A little ketchup

So, it's been a busy week.

Also, I must confess that I haven't been blogging as much because I still haven't replaced my computer. I just can't decide if I want a pc or mac, a desktop or a laptop. So I do nothing. And my readers - all three of you - suffer. Or something.

Anyway, first things first.

We finally got the keys to the house on Tuesday, when the loan actually funded. So that was exciting.

Tuesday was also Inauguration Day. Tuesday was awesome.We actually took a break at my work and watched some of the inauguration on TV, although the reception was pretty fuzzy. I also caught a replay of the speech driving home. But then, that evening, we went to an inauguration-watching party. The hostess was really creative and had made foods that represented different parts of Obama's life/heritage: so we had Kenyan beans and rice, Indonesian rolls, Chicago deep-dish pizza, and Hawaiian coconut cake. Yum!

On Wednesday we got right back to house things. After work we meet at the house to check out how a few of our favorite flooring samples from the store actually looked in our house (so weird to write those words "our house"?!). We were picking something for the living room, master bedroom, and two downstairs closets. After some debate, we settled on this:It's wood laminate, which actually means plastic. It will look like wood, but is much more durable and easier to care for. Also, cheaper. So, it will take 7-10 days to arrive, and then our floor guy estimates 2-3 days to install.

We've also been busy researching refrigerators (okay, sorry, this may be, like, the most boring post ever - feel free to move along to reading, um, well, anything else). If anyone has any thoughts about refrigerator brands or styles, we'd love to hear it. And, yes, we've already looked at Consumer Reports. Right now we're looking at Whirlpool one from Costco. The good news is that Costco includes delivery and is very price-competitive with Sears, etc. The bad news is that it can take as long as 20 days for the item to arrive. So we're hoping to place the order soon, just in case it takes the full 20 days to arrive.

Basically, we are still looking at a mid-February moving date.

The weather here remains crazy. Yesterday it was 80 degrees. Today it's 30 degrees. I feel like people in Seattle always said, "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." But, whatever, it was always raining. Which was fine; I like rain. But the whole changing-rapidly-thing wasn't quite as a big deal as people acted like it was. Here, it's the real deal.

The Closing...

Kate and I are officially homeowners! Here is an older set of pictures of the house. Since that time, the house has been completed, and it looks fantastic. The closing was originally supposed to happen Tuesday, and then due to circumstances beyond our control, was pushed back to Thursday, and then to yesterday. Kate and I were very prepared. We had turned in all of the necessary documents far in advance, so I assumed that the closing would be easy and smooth. As yesterday progressed, and papers were still being processed, and our mortgage broker was still not able to tell us precisely how much money we needed to bring to the closing (he was able to give us a ballpark estimate which ended up being close to correct), I realized that this was going to be a crazy day.

At my real estate agent's office, I asked whether this was unusually crazy for a closing, and she laughed and said that no, about half of them are this crazy, and some of them are even more crazy. But as we drove to the actual closing, she admitted that, if the mortgage broker could not give us an exact amount of money to bring to the closing before we actually walked in to the closing, that would be a first for her. And, thus, we are number 1! We got the figure just after walking in, and our real estate agent took me on a wild goose chase to look for a branch of our bank (it was harder to find than it should have been).

But it all worked out in the end, and we celebrated an Uncle Julio's last night, the same restaurant where we ate the day that we moved to Fort Worth.

San Diego Snippets

I promised - so here it is!

We actually didn't have great weather - 4 out of the 7 days we were there, it rained! Nevertheless, we managed to walk on the beach nearly every day.However, I didn't end up taking as many pictures as I'd hoped, partially because of the rain, and partially because I was just feeling lazy. And the pictures I did take are only of sort of mediocre quality, so perhaps it's all for the best that I didn't take more!

We managed to visit with lots of family and friends, which was really, really nice. First, we had a lovely lunch with Mike's relatives from Los Angeles. Here's a picture I took as we strolled in La Jolla after lunch.We also had a great dim sum lunch with some of my very dearest friends in San Diego. Here are a few pictures of the star guests:Why on earth I didn't get a group shot, I have no idea. Well, other than the super-large table, the carts and servers coming and going, and the difficulty of it all....

