only part-time

CD's parents were here last weekend and we enjoyed having them. Thanks Paige and Dave for visiting us!



On Sunday, the weather was nice and sunny so we headed north to see the redwoods and hang out by the ocean. I drove Shelby on the narrow roads in the park, but we couldn't cross a stream to get to fern canyon so we walked a bit on the beach at Gold Bluffs. Then we decided to have a walk in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove. It was a very muddy walk, but the trees were impressive and we read a little bit about the redwoods resistance to fires and learned to appreciate them even more.


On Monday, we grilled some steaks for CD's birthday and celebrated by drinking some wine and eating some homemade chocolate salami.
Paige and Dave left early on Tuesday at about the same time that CD and I headed to work. Tuesday was my first day working in the Organic Chemistry stockroom at the university. This week I mostly spent doing all the paperwork, getting a key card, an ID card, etc. I also am faced with the challenge of using a Mac at work. I've never really used a mac computer, but I guess I will learn soon! I'm heading to the library today to get Mac for Dummies :)
Also, the state of California is very strict about chemical storage and disposal, which on my end means a lot of labels and time restrictions.
I was also encouraged to work this summer. My current part-time position ends June 15th, but they want to start me working a full time schedule after memorial day- that's when the summer semester starts. The summer position is full time, 4 days per week. I'm torn between jumping in and getting to know everything right away and spending an idyllic summer working in the garden and planning camping trips. I guess it depends on what the plans are for the summer....



Next in the house projects: new paint for our bedroom and CD is hard at work trying to design the deck. The garden is doing good: the seeds are sprouting up, even though we had some hard rain and strong winds. We had to enclose it all with chicken wire because we a had a little feline visitor who thought that the beds were litter boxes. Eeeww!

Our House

A little bird told me that some have wondered what our house looks like on the outside since all you ever see are the home improvement projects on the inside. Look up and feel the sunshine: welcome to Eureka!

The past week was taken up with painting of the upstairs bathroom (it's a lime-y green color now) and general preparations for CD's parents first visit to our new home (you know, lots of cleaning and organizing).

They arrived on Thursday night after driving up from San Francisco (they flew in earlier from Minnesota). That evening we celebrated their arrival and some news I received earlier in the day: I got a job! I will be working part-time in the organic chemistry stockroom at the university (starting Tuesday).

Friday, which was an unusually sunny day, was spent chatting and going around town. I showed them Humboldt bay, which looked so blue with the sun out and the tidal mudflats that harbor all those delicious oysters. We went to the hardware to get CD a birthday present: a table saw. It's really nice and CD is very excited to use it when he puts in a deck behind the house this summer. We met CD after classes and had a brief tour of the campus which gave us an opportunity to stop at the bookstore and get some Humboldt State gear.

CD and Dave spent a long time chatting about the future deck in the back yard:



Today we woke up to rain and gale force winds, but we headed to the farmers market anyway. There was a bluegrass band playing: the Bucky Walters, pictured below. We've seen them before and really enjoyed them; there were some hippies dancing ignoring the rain. Next, we headed to the furniture store where Paige and Dave got us a housewarming present: a beautiful glider for our front porch. The afternoon was spent assembling it and rocking in it!


All pictures courtesy of Paige

Springtime Activities

In the last couple of weeks we have started some more projects around the house with renewed vigor. I painted the third bedroom, the real guest room and finished a media storage cabinet. This is my second piece of furniture that I have finished. Staining, sanding, varnishing, sanding and varnishing again! I really enjoy it- now if I only had the patience for actually making the wooden furniture, we'd be in business.









CD built the garden boxes for the vegetable garden. It's very exciting, but we have yet to decide for certain what we will plant for the year. Today was the kick-off for the Arcata Farmers Market, there were a lot of starts for sale. Artichokes, tomatoes, sweet peas, peppers, spinach, cabbage? Decisions will be made soon and the variety of the garden revealed!




Since spring is here I am trying my best to purge and organize. CD built a shelf in one of the closets- notice how his instruments fit neatly underneath. He also put a shelf near the washing machine for all laundry needs (soap, bleach, etc.)


I also spent some time this last week repotting all the indoor plants and trying to propagate some of the larger ones. Some I was sort of forced to propagate whenever parts broke off- oops! I got a bunch of succulents to place in small pots on an outdoor window sill because I really miss the cacti I left behind.


In addition we celebrated the Easter holiday by coloring eggs and thinking of all the people we like! even though some don't like eggs :)

Spring Wedding (part 4: the after party)

Jason, Dan, Brandon and Rebecca.

After the wedding, we headed to the HideOut- the nearest hangout. The day before someone had been talking about this place like it was the new greatest place to be seen in Seattle, I thought it was pretty boring since it had been so hyped.
We left pretty quickly and got back to King Charles' house. The little tyke was asleep of course and the hosts were glad to be able to send Rosanna, babysitter for the night, home. Dan and crew arrived with a couple of portions of frites- they were delicious!
It was fun to continue the party- more dancing, more wine and lots of laughing. Luckily I didn't make it into any of the pics, but unfortunately I didn't get any good ones of Meredith who celebrated well into the night with those you see in these pictures.



Brandon, CD, Dan and Chris



Brandon and Rebecca



Our smart hostess Shelly drinking water

Spring Wedding (part 3: the main event)

Sarah and Stefan: the happy couple!



Tim: the music man!



CD and Catherine: dressed up



Lovely Ladies: Meredith, Shelly and Anna



Sarah and Stefan in front, from l to r: Nic, Anna, Jason, Dan, Rebecca, Meredith, Shelly, CD and Brandon



The bride in blue sweater with Patty, Chad and Robyn (It's unclear what Robyn is trying to spell ... any guesses? keep it clean)

Spring Wedding (part 2)

Friday evening seemed loaded with activities. First I got together for happy hour with my ex-coworkers. I didn't get to catch up as much as I would like, but everyone knows that they are welcome in Eureka if they can make it down. Here are Trish, Tim, Eugene, Peggy and Derek-thanks for coming out!



Next I had scheduled to get together with the girls from bookclub, but ended up just getting together with everyone that could make it out to the Pig 'n' Whistle in Greenwood.
First, a peck of physicists: Brandon, CD and Jason



Ladies night: Catherine, Shelly and Kristen (Elizabeth Shue?)


Little BookClub: Meredith, Betsy, Robyn and Shelly (missing members: Anna, Catherine the photographer and Sarah the bride)

Spring Wedding (part 1)

The last week was mostly taken up by a roadtrip up to Seattle for our friends Stefan and Sarah's wedding. We had a fantastic time: classy romance in a beautiful old mansion with loads of good friends, a delicious menu and wonderful cake! It was great to hear their vows and meet some family and other friends.
We arrived late late Thursday night and joined the remnants of the bachelor party for one last toast to the groom. Our friends Hyewon and Mike left the light on and the door unlocked for us. It was really fun staying with them: Mike cooked up some delicious breakfasts, Hyewon and I caught up on most everything that's going on in our lives and seeing little Emmy first thing in the morning really made me excited about our future parenting (but not yet). She is growing to be quite the little lady; a happy baby, although she smiles the most with her Daddy.

On Friday, I went for a beautiful walk in Ravenna park with my good friend/adopted sister Elysebeth. We talked about all the wonderful changes that spring brings and discussed her family- they have experienced a bit of a rough patch lately and I hope that everything turns out ok. I admire her mother Irene and wish for her recovery soon!

Here's Lily- she loves me cause I don't try to pet her