One year day by day

October FUN!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:47:00 +0000

October was certainly filled with fun, fun, FUN!

I ended September and started October with my annual girls scrap weekend!

As always, we had an amazingly fun time!

I have many pictures to prove it, the collage above are the only publicly acceptable photos to share! ;)

October brings the birthday of this special lady.

Sarah turns 40 this year!

She was not keen on this year's number, nor in celebrating it, but what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't plan something special for this milestone!?

Since her actual birthday is on Halloween, making it difficult to plan something on the day itself, I planned a lunch with her on the 22nd.

She thought it was a lunch for just the two of us, she was quite surprised that it was lunch for 10!

I gathered several of her closest friend to celebrate her special day.

It was a joyous occasion and I'm so happy to pull of such a special surprise for her.

On the 29th we had the great pleasure of watching the grandbabies for the day.

We were graced with a spectacular fall day!

We picked up the grands and took them to the pumpkin patch.

Little miss Meeka had no interest in the pumpkins, but I believe she found every last mud puddle at the patch! Emmett enjoyed being in the front pack on his Beste (said like besta, my name for the kids) cooing away.

It was a full day with the kids and we were tired by the end of the evening, but we enjoyed every last minute of the day! Grandbabies certainly are a blessing!

The 30th brought birthday #42 for the love of my life.

We met our daughter and her boyfriend for lunch at Michel's favorite pizza place.

Michel requested homemade mac and cheese for his birthday dinner, which I was all too happy to do for him. I made some cornbread muffins with honey butter and we finished our meal with 3 different cupcakes. Somehow we had no birthday candles in the house, so no candles to blow out.

Happy Birthday to my love! You make everyday special!

September: 9/10=7, 9/13=22, Grandbabies

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:06:00 +0000

Our nephew celebrated 7 birthdays with a pizza party and a magician.

He had quite a few little buddies attend his party, he loved the magician, who I thought was quite good and really wowed the kids!

Can't beat a pizza birthday party!

Our 'baby' girl turned 22!

We met her at Lot no. 3 in Bellevue to treat her for dinner.

This was our first family dinner, just the 4 of us, in quite a long while.

It was lovely.

The restaurant was cool, food was great and we had a good time.

After dinner we walked to The Bravern for gelato at Vovito, relaxed by the fireplace and enjoyed the lovely September evening. No jackets required.

September brought us much joy!

After 5 plus years of estrangement from my husband's son, we have begun the healing process on that relationship and beginning anew.

With this reconcilation we gain not only a repaired relationship with Jared, but welcome his wife Katie and our grandbabies Meeka and Emmett!

We are thrilled to get to meet and know our daughter in law as well as our grandbabies.

We rejoice in having an expanding family.

August: All about Love

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:12:00 +0000

August brought summer weather, lots of outdoor time and our anniversary!

This year we celebrated 18 years of wedded bliss, and bliss it is!

To say I married well would be an understatement!

I have the BEST husband, hands down.

He's amazing, loving and the best friend I've ever had.

I'm blessed to get to walk through life with him by my side. =)

We didn't have any big plans for our day, so we did what we do best, flew by the seat of our pants!

We ended up in Snoqualmie where they had an antique car show and decided to take the antique train ride to Snoqualmie Falls.

The train ride was not quite as scenic or exciting as we thought it would be, but we did enjoy the time together and the cool old train car we rode in.

We finished our day with a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue before heading home to chill for the rest of the evening.

Michel took a week off in August for a stay-cation.

We took advantage of his time off go, go, going to tons of local places and hanging out.

He really wanted to go to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge I was not that interested in it, but I went because I knew how much he wanted to do it, it was a fabulously beautiful day and I wanted to spend the day with him. He does plenty of things I want to do that I'm sure he's less then thrilled about, so it was my turn to do it.

I'm really happy I decided to go as it was quite the cool experience and leisurely day.

Jammed packed July

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:38:00 +0000

4th of July we spent at my cousin's house on the lake for their annual party.

We always have a good time but it's best when we have great weather like we did

this year! It's been at least 2 years since we've had a dry, nice 4th of July!

Michel and I take advantage of all the nice days we can!

We love to go into the city and explore.

