swensonsinseattle

aloha from kaua'i

2011-10-31T10:57:00.001-07:00

I walked 60 miles.

2011-10-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Dawn, Jen, Tracy & Sarah

There are many reasons why I participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure this year. One of them is Tracy, our team captain and a 3rd time cancer fighter. Fueled by chemo, she was able to walk 16 miles between two of her treatments. This woman will never give up and is a true inspiration!

Thank you again to everyone who made a donation or went on a walk or cheered me on! I could not have done this without all of your love and support!

Olympic Peninsula

2011-09-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Mike and I spent Labor Day weekend on the Peninsula. We went to the coast, hiked at Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park, checked out Forks and La Push, and Mike even skated at the parks in Port Angeles and Forks. Thanks again to Jen and her family for inviting us to join them this year. We had a great time!

I walk in 16 days!

2011-08-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that there are just 16 days to go until the beginning of Seattle's Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure! I still need to raise $1,000 so I can walk with TEAM TRACY. If you would like to donate, please click on the pink icon to the right. This is such an amazing cause that I feel very strongly about. All the funds raised during this event are put towards breast cancer research and awareness projects. A huge thank you to everyone who has donated or trained with me! My life is full of amazing, loving and supportive people!

kayaking Lake Union

2011-08-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

Sleepless in Seattle houseboat

our view while we had a floating picnic

Fremont Bridge up for some boats

It Is Not Illegal...

2011-06-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

To get this close to an orca, as long as you are standing on land.

Rachel & Ben

2011-06-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Rachel and Ben celebrated their first wedding anniversery with us here in WA. We spent a day sight seeing in Seattle. Highlights included the Ballard Locks, the Space Needle, the original Starbuck's and Pike Place Market. And, of course, no trip to Seattle would be complete without a dinner at the Jolly Roger. Then we packed up the cars with kayaks, the dog and lots of beverages and headed up to the San Juans. We rented a sweet cabin on San Juan Island complete with a hot tub. The highlight of our stay on the island was seeing a pod of orcas at Lime Kiln State Park. Here are a few photos from our adventures....

Rachel and Ben at the top of the Needle.

Can you believe this was Ben's first time ever getting coffee at a Starbuck's?

Hiking at Lime Kiln State Park.

Sherpa Ben carrying our picnic lunch.

Rachel and Ben on their kayaking tour.

Mike and I kayaking Garrison Bay and Westcott Bay.

On the ferry heading back home.

birthday full o' bouncing fun

2011-06-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd birthday, Oscar!

Thomas!

Bouncing!

Yes, there are kids in there.

Whee!

Bouncing with the birthday boy!

still here living life

2011-05-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Mike and I are still here. We have just been living life. Mike has been busy with a huge project at work that keeps him working at all hours of the the day, night and weekend. I've been spending time with friends, cheering on the Sounders and gardening (we will wait and see how successful I am at that)!

Something else that will be keeping me busy in the next few months is the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. We are about 4 months away from this year's walk and I am in super fundraising mode! Here we are last weekend at our first 3-Day yard sale. We have another one coming up this Saturday in Shoreline. Nollie and I will be starting our training walks very soon....guess I really need to get the store to buy some new shoes! And check out the sweet 3-Day icon I put on the blog. It will take you directly to Susan G. Komen where you can make a donation!

5 years

2010-10-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Mike and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. We stayed on Waikiki Beach for 2 nights and then spent the rest of our vacation in a condo on the North Shore. We drank lots of Mai Tais during this trip to Hawaii. The best one was at the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki Beach. Mike and I did not stay there, we just pretended we did.

Highlights of our trip included: lots of Mai Tais, climbing Diamond Head, dinner at Nobu where Mike was very adventurous and let the chef choose his sushi, swimming with sea turtles right outside of our condo, Dole Plantation, Banzai Skatepark for Mike and Ehukai (The Banzai Pipeline) Beach right across the street for me, shave ice at Matsumoto's, Ali'i tour at Tropical Farms, the cute little town of Hale'iwa, and the quiet North Shore beaches.

The Sounders just won the US Open Cup.

2010-10-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

We went to the US Open Cup final last night at Qwest - Sounders vs. Columbus Crew.

Sounders won 2-1.

The Sounders are back to back US Open Cup champions!

Spass platz!

2010-10-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in Leavenworth with Jen and Daren for Oktoberfest. The weather couldn't have been more perfect - 75 degrees and sunny. Remeber last year it was below freezing during Oktoberfest?!? Many liters of good German beer were consumed, lots of bratwurst were eaten, and we danced like crazy fools. It was a lot of fun! Jen and I even made it on stage during the S-Bahn show where we sang Sweet Caroline! So good! So good! So good!

60 miles...

2010-09-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - on the Burke Gilman near Fremont

... and I walked every single step of it (amazingly blister free)! My goal was to walk the whole thing and I did it! I'm really proud of Jen! She hung in there with her blisters and sore knee and walked every step with me. I could see that there were times when she was thinking of flagging down a van to take her to the pit stop, but I would just turn around, give her a thumbs up and say "It's only 3 more miles until the next pit stop and then just 3 more miles after that until lunch! You can do it." She'd smile back and trudge on.

Jen and I at one mile to go

The 3-Day was an amazing experience! I was trying to describe the weekend last night to Mike and I couldn't find the right words. I think it's something that you have to experience yourself. I was amazed at all the support we received along the route. Friends, family, volunteers and strangers were out there everyday, rain or shine, to cheer us on. There were church groups with tables of cookies, kids giving us hugs, cars honking, music blasting, people in crazy costumes, signs, balloon arches, front yards decorated in pink ribbons, groups handing out Gatorade....and there were people who stood out there and simply said "Thanks for walking." It was overwhelming. The 3 days where not only physically demanding, but they were very emotional too.

Mike and Nollie showing their support at the Green Lake pit stop

Closing ceremony - raising our shoes in a sign of support to the survivors as they march in

I just want to thank everyone again for their support and donations! Your support allowed me to spend the past 3 days with 2,300 other women and men who all feel very strongly that we need a world without breast cancer. The Seattle 3-Day raised $6 million that will go towards funding breast cancer research. Thanks again! We are 3 days closer to the end of breast cancer!

Day 2

2010-09-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

Walked 21.7 miles.
44.2 total miles done.
Sunny and 73 degrees.
Amazing cheering sections all along the route.
Pink balloon arches, dogs in tu-tus, cookies and candy galore.
I'm amazed at the outpouring of support we receive everywhere we walk.
Camp dance party was rockin'.

Tomorrow we walk Seattle!

Day 1

2010-09-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

22.5 miles done.
Rained this morning.
There are firefighters walking in full gear.
Got mail at camp post office. Thanks Grams!
Showered in a semi truck.
Sleeping in a pink tent.
No blisters yet.
Joints ache.
Otherwise doing good.
Could really use a beer right now.

Doing it all again tomorrow!

TEAM TRACY cheering stations

2010-09-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

One of our TEAM TRACY supporters has arranged for our own private TEAM TRACY cheering stations! If you are in the area, please stop by on any day and cheer on all the walkers. Look for the pink TEAM TRACY signs.

