Fall Colors & Orange Spice Paint

We've painted! Matt was pretty reluctant to make any permanent changes to our apartment since we've only signed a one year lease but I was persistent in my demands to paint. Eventually, we compromised: if I did all the work including painting the wall back when we move, I could paint the wall whatever color I wanted. So I chose Orange Spice paint by Better Homes and Gardens!

Let me tell you, an accent wall has made our space feel so homey. I adore the warmth and brightness this color adds to our living room, especially with how gloomy the Pacific Northwest has been this fall.

What we're into this week:

• Matt is playing Borderlands 2 and Torchlight II. He just finished reading The King Killer Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss and began reading the Mistborn Trilogy by Brian Sanderson earlier this week. He's plowing through books with his 2 hours of commuting time Monday through Friday.

• I'm reading The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris and watching the HBO TV show based on the novels called True Blood (I'm just starting on season 4 of 5). The books are fast paced and funny, but I'm not as big of a fan of the TV series.

• Here are a few quotes that have been on my mind recently:

• I only do this until I get dizzy & then I lay down on my back & watch the clouds, she said. It sounds simple but you won't believe how many people forget the second part. - Proper Steps, StoryPeople.com

• Things to know about the future 1. It doesn't have to look any particular way, but around here, if it doesn't, a lot of people will never speak to you again. - Future Things #1, StoryPeople.com

• Anyone can slay a dragon, he told me, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero. - Real Hero, StoryPeople.com

Downtown Date Success

Our downtown date was a success! The bus ride took about an hour both ways, but it was nice to be able to read instead of having to drive during rush hour traffic. We enjoyed walking around, people watching and getting to eat two meals out at a restaurant in one day! 

Ere relaxing while I pack boxes just before our move!

Matt and I on the bus to downtown Seattle bright and
early. We're testing out his commute to his new fancy job!

Street art near Pioneer Square.

Matt at breakfast in this little diner/deli. Delicious omelettes!

Me at breakfast enjoy the fresh brewed coffee!

Strange street art taking up several parking spaces, which I think
might have been the point. 

Apparently it was pedestrian participation preferred so I tied
some hot pink strings to other strings.

Outside the downtown Seattle library. I <3 libraries!

Down the strangest hallway I've ever seen.

So bizarre.

Oh dewey decimal system, why must you make me laugh?

Our new Ferris Wheel that cost $14 pp to ride. Absurd!

Intense street preacher who basically said that we're all going to hell.

Near Pike's Market Place

Guerrilla gardening!

 

Beecher's handmade cheese. Yum!

Flowers I picked from the garden :)

Visitors from Texas & pictures from a hike to Silver Falls

In early August, Team Smelkins received visitors from my hometown in Texas. Sunshine and MacMan were able to stay with us for a week which gave us plenty of time to explore the area. We took two trips to downtown Seattle & Pike Place Market, visited the EMP & Seattle Aquarium, experienced zip lining on Camano Island, walked the beach at Point Defiance State Park and hiked on Mount Rainier.

It was a full week of tourism and by the end of it, I was exhausted and quite a bit more poor than I was seven days prior. Truly though, we were so pleased to have visitors and I open-arms-welcome Sunshine, MacMan and anyone else from back home who cares to visit us in the future!

I'm currently at work (being entirely unproductive) so I don't have access to most of my pictures but here are a few from our hiking day trip at Mt. Rainier:

 

Silver Falls, Mt. Rainier

Matt and the absurdly large tree root system, Mt. Rainier - Silver Falls Trail near Ohanapecosh

MacMan attempting to straighten out the crooked tree, Mt. Rainier - Silver Falls Trail near Ohanapecosh

Gardening Update

Last time I posted, I was writing about local food and gardening and it's about time I updated you on the latter of those topics. We've had quite a bit of sunshine lately in the PNW and the weather is starting to warm up (highs of 60 degrees and lows of 40 degrees)! The advent of spring has slowly started to change the landscape and it's starting to look like the place Matt and I fell in love with when we visited on our honeymoon.

The local flora are taking advantage of the warming weather by putting out buds and flowers by the ton. One of the pacific rhododendrons living in our apartment complex is heavy with beautiful blossoms. Did you know that the pacific rhododendron is the state flower of Washington?

Anyway, about a month ago I planted the potatoes (organic red potatoes that I accidentally let sprout on my counter) and snap pea seedlings (from Lowe's - nothing fancy there). They're both growing great thus far. I even put in some stakes for the snap pea plants to grow on because their little grabby vines were grow all over the place (they're a bush variety so I wasn't supposed to have to stake them but this may be for the best).

Sprouted potatoes just before I covered them with 1" dirt.

Tiny potato plant breaking the soil! (~ 1 month later)

Snap Pea plants just after planting.

Snap Pea plants growing big! (~1 month later)

I won't be doing another round of planting for another month or so but I am really excited about what we already having growing. By my porch I also planted a little patch of echinacea seeds and another patch with a daisy wild flower seed mix. The daisy seedlings are just now poking their little leaves above the surface.

