HAPPY Halloween!!!!!!!!

I LOVE THIS DAY SO MUCH!!!!  Here is the first of 2 of my costumes for the day.  I am a vamp, and tonight Kevin and I will be Wenatchee Insane Asylum patients.  We have straight jackets----the whole get-up really:)  Be safe and have fun today.  I will have more pics of the second costumes tomorrow!!!!!

Sunday Brunch and Fall drive to Twisp and Winthrop

Since moving to this beautiful part of the state, we have made it a tradition to always make a Fall drive to Twisp and Winthrop WA.  My morning started off by a delicious breakfast made for me by Kevin.  Then we were off!

This drive is one of the most scenic drives around.  It takes you along the eastern side of the Columbia River, on through the Methow Valley, almost stumbling upon these 2 picturesque small towns.  Twisp is quaint and has a great pub called Twisp River Pub.  Good beer, great food and the locals are super nice. If you hit a weekend night, you can usually catch a live music.

Just down the road, less than 10 minutes is Winthrop.  Winthrop is literally a flash back in time.  It is a themed town like Leavenworth, but much smaller.  The theme rather than Bavarian, is old western.  From plank wood walkways to store fronts, it looks like something from a John Wayne movie.  Every time we go, we go to my favorite glass blowing shop and I buy a "collectible," and then we walk the shops.  We also discovered a great mini golf course!  It was 18 holes and very creative.  We also could not miss the candy shop, all homemade by the lady in the picture.  YUM!  Outside the shop, they had a fortune telling machine like the one from the movie "Big!"  Except instead of a genie it was an old miner telling our fortune.  It was awesome.

We then end our trip with a new restaurant.  Like always, it was a great day trip and and the fall leaves never disappoint!  

CIDER Party with the RAD Ringsrud's

Our friend Lars Ringsrud's parents own some beautiful orchard property right outside East Wenatchee.  He and his wonderful wife Beth and their beautiful 1 year old daughter Petra, invited Kevin and I out for their annual cider making party.  

It was again, I fell in love with orchard land (first was in Hood River where we got married). We decided that more than living on the water some place that we would rather live on an orchard- but not far from a river or lake of course (wink wink) :)

We arrived about 10 and spent the morning picking apples with their friends and family.  His older brother had a group of about 12 that came out with their kids from Seattle.  We were then treated to a yummy lunch by Peder and Mary, Lars' parents.  Quick note, his parents are uber Norwegian, very exciting for me!  His mom even knits all the grandchildren their own Norwegian sweaters. Go Norskies....So cool!

After lunch was the actual crushing and making of the cider.  It consisted of the kids going through the picked apples to be cleaned and then handed off to the "crushing" machine.  That is not the technical term of course.  Then the juice is strained for chunks and then funneled into its home..the JUG.

Needless to say we had rad day with the Ringsrud's!

15 lbs of apples. 12 jugs of cider we came home with.  Thank you to Lars and his family.  We had an awesome day with you!

P.S. Note to self....Mass consumption of apples and cider throughout one day can equal severe stomach aches.....oops.  Guess you can't eat apples from the trees all DAY!

Enjoy and here's to Central Washington beauty.

Ruthie and Jeff's Beautiful Wedding

So yes, I am a tad behind on my posts.  What can I say? We have been VERY busy this Fall.  So I would like to catch up on the past 3 weeks!  Starting off, my dear friend Ruth tied the knot in Leavenworth to her longtime beau Jeff.  It was an absolutely beautiful Fall wedding at Sleeping Lady Retreat . Fall was in the air.  To boot, we had a houseful of ten of my greatest friends stay with us for the weekend.  We rented transportation to and from the wedding and had a wonderful time.  Let's just say the limo ride back to Wenatchee turned out to be random city.  Too long of a story and we shouldn't have been surprised it happened to us.  Anyways, here are some fun pics of a night of Singstar, slumber party, and wedding pics!  Congratulations again to Ruth and Jeff!!!

