The Best House Yet

Dear Loyal Friends,

As some of you know, we are seriously considering settling down in Corvallis and have began our search for our first home.  Below is a show and tell of the house we really like!

It's located in a small subdivision in SW Corvallis.  It's adjacent to a retirement community and the Corvallis Country Club (no Dad, we can't play unless we're members)

The entryway is right next to the first living area that has a great dining area framed in by this low wall.  

Of course there is a great Sugar window that looks out on the street.

Nicole's must is a separate laundry room/mud room.  This stands right off the entry way and connects to the garage.  Perfect for dog doors to the back yard.

The kitchen is divided by the other living area with this great little bar.  

We're pretty stoked about the layout.  

Huge pantry (including spices and a pencil sharpener).

Then there is a little hallway back to the bedrooms.

 Here is the guest bath.

 Two bedrooms mirrored with great closet space and a cool nook above.

 And a nice big master bedroom.

 With connected bathroom including TWO sinks!  Oh ya.

 Great skylight, don't need the light at all during the day.

And of course, an amazing walk-in closet!

The negatives are a small yard, close proximity to neighboring houses and a pretty small front yard.  It does however have a little porch!  The kicker is that all the lots share easement through the back yard for a stormwater system and this yard has three manhole covers that give access to that system.  All and all the benefits outweigh the negatives.  A great neighborhood close to friends, stores and campus.  An awesome house with high ceilings and a wonderful layout.  Now if we can get the low price we want, we might just be moving up in the world.  Goodbye 900 square feet and no garage, hello 1786 with a two car garage.  We won't know what to do with ourselves!

~jim

Big Sky

We've spent the last week on vacation in Montana.  This was last night's sunset from my parent's house.  That "Big Sky" thing is not just a slogan ;)

I love these ears

A Good July Day

It seems like forever ago now, but we spent a pretty great July Saturday with our pals Dante & Jenn.  They introduced us to the deliciousness that is breakfast at Gathering Together Farm in Philomath.  We knew the farm from our Farmer's Market, but had never visited.  It's a must for a leisurely locally grown breakfast. 

Stuffed to the brim, we headed out to the coast to let Sugar and her BFF Tynan run.

We headed back to Corvallis to catch Bobby McFerrin and the Yellowjackets at DaVinci Days.  Pretty big stuff for our little town!

A perfect summer day spent with great friends.  Yay!

I Heart the South

Having spent a grand total of 36 hours in Charleston, South Carolina, I can confidentially say that I heart the south.  Here's why:

• Being addressed as "y'all."
  
• Sweet tea.
  
• Better yet?  Sweet tea vodka! Best yet?  Mixing it with lemonade.  It's like an Arnold Palmer that knows somebody.
  
 

• Palmetto trees
  
• Palmetto bugs (I don't actually like the bugs.  I just think it's the nicest way I've ever heard anyone refer to a cockroach).
  
• Seer-sucker suits with bow ties.  I was so taken with this gentleman that I pretended to be futzing with my phone just to discreetly(?) snap his photo.  I sure hope all ya'll appreciate the kinds of sacrifices I make for the blog.
 

• Calling your purse a "pocketbook" even if it's the size of a suitcase.
  
• Front porches with rocking chairs.  Arnold and I could pass many happy hours that way.
  
• The Piggly Wiggly.  If I had stayed three or four more days I think I could have legitimately started calling it "the Pig."  As in, "alright ya'll I'm fixin to pop over to the Pig for some more lemonade.  Anybody seen my pocketbook?"
  
  
• Trees that look like they're straight out of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
  
  
• Manners: people use them and it's so pleasant.

There it is!  On the anniversary of our country's independence, I publish my declaration of love for the first state to secede from the union.  Woops.  

Aloha June!

  June has been busy!  But busy in a lovely tropical kind of way, so we're not complaining =)  As soon as the graduates hung up their mortar boards we headed to the Aloha State for OSU's Hawaii orientation program.  

 

 All the new Beavers from Hawaii converge on Punaho School (where President Obama got his start) to start their "Beaver Nation Migration."  (Yes, we really call it that but I swear it wasn't my idea).   These are some of my favorite colleagues from around campus and we made the most of this tough assignment.

 

Thanks to an unused companion fare, Jimbo got to come along and join the fun work.  He probably learned more about OSU's academic programs than he ever wanted to know.  But we bribed him with shave ice very effectively.

Poor Sugar did not get to go to Hawaii.  Instead she got to go on vacation at her grandparent's house.  I honestly think it's her favorite place to be...thousands of square feet - much of it carpeted, another dog to pester, doting Mimi & Papa, and all the rawhide she can eat.  Needless to say, she didn't miss us very much.

In keeping with our Aloha-themed June, we attended a Lu'au housewarming party for our friends Dante & Jenn. They kept it real, digging a pit in the backyard and roasting a whole pig overnight.  Kalua Pork FTW! 

We made it up to Sugar by taking her to the party, sporting her finest Lu'au appropriate collar. 

Sending you warm aloha!

Vegas Baby BFF!

Though we scattered across the country after graduation, the gals from grad school hold an annual BFF gathering to keep the fun times going.  This year we were also celebrating Nikki's baby shower, and what better place to do that than Vegas?

That's why they say "Vegas, Baby!" right?  =P

Part of the BFF tradition includes matching t-shirts, and we take turns designing them each year.  This was Nikki's turn and she went all out in honor of our outlandish location.  Here she is modeling the back of our shirts:

Yes, those are iron-on rhinestones and sequins!  For a little added pop she bedecked the collars with feather boas. 

We're nothing if not subtle.

So we trooped all around Vegas in our matching shirts, eating our fill of decadent food, enjoying a few adult (and responsible-mother-to-be) beverages, seeing the sites, laying by the pool, and even catching a Cirque du Soleil show!  We crammed a lot of fun into a long weekend, and it felt just as good as ever.

Viva Las Vegas and Viva La BFF!

Nicole, Jill, Nikki, Tracy