Bunko time

We just got back from playing Bunko with Eric and Sue and a bunch of their friends, which was a blast! We're trying to plan how to host a Bunko party soon. Tomorrow I plan to hang with Chrissie before she heads to Hawaii for some R&R (so jealous!!) and maybe think about starting to think about painting the kitchen. Maybe . . .

Livin' it up in the San Juans

Livin' it up in the San Juans
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

Just a tease photo from our recent trip to the San Juans with the Rushers, who officially rocked way before the SJ trip, but have now officially cemented rock-dom for all times!! We say the J-pod of orcas and they were simply awesome. Josh got some really great pics with his fancy-dancy camera - Jen, a DVD is on its way!

Jenn & Rob enjoying Grill Fest '08

Jenn & Rob enjoying Grill Fest '08
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

Too tired to post much after the whirlwind of a weekend, starting with the Police/Elvis Costello concert on Friday and ending with planting in our new planter beds with the goodies we got at Bainbridge Gardens - but wanted to give a big shout-out to Rob and Jenn for their wonderful job on the first annual Grill Fest!!! It was a blast - we can't wait for next year!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! What a wonderful first weekend of summer!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

We started with a successful yard sale for the folks on Saturday (and the rain thankfully held off). Then Rob, Jenn and Jack made the trip down south to visit and we got to break in the Wii, which rocks. Thanks to the Rushers for the bowling game, which is a lot of fun!

To go with our opening of the Wii, we had homemade sundays. Good thing we also got the Wii fit (which is brutally honest to its users, and I apparently have the body/coordination of a 46 year old!!), since we had Voodoo doughnuts the next day. They were out of bacon maple bars, so we had to make the bacon ourselves:

Maple Bacon Doughnuts
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

At first, Sunday looked like it would be cloudy and overcast, but the sun came out for our first foray into geocaching:

Alberta Street Geocache
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

Geocaching is a lot of fun, and a great way to take a nice drive/walk, too. We headed out to Sauvie Island where we found:

Robin's Egg
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

And we also found this:

Tiny Frog
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

Thanks again to the Rushers for initiating us into this new hobby and a really great weekend!

Happy Birthday Josh!

B-Day Wishes from Jack and Tori
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

this great pic was technically for my birthday, but the sentiment is the same!

Not many people get Happy Birthday sung to them with an accompanying tap dance, but Josh is just that special so thanks Leina and Kevin!! Let's see, we started with Starbucks in the morning, lunch at Casba's, then down to the McLaughlins' for Busters and yummy cake (and the tap dancing birthday song). Josh says a BIG thank you for all the wonderful goodies from everyone too - we are both so fortunate to have some of the best and most thoughtful people in the world for friends!

This will have to count for my entry on 6/14

Since we were over Heather and Colin's from noon to midnight yesterday playing Twilight Imperium, a very intense space board game. The game is a ton of fun, but there are so many rules that I've not quite figured out a good strategy yet. All I know is next time, I'm going for War Suns from the very beginning as well as Mecator Rex (center planet that is key to getting a lot of objectives). Oh, and dreadnoughts - those are good, too.

Friday the 13 ain't that bad

because it's still Friday!! And I got to catch up on former office gossip, eat really yummy cheese and pomegranate cosmos at my Jenn's cool downtown high rise. It has the most awesome view of the river and downtown, and would be the most excellent place for watching downtown fireworks. It made me realize that this will be the first year going downtown to watch the work from my former office building isn't a possibility, but like last year, we have way more fun watching (and setting them off) at home. Plus, we're planning a big BBQ aka like last year (Chrissie - you better still plan on coming - Josh is already buying more fireworks. . . for the girls of course!) I'll have to check out Martha Stewart for some crafty decorating ideas to hide the still hideous front porch - I can't wait for fall when we have a hopefully new beautiful place to decorate!

I love my webkinz

and I have apparently regressed to being a 4th grader, but the games are fun! I have two supercute polar bear webkinzs, one from the McLaughlins and one from the Rushers (both families seem to know of my love for polar bears!) Thanks you guys - I now have another way to fritter away time on the internets!!

Sweater for Katherine (Baby Katherine, that is)

Sweater for Katherine
Originally uploaded by kckellner.

