Peter's Birthday Weekend

Last week Peter turned 27 years old.  (For those of you counting, that makes him only one year younger than me on paper, which is basically the same as my age …)  The evening started with dinner at a “French” hole-in-the-wall bistro on Capitol Hill. I have “French” in parentheses for a valid reason—the only Parisian thing about the place was that the menu had French words on it and the owner had a slight accent. The food was not too bad, but the live band crammed into one of the corners of the room was what really gave the place its charm.  Three young guys playing guitar and trumpet delivered some amazing Miles Davis pieces and a couple of vocals that were pitch perfect. Very romantic indeed.  Afterwards we walked over to the Vivace stand and caffeinated ourselves in preparation for part two of the evening—presents, carrot cake, and bubbly at my parent’s place in Kent.  

Saturday found us enjoying a relaxing morning at home complete with coffee, the morning paper, and Friday night’s Husky Basketball game. By mid-afternoon we were off to Samish Island to spend the rest of the birthday weekend with Peter’s parents. Instead of going out to dinner we opted for making a variation one of our favorite dishes—Butternut Squash Curry, Afghan style. Peter and I did all the cooking, topped off with an herbed yogurt sauce. It got rave reviews and we’ll be sure to make it again in the near future. Sunday morning we were treated to a full home-cooked breakfast by Peter’s parents: wheat pancakes, bacon, fruit platter, and yogurt.  Well-rested and well-fed, we did the obvious---we went shopping!  Visits to REI, Barnes & Noble, and a quick trip to Costco were all successful and before we knew it we were back for dinner. Once again, the Davis parents made a delicious salmon dinner and after a few hours of down-time, chatting about Thanksgiving plans, and another Husky b-ball game, we headed back home. All-and-all, a fun-packed weekend for me and my Mr!

 

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The papercuts are worth it.

As of November 2nd, I'm officially employed with a local shop called glassybaby here in Madrona that makes hand-blown glass votives and drinkers. As a shipping assistant, I have the privilege of making someone's day by packaging and sending out these beautiful pieces of art. My favorite part is hand-writing the notes that the sender wants included with the gift. These notes range from thank yous, to happy birthdays,to encouragement for perseverance, to the occasional condolence. Today I wrote such a note with two votives called "remembrance" and couldn't help but feel touched by the kind words and the depth of sincerity. To be honest, until this morning, I didn't really understand why these little glass bobbles are such a hit. But writing that note, and knowing that every time a candle is lit in these votives this woman's loved one is remembered, it all made sense. I'm officially a fan (and it has nothing to do with being on their payroll).

If you want to know more about glassybaby, check out their website at www.glassybaby.com. The shop also has a blog (http://blog.glassybaby.com/) and a glassblowing studio in the Madrona shop. Stop in sometime and say hello!

April's Wedding in Chicago!

Would you believe we walked in two seconds before the processional started?

The wedding was beautiful.  Wonderful ceremony and reception.  So happy to see April & Ryan in love!

Got to catch up with old high school friends, and explore the arboretum (taking care not to freeze our fingers off…wonder how April fared in her dress taking portraits!?)  Also got to tour Chicago for a few brief hours before our flight home. Went driving around looking for free parking, walked over to a nice looking park…and waddya know we found the zoo! Nice surprise, a bonus to cap a wonderful weekend.

…And her photographer got her pics ready a lot faster than ours! Very nice!

And just in case anyone's wondering what we're doing in those pictures, that's a giant statue of Hans Christian Anderson with a swan next to him. We're attempting to pet the swan.

Almost Winter

Almost Winter, originally uploaded by Peter Davis.

Hello from Route #3! Bundled up, almost winter now...can't wait to get home
and eat some chocolate...cocoa and brownies are waiting!

The gloves came off

We made our marriage official on Sept. 29th by engaging in our first marital 'disagreement'. The point of dissention was our vast wall space and how to most aesthetically nail in our pictures. And which pictures. And how many. After a few "fine, do it your way"s we decided that it would be best to not make any holes in the wall until we reach some kind of middle ground. All the picture are still behind the couch.

We'd love to hear about your first fights. And more importantly, who won.

Crying over Quiche

The recipe was clear: "cook bacon until nice and crisp". After thoroughly burning the first four pieces, I proceeded to under-cook the next eight because I'd simply run out of patience. (Retrospective thought: never let a 5 minute delay ruin a process that requires a 90 minute investment). Peter came home in the middle of this bacon debaucle  and helped me consume the burnt remains while assembling the rest of the meal. Forty-five minutes later our quiche was smelling and looking delish. Attempting to cut the thing was another story--as soon as I tried to slice out the first piece I realized why "nice and crisp" would have been worth the wait.

Before I get to the crying part, I should mention that this was not the first thing that had gone wrong with my most perfect plan for the day. I had my heart set on picking up theater tickets for a steal at the Seattle Rep only to find out upon arrival that they had just sold out. I was bummed. Bummed bummed bummed.  However, the thought of a warm quiche made me feel better and I headed home determined to redeem the evening.  Let's pick up the story where I left off...

And then I started to cry. Not so much bawling-can't-catch-my-breath-crying but more frustrated-with-self-for-bad-timing-all-day crying. If only I'd left an hour earlier for the tickets. If only I'd taken an extra 5 minutes with the wretched bacon. I just wanted everything to be perfect for Peter. Had I made the dish for myself, I couldn't have cared less. I'm not a fan of bacon anyway and would have removed it all. But I know he likes it (evidenced by the Costco 4-pack in the freezer) and I couldn't help but feel like I'd failed him in some way. Peter was a complete sweetheart about it,  all the while reassuring me that he appreciated my efforts regardless of the outcome. After much dabbing away of tears and lots of hugs we were ready to eat.

To my suprise, the quiche wasn't all that bad. In fact, it was perfect--because this night I was shown once again what a wonderful man I have been given. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world, soggy bacon and all.

My husband feels amorous towards this soup.

Green Lentil & Corriander Soup ala Pasta & Co. Cookbook. Destined to become a Davis family staple.

First Week of Married Life

The wedding was wonderful. Everything I'd ever dreamed.

Honeymoon was perfect, too. More to come—took home plenty of pics and memories.

Now, one week home…home…Well, many times friends used to ask if I thought things would feel different after marriage. As recently as 18 months ago, I'd have said no. Two people love each other, but what's the difference between yesterday and tomorrow? But Christianna has incited many changes in my worldview, not least of which is to say decidedly that marriage is indeed different. One day and every touch feels new and exciting—yet secure and loving in a way I've never felt before. There's a feeling of responsibility. Dating is over, yet it has just begun again; no reason to impress than she deserves the best I can give. We're a team. My money is hers. So much to learn and experience.

As I write this, the clock has past midnight on two weeks since the wedding. Two weeks ago at this hour I was struggling to fall asleep, anxiously awaiting one of the most important and exciting days of my life. Tonight, Christianna lies next to me asleep in cute pajamas. She's dreaming something, feet twitching. A minute ago she scootched over and ensnared my toes between hers. Now as she twitches, it's like playing footsie. I don't think she's even aware.

Eggs on Toast

Christianna asked me to set up this blog.  Excited about cooking, maybe feeling a little inspired by "Julie and Julia" I guess!  So, I wanted to share our first completely random, empty-fridge-desperation, yummy why-didn't-we-think-of-that-before concoction…

Eggs on Toast—Peter and Christianna Style!

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Honeymoon Homecoming

An expression of the amazing, wonderful, incredible generosity of all our friends and family.
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