Baking

Tonight Aubrey helped me make some biscuits for dinner.

Unpacking

Aubrey kept busy today while we unpacked by unpacking a box of toys, and boy did she empty it...then she fell asleep on it. She didn't nap all day, we tried to get her to sleep in her new bed but she was just too excited with all her old toys around her and boxes, it was like Christmas. So it was about 5pm when she we checked on her and found her crashed on top of all her books and toys. We moved her to her bed a little while after but had to wake her up to go home. We came back to the hotel and ate dinner and then took a walk around downtown to see all the Christmas lights, I'll post those photos tomorrow.

Aubrey's new coat.
(Sorry they are terrible photos from my phone!)

Black Friday Shopping

Well, I woke up at 6am so I could run down the street to Urban Outfitters before we all hopped in the car to Southcenter Mall to do the real shopping. Friends of ours from Victoria (Jared's old coworkers) happened to be visiting Seattle for a few days so we went shopping with them. I bought the above little owl night light lamp (I might paint it) for $5 and the retro little alarm clock for $5 as well. As you can see most of the cloths are for Aubrey. She has recently grown out of all her pants except for 2 pairs so I went a little crazy and bought 5 pairs! They'll last a long time though as they are on the longer side and have the adjustable waste bands. None of them were more than $8 and 2 of them were $4! 3 pairs of pajamas (much needed), some long sleeve shirts, leggings and the cutest jacket for $12!
I bought a vest ($7.50), 2 long sleeve shirts and a pair of jeans ($10) from Target and they all fit without trying anything on...I wasn't about to wait in a fitting room line! Actually the lines went really fast and we were out of there in no time. We also bought 3 DVDs - Toy Story 3, James and the Giant Peach and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Jared hasn't done any shopping...yet. He watched Aubrey the whole time mostly in the kids play area. He was hoping to go to REI tonight but yesterday he forgot to fill a sick call and working part of their shift now (from 4-6pm), so hopefully he can still get some shopping in!

Our movers called today to say they were 30 mins away from our apartment, so Jared took Aubrey to meet them while I stayed with our friends to shop. All our stuff arrived safe and sound (well, we haven't unpacked to check yet). I immediately opened Aubrey's box of clothes and pulled out her winter jacket (which I think is still too big!).
Tomorrow will be full of unpacking!

I finally found it . . .

I found these little blue plaid shoes when we were in Las Vegas and Aubrey hasn't worn them a whole lot as I don't really have anything that they go with. But I was out shopping downtown this last week and found this little dress for $6 brought it home and realized that it was a complete match.

Photo Update

New carpet, so much nicer!

I just have one more wall to add a 2nd coat of paint to and then I'm done for now! I ran out of paint! I want to paint the kitchen but it doesn't have to be done right now and I'm not sure what colour to paint it, so it will have to wait. Aubrey finally fell asleep here today around 3pm until 6pm, so we had a late night! I made a bed of blankets and put it in the right corner next to the fireplace and she eventually fell asleep.

On another note, it finally snowed here today, on and off all day long. We have maybe 1-2 inches. I drove to the apartment this morning when the roads were clear and waited until Jared was off work so he could come and drive us home around 6pm. The roads were icier but the drive was pretty flat and it was no problem. People are sliding all over the roads tonight which poses problems here at the hotel for staff to come in for their night shifts so Jared has to start at 3 am to cover part of the night shift. People are leaving their cars on the I-5 and walking to hotels for the night. They had lots of people walking in off the street here tonight - people just don't want to drive anywhere and are staying put.

Christmas at the Olympic Hotel

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel does quite the Christmas decorating. They have a fesitval of trees like the Empress does but the trees are auctioned off and the money goes to a child at the Children's Hospital that each tree sponsors.

The small trees are fake but this huge 25 foot tree in the center of the lobby is real! I still don't know how they fit it through the doors!

