New House Milestone

While waiting for the Mayan Apocalypse to begin, we went up to the new house this afternoon for our "Pre-Drywall Walk Through" with the general contractor. The goal was to go through the house room by room and talk about the plumbing, electrical, venting, etc. before the sheet rock is installed.

It's coming right along!

Plumbing and electrical... super boring I know, but when you paid extra
for a bunch of extra outlets, speakers, cable jacks, security contacts, etc.
you want to take a picture of everything to make sure it turns out right
in the end...

Our custom gas fireplace is in! We ordered a different one than the standard,
which "burns" these weird blue crystals instead of having fake wood.
This one will seem more like a real fire. 

And another reason to take pictures before the walls get
covered up... you wouldn't want to be hanging a picture
and punch a nail through one of those pipes because
you didn't know where they were, would you?

Current view from the master bedroom.
We'll lose a lot of this when more homes are built in the neighborhood,
but for now it's absolutely gorgeous!

On the front porch of our future home... Swoon! 

Now that our milestone appointment is complete, the contractor will go back to the sales team who will work with the mortgage company to begin the 45 day closing process. Merry Christmas to us!

Second Floor and More!

We headed up to Snoqualmie to see the house again this weekend, and wow have they made progress! Two weeks ago we barely had the ground floor, but now we have a second story, a roof, windows, and plumbing! And the contractor expects to have all the electrical in this week as well, which means on Friday we get to go to our "pre-drywall" appointment where we get to check everything before the sheetrock goes up. It was so fun to wander around upstairs and envision how the layout will be when everything is complete.

It's starting to look like a real house! The HVAC guys were actually there working,
that's why there's a big ugly van out front.

Downstairs living room and the beginning of the kitchen breakfast bar.

Upstairs rec room.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

Just trying out the tub to make sure it fits.

Spare bedroom #1.

Spare bedroom #3.

Guest bathroom.

Laundry room.

We did notice a few things that worried us... a smaller hot water heater has been installed even though we paid to upgrade to a larger one, and although all the plumbing looked complete there were no pipes for a sink in the garage, which is also an upgrade we paid for. But when we stopped by the sales office the site agent assured us that she would check with the contractor and make sure these things got corrected. But it made us that much more aware that we need to be double-checking everything as we go through the building process.

It was snowing pretty heavily while we were up there, which reminded me that we're going to get much more severe weather than we currently get in the city. But as usual seeing our house just made me that much more anxious to move in. Our tentative closing date is set for February 27th and we can't wait!

Owen Meany's Christmas Pageant

I loved my first experience at Book-It Repertory Theatre a few months ago, so when my friend Jessica invited me to see Owen Meany's Christmas Pageant with her I agreed right away. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is one of my favorite books, and this show takes a small piece of the book and turns it into a full stage production where the quirky and memorable boy Owen Meany wreaks havoc on the annual Christ Church Christmas Pageant.

Most of the play dramatizes action from the fourth chapter of the novel, called "The Little Lord Jesus." It begins by quickly summarizing the background from the beginning of the book so that the relationships and characters are established, before quickly transitioning into Christmas-mode. This is what I was really looking forward to, since I've struggled to get into the holiday spirit this year.

Owen Meany is a tiny boy from a working class family with a "wrecked voice" who, in spite of many would-be handicaps, somehow manages to charm, manipulate, and even intimidate everyone he meets. After playing the Angel Gabriel for seven years in the Christ Church Christmas Pageant, this year he aggressively acquires a position of leadership and casts himself instead as the Baby Jesus. Hilarity ensues.

The production is light, fast-paced, and full of humor. I found myself laughing out loud several times at the characters who I knew so well from the book as they were brought dramatically to life. At first I wasn't sure how I would feel about someone other than a small child playing Owen Meany, but the casting was brilliant and I instantly fell in love with the characters all over again.

This is a short, heart-warming holiday show great for all ages, and it has definitely made it's way onto my must-see holiday show list.

Me and Jessica with Owen.

ELF - The Musical

As sort of an extra birthday present / holiday treat, Stew and I went to see ELF - The Musical last night at the 5th Avenue Theatre. I doubt there are many people who haven't seen this Christmas classic, but just in case, here is a plot recap for you:

"Buddy, a human raised at the North Pole by elves, sets off to the big city in search of his father. What he finds is an alarming lack of Christmas Spirit. Even his little brother doesn’t believe in Santa! So Buddy sets out to help everyone remember the true meaning of Christmas, eating as many things covered in syrup as possible along the way."

I had absolutely no idea how this movie could be turned into a musical stage production, but I couldn't wait to find out! But first things first, we met up before the show at Taphouse Grill to have dinner with a couple of Stew's co-workers who were also going to the show.