Day 1:
Timeframe: 7:30am – 9:30am
Dairy Queen
17831 131st Ave NE
Woodinville, WA 98072

Day 2:
Colby Ave between Wall and 32nd St, Everett
Timeframe: 10:30am – 2:30pm

Day 3:
Western and Denny in Seattle
Timeframe: 12:00pm – 4:00pm
This cheering station is only 1/2 mile from Memorial Stadium (Seattle Center) where closing ceremonies is being held at 4:30 PM.

It's the final countdown!

2010-09-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is almost here. Next weekend I'll be walking in the 3-Day! I'm going to spend the next few days getting any last minute items (Band-Aids! Ibuprofen!) that I may need and going on some of my last training walks with my training partner, Nollie. Last night we had our final TEAM TRACY meeting before the walk where we got some exciting news from Tracy. Our team finally broke our fund raising goal of $40,000! We are in the top 10 fund raising teams in the Seattle area! And Tracy has been chosen to be one of the 8 women on stage in the Survivor's Circle during the opening and closing ceremonies!

Thanks again to everyone who has donated and given their support! I can't thank you all enough. This is such a great cause and I'm happy that I've been able to help get the word out. I'm hoping to reach my fund raising goal soon. I'm at the $2,250 mark - only $50 to go! If you haven't donated yet and would like to, there is still time! Check out my 3-Day web page. And if any of you in the Seattle area want to come and cheer the walkers on, here is the spectator info. I would love to see some familiar faces at the cheering stations, at Green Lake Sunday morning, or at closing ceremonies!

on the sound

2010-09-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

Mike and I took the kayaks to out on the Sound yesterday. We put in at Shilshole Marina, then tooled around in there checking out the boats. We saw a baby sea lion on the breakwater! He was really cute just hanging out on the rocks. Then we paddled around by Golden Gardens. It was a great day to be out on the water.

3-day update

2010-07-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

We had our first TEAM TRACY meeting a couple of weeks ago and it has really inspired me to start training and ramp up my fund raising. A huge thanks to those of you who have already donated! I still need more donations to reach my pledge goal of $2300. Check out my 3-Day personal web page if you want to help. Only 3 months to go!

I also wanted to let you all know that the West Seattle Herald featured a story about Tracy. Check it out! It's easy to see why so many of us are walking with her in September!

maiden voyage

2010-07-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

Mike and I took our new kayaks to Green Lake for their maiden voyage on July 4th. It was a lot of fun paddling around and getting a feel for our boats. Mike's boat is red and mine is the pretty blue one. No one tipped over so it was a successful trip!

Happy 6th Birthday Nollie!

2010-07-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

I've Got a Fever...

2010-06-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

And the only thing that can cure it is more fish-eye.

Congratulations, Rachel and Ben.

holy cow!

2010-06-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

We went to the Cubs/Mariners game on Wednesday night with Mandy and Dave. It was not such a good game for the Cubs - they lost 8-1. Even though we lost, the game was so much fun! There are so many Cubs fans here in Seattle! The series wasn't a total wash - the Cubs beat the Mariners Thursday afternoon in 13 innings. Now the Mariners are in Milwaukee playing the Brew Crew!

Monthly Post

2010-06-12T08:21:00.001-07:00

Over the last month:

Been trying to figure out which turntable to get. Thanks to Dave for him lending me vinyl, his record player, and his analog ear for demos; sorry the turntables we demo'd smoked yours. Listening to Harvest on CD and vinyl, it was immediately apparent a record player was necessary. Bought some select titles I knew I'd want to get for the last demo, but now I have records and no player. Dave is having fun record-sitting for me, though.

Emeline turned 1. There was a barbecue.

Went back to Holden for work, twice. Had some moments with my knee both times. Not sure it's ever coming back 100%. May just need to start buying those gallon jugs of ibuprofen.

Started shopping for sea kayaks. They are expensive.

May was bike to work month, which motivated me to get back to bike commuting. Rode everyday, except when I went to Holden.

Finally, bought a mitre saw, which makes things much much easier.

This snowboard rack project was put off since February, but was done the first day I tried the mitre saw.

Back to researching kayaks and turntables.

Guns and Knives

2010-05-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

Well had I known Sarah posted yesterday, I wouldn't have dragged my ass up to the computer room (no longer known as the "receipt room" due my cleaning efforts over the past couple weekends) on this gray Sunday morning for a post, but I'm here now.

Got to talking to a guy at work this week about guns and knives. Apparently we both like Benchmade knives (and so do my groomsmen, right?). <---That just happened and is not intended to be any sort of emoticon. Don't you hate emoticons? I should qualify that with one exception: the emoticon m|w sent me a while back. It was an animated smiley face character that waves at you, but it was kind of small so you lean in to see what it was doing. Then, POW, it sticks its hand out at you flipping you the bird and filling most of you computer screen.

Anyway this guy knows a lot about knives and recommended the Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker. This thing is awesome. I've tried many times over the years to sharpen dull blades on numerous knives but could never get anywhere close to even factory sharp. Now I have too many bald spots on my arm from testing my recently sharpened blades by shaving a patch on my arm. I have received no endorsements for this advertisement, I'm just trying to spread the knoweledge about a great way to sharpen you knives, if you need one.

On to guns. Somehow the conversation moved to guns; a conversation to which I can contribute little. I only own a Beeman P3, which I'd been meaning to shoot for awhile in the basement but had put off for my elaborate scheme to build a shooting range in the crawl space using old curtain rods. He reminded you have to shoot it to keep the seals in good condition. So I went home and did just that.

Well now it's back to listening to different speaker cables. You may think you're bored now, but just wait until after a post on speaker cables. Like Sarah said yesterday, it hasn't been too exciting around here lately. Still rehabbing the knee; then we'll get back to pretty pictures.

I love beer.

2010-05-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Wow. It has been a long time since I last posted. Sorry for leaving you to only the postings of Mike, though he is not doing much better than I am at keeping you all informed on our doings. My absence is mostly due to nothing exciting happening or when something does happen not having a camera around to take pictures. But mostly, we have just been living life.

I have recently visited two brewery/brew pubs with my friend Jen. We stopped at the Issaquah Brewhouse (acquired by Rogue in 2000) on our way to a stamping class. I had the Contraband IPA and the Double Mocha Porter.

Last night we went to Two Beers Brewing Co. in SODO for happy hour after work. I had the Echo IPA and the SODO Brown. I like the fact that this place is hard to find, that you feel like they are brewing in a storage unit, that they are really small with good beers and that they serve SODO Pizza. I brought a growler of the brown home for the weekend (and for Mike to try since he missed out on happy hour). Jen and I both agreed that we will be back for happy hour again!

Almost 2 Months...

2010-04-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Since my last post. Pathetic.

To catch you up. My knee is still screwed up. So the answer to my question is yes.

Our stereo started making some annoying high pitch noises. We also rearranged the living room and the towers of power (as Steve calls them) had to go. I knew this day was coming, and I brought it up a while ago on my own.

Luckily, after listening to some stuff at Magnolia/Best Buy I went down to Resolution Audio Video in Ballard (check these guys out if you can), a high-end store I went into once to pass the time while Sarah shopped. I assumed I could never get into high-end audio, even when "you want, I buy" was on the table. However, I talked to Larry, the owner, and he's taken good care of us ever since.

