Name that movie quote

I'm going to post this one again, because I think it's just that funny. :)

"Run along now, Walter. See if you can't find us a unicorn."

This line was delivered with practiced derision in one of my favorite films as a kid/teenager.

Gingerbread House

Oh my goodness, was this ever fun to create! Thanks to our friends Maria, Shino and Rod for putting most of the work into this yummy structure.

Click here to see all photos.

Christmas makes me want to...

Watch movies all day long. As soon as the weather gets super cold (like it is now) and our Christmas tree is up, I want to sit back on the couch with a warm cup of tea (or cocoa!) and watch these movies:

When Harry Met Sally
Holiday Inn
The Ref
Love Actually
Miracle on 34th Street (the original)

As Christmas day draws near, that's when I bust out It's a Wonderful Life.

What Christmas movies do you like to watch?

Currently reading - Water for Elephants

This novel by Sara Gruen is what my book club chose to read this month. We had our meeting last night, which was great and lively as always, even though I'm only half-way through the book.

This story is told through an old man, in an assisted living home, who tells us he's Ninety. or Ninety Three. I love that he can't quite remember. He's got tons of spark, which we find out quickly as he catches another home resident in a lie. A lie only our hero knows because he used to work in a circus. That's right, a carnie.

I'm going to try to keep track of the books our book club is reading, partly so I have a log of all that, but also to see if it sparks some good discussions.

For instance, what are you reading these days?

First Snow!

What a wonderful way to welcome in December. We woke this morning to 1-2" of freshly fallen snow, and this afternoon it really started coming down.

This is the kind of weather that makes me want to watch Christmas movies like 'Holiday Inn' and 'Elf' and bake lots of fattening treats. Think I'll go do just that...

Name that movie quote

"It's all just a random lottery of meaningless tragedy in a series of near-escapes."

I'm watching a movie now, that used to represent my philosophies and wonderment of the world. This line nailed so many of my thoughts at the time.

I can see now I've moved past it a bit, that it represents a younger, just-starting-out-in-life kind of thinking.

It's kinda cool to be able to look back, to see the distance between now and then.

What's your coffee drink?

Sometimes I mix it up a little, but these are my standard drinks:

The usual - tall, nonfat, almond latte

Summer months - grande, coffee light frappuccino, 1 pump of raspberry

What is yours?

Wedding photos abound

We've received some wonderful photos of our memorable wedding weekend and before too much time slips by I want to post a link to the albums we have online.


Thank you, Uncle Don, for your veteran talent. You make me want to go back to school and study photography.
Photo by Don Milici

Click here for Uncle Don's photos.


Thank you, Sandi, for your great talent and love. Having you spend the day with us and capture so many moments was such a gift.

Photo by Sandi Heinrich.

Click here for Sandi's photos.


Juan-Luis, you know how to capture a moment with both your words and your camera's lens. You make me want to buy a Lomo camera. :)

Photo by Juan-Luis Sanchez.

Click here for Juan's photos.

Happy Halloweeeeeen!

Tonight I decorated our kitchen table with streamers and candles and crunchy leaves from outside. I put candles in the pumpkins we carved last weekend and turned on the radio as I made dinner.

My husband came home to homemade tomato-bread soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Even though we're not out trick-or-treating, it's still nice to have warm food on a cold night.

Of course, our sandwiches had gummy worms coming out of them. oooh, thspooky!

Pumpkins are fun!

Honeymoon, Honeymoon!

For all you Groovy Rednecks fans out there, I hope you sing their "Honeymoon" song as you pour over these photos from our own honeymoon in Victoria.

It took me a while to post them as life is quite busy these days, but it was fun to relive it all.

Happy Friday, everyone!

What a difference a year makes

I love both of these photos of li'l Gabriel. I wish the infant one were a little sharper, but having it at all is wonderful. The recent photo is Gabriel's new squinty-eye response to the flash on my camera. Makes me laugh every time!

Happiness is...

... marrying the man you love.


(photo by Sandi Heinrich)

Do you like Afghan food?

Kabul in Seattle is awesome. I highly recommend it for its simple yet delicious flavors - click here for their website.

I first discovered Afghan food while working at ILM in San Rafael. Once we discovered it, my friends and I ate lunch there at least once a month.

After the 9-11 disaster some people stopped frequenting it and a group of people at ILM set out to make sure the restaurant didn't go under. We ate there as often as we could, and I hope it's still open.

