I haven't posted in forever....I don't know why. I mean, I know I've been busy with the summer, but I also think my focus has changed quite a bit. I've really been trying to live IN the moment....I talked about it a lot previously, but I realized a few months ago that I was doing lots of things to enjoy my time, but I wasn't really soaking them in and really enjoying them. Like we'd go to the park, but instead of relaxing, watching the ducks, looking at the sky....really ENJOYING it, I was rushing inside and not giving myself time to enjoy it. It made me realize that I've been doing that a lot, with everything. We DO lots of great things, but I haven't been taking the time out to really enjoy them and let them soak in. I understand now that's what it means to "stop and smell the roses". Not that I need to DO tons of fun things, but that I need to actually enjoy them.
Also, with working only 4 days a week, in the summer, when I did my blogging AT work, has made it much more difficult to find the extra time to blog about each weekend. That and my current addiction to facebook! :) I only have time for so much! You'd think, well duh Sarah, blog on your Friday's off. But I've actually been staying very busy on my Friday's off. When mom needs my help, I'll spend the day working for her. When Air is off, we'll often do something fun together. Last weekend we gave each other pedicures and painted our toes orange and black in support of the Beavers. It was really fun. I've only had ONE Friday where I was just sitting around bored. And I'm pretty sure I used that up by sleeping in until lunch!
So, what have we done this summer? Well, we only got to go camping once. I wanted to go more, but we had other things going on and it just didn't happen. The one time we went was a lot of fun though! I'm glad we got to go! We've gone to the beach a few times. Last time we went the weather was incredible! It was cloudy here at home, but the beach was warm and sunny. It was a great day at the beach. Of course in September we've been supporting the Beavers in football! We've already gone to 2 games, and watched the others on tv. So far they are 2 - 2. I'm hoping they can really find their groove and start winning more games! I'm a little nervous for them this season.... but I am still a beaver believer!
We helped save my parents from selling their house....which is great! I didn't want to see that house go away!! Speaking of houses, Ladd GOT a house! He moves in in November! We are very excited for him!
This is a picture of us while in line waiting for our ferry to arrive.
This is a picture of us while in line waiting for our ferry to arrive.We went to victoria for our 4 year wedding anniversary. It was a fantastic trip. Being married to Travis for 4 years has been so much fun. He is my best friend, he understands me better than anyone else, and he works WITH me. He is the best partner in life I could ask for and I thank God for him everyday. What a blessing. Thanks for the best four years ever baby!
The sunrise on our drive to Port Angeles to catch the ferry.We don't see many sunrises so it was pretty cool!
So, we went to Victoria. It was beautiful weather every day. We got there on Wednesday at 2pm. The ferry ride itself was fun.....well, the first hour was fun. We stood up at the front where it really caught the waves and bounced up and down so far! The last half hour we just wanted to be there though! We got off the boat and made it though customs quickly. We got checked into our hotel, and then walked to the harbor to check it out.
This is us right off the ferry!
One of the street performers... The shows were so much fun.
After dinner I was pretty tipsy, so we went back to our room, loaded up my water bottle and an empty apple juice bottle for Trav with mixed drinks and beer, and took them down to the inner harbor to check out the night scene. We saw a couple great performances and listened to some good street music before heading to bed.
Thursday was our anniversary. We spent the morning walking around Chinatown, and trying to find the restaurant we wanted to go to that evening so we could make reservations. It took us a while, but we finally found it. It was such a cute little place, Il Tarrazo, nestled into a street ally. It looked like it was in Italy. My parents had given it rave reviews we were excited to try it. We made reservations for 7:30. Then we took a walk along the outer harbor, over the bridge and to the other side. It was cool because you could see the whole city from there. They have nice paths that you can walk on all along both sides of the inner and outer harbor. We sat on a park bench and enjoyed the view for a while before heading back to the inner harbor.
