Family Vacations Rule

These are my favorites out of my pictures from a 4-day family trip at the Oregon Coast last week. The weather was warm and the company was great. I'll write more about the trip when I get Cindy's pics up, because she got some good ones. In the meantime, I need to go to bed.

Summertime Home Improvement

Inside and out we are making changes!

Back when we remodeled the kitchen, we had our designer imagine some updates to our living and dining room. Mostly that was paint color recommendations and moving some stuff around. These colors, the adobe red called "Carrot Cake" and muted yellow called "Coin Purse" (who names these things?), are in the palettes of what she suggested but not the exact colors. The original "red" was a bit too orangy and since our bedroom is already orange, we wanted to get a bit farther away from it.

But back in early April we were thoroughly spent by the kitchen activities so we waited a few months to take up the project again. Invigorated by use of a much more efficient kitchen and missing chaotic piles o' sh*t stacked in the living room, we decided to delve back in. Prior to leaving for the East Coast we called our favorite painters C&C Painting Company and scheduled them to come over when we returned. What a wonderful job they did! I think we'll be spend our 4th of July moving things around and figuring out the new arrangement. Which is totally fine with me because it's supposed to rain.




And because we like to "multi-task" so much, on the outside we are finishing what we started. Two years ago we had two sides of our house and our chimney tuckpointed. It was a dirty endeavor but very important. All I have to say is that this needs to be finished in time for our BBQ at the end of the month.

Week in the East

Lest we forget that prior to the weddings, Ken and I were on the East Coast seeing family and friends. Ken was over initally for a conference in Baltimore, MD then I joined him at the end of the week. Below you will see parts of our whirlwind visit.



Ken's young nephews, Sam & Ryan were staying with Ken's folks since their parents were on a cruise. We had a great time with them and were delighted at how smart and good natured they were. We played board games, went tubing out on the boat, played video games, watched Sponge Bob Square Pants, caught fireflies and ate things we shouldn't have. Dave came and visited us in Onancock too.
The morning we left to go back to Baltimore, Ken created a game for the boys that involved written clues and hidden "treasure." It was very much like what my parents used to do for us on Easter. They would create a series of clues that lead to one another, with the ultimate clue leading to a basket of goodies. In this case, the boys went from clue to clue solving word or visual puzzles that Ken had made and the ultimate prize was something any kid can use: $4 each. But they seemed to really get into it and the clues were designed so that the brothers ages 8 & 10 had to work together to solve the problems. It was fun watching them figuring things out. We were told by Ken's mom that the morning after, the boys woke up and asked her if she had another treasure hunt for them planned. Sorry guys.


Dan-o and Baby Hannah

Also during our visit we saw our good friends the Vaslows, who recently moved from here to Maryland to be closer to their families now that they have Hannah. It was great to see them since the last time was in April.



We also had lunch and hung out in Baltimore's Fells Point with Krim, Ken's artist friend. Krim is such a character as you can probably tell from the photos. He had great stories and a unique perspective that is honest and refreshing.



As blogged earlier, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary over there. Ken picked out this very picturesque B&B for us to stay at in the Greenspring Valley of Maryland, near Baltimore. This house has a great deal of history in terms of the various owners and refurbishments that have been done to it. It was a lovely overnight and the swing was so picture perfect.

Our 3rd Anniversary @ Gramercy Mansion



Ken rocks the swing @ Gramercy Mansion















In addition to all this, we saw Ken's Uncle Jack & Aunt Chris, spent quality time with Ken's Mom & Step-dad, had lunch with Aunt Mary in Washington DC, saw his brother's new house and most importantly Ken managed to keep up on his running schedule despite the constant temptation of ice cream and dounuts. I am always delighted to see the people, eat pulled pork BBQ and marvel at fireflies. Despite the fact, I lament about the mosquitos & humidity. Ah, summer on the East Coast.

I'd marry you all over again...

To the couple that rocked the Hindu Ceremony Friday...here is the western version that occurred Saturday. Absolutely amazing is all I can say.

What an honor it has been to see this couple go through this blessed milestone and to be a part of such tremendous celebrations spanning East and West traditions.