We took a day one weekend to kayak Lake Union and exlpore Ballard.

It was a beautiful day and soaking up that vitamin D the natural way!

July 9th brought my Dad's birthday.

We had my Mom and him over for a birthday dinner with a blueberry cheesecake for dessert, homemade by me!

Mid July brought our vacation!

We planned a trip for us all onto a business trip that Michel had planned.

We vacationed first then he did the work portion of his trip.

He said next time we need to do the reverse.

We boarded the plane, upon our arrival to the LA area we had an In & Out lunch

prior to dropping Bailey off at his friend's house for 4 nights.

After operation drop off, Michel and I headed for a walk along Hermosa Beach.

Glorious!

Our second day in town we headed to the Happiest Place on Earth, aka Disneyland.

It truly was the happiest place on earth for us that day, as we enjoyed the park, kid free, with our good friends we were staying with. We packed a lot into that one day at the park and had a fantastic time!

Day three our host played tour guide and drove us around Orange county a bit showing us the sights. We had a great lunch al fresco in Newport Beach. After filling our bellies we headed south to Laguna Beach for the Sawdust Art Festival. We saw a lot of fantastic art pieces.

We then headed into town for a cupcake treat while perusing the galleries and shops there.

We walked along the beach to our afternoon cocktails destination, Las Brisas, on the patio with amazing ocean views. Michel and I fell in love with Laguna Beach and can see the appeal of living here!

The morning of our fifth day we headed out to pick up our son.

On our way inland to the hotel and to drop Michel off for the work portion of his trip, we drove through Beverly Hills and stopped for brunch at Jack & Jill's and a quick walk around Rodeo Drive.

We parted Michel late in the afternoon, he headed off to work while Bailey and I headed to a friend's for dinner. I still kick myself for not taking photos while I was with her!

By the time we got back to the hotel, Bailey fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow!

Our sixth and final full day was spent in fabulous San Diego with my good friend Michelle and her daughter. We enjoyed a relaxing time at Mission Beach, we enjoyed the art work along the water front near Little Italy and had a great dinner at Five Guys, ending our visit with sometime at her house relaxing on the sofa and talking. It was a fabulous visit and look forward to doing it again!

We really love Southern California and enjoyed this trip greatly!

The end of July brought a backyard family reunion with my Mom's side of the family.

It couldn't have been a more perfect, sunny day!

It was a full month full of some great memories to last a lifetime!

June

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:11:00 +0000

June provided us the end of the school year and not much summer weather to be found!

We traveled east of the mountains to the sunshine and my cousin's house for a

graduation party and semi family reunion.

We had a great time and on our way home we chose to go over the northern pass rather then

the southern pass. This provided us many more pretty views and places to stop for photos.

May Sweet 16, Confirmation and a New Place

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:04:00 +0000

May brought lots of change and events!

We celebrated our youngest's 16th birthday!

It's hard to believe he's that old.

We have yet to allow him the privilege to get behind the wheel of the car.

A checklist of items needs to be ticked off before that will be allowed to happen.

He started his day off with a stack of 16 pancakes!

We had a big family dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in which he brought along his good friend.

On Mother's Day we made the drive south to our friends who live just north of Vancouver WA.

Their son is our Godson, who had the confirmation of his baptism ceremony in church that morning.

We were happy to be there to witness this major milestone in his life, then enjoy a grill out afterwards socializing with his family. A good day indeed!

We end this post with how our month started....moving to a new place!

After 9 years in a great house, we realized that we were spending more money then we needed to for a place that was just too large for our current needs. 2 empty rooms and one unused room will bring you to that conclusion quickly, not to mention the fact that we were paying to heat and maintain those empty/unused spaces as well!

We really desire to move into the city and live a more urban life, but we realize that will be more ideal in 2-3 years, after the youngest is graduated and on his own!

So, we found a great 2 bed 2 bath apt, one mile from the old house, which keeps us in 'our' neighborhood we love so much and the baby in his school.

New place = new furniture!

I was so happy to get new furniture and I am so in love with it, how it looks, feels, everything!

April iphone photos

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:41:00 +0000

I have been very remiss this year in picking up my camera and shooting pictures.

