Christmas!

For the first time in, gosh, how many years? I didn't spend the month of December working around the clock to close a bunch of year-end deals. Instead, I had a great December full of sisterly visits, furniture shopping and -- to top it all off -- a white Christmas with my sibs and the grandkids in Boise.

I flew out from Seattle on the morning of Christmas Eve.  For being the day before Christmas, everything went super smoothly, and my fellow travelers were even happy and well behaved.  One guy, in particular, went out of his way to be positive, courteous and pleasant to everyone around him -- all of which had the effect of elevating the mood and standard of interaction for everyone else.  When it goes well, there's nothing quite like traveling on a holiday -- you've got the energy of the holidays, plus the excitement inherent in flying off to a new place; it's the best of both worlds!

Heather picked me up and we spent the rest of the day getting ready for Christmas dinner.  The tree stood brightly in the corner, and soon we had a lovely table laid for Christmas dinner.

The kids were beside themselves with anticipation for Christmas morning.  They eyed the clock, lamenting how slowly time passes!  Meanwhile the adults watched the oven timer, mouths watering for a taste of Jordan's home-cured Christmas ham . . . delicious!

Eventually Mark and Erin came over, the hame was finished, and we all gathered around for a delicious Christmas dinner.

During dinner it started to snow (sending the kids into the next level of Christmas hysterics) and when Christmas morning finally arrived, it was a beautiful White Christmas.

Cheese stone!  With little dishes for olives and stuff!

We spent the rest of the day playing with princesses, tablets and an epic quantity of Legos (including several incarnations of Unikitty, my favorite creature ever).

Next morning, I headed out with Jordan, Mark and Erin for the annual distribution of beds built by Sleep in Heavenly Peace (a creepy name, I know, but they didn't ask me).  The organization was founded by a friend of Jordan's, and Heather and Jordan have been closely involved in the project for several years now.  The mission is to build bunk beds and deliver them to families with children who need beds.  I was lucky enough to be able to go along this year.

Initial organizational meeting -- all the volunteers converged on Jordan's trailer,
which was full of beds and bedding.

Mark and Jordan carrying a bed to our first stop.

The first attempt -- taking it through the front door in one piece.

We quickly discovered that no way would this thing fit through the internal doorways
into the kids' bedroom.  So we brought it back out on the lawn and took it apart.

Power tools!

Reassembling the bed in the bedroom, where space was at a premium.

The two little boys who were getting the bed were super cute and
so very excited.  The little one used to sleep in a broken crib
with his baby brother.  The bigger kid slept on the couch.

So excited for the new bed -- and look at that bedding!

Our next stop was pretty similar -- a small apartment with adorable kids who were super excited to finally have a place to sleep (they'd been sleeping on a mattress they'd gotten when the 90-year-old neighbor died, and which had springs poking through).

It was all they could do to hold still long enough for a photo.

Whenever I question whether I made the right decision to change jobs and move across the country, it's things like this -- spending holidays with family and serving others -- that make me think, yes, this is the direction I want to go.  Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like . . .

THE PARENTS ARE COMING!!!

My new house may be exerting a grandbaby-like pull on my parents (they're coming to visit me for the first time in six years; the second time in ten years), but there are important differences between grandbabies and houses.  For example, grandparents don't normally expect to sleep and eat and bathe and sit down on furniture inside the grandbaby in the same way they do with a house.

The challenge, of course, is that when I bought the place in September, I was in no position to be hosting the parentals.  I mean, one can't exactly hand one's mother a sleeping bag and point to the couch and still qualify as a respectable adult, now can one?  Obviously not.  So in the three months since my parents announced their holiday plans, I've been hell-bent on getting my house put together enough that not only would my parents survive their stay, but they might actually enjoy it enough to want to come back again before another six years passed.

I won't go into the gory details (mostly because my details don't really count as "gory" when compared to my sister's adventures with a new log cabin that has flooded three times in as many months), but I'm happy to report that as of this afternoon, I can finally say that the house is parent ready!  The place has been repainted top to bottom, and there's a functional guest suite on the second floor.  It's nowhere near finished in terms of the overall decoration/furnishing plan, but I've accomplished everything that I wanted to get done before they arrive on Saturday.  Whew!

Here are some photos:

The newly painted kitchen.

Stairway to the second floor

Guest bedroom. Still waiting on the duvet cover and a second
Euro sized pillow sham (and the bedside table is a cardboard box),
 but at least it's functional.