In one of the suites on the 3rd floor they decorate as a Teddy Bear Christmas theme. The whole suite including the bathroom is decorated from ceiling to floor and wall to wall. It's open for anyone to come view.

Out of all the giant teddy bears, Aubrey liked the little one "baby" the best.

I'm not the only one who likes orange...

Aubrey is addicted to oranges, she's always liked them but not that Mandarin oranges are available, she can't get enough. She eats 2-3 a day - not sure if that's ok or not but she asks for them in her sleep practically. Today after church she saw the bag of oranges and asked for one. She grabbed it but we were busy taking off our coats and shoes and getting changed that it took too long for us to get around to peeling it for her. So she started peeling it on her own, she did a great job, peeled the whole thing, put the peels in the garbage and continued to separate out the slices on the table then ate them, all by herself.

Going for a walk

Tried to get outside today but it was really cold. It didn't last long and ended up at the library for a warm break. It's not as chilly as it is in Victoria I'm sure...just waiting for the snow to fall here. It's suppose to snow tomorrow and Monday. The movers came and picked up our stuff in Victoria yesterday and now we just wait and hope it clears customs! We are really missing our winter coats and a scarves!

My Favourite Salads

There are 2 salads that we get at the hotel quite often that are the best salads I've ever had. I'm not sure of quantity of the following ingredients, but I don't think you could go wrong.

Chicken Chop Salad

Iceberg lettuce
Diced chicken (great use for leftovers)
Grapes (cut in half)
Blue cheese crumbles (could use feta if you don't like blue cheese)
Candied walnuts
Chopped dried apricot (if you didn't know - apricot and blue cheese are GREAT together!)
Dried cranberries
Blue cheese dressing (or balsamic is great).

Indian-Spiced Prawn Salad

Apples and/or pears cubed
Mango cubed
Avocado sliced or diced
Cooked prawns
Cilantro
Indian spice (not sure what they use, it's not curry, maybe tandoori spice??)
If you wanted to add a lettuce I think butter crunch would be really nice.

Try making these and tell me how it went! I can't wait to try when I have a kitchen!

(Salads taken from the Fairmont Olympic Hotel)

I got my material in the mail today!

That was fast shipping! I got the owl and polka dot material and my vintage stripes and floral both in the mail today. They are just enough for some pillow cases. The polka dot orange one is brighter then in the image so I might just use it in the living room as it matches the dining room wall!

I finally found what I want to do in our bedroom. Our old bedroom had one dark brown wall (like our current living room) and the rest of the walls were a beige colour. Our headboard was a pea green that matched our curtains. Then new bedroom will be similar but an emphasis on blue than the solid brown or green.

I want this bedding from Linen n things and I love the whole room, so I bought a similar blue paint for the headboard wall and a really pail blue for the rest of the walls. I'll reuse my green curtains. I also want to make an upholstered headboard eventually, maybe a green. I wanted it something similar to this:

Our last bedroom furniture set was from Ikea and the cheapest one there and it lasted us 9 years. We gave it away before we moved planning on buying a new one, hoping it would last us for another 9 years - we'll see. The above is a 2 drawer dresser we'll each use as night stands.
And we'll each get one of these dressers as they're on the smaller size and but them side by side for a long bench of dressers.

Aubrey Update

Aubrey is talking much more and finally starting to put 2 words together. It's usually things like "more please" and "Teddy go?" for where's Teddy? She's just started to say sorry and if she is being rambunctious and accidentally hurts me, she says sorry and rubs my back.
Not only does she refer to herself as "you" bit she thinks that when you want to get someones attention you say "Aubrey, Aubrey, Aubrey"! So she says that to get ours! Except it's more like "aubey".

Last coat

We decided we needed one last coat of the orange making a total of 4 coats! We also painted all the cream. We still have to paint the two brown walls. Aubrey fell asleep in her room today for two hours while we painted!
All the cream paint is zero voc which makes it so much nicer!

On a random note, Aubrey thinks her name is "you"! When she wants something she points to herself and says me? Instead of "me"!