ELF - The Musical was awesome! And it really helped me get into the Christmas spirit, which I've been struggling with this season. The set was absolutely gorgeous, colorful, and Christmas-y. And the show itself had us laughing and smiling throughout. There were enough jokes for the adults plus fun special effects for the kids, and the cheerful messages really lifted my spirits.

We've been happy with our choice this year to bypass getting season tickets and just attend a few specific shows that really interest us. ELF - The Musical was an excellent choice, we highly recommend it for kids and adults alike this holiday season!

Birthday Breakfast Club: Lola

Some of my favorite former co-workers / very dear friends and I recently started a little "Breakfast Club" to make sure that we see each other on a regular basis. Once a month on Monday mornings we meet up at the crack of dawn (and sometimes before) for coffee, good eats, and fantastic conversation. This month the date happened to fall just in time to make it a birthday celebration for me and Heather, whose birthday is the day before mine.

So to celebrate both of us turning 21 (shhhh!) we met at Lola for a birthday breakfast to start off the week. It's been ages since the last time I went to Lola and as usual I was not disappointed. Even though getting up an hour earlier and catching the bus downtown in the dark and cold might sound like the makings of a miserable Monday morning, I popped out of bed this morning excited to have some time with my friends. It was a wonderful way to start my birthday and I'm so happy we've started this little tradition. 

Lola is all decked out for the holidays.

I splurged and got eggs benedict - yum!

A Lindsee/Heather sandwich - happy birthday to me!

Thanks so much to everyone for all your extremely kind words, thoughts and wishes on my birthday. I can't believe I am officially in my 30s!

Seahawks Game 14

Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals...
WIN: 58-0.

I can't even explain how much fun it was to watch the Hawks absolutely annihilate the Cardinals yesterday. Unbelievable. The 58 points were the most ever scored by the Seahawks, two more than they put up against the Buffalo Bills in 1977, and it was also the largest-margin of victory in NFL franchise history. How many times do I have to say it? This has been the absolute best year to get Seahawks season tickets!!

Russ and Patty came up from Vancouver and got to experience the epic blowout with us and they had a really good time. We also grabbed dinner at Buckley's after the game and they gave me some lovely and thoughtful birthday presents. I just never get sick of spending Sundays this way...

Go Hawks!

Older and Wiser

My Mom hosted a lovely birthday party for me and my Grandma this weekend at my parent's house in Olympia. Grandma's birthday is the day before mine so we usually have a shared family birthday celebration every year that is lots of fun. So I spent the day at home with my parents, siblings, grandparents, aunt and quite a few of my cousins eating too much food and playing games (my favorite!) until I had to head back to Seattle for a co-worker's holiday party.

Taco bar... one of my favorite meals!

Lots of lovely presents for me and Grandma.

Birthday cupcakes.

We're both wearing pretty new birthday scarves.

I got lots of very generous and thoughtful gifts and I felt so lucky that my family took time out of their busy lives to spend the day celebrating me and Grandma. After last year's birthday trip and surprise party for my 30th, it was nice to have a low-key celebration with my family... and it involved a heck of a lot less planning and organizing! Unfortunately Stew had to work so he couldn't make the party, but we will get to spend my actual birthday together on Monday.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend and that you're enjoying the holiday season!

BRAT Diet

I've been having really severe abdominal pain ever since getting a stomach virus over Thanksgiving, and since it was not getting better on it's own (in fact, it seemed to be getting worse) I decided I'd better go to the doctor to make sure I'm not dying of some rare stomach or intestinal disease. After a quick chat and examination by the doc, she determined that I simply have gastrointestinal distress as a side effect of the stomach bug. Basically my intestines got totally ripped to shreds and cleaned out of any bacteria (good or bad) that is needed to process food, so every time I eat it's causing severe pain as my body tries to process it. Her solution? Regular doses of Pepto Bismol to coat the intestines and allow them to heal, combined with the BRAT diet.

I vaguely remember my mother telling me about this before. It is historically prescribed for patients with gastrointestinal distress and consists of foods that are relatively bland and low in fiber: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. My doctor told me to discontinue all the cold medicine I was taking (did I mention I also have a head cold?) and eat only these foods after first taking the Pepto. So I went home and did just that; made myself a piece of whole grain toast for dinner with a banana. I spent the entire night doubled over in pain and convinced that my doctor is a complete quack.

But in the morning I did some more research on the BRAT diet, which it appears I had misinterpreted. Whole grain bread is full of fiber, which is hard to process and makes gastrointestinal problems much worse! I also had a diet 7-Up because that's what my mom used to give us when we were sick, but apparently carbonated beverages are also forbidden. So it's no wonder I had a miserable evening.