Our new system is 2 channel analog only at 122W down from 7.1 Dolby Digital THX whatever the hell at 770W and 2 bookshelf speakers down from the towers of power, a center, 4 bookshelf speakers, and a subwoofer. For music, which is about 90% of it for us, the new puny system absolutely smokes the old one in every way. Didn't know what we were missing before, but it was a lot.

Oh, and someone called Nollie old at the dog park yesterday.

Nothing's New

2010-02-20T16:57:00.001-08:00

So how about something old.

Dang, was I ever cool? I seem to remember college differently.

Do you think they had '80's parties in the '70's, maybe just to guess how great flying cars were going to be? It seems there's been at least one every year since. Has any decade ever been more celebrated with the exception of when it was being lived (not inlcuding 1985, of course, which was awesome -- didn't the '80's give us the word awesome, too -- geez the '80's were so rad).

Rampant Spamments!

2010-02-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

I noticed a recent comment to a post on our blog from a couple weeks ago, and I have to say I agree with Teri.

Though our blog has not been attacked to the degree of the BallardBoardBlog (someone should really take that prn magnet down), it's just great to see people and companies find ways to continue to annoy us (for example, I have this blog and a desire to use parentheticals).

At least they're saving trees, I guess. Just wanted to raise awareness about "spamments." The walkathon will be in April.

P.S. When you park on the left side of the street, be sure to check to street signs behind you, not in front of you.

Also, happy birthday, Steve.

Keep on rocking! Sorry for the funny looking arm Hellhound #1.

Of All The Pants...

2010-02-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

pooping moments for the Swensons In Seattle, most, if not all, have belonged to Sarah as you can see in from the following. For example... And who could forget... See also... Not to mention... Then there's the ever famous... Almost forgot... Finally, on an unrelated note...

Then this happened...

Shapow! From the makers of... Just about you know what when I saw these at the Shoreline Central Market today. That place just keeps surprising me.

Degenerate

2010-02-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

Well, people generally suspected since the early '90's that snowboarders were nothing but degenerates that sucked at skateboarding (which isn't saying much from the "mainstream" or "hardcore" angles). While the latter has been obvious from the days of attempting the ollie over plastic skateboard slide rails to prove to Jeff Somers that, yes, I actually was getting off the ground, the former can now be proven with a new technology called magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI for short.

I received the results of a recent MRI, prompted by a snowboarding incident. Leave it to the medical profession to freak-me-the-hell-out with phrases like "degenerative joint disease" which the internet clarifies to mean "arthritis." Well, duh. So MRIs have the magical capability to tell me that I'm old. While the next reference will do wonders for my street cred, it seems analogous to when on the Biggst Losr (intentionally spelled wrong for legal and Google reasons) they calculate peoples' internal age to be 59 when they're only 24 years old. Then people cry, get motivated, and go to the gym. So the internal age of my knee is somewhere around 86, though I have less than a month to claim I'm still in my 20's. So I cried, got drunk, sobered up, and did some upper body exercises in the basement, since my knee still hurts. More photographic evidence of internal age of my knee...

In the interest of full disclosure, this picture is from 10 years ago, and I suck at wakeboarding, too.

NW Camo

2010-02-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

When I first moved out to the Pacific Northwest, and my brother still had ambitious snowboard filming aspirations, he would complain to me about not showing up very well in videos because of my NW camo. Seeing as how most of our riding is below the treeline, often within the trees, and under gray skies in the Evergreen State, his definition of northwest camouflage was any dark colored outerwear. So I showed him by later investing in a 3L Gore-Tex jacket that was actually camouflage. I know a large part of our readership contingent is in the midwest thinking "Well la tee da, fancy Gore-Tex for the fancy Pacific NW city boy!" Living in the Midwest, I used to think you would have to be stupid to pay the premium for Gore-Tex. Now that I ride the Pacific NW, I slowly learned to buy nothing but the best and never think twice about it (so long as it's 50% off -- hey, I'm still a Swenson). As a compromise to the straightup camo, I opted for a bright green head beacon.

You can see me just fine scoping it out against rare blue skies.

But this is more typical (note these photos were brightened significantly, too).

Dropping! Stevens Pass.

By some sordid twist of fate, my camouflage jacket needed warranty repairs, which ended up with me getting a bright orange jacket. Now I look like a pumpkin.

But I hope to look like a carrot by swimsuit season.

Brewcapades

2010-02-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Went to the Fremont Brewing Company on the way home from work yesterday. They don't have a bar or a restaurant, just a brewery. Apparently on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday they open their shipping/garage door and let people hang out inside the brewery and drink beer. It's pretty nice, as it is kid and dog friendly and you can order food to be delivered or bring you own. Nollie was there freaking out the shoeless kids running around on the concrete floor. The place was packed, too. Jolly Roger is still closed, but we didn't recognize any Jolly regulars there. I wonder where everyone else is going.

No pictures were taken, so here's some unrelated eye candy.

Me drinking beer at the Maui Brewing Company. Old hat (indirect beer reference).

Sometimes I like to dance while I hike.

Ride-Along

2010-01-31T11:57:00.001-08:00

Strap in.

Lay some down on the cat track.

Launch said cat track.

Hang out in the back seat in the air because taking pictures.
Remember Peter's advice: "Don't forget the landing."

Landing successful. Proceed to slashing some pow.

Fin?

2010-01-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

countdown to the 3-Day

2010-01-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

Many of you already know that I have decided take on the incredibly huge challenge of participating in the 2010 Susan G. Komen Seattle 3-Day for the Cure. On September 24-26, I'll be walking 60 miles over the course of three days and camping out at night with thousands of other women and men taking on this challenge with me. The net proceeds from the Komen 3-Day for the Cure are invested in breast cancer research and community programs. Komen for the Cure® works hard to build a future without breast cancer, and I plan on raising $2,300 to help bring us closer to that goal.

I will be walking with TEAM TRACY here in Seattle. Our team captain is a survivor who was diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age. Tracy has decided to make it her personal mission to raise as much money as she can to benefit breast cancer research and this will be her 4th 3-Day! I feel that a few blisters and sore muscles will be worth it in order to help find a cure for this disease. I hope you can help me!

Just follow the link to visit my personal fundraising web page and make a donation. You can also track my fundraising progress there.

Thank you for your support! I will keep you posted on my progress as we get closer to the big day. Only 258 days to go!

Freezing Rain

2010-01-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

Woke up to see freezing rain at Stevens this morning, so Phil and I (yes, that Phil) bagged plans for riding today, but weather should be nicer tomorrow. Freezing rain means there's time for blogging, so I guess I'll catch up on something that already happened.

We went to Maui in November by piggy-backing on my parents anniversary trip. I believe the e-mail from my dad read: "We have reserved a condo on the Hawaiian island of Maui (arrive 11/5, depart 11/11). You are invited to join us if you can find your way there."

Sarah thought it was a joke; I did not. Needless to say, we "found our way there."

