Someday

So the kitchen isn't finished yet.  I know, I know.  It's all constructioned up since October.  October!  Someday it will be finished.  I swear it.  We have been working on it though. Eddy installed the hood over the stove.

Yeah, sorry about that last one. Yikes! Also I used power tools to install corbels under the bar.

Someday we may even be able to cook and entertain in this kitchen. Someday...

Seattle Stuff (Well, Kind Of)

So what did we do once we got to Seattle? Well, we did some awesome stuff. But mostly we forgot to bring our camera to document the stuff. Stuff like Eddy's birthday stuff. Oops. So mostly we took pictures with our phones.

When we did have our camera we did stuff like this

Eddy did this.

I would totally never do that. We also hung out with our friends Lily and Michael (and Smith!).

And by "hung out" of course I mean "ate ice cream."

Airplane Artistry

We went to Seattle! You can tell from this awesome picture.

Also Eddy turned 33 while we were there. You might also be able to tell that from the picture. I was actually traveling for work (again.) I promised myself I would get some work done on the plane. Instead, I hijacked Eddy's silly putty and made these things:

Eddy made this.

Which is probably only funny if you've seen this.

Which we also drew on a flight to St. Louis back in 2010. Yeah, airplane arts and crafts.

Mr. Toad's Wild Birthday

So as if Monterey (and James Dean and Star Trek) were not enough, we also did Disneyland for my birthday! (Because that's what all mature 30-year-olds do on their special day.)

And by "we" I mean also that DP^2 came down to visit!

The Happiest Place on Earth was all Halloweened out.

Not that it matters when all you do is run around all day riding as many crazy rides as possible.

Wanna know who doesn't like rides? Dave!*

Instead, Dave likes demonstrations. I am a wee bit sad we did Disneyland instead of Disney World for my 3-0, but the silver lining is that I got to spend lots of time with Mr. Toad!

* Just kidding. Dave totally likes rides!  But also he likes demonstrations.  Seriously.

Captain's Log: Star Diversion

On our way out of Monterey, we decided to hit up LA, but only for like an hour. We did the kind of stuff you might expect us to do.

Namely Trekkie stuff.

East of Monterey

Okay, we didn't actually head east on our way out of Monterey (it's an East of Eden reference, people!)  But we did stop for lunch at this little gem.

The lunch? Not so great.  Fake James Deans? No complaints whatsoever!

Old Lady Westbrook

You may ask yourself, "But what did you do to celebrate your 30th birthday, Nicci?!"  Well, first off, I ate some things.

Then Eddy took me to the aquarium!

They have penguins there.

Wooden ones and real ones! We stared at some stuff,

sat inside some stuff,

and we did other completely normal aquarium stuff.

After that we had a lovely birthday dinner courtesy of Dan and Janelle.

And then I basically fell asleep because my 30-year-old self likes an early bedtime. That's pretty much it. Oh yeah. Also, I held my fingers in a 3-0 position all day, but you may or may not be interested in that type of information.

Oh Hello, Sea Lions!

Recently I had a birthday.  Kind of a big one.  The big 3-0.  As such, we splurged and went to Monterey!  (And by splurged, I mean of course that Eddy came with me to a conference that happened to be held in Monterey over my birthday.) We did get a pretty schmancy hotel room.

Unfortunately this beast stared at me every time we entered the room.

Creepy. The nice thing about Monterey, though, is that they do have real versions of those guys.

Like lots of them.

But I mean really a lot.

Lots.

Portrait of An Ada

Here's my Ada!

She's fat, as you can see in the embroidery rendition.

BFFs At Last

When we first got Rupert, he was a pain.  I mean really.  He literally cried all night.  We had this really loud fan we would turn on right by the bed in a vain attempt to drown out a portion of his meows.

Enter Ada.  We thought she would "keep him company."  I had this dream of them curling up together like internet kittehz.

Boy were we wrong.  He stopped meowing at night (thankfully) but he pretty much replaced that with constant hissing at Ada.  As long as they hissed at each other during the daytime hours only we were happy.

Enter Norman.  Norman loves Ada.  Loves to nom her, that is.  Rupert, on the other hand, is back to his old hissing routine and he totally intimidates Norman.  Norman won't even enter a room if Rupert hisses at him.

Enter kitchen demolition.

 Finally my dream is realized.

Let's just say that it didn't take nearly so long to get the boys to get along with each other.