You know the bathroom's done to Lady's standards
when there's a pocket watch clock on the counter.

Now I'm going to try to sleep for three hours before getting up to pack my bag and get to the airport for an inappropriately early flight to Boise for Christmas Eve with the grandkids.  Fun, fun, fun!

Ashley does Seattle

A few weeks ago Alaska Airlines announced a new flight from Kalispell, Montana, to Seattle and starts promoting it with super-cheap round-trip tickets for travel between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My dear sister Ashley, adventurous bargain-hunter that she is, saw the promotion and decided it was time for a siblings weekend in Seattle.  Next thing you know, we're making plans via text:

Me:  Let's talk soon about things we might want to do while you're here.

Ashley:  Hang out and watch re-runs.  That's what a vacation is, right?! ;)

Me:  Ha!

Here's how "hanging out and watching re-runs" played out last weekend:

Ashley landed on FRIDAY at 5pm.  I picked her up and we headed out to Issaquah for dinner at a Thai restaurant called Noodle Boat.

We started with spring rolls, which turned out to be surprisingly saucy

Followed by some spicy basil chicken over rice

Thus armed with fresh garlic breath, we walked over to the Village Theatre to see their local production of Mary Poppins (it's based on the original books and the Disney movie).  Interestingly, I liked this production better than the original Broadway production I saw a couple of years ago.  That production had struck me as a little weird -- Mary was smug and the doll execution scene super creepy.  But this production downplayed the creepy factor and made Mary much more sympathetic.  The result was a charming story with some good life lessons mixed in.

I was delighted that this little community theatre figured out how to
get Mary to fly over the audience on her way out.

On SATURDAY morning we slept in until the outrageous hour of 9am and then walked over to Revel for a Korean-inspired brunch.

Donuts with bacon, Asian pear and condensed milk glaze.
The first "wow" food I've eaten in Seattle.

BBQ pork monkey bread with pickled jalapeños and spiced maple syrup

Ramen with pork belly, kimchi and soft-boiled egg

Dandan noodle, smoked chili, eggplant, Thai basil, peanut

Then we strolled through the Fremont neighborhood.  It was a chilly, foggy morning, but still fun to take in the houseboats on the lake and the quirky public art.

Look, a bridge!  You know what lives under bridges?

Trolls live under bridges!

We stopped by the house for a quick post-brunch nap and a few more sweaters before heading downtown to see the Seattle public library . . .

The chess tables as seen from the mezzanine

. . . and stop for a donut (because donuts are kind of a thing in Seattle) . . .

I got an old fashioned donut with chocolate icing

. . . before embarking on a Savor Seattle food tour of the Pike Place Market.

The tour started at the eminently unappetizing "gum wall"

At one point they served us treats on a terrace overlooking Puget Sound.
The foggy morning weather had cleared up nicely by that point.

When we finished the food tour, it was nearly dark and we needed to kill an hour or so before dinner. So we headed over to Seattle Center to gawk at the Space Needle . . .

. . . and appreciate the loveliness that is Chihuly's blown glass.

Conveniently, I had made reservations for Tilikum Place Cafe, which is only a couple of blocks from the Chihuly museum, so we didn't have far to go for dinner.

I started with the carrot soup

Followed by pan-seared chicken with potatoes and brussels sprouts

If you thought dinner would be the last item on our agenda for the day, you thought wrong -- the night had only just begun!!  This is the holiday season, after all, and that means parties and ugly Christmas sweaters.  Fortunately Ashley is not only an evil genius for Halloween costumes, she's also got the golden touch for ugly Christmas sweaters.  In the weeks leading up to the trip, she crafted some real beauties.  We left the restaurant, donned our sweaters, and hit the party circuit.

This is what winning at Christmas looks like

I'd been invited to four parties, but we only made it to two of them.  The sweaters were a huge hit and definitely some of the best out there.  You should have heard the number of random strangers who stopped to comment on and admire our sweaters!

SUNDAY morning dawned foggy and cold and awfully early, considering how late we'd gone to bed the night before.  But we had things to do, so out into the world we went.  First stop? Breakfast at Silent-Heart-Nest!  Run by elderly white women in saris, the place may look like an odd hippie diner, but it's got the best non-Korean breakfast in my neighborhood.

