New Patio Furniture

We acquired the parentals old patio table and chairs this weekend. Love it! Now we have lots of room for friends to come over and eat. Hurray for bbq's! Hurray for spring, summer and fall! Hurray for friends!

We invited Phin for dinner our first evening with the table. Gotta admit that it got a little chilly sitting out there in the shade. But Jimmy made some yummy burgers and lots and lots of veggies.
All I have to do is sand and stain it and it'll look brand new. It's suppose to rain on Wednesday and possibly through Friday, so will probably wait till next week to start that project. Not gonna stop us from using it though, obviously. :)

Rocket Boy

It amazes me how quickly they grow up. R, my nephew was 4 when I took this photo. His parents went on a trip for a week and my MIL and I went down to take care of the boys. This little guy was my right hand. He'd help translate what his 2 year old brother was saying and tell us where everything was. I can't believe that he's 6 years old already. I only see the boys two or three times a year so it's almost always a shock to see how much they've grown or how smart they are. Love 'em to pieces.

The Interview

I couldn’t resist playing when Zann offered up her Interview Challenge. We’re collaborators in an art blog but just getting to know each other on our personal blogs so decided to take this opportunity to get to know a little more about each other. It’d be a lot of fun if you’d like to play along, so lemme know if you do and I’ll send you 5 questions for you to answer on your blog, too.

1. How did you choose your screen name, Madretz?
Mad is the first 3 letters in my first name and Retz is the first 4 letters of my last name. A few people call me that personally but most call me Madeline or Mad. But I don’t like “Maddy.” Makes me cringe just thinking about it

2. What is the biggest life obstacle you've had to overcome?
Ou, this is a tough one. I’m actually gonna have to plead the 5th on the biggest life obstacle, it’s super personal and highly emotional and I’m still going thru “overcoming” it. But my 2nd biggest obstacle is nearly just as tough, and that was losing my mother 9 years ago. The funny thing is that I was closer to my dad, but I was at peace with his passing. I think because my mom died suddenly, so much was left unsaid. Also...I had to make the decision of keeping or taking her off life support and no matter what the statistics are or what the doctors said, I think I will always question the "What Ifs". Phew, that was tough. I’ve never spilled those beans on my blog before.

3. How did you meet Jimmy?
We’re high school sweethearts. We had classes together since the 9th grade but didn’t really become friends till our Jr. year when we sat next to each other in history class. I remember the beginning of our senior year and the first 4 periods, I was so disappointed that I didn’t have any classes with him. Happily, he showed up in my 5th period English class, we sat next to each other and continued our friendship. I was working at KFC (fried chicken anyone?) and he started working there, too. By December in our senior year, we were dating. Been together ever since.

4. What draws you to the medium of photography over other mediums?
I’ve been documenting my life since I was in the 5th grade when I got my first diary and I started taking snapshots around the same time. My first camera was a Polaroid, then in the 80s I got one of those new-fangled disc-cameras – remember those? The quality of the photos were awful, but they were small and fun for a young teenager. It all changed in 1993 when I got a film SLR camera. That’s when I started learning more about the creativity and art of photography. Still, most of my photography is to document the events that have happened in my life: people/places/things. But I take time photographing things that are visually appealing to me. I like framing the shot, paying attention to how light affects something, or playing with depth of field to focus on a certain object or make it blurry. When I switched to digital, I learned so much more because I can experiment without worrying about wasting film. Also, I’m a lot more confident in my photography skills than my writing skills, so my posts will almost always have photographs to accompany what I write. Often, I’ll let the photograph speak for itself.

5. What is your favorite children's book?
Ah. This is easy! The Madeline series by Ludwig Bemelmans. As a child (or teenager in my case), when you discover a book that’s titled with your name, spelled exactly the right way, then it’s gonna be your very favorite. Maybe that’s sort of cheating, so aside from that, I've loved Richard Scarry books since I started reading.