I miss it, yet I don't! When I really miss it is when I look back on my photos from each and every day last year. Makes me sad I didn't do it again this year! =(

My idea of downsizing to just monthly photos hasn't worked as well since I haven't been using my camera. I didn't pick it up once in April! All my photos are from my iphone this month.

We spent the better part of the month packing up to make the move to a new place.

I failed to get photos of that process.

In place of it we have:

One of our favorite barista's at 'our' Starbucks. Shelly...she's so much fun and so funny!

Bailey Easter basket! Michel wanted me to pick up one of those kiddy pre made ones for his Easter this year....just before he turned 16. It was pretty funny.

Morgan, snoozing on the sofa one of the Monday's I watched her.

Then we come to the Marinier's game that we went to with some friends.

We had great seats close to the field along the 3rd base line and got a kick out of the hot dog vendor with the hot dog hat!

March Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:38:00 +0000

I'm rather late in posting for March, given that it's almost the end of April! I have been very poor about picking up my camera as of late. It's not that I don't miss it, I just haven't made it a priority and have been very busy with other more pressing matters.
March was a month full of sadness and delight.
We said goodbye to some dear friends who left for a new life in Texas. Even though C&E didn't live just up the road and we only got together a few times a year, just having them close enough to get together when we wanted will be greatly missed! Having only met them 4 short years ago, they are good people who we enjoyed spending time with....now we'll just have to plan to do it via a trip! ;)
Some sweet treats were discovered this month, the new cake pops from Starbucks are delightful! Birthday cake (the pink one) and Rocky Road are both good, but I think birthday cake edges out the RR by just a slight bit. I came across Lindt's delicious dark chocolate with a hint of salt while babysitting my friend Julie's kids one afternoon. Seriously good stuff!
After a long, dark, windy, cold winter...we finally started to see some signs of spring! Unfortunately these are the only signs of spring so far, the weather is still cold, windy and wet! =P
March marked my first ever 5K race! I ran in the St. Patty's Day Dash in Tacoma. Of course it was wet for my first race, but I didn't care. I had a great time, went into it with the goal of finishing in 30 minutes or less. My official time was 30 minutes 12 seconds. I'm extremely happy with my time and the accomplishment. Michel and I have decided to do one 5K a month for the year giving consideration to 10K races next year! We are skipping out of a race this month (april) due to busyness that is all consuming and will be disclosed in next month's post!
Hope your March was full of good madness!

Features of February

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:03:00 +0000

February was pretty low key.

Of course there was the celebration of Valentine's Day.

We don't make a big deal out of the day, as we express our love throughout the year, not just on this one day. He did surprise me with some tulips (my favorite) that he brought home during his lunch and left on the counter while I was out on a errand. That was a sweet surprise.

I hosted my annual scrap-a-ganza with my scrappy friends.

It was a productive and fun day.

The end of the month brought a 5K race for Michel.

I chose not to participate in this race, which would have been my first, due to the fact that I don't like the trail it was on. Thankfully that was the case as it was coooold that morning! 22*!

I froze while I waited for Michel and we hung out to see if he won any 'door' prizes, he didn't.

He did run a good time though...a bit better then he had hoped.

So proud of him for braving the cold and running the race.

After the race we headed south to celebrate our friend's 40th birthday.

they live on a berry farm south west of Portland Or.

They have a cute little guest cottage that they left for our use.

Time went far too quickly and we plan to head down again for a longer visit when the weather gets a bit warmer.

January Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:05:00 +0000

I didn't pick my camera up much this month.

I missed it less then I thought I would.

I'm still finding my footing for this year's project.

A photo a day is out, so I'm going to just focus on highlights of each month.

This will also go hand in hand with the move in scrapbooking I'm wanting to make.

Simplified and easy.

Highlights for this month:

A beautifully amazing winter sunset.

The addition of lime green (which I'm offically calling Xbox green) to the teen boys room.

Rainy day boots for shopping.

Penguin love note left for me by my sweetheart.

A self portrait before heading to the opera.

Winter afternoon sunbeams.

Heart shaped krispie treats.

Paper heart garland.

Clean me note to remind me to clean the lazy susan.

Double heart delight...new mug from my hubby and some fresh baked cookies.

