ape caves

If you are brave, unafraid of the dark, dig climbing over boulders and scaling walls, I highly recommend checking out the Ape Caves down by Mt. St. Helens. And if you're a total wimp like me, I still recommend it, because heck! I made it through. It's not for the faint of heart, though. Bring lots of light and sturdy shoes for this short (1.5 miles) but difficult hike. You walk almost the entire trail in complete darkness and you have to climb over multiple sections where the ceiling has caved in. No worries, though, the rest of the ceiling looked pretty sturdy :)

glassblowing

I bought Anders a glassblowing class for his birthday and today we went and cashed it in. Glassblowing is tricky and a bit overwhelming, but we had a really great instructor who showed us the ropes. First you have to heat up the colored glass in layers before adding the clear glass to the outside. Then, you blow to create an air bubble that make the circle for the bowl. The last step is to suck in, which creates the dip to make the bowl. If that sounds a bit vague, it's because I didn't really have any idea what I was doing. Still fun, though!

It takes very little to make me excited. NERD.

The bowls look orange in the pictures because the glass is still hot. We actually picked blue and green (Seahawks colors, you know). I get to pick up the bowls in a few days, so I'll post a picture of the finished product then.

mailbox

There has been a Washington hike on my bucket list for awhile now. It's called mailbox peak and it's the hardest hike in the Snoqualmie area (or so I like to believe).  If you travel via the old trail (which we did), you hike 3 miles to the top, straight up, gaining 4,000 feet in elevation. It's hard. Really really hard. In fact, it's so steep that it's considered vertical and it is unrelenting. However, when you reach the summit you are rewarded with not only a 360 degree view of beautiful scenery, but you also get to see the famous mailbox that was installed a long time ago. Turns out, a former letter carrier hiked to the top and installed the mailbox, giving the peak its name. It makes the climb totally worth it! Just recently, the Washington Trails Associated created a new trail to the top, which is less steep and much safer. However, it is 5 miles long, adding 2 extra miles to your journey. We ended up doing the new trail down, and we think it was safe move although the pain in my knees, quads, ankles and toes told me it felt no different. 

If you are ever up for an adventure (and some serious exercise), check it out!

 (it's all fun and games in the first mile!)

We added our stamp with a Pike Place Fish sticker and a Blink sticker (my work)

 Victory.

and so it begins

Today marks the start of Anders' crazy Christmas schedule. He will be working 12 hour days (sometimes longer, mostly longer) for 15 days straight until Christmas Day. Then, he'll go back to work the next day until New Years. It's nuts. However, if he has to work that kind of schedule, I'm glad it's at that crazy fun place because they have all kinds of good times down there. Wish him luck!

(and go Seahawks)

kitchen update

I haven't done an update on our kitchen project in awhile, so here are some new pictures. It sure has come a long way from where it was. The contractors are about finished, but we are by no means "done." All that means is that that the work starts for Anders and I! We still have trim to paint, chairs to find, curtains to hang, walls to decorate etc. etc. but we at least have a functioning kitchen!

 Anders gets cozy on our new bench seating

  We are going to add a colorful back splash behind the oven. Painting the ceiling is on the agenda too.

 Our new table! The chair are temporary until we can find something we love.

 These bar stools are temporary too. We are having custom ones made that will be done in October. To the right of our bar stools is our new spice cabinet.

 Our new pantry. The doors still have to be stained and we need handles, but we are pretty excited about all the extra space.

This has truly been a long and stressful process, but we couldn't be more excited about the outcome. There is just so much more room and it makes cooking way more enjoyable. I can't wait until it's totally finished.

proud to be from u2o!

Our friends, Pat and Laura, came over on the 4th and we attempted to take pictures with sparklers. The point was to spell out USA, but, well...

U2O?!?! 

That's a little better...

This was sort of a last minute idea, and we ran out of sparklers before we could really perfect the shot. We'll get em' next year! It was so fun, though. U2O had me literally on the floor laughing. Ha!

yogafy

I had to check in today to share this amazing video my friend Lauren passed my way. I can't get over how inspiring and beautiful it is. Everything about it is perfection. Aren't people so amazing!?!? This video makes me want to MOVE!  I hope you love it as much as me. Thanks, Lauren, for sending it my way! I really needed this inspiration in my life right now.

P.S. Yogafy is one of my favorite words. I think it might be made up (?). If you ever want to know the story behind it, ask me in person some day. It's a good one!

jumping jacks at 13,779 feet

Our friend, Sam, dared us to make him a video of us doing jumping jacks in Peru's high elevation, so we did it at the top of Dead Woman's pass. What's not shown is the massive headache I had for two hours after we made this video. You win, Sam!

stress

I just wanted to show you what our actual faces look like when our beloved football team goes into overtime. It was an intense few minutes. Luckily, we pulled out the win.

drinking vegetables

 So, December is happening this Saturday, and the holiday parties and events are already starting to fill the calendar. December is by far, in my opinion, the unhealthiest month. It's super hard to stay committed to healthy eating when your cube mate has brought in triple chocolate banana fudge bread topped with candy canes for the third day in a row. I have already been sick twice this fall, and I don’t want the holidays to take me down for a third time. I’m a little stressed out about it, so I decided to take some serious action. Enter our juice machine. I haven’t been much of a juicer unless there were extra carrots around our house that needed to be used up, but this week Anders and I specifically planned to start each morning with some sort of veggie juice concoction. I literally gagged on the beet, carrot, cucumber juice, but the carrot, ginger, apple is really good (I'm beginning to think all juices need one apple!). Next up, cabbage juice…although honestly, I’m really scared about that one. If anyone has a veggie juice that they can recommend, please send our way!
Merry Carrots! 

it don't matter

This week has, without a doubt, been the worst one I've had all year...as in...one for the books bad. However, if there is one thing I DO know it's that Robert Randolph and the Family Band can make even the worst week better! Especially when they are playing at the zoo because that's just down right cool.

Here is one of my favorite songs!

cone of shame

Little Miss Maggie is sick! Luckily, she gets to wear this very attractive headband for ten whole days. I keep telling her how lucky she is because she looks like a flower! I don't think she cares.

Hopefully she'll be back to her bone chewing, fly catching, ball chasing, couch sitting, balancing ways soon.

(sick pups get couch privileges)

eep!

Today I am 30...

technical difficulties

This blogging business is a lot harder than it looks. Seriously. You have to work with codes involving weird symbols, and you have to know all sorts of other technical stuff. Guess who has zero technical abilities? ME! Which is why one minute I had a banner and now I don't. Hmmm....Until I get this all figured out, here is a cute picture of our pup that Anders took via his Iphone. Also, if anyone knows anyone who knows anything about Blogger...please send help! Thanks for your patience in the meantime!