And, for SYL's birthday, we took her out to a place that is fast becoming the new "it" sushi place in San Diego. It was delicious! Also, happy birthday to SYL!My family from San Francisco was also in town while we were there. It was so, so nice to see them. Here's a hanging out shot on Christmas morning. Yes, that is a rosemary topiary standing in for a Christmas tree.Lots of nice gifts were given and received, and I'm touched by thoughtfulness of some of the things given to me. Here's a pair of socks I knit for my grandmother.While all the holiday decorations were still up, all the ladies in my family went downtown to have tea at the super-beautiful Hotel Del Coronado (the gentlemen went out for Mexican food). Here are a few pictures of the tea itself:And one of the exterior of the hotel (taken through a car window, so please forgive the weird reflections).We had a great time in San Diego, even if the weather the best (as always) on the day we left. No worries, though - we'll be back!

Belated holiday letter

Hah! I bet you thought this was going to be a post about San Diego! Fooled you! That post is still coming, though.

But in the meantime, I thought I'd share with you the holiday letter I wrote. I had grand dreams of printing these out on paper with a snowflake border and then folding them up and placing each letter inside of holiday cards on which I'd write a personal message to each recipient. I even went so far as to buy the snowflake paper and the holiday cards. Alas, um, no (but an A for the thought).

And then I thought I'd re-format the letter into a newsletter format, include pictures, and then send it out electronically to everyone with a generic message. Alas, um, no (but a B- for the thought).

And then - you know, now that it's January - I thought I'd just remove our contact information and some of the stuff I wouldn't want the whole internets to see (you know, like our employers and the like) and just post it here. Yes (and a C- for effort. But so it goes).

So, at long last, here it is . . . .

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Holidays! We thought we'd update you on our lives since a lot has changed for us recently!

Mike completed his Ph.D. in July of 2007. Right after he defended his dissertation, we took off for a two-week camping trip to Farragut State Park in Idaho, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Banff and Jasper in Canada. We did a lot of swimming in lakes, sitting by the campfire, and hiking through some beautiful scenery. Highlights included a two-day, twenty-mile backpack in Glacier and meeting up in Japser with some of our Japan friends.

Mike was fortunate enough to find a position as a lecturer for the 2007-2008 academic year. This position gave him the time needed to prepare his applications for academic jobs, and gave Kate the time needed to complete her teaching degree. In January of 2008, Mike was invited for a job interview for a position that focused on teaching about Japanese politics. Two days after he returned, they phoned to offer him the job! Texas is affordable and not too far from either of our families, so it was a good fit all around.

Kate spent the spring of 2008 completing the last part of her teaching degree by student teaching American history, Advanced Placement American history, and second-year French. She graduated with a Washington-state teaching credential and endorsements in French and Social Studies. In addition, in June of 2008, Kate ran her first half-marathon, accompanied by two of her close friends. The race took place near Olympic National Park, about three hours from Seattle. The course was beautiful, starting near some very picturesque farms, passing through an old-growth forest, and then finishing up with a stretch along Puget Sound.

Our amazing friends helped us pack our apartment and load our rented truck, and we left Seattle on July 1st, 2008. Seattle had been good to us, and it was sad to leave a place with so many memories and friends (not to mention coffeeshops and cupcake bakeries!). We were incredibly lucky that Kate's good friend agreed to make the drive to Texas with us. The driving days were long and maneuvering the truck was a little stressful, but we kept ourselves entertained with walkie-talkies, audiobooks, and plenty of rest stops. We even spent the Fourth of July in Wyoming with Kate's relatives.

The good thing about arriving in Texas in July is that you don't have to worry about how much hotter it is going to get! That's right: the day we moved in, it was 102! Luckily, we had movers to help us unload the truck. Now that the summer heat is over, we're actually settling in quite nicely. We've met some really nice people and found some great restaurants - the Mexican food here is much, much better than it was in Seattle. Who'd have guessed? In the coming months we plan to adopt a dog from a rescue group and, hopefully, buy a house. Wish us luck!

