Weekend Homecoming

What a busy, but lovely weekend we had....though I have to say, it did'nt start in a great way.  The head of the Allen Family, and all round general wonderful lady Miss Evelyn, took a stumble on Thursday night.  At 85 this lady is an absolute wonder (did I mention she recently started TEXTING??).  She was out with her constant companion Marty and went to "scoop the poop" when she lost her footing and took a tumble outside her home.  Thursday night was spent at the Monroe Emergency Room and the verdict was a broken shoulder!  Anyways Ev is now holed up at Casa Allen while she recovers and its been our delight to have her here.

Same weekend we had a very special "first time" event with Elliott going to Bothell High Homecoming.  He and a friend went out shopping and he came back looking like an ad for menswear.  Our little guy is a little guy no more - behold, Elliott Allen, young man on the prowl!!

Elliott is now of course, a seasoned veteran in posing for photos having been around me for 9 years its almost unimaginable that he would strike a pose on demand. 

But even the most perfect of subjects tires of being a tiger for the camera of his stepmother

and he was the perfect gentleman picking a lovely corsage for his lady friend

and here are some nice snaps of a proud Dad and son - as you can see, though I have always thought of Mr Big as the tallest man on the planet, Elliott is now an inch or two taller - it seemed only fitting that they should arm wrestle?  Elliott's idea...

Sadly no pictures of the date - he would'nt allow it....still, I may ask permission to take a couple from Facebook so watch this space!

New Pages

I don't know why, but suddenly, at 11.55am last night with a scant few moments left in my birthday day I had an epiphany that I should immediatly start two new pages on the blog - you might have already noticed these but if you havent they are headed up Project Oakes which is going to be a running dream book of the redecoration of our lovely abode, The Weekly Dream Destination page is going to have a weekly wonderful place that I would love to travel to some day.

More birthday delights

OK, so no teacup pig this year, but Christmas is a scant few days away.....Here is the wonderful picture that Mr Big got on  Etsy by a New York Artist.  I love his choice - as you know, I'm big on hooters.

may I also commend him on his expert wrapping of the gifts he selected, I think you will agree, he has a seasonal job anytime he wants wrapping strangers gifts at the mall for tips:

After work Mr Big treated me to a night on the town AKA cirriculum night at Canyon Park Junior High.  Of course, going straight from work I stood out like the proverbial in heels and office wear - in fact, I was wearing 5 inch Joan and David snake skin heels.  I say was because I had a little...how should I say..."trip" as I was trying to stand tall (I now know to never stand my full 5ft 2in AGAIN) and step up to the curb in front of a gazzilion parents waiting to get into the gym when somehow I lost my footing.  Friends, when I say lost my footing what I really mean to say is went ass over tea kettle (coach bag in tow) FULL FACE PLANT on the pavement.  I was reminiscent of a jack-in-the box though and immediatly stood up again with a "nothing to see here" look on my face as I hobbled into the gym with a broken heel...haaaaaaaaaa...

All the CPJH teachers were a delight and I think that the kids are in good hands with them.  Mr Big also attended this school when he was a little nipper and Dot now has one of his old teacher's as her teacher! Imagine the chances!!

After coming home we stopped and got a calling card, my Mum had called three times in one day and couldnt get a hold of me, so it was time to call her back to allow her to sing the song ... this time she was joined by hubby Johnnie on keyboards, it was so terrific, it made my night.  It is also my stepsissys birthday today - so Mr Big and I called and gave our best shot at happy birthday.  It was so lovely to talk with you Dee, can't wait till you come to visit in August 2011.  The really weird thing with Dee is that her birthday is actually the 23rd of September which in the US is tomorrow, and my birthday is the 22nd which is today - but because she is in another hemisphere it was her birthday today here ...are you getting this?  What a headache trying to work out such things.  But now that im 39 I can work these things out right?

It only happens once a year!

Yay!!! It's my birthday day finally.  Im so fortunate in so many ways, especially because I am surrounded daily by wonderful human beings - of course it goes without saying Mr Big is a part of this, but also my wonderful friends (I'm not going to name you all...but you know who you are) AND lovely workmates .. and today they all banded together to kick the day off right.

First of all I got to spend the morning before work with Mr Big.  This may seem like an ordinary thing to you reader, but it's a such a rare treat for us - normally Mr Big leaves the house by the early hours while I am still in noddyville, so I wake to a house with just me, Betty and Lucifer.  Anyways, back to today - really lovely to have him home with me and it was almost my favorite present and then.......

