jump, jump!

today we took our kayaks into the gulf and the dolphins played with us.

then we rented a boat and a jet ski for a couple hours right before sunset and the dolphins came to play with us again.


in a soon-to-be seen video, i was yelling at them, 'Jump, jump!!" that got them going.

ps you can now post COMMENTS for free,
you don't have to be anybody special (especially not a googler anymore),
sorry about that inconvenience before. we'd love to hear from you!

....to Coast

We finally made it...back to the East Coast- or, should I say, the Gulf (of Mexico)! For many a day we will be repeating our routine of waking up to the sound of water lapping the boats on the dock, have a lazy breakfast, head to the beach for a few hours, watch some dolphins jump and play, bring the kayak over to try and chase them, eat lunch, take a nap, read at the pool, play Settlers of Catan, eat dinner, watch a movie, and watch the moonlight dance on the ceiling as we fall asleep. No, this isn't the norm, and we can't complain. We'll check in later when we wake up from the dream!

Merry Lights

Merry Christmas tomorrow! Tim's working today until 4 and then we will celebrate Christmas at his family's house before heading to Florida at 8am tomorrow! A full Christmas day of flying...oh well. We each have our books of choice, Kite Runner for me since I haven't read it, and The Idiot for Tim (not intentionally!).

Saturday night we took Joanie and Josh (who is in town from Canada) to Zoo Lights, a Christmas tradition. Here are some shots:The glowing pink treeeeeee! (with an improved, non-cardboard Josh)

The new narrows bridge with Mt Rainier behind.

A preview of Florida beauty!!

It's a girl!

Tim's brother Mike and his wife Hillary announced they will be having a baby GIRL in May! This is a semi-rarity and we are very excited to have a niece!

Rudy???

This one's for you, Roxie! (And maybe all those Rudolph fans out there??) Check out those awesome 7up earrings!

Season's Sleepings

Has anyone else not been able to sleep, like, at ALL lately? This is what happens when I get mega projects running through my mind, and lists in my head, never-ending. Camp usually does this to me, and in a minor way for the first time, now does Christmas.

Could it be because I decided to make over 100 Christmas cards this year, or stamp my own wrapping paper, make fudge and cookies and loaves of holiday eggnog-cranberry bread for fun? Or could it be the coordination of getting 100 family members, 10 dozen home-made sugar cookies to frost, and 250+ sorted gifts to tomorrow's REACH Christmas party? Maybe the fact that my sister KATE GOT ENGAGED this week!! Or that I have just today begun to dent the whole shopping affair, or that we join my family in Florida in a week!!!

Probably one of those things is keeping me awake at night.

One last note: I have officially begun to loathe pumpkin anything. I do love those organic vegetables that keep coming, but I have had enough pumpkin. I keep trying to cook different things with it, and nothing satisfactory comes of it in my opinion. Definitely enough.

Good thing I'm sticking to gingerbread cookies for tomorrow's party. Let's hope I get them all baked tonight!

WARNING: Ab-alanche Danger!

Wow, this weekend was a winner!! Tim is only the best husband in the entire world. Friday we saw a movie and went to a special fancy dinner (involving fondue...) and then Saturday we packed our snowshoe gear for a SUNNY trek pretty much straight up a mountainside. We barely survived an avalanche, even though the danger was reportedly low.

We descended together with the sun and then drove to a secret destination for the evening, which was only the most spoily place I've seen! The Salish Lodge and Spa. After my time in the eucalyptus steam room and hot pools and my hot stone massage, I was ready to stay forever. We built a real fire in our room (without setting anything ablaze) and enjoyed a 5 course country breakfast the next morning while it started snowing outside, all above a towering Snoqualmie falls! Very lodge-y and Colorado. Very happy Abby. THANK YOU TIM! He really knows how to make this girl feel special. And he's all mine!!
PS We were celebrating a belated birthday and my finishing all grad school application materials! New season of life, here we come.

going organic?

Thanks to some of our cool new friends Andy and Elisa (our other friends are cool too, don't worry!), Tim and I have decided to try buying our vegetables via an organic food share box weekly from a local farm, Leftfoot organics, in Olympia. We are learning lots of new recipes to cook with kale, turnips, radishes, chard, lots of squash and other stuff we never buy on our own at the store. Each box is like a surprise present. You never know what you're going to get, or what it is supposed to look like.

Sometimes we get really cool vegetables like this one!
It's been a nice experiment, and it's not over, although I'm not sure it's transformed us for life quite yet. We like the idea of supporting local, but finding ways to actually live what you believe, now that's revolutionary...right?

SBUX holiday extravaganza

Tim and I hosted his store holiday party at our house last week. Well, every day is a holiday party at Starbucks these days, admit it! What must it be like to work in a place people come to treat themselves, listen to festive feel-good tunage and relax in a home away from home?

Besides eating what was probably a better meal than any of us have made for Christmas dinner (sorry, parents), the fun and games continued with home-made catch phrase, a gift exchange, and decorating gingerbread men and women to look like each other in real life. Brad, Kara's highlights were amazing! I tried to make Tim's spidey shirt.Everyone's welcome again, and the fun continues daily at your local Starbucks!

Snow Anniversary

Now we have proof - it does snow about once or twice a year year here, and today was one of those days! At least one full hour of it. The first blustery day of December, which also happens to be the anniversary of the first FULL day Tim and I shared together as boyfriend and girlfriend:), just 4 years ago. Nice way to celebrate! Thanks, God!
Here, you can view our backyard for the record.