Should you ever find yourself in Texas, please look us up.

We wish you peace and happiness in the coming year!

Poinsettia Bowl

Last week, Kate and I visited her family in San Diego. While we were there, it happened that my university was playing in a bowl game against the Broncos of Boise State University, and my in-laws generously bought me and Eric, Kate's brother, tickets.

The game was fantastic. It was quite close, and the good guys won by 1 point. Because it was a bowl game, there were "thunder sticks" on the seats. I opted not to inflate mine (because my HANDS are thunder sticks), but here is Eric blowing his up:

The pregame show included the TCU band and, for some reason, a giant "Thomas the Tank Engine":

Eric and I both wore TCU gear to the game. I wore the TCU shirt that my dad bought me when I accepted the job, and Eric wore Kate's shirt that says "fear the frog." However, we both changed into the free tee shirts that we got at the game that say "Texas Christian University: The Collegiate Home of LaDainian Tomlinson":

Domicile Dispatches

Well, this post has been a long time coming, but we finally have some news on the house front. Some of you may know that we've been looking into buying a house. We'd found a few good ones, but nothing was quite right.

Then, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, we visited a house that was still under construction. It was never our plan to buy a new house, necessarily - we were looking at all sorts of houses, but, of course, avoiding those ones that would need a lot of work done. Anyway, this house was in a great neighborhood, near a great elementary school, not far from a lake and a park, and less than ten miles from TCU. It has a nice-sized yard (not too big and hard to maintain, but enough for some grass, some vegetable beds, and nice porch), and 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms [but, folks, don't forget: this is Texas!].

We liked it instantly, but it seemed so big, so nice; too much for those of us that had always lived in student apartments [although our last few apartments have been quite a bit nicer than some of our first few!].

So, we kept looking at other houses, all the while mulling this one over in our heads. In early December, we made an offer. We started negotiating on their contract and on a few other updates to the house: they countered, we countered, they countered - and we accepted. We finally heard on Saturday that they accepted the contract. [In all this, we had the help of the best real estate law guru out there. My guru, alas, must remain nameless, but our gratitude extends to the ends of the earth!].

All of this is to say that we are set to close in mid-January! Of course, nothing's final until then - and we know that anything can still happen and the deal can still fall apart. But we're cautiously optimistic.

Here are a few pictures of the house [these are from Thanksgiving weekend; the house now is much, much closer to being finished, complete with carpets, etc].One of the things that we couldn't agree on with the builder was the price of flooring (we don't want carpet in the master bedroom or the living room). So we had them leave the floors in those rooms unfinished and we'll be hiring our own person to put in some wood laminate floors. We're also considering painting the kitchen (maybe a forest-y green) and the master bedroom (maybe a light blue, silvery, misty color).

So, all of this is to say that we're looking at a possibly moving in in mid-February. It all seems so real, stressful, and, yes, very exciting.

In other news, it's been quite cold here in Texas. Not as bad as Seattle, but definitely chilly. On the plus side, we leave for San Diego this evening. We'll be there a week, so that should be a really nice break - plenty of time to walk on the beach! One of Mike's presents is a trip to the Poinsettia Bowl, in order to cheer on the Horned Frogs (I'm taking a pass on this one, but my brother is going with him).

Happy Holidays to everyone out there - and stay warm!

Double Happiness Weekend

I thought I'd better post about last weekend before this next weekend arrives!

Last weekend was a double birthday party weekend! First, on Saturday, we went Chuck E. Cheese for the 5th birthday of the son of one of Mike's colleagues. This was my first time being in Chuck E. Cheese as an adult. Granted, we were there at 10 in the morning, but it was less dark, crazy, and noisy than I'd feared it would be. Mike and his colleague even played some hoops:The mouse, however, is still weird and creepy, even as an adult.And then on Sunday we celebrated my birthday. We went back to my new favorite restaurant (at the Modern Art Museum here in town) with a few our friends for a lovely Sunday morning brunch. Mike even made an extremely delicious and chocolatey Milky Way Bar cake for me.
With a cake like that, how could I not have a good birthday???