Thanks darling! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this teaset and cant wait to serve tea from this.  Thank you honey a million times over.  He also got me the most wonderous picture which I will post a photo of later - its silk screened owls onto vintage paper - a complete delight!

Then, when I thought I was already been spoiled enough I came to work and look was Kirsten had made:

You are viewing this confectional wonderment correctly - OWL CUPCAKES! ,,,,then look what arrived by courier

http://www.proflowers.com/ is the best florist online!  Ive used them many times myself in the past, the flowers look exactly like they do in their photos (the above is from their website). Both the owl cupcakes and flowers came from Kirsten AND she was also resposible to creating the enchanted owl wonderland that was my little cubie!  Thanks to everyone that colored owls and helped decorate and to Kirsten...you're a goddess of a woman! Thanks so much for all you did!!

More to come...

GREEK FEST time!

As my cube mate Caitlin would say OH EMM GEE....so exciting, I was just marking days off the calender and guess what this weekend is??? GREEK FEST

The plan was that this was the week I was going to start eating better (and had even considered *gasp* exercising!) ...but honestly, with Greek Fest mere days away it has to be next Monday that I start because the Kataifi, Calamari and Roast Lamb await me....and I dont think that any of those foods are known for their low calories - god bless each one of their delicious calories actually. 

If you havent been to this festival and you are one of my people here in Seattletown, you should definatly take time to attend.  First - the church itself is a masterpiece of guilded gorgeousness.  The church offers complimentary tours through the church on the hour and its worth going so you can ooh and aaah at the lovely interior.  Second - you can snag some wonderous deals on specialty foods like olives, homemade pita bread etc.  Third - you can learn about the Greek culture through song and dance, the dance of course being useful to join in with when you have a tumtum full of lamb...and speaking of the lamb, thank you lambies for dying of natural causes so that a lovely Greek man could roast your succulent self over coals. 

I'm glad that you had a good life sniffing the flowers in your own beautiful green field, shimmying to your favorite music and smiling when you saw a rainbow or a butterfly till that day when you had had enough of all that and turned up at the Greek Fest.  And fourth - did I mention the food? Oh my goodness its wonderful.  The congruents bake for days leading up to this festival - almost everything is homemade and delectable.

Its a three day event and they are open till 9pm so no excuses.

A birthday gift from RILEY JAMES

HOT DOG!  A spectacular gift arrived today - my first artwork from Master Riley!!  At only 1 1/2 look at his talent...I love you little guy, and I love you Verna and Alex for thinking to include this with my lovely birthday card which arrived today.  It means so much when you get things like this in general, but specially when you live so far away *tear* miss you guys, wish you could be joining me for my birthday.

Buzzy Bees and Red High Heels

Thanks Mollie and Ricky, I love my honey pot!

and thanks Hailey, these are a perfect gift!

Weekend Rounds

I've been up since 4.45am and everytime I keep drifting back to sleep Im woken again so I figure I might as well be up and productive right? And what better place to start than a little blogy time.

First of all I just want to say - I love the little details in life, course, along with this love sometimes is an over-obsession with the details but I will leave that alone for another day... for now let me say that even though you are the only one in our home, I love you crystal doorknob - everytime I touch you I wish you were duplicated all over my house, but instead you are a one of a kind.  Thank you whoever thought to make you into a beautiful knob.  I love you.

Secondly - a little recap on the weekend that was. 

Mr Big, you are the light of my life and I am so fortunate to have such a fantabulous man as my best friend (with benefits) and my husband.  He always always tries his best to delight me and spoils me rotten.  All people should be so lucky!  Anyways as you know, its my birthday month, so this weekend being the closest to my actual birth day, he decided to have a little intimate celebration with some near and dears.

Friday night started it all off - we headed out to The Corner Pub for drinks, dinner and shuffleboard.  It was raining like we are famous for here in the northwest so we very nearly missed one of the things we love about this place...THE WINGS

The lighting in the corner pub isnt really geared up for photographic masterpieces...but this is a good representation of these little greasy (in a good way) delights.  One of the best things is their buffalo sauce which you can see glistening there in the background.  It's made of two ingrediants that should be married for life anyway you look at it and used in place of every other sauce - melted BUTTER and Franks Hot sauce.  Simple, and quite a palatte pleaser I might say.  This dish is best washed down with another healthy item - VODKA...