Matt laughs at me every time I drag him outside to show him another seedling but I am so terribly proud of all my little plantlings! I can't help it. I don't think I have a particularly green thumb but I am determined to be a backyard gardener even if we live in a landscaped apartment complex. 

#SeaSnow

Seattle is undergoing some really intense weather. We've had freezing temperatures and snow storms and sleet and ice storms the past few days. The power has gone out at our places of employment and at some of our co-workers homes (but not for us, thank goodness!).

We are grateful that Matt's work is closed because of the power outages and hope that my evening work shift will be canceled as well. I really don't wish to be driving on these roads, especially after dark. Our tiny car was not built to handle such wild conditions, nor have I much experience with them. (Update: my shift tonight was cancelled!)

We are safe and warm right now. Drinking lots of hot tea & hot chocolate, eating chili & oatmeal. Thank goodness I stocked up on food and good library books a few days ago! Thus far, we are enjoying being snowed in and are hoping to remain so until the weather & road conditions become more reasonable.

The winter wonderland we woke up yesterday!

When the snow was just beginning....

Snow on all the plants & cars

Sledders in our backyard

The snow after the sledders got to it. It melted some yesterday
& then refroze during the night. The snow isn't so soft and fluffy anymore.

Finally we were brave enough to venture out for a few minutes!

Ice clinging to the tree branches.

Icicles on the bushes

Back indoors with my cookie monster feet to keep me warm!

Christmas is what you make of it

Happy Holidays from Team Smelkins!

We don't have a kitty, but we put a stocking up for the kitty
we hope to have some day in the future!

Is it Christmas already?! The holidays don't feel as if they even began because they weren't ushered in by the intense amount of family togetherness that I am used to being surrounded by this time of year. Ignoring my opinion on the subject, decorations and presents found their way to the Pacific Northwest and the holiday cheer snuck into our apartment. Honestly, I'm grateful for the care packages that ninja-ed their way into our apartment because it eases the strange heartache I feel about not spending Christmas engulfed by my insane family traditions.

The sight that greets you when you walk in our front door!

Cinnamon scented pine cones! Cinnamon is the best scent of the holidays season.

Reindeer towels & oven mitts (not pictured)

Jingly snow man door hanger

Our Christmas-tree-shaped rosemary plant sunning itself on the window sill!

Christmas presents! Hooray!!!

Christmas presents under our rosemary tree!

Tomorrow (Christmas day) Matt and I will open the presents we've received. Afterwards we're going to watch Home Alone and bake homemade pizza with sausage and zucchini.  For desert we will gorge ourselves on ice cream and the chocolate pumpkin spice cake I baked recently.

Thanks google images

Our plans are no more complicated than that. In the evening, I might wrap the presents we bought for our friends and family just because it seems like such a strange thing to do on Christmas day!

I am excited to start new traditions during our first married Christmas season and to make relaxation & togetherness our #1 priority. This year has been such an incredible and eventful year for us and I am happy to entertain an uneventful holiday season. 

Christmas is what you make of it and this year, it's all about the low key love.

The following is a reading from a small group I participate in that I would like to share with you.

 "Sometimes it's hard to know what to make of Christmas. It seems to have such a multitude of meanings.

Is it only a punctuation mark in the change of the season and the turning of the years?

Or is it only a chance to discover amidst the frenzied, frantic busyness of our lives, a time of stillness and quiet and rest?

Or is it only an excuse to celebrate a little, to indulge ourselves a little, in the abundance of the season -- food and drink and music and gifts shared with family and friends?

Or is it only an evil plot by corporations to keep us forever trapped in a vicious cycle of getting and spending on things we neither truly need nor want?

Or is it only a time to carry on family traditions, whether those traditions still mean much to us or not, because they reconnect us with our childhoods, our families, and all those who have come before us?

Or is it only a time, when the world around us seems cold and barren, to celebrate what is best within the human spirit -- our capacity for love, concern and generosity, not only for friends and family, but for all humankind, especially those who may not share in our abundance?

Or is it only a time when we affirm, that as the sun just began its return on the longest, darkest nights of the year, that there is hope for our own lives and our world even during the darkest times of our lives, a time when we remind ourselves of this hope by decorating everything around us with light, a time when we affirm with our effort that perhaps one day there will be peace on earth and goodwill toward all?

Or is it only a time when we celebrate in story and song the birth of a child born as a savior to his people, a child not born to royalty, but to humble parents in humble beginnings, reminding us in a different way that salvation comes unexpectedly in the unlikeliest of times and in the unlikeliest of places and that love must become incarnate to become real?

Or is it something completely else?"

-- Reverend James Kubal-Komoto, Saltwater Church

Saturday Share: Thanksgiving come and gone, Wedding!, and Making Friends is Hard To Do

I've been a little neglectful of you, blog world. But my real life has felt super crazy as of late. Do not fear!, I have plenty to update you on but don't expect much insightful commentary. I just don't know if I have it in me tonight. 

Also, just to let you all know, Matthew and I lost the charger for our camera battery. So all the pictures in this post are from our camera phones. Not the most spectacular pictures, but at least they're somethin'!

