Contemplating Suburbia

I've talked about my encounters with homeless people in Ballard before, and lately it seems that things have started to get worse. Although our Homeowners Association took steps to install a metal door that prohibits street people from sleeping in the alcove where I inadvertently bashed into a homeless person as I left our condo building a couple years ago, I still regularly walk past multiple individuals sleeping on the sidewalk when I walk to the bus stop each morning. Generally, I don't bother them, and they don't bother me. (The panhandlers on Third Avenue downtown are quite a bit more aggressive, but that's a story for another day).

Yesterday I left a little early so that I could drop a couple overdue items off at the Ballard Public Library on my way to catch the bus. As I approached the drop box I noticed a homeless man lurching my way, mumbling to himself. When he noticed me he started shouting, "F*ck yeah, put that sh*t in the box," among other irrational phrases loaded with obscenities, at the top of his lungs. When I proceeded to ignore him and make my way to the bus, he became angry and combative, calling me a spoiled f*cking b*tch, the c-word, etc. I could still hear him screaming from down the street for several blocks.

Once I arrived at the bus stop I joined about a dozen other people waiting for the express bus into downtown. We were almost immediately approached by a woman wearing a blanket and slippers who began to demand money from each person in turn. When she was ignored by most and eventually asked to back away by one man, she became furiously angry and began screaming at the entire group about how we did not deserve her respect, etc. Of course including profuse use of the f-word.

This was definitely not how I had planned on starting my Monday morning. Dude, all I'm trying to do is get to work! It's not even 8 a.m. and I really don't have the energy to deal with this. I'm tired. I feel like a bad person for feeling anger and resentment toward these people who obviously have mental or drug abuse problems, but I can't seem to muster a single ounce of pity. All I'm thinking is, "get me out of this city."

There was a time when I said I would never, ever consider living in the suburbs, and proclaimed my love for city living almost daily. And I have absolutely adored living in Seattle for the past almost eight years. But it's funny how getting married and beginning to think about starting a family can really begin to change your perspective and priorities. I don't want to raise children in a place where they can't return a library book without the worry of being harassed, or worse. Besides that, I want to live in a house where we can have a garage to store sporting equipment, and a yard where the kids can play with the dog. I want to live in a community with a good school district and low crime rates. Stew and I have been doing a lot of thinking, and it's become obvious that we can't attain these goals in the city of Seattle.

Photo courtesy of Issaquah Undressed blog.

So it was ironic that the same day I was verbally attacked by two street people on my way to work that we had plans to check out Issaquah with our friends Tara and Andrew (who grew up there). We met up after work in Issaquah's historic downtown for dinner and then we spent a couple hours just driving around familiarizing ourselves with the different neighborhoods. (We didn't like Issaquah Highlands as much as we thought we would, but we loved the North Issaquah and Cougar Mountain areas).

Stew and I chose to start exploring Issaquah as a potential city to live in because it has a reputation for being very family friendly with good schools, and commute-wise it makes a lot of sense for both of us. Plus it is only 15 minutes from downtown Seattle (actually closer than Ballard!) We like the idea of being able to buy a single family home in a really kid friendly community, while still being close to all the activities we love in the city, like sports, theater and dining.

So we're contemplating. We don't have any major plans yet, but we're definitely leaning in the direction of moving out of the city and into the suburbs. It makes me sad, but also excited. It will be a new chapter in our lives that has so many adventures to look forward to. We'll be sure to keep you posted! (And watch your back in Ballard, homies).

Colin & Vanessa's Country Wedding

Just hitched Vanessa & Colin ring the Wedding Bell!

On Saturday night we attended the wedding and reception of our friends Colin and Vanessa, and we were so happy to be with them as they tied the knot after almost two decades together! They met in the seventh grade and their love and friendship for each other is so amazingly evident in everything that they do.

The ceremony and reception took place at Woodland Meadow Farms in Snohomish on an absolutely gorgeous summer evening. It was a beautiful natural setting with lots of trees, a wandering brook and a waterfall. I loved all the unique little touches that the venue had, like a wishing well, rail fences and old wooden swings from a couple of the trees. Plus Vanessa had obviously spent months and months planning and executing her own personal touches which were evident everywhere and really pulled the whole look and feel of the wedding together.

Stew displaying the adorable program/fan.



Colin & Vanessa finally tie the knot... yay!



Adorable little personal country touches throughout the entire wedding.

Having some pre-reception fun with good friends.

Garter toss... Stew was sad he couldn't participate.

First dance... absolutely gorgeous couple!

When there's a swing, you do a photo shoot. Obviously.

Let the dancing begin!

More photo shoot fun with friends.