I wrote about Suzanne earlier so let's talk a little about Sam. I have known Sam (who is Sumeer now that he's all 'grows' up) since the WSU days and through all of my Seattle-based life. Scared of nothing, Sam has pursued acting in LA, saved natural disaster victims in Sri Lanka, attended law school, dabbled in politics and fearlessly dared to call Ken and I on our wedding night to invite us to a raging after-party in his "suite." As the story goes, my bridesmaids stared wide-eyed at him while he dialed the phone saying, "What???? I'm not scared of Kali." Luckily he went straight to voice mail and we didn't have to test that theory.

But this match between Suzanne & Sam is better than anything I could have hoped for him. Obviously a good friend, I have at times regarded him as a pseudo younger brother. I've probably given him a great deal of advice through the years, of which he has heeded maybe 15%. (Kind of like my actual brother.) But the one thing I have always admired about him is his love of life and love of people. He gets a hard time from his friends because he is relentlessly optimistic. It's because you just don't meet people like that--unless they are selling something--but the difference is that Sam's absolutely sincere. So I hope he never loses that and with his lovely wife, I don't think he ever will.

Ken and I left the party at the very "late" hour of 11pm (I know it's lame but we're still time adjusted to the East Coast). All that cool Bollywood dancing wore us out. I just want to take a second to say Sam & Suzanne performed a Bollywood dance by themselves to get things started and it brought down the house. Both are excellent dancers, of course, but the sheer excitement and spirit by which both performed would give those folks on Dancing with the Stars something to aspire to.

Before we left, I managed to tell Sam what a moving experience it had been for me personally to see him surrounded by his family, bathed in Indian music and dancing. It's like I saw my friend as a complete person for the first time and, now that he's happily married to one of the coolest ladies on the planet, he really is.

*****

Here's more pictures from yesterday's festivities.

More pictures from the Hindu Ceremony

Here's the rest of the Hindu Ceremony pics:

Great day for a Hindu wedding

Here are a few pics from Suzanne & Sumeer's Hindu wedding today. What a way to celebrate the marriage of two such extraordinary people. I have known Suzanne since middle school and separately I have known Sam (Sumeer) since the salad days of college at WSU. Who knew these strangers would strike up a conversation at a BBQ (not mine) and Sam would recognize that Suzanne grew up in the same town I did? Now flash forward two years and here we are.


The depth of ritual involved in this event are so intricate and numerous that I cannot begin to describe all of the elements. But from an outsider's point of view, the pageantry and traditions give an idea of just how big of a deal weddings are in the Hindu/Indian culture.


For example, Sam (Sumeer) arrived at the front door of the temple escorted by family & friends dancing and clapping to Indian music. Suzanne wore a gorgeous red sari and had intricate Henna work her hands and feet. The ceremony itself involved lots of chanting in Sanskrit and lots of symbolic gestures involving food, fire and flowers.





One notably fun aspect is that friends of the bride have to steal the groom's shoes (which is fairly easy since you have to leave them at the door of the temple) and not give them back until he gives them cash or presents. But friends of the groom are supposed to try and get them back. In this instance, a car chase and "mission impossible" tactics were necessary for Jo-jo & Deepali to secure and hide the shoes. This resulted in them missing most of the festivities to take care of this issue. But thank whomever you'd thank in the Hindu religion that there'll be a video of the ceremony.


And yes, that's me wearing a borrowed sari.


I like wearing the bindi best of all.



Congratulations Sumeer & Suzanne!

Happy Anniversary # 3

Aqua Follies

We're enjoying a quick-by-past-standards visit with Ken's family on the East Coast and packing in a lot of fun. This photo was from yesterday when my father-in-law Duke took us and our step-nephews out on the boat. Ken is proud to say that he fended off not one, not two but three able-bodied aqua interlopers--the third one is hidden behind Ken in the picture. (I was just happy he didn't hurt himself.) But he's still got it and can hang with these youngsters. I'll have more pictures and stories but like Ken, I'm going to try and take a vacation from the electronics this next week so blogging/twittering may be light.