Friday, March 23, 2007

At Long Last

At long last, you are getting another post.

This belated post is about my trip to Seattle for the Farrar-Rayko wedding, which occurred on March 2 (at long last!) I attended the wedding with two good friends from Las Vegas,
Christy and Christina.



Here is the lovely couple just after their sealing at the Seattle Temple.

After leaving the temple we made our way over to the reception. However, since we were in Seattle, we thought it would be appropriate to stop at the nearest Starbucks for hot chocolate, and complained that there wasn't literally a Starbucks on every corner like one would xpect in Seattle. At that moment, Christina looked out the window and noticed the little red sign on the corner of the church we had pulled up next to. . . Seattle's reputation remains intact.


After finding a real Starbucks and enjoying our hot chocolate, we arrived at the reception. . .

The bride looked lovely. Lisa's dress was made from silk she had purchased while in India (assessing public health programs). Here she is showing off the pretty shoes that go with her pearl pin (see below). Jacob showed us his pretty shoes too.

The reception was fantastic by LDS standards! We had dinner, people stayed and talked, there was dancing that lasted for longer than 15 minutes and included more than 15 people! This is my favorite picture of the evening.

This is a less-dramatic picture of the dancing.


On a less wedding-oriented note. . . Seattle as a whole was quite enjoyable. I was thrilled to be reminded that it is spring every where outside of Las Vegas. (LV does not have spring. I think this is just my perception because there are no bulb flowers in LV. For me, spring is marked by the appearance of crocuses and daffodils; without them it's not really spring.)



In addition to the weather, we also enjoyed Seattle's food and shopping. We hit a sale at Anthropologie and found great restaurants for lunch (Pagliacci's in Bellevue) and breakfast (a little cafe on 5th Avenue). I enjoyed this Chihuly sculpture that we happened upon at Lincoln Square in downtown Bellevue. We almost missed it! ~A good reminder that it pays to look up every now and then!


I'll try to get back to posting as usual, but this promises to be an insane summer at work. . .so we'll see.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Chemistry

At work today I got to see our new, state of the art water quality lab that opened yesterday. It was impressive. The Principal Microbiologist told us about all the various tests, processes and reseach underway. I was most impressed by the six "dishwashers" for sterilizing glassware. They print out a reciept that documents the heat, chemicals introduced, duration, etc. My dishwasher doesn't do that.

I also spotted the following items that I would really like for my own use. . .

I really want a tape dispenser like this at home.
I found the tape online, but it's only available in bulk (in other words- expensive).


These labels are lovely and very multi-purpose.



This oversized flask would make a great decanter or fishbowl.



I would use one of these lovely little stoppers to stop the top of my oversized decanter.



Who knew there would be so many lovely finds in the chemistry lab?!

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Some Beautiful Things


Okay, so I was lazy last weekend and I didn't take any pictures. It was great though, trust me. My roommate Melissa is now married and the sealing and reception were both beautiful in all the important ways. (And she was beautiful, also very important.)

I also got to see my sister this weekend (who is looking beautiful just a few months after having her second child). Jeni and I appreciate the same kinds of beautiful things-- so whenever we get together we play show and tell to share all of the loveliness we've encountered, produced and purchased since our last visit. This time was especially funny because we had less than 2 hours until I had to leave for the wedding so we were cramming it all in. I was pulling things out of my suitcase and she was gathering them from around the house.

I gave Jeni some
lovely cupcake papers for her birthday and promised a cakeplate would soon follow. She gave me a few fun books, my favorite of which is The Sweet Life: Reflections on Home and Garden by Laura Stoddart. The illustrations are perfectly lovely and it is full of little gems such as:

"There is no furniture so charming as books, even if you never open them, or read a single word" - Sydney Smith

"Woman has no seduction for the man who cannot keep his eyes off his magnolias."




You should
check it out on Amazon, go to "Search Inside" and click on the "Surprise Me" link. You'll be pleasantly surprised.



P.S. Happy Birthday Jeni!