Friday’s Fave Five ~ Seattle

 

So it’s time for Friday’s Fave Five and all of mine come to your from the State of Washington this week. Dear and I will be heading back to Southern California on Sunday. Boohoo.

1. Spending some one on one and one on four time with our children in Washington! Our oldest son took me to a soccer game last Saturday which was so much fun. Katie and I did some shopping on Monday and she found her strappy gold shoes she needed for an upcoming wedding she’s in. Working around the house with our son Dan. Having Easter Brunch together and Taco Night. Good times.

2. Easter Tradtions! I love Easter and it’s always fun to do the traditional things each year. This year my sister Lana G! and I even made the traditional Russian Easter Bread and Cheese topping. Ok, I keep mentioning that but it was a big accomplishment for us and now we know we can do it and we’re so excited we can have fresh Kulich every year if we want it! Coloring Easter Eggs…it’s so much fun to watch Katie get creative with the colors on the eggs. Going to Easter Service. There’s something special about Easter Sunday at church. We go to church most every Sunday but Easter Sunday always stands out to me. Repeating the traditional Easter greeting to everyone we see on Easter…Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

3. Spending time in Downtown Seattle with Dear. We had a hair appointment together and then headed downtown to have lunch at the Pink Door. It happened to be one of the sunny days in Western Washington so it was nice to walk around and enjoy Downtown! The Market and all the fresh flowers, the tall buildings, our yummy lunch and buying dessert for the taco dinner we were having later that night with our kids.

4. Fresh mowed grass! I really enjoy mowing the lawn at our home here. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing a freshly mowed neat looking yard! Dear does the weed-wacking and I do the mowing. The first Spring mow is always a bit time consuming and I had to empty the bag more often…

5. Flowers! It was great to see flowers blooming in the yard when we arrived. My Lenten Rose was full of blooms which made me smile. I love the shape and colors of this plant. Seeing all the fresh cut flowers at Pike Place Market was great, too. So many beautiful varieties of tulips and daffodils. I bought a bunch of yellow with orange daffodils to bring home for Taco Night!

Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story was hosting this weekly event. It’s good to look back and think about the good times and blessings we enjoy each week.

Friday’s Fave Five

Our first Friday in February. Time to think back over the last week and choose 5 favorites. Our hostess Susanne provides Mr. Linky for you to join in if you’d like. So head on over and join in on the fun.

1. Saturday morning walks with Dear are always on the top of my list. We had a low tide walk this last Saturday and saw lots of birds and collected several shells. We generally start these Saturday morning walks before the sun rises.

 

2. On Sunday after a great church service filled with worship we headed to Agoura to do some antique shopping. We found a nice Italian restaurant to have a snack before the stores opened at 11:00.  Hand Rolled Meatball SandwichTopped with Marinara Sauce and Mozzarella (we grind our own beef & pork) Mama’s Italian Kitchen in Agoura.

3. We decided to add a DVR to our Fios service at the condo. I never imagined how simple it is to record programs we want to watch later. No punching in start time or end time. I just click on the show and it takes care of recording it no matter how short or long it is. Then when we decide to watch the programs we get to skip all the commercials. That was a favorite this week.

4.  Eating in every night this week. We’ve had some good eats. Can you tell food is an important part of my life. :0)

 

5. Dear and I are still walking during the week and working out on the bowflex. Those work outs and walking with Willow most days  really makes me feel better. On Thursday we had some real good rain in Camarillo so Willow and I didn’t walk. Even though she grew up in Oregon she doesn’t walk in the rain :0)

For more Favorites visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Friday’s Fave Five! It’s all about Pismo…

 

All my favorites this week are from Dear and my getaway to Pismo Beach from Sunday to Monday. Very short time filled with lots of wonderful sights, sounds, and food!

1. We got to see the Monarch Butterfly Grove with thousands of butterflies in residence. What an exciting experience it was. It’s been a goal of mine to visit one of these groves in California. I’m so glad we did. I’ll be posting all about them on Tuesday.

2. Beautiful beaches and beach walks and pier walks were another favorite.

3. We took a side trip to Arroyo Grande and did some fun antique shopping. Boy we only went to two antique shops but they were big and filled from corner to corner with so much interesting stuff. We came away with just one purchase. Such self control!

4. Food glorious food! I love food. I love to find unique spots with wonderful food. I like to fellowship over food. I like to cook good food. So there’s the insight into why I’m always trying to take off some extra pounds!! We ate well those 2 days! Wait, was I just talking about self control, “pride goeth before the fall”!?? The clam chowder pictured was oh so chunky and rich and good! Pismo Beach is known for their clams. We ate a wonderful meal with an ocean view. I had lamb shank with risotto, brussel sprouts, and a double chocolate martini for dessert. Dear had a Rib-eye steak, salad, and potatoes. Needless to say, I did not step on the scale when we got back!

