Arctic Blast 08

Greetings from the icy, snowy Pac NW. We've been snowed in since about Thursday, though Mike did manage to get the Tuscon down our hill in order to pick me up from work today. He's a WONDERFUL husband. I begged and pleaded because it took me 35 minutes to walk home from the bus stop after my hour (+) ride home from work yesterday. I just simply don't like my job enough to devote 3 hours of commute time daily! Please enjoy some pics from this city that remains stunningly beautiful always, no matter how stressful the roads are.

This was early on in Thursday's snow fall. I think we ended up with 7 1/2. We added about 6 inches to it on Sunday, and they are expecting more tonight. The roads are absolutely horrible as there are 27 (TOTAL) snow plows in ALL of Seattle. They say it's because we never get snow here. Mike, however, has lived here 3 winters, and 2 of the 3, they've had a major storm.

This is our street. Yikes. Luckily none of those cars are ours!

I-90 in the snow.

The poor postman got stuck in our parking lot yesterday. Mike has been getting to know all of the neighbors this week because they've been out pushing cars and turning off the water of the end condo whose pipes broke.

It's so beautiful! Some things we've learned from this snow storm: rain boots do not work for snow boots. I've been hiking down to Safeway (the grocery) and Target (buying puzzles) in my rain boots. They are SO cute and SO cold! Mike bought me snow boots for this week since I would be hiking to the bus stop! They work SO much better! Mike has learned that when you have an invite to go snowboarding and snow is in the forecast, you should go. Otherwise, you'll be stuck at home telecommuting dreaming of all of your friends playing in the powder. We also learned that when you have a Christmas party and snow is in the forecast, you shouldn't make 2 pounds of meatballs because inevitably, no one will be able to make it in, and you'll be eating meatballs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Good snowball making snow! One more hilarious story, and then I am done.. on the news they interviewed a guy who went to the grocery to pick up milk, bread, and pickles. He didn't think his family could live without pickles. Oh Seattle, sometimes you are so weird.

The snow is stressing me out. As beautiful as it is, getting to work is anxiety provoking to say the list. Getting home is even worse. SeaTac airport is a disaster, and they are cancelling flights like crazy. I warned Mike that if we don't make it to St. Louis this Saturday, he will have tears to deal with! I really hope we don't have to face that! I am going to sign off to continue working on the puzzle.

Grey's Anatomy

Too bad we don't actually have Seattle Grace.. because this would be a perfect soap opera situation for them to handle.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_us/washington_bus_accident

I can hardly even believe it. I think it's a blessing my bus never came to the stop today. These 2 charter buses crashed in to each other and were dangling OVER highway 5. Mike saw it on his way to come pick me up from work. What a CRAZY day.

Luke

Mike and I are snowed in today. This is the tree outside our condo.. it doesn't look terrible, but there are about 5 inches on the car. Mike is upstairs working from home while I am downstairs playing on facebook and blogs trying not to distract him. This is very hard because he's so darn cute. I thought I would post some more about the birth of Jesus, this time from our physician Luke.

Luke 1:39-42 'In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb" '.

I have always LOVED this image of John the Baptist (the fetus) leaping for joy as Jesus (the fetus) came in to the room. What a beautiful connection. I would love to bring this up in the 'when does life begin?' debates. I would certainly argue that the spirit of God was alive in these two men before they were birthed into the world as we know it. Anyway, what a beautiful depiction of the Glory of God.

Luke 1: 46-50 'And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name. And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation." '

I need to wake up every morning and make it a point that my soul magnifies the Lord and that my spirit would rejoice in Him more often. I get so caught up in tasks that I often forget to sit down and say Thank You to the One who has delivered me from the brokenness of this world. I pray that my soul would magnify Him today.

Luke 2: 6-14 'And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for him in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" '

For anyone who is a Christian, this passage rings with nostalgia and peace. 'Behold, I bring you good news'. This is the BEST news we could EVER receive! Jesus humbled himself to come in to human flesh to save us. I pray that we would receive grace along with our Christmas packages this year.

Matthew

Well, finals are over, and I am officially in Christmas mode, so I thought I would start the season off the right way.

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins". All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus." Matthew 1: 18-25

Strange that we use a Christmas tree to symbolize the birth of our Lord. Does anyone know where this tradition came from? Alas, here is the first Wade Christmas tree. I think we have a total of 6 ornaments. We've got work to do. Merry Christmas Season.

3 months!

Well, three months down and we are going strong. So far I would say that I am learning about myself as much as I am learning about Mike. Good things about him... insightful things about myself =) We celebrated last night with dinner at the new Panera in Bellevue (yay!) and by decorating our first Christmas tree.


This is us celebrating in Honolulu. It was a beautiful night. I better get back to my studying. Classes end Dec 8- so close!

San Francisco Treat

Mike and I spent our first Thanksgiving as a married couple in San Francisco with Mr. Chef Ryan Cooper. All we had to do was show up, and so we did. We flew in Thursday afternoon (1 hr 23 minutes seems SO short compared to 4+ hours to get to STL), took the BART in to the city, walked up a few (major) hills and found ourselves in the Noe Valley.

Ryan's first turkey. He had it in a brine (sp?) with stock, and salt, and fire roasted veggies since Monday. It was SO tender and juicy.

Mike mixing up some cornbread

Thanksgiving was me and the boys. The three in the front are Alvero, Liam, and Boris. Liam is the Chef at Ryan's work (ie his boss), and Alvero and Boris work the front. They hail from El Salvador. Nothing says party like some drunk boys from El Salvador. They were hillarious. I learned that Mike can actually hold his own in Spanish, and Ryan speaks to them mostly in Spanish. Pretty cool. yo hablo un poquito espanol. (I'm sure that's incorrect)

Ryan took the fire roasted veggie stock and created this delicious soup shown above. I am so impressed with him, and I am drooling over his LeCreuset cookware.

