random – emerald city diaries

NORAD tracks Santa!

I had grand plans to share pictures of our house decorated to every end with all of my Pinterest Christmas projects, but, alas, the week got away from me… {maybe this weekend I can get some pics & share them with you next week!}

I didn’t want to leave you with nothing to end the Pinterest Christmas series, so I thought I would share the NORAD Santa tracker. this way, you can track Santa all the way to your house on Christmas Eve!

all of the Christmas magic lives here!

happy its-almost-Christmas! are you ready for the holiday?

my weekend in pictures {a look back}.

a happy belated thanksgiving! since I didn’t do a thanksgiving post last week {I have been unplugged this week & its been so great!} I thought it would be fun to do a random review post of some of my favorites from past weekend in pictures posts {this is what I am thankful for, right?}. so here you go!

{knowing that I passed the bar exam!}

{my parents’ pup skeeter when she was this tiny!}

{flying to fun places with this guy.}

{it’s a give & take with food sometimes. healthy & donuts!}

{sadie donning her sweater.}

{goofing off in boston.}

{hanging out with my husband at work events.}

{playing dress up.}

{when we bought a house that one time.}

{celebrating birthdays.}

{reminiscing about the night I met aaron. yep, it was at a bar {but we had mutual friends. seriously!}

{spending time with family! look how tiny kenley looks here.}

{again, dress up.}

{when sadie makes faces. I love her grin!}

{meeting other bloggers like john & sherry from young house love.}

{girl scout cookies. enough said.}

{shopping sprees at target.}

{hanging out with this fun gal & her mom!

{when sadie plays dress up. those goggles kill me.}

{& meeting bloggers like joy!}

{sunny summer days in the emerald city.}

{catching up with my best girl friends.}

{long soggy family walks.}

how was your {holiday} weekend?

happy friday!

from our date night at the warby parker event on wednesday. doesn’t my husband look handsome in glasses?

my weekend in pictures.

{aaron & i made the snapshot of the day at work with a pic taken from our machu picchu trip.}

{double dinner date at ciccehtti, the sister restaurant to my very favorite serafina.}

{this may have been the best play of the night in a fun round of cards against humanity.}

{we dined at portage bay – one of our favs! – for breakfast this weekend. twice. yep, saturday with aaron’s cousin nathan, his wife kendra, & ben & sarah, & then again sunday with our friend jerry.}

{you may recognize that art from a pillow we used to have. well, after sadie murdered the pillow, i salvaged the art & framed it.}

{saturday night at kenmore lanes with nathan & kendra. it was quite the happening place!}

{back to some painting on sunday afternoon. priming & painting our closet doors that finally made it back up after removing & soaking all of the paint off of the hardware.}

{we needed a pick-me-up to make it through our sunday evening grocery trip. thank you starbucks for being in our qfc store.}

{i love the spring as it means fresh bouquets of flowers in the house every week!}

{aaron surprised me with a subscription to real simple.}

we had a really fun weekend working around the house to finish up a few never-ending projects & also seeing lots of family & friends. aaron’s cousin nathan & his wife kendra were in town & we had such a blast with them on saturday. it is hard to be so far away from family sometimes, but awesome when we can all get together! the rain returned to the emerald city as it normally does this time of year. while we are bummed that the temperatures have dropped, we are hopeful that the continuing rain & showers will help our soon-to-be-planted grass seed fill in our lawn in a few rough places. how was your weekend?

my weekend in pictures.

{loving my new weekend planner from the new kate spade saturday line via fab.}

{friday afternoon i got a much-needed manicure. it was lovely!}

{friday night dinner date at rain city burgers followed by a movie at home. perfect night.}

{saturday morning family walk in the sunshine! we also rescued some amazing vintage glass door knobs from a remodel down the street – very exciting!}

{nothing beats chinese takeout!}

{there was some ceiling patching being done this weekend. pretty soon you will never know there were three dining room pendants.}

{i attended a bridesmaids’ afternoon tea at the queen mary tea room in honor of the bride-to-be mary alice.}

{fish tacos at the matador with my grandmother.}

{we switched up the usual movie after sunday night dinner to go to target. it was my grandmother’s first trip. ever. she kept saying “they sell everything here!” it was awesome.}

we had a fun weekend & had some good down time as well as being able to catch up with some old friends. though we are still missing the lost hour from springing forward, we are definitely looking forward to the spring! how was your weekend?

snapshots of us lately.

i spend a lot of time taking & sharing pictures of our two kids, the house & sadie. but, we have been really bad about talking (& sharing) pictures of us, even though this is aaronandmisha.com.

i have {informally} resolved to get behind the camera less & in front of it more, & share more pictures of us on this blog of ours. so, in an effort to make good on this resolution, here are a few recent shots of aaron & me.

