little black journal

For the second year in a row, Shane and I have decided to counteract the over-indulgence of the holidays by being extra-frugal in January.  No eating out, no lattes, no movies, no shopping, and a very tight grocery budget (three dollars per person per day).  For someone like me, who loves to spend Sunday afternoons sitting in cafes or shopping for shoes, this is a challenge.  Right around day 7, I start to get a little antsy.  Shane must have sensed my home-bound jitters and so he surprised me with a free ‘date’ this afternoon by driving us over to Bellevue to check out the Mercer Slough, a park/wetland that we’d driven by several times but never explored.  It was the perfect day for a mini-adventure, and we enjoyed wandering through the trails, finding beauty in the mossy greens and even the muddy browns that are so emblematic of a northwest winter.

We ended the day with homemade veggie lasagna with friends, and I am once again restored, ready to face another week of skipping my morning latte and eating my leftovers for lunch.  It actually feels kind of good to go back to basics.

Shane and I spent Christmas in Portland with my family, taking it easy at my brother’s house, doting on sweet little Elise, enjoying the warmth of good food and being with loved ones.

Elise made out like a bandit, and had more gifts to open than any of us (as is to be expected, with a face that cute).  One of her favorites was this little car/music machine from my parents.  I’m sure Mitch and Kathryn will quickly tire of the sound of the chugging ignition, the trumpet horn, and the front bumper keyboard, but it all makes Elise smile, so I imagine they’ll say it’s worth it.

Elise also loved her new Kleen Kanteen water bottle from Great Grandma and spent all day toting it around with her.

Shane and I got her the most adorable little wooden tea set, and she and I enjoyed several carpet tea parties throughout the day.

This tent was a big hit as well, and she spent much of the morning crawling in and out of it, peering out the door with that ‘come-and-get-me’ look of hers.

Post-presents, we headed out into the clear, crisp day to enjoy some fresh air and give Elise a chance to burn off some of her Christmas-Day adrenaline at the nearby park.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a movie, playing with all our new toys, and preparing a lovely Christmas dinner.  I spent every moment that I could with Elise, knowing that next time I see her, she will again be much changed.

I was looking through my new 50mm lens much of the day, and while I’m still figuring out how to make the most of it, I can tell that it is opening up all kinds of new photographic possibilities for me.  Thanks, Shane…

And so, Christmas has gone as quickly as it came.  I am dealing with a mild case of the post-holiday blues as I think about returning to work tomorrow, but I am so grateful for the short time that we did get to spend surrounded by loved ones.  It really was a very merry Christmas.

This clear, crisp weather we’ve been enjoying has reminded me how beautiful downtown Seattle can be, so I grabbed my camera on my way out the door yesterday, thinking I was due for a good hometown shoot.  I spent my lunchtime walking through downtown and Pioneer Square, armed with my warmest hat and fingerless gloves, snapping pictures left and right.  I’ve walked past some of these buildings hundreds of times, and yet somehow never really looked at them.  I suppose that’s the power of having a camera around your neck – your eyes are suddenly open so much wider, as you seek all those perfect photo-ops.  Ideally, especially as an architect, I would be consistently observant, but it seems that whenever I’m downtown, I’m just a woman on a mission, whether it’s to grab a quick lunch, rush to a meeting, hurry to catch my bus, etc.  It was good to consciously stop and pause, stand on a street corner, and look around in every direction, taking in the way sunlight warmed the tones of a brick facade, or bare tree limbs crawled toward the sky.  This is just a small sampling of what I’ve been missing out on…

Despite yesterday being a pretty busy day for us, we made sure to carve out some time in the afternoon to keep the Schnell family winter tradition alive and cut down our Christmas tree at our favorite tree farm out in North Bend.  It was a chilly day, but the sun was shining and there were lots of beautiful trees to choose from – we walked away with a perfect 7-foot Grand Fir.

This one was meant to be my ‘action shot’ of Shane cutting the tree down, but somehow it looks more like the tree is eating him alive.  Prime Christmas card material:

Victorious!

There is nothing like the warm glow of a Christmas tree – I am sitting by it and sipping on my hot apple cider as I type.  This is the stuff December evenings are made of…

Yesterday was full of reminders that I truly have so much to be thankful for.  The sound of laughter coming from our nieces and nephew, the smell of fresh-baked apple pie, the coziness of a warm home, the beauty of sunlight sparkling on a lake, the joy of being surrounded by people that I have come to love as my very own family…  It was a good day, spent lounging around the house together, eating to the point of stuffed-ness, playing games, and laughing till our cheeks hurt.  Shane and I pulled ourselves out of our post-dinner food comas to take a drive and enjoy the sunshine, returning just in time to re-stuff ourselves with dessert.  Perfection.

May we all count and share our blessings throughout the year to come.

I was thrilled to look out the window yesterday morning and see that the ground had been covered with a fluffy blanket of white snow overnight.  I grabbed my camera and rushed outside to snap a few pictures and take in the pristine-ness of it all.  There are few things more beautiful than snow topped branches.