Okay. So let me start with what has kept me away from you all for so long:

The enchanting wedding of Mr. & Mrs. E (officially!). This wonderful couple was married the Friday after Thanksgiving which made the holiday super hectic and extremely memorable. I felt so special and blessed to be able to share this day with my friends because it had been too long since I had seen the lovely pair AND now we we have newly wed friends! I was so excited to be in their wedding party (my very first time!) and I even did a reading during the ceremony (such a beautiful reading - click here to read). 

During my reading in the ceremony, I proceed to blush violently all over my chest, neck and face (which I didn't notice but is pretty typical for me). After the departing processional, the wedding coordinator hunted me down and gave me cortisone cream because she thought I was breaking out in hives (I'm sure most of the crowd thought so too)! But really, the wedding was amazing and I loved all the Persian dancing. What great memories for everyone to look back on!

While in Houston for the wedding, some of my family was able to drive in to visit which eased the sting of spending my first Thanksgiving away from them. I have been very diligent in requiring my thoughts to not linger on the strangeness of spending holidays without my family of origin (and I know Matt feels similarly). I am so thankful to my mom and grama for coordinating the trip and bringing along my favorite niece!

There were only two major downsides to this trip. Matthew wasn't able to come with me to see our friends and family. Obviously, getting Black Friday as your day off is impossible in the retail world. This also meant the poor boy had to spend thanksgiving by himself (playing video games and eating burritos). The second major pitfall was that there was not enough down time amidst the madness to get in as much super quality friend time that I wanted. Le sigh. You can't win 'em all, eh?

Travelling over the Thanksgiving holiday wasn't as awful as I thought it might be. However, my flight to Houston left 30 minutes later than scheduled so I nearly missed my connecting flight in DFW. I must say, I love running through airports at top speed. My flight back to Seattle was uneventful except for the fact that I forgot how long it takes to wait in line to check a bag - I almost missed this flight altogether because I didn't allot enough time before take off to get myself checked in (I was the last person to board the plane).

On the flight back, there were clear blue skies until we hit the Washington state border (I swear!). Then all I could see from my window seat was clouds and fog. Before we landed, the pilot was giving us an update on the local time and weather and said it was a "nice day" in Seattle with overcast skies and 50 degree weather!

Now it is back to work making money AND friends! Matt and I are both trying really hard to cultivate new friendships to help make us feel more at home in WA. It's not easy when all I can think about is how awesome my friends down South are. In the past, I wasn't so intensely aware of how hard it is to form friendships because school was always the perfect venue to create bonds with other people my age. But now that we have both graduated, we are having to seek other ways of building a support system.

In an attempt to follow through on this notion, we were brave little socialites last night. We were invited to a karaoke bar with a few of my co-workers from Olga's and decided to tag along. At first, things felt a little awkward but the night ended up being a lot of fun for both of us. Karaoke may not be soul searching conversation, but it was a step in the right direction.

Yesterday, I got off work annoyingly early so I had 3 hours to kill before picking Matt up from work. So I drove down to a nearby park to hike around and enjoy the partly sunny day! Here are a few pictures from my trip:

Oh the views from the Seattle Coast!

Such a pretty area!

Wild mushrooms I saw - Anyone know if they're edible?

Fern plants growing from the tree. Strange!

All bundled up in my winter coat and gloves, I hiked around the few miles of trails for about 2 hours. I enjoyed the quiet, the fall leaves under my feet, and the way the trail meandered the small plot of forest in the middle of a city. I was looking forward to stopping by the beach at the end of my hike to watch the sunset over the Puget Sound. I could already tell it was going to be a gorgeous sunset by the orange colored forest floor I was walking on.

As I got nearer to the beach, I saw a park ranger truck slowly driving around and then heard him calling into his megaphone, "Will the owner of the white Toyota please report back to their vehicle. The park is now closed and your vehicle will be locked inside." Eeeek! I panicked, flagged down the ranger, and ran back to the parking lot to collect my car. Apparently the park closed at 4pm and he had already been waiting 15 minutes for me. 

Unfortunately, in my rush to leave and not be locked inside the state park, I completely missed the sunset. I was really bummed about missing out but eagerly anticipate other trail rambling adventures (that will include better park sign reading).

Also, since I am posting pictures, here is one from a few weeks ago when we were experiencing relentless rain. The ground was so saturated that the water started to flood our back sidewalk and courtyard area.

 Another older picture we took on a walk around a nearby neighborhood. I love this mailbox made in the shape of an airplane! Too cute!

Well, I'm sorry this post wasn't more coherent or inclusive. I feel as if so much has happened in the past two weeks. I will be better in the future about updating more often, promise. I have three days off in a row next week, so expect some introspection then.

What we're into this week:

• Matt is playing Skyrim (still) and Saints Row: The Third, which I think is an absolutely ridiculous game but he is really enjoying.
• I'm reading Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon. This is my first time reading a Stephen King novel (not counting Duma Key that Matt and I listened to on our insanely long drive to WA) and I am enjoying the experience. King has a unique writing style.
• Here is a quote that has been roaming around in my thoughts lately, "A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting." From the show Doctor Who, stated by the Third Doctor.