College Friend Reunion

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to fly down to LA to see my dear college friends.  A couple weeks ago I had talked to my close friend Lindsey who now lives in Boston.  She told me she was going out to LA for a visit to see her family and our friends and encouraged me to come.  At the time, airplane tickets cost over $300 so I didn't think I'd be able to swing it.  Then I found out about all these great events that would be going on that weekend and realized that I needed to get down there.  After lots of searching online, I realized there's a smaller airport called Ontario right by my friends Ali and Bryan's house.  I had never even heard of the airport!  I miraculously found a flight for $180 round trip!  Ali and Bryan were gracious to let me stay with them.  But I decided to make it a surprise for my other friends and especially Lindsey.

I arrived late on Friday night.  On Saturday the major plan was for the Lockman family (Lindsey's family) and Ali and Bryan to host the annual Early Thanksgiving.  This is a tradition we started in college when Lindsey and I lived together.  Her parents would come down a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and  make a big turkey meal for all of us starving college kids.  It included all the fixins and we'd invite our friends over.  It was always one of our favorite memories.  The tradition has continued and I've only made it back to LA for one other Thanksgiving.  So I was excited to be able to participate in one again.  Lindsey and Sarah arrived around noon and it was really fun to surprise them!  All afternoon other friends arrived and we all had a great time hanging out and cooking.  The Lockman parents were amazing and treated us to a fabulous full-on Thanksgiving meal including turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and fruit cobbler.  I loved getting to catch up with everyone in person.  Two of my friends, Jen and Ali have also had kids in the past couple of years who I've never gotten to meet so that was special finally getting to see their kids in person.

The other reason that made me feel I really needed to do this trip was that Lindsey is pregnant and we got to throw a baby shower for her on Sunday!  It was fun to see her little baby bump and to hear all about her pregnancy so far.  A few of our friends hosted the shower and I gotta say I have the most creative friends.  The shower was at Jen's house in Malibu.  It was really fun to drive up PCH again and see Pepperdine where I went to college and see the beach.  Jen had decorated her house so cute with big tissue pom poms and everyone made great food.  We even decorated little onesies.  It was so great to share in Lindsey's special day and be with some of  my closest friends.  No matter how much time goes by or how much distance between us, it always feels like we haven't been apart.  Thank you dear friends for a great weekend and I can't wait to see you again! 

Bryan, Lawrence, Ali and Baby Flynn

Sarah and the Lockmans (Rusty, Julie, Lindsey & Karah)

Lawrence, Sarah and me

Sarah, Rach, Lindsey, Ali and Karah

Our awesome Thanksgiving meal!

Lindsey's special day!

Sarah, Jaimee, Ali and me

The girls

Lawrence and me

Tissue pom poms and homemade onesies--so creative!

Frame Gallery Project

Things have been so busy for us especially with work.  Nothing really fun to blog about.  Except a couple weeks ago we did complete a major home project we'd been working on for a few months. 

I have always wanted to do a frame gallery somewhere in our house just like you see in the Pottery Barn catalogs.  They look simple and so eye catching, but after reading about them I realized that they can be very tricky to hang.  Thankfully I have a brilliant engineer husband who's also talented with photos so I recruited his help. 

We have a large wall in our upstairs hallway and I couldn't figure out how the heck we would fill it until I came up with the frame gallery idea.  And I wanted to do all framed photos of great "artsy" shots that James has taken over the years.  So in a sense it would be a James Gallery.  In August we started going through our photos to figure out which ones would go well together and which highlighted James' talent best.  Then one Sunday afternoon we took over an aisle at Aaron Brothers and assembled on the floor what the collage of frames would look like hanging on the wall.  Our photos would have to be printed in random sizes, plus we wanted really quality printing so we used a company in Queen Anne called Panda Lab.  They were great!  Very professional and created beautiful prints for us.  Finally about two weeks ago we stayed up until 1am hanging the pictures.  James amazed me because he drew out all the measurements on a piece of cardboard and that's how we got the pictures hung just perfectly.  We're excited about the outcome!  And finally the wall doesn't feel so bare and boring.

BEFORE: Boring, bare wall

My brilliant husband hard at work

Getting it just perfect

Voila!

AFTER: James Gallery is complete

After choosing all our favorite pictures, we realized that all of them are from special moments or trips we've taken together.  Here is a synopsis of the photos moving from left to right, top to bottom:

1. Golden Gate Bridge from our trip to California in 2008
2. Sunrise reflecting on the top of our car in Bend, Oregon on the way home from a wedding
3. Cannon Beach from a long weekend trip we took in March 2010
4. Eiffel Tower from our trip to Europe this past May/June
5. The Louvre at night from our trip to Europe
6. A butterfly at the Butterfly House in Victoria, BC from a trip we took in Summer 2008
7. The golden dome of the capital building in Sacramento, CA from our trip in 2008
8. A waterfall in Yellowstone from our trip in May 2010
9. The sunset on the beach in Carmel the night we got engaged
10. Tulip festival in La Connor in 2008
11. The Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence from our trip to Europe

Now on to the next house project!  There's always something...

