Can paint cans walk away?

well, ours sure did. Rich's dad painted our shelf for our office...after the trip from Kennewick to Bothell we needed to make just a few minor touch ups.

Fast forward 1 month...we've moved...the paint can has disappeared and our shelf has taken up residence in the garage. We searched high and low for the missing paint can...having Dick and Denise search their garage...Mike and Joni search their garage...Rich and I search our garage...and then everyone searched again without success. The paint was gone.

We bit the bullet and went back to the paint store to find our "dream" color...grabbed a few swatches and headed back home. This time we bought the paint and kept it where we wouldn't misplace it.

To the first project that was started and completed ...our new shelf. Yeah!

Here's our beautiful new color...
funny thing it smells like Chocolate when you paint!
Go figure!

After Rich had painted the shelves

The backbone of the unit
Yeah! Completed project...now we just need to get
our books unloaded. The jobs never end!

Saturday at Alki

Saturday afternoon, I headed to Alki with my parents to go meet up with Lori, Fereti, Rene and Avea for some beach time, dinner and fun!

Here is Avea practicing her gymnastics for the 2020 Olympics...
while Rene is spotting her.

Rene decided that he wanted to join in on the fun
too and practice with Avea!

Here I am with the kids..
it was so beautiful out!

The "Mud Man" made a visit to the beach too!
Rene loved him...and Avea was a little scared.
Too cute!

After dinner, we went and got donuts for the kids.
Yum! They had such a blast and so did I!

Avea's winning pose!

Rene showing what a big boy he is!

What a great Saturday!

Rich was gone to Packwood for the weekend and has been racking up the fish with Alex and having some fun over there. My first weekend alone at the house...and I survived. Can't wait for him to be back!

Ladies night...

ooooh, what a night. To celebrate Ms. O'Hara's 28th Birthday in style, the birthday girl, Amanda and I did it up in style. We started with a little champagne at Amanda's and then headed to Belltown to the best sushi joint ever - UMI!

We arrived at UMI about 1 hour late for our dinner reservations...
so we mounted up to the bar and had a cocktail while we waited.

Prior to taking our picture, we had a little spillage and
Heather was nice enough to lick it up.
I was sticky all night!

The nice bartenders who served us...and
even gave us a round of birthday shots!
Yeah dudes!

Finally we were off to our table and Heather was feeding
Amanda the delicious Bad Boy roll. LOVE IT!

The ladies again..Me aka Poodle, Heather aka AA Lover
and Amanda aka Fish Food
DON'T ASK!!!

Heather texting away...sending messages to Rich.
Again, these are better left unsaid.
She must have been telling him how
lucky he is to have me, right?!?!

Amanda - the new spokeswoman for the most
delicious Sparkling Sake

It's getting a little later...and we are getting
a little more "goofy".

We finally left Umi and went to down the street to
Cellars to people watch.
Fun times...here are some of our favorites that
were parked out in front of the bar all night. Single ladies BEWARE!

All in all...it was a fun night and we had a blast. Of course, we all realized that we are getting a little, dare I say, older...and Belltown isn't what it used to be. Thanks to GREAT friends...we were still able to have a fabulous time. Next time - let's Slooper size the night!

Let there be light!

Woo Hoo! Our solar lights from Kim, Rick and Alex are working. The picture does not do them justice...but they work (and it's raining). Hooray!

Life's a Beach!

Rich and I were planning on going camping this weekend...but with all the burn bans across the state (and our love for the Olympics)...we ended up doing a day trip to the beach on Saturday.

We hopped in the car early on Saturday morning and headed for Ocean Shores - the beach was extremely foggy so we headed a little further down to a marina and enjoyed a walk on the beach. We were amazed by the hundreds of Seagulls...thank goodness we didn't get any "droppings" on our heads.

We stopped for a bite to eat at this little deli on the beach.
It was an amazing view and the food was pretty good too!

Our little lady buy!
Good luck to us - yeah!
(She/he followed us back to the car and travelled to our
next destination via the Honda).

If anyone has ever seen Rich before 11am...
then no explanation is necessary.

We packed it in at Ocean Shores and headed further south to Westport. On our trip down, we stopped at a little winery and did some tasting and just enjoyed the view together.

This is the view from the car on our way to Westport.

We arrived in Westport and walked around the marina area and checked out the vendors. There was a local street fair going on so we checked out some of that and then the outside fish museum. Pretty fun stuff....of course, the museum had labeled a fish wrong (Steelhead and it was a Salmon, or vice-versa )...and Rich was quick to point it out). I love his passion for the facts!

Who knew...Little Richard's House of Donuts.
We didn't stop in, but I couldn't resist the picture opportunity.

A little future down at the home of the Pelican was a restaurant that claims they have "Washington's Best Bloody Mary"...it was delicious and so were the garnishments (olive, green beans, beef stick, cheese, tomato and celery). CRAZY!!!

Rich posing with the heron. It seems since we have been together there have been herons everywhere...even where we got engaged.
It's fun to find them when we are out now!

We ended our night up at Harbor Lights in Tacoma and took in the view of the Sound from our table. There were tons of people out on the water and we even saw a boat pick up a crab pot! We walked along for a bit and took in the view from a bench. Fantastic!

The day was over...but we weren't quite home yet. We were trying to wait to see if Michael Phelps won his 8th gold when we got home....but heard the results over the radio on our drive home! Still, it was exciting to watch last night...but we both wanted to be surprised.

Wow! What a fun weekend...back to work in the office!

Chimes - a link to our past!

Thanks to Denise and Dick (Rich's parents) we have a new wind chime at our house. Chimes have always held a special place in my life - as my mom has always told me, "every time the chime "chimes"...it is a connection to our past and the loved ones we have lost". We love our new chime!!!

Every time I hear it...I think of how much I miss my Grandpa Rudy and wish that he were here to share this special time in my life. I know how much he would have loved Rich and how well they would have gotten along.

Here's the chime - hanging above our front door
to welcome all that come.

All our love to those who are no longer with us -
but still hold a part of our hearts - FOREVER!

For the Birds...

the hummingbirds, that is. Rich installed our new hummingbird feeder (Thanks to Aunt Roxy) this evening. Here birdie, birdie...here birdie, birdie. Can't wait to see if we have any hummingbirds around.
Also, we installed our new solar power lights (Thanks so much to Aunt Kim, Rick and Alex). Now, while enjoying an evening in our yard, we won't be limited by daylight.

The tasks we had set out for ourselves this weekend turned out to be a little more than we were ready to handle. The door is still a work in process...and the office, well, that is too. It's all organized chaos at this point...but sometimes you just have to call it quits and finish it another day.

Dinner was served!

Last night we entertained our first dinner guests...yeah!
So much fun...Here is Rich prepping the Kabobs for the BBQ.
Max and Dad playing in the backyard.
"Goal for 2009 - Green Grass"

The feast is served....
Kabobs, Orzo salad, asparagus and blueberry delight for dessert.
YUM! Everything was perfect!

Can't wait to have more people over...who's next?

Tongue or Pork - you decide!

Rich in all of his glory...
Rock out with your...oh, you know the rest!

A place to put a glass..

Yeah, our new dining room table is FINALLY here. Thanks to Rich and Joni for going and picking it up (while I had cocktails)...we now have a place to eat at.

First came the chairs...

Then came the table...
(Don't worry we will dust it)!

The final product!

The finishing touch.

We are so excited to use our new table for the first time tomorrow night with guests. Mike and Joni will get to enjoy the first dinner with our new table...as a BIG thank you for the countless hours they put in to get our house to where it is today. Can't wait to see what's next...Office here we come!