The lazy susan mess that the sticky note reminded me to clean!

Day 365 [NYE]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:46:00 +0000

The last day!

This was actually within the last 10 minutes of the year!

I'm looking a bit on the downhill slide...and I was!

It was not pretty long after this.

TOO many drinks poured by the bartender with a heavy shot!

We had a great time celebrating with the Rosemond's, once again.

I am proud to say that I made it the entire year with a photo a day.

As much as I love this project, I don't know if I'm going to put the pressure on myself to do it again this year. Instead, I'm thinking of doing a highlight montage in photos for each month.

Stay tuned to see what I decide!

Day 364 [S.A.M.]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:32:00 +0000

Today the husband and I ventured into the city for a visit to SAM.

That's the Seattle Art Museum.

They are hosting a special exhibition of Picasso!

The first ever exhibit of Picasso in the US!

It was quite something to take in...this is all work that is usually housed in the Musee National Picasso in Paris, which is currently under renovation.

There is no photos allowed of the Picasso exhibit, but some were allowed in the main area of the museum.

This particular piece is amazing!

It's made of 40,000 military dog tags.

Just stunning to see in real life. Takes your breath away.

We had a lovely day taking in the art at the museum, strolling around the city, having dinner and then a hot drink after seeing the Picasso.

Our last date for 2010 = a good one!

Day 363 [White Blanket]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:41:00 +0000

This morning we arose to this.

We were expecting it, as they discussed it on the news last night.

Just more then a dusting.

Enough to make everything look pretty for a few hours, but it certainly makes for not ideal running conditions! We are hopeful that the sun will melt it on the sidewalks and it will warm up enough for us to make it out for a run today.

Day 362 [Movie Date]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:38:00 +0000

Yes, another picture of paper!

Honestly, the camera has been sitting the past few days as the days have been less then exciting.

Today was spent trading out cable boxes and modems, hooking up the new ones and undecorating Christmas. We went for a run in the afternoon, our first in 4 days! Talk about feeling sluggish!

Bailey had a sleep over at a friends, so we headed to the movies.

We attempted to see this on Christmas Day, but because I took too long making my hair look pretty, we missed the start time and bagged it that day.

We were delighted to find out that Tuesday is $1 small popcorn night at our movie theater....$2 if you upgrade to the bucket. We stuck with the small...that really is more then enough for 2 people!

We really enjoyed The Tourist.

Made for an enjoyable evening out.

Day 361 [Lunch Date]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:33:00 +0000

Michel and I headed out to meet a friend and his little girl for lunch today.

I failed to bring my camera out! Boo Hoo!

We enjoyed a good lunch with them at Claim Jumper, even though our waitress was less then chipper.

After lunch Michel and I headed over to Barnes & Noble for a stroll through the book aisles, then decided to 'pop in' over to the mall for a quick look.

NOT a quick pop in or quick look! Parking was a nightmare!

We really should have just left when finding a parking spot proved to be difficult, but no, we had to be victorious. Once we got in the mall it wasn't too bad, but there was nothing of desire to purchase.

So after about 30 minutes of looking around we left, empty handed, and headed for home.

Day 360 [Friendly Competition]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:29:00 +0000

The day after Christmas we had some friends over for a visit.

Chris and Stanley are two of Michel's childhood friends.

When they get together they revert back to those boyhood days and play video games.

It's cut throat, smack talking, competitive play!

We are talking serious business!

It's always a good laugh for Laura and I to take in this boyish sight.

Good times!

Day 359 [For REAL]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 19:48:00 +0000

As I was about to post this picture as Day 360, I started to realize that my calculation was off!

I went back and realized my mistake dates back to day 187....if you look, you will not find day 187! I went from 186 to 188...so I've been off since July!

Anyway....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Today's post is about the BEST gift!

This is a gift that was not purchased in a store for me, rather a gift that came way of my Mother's china cabinet. My Mom's Mother, my Grandma Severson, passed away when I was 10 years old. I have very fond memories of the short time I was able to know her.

One of my most vivid memories is of the day, not long before her passing, that she bought out a tea cup in her kitchen, showed it to me and said that it was mine. Her Mother had given it to her on her 9th birthday (i don't recall if is was purchased new for my Grandmother or not) and she wanted me, her eldest Granddaughter, to have this tea cup. Her hope was that one day I would pass it down to my Granddaughter.