Sent from my iPhone

Magic Mouse Toys

Our favourite toy store downtown Seattle in Pioneer Square. We've visited this toy store a few times in past trips to Seattle before Aubrey was ever born. We took a walk to it one evening and Aubrey went wild.

I LOVE these nesting owls, they are so sweet and would look great in Aubrey's room but they are $36 so I might have to save my money for it.

Do you remember Calico Critters? I use to have some when I was little and totally forgotten about them. They are so little and sweet and have full houses, furniture and accessories that come with each family of different animals.

more material

I found these two materials on etsy yesterday that I want to order for some pillows and extras for Aubrey's room.

A full day

Day two of painting. Yesterday naptime didn't happen until 4pm and lasted until 7pm! She never went to bed until 10pm and today isn't much different except she napped from 3 until 7! She's in bed just now and I hope she'll go straight to sleep!
Locking her in her room with a baby gate isn't working, she does not like being confined. She has been pretty good at not getting into to stuff though, except for a brief rub against the newly painted wall - but it was just primer on a white shirt.
Tonight I went back to the apartment after her nap and dinner and put the last coat of orange on the wall. It's bright. I'm glad it's a small wall. It will look a little more balanced next to cream and dark brown though. Right now it's very bright next to all white walls!
The photo above was taken last night with one coat to go.


I found this little nightstand on craigslist last night for $15 and I went and picked it up today. it's solid wood and I think will look really cute painted white/cream to go in Aubrey's bedroom. I really like the little shutter doors and I want to find some cute glass or painted knobs from a flea market or vintage store. There are so many vintage stores (and flee markets in the summer) here and I can't wait to go look through them all. Plus there's a really large Value Village and Goodwill close by.

I have to say how much I love Fred Meyers! There are no close Walmarts to downtown Seattle, but there are Targets and Fred Meyers. We have a Fred Meyers about 5 mins for our new place and it's great. It has a full grocery (better then Walmart), home section, hardware, clothing and shoes, plus they have a kids play area that is gated and supervised. You can drop your child off to play for up to an hour for free! They have a tv and lots of toys and playhouses and Aubrey loved it and didn't want to leave! They give the child and the parent matching ID bracelets for safety.
It's like Ikea but you don't have to be 3 years old and potty trained! It came in handy when Jared and I were picking out paint colours and paint and supplies the other night!

I'm still not sure what to paint our room and Aubrey's room but we can wait a few days to decide that. We have to paint the living/dining and hallways before this weekend as the flooring guys are putting in the new carpet on Saturday and we'd like to get it done before then. I asked the landlord if we could not carpet the dining area and leave the wood floors beneath, exposed. Today he came by and ripped up the carpet to check out the condition of the floors. They are fine but there are a few large dark spots and the underlay was wet which might have been from the carpet cleaning that was just done. We'll dry it out and see if some buffing and varnishing will restore it. It would be so nice to not have new carpet under the eating area! The landlord has been great about being open to our suggestions. He has a storage room right below us full of tools and supplies for us to use for paint etc.

I'm thinking about painting one wall in our room a dark teal colour and the rest of the walls the same cream as the living areas. Look at the linens I got for Aubrey's room a few posts earlier and let me know what I should paint her room. I was just going to do it cream. Maybe I'll wallpaper her closet doors or something instead of painting a colour.

Pike Place Market

I've always loved this market but I still haven't fully explored it. There's only so much I can do with a stroller and some of the spaces are pretty narrow.

I think these are amazing. You can let them hang in your kitchen and dry if you don't use it all.

They are always handing out slices of fruit and samples - it's good to go around lunch time as Aubrey likes all the fruit.

I've never seen a flower like this before.

The flowers are so cheap! Huge bouquets of the prettiest flowers for $5 or $10 and more.

Catching up...

I finally downloaded all my photos from since we first arrived in Seattle. Here is what we were welcomed to in our room.