That restaurant (looking it up online, I think it was called Bamyan Afghan Restaurant) was one of the places I made sure to eat during my last days in California, so when I moved to Seattle it was pretty high on my priority list to find a local Afghan place.

Kabul does not disappoint. Just ask my friend Jenn (who is currently living in Norway, btw!) - I took her there when I learned she likes simple food. She loved it. :)

I brought Kabul home tonight, chicken kabob dinners. yum!

Happy wedding day, Carolyn and Brian

Love you both very much, can't wait to see photos from your wedding! XOXO

And Now We Are One

Happy Birthday, li'l Gabriel! Birthday parties for 1-yr-olds are really more for adults. We get to eat yummy cake and "ooh" and "ahh" over tiny little clothes.

Thank you, Liz and Ian, for hosting a wonderful party!



Click here for more birthday photos.

The Orange of a Pumpkin

Today I ventured out with my camera to snap photos at a local pumpkin patch in Snohomish. My sister Katie had taken me there a couple of years in a row, but with her living in Tennessee (temporarily) I was on my own to locate the farm.

With vague directions in my head from years past, and a "take highway 9" from my husband, I found the pumpkins with little trouble. Pumpkins are so cute and friendly and it makes this girl very happy to wind her way through a field of orange and green and mud.



and, oh yeah, apparently the Headless Horseman was there as well:


Click here for more pumpkin photos.

First 5, Oct. 10

Today's first 5 songs to appear on my iPod shuffle are:

1. "Lament" -- Miles Davis
(ah, Miles...)

2. "Let's Hear it For The Boy" -- Denise Wiliams
(ewww! worst song from the Footloose Soundtrack.)

3. "Gideon" -- My Morning Jacket
(nice. got this CD from a friend at work, not sure I've ever heard this song)

4. "Flamenco" -- Eva Yerbabuena
(from Stomp Soundtrack. We loved the Stomp show so much we bought the soundtrack. Great show!)

5. "Death On Two Legs" -- Queen
(love, love, love Queen. I didn't know this until I asked a friend of mine to make me a mixed CD of Queen's greatest stuff. You know who you are, so thanks! Although listening to this one, all I can picture is Guitar Hero.)

Green Day rocks!

Listening to my iPod on Shuffle is one of my favorite things in the world. When I got my first iPod a couple of Christmas's ago, I listened to it on shuffle almost constantly. In fact, so did my co-worker and friend Phil, who subsequently got the nickname 'iPod Phil' -- hey, Phil, did you know I call you that? -- we used to give each other daily reports on the first 5 shuffle songs. Fun!

When a song comes on during shuffle I tend to listen to it more closely, it's out of context and more of a surprise, like listening to a really great, eclectic radio station. My reaction is usually, "oh, I didn't know I had *that* song. cool."

Today's favorite shuffle song has got to be "Are We the Waiting / St. Jimmy" by Green Day. It's got that anthem-y-ness that I adore, like an old Slade, Meatloaf or Chris De Burgh song. What is it about anthem songs that I love so much, anyway?

iPods rule. They just do.

Name that movie quote

"I've come to the end of me, Rita."

I've always loved this line, delivered with such quiet flare. Anyone know who said it and in what movie? :)

Good-byes

Oh boy. This past year at work has been such a whirlwind of beginnings and endings. Several people of our work group left earlier in the year, but a few of us stayed until the end. We celebrated last night with margaritas at Azteca. yum!

I'm going to miss sitting next to these awesome peeps, but I know they're just an IM or text message away.

Rubber Ducky You're the One

Wedding Day Photos

Usually, I'm the one behind the camera snapping as many photos as I can, so it was funny for me to see how few photos were actually on my Canon from that day. These photos are pretty much it, and as you can see most were not taken by me. I like them all very much, though. Lucky for me we had some great photographers at our wedding. I'm starting to see some photos and it's such a treat!

Click here for Sandi's blog.

A sort of homecoming

Thank you, everyone for the best wedding ever. :) We loved being surrounded by our family and friends as we recited our marriage vows. The day was perfect in so many ways. Victoria was a great, relaxing place for our honeymoon. It's good to be home and settling in too. Our married life is off to a great start!

I'll post more photos soon, but in the meantime the above photos are what my sisters did for us as a homecoming greeting. Best sisters ever!!

Love,
Mrs. Lundquist

Goin' to the Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married!

Wow, it's here, it's here, it's really here! I am so happy to be getting married, to be sharing this day with family and friends and to have had so much help getting to this day. Thank you, mom! Thank you, Jocelyn, Thank you, Liz. Thank you, Katie. Thank you, Lori and everyone else who gave terrific advice along the way. Thank you, Aaron, for your awesome involvement in this whole process. You've got great taste.