Sitting on the outer harbor. You can see the inner harbor in the background of the picture.Il Tarrazo was packed with people when we got there at 7:20. The staff was all so friendly. They sat us at a cute little table in the back. It was very romantic lighting. I ordered salmon over rice and Trav ordered a marinara pork over pasta. They brought us an appetizer of bread with an olive paste? to put on it. It was so good. I've never had anything like it! Our meals were incredible. I've never had salmon that good. It melted in my mouth. And the rice wasn't just rice, it was an amazing cheesy rice. I don't even know how to explain it. The veggies it came with were the best veggies I've ever had to. I don't know how they did it....they were grilled but had a special sauce or glaze or seasoning on them.....delicious. I thought for sure I'd ordered the best meal in the place, until I had a bite of Trav's. Oh my gosh the pork in that sauce was incredible. I think his was actually even better than mine! I helped him finish his meal too! :)
On our way to Il Tarrazo.
Il Tarrazo Restaurante!After dinner we headed back to our hotel and got ready to go out. We were going to go to the club in our hotel. They had $3 drinks for the ladies all night. We had a few drinks in the room, and then headed down stairs. For some reason the club wasn't open yet, so we headed to one of the pubs to have a drink instead. We sat in a big comfy round booth in the corner and we talked about how we're just not young enough to enjoy the crazy party scene anymore. We'd much rather sit in a nice lounge, in comfy chairs, where we can hear each other talk and listen to live music or something. We decided that instead of going to the club, we'd rather go fill up our cups and walk around Victoria. We had a great evening walking around the city and drinking our drinks.We had a great evening walking around the city and drinking our drinks.
Friday came bright and early! We wanted to head to the butterfly gardens, so we drove about 20 minutes to get there. They were right new to the Burchart Gardens.
The butterflies were beautiful. We spent a long time in there just watching them all flying around us. One landed on me, but not long enough to get a picture! Dang it!
On the way back to our hotel, Trav surprised me by taking me to the Craigdorach Castle.
I've always wanted to see it. It was really cool. We didn't go in, but just looking at the outside was fun. Plus, it's just fun when Trav surprises me with stuff. We used to spend hours driving around looking at the mansions in Corvallis, and this kinda felt the same.When we got back we went for a walk on the OTHER side of the outer harbor. At the end was the Fishermans wharf, which we'd heard was pretty cool. They live in houses that are literally right off the docks and floating in the water. It was a long walk, but it was beautiful the whole way. The Fishermans wharf was a fun experience. It even had little shops and food stands. We stopped at an ice cream shop and got the best ice cream I've ever had. We got it for Trav, but I think I ended up eating most of it. It was called moose tracks. It had fudge, peanut butter, and carmel swirls in vanilla ice cream. It was so packed with goodies there was hardly any actual ice cream. Yum. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
We got back to the inner harbor a couple hours before dinner time, so we went to a restaurant on the inner harbor. We'd been there before and I'd gotten a fishbowl bellini and Trav had gotten a martini... it was called the billy idol martini and it was the best he'd ever had. We've never seen it since, and no bartender has ever heard of it. We wanted to go back and get the same thing, but that was 8 - 9 year ago, and they didn't have it anymore....or even remember it! Darn it! So instead we split a fishbowl bellini. Yum.
Then we headed to the Old Spaghetti factory for dinner. Of course they had their bellini's on special, so we ordered a couple more! We had a delicious dinner and delicious drinks. Afterwards we headed to the harbor to see if anything was going on. They were having a big street merchant mall so we went to check it out. There were so many cool things for sale. I spotted some beautiful hand woven scarfs that I really liked. We kept walking and at the end they had a live band playing. We really liked them so we stopped and listened for a little while.
On our way back, Trav stopped and got me one of the scarfs. It's beautiful....red and orange. I love it. By this time, I was tired and ready for bed!
Saturday was our last day. Our ferry didn't leave until 7pm though, so we had some time still! We went to the mall, got some sushi, got me a dress, and got some souvenirs for our friends. Ketchup chips of course!! We also walked through Beacon Hill Park which was beautiful and so peaceful!
In Beacon Hill Park.....so nice.
In Beacon Hill Park.....so nice.After that we took a tour of the parliament building, which surprising to me, wasn't boring at all. It was very interesting. I'd even say it was fun! :)
This is the Parliament Building at night. They light it up in the evening.We went to rodger's chocolates to get a float....they are famous for them. We got a new girl who didn't know what she was doing, so not only did it take 15 minutes to get our floats, they weren't made quite right. We weren't impressed. Maybe we were expecting to much? We went to Cafe Di Amore and had a great meal there. My dad had recommended it. He was just in Victoria a couple months before us, so he had lots of recommendations. They were all good ones. Thanks dad! Before leaving we got a charcoal portrait by one of the street merchants.
