Happy Birthday Mom. Miss you.

A week in the PNW

What's does it mean to be in Seattle for 7 days?

Delicious Double Baked Almond Croissants and Rich Strong Lattes at Bakery Nouveau.

Beautiful Sunsets from Cecily's porch.




Mariner's games...



with sunseting and views of the Space Needle.





Running in a 5K for something you believe in and in memory of someone you love.




Seeing friends that you miss dearly.



Going to stores that suit you.




Watering gardens where actual vegetables grow.

Walking through a peaceful Japanese Garden with a highly entertaining friend.






Being in the same city as my sister.


:) The short version of my fabulous week. (sorry Mai, didn't think to whip out my camera when I was with you and Haole, you too Mer and E) ;)

Views of Seattle...

...from the floral perspective. 

So like my mother, I'm now hooked on plants, florals, landscaping...I used to laugh and wonder how mom could be so interested in the flowers at Disneyland when so many more interesting things were around us. And now I understand. Here are some of those that I appreciated around Seattle. ;)

Irate Parent

Whew, had SUCH an irate parent today in my office, it probably makes the top 2 confrontations I've delt with. To the point where the office staff was contemplating calling the police! And I had staff members coming up to me through out the rest of the day asking if I was okay, asking how I could stay so calm, saying they would've just left the room, or cried, or yelled back....and couldn't believe that I could hold my own with someone over twice my size. :) Hee hee...3 people even said 'congratulations'.

So out of a really really contentious and bad situation, at least I scored some points. ;)

Just wish it were Friday...

Google Map

The Google Car is in HAWAII!!!! ;) :D

AUGGHH!!! If you see it call me or text right away, maybe I can head it off and be a permit fixture in Google Map!!!

http://www.starbulletin.com/business/20090419_Oh_snap_Google_hits_town.html

(need a lesson? don't know what i'm talking about? Cec just showed me this REALLY awesome new trick to google map - it's the street view, you can literally walk along ANY street in the world - okay, not the world, the US, Japan, UK, France...anyway, other European places and look up, look down, look left, look right, walk down the street, turn the corner, etc., etc., It's like BEING there!!! I strolled down my favorite street in Japan just yesterday!) ;)

Allie - you should try this. Seriously, you could probably stroll past your apartment in Paris.

The Counter

Big Hamburger = BIG Tummy!!!! :) :D

Here's my dinner tonight! Grilled onions, roasted red peppers, fried chiles, black bean and corn salsa with southwestern sauce. Oh yeah, and provlone cheese...all on a 1/3 lb burger. (their smallest size) MMmmmmmmm.....good.

one more step

cec and i took one more big step today...(altho she's in seattle, and she really started over winter break when she was here) ;)

we're cleaning out mom's office. i'll post more pictures of mom's eclectic taste, artistic style and sense of humor later...but for now, here's some proof of just how organized she really was...

Not only did she have her beads labeled in little drawers on her desk, she also had them organized by color, type and material in containers on her shelves, then within that she had the descriptions, prices and what bead shows she got them from! (Like Cincinnati '00)

Our biggest step after letting go of them emotionally was getting her beads to someone who would appreciate them...and as soon as I opened Mom's first container, I knew who to call (well 2 people actually, unfortunately Mer is in Seattle)... so while Cec and I will be selling a few of her beads at Wendy's craft fair next month, we were really really excited that Allie is into jewelry making and was really excited about the prospect of Mom's beads...in fact you should have seen her face light up when she walked into Mom's room tonight. :) Cec and I might not have the 'eye' that Mom had, but Allie has it in heaps and bounds, and it makes it so much easier letting her things go knowing that this would make Mom happy.