Monthly Archives: September 2015

Introducing Michael Carl

Posted in Adventures, Baby Michael by

Without further ado, I’d like to introduce my one-week-old son, Michael Carl.

"Hello, world. I'm Michael."

“Hello, world. I’m Michael.”

Megan's Island's newest resident

Megan’s Island’s newest resident

Michael was born at on Tuesday, September 15, 2015. He’s a prompt fellow and I started the laboring process on his due date, approximately 22 hours before he made his grand entrance into the world. 

He weighed in at 7 lbs, 15.3 ounces and measured a lengthy 21.25 inches.

Michael's favorite position: sleeping soundly during the day

Michael’s favorite position: sleeping soundly during the day

Bath time was a success!

Bath time was a success!

This way to the gun show, ladies!

This way to the gun show, ladies!

Nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you!

For many, many, many more Michael photos, check out my Instagram.

Fall 2015 TV premieres

Posted in Around the house by

Along with football season, it’s TV premiere season! (One of my favorite times of the year!)

First and foremost, here is the printable calendar. I’d recommend you print this immediately and highlight the shows you’ll be watching. (I’ve already printed, highlighted, AND confirmed the first several listings in my DVR.)

2015-9 TV Line Premiere

I’m most excited for the returning shows, in chronological order of return:

Last year I tried watching the new shows Z Nation, Gotham, and The Flash, but I think only Gotham will make it’s way back onto my DVR this season.

We’re going to be tuning in sporadically to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (On now!, 11:35 p.m., CBS) and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (9/28, 11 p.m., Comedy Central) and will try out the following new shows:

We found Forever to be a really good show last year, and I’m bummed that it was cancelled. Stupid ABC.

My mid-season favorites will be returning toward the end of the year, including: Pretty Little Liars, Young & Hungry, Downtown Abbey (final season!), Game of Thrones, Orange Is the New Black, and my new favorites House of Cards, Ballers and The Brink, among others.

Read last year’s fall TV premiere post here and happy watching!

Seattle’s Sweet Week: Sept. 14-20

Posted in Exploring Seattle, Food by
Seattle's Sweet Week

Seattle’s Sweet Week, Sept. 14-20

Guess what next week is? SWEET WEEK! Seattle Magazine has the full scoop, and here are the highlights:

Now in its second year, Sweet Week, which runs Sept. 14 to 20, features 20 of the city’s best sweet shops offering special $5 desserts or samplers, some of which are not usually on their menus:

Hot Cakes: Ballard: Apple Cardamom Ginger Crisp with salty molasses caramel and vanilla ice cream; Capitol Hill: Cherry Fig Fennel Crisp with salted caramel and vanilla soft serve

Hello Robin: Ice Cream Sandwich with Chocolate Chai Brownie Chunk Cookies, Molly Moon’s Stumptown coffee ice cream, and pop rocks

Sweet Mickey’s: Fudge Sampler Box

Theo Chocolate: Flight of fall flavors: Pear Balsamic Ganache, Apple Cider Caramel, and Fig Fennel Ganache

Full Tilt Ice Cream: Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Bars

Dahlia Bakery: S’mores Chocolate Tart

Dahlia Workshop: ‘City of Seattle’ Italian plum and ginger Basque cake

Le Panier: ‘La Vie en Rose’ sweet rose mousse and raspberry cream in choux pastry

Fresh Flours: Tea-infused macaron sampler: Chai, Rooibos, Hojicha, and Matcha

Violet Sweet Shop: ‘The Opera Bundt Cake’ all-vegan vanilla bundt cake brushed with espresso syrup, covered in dark chocolate ganache, and filled with espresso creme

A La Mode Pie: ‘Cookies & Cream Tuxedo Pie’ crumbly chocolate-graham cracker crust, with layers of rich ribbons of chocolate, crushed Oreos, delicate homemade custard, more crushed Oreos, and whipped cream topping

Macrina: Mini Banana Chocolate Cake, layers of banana and chocolate cake with sweetened whipped cream and rum roasted bananas, glazed with ganache

Chocolopolis: Flight of Brown Butter and Salted Caramel drinking chocolates with a salted caramel covered in dark chocolate.

Canal Market: Apple Rosette with pistachio ice cream

Pie: Trio Of Mini Mini Pies, pick three: Beechers Apple Pie with local Flagship cheddar, apples, and brown sugar cheddar crumble; Boozy Blackberry with local berries and Schilling Cider’s Mischief Maker, Crème Fraiche Pecan, Pumpkin Cream, and Raspberry Chiffon

Gelatiamo: ‘Gelato d’Autunno’ trio of gelatos using pears, figs and hazelnuts, served with a caramel cookie

Cupcake Royale: Buttered Popcorn and Caramel Crunch Babycake with buttered popcorn and peanut crunch ice cream, and KukuRuZa Hawaiian sea salted caramel corn

Flying Apron: Vegan & Gluten-Free Yeasted Cinnamon Roll with cream cheese frosting

Parfait: Chewy Chocolate Hazelnut Cookie Sandwich with butter toffee ice cream, rolled in hazelnut toffee

Bluebird Ice Cream: Smoked Chocolate Porter Ice Cream with Hot Cakes’ smoked chocolate

$5 desserts!? YES, please! I don’t even know where to start!!

