getting into the holiday spirit

Remembering the Islands

This my friends is a little piece of Hawaiian heaven.  Pineapple Rum cake from Mark's Place in Lihue, HI. 

Now you may find that you are asking yourself, "Gee, when did she go to Kauai?"

Friends, do not worry... I went on my honeymoon!!!

This is where you go, "Honeymoon! Don't you know you got married in July and it is now NOVEMBER?"

Again, don't you worry.  After we tried our first bite of Mark's delicious baked goods and incredible hole-in-the-wall Hawaiian food restaurant we were in love.  Unfortunately we discovered this place on one of OUR LAST NIGHTS! So we did what any normal food lover would do.  Go back the following night, order a massive dinner, chat it up with some great locals about life in Kauai (while considering dropping everything and moving), and THEN buying out basically their entire baked goods selection before we hopped on our airplane home. 

We have two more loaves left in our freezer well protected and awaiting to be devoured.  Let's just hope that Mark will ship soon, or I guess we will HAVE to go back to Kauai!!

Weekend Update

Here's what we did this weekend.  So nice to just spend time relaxing together.

Squash Risotto

Laundry Day

Movie Weekend

Games with Friends in Atlanta

It's so nice to make new friends

Oh, hello :)

Meet our new friend :)

(Anyone who would like to meet our new member of the family, please let us know and we will be sure to introduce you.) **Warning.  Introduction to the above mentioned "friend" will cause extreme comfort and relaxation**

How bad are we??

So how bad are we at this blogging thing right?  I really need to get into my projects and stick with them.  Right now I have a million projects going on, many of which I will or should be blogging about, but then I start a new project and the cycle continues.

Well I know this is not much of the update you were looking for being so long ago, but we have something we need to share.  Our friend Jen (who is amazing btw.. please follow her blog too!), gave us a really special wedding present.  We absolutely love it! And the best part of all, we get to share her gift with all of you!!   I promise I will update more soon, but in the meantime... check this awesome gift out!

awesome gift!

 and thanks to Jen, I am now thinking of all the people I would like to have this done for.  This artist is just so great!

Happy day to everyonee!

Normalcy...or Something Like It

I know this is out of order and I promise hope that we will post wedding/honeymoon pics and info, but I figured our blog was out of date again and wanted to post a little something.

The months leading up to the wedding were a complete whirlwind and practically the whole 2010 year has flown by. But here we are now, 3 weeks post wedding and things are finally settling down. We came back from our much needed Hawaiian honeymoon with awesome tans and a sense of relaxation. We promised our friends that we would definitely hang out with them once the wedding was over, and so this past weekend we tried to make good on our promises.

Steve and Rachel Trudelle-
As you may recall, Steve and Rachel were the wedding we attended 3 weeks before our wedding. (Yeah the one with the sweet boat cruise). This past Saturday, Steve was running in a 10K at Snoqualmie Days (which is a big celebration thing that Michelle and I had no idea existed) and he and Rachel would be in our neck of the woods. We met them for breakfast at Mabel's (the local breakfast place on the Ridge) and spent a good deal of time catching up. Luckily the Trudelles are BBQ pizza experts and gave us directions on how to make awesomely delicious pizzas without a pizza stone. (We owe you guys!) So obviously we wasted no time and put the pizza recipe to work that night.

Chris and Jessi Stephen-
Chris is Michelle's old co-worker but he and his wife, Jessi, live quite close to us. We had plans to hang out with them Saturday night and since we were armed with a new pizza recipe, we had them come over for "Make Your Own Pizza Night". Michelle and I did our best to have a variety of ingredients so that people could make their own crazy combination of pizzas. I went with a more "everything on it" type while Michelle went with her "Italian Style" which had tomatoes, mushrooms, and even prosciutto (pretend I'm saying it like Giada). It was great catching up with them as well over a bottle of wine and a couple beers.

Evansons and Parnells-
On Sunday we had a belated bday celebration for Michelle at Maltby Cafe (a greater Seattle area institution for breakfast). This place is known for their cinnamon rolls so obviously we ordered one. These things were massive (about the size of a wagon wheel with the weight of a small child) but oh so delicious. It's always great getting together with family and shooting the breeze without any stress.

