A Day Out...

Two days ago, my Dutch cousin and her family came to visit. We don't really know each other that well but we had a great time nevertheless! It was fun (for both of us I think) to see each other in the role of motherhood.

We drove around our valley a bit and stopped at both the Snoqualmie Falls and in Snoqualmie town itself. They have a very cutely restored train station there and the boys had a great time exploring. It stayed dry so we were happy too!

Here you can see the family...

Son C. had another Jazz Band Performance at school that evening so we all went to cheer him on. We don't have this kind of music education in The Netherlands so it was fun to show them something truly American. They left again yesterday morning for further travels.

I had my final follow up appointment at the periodontist and he was just so positivie at how well I have been looking after my teeth: Yay!!!! All of the pockets had reduced dramatically and there was even one that he couldn't measure at all which is the best part of course. I was a happy camper when I came out of that office...

I stopped by Joann's and bought this so called utility fabric, 3 yards of it...

I also bought these two strings of fake flowers (on sale of course) for outside...

They are now hanging in different places but at least you can see what they look like. Hopefully we can use all the pillows outside this weekend: the forecast isn't looking too shabby! Good thing since my daughter will be turning 14 tomorrow, the day of the Dutch Queen's birthday also! ~ smile ~

Happy 'Koninginne Dag' everybody over

there in the flat lands!!!

Re-Charged...




Saw this awesome VW while waiting for  a traffic light...

 


Tunnel in Seattle...

 

Wowie! I feel completely re-charged again: I went to Seattle today with Tif and without spending too much money (in fact, she didn't buy a thing, but I did though...) we had a great time! The weather turned out way better than we had expected so that helped also.

First we drove to Phinney Ridge (in Seattle) and visited Assemble Gallery & Studio: what a great place and they have lots of really different creative classes you can take there. I'm interested in both the 'Carve your own Linoleum Block Stamp' one and also the 'Modern Crocheted Squares' one. I bought this card there...





http://www.alyssanassner.com/

  

Since I was the navigator I navigated us to that huge Value Village where G & I went a week and a half ago also. Tif had never been and we had a good time browsing although she was still feeling a bit under the weather. I found two skirts and a top!

The first two fabrics are for the skirts (the top green is my favorite and it looks really retro when you see the whole thing) and the bottom is the fabric of a little fold-away bag from Paperchase UK that Tif gave me.

We stopped by the coolest Mid Century furniture shop on 85th and Greenwood on our way home but they were closed on Tuesdays!!! (what a strange day to be closed don't you think?) Tif and I are going back to Seattle this coming Sunday for the Fremont Market which is close to this place so then we will try again...

We had a cuppa at Tif's place and I made a couple of pictures. Look at these gorgeous Catrineholm pieces:

Since the sun came out here and there we had a little stroll through the garden with her chickens and dogs etc.

What a great day it was! Like I said, I feel re-charged and see new possibilities again!

Signs of Spring #9...

Yay, The 9th 'Signs of Spring' already!

So let's count them shall we, the true days of Spring we've had so far? Here we go: one- and- a- half- days..... How sad is that? We're back to temperatures around 50F/ 10C and quite a bit of rain in the forecast. But, we had our 1 1/2 day and it was GLORIOUS!!!! (smile)

Here is another picture of those small chairs I spray painted last week, don't they look cute in the sunshine?

I'm starting the week cleaning up the guest room because we will lbe having some Dutch guests in a couple of days, my cousin and her family. We met them yesterday for the Easter dinner at my aunt's house and lots of laughter was heard. Shame about the bad weather for them but we'll manage to do some fun stuff anyway...

Here is a picture of the view at my aunt's house yesterday. They overlook the Puget Sound  towards the Olympic Peninsula, it just never seizes to amaze me...



Yesterday, All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away...

First, M. had her first Ultimate Frisbee
game since her (mild) concussion.

Here you can see her warming up...

On our way back home we passed through Seattle and of course

 I had to take a picture of the Space Needle again.

Do you see Mount Rainier in the bottom right?

Then a bit further on our way home we drove through our valley and there I had to make frequent stops to take it all in: inhale, exhale....

Cows!

My favorite barn ever....

and again the barn....

The former Nestle Dairy Farm, now a 'Hole in the Wall' camp

for terminally ill children called 'Camp Korey'

What a gorgeous setting!

When we finally arrived back home this is what I saw...

C. reading the 'Kite Runner' for homework,

the dog at various comfy places and the lawnmower....

It was an amazingly glorious day yesterday and I was constantly trying to take it all in for, well today: it is overcast and it the rain is almost here.....

But, we're also having an Easter dinner with family today which will be lovely as well. Hop-a-long- now!

Some Little Crafty Projects...

As forecasted, I'm working on some little crafty projects around the house. Yesterday I painted the frames above and added some fun 'wallpaper' and today I decided to spray paint my little garden duo red. Now my spray finger is sore...

New Red - Old Brown

1st paint coat...

Otherwise not a lot going on. We are all anxiously awaiting tomorrow and Saturday when they say that the temperatures will rise up to 65F/ 18C !!!!!!

Maybe I should finish sewing my summer dress? I am about to put the zipper in, maybe that's why it has been laying on my table untouched for so long...

Feel Good Foods...

This is what I found on the counter when I came downstairs this morning: lots of yummie feel-good foodies and drinks! We came home rather late last night and I just dumped the contents of my shopping bag on the counter and went to bed.

So it was a nice surprise to have these guys greet me in the morning. I was very happy to have found the Hagelslag at WorldMarket, eventhough they only had the milk chocolate version and it cost $6!!!! I just had to have it of course (it is a staple in Holland, something everybody eats every day!) but for that price I could only afford one box. Good thing we're going to Holland this summer and we will be able to eat lots of it for very little money...

The sun was shining quite a bit yesterday so the need for extra wine was great! (wink) Beside the regular two-buck-Chuck at Trader Joe's (the wine is called that because it only costs $2 per bottle, maybe $3 by now, but it tastes just fine to me) I splurged on a (hopefully) nice sparkling Rose. We should be getting temperatures up to 58F this Friday so that should be a nice time to open it. It is chillin in the fridge right now...

M. and I reallly liked the shape of this bottle so I made a couple of pictures of it....

I made this little 'get-well soon' picture (taken through the Rose bottle) for my friend Tif who is feeling a bit under the weather upon returning from the UK so here you go Tif!

I feel some cleaning/ decorating urges coming on. We'll see what happens!

PS I saw two herds of cows out in the fields yesterday, the first of the year: woot woot!

A Bunting = Een Slinger....

Is there a party, a celebration??? No, no reason really, I just wanted something festive and colorful in the house. It was very fun and so easy to make, I might come up with some other ones...