The Great Northwest, Day 5

Thanksgiving! Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with Joe's family at his Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim's house with his dad, stepmom, cousins and grandma.

Joe and I with Grandma Dorothy.

Joe and I posing while Uncle Jim and Aunt Judy are hard at work in the kitchen.

Uncle Jim carves the turkey.

Our delicious lunch! So thankful for a great day with family.

The Great Northwest, Day 4

Our last day in Victoria! After breakfast we checked out of our hotel and drove to Sidney to catch our ferry. Another long travel day for us.

We couldn't leave without taking a picture by the beautiful Empress Hotel Christmas tree.

Dreary day, waiting for the ferry to arrive.

The Great Northwest, Day 3

Our next day in Victoria had us doing more sight-seeing and, for me, a massage at the hotel spa.

Joe and I having breakfast at the hotel.

We visited the Royal BC Museum which showcased a history of BC including this guy from the ice age.

We also visited the inside of the Parliment building.

Here's the Parliment building at night.

By the second day of our trip, our hotel was decorated for Christmas!

Joe before our curry dinner at the hotel's Bengal Lounge. The Bengal Lounge has been serving a curry buffet nightly since the 50s.

The Great Northwest, Day 2

Day two took us to Victoria, British Columbia. It has been on my short list of places to visit for quite some time and made for a memorable way for us to celebrate Joe turning 40. This also marked my first-ever trip to Canada.

Our hotel, The Empress

We had high tea at The Empress, a must-do in Victoria.

Yum! I have been dreaming of the chicken curry sandwich I had since our tea.

After a day of exploring the city, we had a late night dinner at this Scotish Pub. I had the best fish and chips of my life and Joe had bangers and mash.

The Great Northwest, Day 1

Joe and I took off for the Northwest to visit his family and also to take a little side vacation to British Columbia. First things first, a stop at Pike Place Market upon arriving in Seattle. I've been before but its been about seven years since my last visit. We walked around, had a wonderful lunch with fresh seafood and then caught the ferry for the second leg of our trip.

Pike Place Market

Watching all of the action at the fish counter

The original Starbucks

Joe and I having lunch and enjoying the view

Joe on the ferry heading to Whidbey Island

Fore Tee

The birthday celebrating continues. Today we hit some golf balls. But instead of any old place, imagine every ball you have is microchipped and keeps score against your competitor. Kind of like darts only with golf balls. And there's great music playing and really good food/drinks brought to you at your own seating area...oh and heaters. Seriously, this is my kind of golf.

Forty

I sent some balloons to Joe's office hoping to brighten up his busy day.

Today is my husband's birthday...and it's a big one. He refused to let me have a party for him and didn't want anyone to make a fuss. And, unfortunately, that's what he got. (Me? I'm all about the fuss.) Poor Joe had a brutal day with back-to-back meetings and even a late night meeting tonight so we didn't even get to have dinner to celebrate. So I took him out for his favorite meal of the day - breakfast. A few days from now, we'll be in British Columbia. Something tells me that will be a pretty swell place to have a proper celebration.

Girls Weekend

This past weekend I headed to Virginia Beach to see my friend, Carrie. We've been friends since high school but as adults we rarely see each other. So this was a great getaway for me and a fun weekend with an old friend. The weekend consisted of girl talk, pedicures, shopping and lots of good food (I ate seafood for almost every meal and we even hit a Diners, Drive Ins and Dives restaurant, too!).

Cape Henry Lighthouse

The old Cape Henry Lighthouse. Carrie and I climbed to the very top...and today my calves still hurt.



Plague at the side of the lighthouse. It was the first lighthouse authorized by the United States Congress and erected in 1791.

Seafood Mac & Cheese.

Carrie and I having dinner at Eat.

Halloween

Wanted to share a picture on my nieces on Halloween.

Brylea as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Adyson as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Isn't Toto cute?

Out With the Old, In With the New

I think this is the incentive that Joe and I needed in order to enjoy doing laundry.

Leaves, Leaves and More Leaves

Twelves bags of leaves just from our smallish front yard...now to tackle the back yard! I think the worst part is paying for every bag that we sit out for pick up. :\

Weekend Fun

Joe's dad and stepmom were in the area this weekend so we have had a full and fun weekend catching up.

Friday night we went to Navy Pier to see the Sondheim musical, "Sunday in the Park with George." It's based on the people George Seurat might have met while working on his most famous painting which also happens to be one of my very favorite pieces of art.

Today took us to the House of Blues for their Gospel Brunch. It's always so much fun...and now I will not be eating for the rest of the day!

40 Years

40 years ago today my parents got married. Here they are in 1972.

This is my parents in 2012.

Lots of friends and family joined us today as we celebrated their 40th anniversary.

Me, mom, dad and sister, Cathy.

Cathy at the cake and punch table.

Sisters



My grandma with her sister-in-law, Jo.

Guest book table with my parents' wedding album. Everyone had so much fun looking at the old wedding pictures.

Weekend Visitor

My mother-in-law standing in front of the CS Lewis wardrobe.

