A Happy Ending

What, might you ask, would bring me back to the blogging world after months of absence?  Chad.  The fish. 

I kinda wish/kinda don’t wish that we had video of last night.  Of Chad the fish.  I would love to show you with pictures, instead of just words, his heroic behavior.  But at the same time I am 100% sure that not only would PETA be at our door, but so would child protective services to issue some sort of mandate to never bring human babies into this home.

Last night the live in was kindly changing Chad’s water.  A chore that I don’t (surprise, surprise) partake in.  He had cleaned the rocks, cleaned the sea glass, cleaned the bowl, filled it back up with fresh water, and was ready to transfer Chad from his holding tank (fyi - a drinking glass for all of our past and future dinner guests) back into this regular bowl. 

However, during the transfer, Chad decides to go rogue.  Just as the live in was pouring him back in, he literally jumped out.  And on to the counter. 

And from here…mass chaos and pandemonium ensues. 

Chad is flopping in place on the counter for a few seconds before he goes still.  During this time the live in is frantically trying to find the net for him.  Why he didn’t just use his hands to scoop him up was beyond me…but apparently the live in had a method…which I’ll get to later. 

There was a great deal of screaming, and yelling, and running in place by both of us. 

And then a few seconds later Chad decides to make another bold move.  He made one huge flop off the counter and onto the floor.  A jump that in some countries would make him Olympic bound. 

Again, mass chaos and pandemonium ensues.  This time of the Justin Bieber variety.  Scream tears, shouting, tons of running in place. 

Chad was pretty easy to pick up with the net at this point, what with him knocking himself out and all.  Once he was put back in his tank he just sank.  It was very dramatic.  But after a few seconds (and a lot of cheering for recovery on our part) he slowly started to breathe again.  And after several more seconds (and more insane cheering) he slowly started to swim around.  And I am happy to say that a day later he is back to his regular old self.

So, why didn’t the live in just use his hands to grab him?  Because, according to him, “the oils from my hands would kill him”.  Really?!  And a four-foot plummet onto hardwood isn’t going to.   He went on to explain that this is precisely how even catch and release fish are killed – from the oils on your hands.  I asked how he knew all of this brainy info.  Well, because, “I’m a fisherman” he bluntly said.  Hmm.  Really.  Again, I ask, when was the last time you went fishing?  He didn’t have an answer to that one…

But apparently it’s going to take a lot more than just wild “parenting” to phase Chad.  And for that, we are very grateful.  Now if only Chad the boy could bring his football career back to life as well…       

Origin Magazine

It's fun to see your name in a magazine...

check out this month's issue of Origin for a fabulous article

by our favorite, Tiffany, and photos by me (page 41)!

Yah!



Wine Country Weekend

Last weekend...

yes, still not blogging in real time, thank you...

we met up with a group of our friends for a fun weekend 

of relaxation and wine tasting!

We stayed here.

And we would highly recommend it.

My favorite stops?  Archery Summit, White Rose, and Domaine Drouhin.

  

And even though it's only an hour outside of Portland,

it was the perfect escape.  

Our summer hiatus from TV is over.

We turned our cable back on tonight.

And after about 30 minutes I realized just how far down the 

food chain I had slipped...

Me:  Troy, I think I have a growth on my neck.

The Live In (head never turns away from TV screen): Mmm, I don't think you do.

Me: Yes.  I do.  I can feel it.

Me:  Come look at it.

TLI:  It's fine.

And as I begin to utter my next words, the volume gets raised just loud

enough to drown me out...

The bright side?  I can start watching episodes of Bachelor Pad

on an actual TV now.

Fingers Crossed...

And just in case you thought I was joking about

cleaning out the storage unit in search for the mouse...

I wasn't.

Good news/bad news.

The good news: we cleaned out the storage unit.  Like majorly.

The bad news: we didn't find the mouse.  

But...fingers crossed...we feel like the mouse has taken up residence somewhere else.

Since cleaning out the storage unit we have yet to see him again.

End of story.  (Hopefully.)

Montenegro

Wow.  Been back from our trip to Croatia what,

two months now?  And I am still posting pictures?  

Way to keep in current.

While we were in Dubrovnik we made a day trip down

to the country of Montenegro.

The beauty of their gulfs and coastlines was the highlight of our trip (as you can see below).
(Not to mention the amazing gyro we devoured for lunch.)
And while we had fun touring around in our rental car (we always do)...
it's no Croatia.
We were happy to cross back over the boarder and
enjoy our last few days in the country we had grown so found of.  

We're 9!

Last week the live in and I turned nine years.

We're so mature now.  

Our house is spotless.  We cook our own dinners.  We put away our laundry.

Right.

To celebrate, we took over our kickball game and surprised our friends

with a few of our favorite things...food carts!  

For dinner we had Koi Fusion.

For dessert Fifty Licks.

