

Joe, Justin's dad, did an amazing job. We were so honored to have him officiate.

The ring bearer Ryan- he did awesome!

A shot of my best man and brother Jon and groomsman Bailey during the ceremony.

A shot of Justin's best man and brother Jordan and groomsman Oliver during the ceremony.

During the ceremony right before vows... LOVE this picture.

Justin saying his vows to me... or vice versa (who knows!)

Ah, I think it was Justin saying his vows then, here I am saying my vows to him.

And exchanging the rings...

Happy...

We then did a ring exchange with the boys (the rings that were on the ring bearer pillow).

We invited them into our "circle" since our commitment is not only to each other but to them as well. They both got bands, too, with inscriptions of our initials and the wedding date. It was pretty cool.

A shot of us in the circle after the ring exchange.

And... Mr. and Mrs. Valente... we are married!

First kiss as a married couple!

Walking out after the short and sweet ceremony.

We were told to look up...

And, thanks to Jocelyn for thinking of this! (And Jordan for running to cut them)... pretty cool. (And again, a big THANK YOU to the Seattle weather- look at that perfectly blue sky! Perhaps maybe the first sky like that all summer...)

All in all, the ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Short, simple, intimate and was simply, a reflection of us and the commitment and love we feel for each other. We couldn't have asked for more. A big THANK YOU for everyone who sent their love that day or who was there participating and making the actual ceremony everything we had hoped.