Most of all thank you, God, for bringing Aaron and I together.

See you when I'm married!!

Love,
Naomi

Facials

When I was in high school we had a saying that we used when people had something embarrassing happen to them. We said you got 'faced.' This eventually led to a shortened, "ooh, facial!" that I admit I said a number of times to various people. Man, was I cool or what?

Today, as an aspiring adult, a facial is a whole other and wonderful experience. I'm going to a spa today to treat myself to one last facial before the wedding from Aaron's sister Lindsay. I always leave feeling beautiful and relaxed.

Ahh, facial.

Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest

We got a book by that title from our very good friends Maria and Bev.

Apparently, the book was right about American Camp (South Beach) in Friday Harbor, WA. =)

Countdown... 6 days to the wedding!

Home Stretch = Fun Stretch

There is a buzz in the air around our house. We're in the home stretch for our upcoming wedding and everything just feels more fun! Dancing last night was probably our best session, we were both giddy and couldn't stop smiling.

We're talking final details with our photographers (Uncle Don and long-time friend Sandi, thanks, guys!), our videographers, our DJ... I can't tell you how nice it is that the event if finally here. It makes it easier to stop thinking about all the possible ideas we could do, and start focusing on the great ones we've chosen.

We're both looking forward to seeing everybody and finally being married!!

Sweet September

I love the sound of the word 'September.' I've been in love with it forever. The leaves are already starting to change color.

September means my father's birthday. September means back to school with freshly sharpened pencils and a new lunchbox. September means crunchy, brown leaves on the ground.

Aaron proposed to me in September of last year.

Aaron and I will be married in September of this year.

Maybe we'll name our first born, "September." :)

Tonight I was at the spa getting a facial (as all Seattle brides seem to do), and met another Sept 15 bride in the locker room. Having just had a facial I was quite relaxed, but she seemed quite alert and frazzled and thinking 14 thoughts at once.

We both shared how happy we were to be getting married, that it was coming on really fast now, that we're really busy... I told her I'm at the point where I've let a lot go, if it gets forgotten or something doesn't get done, it's No Big Whoop. Then she said to me, "wow, you're very Zen about all this. you're very calm." And I had to smile, remembering the Pasta Incident (see previous post).

But, yes, I'm mostly calm because I keep repeating something one of my very best friends said to me before all the planning got underway, "all you need is your man, you, the minister... all the rest is bonus."

Totally my mantra, man. Thanks, Lori!

Crying over pasta

OK, so this was a first... this evening I came home from a lovely day of this and that and wasn't in the mood to cook anything complicated, so I was making my old stand-by, Shrimp Scampi. Turns out there wasn't any pasta in the house.

And how did I handle that? Not well. I broke down in tears over there not being anything 'simple' to cook in the house (we are eating really well these days, cooking most meals from scratch) and Aaron looked at me sweetly, gave me a hug and drove to get me some Thai take-out.

Now, that's my kind of man.

Missing you

It's been widely known to my friends that I wake up singing each morning. One random song or another plays in my head, repeating itself without any real approval from me. I used to think I had this jukebox constantly running in my brain and whatever song it happened to be on when I woke up, that was my song for the day... or at least for the morning.

The past 2 days it has been my father's voice singing a 'church song' called, "Give Them All" and while I first thought it was just sweet to hear his voice in my head (please don't ever let that fade), I now think he's trying to tell me something.

My wedding is 3 weeks away, and while it's a very happy time it's also peppered with stressful details about centerpieces, and favors and worries about how I'll look that day. I push those worries away as best I can, but in the mornings it's really my father's voice that is calming me:

"Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus. Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken toys. Give them all to Jesus... and he will turn your sorrows into joys."

Sometimes you just gotta trust that.

Bravia Bunnies!

Ha ha, look at all the play-doh bunnies in New York!

Click here for the full story. So cute!

Camping in the San Juans

This past weekend our whole family went up to Friday Harbor to see the land and cabin that Jocelyn bought last summer. It's so great!

Thank you, Joc and Kevin for hosting us, for letting us camp on your land and for feeding us yummy salmon. Being on the island is soul food.

Here are some photos from the weekend. I haven't done any photoshop work yet, but I will get to that on some of the better ones. For now, I hope you enjoy the view.

Click here for photos!

In Sink

Sometimes babies fit into sinks.