Thanks for the questions, Zann!
Hope some of my bloggy friends want to play, too. :)
-

Saturday In The City

Very little resembles "Sunny California" this weekend in the Bay Area. But when you live in an area that gets a fair amount of rain, you can't just hunker down in your comfy cave-like home till it passes. Well we can actually, but not this weekend. We had plans with the Bowen's to go into "The City", perhaps exploring the Wave Organ, walking through Chinatown, riding the carousel and seeing the sea lions at Pier 39. The threat of rain changed our plans so instead we headed to the Palace of Fine Arts for a quick picnic lunch before heading inside to the Exploritorium. This place is so awesome for kids. Everything is hands-on and there's always a lesson involved. It's very science oriented, which is perfect for our little group because the husbands are science dorks and the wives are number geeks.
Ewwww! Drinking out of a toilet?!? Well, it's all about perception. The water's clean and filtered. But would YOU drink out of a toilet fountain?

When you look into this mirror and spin it, your head spins. It was a really cool effect and of course, I had to take the opportunity to take a photo of little miss A and me. It was fun listening to her "wow"ing and "whoa"ing and giggling at the silly things she discovered.

Prince W was laughing so hard at himself pretending to be a flower child. When in Rome, right?

On our way home, we got stuck behind a bus. Really, not that unusual when you're in the city. The buses in San Francisco are electric and apparently the electrical line that this bus was hooked up to failed. So the bus drive had to get out (in the rain) and move the connectors to the other wires.
It was actually kinda cool to watch. He did is so fast, I barely got the camera on in time to snap a photo of him changing the connectors over.

Oklahoma City

12 years ago yesterday, April 19th, our nation was devastated and saddened by the senseless bombing in Oklahoma City. My sister-in-law and I visited the Memorial in December and it was sad, awkward and horrific yet reflective and peaceful, also.

As I'm starting to write this, I'm struggling with my words because of the events that happened in Virginia this week. Hoping not to make any wounds deeper, but wanting to share my experience at the Oklahoma City Memorial. So in an effort to remember the people lost 12 years ago as well as those lost this week, I'll continue with my experience.

Reflecting Pool
This reflecting pool was built on the street that fronted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. There are identical gates at either end of the pool with 9:01 and 9:03 inscribed that represent the time immediately before and after the explosion. It's always awkward seeing yourself in reflecting pools such as this. It brings to home those thoughts that "It could have been me".

Survivor Tree
On the north side of the reflecting pool stands a solitary American Elm tree known at the Survivor Tree because in the face of the explosion, the tree survived. There's a lot of symbolism in this tree - Strength and Hope at the forefront.

The Field Of Empty Chairs
The saddest and most moving area of the Memorial was The Field of Empty Chairs. There are a total of 168 Empty Chairs on this field where the federal building once stood. There are a total of 9 rows of chairs, representing the 9 floors of the former building. Each person's chair is positioned in the row that corresponds to the floor where they worked or were visiting. There are also 5 Empty Chairs that honor those who were killed outside of the federal building. Each persons name is inscribed on his chair. Yes, there are smaller chairs, too.

Jesus Weeping
Just outside the Memorial Gate is this statue.

Written on both gates and inside the memorial museum:
"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

Peaceful blessings.

Dahlia

submitted to Lensday: Flower

Pop Art Madeline

Having fun with photoshop today.

Stumbled upon an artist's flickr site and she gave details on how to do it yourself so I had to try it myself.

Here's the original pic, next to the finished project:

Wanna move to the Bay Area?

Then have I got a deal for you!For a mere 1.25 million dollars, this lovely Victorian "Diamond in the Rough" can be yours! (please click photo to enlarge so you get the full effect of this beauty).
Seriously.
It's for sale.
For $1,250,000.
Have ya read Phin's blog about the 935 sq. foot home she saw yesterday for $620k?
And people wonder why we still rent. And live in a barely 1000sq foot duplex.

Anyway...
It was a lovely day for a walk. Phin took the day off and we walked around this neighborhood for about an hour. Which actually was a nice historic neighborhood, not that you'd know by the looks of this house. Next thing we knew it was lunchtime and my stomach was growling. So we headed to a favorite sushi restaurant.

