Aunt Georgia and Uncle Keith

tonight was really special because i got to have dinner with my aunt and uncle who i haven't seen in years! they are up visiting the northwest for a week so i got to go to Wild Ginger with them-yum! i didn't get a picture of uncle keith but here's one of aunt georgia and i. (she and my mom look so much alike :0) )

the funny thing is that we're both going to be in victoria, b.c. this weekend staying at the same hotel and everything-hilarious! i'm going with my company for a party to celebrate our last fiscal year and they are going just for vacation-we agreed to wave at each other if we end up passing:0)

Greek Festival

every summer in seattle, there are ethnic festivals celebrating the diversity of culture in our great city. this past weekend was the "greek festival"-yes, i had images of "my big fat greek wedding" running through my mind the whole time. I went with Tiffany and Kristen to get 'in touch' with our greek roots and had some amazing food!
here we are with our gyros that were TO DIE FOR; i think everyone there assumed that kristen and i were greek-makes sense doesn't it?!
one of the many iconic mosaics in the church

the beautiful dome
cute greek kids dancing
on the count of three, say "opa!"-tiff was so embarrassed, kristen and i were cracking up!

office dogs

every friday at work, anywhere from 1-5 dogs are present to both lighten the mood and distract us from our work, courtesy of their owners. well, i'm pretty much obsessed with them because there's no way that i can have a dog right now despite how desperately i want one! today, 3 of the dogs were in and i figured i should snap a few shots of them and introduce you!

~Carter~
he is the 'friday regular'-a terrier of some sort (i forget which kind), he is suprisingly un-yappy; he pretty much sees you coming and just melts onto the floor with his tummy exposed waiting for a scratch; he also cocks his head to the side when you talk to him like he's trying to figure out what you're saying. jeanne, his owner, has a cubicle right close to the kitchen-and being the little porker that he is, he is constantly following people in there hoping for a dropped crumb or luxurious offering of people-food. one of our designers, susanne, has treats stashed in her desk that she offers him every once in a while. well, susanne's desk is at the complete opposite end of the office from jeanne's, and carter will wander back there 'inconspicuously' and just sit at the entrance to her cubicle waiting for her to offer him one. what a clever little fellow! like they always say, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach"



~sasha~
today was her first time in the office and she was hilarious! you hear her coming before you see her because her little squished pug face means her breathing is loud and congested, always-ha. i used to think that pugs were stupid little dogs and by-no-means are they my favorite now but she was cuter than i expected her to be. pugs are also super duper cuddlers (watch out for their breath/toenails though). she provided a lot of amusement for those of us not used to the pug way of respirating! her owner, susanne, is actually fostering two pugs in addition to the two that they own-that's a lot of snorting if you ask me-but she takes such good care of them!



~tim~
this dog has stolen my heart (don't tell the other ones!). he only has one eye but he is a textbook lab. he is 1000% THRILLED to see you everytime you enter his field of vision; his whole butt wags when he's happy; he cuddles; and he has the most shiny beautiful fur because his owners, greg and michele (who both work at our office), feed him organic food. i am seriously so impressed with how hygeinic this dog is-not because they're over-the-top and treat him like a kid, but just because the quality products they give him make him healthy from the inside out and it shows in his fur (ok, that sounded like a dorky marketing line-ha). his thumping tail on the floor just makes me smile because i know his little dog brain is dreaming about the next walk he's gonna take or bone he's gonna chew. and to me, he's kinda like a pirate dog with only one eye :0)

Things i've done...

...since i've last blogged but I HAVE NO PICTURES!!
1. went to the 'world famous' puyallup fair-it runs for the whole month of september. it's huge and they have fun animals like alpacas there. my friend, kristen, had a friend, drew, who is in a family band. he has 4 brothers and they are all amazing musicians-so we drove down to listen-(bluegrass style).
then we rode this crazy fun ride where you hang upside down :) (three times) and then tempered our growling stomachs with a krusty pup and the famous fair scones (which we got for free because drew worked a connection for us!) the lady that handed him the bag of scones, covertly at the side door, said, "i lost count at 17..."-HA! yup, i left with a happily full tummy.

