Best. Trip. Ever.

Britt's entry -

We're back, exhausted and tan, from Grand Cayman. I posted some pictures and a few thoughts to start. Hopefully I'll be able to take some time and blog more later! Check out the album....

Grand Cayman Honeymoon

Cooter says, "Good morning!"

Whew! That's some bad morning breath.

Sean and Britt, described

Britt is the rat, Sean is the *ahem* pig (No offense intended sweetie!) and this sums up many mornings for us.

Cooter loves me, this I know...

Britt's entry -

Cooter and I have a tradition. I wake up on Saturday mornings. I spend a little time in the bedroom getting ready for the day. Eventually I walk out into the living room, pass by a few times as I get things together and, at some point, I look down and realize I've walked past a dead mouse 4 times already and never even noticed. Cooter is waiting in the shadows, watching for my reaction, pleased as punch (as though anyone ever says that anymore) that he personally brought me the greatest present ever. Ever.

I look over and tell him what a good, good kitty he is, and he walks away with with his tail in the air like the cocky little cat he is. I grab a paper towel and whisk away his little prize.

It's been two Saturdays now. Only on Saturdays. Strangest thing.

Cooter takes it home!

Britt's entry -

THE photo:

Sean picked up Roscoe and drove down to Seattle to join me at the South Lake Union Block Party. One large parking lot was set aside as the dog section - vendors with natural food and treats, doggie spa and day camps, the Humane Society and City Dogs Magazine. We signed Roscoe up for the dog events, hoping he'd do us proud.

Every booth had a task for the dog to do: sit-stay (nailed it), find the treat under the hat (like he was born for it), run around and then get in a kennel (trains every day!), pull a ball out of a tub of water (um, there was some reluctance), go through hula-hoops (it was more like we passed them over him), go off-leash and fetch a ball....well, that's where things went bad. Not only did Roscoe show absolutely no interest in the ball, he ran around the ring uncontrollably, peed in the drinking water and then got molested repeatedly by a dog that wouldn't take no for an answer. Well, better luck next year.

Later we started getting line for the photo contest runway walk and as I was standing there I heard a very familiar Aussie accent behind me. I turned around and took a closer look at the host for the event - it was none other than Jenni Hogan, the morning traffic reporter for KOMO and our favorite t.v. personality!! Every time she's on we say, "Jenn-nay!" because she's Sean's t.v. crush! What was most surprising is that she's like 6' tall! Which to me is like standing next to a mountain. But she was very friendly and sweet and down to earth and we really enjoyed meeting her.

We took a picture and talked to Jenni for a minute and she told us that Cooter's picture had been shown around 11 on the news as they talked about the Block Party and the photo contest. HE WAS ON TV!! How many cats can say that? We're hoping to get a DVD of it so we can post it here.

I did the "catwalk" with Cooter's picture and the bowl he'd been in and then we waited to hear the results. Turns out, we have a little star on our hands! He got $150 gift certificate to Scraps and a framed copy of his photo. Cooter was waiting for us in the driveway when we got home, hoping to hear how he did.

P.S. We were watching "Jenn-nay" this morning and they started talking about the Block Party and up pops Cooter's picture! Jenni mentioned that he loves this fishbowl and the picture was sent in by Britt Anderson. Cooter even got to see himself on t.v. this time!

Fish thoughts....

Rhymes with Orange Comic

He's In!!!!

Thank you so much for voting for Cooter - he is a top 3 finalist!!

We'll bring him to South Lake Union Park Neighborhood Block Party (right across the street from my office) the evening of Friday the 8th to see if he deserves the ego he's developed. His picture will be judged by "local celebrities" and could win $250 at Scraps, a local pet store.

Cross your fingers for us!

Wedding pictures

We haven't received the high res digitals from the wedding, but our photographer did put up a link with the smaller versions:

http://www.pacificcolorgalleries.com/SC/index.cfm?fuseaction=EventLoad&eid=6017554&fn=NancyTrederPhotographyCPP

We have to pay extra for the CD of all the pics, so we're saving up for it. But when we get it, we'll be sure to send you any you'd like so you can print them out or save them. (We recommend Costco.com for picture printing. Like that isn't an obvious choice.)

Cooter is a semi-finalist!! Vote for him!

We already knew that he's the cutest, but this would make it official!

If you get a chance, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE vote for Cooter and send this link to anyone else who might be willing to make him a finalist - he's already in the top ten for Cutest Baby Pet on Northwest Source!!! (Use any or all of the e-mail addresses you have...)


Voting ends Sunday, July 27th! Thank you : )
http://www.nwsource.com/contests/pets/bestpetphotos/vote_category.php?category=62

The source of Cooter's EVIL

Britt's entry -

I've been promising to post these pictures for awhile now and I'm finally getting around to it. When Cooter was teething this winter, his adult fangs came in before the kitten teeth fell out, so he had double fangs on each side, top and bottom. Frankly it was a little creepy.

Don't for a second think that my hand in his mouth in these pictures is bothering him. He loves to chew on us and took this opportunity to gnaw to his heart's content.

New favorite site

Britt's entry -

A new site that I found through another blog is quickly working its way onto my top 10 list: www.etsy.com

It's basically a selling forum exclusively for independent artists, but 'artist' could be anything from knitter to jewelry maker to baker. A great way to support independent start-outs!

My favorite part is the ability to shop by color! There is a gradated color bar you can click on and it will pull up items from the site that precisely match that color. Too cool. You can also "shop local" from sellers who are located close to home, or from 'favorite' lists that were put together buy other buyers, or from sellers who are still looking for that very first sale!