    

Wall Stories

This month my friend Caron launched her company, Wall Stories!

Wall Stories is a collection of durable, changeable wall stickers and growth charts for children.

They were recently featured on Apartment Therapy's Ohdeedoh!

I was lucky enough to do most of the photography/styling for them, so

their big feature was just as exciting for me to see!

Yah for having creative friends!  I can't wait to see how her company takes off...

Still need that cat

Just a little update on our mouse situation:


He’s still there. Tearing it up in our storage unit.

We’ve now set seven traps. All of which claim “guaranteed success”. Yet so far the only thing the traps have successfully caught is the live in’s finger.

In a brave moment the live in actually made eye contact with this elusive creature. His response…”he’s a cute little guy.” Guess what…nobody goes into war thinking that their enemy is the cutest little thing they’ve ever seen. Nobody. The live in needs to start seeing the mouse as his enemy…not a potential pet.

Because even if the live in doesn’t see this as war yet…the mouse certainly does. He made an extremely tactical move last night when he decided to poop on the broken trap that caught the live in’s finger. No joke.

Our next step…literally removing every single item from the storage unit and covering the floor in traps…again, no joke.

Wanted: One Hungry Cat

If the live in and I were even remotely close to thinking about going back to a regular home…you know, one with a bedroom…the last few days has been enough keep us away for good.  It feels like right now this dorm room, err crash pad, err loft is even more than we can handle.

We have a mouse.  In our storage unit.  The eating my stuff and then pooping all over the place variety.  The kind that refuses to be killed.  The worst mouse ever.

I hate this mouse.  

I honestly don’t understand how a breed of animal dumb enough to get themselves involved in all sorts of risky experimental testing can be so sneaky at the same time?  I mean, our storage unit really isn’t that big.  And we have three traps set.  WITH PEANUT BUTTER.  That should be their kryptonite.    

Oh I hate this mouse. 

The poor live in, I keep making him go downstairs to see if we have a kill…

More Dubrovnik...

Dubrovnik: Early Hours

In Dubrovnik I woke up early one morning

(really early for vacay, like 5am!) to head into town

and take some photos before the rest of the city woke up.

The live in, who is famous for wandering around foreign cities alone

in the early morning hours, was by my side.

And as painful as it is, to wake yourself up so early, it's well worth it.

Not only for the gorgeous lighting, and streets all to yourself, but just to

see a city as it prepares for the day is very special too.

And then of course we came back to our hotel 

and slept for another couple of hours...it's us we're talking about here.

The drive to Dubrovnik

From Hvar we took a catamaran back to the mainland where we rented a car
(less than 24 hours prior, thank you very much) and drove along the coast down to Dubrovnik. 

The drive was stunning.  Absolutely gorgeous.  I remember thinking to myself
that if there were a list of ‘best coastal drives in the world’ this would have to be one of them.  

Sadly for us today I don’t have a lot of pictures of said drive. 
Not only was I the driver but stopping for anything other than food wasn’t
really cool with the rest of the car.  

  

Here is the food…and any scenery that happened to be near the food:

Hvar Island, Croatia: Night Time

Hvar at night is a special, special place...  

Photo #1:  If it seems a little crooked, I would agree with you.

Photos #2:  One of my absolute favorites from our trip.     

Hvar Island, Croatia

After four nights on Vis we headed to the island of Hvar.  Leaving Vis was a bit sad for me.   It’s the first time I’ve ever suggested to the live in that we cancel the rest of our trip and just stay put instead. 

He was on board, until he learned that our future hotel plans were non-refundable.

Luckily, Hvar did not disappoint.  

In fact, it was actually a nice change of pace from sleepy, locals only Vis. 

On Hvar we kept to a schedule…sleep in, breakfast, pool, beach, pool, lunch, nap, more beach, more pool, nap by the pool, walk into town, dinner, sleep.  So I’d say about 100% of these pictures were taken between the hours of 6pm and 8pm as we made our walk into town every evening for dinner and fun.      

Vis Island, Croatia

If the blog suddenly goes dark, I fail to show up at work, answer my phone,
or even neglect to watch the season finale of (the worst ever) Bachelorette…
it’s because I’ve moved.  To Vis. 

One of my new favorite places on Earth.

Vis was our first stop in Croatia and couldn’t have been more perfect.  It’s authentic, and beautiful, and small, and charming.  It’s vineyards reminds me of Italy.  It’s insane cleanliness reminds me of Switzerland.  It’s gorgeous waters and landscape reminds me of Greece. 

While we were in Vis we rented scooters to travel around the island.  We were a scooter gang, the live in and I.  We explored hidden beaches, old churches, and got lost in the small cobblestoned back alleys of the village.  The first day we had the scooters I was a little timid with the idea and took all of the precautions you’d expect…closed toed shoes, long sleeves, using the blinker.  But before you knew it we were quickly zipping around in swimsuits and flip flops.  We loved scooting.