And so our weekend ended much too quickly (don't they all?) and we now turn our sights onto HOTLANTA, where Michelle's good friend Nikki is getting married this weekend. As you may or may not know, I hate humidity. It goes back to a blistering summer in North Carolina, but I will save that story for later (it's a good one, trust me). Anywho, we will be in Atlanta from Friday-Sunday where I will sweat profusely, but will enjoy every minute celebrating Nikki and Danny and their future together (which will include Sweeney-Castro vacations, right Nikki?)

Side note: Sorry I don't post pictures with posts. I'm not very artsy or creative, which has been reinforced throughout my life on art projects. I was also told I don't write nice flowing essays but instead I use choppy sentences and make careless mistakes. But that could be because I just would spell check and print whenever I wrote an essay. It was much easier than re-reading it and making changes. Blogging is way easier since nobody grades you...well at least not publicly. I'm sure all the teachers out there have some grade in their head as they read this. (B? B-?) My mom is probably grading me the worst, but she loves me no matter how bad poorly I write :)

Thanks for reading this latest entry loyal blog stalkers. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't write these. Oh who am I kidding, I wrote one when I thought only 3 people read the blog. I'm sure we've doubled that by now. I hope you all have a good week and a better weekend.

-Scott

PS Whoa, apparently Michelle changed the look of the blog as I was writing this. She loves her green apparently. I need to stop saying apparently.

Giving the People What They Want

Guest Blog Alert! Guest Blog Alert!

Michelle will probably give me the evil eye for intruding on the blog but I thought I'd get some action going on here. Every morning I find myself cliking on our blog only as a portal through which I stalk visit other blogs. And then it hit me...our blog is probably at the bottom of everyone's blogroll since it was updated probably 3...4 weeks ago? I'm not sure, but people probably would like to hear a little more about what is going on with us. I'll try to start where Michelle left off with the California shower. And so on with the show...

World Cup - Where to start? From June 11 - July 11, my life was utterly consumed with World Cup. From taking vacation days just to watch some of the best matches, to making sure atdhe.net was my first online visit in the mornings, I could not get enough of the greatest sporting event in the world. Thankfully Michelle knew the importance of WC and left me alone for the most part during the tournament. The nice thing being on the West Coast was that the games ended by 1:30pm so there was still a huge chunk of the day for doing "other things". In the end, I thought the WC was excellent and Spain deserved to win.

Beer Brewing - The Evanson's famously host 4th of July at their lake house ("cabin") during which all are welcome to enjoy the slower pace of life and enjoy some R&R. The past two years we had purchased copious amounts of beer and also got an African Amber keg from Mac and Jacks. This year, however, Pat and I decided to brew our own beer at the suggestion of one of my co-workers. There is a place in Edmonds called Where U Brew...where you do exactly as the name says. After much drinking hard work, we decided that we would brew a lighter beer than the amber and chose a Danish Pilsner. It was a bit hoppy but not too heavy and figured it would complement the "hot" (more on this later) summer at the cabin. Two hours and a couple beers later, our beer was done cooking and ready for fermentation. We figured we would come back and bottle during another of Michelle's showers later in June (see below for continuing story).

Michelle's Seattle Shower - My mom came up for Michelle's "Greater Seattle Area" Shower on the last weekend in June. As I customarily do with all guests, I immediately took my mom to Paseo after picking her up at the airport so she could taste the sweet ambrosia and nectar known as a cuban roast sandwich. The thing about my mom is that when she feasts on good food, she tends to become quiet and ever so slightly places an open palm on the side of the table. Even though she was holding a cuban roast sandwich, I think I saw her try to sneak one of those open palms during the meal. The best part about the whole meal was that the sandwich was too big for her, so I was left the spoils of war and feasted on the seconds. It's a shame that Michelle has picked up on this habit of mine and will actually turn the sandwich over and eat from the bottom so that all the good stuff doesn't wind up in my belly. Curse you!! Anywho, we ended up back home where my mom was able to see the completed house. We then went to the rehearsal dinner location to taste some vino and food and headed home to sleep. Michelle's shower on Saturday consisted of kicking me out of the house for about 24 hours, so I packed up my sleeping bag and PJ's and left knowing that I had refuge at Kimmie and Pat's apartment that night...but not before I cut the grass so the house would look nice for the ladies (brownie points for me). Luckily Michelle's shower was timed at just the right time for the US - Ghana game, but we all know how that ended so I won't go into details. After the game, Pat and I went to drink bottle our sorrows since the US lost.