Surf spots were either crowded or the surf was nonexistent. Since I've already been surfing to at least be able to say I've been surfing, I opted for the empty, beachside skatepark instead. Skateboarding in Maui is hot, even at 10a. The skatepark was fun, though. It had a decent mini-ramp and a kinked-ass pool with a shallow end that was about 2 to 2.5 feet tall and went to vert (that's a pretty tight transition).

Apparently that idiot from the car insurance commercials also vacations in Maui.

We did the uber-touristy road to Hana. Sarah's favorite part was the black sand beach on the way back.

I enjoyed swimming in some waterfall pools.

We also went to the uber-touristy Mt. Haleakala, but with a little effort you can lose about 99.9% of the crowds. Hiking down to a cindercone was a highlight.

We attended a luau on our last night in Maui. Sarah learned to do some sort of dance or something (I forget the name of it). Anyway, if you've never been to a luau, I've got two words for you: 1) butts and 2) coconuts.

Then the sun set on our vacation.

Look, Mom! New hat!

Swensons In Seattle

2010-01-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

So my dad e-mailed me this picture.

Swensons in Snoose Junction Part Dieu.

I offer this rebuttal.

Swensons in Seattle.

See also.

It's Official

2010-01-04T08:38:00.001-08:00

Finally made its way through the state government.

Mike Swenson, PE

The Definition of Pooping

2010-01-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

After a 2-week hiatus from snowriding over the holidays, I finally got back at it. We celebrated New Years' Eve on Wisconsin time, in order to go to bed early and ride the poo at Stevens New Years' Day. We didn't get the dump we were hoping for, but it was still a fun day of groomers, off-piste breakable crusts (yes, multiple crusts: ask Steve about his arm dragging on the final run that involved crust layers at his armpit, elbow, and wrist), and park riding (which included some rails, a lay back method over 'The Waterfall', and an "oh shit, here comes knee surgery" flat landing - knees sore but OK).

After that marathon, we decided to make Baker a game time decision on Saturday because the snow levels and predictions kept waffling between rain and snow. Woke up at 0430: snow report not updated yet. Hit snooze twice. 0450: no word yet. Hit snooze twice. 0510: Baker 15" of new. Call Steve: "I'm in." 0550 depart for Baker.

Pictures from Mt. Baker yesterday: the definition of pooping.

Where's Waldo?

About 30 seconds after this picture Mother Nature literally pooped on me, releasing snow from tree branches right on my head.

Look at the size of the turd on Steve's face!

Being tired, having witnessed some instability in bounds and the 2-hour delayed opening of Chair 1 for avalanche control at Baker, and hearing reports of "shooting cracks" and "whoompfing," we scrapped plans for a day in the backcountry today. Avalanche danger is "only" "considerable," but it seemed like if we went where the snow was good it could be sketchy and if we went where it was safe it might be the layer cake Steve's arm experienced. See mom, it starts with planning at home, not with searching for your friends with an avalanche transceiver.

Time to work on the house.

Table Party and More

2009-12-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

My friend Peter recently purchased a bed and no longer sleeps on a futon. In order to show him we are more grown up than him, we bought a dining room table.

New table and new room arrangement.

Then we threw a wine tasting party.

Peter (not pictured) must have been so jealous he went out shopping for a table and skipped out on our party. Our plan is working perfectly.

Our friends Mandy and Dave have a child, Emeline, which means their bedtime coincided with the start of our table party. We had pre-party with them to taste some beer. The first thing I learned this spring when they had their baby was stouts are good for breast feeding. Interesting.

Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. This is a seriously dark, seriously good beer. Looks like a can of oil. In fact a review I found online described this beer as an oil changed for your liver.

The bottom of last year's cans said "Dark is the Absence of Light." Upon reading this I held my glass up to a light, but all I saw was black. This time I just drank it and did not break out any AC/DC.

The Ten Fidy is a seasonal, so Sarah has the Jolly Roger and now I have the Ten Fidy. Jolly Roger Christmas Ale has been seriously delayed in its release because the Maritime brewery is in the process of moving. Sarah was jonesing pretty hard, and it was finally released recently. Her first taste was this Thursday at the Barking Dog; good thing she had Friday off. I also scored at Barking Dog thanks to Steve (no, not my brother but the guy we think may be the owner). I saw him pour someone a glass of scotch from a bottle not on display. All I saw was "29" on the bottle. I asked him if my eyes were correct, and it was indeed a bottle of 29-year old Cragganmore. We got to talking about scotch. Before I new it the bottle was back out, and he poured me a complimentary taste. Thanks, Steve! Definitely the best I have had in a long time.

Much snowboarding has already been accomplished this year. Baker had over 200" of snowfall in November, which is good news for an El Nino year (typically a year that is warmer and drier for us). We were all pretty worried, and one meteorology professor and blogger answered the question of "Should I buy a season pass this year?" with "Do you feel lucky?" Well I have used my pass 8 times as of yesterday (and ridden 4 out of my 5 snowboards based on the varied conditions), and I surpassed the break even point before Christmas. So, yes, I feel very lucky (and, yes, I do "need" 5 snowboards, Sarah).

Peter on our first day riding at Stevens Pass (before he was a pretentious bed owner). It was a very good powder day. The second day was a much better pow day, though. How do I know this? I did not stop to take pictures the second day.

At the top of Old Reliable.

Also, I passed the PE exam. That's a relief.

It's Been A While

2009-12-20T12:11:00.000-08:00

Things are busy, too busy for quality blogging; so from now on I'll try to keep it up-to-date, but simple, and give people what they want. Pictures.

Doggie in the Window

Mike & Sarah's Great American Brewery & Brewpub Tour

2009-11-20T09:15:00.000-08:00

Have you seen Beer Wars? Not only has it strengthened our dislike for the big three (Anheuser-Busch, Coors and Miller), but it has also inspired us to visit as many breweries and brewpubs as we can in order to support micro brewers. We've been to many here in Washington and try to hit up whatever is local when we are on vacation. We are going to be keep a list here on the blog of all the ones we (either both or one of us) have visited. I feel like I'm forgetting some........

aloha

2009-11-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

We just got back from an amazing week in Maui with Mom and Dad Swenson. I am in love with Hawaii and can't wait to explore a different island on our next trip. Since this was our first Hawaiian vacation we packed a lot of things into one week. Our home base was a condo in Lahaina where the beach was just outside our door. Excursions included the road to Hana, hiking to a crater at Haleakala, a luau, and relaxing on the beach.

Classic

2009-10-31T17:13:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

scarves up

2009-10-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

We went to the Sounders playoff game against the Houston Dynamo last night at Quest. Tickets sold out in 30 minutes so they opened up 3,000 more seats, which also sold out. The atmosphere was crazy, but the game itself was a different story. Bad officiating and bad play by the Sounders made for a not so great game. We squeaked out with a 0-0 draw. We play the Dynamo again on November 8th in Houston. The winner will go on to the next round.

Check out this video of the guys! I think it was my favorite part of the night. I can't decide if I like Freddie or Sebastian's performance better!