We had such a wonderful time and we're so happy for Colin and Vanessa as the start this new chapter in their lives. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

West Seattle Family Lunch

Stew and I are so excited to have Seattle Seahawks season tickets this year, but unfortunately the wedding of our good friends fell on the exact same day as the pre-season opener. So we sent my mom and my little bro to check out our seats for us and watch the Hawks beat the Titans.

Luckily though, the ticket handoff provided a perfect opportunity to have lunch with the fam earlier in the day. We met at my sister's new house in West Seattle for a tour and then headed to the Alki Beach Cactus (we really do eat at Cactus a lot, and I've now been to all three locations). We started with chips, salsa, guacamole and Navajo Fry Bread (I can't go to Cactus anymore without ordering it), and this time I tried something new from the menu: Tacos Camarones (crispy white Mexican prawns, spicy diablo sauce, ginger and mango slaw). It was absolutely delicious and might be my new favorite thing on the menu although the Butternut Squash Enchilada (which my mom got) is really hard to beat. I could only eat half of the large portion so I had a nice little Sunday night snack to take home.

We don't know a lot of people living in West Seattle so we rarely make our way over there. I always forget how beautiful Alki is! Especially on a gorgeous summer day. Walking along the water in the sun you really forgot that you're in the middle of a major metropolitan area. Stew and I were in a hurry to get ready for the wedding so we couldn't stick around after lunch and walk down the beach, which was very sad. But I'm sure they had a lovely afternoon and I know my mom and my brother had an awesome time at the game later, so I'm glad they were able to enjoy our tickets.

AJ and Mom having a blast at the game... I think our seats have a pretty decent view!

We can't wait for the next game...

Measure your life in love...

Last night we saw RENT, the final show in our 5th Avenue Theatre subscriber package. I really, really liked it, and Stewart thought it was okay. We both absolutely loved some of the song performances and I thought the entire thing was very well done. Stew struggled a little bit with the overall message of the show... let me try to recap his comments during our walk back to the car:

"Oh, woe is me, why should I have to pay rent? Why can't I just live here for free? I don't want to pay rent, EVER. I just want to sit here and play my guitar and whine about how oppressed I am."

I think that just about encompasses his summary. For the most part, I agree with Stew's thoughts, but I only went to the show for an evening of entertainment, and in that regard we both walked away satisfied. We particularly liked the characters Mimi and Angel, and of course absolutely loved the Seasons of Love performance at the beginning of the second act. That song always gives me chills. Light My Candle and Over the Moon are also two of my faves.

Now that I've finally seen the stage production, I'm anxious to go home and watch the movie again (it's been years) to see what the similarities and differences are.

So now you might be wondering, what's in store for the future?

We did a lot of thinking about whether or not to renew our subscriber package to the 5th Avenue Theatre. Our 2011/2012 season subscription included:

• Cinderella - I liked this one a lot because I remembered the songs from my childhood. Stewart wasn't a huge fan.
• Oklahoma! - This one was okay but I wouldn't say either one of us was a huge fan.
• Damn Yankees - My least favorite, Stew's favorite from the season.
• RENT - Probably my favorite from the season, Stew thought it was okay.

Some of the other shows we saw and really enjoyed were ones we bought tickets for outside of our subscriber package, like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast (Paramount Theatre), and Les Misérables. Even though we paid quite a bit more for these tickets, we enjoyed the shows MUCH more. So, considering that, we decided that we're not going to review our subscription at the 5th Avenue Theatre this year. Instead, we'll just buy individual tickets for the shows we know we really want to see. We've already got Wicked scheduled for November, and we've got our eyes on ELF - The Musical, Jersey Boys, and I think I'd like to see Flashdance, too. I also might take my grandma to The Music Man, since I know it's one of her favorites.

Overall I'm really glad that we tried out a subscription, and it was fun to see some shows that wouldn't necessarily have caught my eye otherwise.

We are so lucky to have so many amazing theater options here in Seattle!

Sunday Dinner v2.0

Sunday dinner with Matt and Alissa is becoming something of a tradition, and we're really liking it! Our fabulous friends live right down the street from us in Ballard, and they are also amazing cooks, so we're always happy to accept an invitation for dinner on a Sunday evening.

Not to mention the fact that construction at our condo building forced us to move our barbecue down to the garage in May and our deck has effectively not been usable since that time. I can't tell you how annoying it has been not being able to barbecue all summer or step outside for a breath of fresh air. So of course we're always excited to hang with our friends and eat some yummy grilled dishes.

This Sunday's menu consisted of marinated grilled shrimp, potato salad, green salad, and flank steak. I forgot to get a picture of the shrimp before it got devoured...

I ate about half of my dinner before I remembered to take a picture.

