Mom... and Dad

I talked to my mom on the phone today, she has been sick for a week, in bed with a bug. She is not a fussy woman, but loving and kind, with soft spot for animals. I, of course, only remember her as Mom but I found this slide in a box of my dad's mementos. They had been divorced for several decades at the time of my dad's passing but neither were ever the kind to speak badly about the other. This was taken around the time of their wedding, before kids and life and hard feelings. It makes me happy to see her smile knowing it was Dad she was smiling at. I am grateful today for the love to these two extraordinary people. 

Uninvited Calories

While I am not thankful for the extra pounds the holidays brought with them, I am certainly grateful for all the yummy meals I had over the last couple months. I am also SUPER grateful for Yoga Today ( http://www.yogatoday.com), and Peak Fitness ( http://www.peakeverett.com ) memberships. Bring on the sweat!

An Exercise In Gratitude

I have way more than one thing a day to be thankful for so it shouldn't be any trouble to come up with at least one... that is the challenge.

Today's list:
No hangover - the upside of not getting hammered on New Year's Eve.
Watched Guardians of the Galaxy... it was awesome. Seems like it is the kind of movie that gets better with each viewing.
Speaking of movies that just keep getting better, I also watched The Princess Bride just for good measure.
When Jim got home we undecorated the tree and took it down. It is nice to get everything in the house back to it's non-holiday normal.

Time for some Gratitude

There are some days that feel like they were so long ago that maybe they were lived by someone else.  That is until you see the faces of those who lived it with you and are reminded of just how lucky we are to have people who go so far back that they sometimes remember us better than we do ourselves.  

Seattle Icon

Almost as famous and the Lincoln "Toe" Truck and the PI globe. 

Pre-Instagram

No enhancement needed, this is an actual Polaroid.

New Kitchen Addition

Trust me when I say you can use virtually anything in a smoothie, and if you make them thick enough you can pretend it's soft ice cream and not a healthy snack. 

Tilly

She is not the only one who enjoyed the cabinets while they were being stored in the rec-room. All the kitties thought they were placed there especially for their use. 

Hansen's Garage

Garage and subsequent Buick dealership owned by Jim's family. 

You might recognize it as:

https://goo.gl/maps/ItOuv

Cirque

I really wish they allowed picture taking inside Cirque shows - this post would be a lot more entertaining. 

Whistler, BC

So I rode Whistler, no not the mountain but just one of the surrounding cross-country trails. For real, BC has a lot of rocks. So very many rocks.  

Pop

Miss you.

Good Morning Sleepy Octopus

We eyed this fellow on the wall of a local restaurant for several weeks before finally brining him home. He is a wonderful early morning companion and we have many drowsy conversations while the espresso machine warms up. 

So Close

At this point all we were lacking was backsplash and floor trim. 

Starting to See It

Bring On the Cabinets

Questioning Choices

I loved the paint we chose for the walls and knew that once the cabinets were in the dark color would be balanced out by the pale maple, but with just the dark blue on the walls it really did seem like it might overpower everything.

Taking Another Break

As the project neared completion we decided we needed another short get away so we flew to Friday Harbor to meet up with our neighbors (who also flew, don't ask... Pilots just want to fly) for dinner. We took the scenic route, which means we flew over te house. As you can tell it was a gorgeous day, but I wish my phone had a better camera. 

Starting to Come Together

Demolition done, the bones of the new kitchen are in - it's time to start putting up walls and tape and mud and paint. 

Playing Tourist

We were trying to make it to Kerry Park before sunset on a very cold and sunny afternoon but traffic was bad, as we should have known it would be, and we missed the best angle of lighting. We still had fun and garnered this awesome shot of the dumpster with the best view of the city. 

Not Everyone Hated the Old Kitchen

Every time I opened the cabinet that held all of our coffee making supplies Beau would want to climb back in the useless dead space between the espresso machine and the sink. I guess he thought it was a cool place to explore.

I Give You - Mo-vember

It cannot be overstated how much I love the slow-motion function on my phone.

Why Would You Want To Live Anywhere Else

Trying out the camera in my new phone.

Taking a Break

We took a break from kitchen stuff and went to Vancouver for a Cirque du Soliel show  but pictures are not allowed under the bigtop so here are some shots of some creative graffiti that I took from the train on the way to B.C. 

Progress Being Made

It's Amazing What You Find When You Clean Out the Cupboards.

Making Room

Notice how low the ceiling is and how everything feels a bit cramped in the picture here:

And now?

Going... Going... Gone.

The cabinets on the West wall were the first to go, leaving the stove and an exhaust vent and a hole in the wall destined to become much, MUCH bigger. There is no going back now!

When It's about to get real...

It's all just theoretical until this happens:

360

This is a 360 (or so) of the before. Please forgive the clutter - you can probably tell that the demolition had already started by the vacant spots on some of the walls. 

South Wall - Circa 1982

This is a picture of the South wall in it's hay day. We received this picture form the former owners who lived here back in the 80's. Note the wicker lamp shade and metal fruit basket... yep, it was the 80's alright! And it looked like that (structurally anyway) up until Jim randomly started sawing the spindles of the railing off one day.  It was then I knew he was serious about starting the remodel.