We've always wanted to get one, and we finally did. It was fun. It doesn't look exactly like us....we both look better than we do in real life. Haha. Trav also got a leather bracelet from a street merchant.
Now it was time to get in line for the ferry. There was a seagull that flew right next to the ferry for about 20 minutes.
Our trip was over.....except of course the 5 hour drive home! We got home at 2am.Other than that we spent the summer hanging out with old friends, and making new ones! We had dinner with Trav's coworker Matt, and his wife Kristi. It was a lot of fun. They are a fun couple! Also, Trav's old college friend Nick just moved in Albany, very close to us. We are planning a date with he and his wife as well! We've spent some time with Darin and Shelby and we always have a great time with them! Of course we are continuing our Wednesday dinners with Air! And we've been spending Saturdays with her....watching the games. Go Beavs! Ladd has been visiting quite a bit. We are really looking forward to visiting him pretty soon...in his own house! Rachelle has been busy as usual, but we've been able to hang out a few times!
Emma is growing up. She's already 10 months! She eats like a horse! I'm looking forward to 2 months from now when we can switch her to much cheaper DOG food, and get her off the puppy food! Plus, I'm pretty sure that once they hit 12 months, they don't eat as much! Right now she's at 5 - 6 cups a day, of the most expensive lamb and rice puppy food! But she's doing most of her growing right now and it's important to us that she has the best nutrition during this time. But is is hurting in our pocket book. :)
We've been going probably a little to easy on her with her training.....but she's still doing great! Dogs are so much fun but they sure are loud and smelly! And expensive!! She snorts, snores, breaths loudly, farts all time, scratches, whines..... wow! But it's all worth it.
We didn't get much done around the yard like we wanted to. We were hardly home to do it....not to mention that we are saving all our pennies in this economy! It's just not turning around very fast. Our list of things we want just keeps growing....inside and out! It's hard to see people around us getting so much nice stuff while we're just staying stationary and penny pinching. I know it will all be worth it someday though!
Our wisteria that we brought over the fence from the neighbors is really growing! It's so pretty! We need to get an arch under it now, there is so much! I love it! Thats just reminding me of my list of things to do though! Oh my gosh I almost forgot! We did get one thing off our list of things we need....we got new pans! We got them at the state fair. They are awesome! We needed new pans BADLY. Ours were peeling, our food was sticking to the bottom and burning, plus half of them had warped on the bottom so the heat wasn't even at all because they didn't sit flat! They were great pans for about 8 years, but then they just took a nose dive! So, we watched a demo on some pans and they were awesome. We had mom look up the name brand online and they got good reviews. They are restaurant quality and they have a 25 year warranty!! Plus, they are MADE of the non stick material so it won't peel off! We got a huge set. We paid more than we thought we would, but I think it's worth it. Trav pointed out that we eat most of our meals at home, and this was just like eating out 20 times....except we get to use these for at least 25 years for 5 - 7 meals a week! Oh, added bonus, you don't have to use a non stick spray or oil or butter to fry things up. Which of course I love since I try to cook low fat! You can even make a grilled cheese sandwich with no butter on the bread....it just crisps the bread up with nothing on it. I've done it, and it is delicious!
What is still on our list? A lot!
New sink (ours is chipped and green)
New dishwasher (ours is loud, from the 80's, and barely works!)
New countertops
New cupboards
Carpet Cleaned
Gate and fence on left side of the house
New patio
Grass seed......this is a work in progress, trying fix our grass
Shade tree in the front yard
landscaping....new bushes, barkdust, etc
New porch swing (I LOVE my porch swing but the cats ruined the cover last year so we took it off, and this year Emma has ruined the seat)
Paint Bathroom
I know theres more that I'm just not thinking of right now, but there is obviously a lot!! We have our work cut out for us. But I continue to be grateful that we don't NEED anything because something is wrong with the house. Or cars.
Ok, I think I've covered most of the summer! I still can't believe it's already over! It's fall.... Happy fall!!
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