li'l nephew

Yesterday I got to spend some nice time with my nephew Gabriel.

He's cute and little.

Muppet microphone

Dear Juan

Thank you for giving my Aunt Naomi this very fun microphone. It makes noises! - love, Gabriel

Meeting Imogen

This weekend I finally met a member of my extended family... Imogen Fraser. She's an adorable little 1-yr-old with a fast smile and a sweet disposition who like dipping her preztel in mustard.

Amy, it was great to see you and great to meet your darling daughter! Here are some of the photos I took from our meeting on the ferry.

Happy Birthday Surprise!

My co-workers rock! This is what I was greeted with when I came into work today. Hilarious! It's so beautiful too. :)

camera phone - mariners

The other thing i'm really going to miss about working for Nintendo is the great seats at Mariners' baseball games. I've been very lucky to see several games a year - sometimes you just have to be around later on a Friday than most people stay and someone offers up tickets. My friend Phil mentions this is what he misses too.

This photo was taken on my way to the most recent Mariners' game I attended. It was a great game!

camera phone - hawaii

Hawaii was such a great trip! Somehow Aaron knew we needed to go, like it might be our last chance at the Nintendo house. Well, it's true enough since pretty soon neither of us will work there anymore.

Here are 3 great photos from my camera phone.

my cat has arthritis

so sad. anyone have any experience with this? i don't want to give her yucky medicine that in the end is going to give her kidney failure or something. I need to look into holistic healing. poor kitty.

it's both her hips and her left knee is also having problems. huh. my left knee has been giving me issues lately.

Camera phone

Man, i love my camera phone. It sure has come in handy. I'm going to start uploading some of my favorites since I got this particular phone last October.

Today's pick -- Liz and baby Gabriel. I think this was one of baby's first days at home. So little!

ir in ur bamboo. it strong.

This site is too funny. Whenever I have a few minutes to kill I come here and laugh out loud. Literally.

A place in the choir

The most amazing thing happened to me today... I was asked to be in a church choir! Yes, me.

Anyone who knows me knows I love to sing, and over the years I've learned to harmonize pretty well. I've sung with my family at a few Masses (Grandma Pat's funeral, Easter Mass, Christmas...), but I still haven't had the confidence to pursue anything 'professional.'

I've been going to St. Jude's Catholic Church for over a year now. They have a Gospel Choir at the 11 AM Mass on Sundays that I find hard to miss. By the closing hymn I'm clapping my hands and almost dancing. We go most Sundays. I love the parish community as well. This past year I helped teach religious education to 1st, 2nd, and 4th graders. What great kids!

There is a 5:30 PM Mass that I have been wanting to attend, to hear what that music has to offer (the 4th graders tell me it's "awesome").

This morning after Mass the man sitting next to me asked if I was a parishoner.
"Yes," I replied.
"Have you been to the 5:30 Mass?"
"No, but I've always wanted to."
"I play guitar in the band and you have a beautiful voice. I'd love it if you joined the choir."

My hand flew to my mouth, covering it in fascinated surprise. ME?! Someone liked my voice and wanted me to sing in a choir?

Talk about a dream come true. I've always wanted to sing more, and never felt quite like I could do it. My confidence has increased greatly as of late, especially with the loving encouragement of my mother - who, by the way, has one of the best singing voices in my known world.

This could be really fun! They start up again in September and practice each Tuesday night.

I'm not moving to New York City

For those of you who know all about the New York situation, I hope you'll laugh with me when you see the cupcakes I made for today. Today is an important decision day in my office and so I made some cupcakes for the occasion.

Everyone loved them. They got to choose their own cupcake. :)

For those of you who don't know what's going on, because I'm not really allowed to talk about it just yet, read here: Seattle PI Article.