We Met the Crew of the Northwestern from Deadliest Catch!

I heard last week that the crew of the Northwestern would be at the Helly Hansen in Alderwood Thursday night. I was excited! I knew Enzo would get a kick out of meeting them, he talks about Sig, the captain, all the time. The only thing was, Enzo had his Family Night performance that same night. I was determined to make it happen. I didn't know if there would be a huge line or what.

So, I picked Enzo up from school, we picked Matt up from work, and drove to Alderwood Mall, almost an hour away. We found the Helly Hansen and walked in, I thought there would be a line, but there was no one! We went in and Edgar was standing there just hanging out. We were able to spend five minutes or so just visiting with him. What a nice guy. Enzo was pretty shy, but he gave him five.

Once the crew all got together, they signed the picture that we'd taken the week before of their boat, the Northwestern. Matt bought Enzo a hat and they signed it for him. It was a good experience.

After that, we raced back to Federal Way, to Enzo's school, for his Family Night performance. He was awesome! He did a great job singing and did all the hand motions. He wanted to stay after and help clean up too. So we stayed until the very end. It was a great night, but we all went to bed exhausted.

My First Commisssioned Painting

I'm pretty excited about this one, we're getting our first commissioned painting, the artist, Karen Fildes, is bringing it in to the gallery today.

We had an event with her at the gallery a month or so ago and people brought in little trinkets and things that were important to them, and she arrange them, and paint them. Her work has amazing symbolism, and she arranged my items in a way that clearly represents our family. I'll explain more when I post the image. Her work is really amazing, I have one painting of hers already that I love, and I'm excited to have another. The one I have now hangs above my nightstand in my room, and feels personal. This one is definitely family related and will go in the dining room.

Karen will do commissions for anyone, so if it sounds like a cool idea to you, let me know! I'll hook you up!

Shish Kabob - Federal Way/NE Tacoma

We went to Shish Kabob again the other night, we've been before but it had been a while. I'd forgotten how great his little place is!

I've been trying to eat right (I don't like the D word) so I got a roasted vegetable sandwich, which I asked them to add chicken. It was amazing! I used to always order the chicken shwarma, kind of a standby, but good. This was way better. Matt commended their hummus too, saying that it had improved from before. Lily gave it two little thumbs up and in her mouth. She's the queen of double-dipping.

The service, as always, is top notch at Shish Kabob. Surprising for a little place in a strip mall, but you can always tell when employees are taken care of and feel invested in the business. These were relatively young men working that evening and they were very professional and attentive.

All in all a great experience!

Clover Park High Benefit Event at the Lakewood Gallery

I'm really excited about our event coming up at the end of the month. We're teaming up with Clover Park High School, which is just across the street from the gallery, and we're going to have an art show for the students.

We'll have the art up for a week, with a reception at the beginning of the week on May 31st. The kids will be able to sell their art, keep all of the proceeds, and if we get any framing projects from the show, we'll give 10% to the CPHS art department. The teachers seem very enthusiastic about the event, and I'm hoping we'll get some good exposure to new customers.

I remember having art up in the Sea-Tac Mall when I was a student, and I remember feeling proud (even though it was just the Sea-Tac Mall!) Hopefully we can help to inspire some young artists too.

New Couches!

Yay!!

We got new (to us) couches for the tv room. We had a futon that was drooping pretty badly and I was totally done with it (anybody want it? It would still be a comfy bed).

Ginny, Jan's daughter, was getting rid of them, and I snatched them up. Ginny is the queen of cleanliness, second only to Jan, and the couches were Jan's before Ginny. So...it was with great sympathy that I brought these poor couches into our crazy tv room. You could see the look of horror on their little couch faces as they were brought in. The look like an oasis of clean amid a cyclone of toddler debris. Lily spilled a few drops of milk on one and I think I saw it flinch.

Anyway, we took out the futon, the blue chair, and the treadmill/dust collector and they're all up for the taking if anyone wants them!

Zeke Passes On

Enzo's gerbil, Zeke, went on to the big wheel in the sky on Monday. We found him when Enzo went in to get ready for bed. Enzo asked right away, "does he have water, did I forget to fill it?" I felt so bad for him.

It brought up a lot of questions. Enzo wondered if he had done everything he could have for Zeke.

Earlier in the day, we were eating lunch in the kitchen and there was a big fly buzzing around. Enzo opened the window and the slider to try to let it out. Shortly after we heard it again and saw that a spider had it by one wing. I thought it would be interesting to watch, kind of Discovery Channel at home, boy was I wrong! I thought spiders killed their prey right away, injecting venom or something, apparently not the case. That fly fought till the end. Enzo was so upset he left the room at one point. Then he was crying on the way to school saying "I should have killed the spider." I told him the spider had a right to live too....described the food chain...

Then later that day we found Zeke. It's a tough lesson.

We looked into getting another gerbil to live with Zeke's partner, Gus. But apparently Gus will defend his territory and not welcome in a new housemate.

So...we'll see how it goes with Enzo's first grieving...