Pay It Forward

2009-10-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

Another botched post title. I thought this had to do with paying for an investment that will pay for itself in the future. Wikipedia tells me Ben Franklin described it as helping someone financially on the expectation you will not be repaid, but the person you helped will help someone else in the same fashion in the future. Well, considering this is an old post about a coffee machine, I suppose I should be embarrassed.

Seattle turned me into a coffee drinker, and not a tough-ass black coffee (known as "drip" coffee in Seattle) drinking truck driver type but a latte drinking one. What you may not know is the coffee stereotypes don't apply in Seattle, although they do apply to Seattle (compare this map to this map). For example, in Seattle, I may be the a "normal" sort of latte drinker because I only go for the non-fat latte (a.k.a. skim milk). My brother scoffs at me for drinking "non-fat", as he drinks 2% or whole or whatever they give when you ask for a tough-ass latte, but, since he still introduces me as his bigger little brother, I'll let it slide. Anyway, non-fat or not it's expensive. I bought a crappy home espresso machine and thought it was cool for a while. Then the high of saving money wore off, and I realized just how crappy my coffee was. So after a year or so of that, I stepped it up to a setup that would take ~250 lattes to break even, and I made it.

Say hello to Rocky (left) and Silvia (right). Apparently they are named after Giorgio's kids. I don't have any kids. I have a dog. A dog who, by the way, does not know how to make coffee or fetch beer.

Yeah, that's the one.

These Bearings Are Making Me Thirsty

2009-10-25T23:55:00.001-07:00

I thought the title to this post was a funny Christopher Walken, Saturday Night Live reference, so you can imagine how upset I was when Google informed me it was just a Seinfeld reference (FYI - Google identifies its name as a proper noun and will call it out as a spelling error if not capitalized. I thought it was also a verb, but maybe we have proper verbs these days too). However, I had convinced myself of the title's hilarity for about a day and half prior, so I'm sticking with it, since I could think of nothing better before completing this paragraph. Don't get me wrong, Seinfeld was good, I just wasn't a big fan. I'm more of a Curb Your Enthusiasm kind of guy. In fact I was reminded of a Curb episode during the PE exam because I had to turn in my exam to the proctor every time I had to take a whiz (is this the proper use of the word whiz? or is it wiz?), and there was a security guard exam guy sitting outside the restroom to make sure no one talked or cheated. He was giving me some looks by my third trip, sort of like Richard Lewis' girlfriend, but coffee, Mt. Dew, and nerves have that effect on me.

I got these Swiss Bones Bearings as a Christmas gift, but, due to many circumstances, including too much work, hurting my knee, and studying for the PE, I did not skate them until yesterday. Now that I've tried them, I can say they are the shit. Thanks, Mom and Dad Miller. They're sort of like a rockered snowboard -- super fun it you know how to use it but dangerous if you're off your game and off balance.

I also purchased a bearing press, as fine swiss bearings require a precision, square setting. Otherwise, it's like buying a Porsche and putting snow tires on it, which is a comparison I first heard in reference to Jay Cutler (Porsche) and the Bears wide receiving core (snow tires). Speaking of the Bears, what the hell happened today? Why are the Broncos undefeated and people talking about Kyle Orton and Cedric Benson as MVP candidates. Whatever, at least it's not Favre.

PE?

2009-10-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

That's no carry-on; that's the biggen. Probably would have cost $200 to fly it, too.

These are the books I brought to my professional engineering exam yesterday. Overkill, I suppose, but I did use most of them. I also learned that of the four foundations engineering references I did bring, I could have used a fifth. Anyway, eight hours later, I have to wait 3 months to find out if I'm a professional anything. Screw this, I'm going to Hawaii.

Listen to the Hand

2009-10-20T00:16:00.000-07:00

While this post is late, the call was not. Happy birthday, mom.

four years

2009-10-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Leavenworth Oktoberfest

2009-10-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

We went to Leavenworth this weekend for Oktoberfest. We went with the Gibsons and the Rices. We all camped out at the KOA. The night time temperatures were really cold, but it was a lot of fun. And a lot of beer and sausages and polka music were had by all.

SNP

2009-08-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was Stitch N' Pitch at Safeco. Same crew as last year - me, Lisa, Brianne, Jen and Mom Kranich (aka Jen's mom, Becky). Pre-partied at Elysian Fields, then bought some Hazel Knit yarn before the game, then drank some more beer while knitting. The Mariners lost.

Cousins Unite!

2009-08-22T15:50:00.001-07:00

Where's yours?

How's it feel to be on the inside, Steve?

300s!

2009-08-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

That ain't no marshmallow.

-Sarah

we've been busy

2009-07-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

July has been too busy....and it is hot in Seattle! I thought I moved away from 90 degree weather. At least we don't have mosquitoes. Anyway, here is a little update:

Nollie turned 5. We had a BBQ to celebrate. She got some gifts....

We went to the Sounders vs. Chelsea game with Matt & Claire and Jen & Daren. After the game we went to Stellar Pizza in Georgetown....where I discovered Bacon Salt. I went to the No Doubt concert with Claire. I also went to the US Open Cup semi-final game with Claire. By far it was the best game I went to all season.....7 yellow cards and overtime. We won.

Mike's backyard project continues from last summer. Here is his trench for wiring up the garage.

The kitchen is green....finally. I bought the paint a year ago and just finished up painting, sort of. I still need to paint the refrigerator alcove and the back porch.

I expect August will be just as busy!

PAAAARRRRRRRRTYYYYYYY!!!

2009-07-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

My kids will be real proud of this one someday; I know my parents are.

An arrogant bastard with a Tin Hat cozy.

Try not accepting the disclaimer for arrogant bastard. I found it amusing (particularly the "not" link).

How big is Lydia?

2009-06-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

So big!

We also celebrated Lydia's 1st birthday while I was in Wisconsin. Mike and I gave her a pimp all-terrain Radio Flyer wagon (along with a couple other gifts). The party's theme was bugs (dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies) and had a pink and green color scheme. Too cute! Here are a few shots from festivies.

Lydia & Aunt Sarah

first wagon ride

Lydia with her Mom & Dad

Cake!

Happy Fathers' Day

2009-06-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Dad?

I Don't Want to Worry About Dying

2009-06-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well you can keep tomorrow; after tonight we're not going to need it.
...
We used to dream; now we worry about dying.
...
I don't want to worry about dying; I just want to worry about those sunshine girls.

With lyrics like that, it's no wonder I like the Japandroids. While influences like "your sister" are a little too specific to reach my sisterless demographic (perhaps influences such as "your mom" would be more far reaching (hi, mom; hope the title of this blog didn't scare you)). Anyway, I heard this Canadian duo live on KEXP (you can listen on-line, try it) this week. I used to get all my new music from snowboarding videos, now I hear most of it on KEXP (it's like NPR but for music, no commercials just the occasional pledge drive).

