New Bed Linens

I've grown tired of just having bed sheets as the primary decoration in the apartment. Glenn and I finally went shopping for a comforter and some nice sheets, and what better time to shop then when Macy's and Nordstrom's were having competing sales?

We checked out Nordstrom's first, but there selection was a bit too high class for us :o) I'm not really cool with spending a couple hundred bucks on a duvet cover. That of course means you have to buy a comforter to put that duvet cover on first. Spending a few hundred bucks on bed linens was just not very high on my list of priorities.

Next, we made our way to Macy's and found a much better selection. Not only was the selection nearly 10 times that of Nordstrom's, but it was considerably cheaper too! I had my eye on a teal and lime green reversible set, but Glenn found a just as appealing set for half the price. Less than $40 was a killer deal. After we purchased the set, I was determined to find a complementary sheet set that added a nice contrast. We found these great organic cotton sheets at Target. They are so nice! I just love them. They have a sateen finish and they are delightfully soft. I definitely think that they were a good buy.

Now all I have to do is convince Glenn that having pillows that are used solely for decoration is really a good idea. Our bed set came with two standard shams and two European shams as well. I don't think I will be convincing him of that anytime soon :o)

Lake Tapps

Over the weekend we were invited out to Kali and Eric's lake house at Lake Tapps. It was absolutely wonderful up there! There was a tennis court, basketball hoop, shuffleboard, a dock with a diving board, and of course the beautiful lake setting. We basically just enjoyed the lovely weather and hung out in the sun while all the pups ran around ALL DAY LONG. If someone got into the water or threw something into the water, Rally was sure to follow. That dog just loves the water.
Speaking of water, we also brought some watermelon and thought it would be funny to feed it to the dog. He was mostly confused, but nibbled some off and seemed to enjoy it!
There was also a floating dock (or whatever you call it) further out to the lake and Rally and a couple of his new friends went out there and hung out for a bit. Once he realized that we were back on dry land, he got really confused. It was kind of cute!

Unfortunately, due to Rally's excessive playing and not really knowing his limits, he injured his front paws pretty badly. He started limping a lot when everyone was starting to settle down so we had to take a look. Apparently from all the rough housing outside, the skin on both of Rally's paw pads had been completely scraped off. We had to carry him a lot the rest of that day.
The next morning we were pretty worried about him so Glenn ran to the grocery store first thing in the morning to get some bandages. We wrapped up poor Monstah's feet and he pretty much hated it. You gotta do what you've gotta do though.
He pretty much rested all he could to recover. Walking was just too much. We tried to lay with him as much as possible so he would feel comfortable.
As you can see, he is all back to normal now. He's perfectly fine and his paws are healing nicely. Next time though, he's wearing shoes.

Things Are Starting to Come Together

Our tiny little studio is starting to feel more and more like home everyday. It all started out with a bed from IKEA. After a while we kind of started to get tired of eating on the bed for every meal and pretty much laying on the bed anytime we wanted to sit anywhere that wasn't the ground. Needless to say, I have been searching for a couch for quite sometime. I've mostly been looking at Craigslist because that is the most budget conscious choice for right now, but nothing really struck my fancy. I did find a coffee table and two side tables for just $15! Pretty sweet deal. Finally, we decided to stop at Mor Furniture, and what do you know, we find a pretty couch that we both like for $200. Even if we end up hating it, it's wicked cheap. I don't hate it though, I really like it.
As you can see, it's a pretty pale icy blue color. It looks pretty much like what the sky looks like on a typical hazy day in Seattle. The color is actually called Hydra. Corny, right? It's armless because it is actually part of a sectional, hence the deep discount, but it works really well for us. For one things, arms take up extra space and we don't have a lot of that to go around. Also, it's just not as flexible with arms, so we are really happy with our choice. I'll be honest though, my first choice was a a dark gray couch from Dania with a similar tufted/quilted styling to it and very boxy. My first choice was also $600 and that wasn't going to fly right now. Oh well. I really like my new blue couch. Plus, if I can ever get my bright green rug up here, it will look fantastic next to that pale blue color.
So now the apartment has a bed, a couch, a coffee table, and a couple end tables. Can you guess what else is missing? If you said a dining room table, you are dead wrong my friend. A TV is much more important when you are struggling to find things to do after relentless job searching and reading for hours on end. Coloring in your Cars coloring book can only last you so long. We had been planning on getting a new TV for quite some time and we were mostly just waiting for the 3D TV's to come out so the price on the one we've had our eye on would go down. Well, what do you know, Sony is apparently discontinuing that model, so good luck finding it! We went into the Sony Store one weekend and drooled at all the pretty TV's and then I wandered into the video game area, like I always do, hoping they would have Gran Turismo set up. They did not. They did, however, have the 3D TV set up with some space game. I put the nifty little glasses on, blew some stuff up and squealed with excitement. After a few minutes of Glenn talking to the sales dude about the TV and the killer, and I mean killer, promotion they had going on, we talked it over for a bit. I loved the TV, the price was good, the promotion was awesome, and we would be getting the newest technology. We went for it.
What was the promotion you ask? Well, let me tell you. We got a 5.1 Sony surround system, a 3D BluRay player, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 3D, some IMAX 3D movie, 4 PS3 games, and all the 3D peripherals for FREE. See what I mean? That is a killer promotion!
Anyway, I am absolutely loving our beautiful new TV and I cannot wait to really play with the 3D features. I am also really loving the fact that our apartment is starting to feel like home.

