That is a big building

My parents visited last weekend and we had an awesome time that went way too fast. They made a bold choice to drive out here. This meant that for the first time in more years than I care to count, I came home to some Nebraska sweet corn in my freezer. I am so excited. That is like having a freezer full of gold.

The weekend was spent checking out a few Seattle classics, relaxing and playing games, and eating some good food.

Even though I have lived here going on four years now, I had never been to Volunteer Park. It's a pretty impressive park. We walked up a water tower that has 360 degree views of downtown, the water, the space needle, and the east side. Points to Volunteer Park.

It was a lot of steps, however.

Of course, the thing I was looking forward to the most was showing them the progress on the house. It was such a bummer that they were so close but not able to stay there. However, I think they got the idea.

It's a house!

Henry and Larry not moving the stove. That's right, not moving.

Contemplating the number of rocks we have to pick out of the "yard".

House!

Even though the house is mostly on auto pilot and wrapping up soon, there is quite a bit of landscaping and yard business that has to occur before we'll get our certificate of occupancy and are able to move in. Step 1: trees. We have to have a certain diameter of total tree trunk on the property. That means we can plant several small trees or one larger tree. So we went to a nursery to check out some trees.

It was Seattle - they had to experience at least a little rain...

We also stopped by Ivar's (a seattle classic) on our way to the Boeing tour. 

yes, folks, they ate fish.

Boeing has an assembly plant in the suburbs of Seattle. By volume, it is the largest building in the world. It is large. So large, that it actually has it's own weather patterns and is known to have snowed inside. We got to see the assembly of three different planes, the 747, the 767, and the 787. I actually know something about the difference between each of these planes now, which I'm not sure I thought even existed before.

Mom in front of an engine. A big engine.

 We also introduced parents to Korean bbq. Delicious.

Can I say it again? Delicious.

When we were at the nursery, we also got some plants to spruce up my deck. My mom was instrumental in creating these beautiful arrangements. I love them!

Best my deck has ever looked. I'm taking bets on how long it will last...

We spent their last day in town perusing Pike Place Market. We sampled a bunch of tasty treats, including the famous beecher's mac and cheese and some crepes. We also watched a couple of street performers. This guy solved a rubics cube in 17 seconds. Impressive.

As enthralled as 2 little kids...

We ended our time at the market with some dessert.

No Thimm says no to a french eclair...

It was a lovely visit and I can't wait to have them back again!

Tiles and Backsplash

So we got some tiles put in, in the kitchen, bathrooms, and around the fireplace.

Installing tile is pretty messy, and it is part of the deal that we do all the cleaning up before we move in. So there's that to look forward to. Some time I will post a picture of the current state of the showers. It's unbelievable how messy they can get when no one is using them as a shower. I think they are currently functioning as very large trash cans for the workers.

Henry would not agree to white subway tile, because it reminded him too much of a YMCA gym shower. This was our compromise.

Tiles made the fireplace go from moderately sized to seemingly huge...

If you count each tile when you brush your teeth you'll always get your two minutes in.

We are dying to see how the mirror and that outlet interact.

Countertops and Stuff

we can make things cold but we can't make things warm yet

House Progress

Here is the current state of the house:

Most of the lights have been installed, with a few stragglers that were not yet delivered still missing. The cabinets are in the process of being installed, and this is one of the most exciting things to watch so far (perhaps I've said that about every step so far...).

Space for the fridge.

Along with the kitchen cabinets come the bathroom vanities. I never really equated the two before, but I guess they are a lot more similar than I first gave them credit.

guest bath

We're assuming the master bath vanity will not remain in the master bedroom where it is currently located. That's a safe assumption, right?

master bath

 You can almost picture it...

linen closet

They also finally installed the garage door. This is the tiniest garage imaginable for my midwestern sensibilities, but that's how they roll here in Seattle.

The baffle or the gimbal....

So the house currently looks like this:

Woo-hoo! It's looking like an actual legit house with a roof. Exterior painting is almost complete, although we are planning on painting the front door a fun color (current front runner is teal). Drywall is pretty much done, which means that the next steps are focused on finishing off the interior.

