i’m finally catching up…  here’s what happened this fall:

august + september:
[1] practically every waking hour was spent renovating the house.  it was exhausting, but completely worth it.  mom & dad came out for an entire week in september to help and we made incredible progress!  i’ll just touch on a few things until i can elaborate on the details. the big highlights: all the paneling is gone, new drywall upstairs, cork floors throughout living/dining/hallway, tile entry wall & floors, fixed the rotting wall downstairs, new ipe stairs, new running trim upstairs.

  
   
  
  


 

more progress pics.

[2]  i can’t believe how time flies!  when my cousin brad & cecilia moved to seattle 3 years ago they inspired me to live life to the fullest and never stop dreaming of the way life should be.  they had a plan for their next few years and actually stuck to it!  it was so nice to have cousins to share easter dinners, grab coffee in the afternoon, play bags on those random summer nights (or at the gorge), presidents day weekend ski trips, and hear stories about growing up around the world.  cecilia & brad headed off on a south america adventure for 3+ months before they move to sweden.  we celebrated with a going away party in late september.  i’m looking forward to making a trip to sweden in the next year or two!

october:
[3]  i joined ten other interior designers and industry partners from washington state at the interior design legislative symposium in little rock, AR.  it was held at the peabody hotel, where the famous ducks march from their penthouse suite and swim in the indoor fountain all day.  we networked with designers from all across the country who are working on legislative efforts in their states.  we learned valuable lessons on messaging, the legislative process, and the hot topic this year: addressing the opposition.  of course we hit a few local bars on our nights off and checked out the clinton presidential library the last afternoon we were in town.  i highly recommend the prez library if you’re in little rock. 

 

[4]  we go all out for halloween at gglo, and this year was no different.  i wasn’t in the mood to dress up, but our “allison spiderweb” won for the best decorated pod in the office.  the office crits were pretty good too.

november:
[5]  with all the hype leading up to the presidential election this year, i was getting really nervous that things might sway the “wrong way”!  the palin/mccain ticket was just unbelievable, and it really opened my eyes about how conservative a large portion of the country is!  on election night we left work a little early and headed to the showbox for the stranger’s election party.  schack and denise had grabbed a prime table and kelley, alan, mark and i joined up with a bunch of other friends of friends.  just after 5pm the place was packed and hundreds were in the line that wrapped around the block (lisa was stuck in the line and finally gave up).  the screens flipped back and forth between all the news channels as the election results started coming in.  i called my parents to see if they again cancelled each other out, and my mom said this was the first time in their history that they both agreed on the same president.  i got a little nervous, and she said “your dad voted for obama” and i knew there was hope!  around 7pm one of the channels went through a “worst case scenario” for the remaining states and it was evident that our next president would soon be obama… the energy of the showbox was incredible, everyone had on their red/white/blue, election signs were bobbing in the air, dan savage had everyone on their toes as the official count from the westcoast states would be rolling in soon.  at 8pm, it was official… they announced that Barak Obama would be our next President and the showbox went nuts!  it was exuberant mayhem; everyone was smiling, cheering “yes we can”, and toasting our victory!  this was the first time in my entire life that i felt proud to be an american!  it still gives me the chills watching these videos (our champagne toast even made this random video from the showbox- mark’s in the green shirt on the right side)!

we celebrated for a few more hours over champagne, watching both mccain’s speech (which was the first time i actually thought he did a decent job) and obama’s acceptance speech.  then the celebration hit the streets where thousands of seattleites continued the peaceful celebration well into the night, when the group on first avenue headed up to celebrate on broadway in capitol hill. 

[6]  the worsening economy has had a huge impact on the A&D community over the past few months.  too many projects have been going on hold and clients seem to be “waiting it out”, and it’s going to take awhile to get back to normal.  we’ve had layoffs at our office and hopefully the worst is behind us.  watching your friends pack up their desks is pretty miserable!  i have my fingers crossed for the next few months!

[7]  celebrated the launch of Schack A&D.  we played a bit of rock band and tried to figure out what the “A&D” could possibly stand for! ;)  i wish john + team the best of luck in their new business adventure.

[8]  for thanksgiving mark, joe, kim & i once again headed to whistler.  the snow this year was nothing to write home about… most of the mountain was off limits, but we managed to get a few decent runs in. and mark had a pretty painful run in with a rock. amanda & elliott came up to celebrate with us for a few days (and was the official photographer for most of  the weekend). the lack of snow ‘forced’ us to go shopping (since the US to Canadian dollar is back in our favor) and i got REALLY spoiled… new ski boots (fanatykco is the best!), AT bindings & skins as an early christmas present from mark. and to spoil himself, mark bought a custom order splitboard from prior.