I am checking out the wonderful aroma of these purple mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and goat cheese. I don't even have words to describe it.

Hot apple cider, organic beets and greens, skillet cornbread with honey butter.

Dessert was pumpkin brownies with espresso gelato.

Friday we had a post-turkey sleep-in, and then we headed down to Chinatown. We had so not-so-good Dim Sum, and then Ryan had to head to work. Mike and I proceded to work off the pumpkin brownies and walked all over the city.

xg8_4/s320/San+Fran+026.JPG" border=0> I am sure it's not a surprise that our first stop was Coit Tower. We have to see all cities from an aerial view=) I love it too.

Mike has been talking about this truffle shop since we've been together. He found it on a trip to SF a few years ago, and he has been wanting to take me. It is in the North Beach area, and it's called xoxochocolates. My favorite were the amaretto. mmm.

="http:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3c8auIYUnThWRaPxchi3y0yPhNiw6WsJZc8pXCejZOcLAMafZgs2I7BlWVrPG-fgJvWm13fCwwGSMU-TEQsKkOIxeLVFwAxsYDZIzrLD9s2DdMvcTABgtlP90FURvPqcSmU7/s320/San+Fran+033.JPG" border=0> Next we trecked down to the Wharf to get some good pics of us in front of landmarks. One of my favorite things about Mike is that we travel so well together. We go at the same pace, and we enjoy the same things. We would rather walk and explore than spend money on transportation, and we just have so much fun in each other's company. I never thought I would find anyone else that I travelled with as well as Britt.. but I think Mike might qualify for a tie.

This is one small picture to depict perhaps the best meal I have ever enjoyed in a restaurant. (maybe even better than Mama's Fish House and our fancy date night in Paris). This is Ryan and I outside of Zuppa.. He works at this SoMa Southern Italian restaurant as a sous chef. We were able to eat dinner there on Friday night, and we sat at the bar so we could watch him cook. He is a sight to see! We sat down and were immediately served a glass of Italian Champagne. Ryan gave us instructions to pick out our entree and he would take care of the rest. For the next two hours, Mike and I ate our way through 6 appetizers, salad, 2 pastas, our entrees, and gelato. Oh my goodness. We had fresh bread with fresh (not out of a plastic container) Ricotta cheese.. It was so good Mike even ate it! Oysters on the half shell, a plate of Italian meats, ricotta balls stuffed with sausage, seafood soup, something else delicious.. I don't even know what it was, salad (with pine nuts), their award winning ragu, wild mushroom risotto, wood oven roasted halibut, pino noir, gelato, and a lemoncello liquor to wash it all down. Even though they sent us 'smaller' portions, we were overwhelmed with deliciousness.

: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg1gRWKeHwK4JDuqiPt4zyOhQrwfAQRdhgALJDokkDjNr9lxWwlnFb2ocnT7nzliszV0CvsnKHNn9wL3VlzUv0niwXXqymVedvNLPoY-1V6-ZkAZle7mqPav6m06NiATfYxFUt/s320/San+Fran+046.JPG" border=0> Oh San Franciso, how I love you.

Brothers. I think it is so neat that they are now family, and I hope they enjoyed the opportunity to get to know each other even better this weekend.

Ryan was so generous.. check out the weather he ordered for us!

src="http:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4lVEvzPPPfEV0LxXZZIN4sxBWQGvuPyf6aHTEWhTm73KnEhrxFY2OERTkW5Y7okW6S1vQqIYC4ANZPZWVzaWRNY19rzrJ6fe6Y8dlo8mMh6bYuphjnmhfz025BuMe_9jwOQL/s320/San+Fran+058.JPG" border=0> On Saturday we toured the wine country. Ryan drove us up through Sonoma, Napa, and St. Helena. Everytime I go wine tasting, I am never disappointed. It's really amazing, and I think it is the perfect activity for a beautiful November afternoon in northern Cal.

EIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpKh49VKlReh5EFHvHsqkB0u-8hyphenhyphenCo68dVZfsCtmnj93u0p45JQxAcEG9pGEM6Pd4oD_N3FRJuKAmkgdFOK77Ys814R8lI8XG28mbRq6-XQAqA2q04WBNvxrq-zx_5gp1xl1X/s320/San+Fran+063.JPG" border=0> Ryan and I recreated our trip to V. Sattui from two years ago. He made a muffuletta (delicious layered sandwich on San Francisco sourdough), and a delicious spiced turkey soup created from the carcas (sounds grosss but tastes good) of the turkey from Thursday. We enjoyed our lunch with a bottle of Semillon.. a nice, light, dry, white wine.

Mike and I woke up early on Sunday and hijacked Ryan's car to take it down to the Marina (my old stomping grounds). It was an absolutely stunning morning in the city. We walked along the beach and watched the dogs play. When I lived there, I would often take that walk. However, I was accompanied by my ipod and my thoughts along. I dreamed of a day and an opportunity to share this beauty that I so appreciate with my life's partner. I am so blessed that Mike also enjoys beautiful scenes like this, and he allows me to gush and gush over them.

All in all, our Thanksgiving was actually a break. We had wonderful time with Ryan and each other, and I was acutally able to avoid all homework until the plane ride home! I think I've gained 5 pounds already this holiday season, and it is only Dec 2. Oh well! Cheers to the Christmas season!