This all means that we are within approximately two weeks of installing all the lighting, some of which is yet to be acquired. Henry and I had a marathon lighting shopping trip this past weekend. This was probably the worst shopping experience I have ever had. I am truly at the end of my decision making capacity, and each new choice, no matter how small, feels like it takes so much effort to eek out a decision. For our recessed lighting, do we want the baffle or the gimbal?  No one should know the answer to that. Friends and family are probably also getting fatigued and sick of the many questions, texts, and links I continually send out.

who knew one house had so. many. lights.

There are two lighting decisions still to be made, and because each new decision requires more effort than the last (and the relation between the two is quadratic), deciding what fixture to put over the kitchen sink should take 8 hours, and the light fixture for the entryway should take 16. No problem. It's not like Henry or I has anything else going on right now that might require planning, time, or effort.

But lighting aside, things are moving along very quickly and excitement is building. We have been able to walk on all the floors for quite some time now, and the view from the top is fantastic. Of course, we'll only be able to see it about 4 days out of the year. However, you can definitely see the Cascades from the front two rooms. Tiny, tiny, far away Cascades, but mountains none the less.

House Buildin'

Henry and I are building a house. Or, we're paying people to build us a house. So many people ask us to clarify when we use the first statement. I would think it would be obvious, but I guess you never know. I am not building anything. This house is going up on a piece of property that had been in Henry's family for a while. The old structure was going to be brought down by weather if we didn't do it ourselves, so it was time.

Tearing into a house isn't an opportunity that comes along every day, so we took full advantage. There was a lot of hatchet, crowbar, and sledge hammer action. Safety goggles were worn by all.

So after what seemed like months of planning (it really was months of planning), construction began on the house. Although Henry and I poured over the plans and every detail, there were still some questions in how our two-dimensional picture would translate. So we have been watching anxiously as it is going up.

First step: earth work. I'm not even including any pictures because it's all just dirt. Although the hole they initially dug was quite impressive (and a little bit terrifying). Moving all that dirt took forever (forever = less than 2 months). 

After we got the dirt mostly where we wanted it, we got a foundation. Cement has truly never been so exciting. Also - where is our fourth wall?

Proudly surveying his new cement.

Cement is exciting!

 Henry was there the day they poured the slab, and was able to put our initials in. Awwww.

 

Somewhere between pouring the slab and framing was a whole lot of retaining wall drama. I mean, who hasn't had drama over a retaining wall before? Basically, when you have two people who know as little about retaining walls as Henry and I making decisions about them, it leads to drama. 

So we ended up with 1 rockery to hold up our dirt, and one huge cement lego brick wall to hold up some more dirt. Our dirt isn't going anywhere it isn't supposed to any time soon.

The rocks want to be more exciting than the cement. But do they pull it off?

Just try to get away, dirt!

Finally, walls started showing up, including the elusive 4th wall of our basement. Our house will not ultimately be this awkward yellow color (that is just the color of the siding before paint).

 After the exterior walls frames went up inside, finally giving us a sense of what the space would actually feel like (so far - just like Grandma's basement).

A man and his castle.

 Currently we have two stories and a basement, but no stairs. I can't wait to walk around on the top floor and see what our view actually looks like. Probably looks like the neighbor's bedroom, but there is a good chance we'll actually get to see something quite pretty.

Ta da!

Spicy!

As facebook or my mom has already told you, Henry and I got engaged a few months ago. It was a fabulous experience, and exceeded anything I could have dreamed up. Also, I was surprised, and I didn't expect to be surprised.

It started as most morning do, heading into the bathroom in the morning to brush my teeth. Henry was supposed to leave that day for a conference in LA, or so I thought. This morning, however, there was a card sitting on the sink faucet. I opened it up, and in it Henry invited me to join him on his trip, leaving in 2 days!!! Yikes! This meant that I spent the day getting things arranged to be gone for a week, moving appointments, and crossing my fingers that nothing would come up. I also thought this meant I would definitely be going to Disney Land.

