GROSSLY UNDERQUALIFIED

I am afraid for us, I really am.
Yah, I'm talking to you, with your frameless glasses and sharp business attire. You scare me...in a big way.

You go girl!!

Yesterday Chris, Kim, Kim's sweet daughter and I went for a walk around Greenlake. One thing I love about Greenlake is you never know what you are going to see. It's no Venice Beach, but you definitely get to see some characters. Whether it is the guy riding around on his oversized bicycle or the guy that rollerskates around the lake backwards, you know that if the weather is nice, you could be in for a visual treat. Yesterday was no exception. This photo doesn't do this roller skater any justice, as she was rockin' and rollin' around the lake. Hands up in the air, legs working different moves, it was like watching Saturday Night Fever on wheels. Definitely skating to the beat of her own drummer. She had her headphones on, probably groovin' out to Jump by Van Halen, or possibly Sister Christian by Night Ranger.....I'll never know, I can only dream of what was on her Greenlake Old School Rollerskate Playlist. Shout out to Greenlake Rollerskate Lady.......your zest for life is to be admired, keep rockin'!

Side note: are these not the most adorable Converse All Stars you have ever seen? I doubt they make them in women sizes, bummer.

Goodbye lawn chair......

Hello new couch and chair, so good to finally meet you! When I moved back to Seattle, I left my couch in California. I have been sitting on a lawn chair that I borrowed from my parents for the past month. Macy's was having a big furniture sale in August, so I decided to spring for a couch and chair. Here is a link to the pieces I got. I wanted to get something comfortable, but it had to be affordable (since I took a 5 month break from all things work related).
I went with a color called "Truffle", it is sort of a cross between brown and gray. It is super comfortable. A little too big for the space I have in the living room, but I won't be in this house forever.
Surprisingly, Frank hasn't started using them as scratching posts yet. He must like them because last night I woke up in the middle of the night, came out in to the living room, and Frank was kickin' it on the chair, all curled up in a little ball of black and white fur.

Welcome to my new digs....

I have had some requests from friends and family to post some pics of my new pad in Ballard. It is a great little house!! Complete with a white picket fence. I love it so far.
The house has a tiny little yard in the front, which takes about 5 minutes to mow. It actually takes me more time to get the lawn mower out of the garage and hooked up to a power source than it does to mow the lawn.

My favorite room of the house is usually my office / scrap area. No exceptions here.

New digs, cont.

The kitchen is the perfect size for one person. Lots of cabinet space. Lots of light.
The kitchen came complete with this interesting eating nook that everyone seems to dig on except myself. It seems very fast foody to me, like I'm constantly sitting in Subway. The only thing is that I don't want to banish it to the basement storage area because it fits perfectly in the kitchen space. I think I might just have to deal with it, and make it my own. I was thinking of sewing a cover for the seats and making a table cloth with a funky pattern. We'll see if that actually happens:) But for now..... Eat fresh!!
There is a small area off the kitchen with a washer and dryer, and some more cabinet storage space. Also a door to the back yard area.

New Digs, cont.

These are shots of the living room previous to the arrival of the new couch and chair. At this point, I am still using a lawn chair as my major furniture piece.
The paintings in both shots were done by my friend Jessalyn Haggenjos. Check out her website here. The rug was given to me by me madre, procured at a Rotary Club auction in the 90's.
Another new addition to the decor.....hand woven basket from Santa Fe. Also from my beloved memere, purchased on one of their trips to the southwest.
Entertainment section of the living space. Television, music, and books....oh my.

New Digs, cont.

My bedroom is a good size, and the amount of closet space is pretty impressive for such an old house. I was able to fit everything with plenty of space left over (more room for handbags and scrap stuff!!).
View from back by the closet, out to the hallway. Love the wood floors.
View into the bedroom.
The skylight in the bathroom is awesome, it really lights up the area (although you can't really tell from this picture). I don't even have to turn the lights on in there most of the time.

project: a week in my life.....