5. The last of my favorites was having our own personal hot tub on the private deck where we sat and enjoyed watching the star filled sky while listening to the waves crashing on shore! Glorious! We even started singing “In the stars His handiwork I see, on the wind He speaks with majesty, though He ruleth over land and sea, what is that to me…”  Are any of you old enough to remember that one??

I have a post with lots of photos from the Pismo Beach area here.

To see more Favorites or to join in the fun visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story!

Fave Five on Friday!

 

1. Well it will be no surprise that at the top of my favorites for this past week is spending extra time with all my children. (And it hasn’t been a soap opera). On Saturday we did our belated family Christmas with stockings and Dear’s Swedish pancakes for breakfast. Later on that same day we had a birthday dinner for our daughter Katie. Since we will be in California for both Josh and Dan’s January birthdays we are celebrating tonight with a dinner for them.

2. It’s always great to see all the guys working together. Here they are shoveling snow off the drive to our house and two of our neighbor’s houses. We are really pleased the snow has almost disappeared.

3. I’ve been talking about wanting some more substantial nativities and Dear bought me both these sets for Christmas. They are both very different and I like them very much.

 

4. We revived a favorite dessert from days gone by this week that has always been enjoyed. You cook up vanilla pudding and while it is still hot you pour it over a generous scoop of good chocolate ice cream. Yum you get some great hot and cold and added creamy goodness in every bite!  Having Dear’s wonderful Tomato Rice Peasant Soup was so good, too!

 

5. On New Year’s Day we met our dear friends Dave, Jody, Bob and Jan at McCormick and Shmicks Restaurant in Downtown Seattle for Happy Hour. It was wonderful sitting and talking for a couple hours over great Happy Hour Menu food. We had Salmon burgers, Black Bean Chicken Quesadillas and Oysters for $1.95 each! We also tried the Cod sandwich which was $3.95 and delicious! Sheesh, can’t beat that with a stick! We love these friends who we’ve gone through thick and thin with…

 

To see more Fave Fives or to join on in visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Friday’s Fave 5 ~

1. Breakfast at Julienne with some of my family on Saturday morning. I had poached eggs on a Parmesan crusted potato thingie (potato cake)  with guacamole and Pico de Gallo. Yummy!

2. A walk at dawn at the beach with Dear.

3. Seeing Photos and hearing about my kids and their cousins time at a cousin’s reunion they planned.

4. Walking most days with Willow and dropping a few of many pounds that need to come off! We saw 10 deer on Thursday that’s about how many more pounds I want to drop by U.S.A. Thanksgiving!

5. Having things quiet down with our loud neighbor who we suspect is on Meth… The photo shows the boyfriend’s clothes that she threw out from the railing above our garage when he walked out on her. I took a broom and moved them over to the front of her garage after I took this photo :0)

For more Fave Five or to join in click over to Susanne’s.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

San Francisco ~ Suggestions Please

Does anyone out there know San Francisco? I get to spend a few days there in December while Dear attends a conference. He’ll be busy for a lot of the day so I’ll be on my own to view the city with my blogger eyes and camera. The last time Dear and I were in San Francisco was in 1974 one night of our honeymoon. So here are my questions…

1. What do I need to make sure I see? And what should I avoid?

2. Do you have any restaurant suggestions? How about one really nice place to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary on Saturday December 6th!

3. Do you know some great free attractions?

4. What museum is worth it?

5. Should I drive out of town to see something close by?

Any input will be appreciated.

Fave Five for Friday

 

It’s time for Fave Five for Friday. If you want to play along visit Susanne at Living to tell the Story. Here are my favorites since last Friday.

1. Starting with Saturday I have two favorites. The first was a return to the beach with Dear for our early morning Saturday walks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California. We were there at 6:30 A.M. and we saw a lot of birds…

 

2. After our walk we got ready to drive south for a family get-together to visit with my brother Leonard, his wife Mandy and their new daughter Hope. She’s 7 months old and they all live in Dallas so it’s a wonderful event when they come to Southern California for all of us to get our fix!

 

3. This made me laugh out loud on Monday when I listened to this You-Tube on Mighty Mom’s site. Click here and give a listen. It’s only about 23 seconds long…

No – I don’t think it’s for real but it still is so darn funny!!

4. Dear turned 55 on Tuesday and a highlight of the week was celebrating Him and celebrating with him at a nice Steak house close to us.

 

5. Today I’m headed to a planning meeting for our new year of Women’s Bible Study. This year I’ll be a table leader so I’m looking forward to the discipline and the friendships that I’ll form with the ladies at my table. We’re studying Grace.