A bit blurry, but this little precious bundle is wearing an almost Kat original. It was a Shibuiknits pattern for a kimono sweater with some embellishments by me on the ruffled sleeves and what I like to call tulip-ended tassels for the ties. I loved the mix of pink and green in the yarn, and despite the small needle size and number of stitches, the pattern was great. It's all about eliminating seaming on the finishing bits! Baby K, you look great!

The Justice League - Justice Almost Prevailed

Rose Festival - PDX - 6/8/08
Originally uploaded by eyeballina.

We got to the finals . . . but didn't get any bling. We raced hard and overall we were super excited to make it to the finals at all. So, better luck and paddling for us all next year.

While we didn't get any medals, I did get a load of great birthday presents. From my mom, dad and Mickey, I got gift certificates for Joann's (always a fav) and Kmart (for some new kitchen duds to go with the fridge and stove). From the Rushers, some of the best cards ever and polar bear magnets and stuffy. From Gail, I got a beautiful framed fabric art piece and some gorgeous sea foam green pearl earrings. From Ted, the super cool stove top latte maker - I can't wait to try it!! Thanks everybody!

And from Josh and Melo, a pair of real roller skates which I can't wait to try out, a tiny(tm) serger, and my several of my wish list books off Amazon -- on top of my awesome sewing machine! Thanks, sweetie!

Shout out for Greg's animated short film

for the Walk for Rice fundraiser. You can see the great film short here. I love the little Mochi character!

A crafty Saturday!

Our friend Greg came down Friday night for a visit along with his beautiful chocolate lab, Bella. After our last Saturday Dragon Boat practice (thank goodness), I headed out to meet up with Chrissie for the going-out-of-business sale at the Let's Quilt shop (yet another victim of the Chrissie-Kat quilt shop curse, it seems). Then Chrissie took me to a wonderful, awesome place that will be my mom's second favorite place in the NW: Monticello's. It is incredible - a wonderful cafe, lovely places to sit, and an amazing collection of various bis and baubles. I cannot wait to go back with my mom and Chrissie!

Chrissie then took me to another great place, Knittn' Kitten, a craft thrift store. They had bamboo double points in an assortment of sizes for only $2!!!!!! And buttons, and fabric, and yarn - oh my! Erica - you must come visit soon, there are so many crafty things to see and do!!

What a weekend!

We're in the midst of a heatwave - I will be so glad when the 90 degree weather is over. This weekend was a busy one. Rob came down for a visit and some quality catch up time. We also dropped some serious moola at Sears for a new stove and refrigerator, and best of all, my birthday - hanukkah - christmas - anniversary present came a bit early: a new sewing machine!! (thank you very much sweetie!)

I wound up getting the same one my friend Chrissie just got -- mainly on her recommendation and the report that it is super quiet. While I love my Brother and it has served me well, it was a bit noisy. I have yet to take the new girl for a test run - I'm only 1/2 way thru the instruction manual and managed to slice my thumb while making dinner so it might have to wait until I get feeling back, but I am super excited to try it out. Josh also managed to get me to go car shopping--well more like car looking. We really dig the Ford Escape hybrid, but the whole car buying process blows - we're checking out the Costco car buying program (thanks again Rob for the tip!!) and already the car priced out $10K less than the dealer. I'm holding fast for the premium package and ambient lighting - Josh knows me and LEDs, so aside from shaking his head I think he's pretty much resigned so long as he gets his audiophile option!

We also rescued a neighborhood doggie that wandered off. Josh was walking Melo and the pooch was wondering on Greely -- not a good road for a dog to be wandering around on. He and another neighbor saw her, so the neighbor held her while Josh came back for me and an extra leash. She (later learned her name was Billie) was such a sweetie - sort of a shorthaired and smaller shepard with beautiful ice blue eyes. Very sweet, friendly, obviously well cared for and not abandoned. We walked around the neighboorhood a bit (checking in with the 2 animal control trucks in the neighborhood for another lost pooch). We didn't want to hand her over because we weren't sure what they would do with her.

