Vancouver/Whistler Part 2

The next leg of our journey (after a very big breakfast...) was to Granville Island. I don't know how I've gone this long in my life without going there. rediculous! It's like Pike Place on superdrive!

The poppies had JUST arrived (first of the season) when we arrived and I nearly lost my mind. These pics are just my phone pics, my camera pics are even better!

Granville has all the "market" feel of Pike with the addition of MUCH more prepared food, meats and salads, etc as well as hand crafted items. I could seriously spend a week going through the place but Keith hit his max at a little over an hour. it was a great trip!
also there... lily of the valley! gorgeous!

Next stop on our journey was to Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge. it's a little smaller than Capilano, but free! and the hike on the other side of the bridge was fantastic! We hiked DOWN (and down) to a spot on the river that pooled up this beautiful color, blue, green, I don't know how to describe it other than the most beautiful deep rich color of aqua! we knew it was going to be a bear to get back up after climbing down the hill and the stairs but about half way through...

THIS started getting real old... climbing back up these stairs nearly did me in, but it was gorgeous and totally worth it, the weather was great and spending time with Keith was fun, he was in rare form...

and can I just say KUDOS to me... I hate heights, hate bridges over water and I walked tentitively at first over the suspension bridge but by the time we were leaving I was running across it, not thinking about my fear, just enjoying the beautiful place. YAY!

I highly suggest Lynn Canyon, the visitor center was amazing, the suspension bridge is stunning and the hikes around are great and fairly easy.

the ultimate cake!

I have to share my latest creation...

Chocolate cakes filled with homemade strawberry rhubarb jam topped with vanilla whipped cream and the topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

Vancouver - Part 1

We started our adventure to Vancouver with a trip to the Everett clinic to get Keith cleared for travel after his fun day with Kidney Stones, they gave us the all clear and off we went!

We took the scenic route up Chuckanut and it did not disappoint! The tide was super low so at the first view point we could look out and see the oysters at Taylor Shellfish, I've never seen that before. So great. We had a nice time chit chatting and heading up to the border.

We made it up and through the traffic and got to our hotel, interesting story, when using priceline make sure you're sure about which area of town you want your hotel in, ours was ok, not fantastic but we had fun anyway. We stayed at the Coast over by Stanley Park, the rooms were like little apartments with small kitchenettes and living rooms. Definitely doable. We only had one night so we took a recommendation from a friend for dinner and Keith was a trooper, we headed to Sha-Lin noodle house, I loved it, Keith wasn't thrilled. Lesson learned, when in a strange town, don't go for the most exotic thing you can find...

We finished the evening with a walk down to the safeway a couple blocks from our hotel to get Mikayla her special Canada request: Pickle potato chips and Ketchup potato chips. I rounded it out with tim tams (my fav) and ketchup. why ketchup? it's sweeter in canada and I love it. I stocked up and we're set for a while...


Friday morning I took Keith to a breakfast place I had researched... Paul's Omlettry. It was delish! Keith got a pancake breakfast and I got blackstone eggs benedict (bacon on the eggs benedict instead of ham) it was killer!
My favorite part of the breakfast? when you order coffee or tea, you are asked if you want milk or cream. HECK YES! CREAM! I'm moving.

things I should have posted... Halloween 09!

See I'm catching some things up!

This halloween I had the bright idea of Mikayla and I making her costume... to save money....

yah right. we ended up spending a bit more than we would have just buying her something but I will say, she loved what she had, it was unique and really pretty easy (and quick)

Here's the run down.
We purchased 6$ worth of red swim suit fabric, about 10$ in tulle and a little bit of elastic at the fabric store. We also bought a 1$ headband and I had black pipe cleaners and yarn.

Mikayla sewed the red swimsuit fabric into a tube with the sewing machine following my pins (yay!), we then took a sharpie and drew the circles (dots)

I read instructions on how to make a tutu, your warning... it takes forever, you feel like you've tied tulle onto that string for eons, that and you cut the tool into about 1000 pieces. but it did come out really really cute.

I made two little pom poms with yarn and wrapped them with a pipe cleaner around the headband. actually came out super super cute!
Here she is!
The makeup was a little over the top, red lips and all. don't you love her eyes! liquid eyeliner is NOT fun to take off of an 8 year old though. you've been warned.

our very cute family carved pumpkin guarding our fireplace.
We had a blast, we went to my Mom's early to say hi, then to the church for our big festivities (with Keith AND Marina) then we went over to my Aunt Dewey's and trick or treated in her neighborhood, it was Marina's first trick or treat experience and a total blast!

some new favorite blogs!

So I HAVE to share! I found some blogs that are fantastic and just have to share!

Secrets of a Super Mommy - oh my gosh! from a recipe book for her daughters easy bake oven to the cutest ideas for taking care of her family. this is hands down my favorite blog right now!

Skip to my Lou - a great site for ideas, easy crafts, and just plain CUTE!!

Love Actually - a fantastic site with lots of cute ways to show love to your husband. I've been loving this site for a couple weeks now and holy cow it's GREAT!

Twig & Thistle - crazy finds and fantastic crafty goodness!

Fistful of Coupons - my favorite coupon blog, it's cute, there's a specific safeway page and it's well laid out and lots of links. LOVE IT!