One of my favorite scrapbook artists is Ali Edwards. She is super talented and I get a lot of creative inspiration from her artistic projects. She has published a number of books on scrapbooking, including Life Artist: Scrapbooking Life's Journey. A little snippet from the introduction: "This book is about scrapbooking and about life. About capturing the life you're living, have lived and will live. About creating art from photographs, words, documents and bits of this and that...those things that help tell the stories of who you really are." After reading the book's introduction, I knew that I wanted to purchase the book and tackle some of the projects.

Ali's blog is one that I check out every day. One of the projects in the Life Artist book is a "Week-in-the-Life Album". This week Ali posted about the project, so I decided to take on the challenge over the course of the next week. Here's a little information about the project from the book: "This album is all about celebrating the everyday. The minutes and activities that make up a regular, ordinary week in your life. Washing the dishes, doing the laundry, your drive to work or your drive around town, the things you love to do (and those you're not so fond of), who you see, what you listen to, etc. Think of all the things you do in a seven-day period. Whether you're a professional, a stay-at-home mom or retired (or something entirely different), there are so many things to celebrate in your everyday life--who you are, what you do and how you feel about your life as you're living right now."

I think this is a cool project for a couple reasons. Scrapbooking is all about creating something to document your life for not only yourself, but for future generations. A scrapbook can be passed down from generation to generation. What would it be like to have a book with photographs and journaling that outlines the week in the life of one of your ancestors from 100 years ago? I think it would be pretty incredible! How would our daily activities differ over years or decades? I am excited to take on this project this year, and maybe do it again in a couple years to see how my life has changed over that time period.

If you see me this week, I'll have my camera with me. And you will end up being a part of the project.

Afternoon with Atticus

Atticus turned 4 months old today! Gina, Atticus, and I spent the afternoon down at Golden Gardens. It was absolutely beautiful, perfect late summer day at the beach.
Ah, look at him in all his pudgy glory! I am going to be sad when that adorable chub starts to melt away as he grows up. His cankles are money.
One of the many smiles from the afternoon. He is starting to become really expressive, and he likes to giggle and squeal.
Atticus and Aunt Jess. We had a hard time getting him to look at the camera. I love how his bottom lip kinda puckers up under his top lip, a la Peter Griffin from Family Guy.
This was Atticus's facial expression after toe dunkage into Shilshole Bay. Not super excited about it. He'll be loving the water at this time next year, I'm sure of it.

All things owl

I swear, Target is like crack to me. Well, probably not exactly like crack, but you get the idea. I wouldn't say I go there any more than the average person, but when I do shop there I end up leaving with way more than I actually planned on buying.
When I saw these two pairs of pajama bottoms, I couldn't resist. I like owls and thought these were really sweet and cute. The pair above has colorful owls all over them, and the pair below just has one owl patch sewn on to the hip.
Remember how I said in one of the posts below how I thought bow-ties were sexy? Well, while I was at Target I bought a bow-tie......wait for it......for Frank. Yeah, a cat bow-tie. You do not need to tell me how ridiculous a cat bow-tie is, I realize this. But I couldn't help myself. It was like a $1.99 and I think it will make Frank look quite debonaire. Pictures to come, as soon as I can get the dang thing on him.

Nature....Goulet....(part two)

I am fairly certain I already have done a post entitled "Nature....Goulet...." but I love saying it so much that I figured I'd say it again. Nothing like beating a phrase into the ground, right? Over the past couple days, one of the rose bushes in my front yard has totally blossomed.
I don't think I did the roses justice, they are much prettier in person. The colors are so vibrant, shades of red, pink, and yellow.
I can't wait to find out what else blossoms in the spring! My plan is to plant some lavender, it is probably my favorite plant, and I love the smell.