We also have some tentative news on the house front. However, because I am believer that jinx is a causal force in the universe, I don't want to say too much just yet. But look for good news soon. Maybe. Jinx.

Updated pictures from the Michigan crew

Here are some pictures of last weekend, courtesy of Mike's parents:

This is my first attempt at an embedded slideshow, so if you read this via the email digest or RSS, I'm not sure how it will look - feedback appreciated!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

Well, I don't have a lot of pictures to share, but I can say that a good time was had by all.

First, selected pictures of the meal. I wanted to take more pictures with the better camera, but there was significant pressure to move from the picture-taking part of the evening to the eating part of the evening, so these two were all I got.Friday morning we got a slow start. We toured around Fort Worth a bit, then ended up in the museum district, where we had a fabulous lunch and then a little stroll around one of the museums. We had a lovely birthday dinner that night.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places, and then we went to the Japanese garden (housed within the Fort Worth Botantical Garden). The garden was beautiful - and now I know where all the red trees have been hiding! Fall here has had a real lack of brilliantly colored leaves, but the Japanese was garden was quite spectacular. The garden is big - about 7 acres, and you can really forget that you are in the middle of a city. Here are a few pics from the garden - I was shooting with our new little purse-friendly camera, so the pictures aren't quite as good as if I'd had my regular camera [or any camera that I was more familiar with]:

Guest Blogging from Rich (MD) and Bren (MM)

We have been having a wonderful time in Forth Worth with Kate, Mike and Jenny. We were very impressed with TCU where we got a guided tour of the campus from a very important person (Professor Mike himself!). It is a really pretty campus with lots of beautiful buildings and greenery. One highlight for MD, the sports fan, is the ability to see the football stadium when looking out Mike's office window. Jenny arrived on Thanksgiving day and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving vegetarian meal together in Kate and Mike's lovely and spacious apartment. We have spent time eating at really fun restaurants, (we loved Cafe Modern, which is part of the Modern Art Museum,ranked by Gourmet Magazine as one of the best restaurants in America), going to the Kimbell Museum, the Japanese Gardens, walking the river trail behind their apartment and playing many games including a new one which had us giggling ourselves silly, called Loaded Questions. We even got to meet their new friend Alex and his mom and have lunch with them at a cool vegan place called The Spiral Diner. And I forgot to mention that today we went to the only independently owned coffee house in Fort Worth---Eurotazza where we spent the afternoon drinking, reading and schmoozing. All in all we really like Fort Worth a lot. Sadly, we are flying out tomorrow morning but with a heart full of fond memories. Pictures of our adventures to come soon!

Happy Thanksgiving

First, in the spirit of the season, I offer you a picture of a cranberry-walnut upside-down cake I made last week.
Sorry it's a bit blurry, but hopefully the ooey-gooey deliciousness comes through.

This particular dessert won't actually be on our Thanksgiving table, although it was quite good. Instead we're going with apple-cranberry-currant pie and pumpkin pie. We're also having mashed potatoes (using a very special recipe from a very special person), green beans with garlic and pine nuts, salad, and pasta with lentils. Mike will make his usual spreads - olive, hummus, and roast garlic - and I'll try my hand at some biscuits.

We're a small crew this year: just Mike's parents and his sister. But we're so happy that they made the trip, and we look forward to showing them around Fort Worth.

We have much to be thankful for: our families and friends (and the good health of those individuals), each other, our jobs, the arrival of good leadership, trees, and puppies.

A very happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

TCU v. Air Force

Mike & David getting ready to watch a football game.

Technical Difficulties

So, my computer had some sadness last night. Luckily, Mike - through his infinite skill and patience - was able to save my documents and pictures.

But the machine is probably toast, or soon will be.

So, it looks like it is new-computer time. Right now we are leaning toward a Mac desktop, but I'd love to hear your opinions....

In the meantime, I'll be able to post using the laptop my work gives me - but don't count on too many pictures since I try not to put personal stuff on my work computer.

Trying the poll thing again

Okay, here goes my new attempt at embedding polls in blog posts.... I can't say how this will look if you read the blog over email digest or through an RSS feed, though.