{tibi dress rented from RTR // j.crew clutch}

{taken at our friends dave & maryalice’s engagement party in january. we are very excited to both be in the wedding party!}

{aaron with the tiniest bottle of tabasco sauce ever at my birthday dinner.}

{happy i am so thankful she didn’t bring out 28 candles birthday!}

{old cape // zara dress // shoemint shoes // j.crew clutch}

expected more? i know, it wasn’t much of a photo dump. like i said, we don’t take very many photos of us & are really good {too good} at being behind the camera! i hope this is the first of many snapshots of us lately posts.

are you a good self picture taker? if you are, spill your secrets!

my weekend in pictures.

{feeling a bit under the weather on friday. stayed home, slept in {!}, watched movies & cuddled with sadie.}

{we took a family walk on saturday thru the ravenna ravine near our house. lots of beautiful moss-covered trees. i froze but sadie had an awesome time playing in all the mud!}

{i have resolved to do more yoga in the new year & started by purchasing a dvf + target yoga mat.}

{we attended a twelfth night celebration at our friends the robinsons. aaron & ben were in festive twelfth night attire with their bow ties.}

{bye-bye christmas tree.}

{we finally dined at rain city burgers after months of hearing rave reviews. it helped that it is only a few blocks from our abode.}

{his & hers tea in teacups from our honeymoon.}

sorry this post is a bit picture-light. whatever bug i have is zapping the photographer out of me. what is your best get-better-fast remedy? how was your weekend?

instagram @mishacslower // twitter @mishacslower // pinterest @mishacslower

highlights of 2012.

{via}

happy 2013!

i love reading yearly highlights on other blogs & even though i try to keep up on the updates via this blog, there are hopefully a few fun things to share that you haven’t heard before. here’s the rundown of 2012:

january: i donated blood for the first {& last} time. we dined at emmer & rye in queen anne with my friend beth ann who was in town visiting. we survived snopocolypse 2012. the repairs on the jetta were finally completed from my rear-ending in november. sadie had surgery to get a small lump removed & have her teeth cleaned.

february: we took a trip to new england & managed to visit all six new england states. we spent a long weekend in boston. i celebrated my 27 {yikes!} birthday & valentine’s day with my love in manchester, new hampshire. we celebrated thanksgiving in february with my law school friends {this is a reoccurring event in which my friend miriam cooks up a big thanksgiving dinner at various times of the year}. we celebrated leap year!

march: my mom visited for a long weekend. i oversaw work to the townhouse {new venting for the dryer}. we house-hunted on the weekends with our realtor padraic. i started & completed all three books in the hunger games series. we saw the hunger games at the IMAX. we saw {& were disappointed by} king tut at the pacific science center {no tut, just his stuff}. aaron took a work trip to vegas. we made our first {& only} offer on a house. our offer was accepted!

april: we took a post-offer tour of our new house. we celebrated easter dinner with my grandmother. we showed the townhouse to potential new tenants. i co-hosted a baby shower for amanda. we packed up all of our belongings for the big move. we closed on our house after signing lots of paperwork & handing over a very large check. we moved.

may: we were rear-ended {this better not become an annual event}. my mom & dad visited for a long weekend & helped with some house projects. we celebrated my grandmother’s 90th birthday! we celebrated aaron’s 29th birthday! i took on my first pro bono case with VAIJ. we hosted a small dinner party with old idaho friends kami, travis, & their adorable daughter olive. we spent a night on the town in bellevue at aaron’s organization’s ship party with lots of aaron’s co-workers.

june: we saw dia frampton in concert at chop suey. we hosted a small dinner party with my law school friend marcus, his then-fiancée katy, & their beagle maggie. padraic & his partner justin threw us an awesome housewarming party! we ventured down to alabama for andy & hailey’s wedding. i had lots of phone interviews.

july: we attended herschel’s first birthday party {the son of one of my law school friends}. we celebrated the fourth of july! i started going to fitness classes with my neighbor leanne at community fitness. we hosted a small dinner party with andy & hailey, just back from their honeymoon! we attended thanksgiving in july at miriam’s. sadie & i drove down to idaho. i got my haircut & had drinks with my CBC {high school} girlfriends. we loaded up the car & took a roadtrip {sadie included} to stevenson, wa for marcus & katy’s wedding. we saw the dark knight rises at the IMAX.