Quick side note guys: Do not vacuum when the retractable blinds cord is laying on the floor (especially when you have guests coming in a day). I learned the hard way and before I could even utter a curse, the blinds were ripped from the window and lay dishevled on the floor. I can honestly say that it was pretty cool, but not worth the headache. No worries though as I was able to repair them the next day before my mom came to visit! I guess the lesson learned is just don't vacuum, period.

Beer Brewing Part 2 - So after the loss, Pat and I left for Edmonds once again so that our beer brewing quest would be completed. Upon arrival, we purchased 134 bottles for our beer (Yeah, we had that much beer, and half of it is still in our fridges). We then hooked up our beer to their tap and were underway...but were we? Apparently the guys at the place didn't carbonate our beer so what came out of the tap tasted like a day old refrigerated beer. Obviously not what we wanted. Luckily they had some nifty CO2 compressors and we were able to bottle all the beer in less than an hour. But not before we enjoyed a beer on the house since they kinda screwed up our beer. Since the ladies were having a sleepover at my abode, Pat and I had a "man date" the rest of the night. Pat had heard of this great Puerto Rican place in Ballard called "La Isla" and we decided that is where our stomachs would be pleasured. Everything we had from the empanadas to the pulled pork and cod, was cooked perfectly and was muy delicioso. We immediately determined that it was a place we had to bring the girls (which we still haven't yet, HA!). We then headed home for a male's night consisting of homemade brew and "The Hurt Locker", which left us both pretty tired and we ended up crashing. All in all it was a great weekend, and I was glad my mom was able to make it up.

4th of July/Weather - The weather was pretty disappointing in Seattle for much of May and June. Everyone said "It's not supposed to be like this" but it was pretty gray and rainy. There's a saying up here that goes "Summer doesn't start until July 5th" but it's a tongue in cheek joke since there are nice days beforehand. However, this year it was spot on. The weekend of the fourth was a blistering 65 degrees and overcast (contrast to 4 days later when it reached 90 degrees, no joke). The cold was a perfect complement to our cool pilsner. We were better off brewing some Winterfest!! But the weather didn't spoil the excitement (in more ways than one) that is the 4th of July. As usual, we had our seafood boil for the 4th which was delicious as always. And the 4th wouldn't be complete without a trip to the reservations to get some totally legit and legal fireworks. After a lot of bargaining and Pat's obsession with firecrackers and five finger discounts (just kidding Pat), we came away with a healthy inventory of fireworks. We set up our normal mortar tubes aimed away from the shore since that is the safe thing to do. Looking back on it we probably had like 10 tubes out there. The firework show started off spectacular, and I swear the bangs and booms were so much better than last year. But then something crazy happened, we inadvertantly put a mortar upside down and it blew on the beach. All I remember was the beach being flooded with white light (very similar to when Harry Potter casts a Patronus...okay I'll stop) and then it was followed by beautiful blue lights. And then something even crazier happened, another one exploded on the beach. These both happened within 2 seconds of each other but felt like 2 minutes. We then hear that Kim got something in her eye and see her rush into the house. Michelle handled the situation superbly and fortunately my parents are eye doctors (and a phone call away) and we were able to help Kim out immediately. Thankfully there was no long term damage to Kim's eye but it was a scary reminder of how dangerous fireworks are. Next year, we will be much safer and smarter.

Wedding Season - Two weekends ago Michelle and I went to Rachel (one of Michelle's high school friends) and Steve's (a fellow California native and Seattle transplant) wedding. It was beautiful and even featured a boat cruise from Lake Union all the way to Medina. Fortunately, that Seattle "summer" which starts on July 5th was on full display as it was the absolute perfect weather. Just wanted to say "Congrats" to you two again, I hope Whistler was amazing.

Let's see what am I missing now...oh yeah. Michelle and I have this little shindig happening at the end of this month where we are getting married. It's crazy to think that we've been engaged for over a year and just how much has happened in that year. It looks like we are 12 days out now and we are both getting very excited. It will be wonderful to see all of our friends and family from all over, and have them celebrate our special day with us.

So until 8 more months when I make my next blog post, here is me wishing everyone a happy summer, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas!!

Scott

15 days!

Forgive us, but life has been a bit busy lately.... Life to resume after the Honeymoon!!