I ordered the frittata with goat cheese, bell peppers and fresh dill

And we split the waffle special.  Because waffles are the best thing ever.
This one came with a creamy sauce, pecans, raisins
and a dusting of cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Having thus breakfasted, we set out for the little town of Leavenworth, Washington.  Leavenworth is a tiny town about 2.5 hours away from Seattle in the middle of the Cascade mountains.  It's claim to fame is kitsch:  In the early 1960s the town was struggling to survive, so the village elders decided to turn it into a Bavarian village.  They transformed every building in town to look like something straight out of a Grimm fairy tale and/or Disneyland.  It's ridiculous but also totally endearing in its earnestness -- and it's close enough to the real thing that it answers a little bit of that longing to go back to Germany (or at least Strasbourg) for Christmas.
 

We met up with some of my friends from work -- including Ruth and Tobias, both actual Germans -- to explore the town.

Lunch with fake German food and real German friends
(I had schnitzel with spatzle and red cabbage)

Posing with the wandering Christmas trees and toy soldier

Hot chocolate break at the Gingerbread Factory!

Only instead of gingerbread, we went for the raspberry scone
with melted raspberry butter on top.  (Can you say sugar high?)

When night fell (at 4:30pm!) everyone gathered in the central village square in front of a gazebo where a choir of well meaning (bless their hearts!) high schoolers were singing Christmas carols.  The emcee introduced Miss Leavenworth and a handful of Santas with impressive beards.  We all sang a couple of carols together and then, after a collective countdown, the town lit up all the Christmas lights at once.

It was fun and cold and time to go home.  And because the whole lighting ceremony was finished at 5pm, we still made it home before 8pm.  Which meant that we had all the time in the world to hang out on the couch watching reruns before bed, just as we'd planned to do all along . . .   :)

As far as I'm concerned, the best thing currently on TV

O, tannenbaum

I don't have much history with Christmas trees.  I grew up loving my mother's spectacularly lit trees, but since leaving home sixteen years ago (!!) the number of trees I've had could probably be counted on one hand.  The reasons varied by year: maybe I was a missionary in Belgium, maybe I was living in a tiny dorm room, or maybe I was a high-powered lawyer spending the holiday season locked in negotiations in a New York conference room.

All of that was supposed to end this year:  I left the high-powered job, bought a house in Seattle, and now have enough square footage and lofty ceilings to accommodate a whole forest!  Oh, but no:  Those ceilings are in the midst of being painted and all that square footage is draped in plastic and painter's tape.  No room in the inn for a Christmas tree.

Or so I thought!  My dear parents heard the news and, as any good parents would do upon seeing their child about to make a terrible life decision, they intervened -- no son of theirs was going to spend Christmas without a tree!

So they sent me a little potted European cypress tree with a string of lights, some snowflakes and a handful of felt angels.

It's perfectly adorable and I love it.  The lights and colors and piny scent bring a touch of holiday cheer that I hadn't quite realized was missing from my home.  When I look at it I think of why we celebrate this season:  Because we're all loved children of parents who care enough to send us gifts (a tiny tree sent by earthly parents; a baby in a manger sent by heavenly ones) that they know will lift us up and help us be happy.

Merry Christmas!

The House: Curtain's up!

Happy news for future house guests:  You can now bathe without awkwardly drenching the guest bathroom with water and/or traipsing (even more awkwardly) upstairs to the shower in the master bathroom!

That's because I turned this:

"Oh, I know," said the idiot who designed this bathroom, "I'll design
a bathroom where there's no way to hang a shower curtain and all
 the water will run down the walls and pool on the tile outside the tub.  It'll be lovely!" 

Into this:

The solution?  Custom-sized hospital track flush-mounted to the ceiling,
with a custom shower curtain that pulls all the way around.

Of course, this achievement comes at the cost of many gallons of blood, sweat and tears and at least one word I won't be repeating in front of my parents (and before you cast judgment, why don't you try screwing eight pieces of metal track to a 9-foot ceiling by yourself while standing on a ladder in a bathtub).  I started first thing this morning and didn't finish until just before sundown (which I guess isn't so surprising, given that in Seattle the winter sun sets at like 2pm), but at least the dang thing's up and I didn't destroy anything in the process (except for the little pieces of my soul that are allergic to DIY home improvement projects -- definitely don't hold your breath for this to turn into one of those adorable DIY home decorating blogs!).