So then we loaded Billie in the car and resumed patrolling the neighborhood, asking anyone we saw if she looked familiar. No luck and we were getting prepared to drive to Dove Lewis to get her scanned for a chip. After about 30 or 45 minutes, we got a tip that cracked the case: a woman thought she had seen a sign put up earlier in the day or the day before about a lost dog near Fred Meyers. We worked our way towards Freddie's and spotted a lost dog sign: "Tricolor, female, blue eyes -- please call."

Turns out we found Billie's owners. Her mom was very very thankful over the phone; the dad seemed a bit perturbed, but relieved because it seems Billie is a bit of an escape artist and has done this before. She escaped from inside through a cat door this time. So with a last hug and kiss from Billie, we kept up our 100% success rate in reuniting lost doggies with their parents. With the exception of one parent, I have been really surprised how non-emotional the owners have been. They are polite and thankful, but I think there must be a bit of embarrassment. Me, if someone found my Melo, I could not say thank you enough and would think about naming my first kid after him/her!!

So, if you are reading this and have a pet, here's the plea to please, please, please chip him or her. I cannot even think about what I would do if Melo was lost and I couldn't find her--the one time she wondered off on me from the backyard still makes my chest contract in fear and she was next door. She's chipped, aka puppy lo-jacked, and thankfully pretty non-inquisitive, aka she's lazy. And still the cutest puppy princess in the world. I think I need to go give her a puppy snuggle right now.

Yeah, its been a while

But oh so busy. Chrissie and I had a wonderful trip to Ashland to celebrate her birthday. I love Ashland - it is a good thing it is at the other end of the state because I think I'd have to move there. It is severely cute, with the bonus of a very cute quilt shop and lots of yummy restaurants. The trip was great - we stopped in so many quilt shops on the way down and back that they all sort of blend: Albany, Eugene, Jacksonville, Cottage Grove (I think!). It was a productive trip too - Chrissie made great progress on her place mats (now complete) and I got two Christmas present quilts mostly done. I also made some good progress on some birthday socks and a new pair of socks that will be for Christmas. Can't post too much here unless some possible recipient checks out this blog, but there may or may not be pics up on flickr one of these days!

And today I'm home from work recovering from minor girly surgery. I'll spare you the gory details but it wasn't too bad. The only parts that were not so great was signing the consents (parade of horribles fully disclosed in advance) and getting wheeled into the OR. I think next time I want a Valium or something before getting wheeled in--waiting for the anesthesiologist was not fun since I got to see all the various surgical instruments (aka instruments of torture), get strapped down to the OR table. But I don't remember anything after the sleep doc said "now we're giving you something to make you . . . . zzzzzzzz." He made a good mix of sleep drugs cause the post-anestheia nauseau was minimal. Even better, things were fixed and I'm good to go.

Other than that, it has been work, Dragonboat, and getting ready for the next round of home improvements. We're waiting on a bid to redo the front - which would be SO awesome (cause I won't miss the AstroTurf). We've got bids for the plumbing work and electrical service and will hopefully get the kitchen in better shape, too. My favorite part will likely be the renting of the dumpster to clean out the basement - whatever can't go to Goodwill is going in there!!

Busy Busy in the kitchen

Now if only we could find the camera cord, I could upload pictures. On today's cooking docket: homemade marshmellow peeps of a sort, lasagna, stuffed manicotti, and salsa verde carnitas. The lasagna, carnitas and peeps are for Jen and Cara - part of the food festival happening for them given the arrival of baby Catherine. Some of the peeps are for us though - marshmellow-y goodness!!

A very nice Saturday indeed

It was been one of those great Saturdays. Rob, Jenn and Jack came for a visit. We started with just hanging out, catching up and resting for our trip to Tad's Chicken -n- Dumplings, aka Chix Dump, in Troutdale. Despite the name, Josh and I are usually tempted by the yummy primerib, especially now that The Prime Rib is sadly no more. (I am still working out this photo deal, but if you click on the random white box below, you'll get a picture. My IT department needs to get on the ball, or I'm going to have to lodge a formal complaint.)



Then, to help walk off a part of dinner, we hit IKEA, which was strangley busy for a Saturday night. It might have been the wonderful Christmas decorations which are now present - YEAH.
I was pretty restrained--one lantern and a few star light strands. Then it was handing out with PS2 and pokemon *listening* to music!