For more Fave Five head over to Susanne’s and consider joining in. Blessings…

Fave Five for Friday ~ September 5th

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is hosting Fave Five for Friday. Here’s what she says…

“Hope you play along. It’s very simple. Just list your favorite five things from the week. It can be anything from jokes to music to food. It’s a fun way to get to know more about each other and maybe make new friends, find new blogs or new things to try. Expand our world’s a bit. Make it as detailed as you like, but the more detail the more fun! Don’t forget to link to this site and sign the Mr. Linky so I can come and read your favorites.”

For my Fave Five this week, I’ll start with Sunday the last day of August and move forward.

1. Sunday we traveled 3-1/2 hours northeast of our condo to attend an Engagement party for my cousin’s son and his fiance. Lots of photos from the event are here.

2. Too tired to cook after all that fun Sunday on Monday (Labor Day) we tried an Italian Restaurant in Old Camarillo for the first time and had a nice experience.

3. Walking each morning for an hour with Willow from Willow’s Cottage and pushing ourselves up the hills and seeing these sights.

 

4. I shared a meditation I read by John Piper this week. You can read what I posted here. This was one of my favorite parts on running the race… “The finish line is crossed in the end, not by a burst of human energy, but by collapsing into the arms of God.”

5. My last favorite thing from this week was watching Piper Palin while her mother was giving her speech. Priceless moments. This little girl was meant for the stage! :0)  You can see a You tube of part of these fabulous moments here at Light Came. OH! You’ve got to click over to Bloggin daz and see Angie who is a amazing look-a-like of Sarah Palin.

For more Fave Five on Friday visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Friday’s Fave Five

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is hosting a new Friday meme called Friday’s Fave Five. You just have to post 5 favorite things from this past week and link back to her blog. She’ll have a Mr. Linky so you can join in easily. Here are my Favorites from this past week.

1. Having our daughter visit us with her boyfriend. They arrived at the Long Beach Airport on Monday morning and I picked them up and we did some sight seeing on the way home.

2. Meeting up with my walking buddy and having a walk in Old Towne Camarillo with some Antique shopping and thrift shopping along the way.

3. Going to Disneyland and meeting up with family for some fun.

4. Eating out with family. This photo is from Naples Ristorante in Downtown Disney where 8 of our extended family met up to eat and enjoy each other around food again.

5. Last favorite was being able to catch several Olympic Soccer Games and especially the Gold Medal Win by the U.S. Women’s Team. Hope Solo was amazing in goal! Well done ladies!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Downtown Seattle

On Thursday Dear, Katie and I decided to spend the day in Downtown Seattle.

 

We thought it was high time to drag Dear far away from the Basement Project that he has been putting many hours into while he’s been in Washington.

 

He’s been working on upgrading some plumbing and electrical and structural issues. He is also doing some preventative water proofing.

 

This is the Hammering Man outside the Seattle Art Museum. I wanted to take a picture from this side so I could get the building in the background that looks like a roll-on deodorant. That’s the building where Dear worked for Immunex before Amgen bought them out.

Our first stop in Downtown Seattle was the Seattle Art Museum. Every first Thursday of the month you can visit the museum for free. We toured the regular exhibits and then headed south to Post Alley at the Pike Place Market to go to the Perennial Tea Room to buy some Earl Grey loose leaf tea.

 

For lunch we headed to Pioneer Square and parked and then walked a few blocks to Fado. Fado is a nice Irish Pub in Seattle. We enjoyed some Fish and Chips, Sheepherder’s Pie and some Lamb Popsicles. Of course someone had to order a Guinness while we were in Ireland an Irish Pub far, far away from Eire.

 

We discovered a beautiful waterfall right in the heart of Pioneer Square across the street from the Fire Station #1.

 

 

Seattle is home to the Utilikilt. We also have Native American Culture that permeates our environs. I would love to just walk around Downtown sometime and take photos of all the great architecture. The Pergola in the last square of this collage had to be rebuilt after a truck plowed into it and destroyed it a few years ago.

 

Before we headed home we stood in line for a very long time to get into Salumi. Salumi is Mario Batali’s father Armandino Batali’s Italian Restaurant and Deli in Pioneer Square. We wanted to buy a couple chubs of salami. We bought the Salumi Salami and the Finocchioni. They produce these artisan meats themselves and let me tell you if you are going to be bad and have fatty, salty, yummy salami this is the stuff you want!!

You can check out their website and even order online.

We clocked a good 9000 steps and rewarded ourselves as usual with lots of good food and drink. Hope your evening and Friday are wonderful. We’re headed to another wedding Friday night…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.