Next post, why I no longer like microbreweries. I'll give you a hint: 10^-9breweries.

one year from today

2009-06-19T06:38:00.001-07:00

I'm in Wisconsin for a few days visiting my family. We went wedding dress shopping for my sister yesterday. Her wedding is exactly one year away from today! Anyway, she found the one and here we are toasting her success. We also found a bridesmaid dress that we like and are going back today to look at it again. Hopefully we will finalize that too!

mom, me and Rachel

Gus and the Furry 5K

2009-06-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

That's Gus. We dog sat him over the weekend. He is a chiweenie - a cross between a Chihuahua and a Dachshund. And he is just a pup, so we had our hands full! For the most part Nollie and Gus got along. Gus was not a fan of Mike and barked at him every time he came into the room. However, there wasn't much Gus didn't bark at....a leaf, the wind, Mike's stache. Thursday night Mike and I went to the Neko Case concert at the Paramount so Steve came over to watch the little ones. He took them to the Barking Dog and sat outside for dinner. I was off of work on Friday so I stayed home to referee all the games of wrestling and tug. Saturday we went to the dog park. And today I took the dogs down to Seward Park to walk the Furry 5K. My friend Jen walked Gus and I walked Nollie. Here are some photos of the big event!

at the starting line

Jen and Gus

Look at the smile on Nollie's face!

Nollie

More Pictures from the Holden Bin

2009-06-06T08:07:00.001-07:00

From bottom to top and left to right: Buckhorn Mtn., Copper Basin, Copper Mtn., Big Dipper, Cracked lens hood, Uncracked lens hood.

Reprint of Holden Village night shot.

Night skyline looking up Railroad Creek valley.

Below are some views from the Lady of the Lake II on the ride back to Fields Point Landing, in general chronological order.

First things first, a beer and a cinnamon roll from the Stehekin bakery (thanks Don and Cragg).

Because It's Still A Garage

2009-06-05T19:31:00.001-07:00

Changing the oil with mini-ramp collapsed.

Biking for Beer

2009-06-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Sarah and I rode with a group of friends to the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville.

The posse met up at Matthews Beach Park on Lake Washington and is ready to roll.

Matt and Claire pose at the entrance to the brewery, while others' concern they'll run out of beer leaves no time for pictures, as they head straight to the bar.

Clockwise from lower left: Liney, Armin, Michelle, Chris, Jeff, Matt, Claire, and Sarah. Can you guess who drove to Matthews Beach to start the ride? I'll give you a hint, they're not wearing fancy jerseys (or riding fancy road bikes).

I call the following collection of pictures: " "Where were you?" "I was taking pictures." "You were taking a crap weren't you?" [pause] "Yes, I was taking a fat crap in the woods." (I guess you had to be there.)"

Any questions?

In western Washington Mt. Rainier is like the eyes of a painting that always seem follow you around the room.

I did ride all they way home. Sarah drove back from Matthews Beach to get to a shoe sale before it ended. Then we capped it off with a Barking Dog happy hour. A bike ride with beer at both ends, not a bad Sunday.

Kendall Peak Lakes

2009-05-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

Nollie and I decided to go hiking yesterday. We started at the remaining pile of snow from this year's Holy Oly Quarterpipe, which was at Summit West if you recall (refresh your memory of 2008's event here). Nollie ran around like an idiot not realizing there was 6 or so hours of hiking remaining, and I tried to decide where we were going to go hiking. It was the warmest day of the year with pass temperatures in around 76 degrees around noon. Through trying to avoid avalanche prone areas, forest service road closures, and long drives, we decided on Kendall Peak Lakes. The first half of the hike had hot temperatures and patchy snow. I don't know if Nollie is really out of shape or was too hot or just pretending, but she was dragging ass and only carried her pack for about a mile. Then I strapped all her stuff to my bag, and she was happy to follow close behind. The last half of the hike turned into a snowshoe expedition. Nollie stayed close behind the whole way, though I could tell she was growing impatient with my photographic exploits on the way up and the way down. For safety's concern, we got to the general area of the lakes but stayed away since everything was covered in snow. Instead, we snowshoed off a little higher to see a great view of Mt. Rainier peaking above the Central Cascade skyline. I don't know if you've heard the song Seattle by Perry Como, but yesterday I did see the bluest skies and the greenest trees I've ever seen in my life. Photographic documentation below.

Nollie on one of her many lay down in the snow to cool off breaks.

Kendall Peak Trail No. 1344.

"The bluest skies you've ever seen are [near] Seattle. And the [trees] the greenest green, [near] Seattle."

Kendall Peak(-ish). Don't ask me which is what. Different maps were saying different things, but I don't need a map to tell me it's pretty.

Do I wanna what?

Gold Creek Valley, Keechelus Lake, Central Cascades, and Mt. Rainier in the distance.

See? Mt. Rainier.

Oh yeah, I was there too. And don't look surprised, you should know Memorial Day kicks off mustache season.

These shots cost us an extra half hour. Thankfully, the sun sets sometime after 9p.

OK, seriously. Put your stoopid camera away, and let's go home already.

Hart Lake Hike

2009-05-24T00:21:00.000-07:00

Despite my need to do laundry, since my work stay has been extended at least 4 days at Holden, I hiked to Hart Lake. The timing of it did not allow for any good pictures of the lake, especially since my hiking cohorts were more concerned about the fact they could get ice cream in the village tonight for the first time since we arrived. Needless to say, they hot-footed it on back for ice cream, and I had to stick with them until within a reasonably safe self-hiking distance to stop for pictures.

Glacier carved valley.

Black and white mountains as observed during the mining days.

Colored version of mountains as observed today.

Additionally, today began a large May youth weekend at the village. With the influx of about 275 high school age teens, the population of the village increased about 1000% right after lunch and things move at a quicker, louder pace. And I feel old.

A Common Sight

2009-05-22T23:40:00.001-07:00

Today they served dinner outside, and a young buck and three doe were curious and came to see what was going on. At one point someone started laughing boisterously, a noise I would have thought would startle the deer, but one just go more curious and came closer to investigate, eventually getting too close. I snapped this picture after the fact while walking back to one of the "lodges" just to show this common sight in Holden. When a black bear comes by, though, they get scared/chased out of the village immediately. A black bear was looking through the garbage cans on the porch in the background earlier this week. However, no food is allowed in outside garbage, and an electric fences "guards" the compost piles outside the village.

Back to Holden

2009-05-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

2009-05-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Drinks on the Links

2009-05-13T17:25:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again.....DOTL started last night.
We played short a few people, but we still posted awesome numbers.
We are currently in second place.

My Tiny Alaskan Adventure

2009-05-08T16:42:00.001-07:00

I spent a few days in Anchorage, AK for a work conference where I gave a presentation on PCP. One of our outings was a glacier cruise on Prince William Sound. It was beautiful and the best part of my trip. Although Moose's Tooth was good too.

US Open Cup

2009-04-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

The game last night was so much fun!
It didn't rain very much. Just sprinkles.
The stadium was small (only holds about 3900 fans) so we got to see some up close action.
The Sounders won 4-1.
Le Toux played awesome.
And look at how close I got to my boy Brad Evans!

Sounders til I die!

2009-04-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

I went to my first Seattle Sounders FC game on Saturday.

We won 2-0 against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Tomorrow night we're going to the US Open Cup play-in game against Real Salt Lake.

Should be fun. But it looks like rain.

Sunsets

2009-04-21T00:24:00.001-07:00

The sun sets on the Olympics and Puget Sound from Golden Gardens.

The sun sets on Matt's 20's.