Have you ever seen pink sushi before?
Me neither. The top is your typical teka maki (tuna roll) but the bottom is their Kani Papaya roll - a California roll with papaya and wrapped in soybean rather than seaweed. It was surprisingly...tasteless. I'd definitely recommend it to the sushi-shy. It wasn't tasteless in a bad way, you could still make out the flavors of the ingredients, but when you're used to the seaweed flavor in sushi, it's surprising how bland the remaining ingredients are. I kicked it up with soy sauce and wasabi and that added more flavor, but I'll probably stick with the regular california roll or stay away from all sushi wrapped in soybean...pink soybean for that matter. :)

Red Egg and Ginger Party for J

We celebrated another wonderful birthday today and it was the biggest birthday celebration we've been to! Our friends hosted a feast to celebrate their daughter's first birthday. A traditional "Red Egg and Ginger" party is often given to celebrate the birth of a child and Jimmy and I were so honored to be a part of the celebrations. We were surrounded by friends and ate oh so much delicious food. BTW, if you've ever heard of the theory that after eating Chinese food, you'll be hungry 2 hours later...then you've never been to a Chinese banquet before. Seriously. I ate soo much food, I just couldn't help myself. The food rotates around the table on a big lazy susan, so every time the food swings by, ya gotta grab another bite or two. It's 8:45pm, the party was at noon, and I'm still not hungry. Dinner isn't even a consideration. (which works out because I'm not even gonna calculate the Weight Watcher's points I ate today, LOL!).

Here we are with the guest of honor and her proud parents. Isn't she adorable? She's such a good, patient little girl. The parents went to every table and little J was just content as could be.

So, this photo is mostly to share history of the friendships that formed. These guys, along with the daddy above, have been friends for over 10 years and have all worked together at one time or another. Jimmy and the two guys on either side of him have been buddies since college. The wives (we've called ourselves the Wives Club) also formed friendships outside of our husbands relationships. It's an amazing group of friends. There is a definite similarity in all of our personalities. It's pretty cool. They've all started families so it's really fun watching how our friendships continue to grow and include kids in the picture.

So happy birthday little miss J! Thank you so much for inviting us! Me, you and your mommy must do lunch again soon!

Last night's crafting project

"Boo" is a nickname for Monica's son. I didn't intend for the layout to say "Boo Monica", that'd be kinda odd, right? Originally, I had an "&" between the two names but it turned out horribly wonky so I covered it with the journaling.

A Good Friday that Happens to be the 13th

Knock on wood (LOL), this superstitious day as gone without a hitch, so far. I did have one frustrating phone conversation with the bank, but otherwise, it was a good day. I went to my weight watchers meeting and surprisingly yet happily was successful at the scales. I admit that I was concerned about my frivolous weekend in Seattle, but I also bumped up my activities and didn't give in to every single indulgence. (Note to self: don't wait to eat till your starving then go to Jack-in-the-Box). Continued the afternoon with my weekly walk at Stanford with my girlfriend Eve, the warm sun behind our backs. Now enjoying the evening, planning on quality tv time and crafting.
Tulips for sale at Pikes Market.

One Conversation About 13 Things

Whenever Jimmy’s cousin calls, I usually get the pleasure of talking to him first because I answer the phone. We usually chat for about 1-2 hours before I hand the phone over to Jimmy and then they talk for another 4-6 hours. Marathon phone call at it’s finest. When Andrew called last night at 10:30, Jimmy was asleep but expected to wake up within the next hour or two, so I told Andrew that if we chatted long enough, Jimmy might be awake by the time we were sick of talking to each other. Our topics of conversation crack me up. So random and all over the place, but always witty, sarcastic and smart:

-Art of Guitar Design
-The Resurrection of Christ
-Cast Away, the movie
-Rupturing hernias
-Planet Earth
-Hi-def TV
-Palm Sunday/Ash Wednesday/Lent
-The Elderly
-Native Americans
-Faith and Devotion
-Hauling hay
-Idiocracy, the movie
-Organization including the lack of it
-Don Imus
-Installing Vista on a virtual machine
-Getting a Macintosh instead
-Replacing disc brakes
-Making toast
-Air filters
-Magnets

Then typically, Jimmy and he talk for hours about computers, politics, music and who knows what else because it's waay beyond me. And by then I'm sawing logs...relative to the two of them, I have a normal sleep schedule.