Frugal NW Living - the best local frugal website ever. coupons, deals, ideas, just great

HAVE FUN EVERYONE!!

Portland trip

This falls into the category of things I should have blogged but didn't...

In January we made the trip down to Portland to see my bro in law Mike with his Cavaliers

some exciting things that happened (besides the Cavs winning)...

1. it was my first time to see Shaq in person.

That is one big boy. I actually think I stared at him the entire game like he was a circus freak or something... I made the comment to Mom and Keith that now I think I know what David must have felt like when he saw Goliath. danggggg.

2. it was my first time in the Rose Garden and let me tell you, Portland loves their Trailblazers and it was a GOOD time, everyone was friendly and getting to the game on the max was AWESOME!

3. The MAX. public transportation done right. wow. pick up the train outside of the hotel, get dumped at the arena and then scoots you back to the hotel after. loved it

4. Our first trip to VooDoo Donuts. I don't think this place was around when I was in Portland more often and if it was the locals who took me around Portland should be shot (that was '94)

5. Breakfast at the hotel restaurant unlike any I've ever had before (the Original http://www.originaldinerant.com/index.php)

great eggs benedict, the place is like an upscale old diner but the most delicious food ever!

6. Our hotel! Courtyard Marriot city center. the place was gorgeous! great everything. we'll be back. LEED Gold and great artwork and the bedding was fantastic. loved every minute.

7. Our Waterfall trip - on our free day we walked around Portland in the morning and everyone bore with me while I scooted up to see if my pursemaker was open (not yet boo!) and then on a whim we decided it would be fun to head out to Multomah Falls. It'd been a long time between trips for me. The last trip would have been on the way from Portland to Walla Walla in '95? yowsa! It's a gorgeous drive along the Columbia river to the most beautiful waterfall I've seen in some time!

Keith and Dad and I walked up to the bridge and Keith continued on to head to the top of the falls, he almost made it before he realized he was fully out of communication from the rest of us and as he wasn't sure how long it'd take and how long we wanted to wait he came back down. We had a great bite to eat at the lodge and then hit the road for home.

8. the food... We had a big breakfast (the original) then a snack at Multnomah and then I forced my family to try German food (eh they say but I loved it) then we headed north to Spiffy's for the biggest, baddest, most awesome banana cream pie EVAH!!!

9. A trip to Cabella's... Mom and Dad hadn't been yet and I knew they'd freak! it was great! Dad could have made that his destination for the day and Keith and Mom and I had a blast! i heart you Cabella's.

We had a blast on the trip, it was so fun to see Mike and such fun with my parents! And Portland, you're pretty dang cool. I can't wait to get back!

Dining room lighting delima

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm frugal. some would say cheap. but I like to get alot of bang for my buck and I'm a careful girl!

Our dining room has a cap where lighting can be installed (say a chandelier or what have you) and I've got a great idea but no idea how to implement...

here's what I LOVE...

The top two are my absolute favorite but I love the versatility of the third...

I found a tutorial on the one below:


her inspiration:

http://www.apennysavedblog.com/2009/06/diy-chandelier-tutorial.html

What she came up with:

have any of you messed with lighting? it looks like with a few parts and some muscle this is possible. have you seen anything? I'd like to keep the project under 50$ so that I have some room in the budget to paint the dining room wall and do an inexpensive window treatment in there too...

HELP!!!

A contest is a coming!!!

I HAVE OLYMPIC FEVER...

and I have been contacted with a neat proposition...

so... to start the fun, please respond with what you're looking forward to MOST about the Winter games in Vancouver? Apollo? Ice Skating? Curling?

and make sure you check back later as I'll be putting up the contest details tonight!

Mikayla quotes...

So I was at the church all day saturday so Mikayla was with Mom and in the evening on our way to the grocery store was the first time she had to talk to me... one of those moments that I just love!

She asked me "Kim did God really have us planned out 100 years before we were born?"

we talked about that for a while, she asked a few more questions and then busts out

"Isn't it weird that canadian bacon tastes like ham and not bacon?"

now that's a random change in conversation...

gotta love the little moments where she's so free to talk about anything and everything but dang she threw me off! ;)

favorite things about this weekend...the quick version

1. I got to ring the bell at our church...

2. I had the pleasure of meeting a new couple at our church and coordinate (helped anyway) their reception.

3. I got to help with a wedding all at the same time (two events at the church at the same time)

4. I saw a 4 month old on a potty.

5. I saw groomsmen walk into the star wars theme, but cool

6. I saw a photography team of 4 photographers shoot quite a wedding. yes 4.

all in all a great Saturday ;) feel free to ask questions, I dropped some bombs out there ;)

fun hilarious customer comments...

Occassionaly I find something hilarious. thought I'd share...

These are real customer Reviews on Real products and man do people get creative and have FUN!

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Three-Wolf-Short-Sleeve/product-reviews/B002HJ377A/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-Tourbillon-Titanium-Chronograph-96-0529-4035/product-reviews/B001K3IXW8/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

http://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Sapphire-Diamond-Necklace-ARPELS/dp/B0029T4GAU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=jewelry&qid=1265397482&sr=1-2

have fun!

formal shots - the beach