My California Tea Bridal Shower

There is only one word to describe the CA shower that was thrown for me over Memorial Day weekend: 

Wow!

I can't even begin to thank the hostesses Auntie Robin, Auntie Betty and Lisa.  They did such an incredible job with every last detail.  I've never been thrown a party quite like that - well to be honest besides birthday parties when I was a kid, I've never been thrown a party. Period.  

Every last detail was thought of, even down to sewing table toppers and outdoor cushions that matched my wedding colors! I am so lucky to be joining such a thoughtful and talented group of women next month.  Scott's family could not have made me feel more welcomed into the "Lee family."

I can't even describe how wonderful everything is without writing a novel on here, so here are a few of the pictures I stole from Lisa (yes, she not only hosted and helped prepare for the shower, she was also the photographer and dessert artist :) )

Auntie Robin even had a menu!

Future family! 

Whoever made these cucumber sandwiches - I need this recipe!!  They were incredible! Auntie Betty made four different loaves. The Lee family specialize in baking among many other things.

Lisa is such a good photographer!  I'm so glad my family traveled with us to CA.

Great friends joined in for the fun!  I have some of the greatest! 

With my hostesses! Thank you all for making me feel so special ladies!

Oh, and I can't forget... this was my dessert... crazy right?  

New Tricks

Sure she looks sweet and innocent, however this creature is anything but. She is sneaky and somehow accomplishes the oddest things.

These are Smokie's latest tricks:

1) She will sit in or around the bath tub and cry. She will continue to cry (loudly) until we turn on the water for her to drink, play in, and look at. This is my mom's fault for teaching her this trick. Sadly, Smokie does not understand that unlike Snoop, she is a cat, and should not be drinking from faucets.

will cry for up to one hour... it has been tested.

2) She likes to carry things. She will carry large or small objects throughout the house. This started with carrying her toys around the house like her prey.

It has now it has moved onto wedding party favors, papers, pens, laundry and most recently.... a loaf of bread.

She managed to bring the bread out of a bowl, off of a table and over to the bottom of the stairs. I'm sure if we had given her more time it would have ended up in our bedroom as this is where she brings all of her treasures.

3) Climbing. We've never seen her do it, but the paw prints on the sides of the fridge give her away.

4) it's hairball season...

How does so much stuff come out of such a small creature?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTTIE!!

That's right, today is this guy's 24th birthday! 

And shockingly, we are not going to Paseo's tonight for dinner!! But we are going to try somewhere new, so that is just about the second best option.

Scottie, 

I hope that you have a wonderful birthday week!!  Two weekends in a row of celebrating is what you deserve!  Thanks for absolutely everything.  You make me smile everyday and even take the garbage out on your own birthday :)  I can't wait for our mini vacation weekend, even though it will be very busy, it will be nice to have a few days together and with both of our families.  We are almost there B, I love you!

SweeneyStories.com!

Kevin 

This guy rocks!  For our early wedding gift he bought us…. SWEENEYSTORIES.COM!

Now you can find us at our very own website!  Doesn’t that make us seem so “official!”  I guess if the pressure of friends giving me a hard time when I don’t update isn’t enough, let’s just add our own website to the picture.  I’m really going to have to blog more now!!

Thanks Kev! You’re so great!

(He’s going to be so embarrassed and annoyed with this post.. J)

A Break...

Wow... has it really been almost two months since we last blogged. Well things have been so busy around here we've completely forgotten to write it all down. Between tax season ending, weekend trips, random last-minute family in town (awesome!), Scottie's bachelor party, wedding and house things to do we have been on the go! We are down to the last three months before the BIG DAY and there is still quite a bit of details to work through. At the end of this month is the first of three showers and I'm so excited to spend time with Scott's family! June is full of three showers, vegas for Nikkita's bachelorette!, and many many appointments and things to do!

These next three months will go by fast, but I promise to try and note a few things down along the way!

Here are a few pictures of our surprise weekend trip to NYC for Scott's mom's birthday. She knew she was going, but had no idea that we were coming along for the ride with Kevin in tow the very next day! It was so fun to see the surprised look on her face two days in a row! (Thanks for the pics Kev)

On top of 30 Rock

Delicious hot dogs in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dad tired of looking at "artsy" things

NY Public Library

We're in Love

Doesn't get much better than this. 