4th of July

I never used to be a really big fan of the 4th, but I can most closely attribute that fact to living in or visiting a hot location on the 4th. Sure, watching fireworks has always been fun, and I have lots of fond memories of that, but being hot and uncomfortable in July is just not that fun.
Like I said though, there were lots of fond memories. When I was younger, I remember Grandpa Lutes sending us a sweet little package full of sparklers and other mostly non-harmful fireworks and that was always a lot of fun. I remember a family vacation (before Glenn) where we went to Cabo San Lucas and were treated to beachside fireworks by the resort, even though the holiday has no meaning to them. It was a really special night that I will always remember. I also remember the time when Glenn took me to a Dodger game on the 4th. That was another experience I could never forget. After the 7th inning stretch, we left our bleacher seats in left field and stood behind the bullpen waiting for the go ahead to run onto the field and claim our seats for one of the most spectacular fireworks displays ever seen. It truly was amazing. It was even choreographed to music!
My most memorable 4th of July would have to be last year's. Not only was it not 100 degrees outside, but we were by water, and later that evening I got to shoot off my very own fireworks for the first time. Now that we are back in Washington, I wasn't about to spend another 4th of July simply sitting back and watching the show. I was going to get in on the action too.
This year, we made our way up North the day before to do a little outlet shopping, eat at Bajio (sadly out of business), and pick up some fireworks on the Rez. Of course, I have little to no self control when it comes to buying fireworks, so at the very first booth we spotted and stopped at, I spent all $40 that I had. We had brought Janke along on our little trip and he didn't buy anything at the first stall. At the next stall, I remembered I had $5 in my wallet, so I quickly spent that too. Since Janke is a little indecisive and I secretly think he was just planning on sharing with me, despite my protests, we decided to hit up Boom City. I've never heard a truer name.
Boom City is flat out ridiculous. If you were to create a stereotypical image of a pyromaniac in your head, multiply it by a couple thousand and put those people in a couple acres of land surrounded with stalls upon stalls of fireworks dealers, you would get Boom City. This place was nuts. I have never seen so many fireworks in my life!
Not only that, but there were boxes of fireworks for sale that retailed for $150, $350, even $1000!!! Can you believe that?!
Imagine my surprise when Janke didn't buy anything, and we left empty handed. Hmph.
At around 8:00 on the 4th, Glenn, Janke and I made our way out to Tacoma to watch the fireworks show. It was lovely as always. Afterwards, we drove around University Place to find a suitable place to shoot off our own explosives. We found a nice little area not too close to houses and proceeded to blow stuff up. I was even super nice and I shared with Janke. It was fun. I love shooting off my own fireworks. The only other person who I think might enjoy this as much as I do is Jeff. I hope I can get him up here, maybe next year, because we would have a blast!
I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July! I know we did. Love you and miss you all!
Enjoy the video below of Janke having a difficult time getting the lighter to work. (Hopefully I loaded it properly.)

Olympia!

Well, our trip to the Olympia Farmer's Market happened over a week and a half ago and I am just now posting the pictures. We've already determined that I am a little bit lazy, so you can't say I didn't warn you. Anyway, a couple weekends ago we thought it would be fun to go visit last year's summer stomping grounds and see what they were up to. It turns out that they're up to about as much as we are, not much!
We decided to stop by the Farmer's Market and pick up some of our beloved giant asparagus, along with some apples.It's kind of amazing how many different kinds of apples there are. I swear, every time I turn around up here, I see a name of a new apple I had never heard of before. I found two of those at the market. One of them being an Opal Glow. They were so bright, they almost looked fluorescent! They were also really tasty. If you have never had the chance to eat one of these, they are moderately sweet with a subtle tartness. The fruit is really firm and crisp and the skin gives easily.
Another apple that caught our eye was the Pacific Rose. I didn't really like these ones. The skin was very resistant and bitter and the fruit itself was a little sweet, but mostly bland and kind of mealy.
I got a little sad when we walked by all of the beautiful green plant booths. I just wanted to take home every baby herb and vegetable and plant them right away. Unfortunately, when you don't have a yard or a proper window box, planting becomes fairly difficult.
Maybe one of the hardest parts of going to the Farmer's Market here is resisting the urge to take home a car full of potted flowers and hanging baskets! The colors in all of these plants is breathtaking! It must be really nice for people to be able to surround themselves in color when the skies are being a little too gray.
Glenn didn't know he was in this picture :o) I just love all the pretty wooden beams inside the market. The majority of this market is actually indoors and completely covered, so you can still shop when the weather isn't cooperating. It's a really cool atmosphere, kind of like a mini Pike's Place Market. If you ever get a chance to visit Oly, you'd be missing out if you didn't stop by here.