I know what you are thinking - how could a delicate flower like FeeFee drink straight vodka.  Friends - dont be silly.  This is a vodka and coke you are seeing there....at least thats what I ordered.  I watched him "mix" the other cocktails at the bar and they were all made pretty much the same way, ice, FREEPOUR vodka...then wave the coke bottle over the glass and voila! Vodka and coke essence.  As you can see the coke barely colored the russian elixer.

The other thing that this place is great for is shuffleboard, and it happens to be a favorite with Mr Big and and unnamed friend - I am respecting her request for annonimity in this blog

They also have a strange gambling game here (and at many other taverns) called pull tabs.  Basically they are little bits of paper you tear open to discover your riches...or lack there of as unnamed friend can attest to.  Sorry friend, I really was hoping you would have earned more than $1 in this lot of tabs!!!

We owe knowing about this place to one of our favorite people in the world - please stand up Mr Tad Marks....

Love you Tadpole.  You are one of the best people ever, so kind and sweet hearted, we are so glad you are part of our "family".  Thanks for introducing us to this fun tavern and thanks to you and Ronnie for the awesome gifts

A glow in the dark wand, pretty princess TAMBORINE and pink pearls and feather boa.  Perfect.

Saturday was also a good time.  First stop was Tamarind Tree, my favorite restaurant...

My camera wasnt working so well (maybe operator error?) so sorry some of these are kind of blurry... Tad and Ronnie got me yet more gifts ... a bag of more wonderous glow in the dark goodies INCLUDING drum roll please......

A GLOW IN THE DARK BUTTERFLY MASK

Oh wonderment!!  Tad states these items were from the dollar store but they were priceless to me!

and then quite unexpectedly...the birthday cake of perfect size arrived

I say perfect size because...as you can see, I am currently needing to hold my chins up with both hands...nuf said right!

Unnamed friend and her date Miss Chelsea. 

Lois and Ron looking quite concerned that the cocktail waitress wasnt ever coming back (I think they are in the midst of prayer here)

Thank God you're back.  We loved our waiter, he was a superstar!

and then....we were off for part deux, THE DUSTY 45's! Here are some of the group waiting for the show to start

I know it goes without saying - Jose must be present at all celebrations, and of course he made an appearance here too and was helpful in my dancing attempts with Mr Big.  Poor sir, sorry for probably stepping on your toes a million times - it was so fun dancing with you though!

K.  Thats pretty much all I have time for friends.  Heres to a wonderful week!

Magical Mango

Sometimes its the smallest things that are such a delight in your day - thank you Chris B for the delicious bowl of sliced mango, possibly the greatest thing ever.  Mango's are such a plethora of magicalness

#1 You smell soooo good

#2 You are a cheerful color reminiscent of fall, my favorite season

#3 Im partial to your texture when you are perfectly ripe, just firm enough to have to use a knife to cut you, but not so hard that it breaks a tooth to devour you

#4 You're tasty, oh so tasty

Corner Tavern

Ahhhh Corner Tavern - I love you.  You are so cozy, your following quirky and your chicken wings, legendary.  Can't wait to kick off my birthday weekend in your presence!

Autumn - only days away

I am so thrilled, my favorite seasons are almost upon us and pesky summer will be laid to rest! 

Fall is simply the most delicious time of the year here in yankie land - the colors are so breathtaking and make me filled up with happiness.  Mr Big and I fortunatly live right across the road from Clark Park which is one of the oldest parks in Everett and we get to see the colors from our front room.  Clark Park is bordered on three sides with old chestnut trees and the leaves on this tree are turning gold now and falling onto the green grass underneath.  I saw the blanket of leaves this morning on my way to work and wished that I had brought one of my camera with me so I could have taken a picture for you - maybe there will be one tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to so many things this fall - obviously the colors I've already touched on but I am also looking forward to:

boots

sloshing through puddles

listening to the rain on the windows

steaming hot baths (I know, not very enviromentally concious)

autumnal candles (HEYYYY pumpkin spice, I lurve you)

crafts of every kind

crocheting with Hailey

Adele (the dark seasons best friend)

roast veggies

thanksgiving

and course this is just the beginning of the list - whats on yours?

Sweet Nephew!