My favorite place

Just a few pictures of my favorite place in this world. Malibu, I've been thinking of you a lot lately (and no not Malibu, CA).  Young Life has a special place in my heart.

I hope one day I am able to go back.

Mino

Scott and I have recently purchased a fun new piece of equipment!! Fun way to post a blog entry if you ask me...





Sorry about the shaky hands, it's a lot harder than it looks! We are well on our way of moving a few things in.  It's pretty easy when you don't have much to move :)

Judgement

We are all judgmental.


Judgement. A big word and often, a daily battle. Something that we all struggle with, and something that we all are victim to.


I consider myself a tolerant person and pride myself on being as open minded as possible. Try as we may, judgement is in our lives. Why are we all so judgmental? Why do some people find that exploiting another person's faults, disadvantages, or differences, enjoyable? It is our nature, but is it "nice"? We look down on others, as if we are so much better … and that creates division among people.


Most people realize that being judgmental is an unattractive trait, but why do so many people struggle with the ability to love beyond, well... perfect.


I guess it is time for a little self reflection, and I ask each of you to do the same. It is hard. It is hard to love unconditionally, but this is something I am working on. I used to be better. The next time you judge someone for something, think of how that can make them feel. If you are worried about hurting their feelings... you probably did.


“Be curious, not judgmental.” – Walt Whitman


*I just edited this post because of an error. Shows how we all worry about being "judged" :) New goal... not care about what others think... as much as possible.*

Idol Boys

Right now... i refuse to pick a guy front runner.

This season of idol so far may be the worst one yet.

Idol Girls

I don't care what you say... I'm not too old for Idol. But most likely when Simon goes, I'll go.


Ok the good part of Idol officially started last night. Scott and I stayed up until 11:30 pm (WAY Past our bedtime!) to watch the first round of girls go through. I think it may be a girls' year, but it is also very early to tell. Even though watching the traveling city try-outs can be funny and we see some crazy people who think they can sing, it is only funny for about two shows and then it's time to fast forward past Hollywood week and start truly paying attention when they get to the top 24.


These are Scott's and my pick for top three girls so far:

CRYSTAL

I LOVE this girl. She is what Idol needed. A true musician and really cool voice. Unlike any other girl to ever come onto Idol. Her downside? Most people my age and older are not into American Idol, and I don't really think she will have enough of a fan base to keep her going.

KATELYN

This girl needs some help in the wardrobe department because I think she's too young to dress like a 80's pop icon. Has a really powerful voice and knows her limitations. She does make some weird facial expressions though. But some of the greatest vocal talent I can't stand to watch (i.e. Celine, Reba) so maybe it's all a part of her plan.

KATIE

This girl, is ONLY 17!! Can you believe it, because I can't. She might just be the full Idol package. I think the pre-teens will love her and since that is the major market for this show (Surprisingly they also target this show to me, Scott, Rachel, and Nikki - obviously this show was made for us) she just have a very good chance.

I think that we may have a "underdog" as well.

PAIGE

I kinda forgot about this girl until right now. I think she has a pretty great voice, but had a horrible choice of song last night. You can tell she has that something special, but I don't even know if she knows what best suits her voice. We may have to wait and see on this one.

Those are our picks. Onto another season of... AMERICAN IDOL! (said just like Ryan)

Keys

We get the keys tomorrow!! How exciting (and fast!) this whole process has been!  Thanks for following along with the process of our house, we are celebrating with pizza tomorrow night in our new (and very empty) home.  Now we just have to fill it...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Looks like home to us!

Move in? In a few days?... don't mind if we do!

Scott will need a lot of help with the backyard.  We are now accepting applications to volunteer.  :)  Will provide food and drinks.

Dining Room off of the Kitchen

Pantry

Master Bath with "His & Her" Vanities

Our Favorite Room!

Mt. Si!! 

House Update

Well we 9 business days or so away from having our house complete.  Crazy, we know! There are still quite a bit of little details left, cleaning and touch-ups to be made but the house is really coming along nicely.  We are so happy with the options we have chosen and it has been exciting to watch it all come together.

Kitchen - our appliances are in!

Another Kitchen Pic

I love this sink

Guest Bathroom Vanity

View out of the Loft - Sorry for the cloudy day.

On a sunny day this view includes Mt. Si.  Thanks to the house on the right choosing the 1.5 story model.  Scott says we should bake you cookies to 'thank you' for not taking our view away!