Jimmy and Andrew chatting on our deck at the hideaway last summer.

Reminiscing

It's hard to believe that it's already Thursday and I've been home for 3 days. My visit was waay too short and I wish I was able to spend more time with my cousin. I had a great time with her, every moment was cherished!The above view of Seattle was taken from Beacon Hill.

Moi, enjoying the tulips.

Me and Jimmy at Tulip Town. Windblown but happy. :)

This is Pacific Medical Center, which sits atop Beacon Hill. Amazon.com's global headquarters is here.

Cherry Blossoms on Beacon Hill.

Happy Easter!

Celebrated a great Easter day in Skagit County enjoying the tulips with my cousin and her family. A beautiful day surrounded by oh so many colorful flowers! Forecasts predicted rain, but as you can see in the pic, we avoided it, hurray! It's raining now, but we're safely tucked in our room, relaxing for the rest of our evening.

Hope you all had or are having a wonderful Easter day, too.

In 8 hours

Jimmy and I will be leaving for Washington for a much anticipated weekend with my dearest cousin. I haven't seen her in 8 months and it's going to be so much fun!

I should start packing. Laundry still needs to be done. Gifts still need to be wrapped. Cards need to be made. Emails need to be sent. Dishes need to be done and miscellaneous putting stuff away must happen. But instead I'm playing around in photoshop with some new brushes I downloaded from Designfruit and blogging. Have I mentioned already that I'm the queen of procrastination?

Happy Birthday!!

My dearest cousin is celebrating her birthday today! (Hope ya don't mind the pic, cousin!) Both of us grew up as only kids and so we ended up forming a bond that just kept getting stronger as we got older. She is my closest family member and one of my best friends. We're separated by a lot of miles now but still as close as ever, I just miss her fiercely.
We're standing in my front yard one cold, winter afternoon in the southern California desert, a few years after she was born, perhaps just before her 3rd birthday. Now I get to watch her son grow up, too. He's celebrating his first birthday this weekend and Jimmy and I will be there for the celebrations!

Simple life

I haven't been up to a whole heck of a lot lately so haven't had much inspiration to write about anything. Pretty much, all I've been doing the past 2 weeks has been sneezing and trying to not rip my eyes out of their sockets. I think I may have gotten to the point where I want to see an allergist rather than just suffer through the whole spring season. Then again, I know myself well enough that I'll probably put off making an appointment so long that I won't be suffering as much anymore by then and I'll think, eh - the season's almost gone, I don't need no stinkin' medication.

I've also finally decided to take another step towards a healthier lifestyle and better eating habits. Seven years ago I joined weight watchers and I was successful with it. I never reached "goal" - a few chaotic life events, several family surgeries, work stress then finally quitting, figuring how to work at home, job instability on Jimmy's end and lots of other familiar life events we all deal with, stalled that last few pounds then ultimately the weight started creeping back on and I find myself almost where I started that July 2000. So a week and a half ago, I joined WW again, hoping to find the inspiration I had back then or at least get back in touch with the tools I need to take control of my bad eating habits. So far, so good! My very first day "back on program" was t.o.u.g.h. but the rest of the week went well and I'm still riding on that motivation train. I found out that I am a huge snack-a-holic but I'm finding treats that taste great and are workable with my plan. So far my very favorite snack is the Fiber One Chewy Bars. (I couldn't find a direct link to General Mills, this person's review sounded good to me though). I've tried the Oats and Chocolate, they are t.a.s.t.y and totally satisfy that sweet and chocolate craving. However, at 9 grams of fiber per bar, I wouldn't recommend eating more than one a day.

This is the artwork I had framed a few weeks ago. A couple of you asked about it, so here she is in all her glory. I'm so happy with how she turned out. I had this feeling of dread after I left it to get framed because I really wasn't sure about the matting (dark purple) and the very ornate frame. It's really hard to decide what will compliment someone else's artwork. Framing can make such a difference, and I didn't want to ruin her. She was made by Misty Mawn.