So now I'm faced with a dilemma... white rice and white bread are strictly in the OFF LIMITS section of my regular diet. I would never ever buy either one! But I want to follow my doctor's orders because I'm so desperate to alleviate the pain and get back to normal life, so I'm trying to stick to the rules. Today I had a banana for breakfast and I ordered some plain white rice from the deli downstairs for lunch. But I could only eat about half of it because it was so dang boring and bland. (Ah ha! Perhaps I've discovered the key to weight loss... just give yourself a really boring, restrictive diet and you won't want to eat that much).

I am finally starting to feel a little bit better, and I'm desperately hoping I can get a good night's sleep tonight. I'm still not sure how I will bring myself to buy a loaf of white bread for my dinner of toast and applesauce tonight... it's just so counter intuitive I can't stand it!  

Ground Floor!

On Sunday afternoon I managed to leave the house for a couple hours so we could go up and check out the new house and pick up some groceries that we desperately needed.

Every time we make the drive up to Snoqualmie in the cold, nasty, pouring rain, I once again question my little Honda Civic as it terrifyingly hydroplanes across standing water on I-90. I'm starting to convince myself that this car combined with my new commute will be the death of me, and wondering if we need to trade it in for something with four wheel drive. But I digress.

The house is coming right along! I was so excited when we pulled around the corner to see that we have a first floor! We were actually able to walk in what will be the front door and walk through the "rooms" of our new house! Now things are really starting to seem real, and I'm finally able to picture the layout in my head which means I have big plans for all the furniture we need to buy. Take a look!

The ground floor is taking shape!

Front entryway, den and powder room are to the right.

Two car garage! How I dream about the storage...

Kitchen and door leading to back patio.



Downstairs living room. There was literally a waterfall in the middle of it...



Very muddy backyard...

And the beginnings of the second story!

You can refer to our previous post to see what the final result should look like. It has been so fun for us to watch our new home take shape before our eyes. Just about three more months to go now!

Holiday Pampering

To celebrate the start of the holiday season, the managers in my department decided to treat the admin staff to an evening of pampering at Apollo Nails and Spa in Queen Anne. This salon just opened in the past few weeks and it's absolutely gorgeous inside. The design is chic and modern with a cozy ambiance. The owner and the girls who did our pedicures were all super friendly and really took their time with our pedicures which turned out great. It was also really nice that we were able to bring in food and alcohol and lay it all out on the table in the middle of the room under an absolutely gorgeous trendy chandelier. Apollo provided all the glassware, plates and napkins that we needed and were extremely flexible about us taking over the salon with nine people. If this place had been around in March it would have been a great place to take my bridal party.

Everyone loved the relaxing pedicures and the yummy appetizers and drinks, and we especially appreciated the welcome down time away from the office. I got sparkly red polish, perfect to start off the holidays!

Baked Brie

I volunteered to bring an appetizer to Thanksgiving at the Alway's this year, and I decided to try Baked Brie. Brie cheese wrapped in pastry and baked until it has thoroughly melted inside is one of the world's easiest yet tastiest appetizers. I had never actually made it before, but my friend made it for book club last weekend and it was so delicious I decided it was definitely what I wanted to make for Thanksgiving. In this recipe the brie is topped with raspberry jam, surrounded with pastry and drizzled with maple syrup.   

Baked Brie 

• 1 large sheet of puff pastry dough
• 1 round of Brie cheese (do not remove rind)
• Raspberry jam
• Brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If you want, start with chilled brie and use a sharp knife to carefully cut off the thin top rind of the cheese. This may help the crust stay with the cheese when served. The rind is edible so you don't have to do this step if you don't want to. On a stick-free cookie sheet, lay out the puff pastry; put the brie round on top. Spread jam on brie, fold dough over top, cutting off excess dough. Drizzle maple syrup and place a handful of brown sugar on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes; pastry should be golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with crackers and apple slices.

If you can't find puff pastry dough you can also use one tube of refrigerated crescent dinner rolls, and you can use any kind of sweet jam you want. I used seedless raspberry. You can also use a wedge of brie if you can't find rounds, but I think that would take away from the presentation a lot. According to the recipe, the whole thing can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, which means you will still have ample time for other more fun Thanksgiving activities like watching football, playing board games, and arguing with siblings.

As per usual when I attempt cooking, I ran into some problems. Since brie was buy one get one free at QFC I decided to just make two and put them in the oven with the Thanksgiving ham, which was set to cook at 325 degrees. I figured no big deal and added 10 minutes to my cook time. But when I checked on the brie, the dough was still completely raw and the topping wasn't melted at all. It took another 30 minutes before it was ready to come out of the oven, so over an hour total in the oven and I'm still not sure the dough was entirely cooked through. So next time I'll try making just one and putting it in all by itself at the correct temperature, I guess. Two ended up being way too much for 10 guests, but everyone seemed to like really like it and I got lots of compliments, so a moderate success, I guess.  

Bon appétit!