Christmas

So by request, I am putting up Christmas pictures! Yes, I know it was last spring when I last updated! Sorry :)

I love Christmas, and I love decorating for Christmas, so I went all out this year. It was the first year that I was able to decorate because it was our first Christmas at home.

It turns out, I am highly allergic to pine trees. I touched one and my hand swelled up and turned into a rash, so Brad told me that we had to have a fake tree! As disappointed as I was, he bought me this little miniature pine tree for the side shelf. I love it.

This was the garland and bow I got for the kitchen window (sorry the pictures are so dark)

My cute cocoa set from my ward's Young Women's as my wedding present 2 years ago!

My adorable place-mats and centerpieces. Thanks Mom and Sam!

Good smelling pine cones and the cookie jar Brad INSISTED we get. haha

Kitchen (again sorry the pictures are so dark!)

Our record player all Christmased out with our stockings and candy-cane garland.

Our Christmas tree! It was absolutely beautiful in silver and red with a pearl star! Even the presents matched :)

These are the no-bake cookies that Brad and I made for the neighbors. It was fun to continue on the family traditions of baking for the neighbors.

Me, with all of the presents from Brad's family. Thanks you guys I loved it all!

Brad with all of his presents from his family! I think he liked the cooking hat the best!

I am feeling hot pink

It has been so beautiful here. We never saw winter in the 4 months that we have been in Washington, and for that I am actually quite glad.

I have had so much fun spending time with my nieces and other family members and enjoying the great northwest weather and scenery.

Our time here is coming to a close and in just a week and a half we will begin our trip back out to Rexburg to get back in school. I have such mixed feelings about it. I am sad to be leaving everyone here, and leaving the area and the weather, and the magazine, but I am so excited to be getting back into school, back with our friends, and settled into our apartment. It will be nice to get back into the swing of things and the Rexburg lifestyle (whatever that is). I never thought I would say this, but : I am excited to be heading home... yes, I called Rexburg home.

Regardless, the time here has been a blast. Last week, Angie and I decided to paint her nails. She really wanted them to be pink. I explained to her the color we were painting them was "hot pink" so now she goes around telling everyone that her nails and toes are not pink, they are hot pink. It is pretty cute. While I painted her nails, she sat still for the longest amount of time I have ever seen her sit still! Who knew she had it in her. They were still chipped within the hour, but it was fun while it lasted.

St.Patrick's Day!

I absolutely love St. Patrick’s Day. I love celebrating the rich culture that goes with it and I love love love to cook, decorate, and plan for the big day. I treat St. Patrick’s Day like most people treat Thanksgiving. It is a big event with lots of food, fun, and family!

Today, I went all out. Did I go overboard? NEVER! Well, maybe a little bit… but I’ve seen worse :) I think the event turned out pretty good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and everything (well almost everything, but I will get to that in a minute) turned out splendid!

We all had so much fun getting it ready, eating, and then not as much fun cleaning it up. For highlights and how-to's on the decorations and the food, see my other blog : http://krystalscreations.wordpress.com/

The weather was absolutely beautiful. Sunshine, 60's and it's only March! St. Patrick's Day is kind of fun for Brad and I because it marks 2 years now of being together... and now our 3rd St. Patrick's Day as a couple. On this day... or the weekend before... 2 years ago, he sent me a message on Facebook asking me to change my relationship status to "in a relationship." Romantic, I know haha.

Here are some highlights from the fun day.

the table/ cuteness

Even the entire lucky care bear family showed up for the occasion

This picture kind of speaks for itself

Yeah, we are kind of cute

red hair on a green holiday, couldn't be more perfect

cute family, minus Jenny... sorry the sun kind of blew it out

Bradley and Angie playing out in the sunshine

Too bad St. Patrick's only comes once a year. I would celebrate year 'round if I could. Maybe someday I will celebrate St. Patrick's in Dublin... someday in my dream :)

Hair Cut!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Bellevue Arts Museum Indulge jewelry launch party. It was pretty amazing and full of beautiful jewelry that I will never be able to affordable, let alone think about. I was there on assignment for the Bellevue Reporter and The Scene so I was more of an observer, but when I left the event, I was given a grab bag chock full of wonderful goodies!

Some of these goodies include:

• A set of soap and a bath bomb from LUSH, a handmade cosmetics store –it is amazing by the way, check out the link for sure. SOme of the best smelling and sweetest packaging I have seen. It is all set up like a fresh deli. Pretty fun
• A sampling of chocolate from the City Catering Company who also catered the event and had some of the most interesting a delicious treats.
• A one week gym membership to David Barton Gym, one of the most elite gyms on the Eastside. I swear that place is more of a celebrity night club than a gym.
• A small plate from Palomino restaurant. I haven't checked this place out, but you better believe I will.
• A copy of Seattle Homes and Lifestyle Magazine. It had some great articles and photos. If anything it gave me some decorating ideas for sure. The Eastside is so trendy, I love it.
• A hair cut of up to $100 at 7 Salon... this is where my life begins!