If only my budget wasn't shot. *sigh*

One of our favorites

We haven't seen many pictures from the wedding yet, but here is one taken by Sean's mom (I believe) that we absolutely love!

Sheesh, what happened to you guys?

Britt's entry -

Ok, it's been an admittedly long time since the last post. A lo-ong time. I get it. If it makes any difference, we've been incredibly busy, as you may have noticed.

We're married!

It was 8 1/2 months of planning that went amazingly smoothly. Sean was absolutely fantastic - involved, supportive, creative, excited, involved... and involved. He wanted to take part in everything, which I completely appreciate about him. It was such a relief to know that he was interested in all the decisions and I wasn't going solo in the planning. We tried not to let it overwhelm us, though. I made lists (which everyone apparently still finds amusing, but let me tell you, it was effective) of what needed to be done and in what order so we made sure not to miss something, and then we usually took on one task every weekend. That way it was only a short time commitment, because in spite of wanting to be involved, Sean still got burned out pretty quick.

And then, finally, or maybe suddenly, the day big day was here! I'll do another post later about the whole whirlwind weekend, but here is what happened in the meantime....

Cooter got neutered. 'Nuff said.

Sean's blood sugar problems progressed really rapidly, which indicated Type 1 Diabetes, and he was moved to insulin therapy. He's gotten amazingly comfortable with giving himself the twice daily and mealtime injections, but its still been a big lifestyle change. My purse gets loaded up with his tester and injection pen any time we go out, so he'll soon be getting his own man-purse. (shhh, ha-ha!!)

After hundreds of hours spent commuting to Costco corporate, Sean decided to head back to the warehouse in Woodinville, right down the street from our house. His new schedule is Tues - Sat, 4 - 12:30 and he absolutely loves it. He's driving a forklift and constantly challenged and also moving, which is good for his Diabetes, and he gets to come home and still have practically a whole day to run errands, do chores, relax and take naps - not necessarily in that order.

Sean ran his first 5k, the St. Patty's Day Dash, and brought home a giant green foam top hat to show for it. If you need to borrow it for future parties, please let me know and I will send it to you right away and never mention it again.

I went to my first Mariner's game in the private suites, courtesy of a hotel my dad is working with to plan a work conference next year. Man, when I win the lottery I'm so buying a suite. Totally. And you'll all be invited anytime you want. Make note of that.

My gardening was curtailed not only by the wedding planning, but also by the late snow (!) that hit after the seed starts had popped up, ending up in a 90% kill rate. Lame-o. The starts I planted to make up for it later were subsequently drowned in the torrential downpours of May and June. Double lame-o. Guess our carrots will continue to be provided by Albertson's.

And... that puts us pretty much up to date. Hmmm. We need to get out there some more and get some good material for blogging. Now that we're married (!) we should have more time! This summer we're hoping to spend more time with our friends and family, so if you want to get together, just say the word!

Dude, the ski trip is cancelled.

Britt's entry -

Sean doesn't get a lot of chances to go skiing, so he was super excited for weeks in advance of a trip to Steven's with our friend, Jason. He normally snowboards, but Jason is a lapsed skier, so they both rented skis and gear ahead of time and packed up the night before, then met in Monroe and headed up the pass in Jason's Honda Pilot.

After a stop for gas and another for a big breakfast, they were about 15 minutes from the pass and coming around a bend when Jason said something about a Jeep. Sean looked up and saw a hard-top Jeep Wrangler coming straight at them, sliding sideways into their lane - and both cars were going about 40 miles an hour. Sean lifted his hands so his forearms were next to his head and braced himself for the impact.

The passenger side of the jeep careened into the front end of the Pilot, crushing the front end entirely and setting off their air bags. Glass from the windshield showered in on Sean and Jason, cutting into Jason's hands.

Luckily, Sean's responder training from the military kicked in and he went into action. After a few moments the airbag gas had dissapated a bit and enough time had passed to make sure no one else was going to hit them, Sean got out of the car and asked bystanders if anyone knew the mile marker. He called 911 and reported the basic details of the accident, then helped Jason out of the passenger side since the driver's side was wedged shut. Jason seemed to be in shock from the impact and was dizzy and disoriented, so Sean got a coat on him and wrapped an extra sock around his bleeding hand.

Sean walked around to the Jeep and made sure the driver, who was alone, was breathing and moving. Inside his car and scattered around it were empty beer cans and some that were in the process of emptying after being tossed around. They may have just been leftovers from a different day, but it didn't look good when the officers arrived.

Across the street was a parking area with about 15 people getting ready for the pass, putting on chains, who would have been directly in the line of impact if their car hadn't stopped the Jeep.

Soon the officers and fire crew arrived and took down reports of what happened. The Jeep's driver was pinned in, but they got him out without having to cut into the vehicle. An ambulance took Jason down to the local hospital in Monroe and Sean rode along. They called me around 11, an hour and a half after the accident. It went something like this: "Sweetie, don't freak out. We got in an accident but I'm ok."

We saw the driver being wheeled out of x-ray, along with his four little girls who were with us in the emergency room. His neck was strapped onto the board along with his arms, but he looked conscious.

Both of the guys were sore, and will probably feel it more tomorrow. Jason had to have x-rays for his hand just in case, and they picked pieces of glass out one-by-one with tweezers, which, in case you were wondering, he reports is a painful experience. But by all accounts they were incredibly lucky and it could have been much, much worse.

The worst part is that they never got to go skiing. Bummer.

*Note: My dad said, "Tell him it's going to take more than that to get out of marrying you."*

Ski trip cancelled