Halloween Pumpkins

This year we carved pumpkins that Chris grew out of his garden. I have to brag that he's a pretty good gardener! He ended up with about 169 total pounds of pumpkins. He had a couple of giant ones and then about 29 small sugar pumpkins.

Chris also went all out with his carving skills! He took lots of time and care to do this one. His pumpkin inspiration is Ichigo, a character from the anime Bleach. As much as it is cool looking I think it's rather scary.

This is my pumpkin. It is much simpler in design and carving requirements, but I think it's just as twisted. My pumpkin inspiration came from my brain.

Katrina's Recommendations for November

Movie: Persepolis

It has already gathered a lot of attention since being released last year 2007. It was the official jury selection at the Cannes Festival and was nominated for an Oscar. It is a French film animated in primarily black and white. It follows the life of a young girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution. She travels abroad to France but is trying to make sense of her life and identity. It's is based on the life of one of the directors. It does deal with more adult themes of war, rebellion and the people she interacts with. It is funny as it is poignant.

Book: The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

I picked this one up at a school book fair I was volunteering at. (I'm such a sucker for book fairs!) I wish I had this book while growing up. Pacy or better known by her American name Grace, is an Asian American growing up being the only Asian in her school of New Hartford, NY until Melody moves in. They quickly become friends and together try to figure out how they are so Chinese at school but then are so Americanized with family. It also has neat tidbits of culture in there. I related to many situations in there and I think everyone will appreciate the charm of it all. It's for 5th-6th graders and up.

Movie: On a Clear Day 

Jury prize winner at the Sundance film festival in 2005. It's a Scottish film about Frank, who after decades of dedicated work is laid off. He finds himself unhappy with not only dealing with unemployment but his estrangement to his son and distance between him and his wife. With nothing left he decides he wants to swim the English Channel with the help of his off beat friends. This film was just plain funny. Chris and I enjoyed the quirky humor and Scottish accents.

2nd Anniversary: We're still in love

We celebrated our anniversary a little early since it actually fell on a weekday. The weekend before we stayed at Embassy Suites in Bellevue. We enjoyed swimming (their pool had a small waterfall in it!) They also upgraded us to an executive suite for free when they found out the occasion.

Chris is enjoying the free drinks at the hotel. 

This is me enjoying the free breakfast at the hotel. (We like free things)

So our day of celebration was this: we got to the hotel, swam, then dressed up and went out at a nice Italian dinner. We also went shopping at the nearby mall and we ended up getting held up at Banana Republic because a seller there decided she wanted to dress me up in all the dresses in the store to see how they look. Finally, we grabbed some dessert at the Cheesecake Factory, their cheesecake is crazy rich man! It was a great anniversary. Chris and I enjoyed just being able to spend time together. I can't believe it has already been two years! Love you honey!

SALMON DAYS IN ISSAQUAH!!

It has been a while. I think I still need to do a post on our anniversary which was... two months ago. Anyway, ignore the lack of chronological order and enjoy! I finally was able to experience Salmon Days. Every year on the first weekend of October the whole town of Issaquah celebrates the salmon's heroic struggle returning to their place of origin to spawn.... and die. Kind of depressing come to think of it, makes for an awesome two day celebration of food and crafts though.

This is one of the most delicious desserts I've ever had. It is an apple dumpling, which is a very warm whole apple baked in a cover of fluffy pastry covered with a special cinnamon sauce and served with vanilla ice cream. It was yum.

This is one of the hundreds of salmon that could be found swimming in creek nearby. They are HUGE! And it was fun to see so many of them.

The entire downtown of Issaquah was converted into a huge open market. They also had this ridiculous food court complete with huge desserts and international food!

So my verdict of my first Salmon Days: It's GOOD! I guess the rain just comes with the package.