Joe and I just arrived back from dropping his mom off at the airport after she's been here visiting for the past two days. We had a nice weekend catching up. It all started on Friday with me picking Jo Ann up and taking her to lunch, then Joe got off work early and showed her around his office along with other areas of interest before we all eventually headed off to a great French dinner. Saturday found us at Starbucks and then to see the CS Lewis and Tolkien artifiacts located nearby before going to see the movie, Argo. (It was AMAZING. Go see it.) After the movie we had a late lunch/early dinner of pizza and walking around one of my favorite little towns. Today was mostly a lazy Sunday before heading off to the airport. And just like that the weekend is quickly coming to a close.

Friendship Factor

It seems like I'm always talking about the bond of friendships with my friends who live far away. We move away and then lament about how things are so different or we reminisce about "the good old days" when we were all together and having the best of times. It seems like, while we've all gone in different directions, we miss having those same strong friendships wherever we've ended up.

Before I moved here, I was living in a very transient college town and it was the one thing I disliked most about where I lived. I felt like I was always saying "goodbye" to someone. The same pattern happened for the eight years I lived there. I would meet someone, we'd hit it off and become close friends and then eventually they'd move away. It happened over and over again...until, eventually, I was the one who moved away.

I don't know a lot of people where I live now. I will somewhat blame it on the stage of life I'm in. In Missouri, I was single and had hometown friends, college friends, single work friends, church friends, etc all living close by. My schedule was such that I had plenty of time to socialize and plenty of people with whom to socialize. Where I live now, I've only been working for the past six months and with other people who are married and less likely to get together outside of work. And because everyone you do meet here could live a great distance from one another, it takes a lot more effort/coordination to get together and life is busy...which means I am missing out on some of my local friendships. So, yes, I consider my "friends" here to be a much smaller group. All this to say, I have two friends who live here who are now moving away very soon and I'm feeling pretty sad about it. I just found out about one of them this afternoon which has kind of put me in a funk and feeling a little sad about friendships...or my lack thereof.

And, speaking of friendships, I had another friend send me this article on friendships recently. I found it really interesting. If you get a chance, check it out.

Now that I've vented, it's time to take a hot bath, unwind and get out of my funk.

Cupcakes and More

Met my friend Alison in the city today for lunch at a Belgium bakery (chicken curry salad!) before doing a little shopping and a little cupcake eating at Sprinkles! Alison had strawberry, I had coconut (of course!) and I even brought home a red velvet cupcake for Joe.

Outside of Sprinkles Cupcakes

And the famous Cupcake ATM outside...we went inside but if they weren't open, I'd totally try the Cupcake ATM.

Tea Time

With Holly at tea

Went to a work/social event with coworkers this afternoon for traditional tea at an upscale hotel in the city. I have never done a real "tea" before and this was a great first-time experience. We had way too many desserts, little crab sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, chicken salad, quiche and, of course, tea!

My Weekend

• Staying home on a Friday night just to clean the house and catch up on laundry. The most productive evening at home in a long time.
• A quiet Saturday of errands and rest. Exactly what was needed around here.
• Homemade chicken enchilladas with leftovers for a busy week.
• The House of Blues Gospel Brunch with friends.
• A meal with Joe's former ESL student and his family.
• Stumbling upon, "Little Women," on tv with Christian Bale, Winona Ryder and Claire Danes. One of my all-time favorite movies. Team Jo, if you wondered.

Thirty-five

Joe and I celebrated all weekend, partly, due to the fact he had class tonight. (Did I mention my over-achieving husband was taking Arabic?) So instead of spending the evening at home alone, I went to dinner with friends. All in all, it was a good day!

Clockwise: Amy, me, Jennifer and Wanda. Wanda's birthday was Friday so we both celebrated together!

City weekend

Last week, on a whim, Joe suggested we spend the weekend in the city to celebrate my upcoming birthday. No real agenda, just a leisurely weekend. Of course, I was game!

After checking into our hotel, we went to dinner. I have a tradition of celebrating my birthday with crab legs. Love.

Coconut cream pie is one of my favorites and I have never seen a slice of pie so big in my life. Between the two of us, we only could manage to eat about a third of it!

After dinner, Joe and I had tickets to a late-night magic show. We are kind of obsessed with magic shows and this one was very intimate and so much fun. Also, we both got to serve as "assistants" at some point during the night.

Saturday morning had us walking ALL over the city. First we walked along the Lake front, then did some window shopping and then off to see a play, "Freud's Last Session."

After the play we went to a gourmet barbecue restaurant we'd been wanting to try...bruleed macaronni and cheese, anyone? We also had fried green tomatoes, barbecue ribs, pulled pork, cole slaw and corn bread. Yum!

We capped off our Saturday night with my absolute favorite spot in the city - Buckingham Fountain. It never gets old. Our trip ended this morning with breakfast at the hotel before heading back to our life in the suburbs.

Peach Cobbler

The dark spots are where I got heavy-handed with cinnamon/sugar mixture.

 

Yesterday we had company over in the evening which meant I spent 5-6 hours in the kitchen yesterday afternoon. Seriously. I made way too much food but Joe says the best dish of the evening was my peach cobbler. I doubled the recipe which I won't do in the future because I can't imagine peeling 16 peaches ever again. (Even when blanched to more easily remove the skins it was not my cup of tea.)


Peach mixture ingredients
8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Topping ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter - chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

Mix together
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Combine peaches with peach mixture ingredients. Toss evenly to coat and pour in a 2 quart baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes.
3. Combine topping ingredients in a bowl and stir in water last until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobble with sugar/cinnamon mixture and bake for about 30 minutes.