I love October not only because of my birthday,  but also because I love fall and seeing all the leaves change such beautiful colors. October is always filled with fun and you can't beat being able to dress up as anything you want on Halloween.

A few weekends ago, Ian and I went on a wonderful Sunday drive with the dogs to see some lovely fall foliage. We stopped at a couple of orchards and ended at the Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard to enjoy some wine and cheese.

For Halloween, I had some fun dressing up the little pups as an angel and devil. Guess which one was the angel and which one was the devil. Ian and I went to a party that night as a Wii remote and a geisha ninja. Ian spent all day working on his costume and it turned out great. He even remembered to put the wrist strap on back. I, on the other hand, look pretty freaky.

Halloween 2009

 
 
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For my birthday this year, Ian took me to the most fabulous dinner at minibar in DC. I've always wanted to eat there but it's super hard to get reservations. There are only 6 seats at the minibar and you have to call one month ahead at exactly 10 am to even have a chance of getting a spot and of course, Ian got it! 

He totally surprised me because I told him I wanted to do something low key with just him and thought we were going to this neighborhood Italian joint that I love, but instead of driving there, we were headed downtown. I was so excited when I figured out we were going to the minibar! 

The minibar is known for mixing cooking and science together and using crazy techniques like using liquid nitrogen to turn food into beautiful, surprising, interesting, flavorful, and delightful dishes. They make everything in front of you and tell you how they make it, what's in it and how to eat it. It's an experience I think everyone should try.  It is amazing!

I only managed to get a few pictures of the 27 course meal we had because I wasn't sure if we could take pictures in the beginning. Unfortunately, I missed getting pictures of the most beautiful dishes, including a big drop of olive oil encased in sugar that was so delicate and fragile. It looked like a shiny green teardrop falling in the air. Not only was it beautiful to look at but also delicious! Out of 27 courses, there was only one dish we both didn’t like, the sea urchin (which tasted like rotten sea water) and another dish Ian didn’t like because he doesn’t like blue cheese, but I thought it was really tasty.


My favorite dishes were the cotton candy eel, dragon's breath popcorn (when you ate it, smoke came out of your mouth and nose like a dragon), deconstructed guacamole and the zucchini in textures (deconstructed zucchini).
This is us waiting to go up to the minibar (which is located within another restaurant, Cafe Atlantico). 

These were our wonderful chefs for the night.
The first picture is deconstructed clam chowder that tasted exactly like regular chowder except not heavy and creamy. The deconstructed chowder allowed you to taste the pure flavors of all of the main ingredients - clams, bacon, cream, potato but when they all mixed in your mouth you got the taste of real chowder. So good.... 


Next picture is an egg made out of parmesan cheese (the white part) and the yolk is the yolk of a quail egg. It was served with breading that looked like hash browns and when it was all eaten together it was like having Sunday brunch. 
This is their version of a Philly cheesesteak. I have to admit, it wasn't as good as a real one but it was still delicious. Ian had  a Philly cheesemushroom.
The first picture is frozen yogurt with honey but the yogurt was like tiny frozen shavings that melted in your mouth. The second picture is made out of mango and the last picture is cotton candy with some special powder on it that makes it fizz when you put it in you mouth. So fun!
I had to take a picture of the sea urchin we ate since it will probably be the last time I ever eat it.


Our bill was delivered to us inside an egg and had to be cracked open. This is a picture of the eggshells.  


This is us after our fantastic meal, all stuffed and happy :)
 
 
Ian turned 34 this past Wednesday and celebrated with a fun dinner with our friends, unfortunatly, no pictures were taken. Our friends, Phillip and Bethany arrived the same night from Seattle and stayed with us for a couple of days. We got hang out with them and enjoys some good dinners, which was great. Then on Friday, we went to the 9:30 club to see Moby. I thought the pictures from my iphone turned out pretty good. 
 
 
Here are some pictures of the funeral procession for Ted Kennedy we attended in DC. We waited 2 hours to watch the procession from the Capitol to Arlington Cemetery where he was buried. I was sad but the whole Kennedy family was so very gracious and rode with the windows down waving and thanking everyone. I got a picture of Ted Kennedy's wife, Victoria as the car drove by and I thought I also got a picture of Caroline Kennedy but when I looked back at the pictures, it turns out I didn't. As you can see, there were huge buses in the procession and even though the windows were dark, you could still see everyone inside them waving to the crowds...It's pretty cool living in DC and being able to be a part of history. 
 
 
Here are just a few pictures from the Oregon Coast - to see all of them, click on the link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZM2jdk3ZtGIl
 
 
How could I forget - we celebrated Squirrel's 4th birthday on July 1st. We got her a little doggy cake that she shared with Grizzly. Grizzly, by the way loves Squirrel and always has to copy her and do whatever she's doing. Squirrel still gets annoyed by has started to really enjoy playing with him.
 
Summertime! 08/10/2009
 
In July, Ian took a man trip to Alaska to raft down the Copper River for 5 days and I went to Seattle to see my family and friends. Then Ian and I met in Portland and drove to Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast to spend time with Ian's family.

It was such a great 2 weeks being back in the Pacific Northwest. I always forget how beautiful it is until I visit and it always makes it so much harder to leave again...We'll be back someday :)

Seattle

Alaska

 
Summertime! 08/10/2009
 
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I know it's been FOREVER since I have posted any thing new so I'm going to make it up by showing you a ton of photos of the last few months! We started this summer off with a bang by going to Disney World to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary in June. It was SOOO much fun, but totally exhausting! It was Ian's first time and he was like a kid in a candy store. We visited 5 parks in 3 days  - how crazy is that!

French Quarter & Hollywood Studios

We stayed at the Disney French Quarter Resort which made everything so easy.

Magic Kingdom and Epcot

We only went to the Magic Kingdom at night because that was when they had the special hours for resort guests only. The first night we were there until 1:00 am and the second night I could only make it until midnight, although the park was opened until 2:00 am. It was great - less crowds and short lines!

Ian and I had a blast at Epcot. We decided that we would get a drink at each country and needless to say, by the time we got to through all 11 countries, we were very tipsy, well, let's be honest, we were wasted!

Blizzard Beach and Animal Kingdom

 
 

for as long as i can remember, ian has always wanted a vespa. this past week, he finally got one! the first rule ian told me before going for a ride was "no screaming" (which i didn't do). it wasn't as scary as i thought it would be and was actually pretty fun. now, all i have to do is get my motorcycle license so i can take it for a ride by myself.

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besides the addition of the vespa to our household's modes of transportation, we also got a new addition in the walton clan - a new dog named grizzly. we got him from a chinese crested rescue, who told us that grizzly's previous owners were moving and could not keep him. grizzly is a year old and is very sweet but needs a lot of training. the previous owners were very neglectful and didn't take good care of him, often leaving him in his crate all day. when the rescue got grizzly he was severely underweight from having tape worms and had horrible infections in both ears.  grizzly and squirrel seem to be getting along pretty well, so far. I think Squirrel is having a harder time adjusting to another dog in her space and having to share our attention (she is a very spoiled dog). She seems pretty annoyed at him most of the time because he's kind of a spaz and has lots of energy and likes to copy whatever she does, like most little brothers. It's very funny. hopefully over time, they'll learn to love each other... on another doggie note, the rescue lady told us squirrel was too fat so now she's on a doggie diet! that's what happens when ian feeds her a million treats and all his left overs from dinner.