High School kids these days......

So, I thought I would write about my experience on Wednesday night interviewing 10 high school kids to go and study abroad.

When we moved here, not knowing many people, I decided to join some local service clubs and get involved and meet new people. It has been such a rewarding experience to say the least. I have always wanted to help people in a larger sense....(and not to sound cliche), but I wanted to do more than just sending money to Africa or giving money to the local homeless shelter.

So I joined rotary. "Service above self." There are so many doors that rotary opens to helping people all around the world....including our own backyard. To start off I joined the Youth International Exchange Program and am on the board for selecting 4 kids from our district to study abroad for a year. Having studied abroad myself, as well as traveling my whole life, I jumped at the opportunity to volunteer my time with these kids.

It has been a long process that lead us to Wednesday. I have mixed feeling about my interviews. It opened my eyes to the naitivity of teenagers today. I was surprised that some of them couldn't tell me the difference between Canada and the US government, or even who was running for president! One girl was afraid of "Muslimism." Another was asked if she had ever been out of the US and her reply was yes....to Victoria BC, but that she would never want to live there. Like it was an unsafe place. But yet she wants to study in Ecquador which is in the midst of a civil war.

I am not dissing on our youth, because there were others interviewed that would make ideal youth Ambassadors for the US....and they were approved to go on to the next interview stage.

I just have to say, with all that is going on bad in the world, sometimes we should look in our own communities. EDUCATION.....I believe to be a major American crisis and we need to focus and spend the time needed with these children.....

They will be the one's leading our country someday and should be able to recite who is running for president and not afraid of Canada......yikes

High Tech in Wenatchee

As I was strolling through the Apple Valley Mall (we live in the Apple Capitol of the world) this evening on my way to Bath & Body Works (YES, we have one) I passed a gift from god.....

This is ironic because I just talked to Wexler on Monday, asking her if she was stopping by Bellevue Square this week, and if so to pick me up some face wash before she comes to visit this weekend. She told me to order it online. Which she was was right, and I have been avoiding it like the plague.  I don't want to have to set-up an account with them where they send me product every month. I don't use a lot, and want the control of buying it when I need it.  Enough said.

Well...my prayers have been answered.  I never have to leave Wenatchee now (just kidding). They put in an automated, vending machine Proactive KIOSK!!!  I don't even have to talk to anyone.  It's all controlled by a touchpad screen.  I simply pick-out what I want, and the little robot arm gets it for me.

SO....if you were keeping score...

Wenatchee: 1   Seattle: 0

THE Cats....

This is for my parents.  They were concerned we were showing favoritism towards the dogs by posting a picture of them...and not of the cats yet.  So here you go Mom and Dad!

Pixie Nu Nu...Calico 4 years old.  first animal and awesome

Bubbs aka Fatty: 3 years old.  From the "streets" and HUGE (28 lbs). We have to shave him he gets so big and furry.

HALLOWEEN cookie time

If you know me well, you know how much I love this time of year.  I had my Halloween decorations up before October 1st, just because I was so excited.  I own MORE Halloween decorations than Christmas decorations.  If it were up to me....I would have Halloween at the end of every month.  I LOVE IT.  Those of you might remember our senior year at Peach Pit Halloween Party.  What I thought was washable red paint that I splattered all over the walls to look like blood...wasn't so washable the next day.  Ahhhhhhh, good times:)

Anyways, Kevin and I had a baking night the other night and stayed up way too late making cookies, cupcakes and a cake.  I don't know what we were thinking, but sure thought it sounded fun at the time.  No one told me after all that baking, how long it takes to FROST everything.  

Let's just say Kevin is the baker in the family and I am the cook.  He grew up helping his Mom in the kitchen every holiday with all the baked goods for the season.  He even knew how to make the frosting from scratch!  Sorry Jamie and Lisa, I will never be able to bake like you two..but I sure can cook a mean Bolgnese!!! Here's to the BEST time of year, in my book.