party girl

I've been meaning for months now to talk about my ever-creative friend (who I've actually mentioned before for other talents) and the fabulous parties that she throws. Parties as in like baby and wedding showers. She has such great taste and goes above and beyond as a hostess to create some truly amazing themed invitations, decor, food and party favors. She's so good in fact that she's been featured on some party blogs. Here's a brief look at some of what she's done (please keep in mind that she hand makes EVERYTHING, including the food, herself) but follow the links to her blog and see more images from these adorable parties.

Tractor Baby Shower

Circle Baby Shower

I've already made her promise t0 throw me a baby shower if the occasion should arise, or at least let me come to her next one.

san juan island

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to gorgeous San Juan Island. I can tell that this place is an incredible summer getaway and I'd love to go back sometime for some whale watching, but I feel like during the off season we got an even better sense of the island's unique culture.

Friday Harbor

Our room with a view

I've been raised to be a historical traveler, in that wherever my family traveled growing up we made a stop at the area's historical sites like that of Pearl Harbor or Valley Forge. Sure, I didn't always enjoy it at the time, but looking back I certainly see the value. Bret and I have adopted this practice so we made a stop at the site of an American troop encampment during the mid-nineteenth century. We are as dorky as that sounds.

Reading the guided walking tour

In our defense, it was a beautiful spot.

Sunset at Lime Kiln Point

That''s Victoria, Canada in the distance

i'm on a boat

So I mentioned that I have pictures from our trip to the San Juan Islands that I need to put up. Well, I took so many (surprise, surprise) that I thought I'd put them up in parts as to avoid visual overload.

This is the ferry ride part. But first, some context: Bret had both wed, thurs off last week and we've been meaning to go on a little excursion for our 2nd anniversary so we took the opportunity and headed north. There are so many places around here worth exploring and we had to start somewhere so we chose Friday Harbor on San Juan Island (the largest of the San Juans). Sure, it was totaly off-season, but we lucked out with gorgeous weather and great deals. Half of the journey is by ferry which is a delightfully scenic journey. But don't take my word for it! Ba dum da!*

*It's from Reading Rainbow.

I like to spy on people with my zoom. It's the sneaky way to people watch (until they turn around and notice you across the room suspiciously pointing a lens their way and the jig is up).
Bret pointed out (after I took the picture) that this guy looks kind of like my dad from behind and he's totally right. If only it were.
This guy was something special (below :)
Pulling into Friday Harbor
P.S. I just realized that this is our 100th post! I should have done something special for it, like a giveaway or something. Too bad I don't have anything cool to give away.

i work here now

Today was my first day as a PR assistant at Amazon. It's a way cool company both internally and externally and I'm really excited to be a part of it. They have a few buildings in Seattle but I work at the headquarters which is in a really neato and historic building: The PacMed Building

With its Art Deco architectural style, it kinda looks like Disney's Tower of Terror. In fact if you were to say to someone in Seattle, "oh yeah I work in that haunted hospital building", 9 out of 10 times they'll know what you're talking about.

Note: Having this job may mean hearing less from me on this blog... mmmm probably not.

our new friend

More from the exotic island of San Juan to come.

part 3

Washington Park Arboretum
Wide Angle Lens

(these pictures are basically me following Bret around with a camera)

University of Washington Stadium in the background

(notice full moon and little water plane next to it)

in the year 2000

I am a respecter of history. I think a big part of appreciating where we are now is recognizing the accomplishments of people, events and ideas that came before us. So in accordance with that, Bret and I watched an interesting special last night on the Seattle World's Fair of 1909 (no, I didn't force him). After that we got interested in learning more about the 1962 World's Fair when they built the Space Needle, Monorail and Seattle Center. Among what we found was this awesome video on youtube (we cut it down a little here to show you the highlights). Please enjoy. It's worth it.

I don't know what's better, the enormous "bell boy" beeper or the lounge singer song at the end that is probably now stuck in your head. I've often said that if I had any special power, I'd want the ability to time travel. How fun would it be to stroll into that building with an iphone and say, "Behold, the future is in my hands!"? That touchtone dialing thing wouldn't be quite so cool anymore.

My mom told me when she visited us here a few months ago that her parents had taken her to that World's Fair when she was a child and that she remembers vividly going to the top of the Space Needle. Seeing this video not only made me appreciate that city icon more but also helped me understand why my mom and dad have such a hard time with DVD players and Facebook. JK (kind of).

part 2

Olympic Sculpture Park
18-55 mm

Believe it or not folks, this is art.



P.S. Megan, I think the jacket Bret is wearing in these photos is Matt's. I'd like to say we kept it to remember you guys by but I think we both know that Bret just forgot to give it back before we moved. To you and Rachel, I can guarantee your husband's clothes will be returned.