The House: Painting begins!

When I bought my new house in early September, I vowed that the first thing I would do would be to repaint the inside.  The builder had covered the walls in a warm, creamy white -- and if there's one thing I hate, it's warm, creamy white walls, because as far as I'm concerned, that's just code for "yellow."

My original plan had been to paint the walls within a week or two after closing, buy all my furniture, and be moved in and settled by the end of October.  Now I chuckle at the optimism of a baby homeowner!  Here we are, three months later, and painting has only just now begun.  Painter Chris arrived this morning.  I gave him a tour, a set of keys, and a list of colors with instructions.  He's upstairs right now taping the master bedroom.  If all goes well, the work should be done by mid-December.

The initial reason for the three-month delay was Chris's schedule.  Turns out good painters in Seattle tend to be booked several months out.  This was the earliest he could do the job.

But it turns out three months was only just barely enough time to finalize my paint selection!  Picking the right colors, it turned out, was no simple task.  I started out with what I though was a good idea:  Instead of the boring, all-white world of the prior owner, I wanted an elegant, understated palette inspired by the beautiful colors I had seen while hiking along the rocky beaches of the Puget Sound -- lots of blues and greys and greens, as well as rich woody tones and even a little red.



As luck would have it, I live only a couple of blocks from a paint store that sells C2 paint, which has long been my favorite.  They specialize in colors that are tinted with colored pigments instead of the grays and blacks that many other brands use to darken their colors.  The result is a rich, complicated color that shifts with the light and is hard to pin down.  I stopped by and started building my color wheel.

 

Once I'd gathered all my favorite paint chips, I started putting them up on the wall -- only to discover (yet again) that what looks good on the paint chip may not be what looks good on the wall.  I put up color after color -- but none of them seemed quite right.

The grays over the kitchen turned out blue (though of course they look perfectly gray here).

I tried to match the navy blue in my rug, but instead got a couple of gorgeous dark teals.  The colors almost won me over,
but then I had trouble finding a complement for the master closet and bath.  And once the rainy season hit, I realized that
I wanted a lighter color for the bedroom.

At first I wanted to carry the dark color from the kitchen up the stairs. But then I saw
how dark it would be and opted for a lighter tone that would brighten the stairs
and allow the great lines of the railing to stand out.

The most vexing problem of all was finding a decent neutral for the living room.  I wanted a color that lived in the
elusive twilight between gray and brown.  Everything I tried was disappointing -- too green or blue or pink or gold.
Eventually even the guy at the paint store had had enough.  He told me to go back to the first color I'd selected
and try it again.  Turns out I'd been right the first time -- that color was exactly what I wanted, only the person who
had mixed the first sample had gotten the formula slightly wrong, so it turned out too blue.  Costly mistake!

The very last room to land was the guest bedroom.  I knew I wanted Portland, but I couldn't decide between
the full color (which transformed an otherwise drab Moroccan rug into something striking) or 50 percent (which
would be less dark).  Last weekend when Heather was here, we rolled out one last pint at 50 percent and
decided that was the winner.  

It's a little bit hard to say how much of this drawn-out process was indecision, and how much of it was simply my taking advantage of the fact that I had three whole months to play before the painting actually started.  As much as the blotchy paint annoyed me, it was fun to play with color and try out new ideas.  I grew to appreciate the value of time to really think about what colors I wanted and what actually worked in the space.  Teal bedrooms, for example, are gorgeous in over-exposed Pinterest photos, but in real life they're kind of dark and make coordinating colors for the rest of the master suite really tricky.

In the end, I'd amassed an astonishing collection of paint chips (including a full C2 fan deck) and had tried out more than 30 sample pints of paint on the walls.



So where did I land?  Well, perhaps not surprisingly given my starting inspiration, the Pacific Northwest is well represented:  Most of the walls will be Vancouver Day, all ceilings will be Whistler White, and the guest bedroom will be Portland.  As for the rest, they continue the variation on a theme of gray:  Vault over the kitchen counters, Cronkite in the master bedroom, and Seraph in the master bathroom.  The one real departure is the guest bathroom, which will be a deep reddish purple color called Twilight Zone (the only color I put up and instantly knew it was a winner).

Like I said, painting started today and will continue for probably about a month.  I'm super excited to see it all come together, and to finally be able to focus on furniture!  I'll post more photos as things progress.