august: we celebrated our second wedding anniversary with a picnic dinner at greenlake! we attended our first neighborhood potluck & met lots of our neighbors. we joined a summer bocce ball league with ben & sarah. i did yoga in the park with our neighbors – the friends – & tens of other people. i shopped & noshed with my friend ashley who was in town on a work trip. we attended the pratt’s housewarming party {a couple i met & befriend while i was in americorps}. we attended padraic’s wig birthday party. i met my pro bono client. i was offered a position doing media license management & started working. my bff carlie came into town – our first house guest! we attended a moroccan dinner feast at ben & sarah’s house. aaron’s parents visited seattle for a week.

september: we attended a final farewell summer bbq. we visited indiana to see family & surprise meg at her baby shower. we attended a colts game with our friends colt & erin. we celebrated sadie’s eighth birthday!

october: we visited peru & got to hike around one of the new seven wonders of the world machu picchu. my mom & sister anya visited for a long weekend. my friend meg was in town to visit! aaron made an unexpected trip back to indiana to attend his late grandmother’s service. we attended ghouls near greenlake, ben & sarah’s annual halloween bash, as a somecard. we celebrated halloween with our very first trick-or-treaters!

november: aaron attended a week-long conference for work & stayed downtown. i watched the election results while painting the bathroom trim & texting aaron updates. we hosted our first {vegetarian} thanksgiving. we spent the long holiday weekend working on the house.

december: we attended a housewarming party for amanda, george, & madeleine. we brunched with our neighbors – the friends – at the 5 spot in queen anne. my mom visited for a long weekend. i brought back a pinterest christmas & recruited some friends to join in on the fun. we celebrated the holiday season with six holiday parties with friends & co-workers. i won rookie of the year at work. we enjoyed a double-date night in bellevue with some newly engaged friends. we loaded up the car with presents & made the trek to idaho for the week of christmas. we celebrated christmas! we made it safely back to seattle only one day delayed. we plan to ring in the new year with friends & watch the space needle firework show.

reflecting back on this year, i am reminded how blessed we are & also how different this year has been than the year previous. it has been such a wonderful year & ringing in a new one is a bit bittersweet.

how was your 2012 – was it a year to remember or are you itching to start 2013 already?

see highlights of 2011 here.

my long weekend in pictures: idaho edition.

{driving thru snoqualmie pass to start our roadtrip from seattle to boise. luckily we had dry roads!}

{crossed over the 45th parallel. even though we were driving farther away from the north pole, it seemed fitting that this sign said north pole. very festive!}

{my two teams went head-to-head in the las vegas maaco bowl game on saturday. #gobroncohuskies the broncos pulled out a win but it was an awfully close & nerve-racking game.}

{i caught up on magazines during half-time. thanks for saving all your mags for me mom!}

{my mom & i made caramel this weekend. twice. it keeps coming out too hard. any suggestions on how to make soft, chewy caramel?}

{watched the seahawks destroy the 49ers. happy for the victory & happy we weren’t in seattle for all of that rain!}

{merry christmas eve from my parents’ house!}

we have had such a wonderful weekend in boise. my being so relaxed has directly resulted in the very few pictures for this weekend post – my apologies! i hope you have had a wonderful pre-christmas weekend too! how was your weekend?

my weekend in pictures.

{sadie got a christmas scarf & was posing in front of her christmas stocking.}

{it is fun to get packages in the mail this time of year that aren’t christmas presents!}

{got my stocking stuffer shopping done on friday night at the u village, including a stop at madewell. boy is it hard to walk past cute things for me that are 30% off when i am supposed to be shopping for other people!}

{the christmas cards keep rolling in – love it!}

{aaron made a delish pizza on friday night – half veggie, half bbq chicken.}

{there was lots of wrapping of presents this weekend.}

{on saturday we took a family trip down to ikea! it is amazing how fast you can get thru the store if you don’t stop & look at everything.}

{this is how sadie spent her time while i worked on some pinterest christmas crafts.}

{the holiday party we attended on saturday night included a “bite” contest – this was the first round. yum!}

{this 10 foot santa was quite the sought-after present at the greedy gift exchange. we lost the santa, but came home with a snowman right out of the 80s.}

we had a busy weekend filled with last-minute holiday errands & lots of holiday socializing with friends in town. we had a blast, but need another few days to re-coup! luckily this is a short work week for both of us. can you believe that christmas is next week? where did december go? how was your weekend?