Nice Face

2009-04-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I have this saying that is usually reserved for talking about Nollie but sometimes accidentally slips out in public or around friends:

"Nice face."

I apologize if we've ever said this to you.

It was raining in the mountains (and Seattle) when I woke up this morning, so I decided to stay in the city before our traditional Easter Tex-Mex meal. To get some exercise I went out to the garage for some Easter skateboarding. I realized that I don't think we've posted any pictures since the mini-ramp was completed some time ago (though it still needs masonite on the decks), so I brought the camera out with me.

Rock to fakie. Note the slats from our bed on the far railing protecting my bike. With a fancy Tempurpedic mattress you can't use slats or you will void the 20-year warranty. You have to have a solid foundation (i.e. no box springs); thus, we sleep on 3/4" plywood from Home Depot. Or was it Lowe's?

Coming into a frontside 50-50. Remember the frontside/backside lesson from earlier?

Coming out of a feeble (stall) to fakie, I think. It could have been coming in or out or to fakie or not; either way, I can do a feeble (stall) to fakie.

Coming into a feeble (stall) to ass.

This may just look like a blurry picture of an extention ladder on the wall, but it's more than that. This picture demonstrates that I did not break any of the glass in our fisheye lens, even though I cracked its lens hood on the above feeble (stall) to ass. I later confirmed the flash still works, too, after fixing the battery door and putting all the batteries back in off the mini-ramp and garage floor.

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T21:34:00.001-07:00

Splitboarding (for powder this time)

2009-03-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

A week ago Matt, Claire, and myself went into the backcountry at Stevens Pass. Avalanche danger was predicted to be considerable and increase with heavy snow loading expected from a storm arriving midday (a phantom storm that never really showed up), so we planned to stay in safer, treed terrain that wasn't very steep. I put my recent "Level 1" avalanche education to work with a test pit and found a couple weak layers in recent snow and deeper one on an older crust that took a bit of effort to initiate but the fracture did not propagate (yay!). We played it pretty safe in the upper portion of our runs above the trees, going one at a time and watching each other from safe locations. I also had my Avalung at the ready (thanks, mom and dad). Matt and I had fun with the fact that when you breathe through an Avalung it sounds like one swiss cow that has made many an appearance at the Swenson/Koryczan holiday tables (a recording of this is available on request, but I couldn't figure out how to post it here). The snow was pretty good higher up and on shaded aspects, and now my splitboard has finally seen some powder. Pictures are below.

Matt, Claire, and Matt's new illegitimate child (his new dyna-something who-knows-what skis he keeps telling me about).

Weather station on the way in.

Mountain-man pointing action.

My "skis" next to a filled in test pit.

Matt skiing on his babies.

Claire skiing on her skis.

We got another dump of snow this week, and now it's warming up, which has generally increased avalanche danger recently (but it's complicated - Note that at the end of every NWAC avalanche forecast it says: "Remember there are avalanche safe areas in the mountains during all levels of avalanche danger." You just have to know where (and when) these areas are). So yesterday I played it safe, stayed in bounds, and rode park with Steve and Natalie. It was a pretty good spring day with temps close to 50 degrees. As I was hiking the quarterpipe at Central, I heard an explosion go off and knew WSDOT must be doing avalanche control work along I-90. Then a second or two later I heard something I had never heard before. The closest comparison would be thunder, but it was the sound of an avalanche propagating and sliding from the discharge that was just set off. Everyone hiking stopped for a few seconds and thought or said "Holy [crap] that was a big one." We stopped riding at 2p, found out the pass was closed, and hung out at the tiny convenience store and corn dog stand for an hour and half. At least it was a nice day to be stuck in the mountains.

Hanging out during avalanche control.

Some guy we talked to said the bombs were setting off 10' to 12' crowns, and a natural slide had already gone before the control work started. Here's a video of some avalanche control work from Stevens Pass if you're curious what some of this looks like (note we were at Snoqualmie Pass yesterday).

We then started a slow crawl down the pass around 4p. There was probably a mile backup of four lanes of traffic plus two exits and then some of people trying to get back to Seattle that whittled down to one lane where the avalanche debris had pushed some concrete barriers onto the interstate. Atleast it was better than the 8-mile backup at the east end of the pass where they closed the pass. We finally got home around 630p.

And finally, the standard Nollie picture you've all been waiting for.

winder and swift

2009-03-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished up a knitting project for a little someone-to-be. Right now it's blocking. It was a big project so I'm ready to start up something new.

Today I got out a couple of my Christmas presents and used them for the first time. Grams got me a ball winder and Steve got me a swift via a gift certificate to Weaving Works.

yarn

swift

balls

Catching Up

2009-03-22T09:09:00.001-07:00

One blog at a time.

So I've been out of the blogging game for quite some time now. I blame work, snowboarding, and life in general. So now that I racked my back/hip (Back of my hips? It's a weird place to have a bruise.) riding the quarterpipe for the first time at Snoqualmie yesterday (unfortunately no superpipe for us this year due to the weak snow year), I have a Sunday morning to work on catching up (sorry for all the parentheticals (no seriously)). Steve has the video of me decking on my hip-back and bouncing back into the transition on my back-back (that one should be easy to figure out (oh, right (sorry))), so maybe it will get posted sometime here or on Weak in the Tweak.

Anyway, catching up, baby steps...

We became members of our local NPR station last fall. It's about time for me, since I've been a frequent listener of NPR since I was in grad school.

The most expensive coffee mug I'll ever own.

Phil Cordell

2009-03-21T19:04:00.001-07:00

"It's like Old Man Winter was constipated and now the poo is flowing."
-Phil Cordell

The above quote was in reference to having a weak snow year up until March and then getting pooped on with about 7 feet of snow in a couple weeks.

Cell Phone Pics at Stevens Pass courtesy of Phil Cordell.

Rode out of this one but almost lost my knee on the same drop a few days and a few feet later (and a year older too, I suppose).

How's my face?

my 29th birthday

2009-02-26T17:40:00.000-08:00

another balloon to add to my collection

snowboarding at Central where I shredded a fun box and attempted the mini jumps (not very successfully)

dinner at Carmelita, an amazing veggie restaurant here on Phinney Ridge
I had the roasted pear arugula salad and carrot mascarpone gnocchi
yum

after dinner drinks at Oliver's Twist with Steve, Matt & Claire
Mr. Sowerberry is my favorite - gin, elderflower syrup, dry vermouth, grapefruit
yum

I received lots of birthday goodies including this handbag made by my friend Lisa (isn't she crafty?)
Mike got me some sweet headphones which allowed me to rock out at work today
Steve finally gave me my own jar of homemade huckleberry jam

Nollie was sad she couldn't come out to celebrate with us

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

We spent a great Valentine's day together:
snowboarding at Central
I shredded my first fun box!
balloons always scare Nollie
dinner and beer at El Chupacabra
Mario Kart
Mike fell asleep in his recliner while I rocked Guitar Hero

my balloons

Nollie's face when she has to be in the same room as the balloons

2009-02-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

Nice.

2009-01-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Mt. Rainier: The Day After Alpental

2009-01-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

I went splitboarding for the first time the day after Alpental (previous post). It was fun and beautiful. Thanks for the pictures, Al.