Octoberfest

Last weekend we were lucky to have my Aunt Carol and Uncle Dean from San Diego come visit.  We hadn't seen them since our wedding so it was such a treat to have them up here.  The first night we shared an awesome meal at one of our favorite restaurants in Wallingford called Bizarro.  If you haven't been there, we highly recommend it.  We used to go there all the time when we just lived down the street.  We were happy to see that the "bizarre-ness" of the place hadn't changed. 

On Saturday Dean and Carol got to join in on the annual Warner Fall Drive.  It has become a major tradition and we were excited to show Dean and Carol all the stops along the way.  I've been doing this with my parents since college and we quickly initiated James into the event the first year we were dating.  We laugh about it every year though because the first year James came along, he didn't have the greatest experience.  The night before he and I had gone out to celebrate my birthday.  We had been up really late and had quite a bit to drink.  Needless to say when my parents came around at 8am the next morning we weren't very stoked.  James was a trooper though.  He managed to keep his stomach under control through the windy country roads of Carnation.  But he almost lost it when we stopped for breakfast and my mom asked him if he wanted some eggs.  I won't go into the gory details.  Miraculously after a brat and some beer at Octoberfest, he was feeling fine. 

This year we were in much better shape and raring to go.  Dad rented a mini van so we could all drive together.  From our house we drove the country road of 203 through Carnation and Duvall up to Monroe and Sultan.  In Sultan there is an incredible bakery that we always stop at to eat doughnuts or breakfast.  Then it was on to Highway 2 up through Stevens Pass to enjoy the changing leaves and gorgeous Cascade views.  This year we lucked out with perfect weather.  We finally reached our destination of Leavenworth, a quaint German town which has Octoberfest every year for a couple weekends.  With the beautiful weather, this year it was packed!  But we didn't mind because it was so festive.  We walked the town and had lunch where the boys could enjoy their beer and brats. 

The next stop was one of my favorites--Smallwood farm.  It's this great place just outside of Leavenworth on the way to the Blewitt Pass exit.  In the fall they have a huge pumpkin patch and they make every kind of jarred jam, veggie, salsa, dip you can think of.  They also have huge bins of apples.  We love to get our pumpkins there every year and stock up on canned goods.  It's such a great place for kids too--we can't wait to bring ours here someday. 

We finished out the day driving through Blewitt Pass and then home via I-90.  This trip provides a great memory every year and we were grateful to have my aunt and uncle along with us this time.  We love you guys and it was so great seeing you! 

Happy fall everyone!

Dinner at Bizarro	Mom and Dad, Uncle Dean and Aunt Carol
We have a very similar picture to this the first year we were dating.  Can't believe that was 4 years ago!	Beautiful fall colors
We love living in the Northwest!	Think maybe they're brothers?
Good ole Leavenworth	Pumpkin patch at Smallwood farm
Love the annual Warner fall drive	Look at the poor scarecrow James hit!

Birthday Weekend

I had such a wonderful weekend celebrating my 32nd birthday.  32 years old!  I can hardly believe it.  Remember when you were a kid and 32 seemed so old?  Well here it is already.  My actual birthday was Monday, but we did most of the celebrating over the weekend.

Saturday started out with a very special coffee date with my dear friend Hillary who was visiting from Texas.  Hillary and I have the same birthday so it was really fun to be able to celebrate together in person this year!  She and I have been friends since 1st grade which translates into about 25 years.  It was so great getting to see her and catching up just the two of us.

The rest of the day was spent wine tasting in Woodinville with both James' and my families.  10 of us visited 4 wineries and it was so much fun.  We had never done the Woodinville wine tasting thing in all the years we've lived here.  If you live in this area and haven't done it, we highly recommend it.  We went to JM Cellars, Isenhower, Brian Carter, and Efeste.  I think everyone's favorite was Brian Carter.  It was such a fun activity though because it was low key and everyone could have good conversation.  Plus having good wine doesn't hurt.  The guys really loved the atmosphere of the Efeste winery because they had a TV so we didn't have to miss the Husky game.  Lots of laughs, stories, and fun all afternoon. 

Then the 10 of us headed to Purple Cafe in Woodinville for dinner.  We all sat around a huge table and continued our good conversations over great food.  Everyone surprised me with a cake and sang "Happy Birthday!"  It was one of the most meaningful and rich days I've ever had.  Thank you to the Warners, Spauldings and Antis' for making it so wonderful!