We washed everything down with Matt's Mojitos and headed home sun kissed, fat and happy. When our deck re-coating is finally finished we're looking forward to returning the favor and having Matt and Liss over for Sunday dinner. Until then you can bet your bottom dollar we'll continue to accept their gracious invitations!

Seafair Sunday

On Sunday morning we headed right into the danger zone for Seafair. Seafair weekend in Seattle has always been one of our favorite summertime events, so we were glad that we were able to make it back from Priest Lake in time to enjoy some Sunday Seafair fun. Many thanks to our good friend Winston for taking us all out on Lake Washington for the day.



Ready for a day of fun in the sun.





Stew jumped right in.





Vaness and Colin enjoying their last weekend before the wedding!





Now if that's not a picture of a perfect day I don't know what is.





Vanessa looking adorable in her hat.





Winston and Brandi kicking back.





Yay Seafair, we're so glad we made it!





Just a few of the thousands of boats out on Lake Washington.





Very excited for the air show.





Cooling off... it was HOT!



The US Navy Blue Angels performance is definitely the highlight of Seafair. The flight demonstration exhibits "choreographed refinements of skills possessed by all naval aviators. The Blue Angels’ C-130, affectionately known as Fat Albert, begins each demonstration by exhibiting its maximum performance capabilities during a ten-minute performance. Shortly thereafter, spectators see the graceful aerobatic maneuvers of the four-jet Diamond Formation, in concert with the fast-paced, high-performance maneuvers of its two Solo pilots. Finally, the team illustrates the pinnacle of precision flying, performing maneuvers locked as a unit in the renowned, six-jet Delta Formation."

Of course we played the Top Gun soundtrack at top volume for the duration of the show...

The only downfall was that I experienced a terrible bout of seasickness... that definitely came out of the blue! I don't generally suffer from motion sickness of any kind, especially not with the amount of boating we do, so I was surprised to find myself holding back vomit for a large portion of the day. Let's just hope this is a temporary affliction... 

We hope everybody had a wonderful weekend and that you got to experience Seafair in some way!

Stew's Priest Lake Adventures

Stewart was his usual crazy self at the Alway Family Reunion... here are some of his adventures that I was able to capture over the course of the week.

Slippery Rock natural water slide. Not exactly like The Goonies, but still pretty awesome.



Perfecting his back flip for the Alway Olympics. I think he actually taught a couple kids to do this.

We accidentally busted through the net in the middle of our floating island oasis... Stewart just saw this as a new challenge.

Boys will be boys...

Alway Family Reunion 2012

For over a year now we've been looking forward to the Alway Family Reunion in Priest Lake, Idaho. We left bright and early on Sunday morning to head across the state and arrived that afternoon just in time to settle in and head over to the house Stew's aunt had rented for a weenie roast dinner with the Alway clan. I was so excited to finally participate in a family event as an "official" Alway!

We joined about 25 other people who staying at various homes around the lake for lots of family fun, including nightly themed dinners, hikes, water sports, and even our very own Alway Olympics. The week was jam packed with exciting outings, activities and adventures. Food, drinks, sun, family and lots of relaxation definitely made for a perfect vacation. We were there for over a week but it still didn't seem like enough time. We'll be back soon though!

We're already in the process of planning more trips over to the lakehouse next summer, and we hope to see everyone there! But for now, back to the real world...

Sheena & Nick's Winery Wedding

The happy couple just after saying their vows.

My college roommate and longtime friend Sheena married the love of her life, Nick, last night... we couldn't be happier for the two of them!

Sheena and I went to Western together and have remained friends ever since, so we've gotten to watch and support each other through years of dating on our journey toward finding a fairy tale ending. So now, more than 12 years after we met as freshman in the dorms, it was so much fun to watch Sheena and Nick tie the knot. We were honored to be a part of their big day, and their happiness and love for one another could not have been more evident.



Columbia Winery in scenic Woodinville wine country.



The ceremony and reception took place at Columbia Winery in Woodinville. It was an absolutely gorgeous evening for a wine country wedding. We had a fantastic time even though we had to leave a little early to drive to Idaho for Stew's family reunion in the morning. The happy couple is off to the Cook Islands, and we're sure they will have a fantastic time!



Adorable box for cards.

With Rach waiting for the start of the ceremony.

Enjoying cocktail hour before dinner.

Big hug for the happy bride - isn't she glowing! Gorgeous.

Sheena loves purple as you can see from these lovely centerpieces.

My first "Sarah Alway" name card!

Our first wedding since we got married.

Goodbye hug for Rach.

We were super bummed that we didn't get to stay late for more dancing and celebrating, but we had to get home to squeeze in a couple hours of shut eye before starting our seven hour drive to Priest Lake. But we were so glad we got to be a part of Nick and Sheena's big day, and we're really looking forward to a week long vacation!

Congratulations to the newlyweds!