Stuff for the little guy

Atticus, Gina, and I have a play date tomorrow. When I was at Target today, I couldn't help but pick up these two Halloween related items for the little tyke. Halloween has always been Gina's favorite holiday, so I will be excited to see the costumes Atticus has over the next couple years.
I love baby hats, and this one is no exception. It is an owl hat. I'll try and get some pictures of Atticus wearing it tomorrow.
I figured Gina would get a kick out of this bib...."I Love Mummy".....how cute is that? Soon Atticus will start to eat baby food and cereal, so bibs will be a must. Now I just need to find a bib that says "I Love Aunt Jess".

Oh, snap!!

One word: Dang!

I make it no secret that I like to blog stalk. I found Matt Clayton's photography blog through one of my favorite scrapbooker's sister-in-law's blog. Yeah, I know it sounds confusing, but it really isn't. It is like a blog of a blog of a blog type thing. Whatever. Anyway, so I occasionally stalk Matt Clayton's blog because I love his photography style. It is super clean and crisp.

I stumbled across this post the other day. His name is Kyle Beckerman, and apparently he plays for Real Salt Lake.

5 things that I dig about this photo:
1. Dreadlocks. He wears them well.
2. Bow-tie. Why don't more guys wear bow-ties? They kick ass. And look all old-timey sexy.
3. Suspenders. If I didn't have breasts, I would totally rock suspenders.
4. Soccer ball. I have had a weakness for soccer players since I was a wee lass. No other team sport has, in my opinion, more attractive dudes. Which leads to......
5. Overall hotness. On a scale of 1 to 10, this guy is an 11. That's right Spinal Tap, crank it up to 11.

That's Mr. Heartbreaker to you!

I have seen Atticus a few times since I have been back in Seattle, and he looks SOOOOO much different now than he did during the first few months of his life. He is such a little, chubby, adorable baby now! Not that he wasn't super cute before, but now he has the facial expressions to go along with the awesomeness. He is way past the newborn baby stage. I need to take some new shots of him because he almost looks like a different baby now. Gina, Atticus, and I are going to do some hanging out this weekend, so my goal is to take lots of photos of this tyke. If you are interested in checking out more recent pictures of Atticus, check out Gina's blog here.

new music.....

Last weekend while I was hanging out in Ballard, I decided I was due for a trip to Sonic Boom. It has been a long time since I bought a fist full of CDs. I was long overdue. Here is what I picked up:
Mates of State: Re-Arrange Us. Absolutely love this release. Love. It. This has to be my favorite album of theirs. I have been listening to it almost non-stop since I bought it. In the car and at home. My favorite tracks? In no particular order: Get Better, Now, and The Re-Arranger. They apparently had an in-store at Sonic Boom in May, but I missed it because I was in California. I'm not sure when they are going to play in Seattle again, but I will definitely be there!!
I have a soft spot in my heart for all things Beck. I have loved Beck since the days ofMellow Gold circa 1994. I was a junior in highschool at the time and he was pretty much the shit. I remember rockin' it out to Loser and Beercan with my friends....Party at Gina's house! Or PAG as we used to call it. Wow, that was a long time ago.
I freely admit to loving Coldplay. Viva La Vida and Violet Hill are two of my favorite tracks so far, but I haven't really gotten too far in to the CD since Mates of State have been on repeat. Hold on to your hat Chris Martin, I'll get to you. Don't worry.
Not sure I am loving this Neko Case one. I had, and still have, a love affair with Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. That album is amazing. My parents even dig on that album. I love it that my parents are open to listening to music that I like. My dad listened to the Iron & Wine album that I got him so many times that my mom actually commented on how tired she was of listening to it, which brought a smile to my face. Stay tuned for more on this Neko Case album, I need to give it more of a shot.

WWJD?

I don't consider myself a religious person at all, but this neon sign is the shit. Probably my favorite sign in all of Ballard. WWJD? How about construct an enormous hot pink neon sign showcasing his talent for all to see? Done.
Want to see the sign for yourself? Drive north on 24th St NW, close to 80th.