That evening I was attending an end of the year celebration with students and faculty. Joy, a Seattle friend, and I were driving around when I got further news from Henry suggesting that I go find my next "clue", hidden behind a picture of us in my condo. We picked up my labmate, Jeremy, who was also heading to the party with us, who then became an unwitting participant in the scavenger hunt excitement. Joy was convinced that Henry was going to be hiding in my condo, but I was pretty sure he had actually gotten on a plane that day. After I gave the "all clear" to Joy and Jeremy that Henry was not, in fact, lurking in my condo, we found this:

I quickly grabbed the note to discover that it was written in code and I would have to decipher it. By now, we were late for our party so all decryption would have to happen in the car en route. The first few words read "L.A. is just a layover". This set off some intermittent squeals from Joy which would continue the rest of the night. I decoded some more words including "15 hours away". More squeals. In all fairness, she was not the only one squealing. So now I knew LA was not my destination, and it was likely I would be flying 15 hours from LA (although I hadn't ruled out a road trip). This ruled in about every destination outside North America. So. Exciting.

At the party my friends starting making guesses for where I would end up. Henry texted that we would bring back a souvenir for whomever guessed correctly. My best guesses, based on recent conversations, were Dubai, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Spain. I was thrilled about each of these possibilities. I just had to wait for my next clue.

Later that weekend, I got a call from Henry's brother. He told me that Nancy Drew was working to solve the case in the hidden bookshelf. I immediately knew where to look, in my trusty Nancy collection.

One of these things is not like the other...

New Zealand!

And with that I knew I was headed to New Zealand. Excitement doubled. I had just one day to get check the New Zealand weather report, buy some needed travel essentials, and get packed. Henry and I had committed to reading Under the Dome together in prep for watching the TV show (we are on a Stephen King kick), and he was chapters ahead of me at this point, making this trip the perfect time for me to get caught up and also supplying some needed entertainment for the 15 hour flight (in regular Stephen king fashion, the book is over 1000 pages). Between that and my malaria pills (code for sour patch kids), I was ready to fly. The entire trip including layovers took well over 20 hours.

When I landed in New Zealand the weather was cool (in the 60's) and rainy. Felt just like Seattle. Henry had arranged a car to meet me at the airport, and I was quickly whisked away to the hotel. I checked in, snarfed a Picnic Henry had left for me (Picnic = Australian candy bar), and promptly passed out from jet lag. Henry woke me up and we went to dinner.

The next morning Henry had arranged for us to do a Skywalk - which is to walk around the top of the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. Again, the weather was gray and rainy, and did not promise much of a view. However, Henry was committed to going and I was committed to going along with Henry.

Sky Tower on a day much sunnier than our Sky Walk.

To go out there, we had to put on orange jumpsuits and take off anything that was loose or could become loose, like hair ties, watches, etc. They even made Henry change his shoes. We got put in harnesses, because the platform you walk on is about 1.5 meters wide and has no railings whatsoever. We did our "sky walk" with a guide, Ethan, and another tourist, Renata. As Ethan was arranging the harnesses, we heard him ask a coworker: who would choose to do this on a day like this?, further validating our rainy sky walk.

Waiting to get harnessed and head up -blissfully ignorant of what was to come.

Ethan had us do several challenges which involved varies of forms of putting your trust in your harness and hanging off the edge. Read: terrifying!

Two crazy convicts hangin' off a tower

Pretty soon into our sky walk, Henry dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. Because my anxiety about being at that height had diminished my frontal lobe capacity into survival mode only, he definitely caught me by surprise. Although I thought he might have something special planned on this trip, I did not expect it on our sky walk.

Yup!

After enthusiastically accepting, I immediately told Henry to put the ring away. I was SO SCARED I would drop it. Little did I know it was double tethered to Henry's harness, which was then transferred to me. The whole "Henry has to change his shoes because they are to loose" was all a ruse to attach the ring without my knowing. We then had to finish our sky walk. I oscillated between feeling completely ecstatic and completely terrified for the rest of the time.

That afternoon Henry gave a key note speech at an engineering conference, the whole catalyst for this entire trip. I was so proud of him. He included a picture of our engagement from the Sky Walk in his talk, making a bunch of New Zealand engineers the first to hear the news. It was really sweet how the conference attendees congratulated us for the rest of the time.

Fancy pants!

I was so awed by how much planning Henry had done, how well he kept the secret, how many details he had accounted for, and how smoothly he had pulled it off. I found out later he had colluded with my sister, my classmate, and my adviser to make it happen. I was so excited to spend the rest of the week exploring New Zealand with my new fiance!