At first I was really apprehensive about going to this salon. I love my hair, it is kind of my signature. I have long, crazy hair. Period. Brad finally convinced me to just at least check it out. My hair was getting to the point that I couldn't even get a brush through it, and it was so heavy that I was loosing my curl.

So, I looked at their Web site for starters. Holy wow, even the Web site is sweet. I started reading up on it a little bit, and their Web site claims that they find the best hair cuts for your face, bone structure, and skin color. I didn't even know you could do that! From the pictures, the salon looked beautiful as well and the stylists seemed like they were highly trained, knowledgeable and good at what they do... and that was just from the Web site.

On Saturday afternoon, Brad and I headed up to Bellevue Square to go check it out and schedule an appointment. I was greeted with friendly smiles as I walked to the counter, and they quickly scheduled me a complimentary consultation for 10 minutes from that moment.

As I waited for the consultation, Brad and I were shown back to a trendy circular couch in the center of the salon and asked if we wanted anything to drink. They brought us both water bottles and chocolate as we waited. The place was packed with good looking people getting their hair cut, and cutting hair. A DJ stood on a podium above the salon spinning dance and top-40 music. After waiting for awhile, the manager approached us, apologizing for our wait and immediately got us in with a different stylists who was free at the time. Her name was Sonia.

Sonia seemed a little overwhelmed by my hair– but honestly, I would be too if I were a stylist. She told me I needed to cut a lot off, make it less heavy and more about my face. She said my hair was its own entity and she wanted to see more of me, and less of it. :) Kind of funny, very true.

I was next taken to the dressing room where I changed into a black robe and awaited the cut. My stylists who actually did the cut was Mi Lynn. She was such a nice girl who chatted with me about Michigan, homeopathy and the West Coast. While I was getting my hair cut, another stylist brought me some more chocolate and a vanilla steamer ( I could used to that kind of service!)

We chatted. Mi Lynn cut. I lost track of time. Mi Lynn styled. It was incredibly painless for someone like me who is terrified of a hair cut. 7 Salon made the process painless, and actually kind of fun. I felt like a celebrity or something!

When it was all said and done, I LOVE my new hair. It is so light and free! I can wear it curly, straight, or in between. 7 Salon even offers complimentary trims and bang cuts for clients so I don't have to worry about it getting out of control again. I am so glad I went to 7 Salon!

Brad says I look freakishly like my Mom now, and I would have to agree... plus I think that's a good thing. You be the judge.

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER FROM BACK

IT IS SO LIGHT!

AFTER THE DYE

Beautiful weekend

This weekend was so nice. It was almost 60 degrees here IN FEBRUARY! Yeah, I know! Amazizizing. So we went with Brad's family on a drive up alond the coast to La Conner... north Washington coast, and back on a ferry. La Conner is a really neat little city full of shops and boats and cuteness. I was so happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

Eating on a deck over the water in FEBRUARY!!!

Valentine's Day

So, because Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year, Brad and I decided to celebrate on Monday instead. We went down to Pike Place Market and spent the day, and then had dinner at a Mexican place in Kirkland. Brad spoiled me with flowers, a CD of She and Him ( so goood, click the link to hear them) which is Zoey Deschanel's band, and a hot pink thermos! I got him a typography book and surprised him with the Pike Place trip. We really had a ton of fun and it was a great second Valentin's Day for us :) I am so happy to be married to such a fantabulous man!

Update January

The rest of January has been absolutely beautiful. The weather has been beyond wonderful! It has been warm and we have had a lot of time that we have been able to play outside. Jenny and Angie (our nieces) have spent a lot of time with us so we have been doing fun things like playing at the park! They have become my little models - unwillingly-- so I have taken a ton of pictures! Bear with me as I pick some of my favorites.

Update New Year's!

For New Year's we went to Sequim to visit Joan and Tom Trindle with the family. Jeff (Brad's dad) and Lauren were on their way to BYU-Idaho to get her settled in for school, so they weren't there but the rest of us had a good time. For those of you who don't know where Sequim is...It is out on the north coast of Washington and is such a beautiful place. We relaxed, hung out in the hot tub, played games, and had an overall good time.

The coast at Sequim, WA

At the beach across from Joan and Tom's

Brad and I on the beach

Jenny playing on New Year's Day

Update December

In December, the semester came to an end --finally-- and we moved out of apartment to head to Kirkland, Washington for the winter. We are in Kirkland until April completing our internships. Brad got an internship wit Studo Opolis, a graphic design firm in Lynwood and I am working for the Bellevue Reporter and their magazine production, The Scene. It is a really great experience for both of us to be out working for companies and gaining more experience for our fields.
On our drive down to Washington, we were met with some of the craziest weather I have seen. This is what it looked like descending down the Blue Mountains

Christmas:
We spent Christmas with Brad's family (we are living with them). It was a lot of fun. We had a big dinner and then Angie left cookies ...and pea pods :) ...for Santa. Here are some pictures from our festivities!

Angie with her cookies and pea pods for Santa

Angie and Nana (Brad's mom Lynn) telling the story of the Nativity with fisher price wee-people

Big happy family (minus Brad) at Christmas dinner