The subject concerns a new phone I'm about to purchase. I figure since you all are the major people I call, I should ask you. On the other hand, a local number is more convenient for many things - not the least of which would be not having to explain my out-of-state-ness each time I give my number!

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Election, part II

I just ran across this collection of photos. If you're not a regular reader of the site, you're missing out. The photos are always beautifully composed and poignant; this really is photography with a purpose. Seriously, go look at the pictures.

Also [did you look at the pictures yet? I meant it!], apparently we aren't the only people having trouble getting a dog. After our most recent setback - the dog we wanted was placed with another family - we've decided to wait until after our holiday travels.

In an attempt to share a third tidbit with you, I'll tell you about fall here. Fall just arrived - the days are still in the high 70s / low 80s, but the nights are getting into the 40s. This has been cold enough to prompt some of the leaves to change - but they just go from green to yellow to brown. There's none of that hills-afire red and orange. In fact, it kind of looks like all the trees are just drying out and dying. Guess all those folks who gush about fall in New England and the foothills of the Cascades were really right after all.

Election Night

First, an observation: I noticed that candidates for local political offices here in Texas had TV commercials that featured many more horses, barns, and saddles than I ever saw elsewhere. Those things sort of seemed to be the equivalent of the generic kitchen table scenes. Go figure.

Anyway, so, wow. Dallas county went blue, but Tarrant County (where Fort Worth is) went overwhelmingly red. Our house, however, is blue as blue could be.

So we were elated last night, to put it mildly.

We have a friend who did some work for the Obama campaign and she invited us to the Democratic Party victory celebration at a downtown hotel. First, we all went to dinner. Dinner mostly involved a lot of checking of the iphones and watching various news and polling sites fail to load because of all the traffic they were getting.

We arrived at the hotel around 8pm, just as most of the polls were closing on the east coast. Here are a few pictures (taken by our friends) in the hotel lobby:The Dems had rented a big hotel ballroom and set up several big TV screens. The room was PACKED with people of all different shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. There were lots of little American flags, Obama t-shirts, TV cameras, and local political candidates.

Here are a few pictures (taken by our friends) from inside the ballroom:The first few states to be called went for McCain, but as news from the Northeast came in, the spirit of celebration grew. Obama took Pennsylvania, and then Ohio. We waited some more, waving our flags, checking the maps, watching all the different TVs. It got hot in the ballroom from all the people crammed in there, so some of us went down to the lobby to get some air. We were getting tired, but as we returned to the ballroom, there was a real air of history, hope, and, yes, some anxiety and disbelief.

Shortly before the polls on the West Coast closed, Virginia was called for Obama. Doing some quick math, we realized that California, Oregon, and Washington alone would put him over the top. At that point, CNN put up a second-by-second countdown to the polls closing in the West. The whole room counted down, shouting out each number. As soon the polls closed, CNN called the election for Obama.I feel like I can't even begin to describe how crazy the room went: there was laughing, crying, hugging dancing, shouting, screaming. We all hugged each other over and over; strangers smiled at each other, noting the tears in everyone's eyes.

I cried. I can't believe it; I couldn't ever believe it all along. It just seemed too impossible, too good to be true, too good for us, too different from all that came before. All the big problems and great challenges still remain, but it really, really does feel like a brand new day.

We raced home, listening to McCain's speech on the radio, and then catching Obama on TV as we made it home in time.

That speech was amazing: full of beautiful sentences, heartfelt emotion, and honest truths. Oh, how we've missed all that.

I teared up again this morning while driving to work when they played excerpts from last night. And then I came home, and Mike and I watched the speech again.

Dear Obama: Please don't let us down. We believe. We need you. We are ready.

Someone's having a birthday....

Today is Mike's birthday. We had a pretty low-key (but fun!) time.

Mike made waffles for breakfast. Hey, I wasn't going to make him cook his birthday breakfast, but he wanted to. Then I ran some errands, coming home for lunch [Mike made pizza - again, he wanted to make it himself!].

After that, we headed to the park to eat some cake, play some games, and just veg. Here are some pics:


And here's a very happy birthday wish for many more!