2. yesterday, i had to go out to a job site to field measure for an expansion project i'm working on. well, it was still very much in 'contruction' mode which meant that i had to wear a hard hat-it was just my luck but they totally had a HOT PINK one :0) it was pretty awesome except that i had to wear dorky safety glasses and these big 'man-size' gloves that hardly allowed me to write dimensions on my floorplans-arg. oh and besides all the odd looks i was getting from the male workers, who were not used to seeing a female on site, it was sooo hot in there and i had both a sweater and fleece on; what's not to love about a hot pink-hard hat-wearing, fumbly fingered, dorked-out safety glasses GIRL who is sweating like a banshee?!! AH...all in a day's work!

whirleyball

tonight i played a game i had never heard of before-whirleyball is a combination of bumper cars, whiffle ball, basketball and lacross...sounds weird-i know...but it actually turned out to be really fun! you drive around these cars, while holding lacross style baskets that hold the whiffle ball and then you shoot at a net like basketball. (our small group from church went tonight)
kerby, me, craig

kenny

allison and megan
i think i just launched the ball-although it didn't score...
action shot

Coach Laura and Moses

Laura is the Assistant Coach of the JV Girls Soccer Team at King's School in Seattle. Tonight was their first home game so a couple friends and I went to cheer them on! they had yet to win a game to this point so we thought a few more voices in the bleachers would inspire them to goal-kicking victory!

the good news is that THEY WON! we must be the lucky charm or something ;0)
it sure was fun to see Laura coaching because she's dreamed of doing this for a while.
the beautifully lit sky
My friend, Matt, brought along his HUGE, beautiful dog named Moses. he got kinda bored but it was fun to have him along.

how can you not love a dog with jowels like that?!


Here's Kevin (far left) and Matt (center) and I.

german ponderings

right now, i have friends in countries all over the world: china, germany, switzerland, ethiopia, england, etc. Drew, my friend in germany, has such a gift for writing and also keeps a blog so many of us can stay updated on how many schnitzels and bratwursts he eats-haha. it's pretty amazing to think about how the arms of Christ reach out through each of us wherever we are and how some things, like the sun and moon, pass over all of us every day. the same sun and the same moon. here is a clip from Drew's blog as he ponders these things while de-weeding his garden-i thought it was profound.

"Even more so, it is so amazing to know that around the world, working under this sun, are my friends who are united in their vision to restore a Garden overrun with weeds of poverty, illiteracy, hunger, arrogance, lust, and athiesm, to it’s intended beauty through the love and hope of Jesus Christ. There is great power and encouragement to be received through this unity of the body.

Fellow Gardner, may the shining sun remind you today that you have been called out of the lethargy of sleep into a community of those who, being themselves transformed, have committed themselves to this work of restoration. "

one last one

i squeezed in one more mariner's game before the season ends and laura wasn't working-so she came with me! they won in the bottom of the 9th-an exciting game to say the least.

guess where?...

i have a slight obsession with the sky in general-clouds, sunsets, stars, fog-which partly explains why i'm a weather dork...
most of it is simply because i'm struck with awe when i look up-continually trying to grasp the vastness of it, and feeling so small below it.
sometimes when i look up-especially at night- i wonder who else and where in the world, someone is doing the exact same thing?!

well, my finite, picture-obsessed mind frequently tries to capture it on film and occasionally the 'vastness' remains intact within a 4"x6" frame. here is one of my favorites from over the years. i thought it would be fun to see if you all can figure out where this was taken! so guess away and i'll try to think of a prize for the winner (ok, not really-but it's way more fun to play when there's a prize, right?!)

Portland-part 2

Here's a few pictures from the weekend!!
...in front of cooper's-a dog-friendly coffee shop they go to a lot-this was like the 4th attempt to get the sign in the picture-you have to just believe me that we're there based on the 'coffee' sign-ha.

Laurelhurst Park-callie goes walking there and there's lots of dogs :0)

really pretty trees-really gross green pond

The Portland Saturday Market is this huge, wonderful place full of everything you could imagine-it's very entertaining to people watch there and to peruse the merchandise-oh and did i mention it's HUGE?!

beautiful arches and hippie Portland man playing the violin

the country girl in us came out!

big, red, floppy hat

Next, we went to the famers market on Portland State University's campus and bought fresh ingredients to make dinner with-yum. it was increasingly difficult to keep my tummy from growling as we moved through that place.
so cute!

some orange dhalia's we just couldn't leave without!

Next on the agenda: International Rose Test Garden
i have never in my life seen so many beautiful and fabulously, varied smelling flowers-ever. not to mention the fact that it was about 80 degrees out and Mt. Hood was the backdrop to this beautifully landscaped park. right as you walk into this place, you get a luscious waft of the roses and your senses are just screaming for more. each plant had a unique smell: musky, fruity, flowery,etc. another wonderful thing about it was that all the plants were different colors! everything from sunshine yellow, to barely pink, to eye-popping fuschia, to subdued purple, and of course the ravishing red rose-a classic.

ok, well here's brandon and callie first-so cute i couldn't resist!



i look retarded but i loved the 'unkempt'ness of these ones-not quite as formal and clean cut as most...



