Josephine is Two Months Old!

Another month down. This past month was a big one for our little girl. She met both sets of grandparents, celebrated Thanksgiving and also got to go to out for lots of diners, walks, and fun times with friends. Lucky for us she sleeps through most loud environments which makes going to dinner fairly easy. Josie does suffer from what we have identified as F.M.O. which is the Fear of Missing Out. Just like mom!

Nicknames: Josie, Josie-Bird, Miss Bird

Likes: She still likes going for walks in the moby wrap the best. She likes to face out in the sling to look around, she LOVES her owl mobile above her bed and likes to have a massage every morning. She also really likes Casper BabyPants.

Dislikes: Being left in a room alone or when mom and dad are not paying attention to her.

Accomplishments: Big Smiles, lots of cooh-ing, looking in the mirror, stronger head control.

Nuisances: Hiccups, gas pains

Starting Weight: 8 lbs. 13 oz.

Current Weight: 11 lbs. 7 oz.

Merry Christmas from the Museum of Flight

A couple of weeks ago while looking out my office window, I saw what looked like a shrink-wrapped B-29 being towed from the north to south end of KBFI. When it got closer, we noticed it was indeed wrapped, complete with gift wrapping bows on the forward fuselage and propellor spinners! Today, while running errands, I noticed it is now parked outside the Museum of Flight. Must have been a memorable Christmas!

Christmas Eve Walk

We were blessed with beautiful weather on Christmas Eve this year. It was sunny and in the low 50s. We had to take advantage of the weather by heading out for a nice walk around Mount Baker and Lake Washington. We covered about 4 miles. The walk made us feel a little better about all the cookies we ate later! Merry Christmas!

A Merry Sunny Christmas Eve!

Today was gorgeous in Seattle. Might have hit the 50s, and it sure felt like it in the sun. A great day for a nice long walk with my girls.

Merry Christmas!

P.S. I won those sweet slippers (pictured in the last posting) from last night's white elephant exchange party.

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours!

New Restaurant in Beacon Hill!

Newish that is.. Bar del Corso opened in July and has quickly become a really popular restaurant for those of us who live on Beacon Hill. I also believe some recent favorable write ups in the local press has also increased popularity because we need to get to the restaurant right at 5pm in order to get a seat.

We were just there last week for the third time and the pizza is outstanding, they have wonderful seasonal specials and great sides. We love it.

Josephine is One Month Old!

Wow where did this month go? Seems like just yesterday we were out for dim sum wondering how long labor would last. Josie's birth was a fun an exciting memory for both of us and we will look back at that experience with a big smile. This past month has been nothing short of the same.

Nicknames: Josie, Josie-Bird

Likes: Going for walks in the moby wrap, being held by mom or dad

Dislikes: Nakedness, sunlight, swaddling past 6am

Accomplishments: Sleeping for 4.5 hours straight, learning to suck on own hand

Nuisances: Hiccups, face scratching

Starting Weight: 7 lbs. 2 oz.

Current Weight: 8 lbs. 13 oz.

Disclaimer: We totally stole this super cute idea to track Josie's age from one of our favorite blogs Young House Love. It would be wrong for us to pretend we came up with it ourselves.

Dinner for a Good Cause

Last night we headed to FareStart for Thursday's Guest Chef Night. FareStart is a culinary job training and placement program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals open for lunch and Thursday dinners. On Thursdays they have a guest chef from a local restaurant come in and cook a three course meal. This past Thursday the Chef was Matt Dillion (James Beard Nominee) from The Corson Building and Sitka and Spruce. One of our favorite chef's so we had to go.

With Josie in tow, we headed to FareStart and enjoyed an incredible meal of smoked trout, braised lamb, and squash. A great dinner for a great cause!

Fall in Beacon Hill

Josie and I clocked 4 miles today. The weather was beautiful despite the fact that they have been calling for rain. We decided to take advantage of the sunny weather and walk down to Columbia City. Along the way, I took some great shots of the fall colors.

And this is what Josie did the whole time.

Introducing Josephine Rose!

On the same day as Rob's last post 10/23, I was in early labor and at 10pm on October 23rd, our lives changed forever as Josephine Rose joined our family. It's been two weeks and Rob and I have enjoyed every minute of parenthood so far.

This blog will not become a baby blog but rather just our family blog to journal our lives and have something to look back on one day. We're pretty busy right now so posting may be slow for the next few weeks.

The Beacon Boogie - 29 Oct

5 venues, 5 bands, $5.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Perfect Rainy Fireplace Football Saturday

Pretty rainy today in Seattle, which makes for good college football watchin' anyway. About a week ago we first kicked on the furnace for the season. Today marks the first fireplace use. I'm no math expert, but somehow this works out:

rain + ESPN3 - work + firewood = perfect fall saturday

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Production Value

I saw this link a while ago. With so many amusing aspects, please enjoy.

Cats are Funny

Yesterday Brian made his way into my bowl of chili. If you have never had my chili I usually make it very HOT. Why Brian would find the HOT chili tasty? I have no idea. Regardless, he found his way into my bowl and I had to snap this shot of his hilarious face.

Friends with views

I meant to post this a while ago, but just realized I hadn't had a chance to yet. A few weeks back we had a seafood boil at one of our friend's new house. He recently purchased a house that sits right along Lake Washington near Seward Park and although he didn't have any furniture moved in we still enjoyed the evening with good friends and great view.

We can't wait for move evenings like this next summer. Sometimes all you need is a friend who has the view instead of having one yourself.

Cutting the Queue

In recent years, we have enjoyed giving and receiving the rotating gift of Netflix from family at Christmas. So much so that we have kept the membership going on a monthly basis after annual gift expiration. We don't watch much TV, and even less movies, until Netlfix. It has been fun filling up our DVD and instant stream queue and catching up on some of those movies (currently 146 and 62, respectively).

Like other monthly members, we received that email in July.

		Your Account | Queue | Help
	Dear Robert, We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both. Your current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans: Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming) for $7.99 a month Your price for getting both of these plans will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). You don't need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs. These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011. You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the <Plan Change> page in <Your Account>. We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516. –The Netflix Team

Hm. I'm a numbers guy, and seems to me our monthly fees were poised to jump 60%. That's a big number.

Since we moved, we decided to never set up cable/satellite (easier than cutting the cable). Until then, we mostly watched TV at the exclusive service of our satellite DVR, so it was pretty easy. We also have the type of modern TV that is internet-ready, so streaming is a snap when broadcast isn't interesting. Netflix worked well in this approach, offering both the DVD (~3 day turnaround) bridged now by a handful of instant-watch options just as convenient. Although we didn't like $120 a year for an optional service, since our higher double digit monthly costs dropped to $0 after the move, it wasn't a bad deal for a little entertainment.

We have enjoyed both watching the DVDs in the mail and streaming from the Instant Queue, so my pancakes were understandably fried. I'm not going to over-simplify what really drives the operating costs of each, because I can only imagine the lot of ins & outs & what-have-yous behind all those viewing contracts. I do hope Netflix well and also hope this move doesn't backfire and actually result in a net drop in revenue and continued decline. Empowered by the liberty to shop the competition or withdraw from this product or service, we decided it just wasn't worth $192 annually.

But if it does, I will not stand for any drop in Netflix DVD mailings to be majority blamed for what is really killing the USPS (methinks "80%" sounds closer to "majority").

The Dahlias That Keep On Giving

With so many more blooming every week as the summer moves on, what a beautiful addition to our otherwise bloomin' gardens.

This latest one is HUGE. It makes that pint glass appear tiny!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4