She told me that she would give the tea cup to my Mother to keep for me until I was grown.

It has remained in my Mother's china cabinet since that day, 30 years ago.

I have requested my tea cup many times since I have been married, but left sad and frustrated when I was told not until I had a china cabinet to house it in.

Since I have no need for nor plans to purchase said cabinet, I've been left without my beloved tea cup.

I requested the cup at Thanksgiving but left empty handed.

Last night, during gift exchange with my family, there was one box that was unmarked. My Mom said it was for me, but it was not a present. Confused and intrigued, it was the first item I opened.

Inside was a note from my Mother, which brought me to tears, explaining why she had kept the cup for so long, due to her being very close to her Mother and having a hard time letting go. She was sorry for keeping it from me for so long.

This was by far the most touching and best gift I received last night.

I will be soon looking for a case for my tea cup so I can safely display it in my house.

Day 359 [Peace Be With You]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 19:24:00 +0000

On this Eve of the birth of Jesus, I wish you a Joyous Day.

Day 358 [Ho! Ho! Ho!]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 17:12:00 +0000

I have been looking for some fun little treat to make up for Christmas, like I did for Thanksgiving, and was coming up empty handed. That all ended yesterday when I was looking at a friend's photo album on Facebook of her cookie party. When I saw these little guys I knew I had to make them!

How stinkin cute are they!?!?

SO easy too! Nutter Butter cookie, tube of white frosting (for the 'glue'), pretzel antlers, chocolate chip eyes and an M&M nose.

Bailey and I worked together on these and had them done in about 10 minutes.

Fast, easy and CUTE!

I plan to package a few up for my nephewn to take home tonight to leave out for Santa.

Day 357 [Classy Dining]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:34:00 +0000

After a long day of shopping...I did all the holiday food and present shopping today!

Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Michel took me out for dinner.

He wanted to go someplace different then our usual choices, so he chose the roadhouse in the next town over. They have good food and the environment is very casual.

So casual in fact, there are peanuts on the bare wood floors.

I looked down during dinner and saw under our table the sight of this reciept, fork and peanuts.

I, quite honestly, couldn't have created a better picture to capture the place!

Since my camera goes everywhere I do, I pulled it out and got to snapping!

Day 356 [Sugar Rush]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:29:00 +0000

Today I picked up my little buddy and spent the day with him.

We baked and decorated cookies.

He did his fair share of finger licking the frosting off his digits.

We talked and talked, played SpongeBob Monopoly, had lunch, shopped for Legos and then said goodbye.

It was a fantastic day with my buddy!

Day 355 [Dreamy]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:25:00 +0000

It's not quite as good as I was hoping for, but with practice I'll get it right.

I love the dreamy effect of the twinkle lights out of focus.

Day 354 [Pretties]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:19:00 +0000

I'm working on two albums for a client.

She has two kids, a boy and a girl.

I've been moving right along with what she's requested for their books and today I was so happy with this layout I made for her daughter. I added some stickles to the center of this flower and glossy accented the rest of it. I'm looking forward to see how it looks tomorrow after it's dried overnight.

Day 353 [Tree Debris]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 04:55:00 +0000

This picture sums up the aftermath of the wind storm we had last night.

We have had a lot of windy/stormy nights this winter, but last night's was one of the worst!

It gusted winds all night, no rain, just wind.

The noise kept me from getting a good night's sleep...which makes for a grumpy lady in the morning.

We were a bit shocked by all the tree debris, missing for sale signs from their posts, and downed fence panels around the neighborhood.

Thankfully we never lost power! We live a stones throw to the lake, according to all the patrons in Starbucks this morning, who live on or around the lake, we are lucky. There were several trees laying on power lines on the roads around the lake and no power was to be had.

Day 352 [Sofa Effect]

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Brooks) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:50:00 +0000

Same sofa, different kid, different day, same effect!

This boy was tuckered out this evening and fell asleep while watching the Jingle Ball on TV.

I do find it endearing, even as a teenager, there's still that sweet innocence when they sleep.