It’s football time!

Posted in Crafts, DIY, Homemade, Q13 by

‘Tis the season to get ready for football season! I’ve been gearing up on Pinterest and have compiled some of my football favorites here for you. We even went to a preseason faceoff between our hometown Seattle Seahawks and Brandon’s beloved Denver Broncos. (The Broncos won~ Go Broncos!) Baby-dependent, Brandon will be heading to the first home Husky game of the season on Saturday. I’ll be at home cooking something delicious. Maybe these ‘chos? {Better yet: pineapple and pork are supposed to induce labor!}

Since the season is long and we’ll have plenty of opportunities to share our tailgate and game day eats, I’m focusing on football crafts today. Specifically, AstroTurf crafts.

I had a lot of fun with AstroTurf last year, with my debut on Q13’s morning show.

Looked good on TV!

Looked good on TV!

I made koozies, coasters, platters, wine tags, “wreaths,” and more. {Full blog post and tutorial here} But those were so 2014.

Beer koozies

Beer koozies

AstroTurf platters: works with any size tile!

AstroTurf platters: works with any size tile!

AstroTurf wine tags

AstroTurf wine tags

One of my most favorite crafts to date: An AstroTurf W!

One of my most favorite crafts to date: An AstroTurf W!

For the 2015-16 season, I’ve purchased a new roll of AstroTurf rug and found some new ideas:

An upgrade on my coaster idea: circles!

An upgrade on my coaster idea: circles!

This AstroTurf table is pretty amazing

This AstroTurf table is pretty amazing

An AstroTurf bulletin board

An AstroTurf bulletin board

I have several ideas swirling in my mind right now, and potentially a couple more weeks of free time to act upon them, so check back for my new 2015 AstroTurf ideas! Happy football season to you! Go Huskies, Broncos and Seahawks!

When will Baby Michael join us?

Posted in Adventures, Around the house, Baby Michael by

I’ve officially started my four-month “baby vacation,” having wrapped up my last day of work on Friday.

This is the view from my office now. Not too shabby!

My new "office" view (from the deck and living room)

My new “office” view (from the deck and living room)

We hit the 39th week of pregnancy today and now I’m wondering… when will Baby Michael join us?!

Here's last week's photo. He's been dropping!

Here’s last week’s photo. He’s been dropping!

I had friends and family place their best guess as to when he’ll make his debut and so far, five guesses are out of contention. I originally guessed today — I mean, laboring on labor day is so fitting, right? I also have a lot of holiday birthdays in my family, so this would work well — and then I thought for sure it was going to happen last weekend — which it obviously didn’t. Who would have guessed that the predictions of a full moon (yes, I’m having a werewolf), changes in the barometric pressure (from hot and sunny to stormy in a day!), combined with two days of Indian food including eggplant and dancing at a wedding, would be wrong? Apparently little Michael.

Guesses?

Guesses?

According to this article, it’s possible that I’ll be right? Of course, anything is possible. There are too many variables to know for sure. We’ll see where the day and week take us! We’ll welcome Michael whenever he decides to grace us with his presence!

2015-9 Birth bell curve

This could be telling us something…

So, now I ask you. What do you think? I’d love to hear your guesses. Whoever guesses correctly will get something… not naming rights, but maybe something else? Tell me what you’d like to win too!

Three cheers for Michael giving me a bit of a staycation and then making his timely debut!

 

 

Planks in the Park (Free barre class!)

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle, Workouts by

dailey-method-Oh, hi! Sorry to interrupt your holiday weekend, but I think I have some information that you’d be interested in!

My barre studio, the Dailey Method, is offering a free “Planks in the Park” community class THIS Saturday (9/12) at the Mercerdale Park (77th SE & SE 32nd) on Mercer Island.

If you’re interested in trying out barre, you should definitely check out this free community class. {Read my initial barre observations from early 2014. It’s been my go-to workout since then, excluding the queasy part of my early pregnancy and larger part of my later pregnancy.}

What should you bring? 

Bring a yoga mat, a water bottle and yourself! They’ll have a DJ and a great time. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The class will run from 9-10 a.m. and is open to all ages and fitness levels!

Will I be there? 

Maybe. The kid doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to join us outside of the womb, so while I won’t be doing barre (yet), I very well might be there to hang out and say hello to my long-lost barre friends! I hope to see you there and maybe I’ll bring orange slices Capri Suns, like my parents used to bring to soccer games?

Planks in the Park -- free community barre class by the Dailey Method

Planks in the Park — free community barre class by the Dailey Method