On Sunday night I got to share birthday time with my husband.  We went to a fantastic restaurant called La Rustica in West Seattle.  It's been there a long time and we've never tried it.  We were impressed!  Another strong recommendation if you've never been there before.  Thank you honey for making my birthday so special! 

All in all it was a great way to usher in my 32nd year.  It's gonna be a good one and I look forward to what's to come!



The Warner family

James' parents Barb and Jay

Isenhower winery

The boys bellying up to the bar at Brian Carter

James' sister Jacky and brother-in-law Johnathin with Meg's mom

Meg's brother Ryan and his girlfriend Tracey

The whole gang

Dinner at Purple Cafe

Awesome cake from Hoffman's bakery

Meaningful Weekend

This past weekend was packed with some meaningful and emotionally powerful events. 

On Friday we attended the BENefit for the Ben Towne Foundation.  Our good friend Kristen's nephew passed away almost 3 years ago after bravely battling Neuroblastoma cancer for over a year.  He was just 3 years old.  In his memory, his parents and family established the Ben Towne Foundation to help support pediatric cancer research so other parents don't have to go through what they did.  We went to the launch of the Foundation last year and this year we learned how much has already been accomplished from the Foundation's efforts.  The Foundation helps to support the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children's Research Institute.  The Center is trying to change how pediatric cancer is treated.  Ben's parents spoke along with some of the researchers who are leading the way with this innovative research.  It was a very moving and special evening.  We encourage you to visit the website to learn more.  While you're there, be sure to watch the special edition of The Soup that was created just for the BENefit.


Then on Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the Seattle AIDS Walk on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  We joined a team with fellow church members and walked with our good friends, Heidi and Jesse.  It was a fun neighborhood walk and a beautiful day.  They had an AIDS Memorial Tent where they displayed parts of the AIDS Quilt which was cool to see.  They also had an eye opening timeline of how AIDS has progressed in the last 3 decades. 


Finally, on Sunday morning our church launched 2 new campuses.  The main campus is in Bothell and this past weekend they started campuses in Sammamish and Seattle.  We are helping to launch the Sammamish campus by serving as usher captains.  Church is being held at Skyline High School which is an awesome facility.  The kids that go there are lucky!  We had a strong turnout for the very first Sunday and we're excited to see how many new people on the Eastside develop a relationship with Christ and find a new church home.  The Seattle campus is taking place on UW's campus in Kane Hall.  If any of you are looking for a dynamic, non-judgmental church that really "walks its talk" then we encourage you to check out one of the campuses.  

Whew!  Weekends are busy in the fall, but there's lots to look forward to.  Happy Fall everyone! 

Sounders game!

This past Saturday we went to the Seattle Sounders soccer game with our dear friends Heidi and Jesse Fader.  It has been a couple years since we went to a game and it was fun to be reminded how excited Seattleites get about soccer.  The team didn't win, but we still had a great time.  Our favorite part was being with Heidi and Jesse who are some of our closest friends.  We always have such a blast together.  We love you Heidi and Jesse and can't wait to hang out again soon!

Jury Duty

I (Megs) just successfully survived jury duty!  I thought for sure I would be chosen for a case just knowing my luck, but my name thankfully was never called.  There is a small part of me that was curious about seeing the process.  But ultimately with all that's going on with work and life right now, it feels good that I only had to sit in a room with complete strangers for about 15 hours.

That room itself was interesting to observe though.  I served duty at the King County Superior Court and the juror assembly room was HUGE!  On my first day there were probably a couple hundred people in there.  I think it's an interesting phenomenon to put a completely random, diverse group of people in a room for 8 hours.  Most people around me were reading newspapers or books, working on their computers, playing on their phones or taking a nap.  The usual things you would expect.  There were others who struck up a conversation with the stranger sitting next to them and (I'm not kidding) talked the whole rest of the time!  So some people even made friends from jury duty.  You get the occasional rude person who talks loudly on their cell phone as if everyone can't hear them.  And then one guy sitting next to me didn't have anything with him so he just sat there!  I couldn't believe he didn't bring ANYTHING to do.  I would have gone crazy.

And then over time you start to notice this collective spirit come over the group.  A kind of "We're all in this together" attitude.  You can see it on the faces around you without them saying a word.  When they look at you it's like they're saying "I know this sucks, but we can do this.  We can make it through!"

I gotta say I was impressed with the staff who worked there. I thought it would feel like the DMV where you know the employees detest their jobs and you have to go through a bunch of bureaucracy.  It was just the opposite here.  The staff was very friendly, empathetic, informative, and seemed like they actually enjoyed their job.  That made the process a lot easier to endure. 

So unfortunately no dramatic stories to pass along to you about a lawsuit or robbery case.  Maybe next time....but let's hope that's not anytime soon!