Hiking and Mt. St. Helens (I think).

Skinning.

Now that I have poles, I can do this.

Muir Snowfield and Mt. Rainier (I think).

Me and Mt. Adams (I think).

Unsplitboard.

Fun.

Beauty.

Alpental

2009-01-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

fog

We went snowboarding on Saturday - starting out at Central and ending up at Alpental. It was a weird day where the fog was not burning off. It was 20 degrees at the bottom of Alpental and 40 plus degrees at the upper chair. This was my first time on the upper chair and the views were amazing. It was my goal this year to get to the top of Alpental and I did it on my second day out!

Mike

Christmas in WI

2008-12-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

Mike and I spent Christmas in WI this year, missing the winter wonderland that shut down Seattle. We managed to split and combine time with both families. Most photos we took are of our niece Lydia, the center of attention. It was great to see everyone, especially those we haven't seen since we moved to Seattle!

Lydia

Aunt Sarah and Lydia

Christmas Eve

at Swensons' on Christmas day

NKOTB

2008-11-24T20:18:00.001-08:00

me & Amanda

Amanda was in town this weekend for the New Kids on the Block concert! It well surpassed all of my expectations. I was not expecting to scream like a 10 year old girl when they came on stage, but we all did! Anyway, they sounded great and looked good dancing. Yes, all retro dance moves were performed.

Joey is still my favorite! Gotta love the blue eyes and Boston accent!

Here are the boys doing Step by Step!

San Juan Islands

2008-11-07T14:16:00.001-08:00

We celebrated our third anniversary back in October with a long weekend in the San Juan Islands. Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip. Better late than never, right?

San Juan Vineyards

Mona, the camel that lives across the street from the vineyard

what your pants look like when a camel tries to eat your leg

we stayed at the Friday Harbor House (on the left)

view of Friday Harbor from our room's balcony

we hiked and saw some amazing sights and wildlife: seals, purple sea stars, porpoise, eagles, bull kelp, anemone . . . but no Orcas

that big seal was not a fan of the small seal - a lot of barking was going on

lighthouse at Lime Kiln State Park

Cattle Point Lighthouse

Is it sad that this is the only photo of Mike from the trip? And yes, the mustache came with us.

getting ready to kayak

kayaking in the Haro Strait was by far the best part of the trip

free trees

2008-11-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

For some reason I have never seen PhinneyWood before, but am really excited to have found it.

Tomorrow our neighborhood will be planting trees in the planter strips. We got 22 trees free from the city along with 1700 daffodil bulbs to scatter around the planter strips, parks, and roundabouts. Mike and I have 4 trees to plant at our house tomorrow. Anyone want to help? PhinneyWood will be around our streets to take pictures of the event!

election party 2008

2008-11-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

Oscar

Oscar was not at the election party and I'm pretty sure he's not old enough to vote, but that picture is too cute not to post!

Mike and I hosted an election party last night. As we all waited to find out the fate of our country for the next 4 years we drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of tacos. It was great to see that our friends got out to vote (some made it to the polls for WA's last year of polls and some filled out their mail in ballots yesterday at Taco Bell). Polls closed at 8:00 PM Pacific here in WA and at that exact time Obama was declared the winner. Hooray for democracy!

SOFT in AZ

2008-11-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

I just got back last night from a week long conference in Arizona. It was sunny and 95 degrees all week long. It was a nice break from the rain here in Seattle. The conference was held at the Arizona Grand Resort. Here are a few photos from my trip. I didn't bring a camera - all photos are courtesy of my coworker Brianna (she is a loser and wanted me to make sure I gave her credit). I put where everyone is from in the captions in case you don't know who they are.

the desert we hiked through

a very, very old saguaro cactus

I learned from Amanda, another one of my coworkers, that the saguaro cactus does not grow an arm until it is as least 75 years old. And Amanda is a native of Arizona so she would know.

Ed (WI), Brianna (WA) and me at a vendor happy hour

Asa (WA) presenting his poster on ethanol found in fruit and whether it will effect breath test results

Amanda (WA), Ryan (WI), me, Ed (WI), Brianna (WA), and Bill (WI) at the masquerade ball

without masks

me, Ed (WI), and Amanda (WA) dancing it up

tea for two

2008-10-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I went to tea yesterday at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel downtown with our friend Mandy. It was very classy and ladylike, complete with fancy tea and tiny sandwiches. We mostly discussed planning a Rummikub tournament (with the hopes that Mandy will make Mike cry) and handbags. You know, girl stuff.

Mike and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary with a weekend getaway to the San Juan Islands. Hopefully photos and details to come soon.

Drunk Babies Don't Like Mustaches...

2008-09-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

Below is photo documentation of the first time my niece saw my face.

Oh, man I can't believe I drank that whole thing.

I'm soooo wasted.

WHAT THE HELL...

IS THAT?

Nice to finally meet you, Lydia.

Bumbershoot 2008

2008-08-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

Mike and I went to Bumbershoot yesterday. We saw half of Neko Case's show. Huge lines to get in and get our evening main stage show tickets didn't let us get there on time. She sounded really good. We like her. After Neko we walked around, ate a lot of expensive fair type food, and listened to some not so interesting bands. Then we went to Band of Horses. They put on an awesome show and sounded great! They're my favorite band so I had a huge smile on my face the whole time. The headliner on the main stage was Beck. I was not as impressed with him, but it could be because I don't know many of his songs. He opened with "Loser", one I actually do know, and we left after about 5 songs.

Steve and Nollie hung out together all day. I think they went hiking. She was pretty tired when we got home.

Seriously?

2008-08-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm so ticked at people. A partial copy of "Midnight Sun" has been leaked and she's put the book on hold indefinitely. I don't think I'm going to read it even though she has posted it on her website. Grrrrr.

vampires

2008-08-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading "Breaking Dawn", the last book in the Twilight Saga. I'm sad that I don't have anymore stories about my beloved vampires to read, but "Twilight" will be hitting the big screen on November 21! I've also read that Stephenie Meyer is rewriting the first book from Edward's perspective - can't wait! I guess I will just have to keep dreaming about vampires until "Midnight Sun" comes out!

quick trip to Wisconsin

2008-08-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

I had to go back to WI to testify in Madison on Thursday for one of my old cases. I changed my return flight home so I could stay for the weekend (at least I got a free trip home out of this whole mess). I got a lot of essential Wisconsin visits in during my short stay:
1. Milio's #6 with avo (liking avocados is a new thing for me since moving to Seattle)
2. sat outside on the Capital steps during my lunch break from court
3. fried cheese curds and beer at the Paradise after testifying (I'm disappointed that the ranch is no longer served in squeeze bottles)
4. met Lydia for the first time!

5. Noodles
6. University Bookstore
7. dinner at El Dorado with Ed, Kate, Jeff, Danna, & Michael
8. dessert and drinks at Sucre and Opus
9. Babcock ice cream at the Union
10. The Great Dane

This trip has also introduced me to my newest obsession: the Twilight Saga. I finished Twilight and New Moon while in WI and started Eclipse on the flight home. Is it weird that I wish that Mike and I were vampires?