I love my niece Lauryn and my baby nephew sooooo much - and it kills me that it has to be from afar...but whats an ex-pat to do?  

This was one of him this past summer

1. This is my favorite photo of Al (brother) and Riley 2. This is my favorite place, Whangamata in New Zealand 3. This is right close to where Al and Verna got married!

This is the most recent picture of the wee man - experiencing the snow for the first time, I think he is also rocking the sunglasses as he does the robot. 

This is a recent picture of Laurie my sweet niece.  Thanks sissy in advance for letting me steal this picture from your FB page - you are a gem.

Weekly Photo Challenge - Summer in Review

I love these photo challenges so much! Im entering one of my favorite photos of the summer which is called "little fish big pond" and is a picture of a little boy standing considering plunging into the fridgid waters of the Puget Sound on a tar melting day! I loved the light on his face and his manly stance.

View other great entries by clicking this button:

A big weekend!

This was one of those weekends I just didn't want to end.  We were one family member down, Mr Elliott was gainfully employed as part of the Technical Crew at the Bothell High School Drama Production presenting a medley of Broadway favorites - whose favorites im not entirely certain, but they were someones favorites...more about that later.

Saturday morning was spent hacking into the jungle that has become our own personal amazon here in E-town.  Today was finally the day we had been dreading .... the unseasonal and early pruning of one of Washington's own, the Rhodie.  Dont get me wrong, rhododendrens...they are a nice enough plant - in fact I was telling the kids that when I lived in Rotorua, the lovely house we had on the hill had a rhodie tree that was one of the most beautiful things ever with huge scarlet blossoms it rose about 25 feet into the air.  This is the sort of rhodie I want our 2 foot want to aspire to be.  Mr Big worked hard and sawed off all the limbs that had decided to go out instead of up and we put steaks into the ground around it to encourage the reaching towards the sky thing.  Watch this space, luscious and tall rhodie here we come SPEAKING OF WHICH - check out Audrey.....

We had to name her when her leaves grew (literally) overnight to be larger that our heads and her height tipped 6ft.  If you come visit the Allen Abode anytime soon you might want to give her a wide birth  in case she is the man eater we named her after!

After gardening we decided to do back to school re-enactment photos even though we were sans Elmo.  I felt the desire to do these pictures because, well, I pretty much was compelled by jealousy, of all those awesome Moms that thought to do this who posted their awesome pictures on Facebook.  I salute you and your pictures.  My dear girls which wonderful sports about my request and here are the results.  Love you more than words can express Bob and Spot.

 

Beautiful girls inside and out.

Once we had finished up with the photos we chatted for a while with Tiffany our lovely neighbor.  Tiffany has a gianomic rhubarb plant in her garden and gave us some to stew up.  I knew you would'nt believe how gianormic unless I showed you evidence.  It looks somewhat juarasic dont you think?

While you are looking and marvelling at the size of this leaf let your eye look towards the house in the background.  Yes - you are seeing a yellow house with orange trim.  Let me tell you that this is our neighbors new neighbors house AND they just moved in and repainted it this color, by choice.  This friends, is evidence in plain sight that contridicts what I have always thought - that ALL gays have good taste.  Sad, but true..

After gardening we headed out to spectacular spectacular AKA Bothell High School Drama Production.  We were forboden to use flash photography because "the actors" didnt like the flash and it took them away from "their art" so the only pictures I could snap were right at the end when the thank you's were going on.  Unfortunatly I wasnt at the ready with the camera and so the best I got of El was...

Anyways - thank you BHS, a tres fun eve.  The confetti glitter cannon was worth every penny. 

Sunday we were up pretty late but not too late to call and serenade the Grammie with a lovely happy grandparent day original song we made up on the fly.  Even though we never heard it in her voice when she thanked us, Im sure she was misty up and had already perhaps shed a tear at the haunting beauty that is the Allen Family Choir.  We all got ready and headed over to Gramsterdam AKA Monroe and took her to the Sultan Bakery Cafe for lunch.  I have mentioned this terrific little spot in the the past - she seemed to like it alot too.  Just for the record, this picture has not been digitally altered and is a true representation of the enormity of the sandwiches (this blog is turning into stories about big things inadvertently..)

This is HALF of a turkey/cream cheese/cranberry sandwich - we were guessing that about 1/2 of a can of cranberry jelly was used in the making of this monolith.  Love you Evelyn, thanks for being you and just shining as you always do!