Root Beer Float Night (Well, every night seems to be lately!!)

I was lucky to be able to leave work around 1 today which meant I could get a bunch of errands done much earlier too. So with this extra time, I hit the mall, Chipotle for lunch, Target, groceries, the florist, and Michael's. I rely heavily on lists these days, so it always feels great to have a bunch of check marks at the end of the day!! I have all my hotels priced out and did some more wedding stuff with Andrew too, but that involved mostly singing and dancing to some potential reception songs. Ah, what fun!
I love a nice walk after dinner too of course, especially on nights like this one, where the sun is going down and I can still be warm in my flip flops.
Milestone of the day: Receiving and paying our first mortgage bill.
I am about to go make a root beer float (the current house favorite), clean out my huge purse, do a few more online searches, and check out a magazine before bed. It's already the middle of the week again?!

The Art of Cuddling

Why have two dog beds when you only need one? Any chance he gets, Porter will leave his own bed behind and try to fit into the remainder of Hampton's. I am proud that I have taught them to cuddle so well.

Never a Case of the Mondays

Today began with a relaxed meal at one of my favorite local breakfast stops, Endolyne Joe's. It's just a couple of miles from home and they have delightful Caramel Apple French Toast. I had to give in to my craving! Usually I would spend more time in that area as it's right by Lincoln park but there were still a few things on my to-do list that had to get done.

The late afternoon was spent on Mike's deck for a bbq overlooking the water. It turned out to be a beautiful day despite the cold and rain that was happening as I lounged around in my pj's earlier this morning. On the dog walk tonight I noticed again that our new neighborhood has been so peaceful lately. I love it here and what a great weekend!

Sunday Funday

And here is Barty in action from the BBQ today. Thanks for hosting a great afternoon! Somehow the cupboard is now stuffed with a ton of Hershey's products too! Mmmm!

Can I just say that this hubby-to-be is the best? He does it all and then some. It would not be a weekend without a little yard work, right? Even Portie pitched in to keep him company.

Yahtzee Addiction!!

I guess those endless hours of Yahtzee paid off for Andrew. It's hard to tell here, but the score is 680! He will challenge anyone to a match! This has to be a world record...I am thinking about calling those Guinness Book folks!

Ode To Shorty

So the longer I live here, the more I realize that I really like the NW Tribal Art that is everywhere in this city. In discovering this, I also realized that I love the work of Richard Shorty. I bought my first Hummingbird piece and have it up in the living room. Let the collection begin. Hummingbirds represent love and luck so I thought it would be perfect as a new blessing in our new home. I bought a new feeder for Andrew's weekly surprise last week too - the old one cracked and leaked all over. It's so fun when they visit the yard now!

Step two of my collection will be the Hummingbird and the Butterfly.

I walked down to the market the other day in search of this, but they do not sell it at that location. Well, at least I was able to get some mini donuts while I was there. Yum!

Good Times of The Week

Garlic pepper shrimp skewers at our BBQ, make-up with Alyce on Monday, Andrew's garden, finding a local florist for the wedding, Beth celebrated 30 years, new sleigh bed (even though we had to completely swap our room with the guest room due to some spacing issues :)!!), pedicure, frozen snickers, exploring the neighborhood with the boys, Spiros, Friday happy hour at Pyramid, dinner at a new WS restaurant where our wedding musician now works, the wedding checklists, honey lattes over good conversation in the morning, Case is in his new house, weekend fun!
Hey I gotta start somewhere on catching you up on things!

Some Big Updates To Get You Caught Up!

Here's Andrew and I in front of our new house! We love it and are really happy to have a place to call our own!! I wish I would have counted how many times I have been to Target since we moved in on April 27th :) The dogs seem to love it too...
Porter is pretty chill as he waits for Andrew to get home from a Home Depot run. What a handsome dog!
And here's Hamps being Hamps....cute as can be if you ask me!

Paging Dr. Kremer!!!! A HUGE congrats to the greatest doctor I know on her graduation from medical school last weekend. She will go on to do one year in Fargo and continue her residency at Stanford!!! And she is also my maid of honor! I'm so lucky!!
Another HUGE congrats to dear Abby for graduating from PA school in Iowa on Friday!! I am raising a glass to you from here!! Hooray!

Oooh and some more wonderful news that I am proud to share....our dear friends Shawn and Jill Deitering recently announced that they are expecting Baby Deitering at the end of the year. They are a big part of my life so I am SOOO happy for them and hope to be the favorite aunt!! Thanks to Jill for letting me share the big news!

And since some of you are wondering, I thought I would throw in a little wedding update. Plans are moving right along and the big day is coming soon!! A special thanks to our wedding party for saying YES: Marn, Dan, Jill, Brian, Beth, Brandon, Joe, Rob, Case, Cor, and Col! And to Ed Fedele for wanting to be our officiant - how special! You can also check out the wedding website -- I hope to get the lodging booked this week!! I keep saying that but I am trying to get the absolute best deals for downtown Seattle. It's been really fun to plan so far but I keep thinking I am going to forget something!

So keep the good news coming! There is even more to share so I will get it all posted as this moves along! I could probably do this all day! Off to a BBQ! Happy Memorial Weekend - Hugs!

I'm Bloggin'!!!

Well here goes day one of my very own blog.... I figured why not join in so I have a way to capture all of my days!! My goal is to try to document some highlights of each day and let everyone know how we are doing in Seattle!
How exciting!
To get started, here are a few big things that are going on in life right now.....
friends, family, the animals, the new house, planning the wedding, and enjoying every moment!
I am one VERY HAPPY and GRATEFUL PERSON!
Hugs, ErBear