The rest of the day was lovely and low-key.  We spent the rest of the morning drinking coffee with Shane’s sister, picking up the last few things for the big Thanksgiving meal, and revisiting some of Shane’s favorite neighborhood spots.  This little park was the perfect place to snap a few more pictures of our white little wonderland.  I was sad to see that the snow was already disappearing (I suppose beauty really is fleeting), but I managed to get a couple of shots before I needed to hop back in the car and thaw my fingers in front of the heater.

Shane and I had some time to kill last night before meeting up with a few of his friends for drinks, so we decided on a whim to check out the town’s bowling alley.  I was skeptical about how much fun it would be for just the two of us to bowl together, but after my third strike, I was having a blast, grinning ear to ear.  Yes, I came from behind and managed to crush Shane in our first game.

I was not so lucky in game 2, and Shane will probably give me a hard time for not posting those scores here, but I never claimed to be a fair and balanced reporter…

We ended the evening with a few of Shane’s old high school buddies at the local wine bar/ale house.  It was fun to listen to them reminisce – I obviously didn’t know Shane in high school, so I am always eager to gather more of the bits and pieces of memories from this time in his life.

Well, I’m off to prepare my first ever Thanksgiving apple pie – happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  God bless.

Yes, it’s been quiet here in blog-land lately…  My absence has been due to a general state of busy-ness, but with things that aren’t interesting enough to warrant a post.  Shane and I left Seattle for Minnesota yesterday and are enjoying a few days to relax and catch up with Shane’s family.  I slept in until 9:30 today, watched a couple of my favorite cooking shows, played Legos with my nieces and nephew, ate steak and potatoes…  It was a good day.  It’s not terribly cold here, but the landscape is definitely wintry, with bare-limbed trees and gray, misty mornings.  It’s nice to be cozied up indoors, savoring the blessings of family and a warm home.  Much to be thankful for.

No great photos or artwork or momentous events to share from the past couple of days, but I am trying to get in the habit of using my Sunday evenings as a time to reflect on the good/fun/productive stuff that took place over the weekend (rather than as a time to dread the inevitable arrival of Monday).  These were the highlights:

Mall madness on Friday night with a girlfriend.  We both had some decent discount coupons that were about to expire, so we hopped in the car at 7:30 pm, were walking into the mall by 8:00, and scored several amazing deals by the time they locked the doors behind us at 9:00.  I tallied up my purchases, and all in all, I averaged a savings of over 50%!  Shane rained on my parade when he reminded me that you still have to spend money to save money, but still, I think I did well.

Saturday morning we were up early to head over to Seward Park to run in the 5k Pumpkin Push race.  We ran this race together last year and have decided to make a bit of a tradition out of it.  I was thrilled to find that I had shaved over 2 minutes off of last year’s time, and Shane was an absolute super-hero, taking a whole 4 minutes off of last year’s time.  It was a beautiful day to be out for a run along the lake – clear, crisp, and full of beautiful fall colors.

Saturday afternoon was spent picking out plants at the local nursery and then planting them out back – we still have some work to do in our new yard, but it’s coming together really nicely.  I can’t wait for the day when the planting is done, the patio chairs are purchased, the weather is good, and we are able to enjoy a glass of wine on our new patio.

We spent this evening with the neighbors, making more dumplings (soooooo good) and carving the pumpkins we picked up at the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago.  Our little jack-o-lantern is flickering on our front porch as I type, signaling the approach of Halloween, which means November is right around the corner.  Hard to believe…

We are closing the weekend with some quality veg-time, watching an episode of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, sipping a cup of tea, and enjoying the warmth of our cozy living room while the rain falls outside.  Ahhh, Sundays…

Burgers and beer and Quinn’s; lots and lots of rain; a quick trip to Snoqualmie Falls with my parents to enjoy the (wet) fall colors; a visit to Swanson’s Nursery to pick out a tree for our new backyard (backyard reveal coming soon!); and many hours spent at home enjoying the comforts of home-cooked food, time with family, and steaming mugs of tea.  Fall is good.

We took advantage of the lovely Fall weather today to get out and make the annual Schnell family trip to the pumpkin patch out in North Bend.  (This was visit #2 to this particular pumpkin patch, so I am now officially calling this an annual family tradition.)  This time, we invited several of our friends (our ‘Seattle family’), which made for an even better time.  We spent awhile wandering among the pumpkins, all in search of that one perfectly round, perfectly colored pumpkin – I told myself as we were heading to the patch that we really didn’t need more than that one perfect pumpkin.  But then again, what is a ‘perfect’ pumpkin?  Is it small or big?  Orange or white or green?  Tall and skinny or short and squat?  We couldn’t decide, and far be it from us to discriminate, so we walked away with a wagon full of ‘perfect’ pumpkins.  A nice little multi-ethnic pumpkin family.  It was such a beautiful day out there, with the sun shining and Mount Si rising up in it’s rocky glory right beside us.  Good times.

Post-pumpkin patch, we found ourselves hungry and ready to cozy up indoors, so we all headed to Brian and Nicole’s for a dumpling making party.  I had never made dumplings before, but I have never enjoyed food prep so much – it was fun to sit around the table with friends, folding yummy fillings of pork and vegetables into delicate little pot-sticker wrappers, then passing them to the men at duty by the stove.  And mmm mmm, they were delicious.  The perfect way to ‘wrap up’ a perfect fall day (pun intended).