(caught them being cute again!)

brandon needs to work on his hops :0)

beautiful mt. hood

on sunday after church, we took an adventure to the Columbia Gorge-it was stunning. and the best part about it was that in my perfect world, two things are always present: hiking and waterfalls--WE DID BOTH!!!! i couldn't have planned a more fabulous afternoon filled with adventure (thanks B&C)


there's a lighthouse looking lookout thingy underneath my finger-really cool

strangely, these three followed us everywhere...;0)


in all their rugged glory

so excited about the 1.5 miles of switchbacks...
in awe
view from the top
this is the 3rd time these two have hiked this except it's the 1st time they've made it to the top! hooray!
sorry you keep seeing pictures of the same people-there are only so many combinations of the three of us-ha.
another view from the top-yikes!





next, we drove down to Hood River and had lunch and ice cream before hanging out on the shore for a few minutes.
i made them do it-they thought it was stupid-i thought it was cute




and, of course, it would be a crime to visit portland and not step foot in Powell's Books-what's not to love about a bookstore that takes up an entire city block-and even has a rare book room with a couple copies of the second edition oliver twist-it can be yours for a mere $9,500! there was also a Bible in there from 1543 or something ridiculously insane like that-can you even begin to imagine how many people have called that their own in the last 350 years?!

good day

i'm havin' a really good day at work today...
feelin' really competent at my job-for once...
:0)

Weekend in Portland-part 1

This weekend i went to visit Brandon and Callie down in Portland-it's so nice to have someone up in the northwest!! last minute, i decided to take the train down instead of driving-boy was that such a great decision-it was an awesome experience.

On the train ride down, i was listening to music on a borrowed ipod and pretending to read a book. i say pretending because i have a tendency to venture into the deep wells of thought about life whenever i get a few minutes to myself. well, i had 4 whole hours :0) so despite having a seat facing the wrong direction on the inside aisle, the trip was great! i had a nervous moment about the train ride on the phone the other day when i was talking to joanna, but she reminded me that i had ridden trains all over europe for a month in countries that didn't even speak my language-she said i'd be fine-duh-why didn't i think of that?! ;0)


i'll post pictures later and talk about what we did but first this-something that's been on my heart for a long time but i just haven't been able to formulate much about it until now...its a little more serious-take it or leave it.

on the train ride back, i made sure to arrive early. i selfishly wanted to be towards the front of the boarding line so i could secure a window seat facing the right direction. and if i was lucky, i'd get an empty seat beside me! as the train pulled out of the station, the sun was setting. silhouetted trees were punctuated against the colorful backdrop-a canvas of golds and oranges-and all i could think about was the African desert. at one point about an hour into the trip, we passed another train and the gaps between the cars began a snapshop slideshow of the sultry horizon. i could not ask for a more beautiful part of the country to live in.

some of those "deep well" thoughts were swimming around in my head-here are a few...
" i need a lot of guidance, Lord, because i feel pretty lost in life right now. Am i supposed to keep going in design? i love it but i feel like there's so much more out there. what about Africa? why am i so burdened with what is going on over there? why have people from every facet of my life been involved with that land-what am i supposed to do? how long should i go for? where should i go? am i supposed to go at all? how do i pay for it? when? do i go with a secular humanitarian organization or a Christian one?
Lord, i am so aware of the fact that a ministry field exists here as well as abroad-yet this burden to help over there is so present. i am able bodied and it seems like a crime to sit HERE and not be THERE helping. i'm so desperate to see Your hand redeem these souls ravaged by civil war, ethnic cleansings, famine, displacement and AIDS. yet at the same time, i am so poignantly aware of the ugliness of my heart-what have i to offer these people? Jesus, they need SO much-food, water, shelter and protection just being some of the basic needs. the emotional, psychological and spiritual needs far outweigh these. why is it that they must continue to suffer so deeply?
this i know: You are good; You are sovereign; You are a redeeming God. why is it so hard to believe that sometimes? Do those people see glimpses of You amid the fear and suffering?
i am falling so desperately in love with the thought of You capturing their hearts...and i'm really not sure what to do with it. is that too optimistic of me to think change can happen? what is a girl with an interior design degree supposed to do over there? i want to help; i want to help so badly. i want to be able to look into the eyes of those refugees and see hope rather than despair."

Brought back to the present moment by the train whistle announcing our arrival at another station, my heart is just as confused as when i started, yet i have peace knowing that He knows me better than anyone-i'm also hoping i can start to hear Him more clearly through all the voices in my heart. His plans are good. I will trust that. for now, i'll just continue to dip my heart in the spring of "Living Water"-the flow will take me somewhere; it will change me somehow...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sarah!

to my beautiful friend with an even more beautiful heart-have a special day! happy birthday!

Sunday adventures...

:0)
my fabulous new bag
fremont never ceases to amaze me
some chihuly glass in bellevue

Mom's visit for Labor Day Weekend

Mom came up to hang out...we've had a grand time already!


the beautiful sunset we saw this evening!