Welcome to our blog! Here you can read what Miki and Misho are up to. Well, Misho refuses to keep us updated, but Miki does provide frequent updates :-)



Monday, July 26, 2010

Therapy session

A Photoshop assignment I did today...




When I have time, I plan to do a whole series, but step up the acting a bit. It'd be fun :-)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Backyard (almost done!)

Only finishing touches left, but the yard is pretty much done! This weekend we'll take out the table and chairs and have some friends over for drinks. Yay!

I'd love to see how all the plants develop over time...of course now everything looks a bit too sterile and small, but the look will become more organic and natural over time and the plants will fill out. I'm really happy with how the project turned out. Now onto the bathroom debacle! ;-)

Before (Dec 2008):


During (May 2010):


After (July 2010):


Some more "after" pictures...

Future veggie/herb garden:




New fence and arbor on the West side of the house. This is at the site of my previous herb garden that we built with Mom. Notice Tatko's zdravetz at the bottom of the picture. It's pretty sad looking, but I'm confident it'll survive. It had to be transplanted twice, which didn't go so well, but it's looking OK now.





This is the northwest corner. Fortunately, we were able to save the big rhodies. Some of the smaller ones had to go. The young tree in front and to the left of the rhodies is a dwarf Asian pear. I'm planning to plant blueberry bushes behind, along the shorter fence.



The fire pit, which we christened this past weekend...it almost felt like camping in our own backyard :-)



The lovely magnolias in the back....



I'll post some more before-and-after comparisons in the next couple of days.

Now my big challenge is to plant my veggie garden! It turned out a lot bigger than what I expected: it's 14.5 ft x 17.5 ft + the semi-circle at the end. That's a lot of veggies to plant and care for! While I'm starting pretty late, I still have a chance to get something out of this season. We'll see how I do...

M

Monday, July 19, 2010

Amanda's visit

It was so wonderful to have Amanda in town last week! We did some fun trips together. Below are a few shots...













Thursday, July 15, 2010

Introducing Senor Robles

I'm taking PhotoShop this quarter and so far it's been really fun (though a bit overwhelming!). We're starting with the basics and this week we learned about layers. Our assignment was to create a character by layering multiple images. We were free to take new pictures or reuse existing ones. I figured it'd be fun to reuse images that I didn't take with reuse in mind, so I went to my Paso Robles folder and decided to pick only images from there. So...I'm introducing Senor Robles to you :-)

It's been a silly and fun assignment. As you can see Senor Robles leaves a lot to be desired, but at least I have room to show much improvement in the weeks to come :-)

Just for kicks, here are the images I used for the above composite:







Wednesday, July 14, 2010

LaConner, in search of the salukis

Colin, Tiger and I went to LaConner last Sunday, to visit a saluki breeder and meet a bunch of puppies. Lamentably, I didn't take any pictures of the dogs, but needless to say, the puppies were adorable. One, however, needs to look at the parents for a realistic assessment of the breed as all puppies are cute. :-)

Colin found them a bit too big (they are taller than me when they stand!) and a bit too gangly. I loved their goofy look and aloof personality, but in the end we decided to get a whippet.

Neither of us had been to LaConner, which is about an hour north of Seattle. The only thing I knew about LaConner was that that's where Tom Robbins lives. It turned out to be a beautiful town, with gorgeous fields around it. I was able to take a few shots as Colin drove. The light was quite dramatic, I thought...






Backyard progress

After a 3 week hiatus, the activities in the backyard have resumed. The crew is putting the finishing touches and they brought in the first batch of plants today. We should have the entire project done and done by Monday, at the latest. Can't wait.









Friday, July 9, 2010

Seattle by night

Colin, Amanda and I enjoyed some pizza and wine while admiring Seattle by sunset and twilight.

I love my new camera: I was able to take these shots without a tripod!

M


Quick Fry in July!

"Quick Fry in July" is the name of the heat wave going around Seattle right now. Temperatures went up by 30 degrees overnight!!

It is absolutely gorgeous! Plans for the weekend:
- Take the afternoon off and head out for a hike with Colin, Amanda and Tiger
- Sat: head out to the Olympic Peninsula (Neah Bay) for a full-day awesome hike with the above
- Sun: drop Amanda off at the airport and potentially meet our new puppy!! http://www.classicsaluki.com/future.htm Try to watch the World Cup finals in between.

Can't wait!!!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Birthday, USA!

It was cloudy, it was rainy, but it was July 4th nevertheless! This is the first time we've been around Island Point for July 4th. We attended a little celebration (chips, brownies and neighbors) and in the evening went to watch the fireworks from the vista point at the end of the street.

The triangle at IP, nicely decorated with flags:






Despite the rain and the clouds, the fireworks were fun:



Of course, Tiger was suitably dressed for the day (and so were we!):

Willows Lodge


For our five year anniversary, Colin made reservations at the Barking Frog and we spent the night at Willows Lodge. It was so nice to go back and experience Willows, it's such a beautiful place!







Thursday, July 1, 2010

Five Year Anniversary!

It's unbelievable how time flies...tomorrow (July 2), will be our 5-year wedding anniversary! I've found the best partner-in-crime and am so grateful to have him next to me every day.

We had such a fun time at our wedding! I'll never forget Phil telling me to wiggle my toes, so I don't pass out during the ceremony :-). Once that was over, it was all party time!

Down memory lane: