New Kitchen

We are now pretty settled in the house. I made fast work of unpacking and organizing all our stuff. My favorite project was putting together the kitchen. I have spent the last 10 years in cramped apartment kitchens. I will say I am amazed at the food and baking I have been able to do in those kitchens so I am really excited to see what kind of magic can come out of this bigger better space.

The owner of the house put in an entire new kitchen from appliances and lighting to floor and cabinets. The walls are blue - something I thought I could not handle but I think it is growing on me. The cabinets are amazing - lots of space, twirly corner cabinets for pot and pans and the self closing drawers. I feel like a grownup. She even put in full granite counters. They are going to be so awesome for rolling dough out on. 

One thing that really got me excited was the refrigerator. I pretty much made out with it when we moved in. Shiny and bright with a water dispenser and a bottom freezer. Yum! The blue taped off area on the door next to the refrigerator is going to be a chalk board. 

We have plenty of light in here - great for my food photos. Two windows in the kitchen. The mess on the floor and hole in the ceiling is from when they had to cut open the pipes. 

I always found it really hard to find space in my tiny kitchens for all my dishware and food. In this new kitchen I have this glorious pantry. All these cabinets to put all my food and pantry items in. Even enough room for a dedicated pickle/preserve area!

Looking forward to putting this kitchen space to the test!!

Moving Day

This last month has been a blur as we packed and purged 6 years of closets. I have not been so excited in such a long time. This really felt like a fun, fresh new beginning for us!

We moved in last weekend and I took the time to document some of the house and move. There will be more to come as I unpack and set up our home!

I can't say thank you enough to all our friends who helped us move that day. We really are blessed to have such friends!

Mr. Ramon was very involved in making sure we had internet access immediately in the house. Thanks babe!

These built in shelves seperate the lliving and dining room.

This is the dining room before it filled up with boxes. 

The stairwell up to the bedrooms and full bath. I love all the original molding details. 

The kitchen - I will have a full post on my favorite room in the house soon. The old pipes had a clog so bad that there had to be a hole cut in the ceiling the day we moved in to fix it. Old houses - charming!

It starts to fill up!

Everything moved in pretty easily - except our bed platform. Mr. Ramon and I had treated ourselves to a new Sleep Number mattress at the beginning of the year. With the we also invested in a platform for our mattress. It is huge - queen sized and with really attached feet. I am pretty sure that in 1911 when the house was built furniture of this size never went upstairs. It was pretty amazing we made it up. Only a couple of minor scratches to touch up. And when we move - it may not come out in one piece. Pretty sure. 

Overall a pretty smooth day. Now the not so fun part starts - cleaning the old place. 

We are Moving!!

Super exciting news for our little family!! We are moving when our lease is up on our current apartment in September. 

This will be our 3rd move in Seattle. We moved out of our first apartment when it was sold to be turned into condos. We could not leave the neighborhood and moved just 6 blocks south to our current apartment where we have been for the last 5 years. As apartments go, ours is pretty nice. A large 2 bedroom 2 bath with garage parking for the mini and only 4 blocks from Immortal Dog and right on major bus lines. We had no reason to move to another apartment - which means we are moving to a house!! 

I have been living in apartments for the last 10 years and had started to get the itch for a house last summer. We wanted to grow things, have a yard for the dogs and Mr. Ramon wanted to keep a yard. We knew that we had a long list of requirements for a house. Since we really liked out apartment - the house had to be "better" than what we had. So the search was on - trying to balance cost, location and amenities all within our time frame.

After a couple of failed attempts - prices to high, location not central etc. I thought we were going to have to give up. But then a customer of mine called to say she had found a hosue in her neighborhood that we for rent that we should take a look at. We went directly and I was immediatly excited! 

This house was in the area we wanted on a quite street corner lot with a huge front and back yard that had a detached garage. We called the number and made an appointment to see it the very next day. 

Let's just say that meeting was magical. The leasing agent was awesome and we hit it off. I could tell we were his dream renters. The house had everything on the list plus. It had just gone through a lengthy remodel by the new owner and had new bathrooms, new kitchen, original hardwoods, new carpet upstairs, 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. I was smitten. The price was a little higher than we wanted but we knew it couldn't get any better. 

The most amazing thing that happened - the owner originally set the property up as a not pet property. But with letters from our trainers, me being in the pet industry and the leasing agents good words she was willing to us move in with our 3 pups!

So the packing begins! I am hoping to pull of a very organize move and get rid of a lot of stuff hanging around in our closets. 

Carrot Pickles

I have always loved the hue of purple carrots. They are so pretty with their contrasting purple skin and orange flesh. I thought they would make some really pretty carrot pickles.


I love to pickle foods. Almost any fresh food can be pickled. I have a couple of brine recipes I like to use. This one is nice and spicy with the addition of the red pepper flakes.

Pickled Carrots 

 
3-4 fat carrots
Slice the carrots into slim stick, thin rounds or any desired shape

1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups filtered water
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
2 tablespoons pickling salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 cup sugar
1 bay leaf per jar

Combine the brine ingredients in a medium-sized, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil. Taste and adjust spices to please your palate. Add the sliced vegetables. Stir to combine and remove from the heat.

Fill prepared jars. Wipe rims and apply lids. Process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes (starting time after the pot has returned to a boil).

These should rest for a few weeks or months before opening to let them infuse with the flavors of the spices. 

Makes three pints.

Valentine's Day

My first job at 16 was at a Hallmark store. I am pretty sure this is why I love Valentine's Day so much. Also I had an amazing mom that would celebrate this holiday with cute little gifts like tiny heart shaped erasers, handmade doily cards and sweet treats.

This year with our wedding just wrapped I missed the boat on handmade anything. But I could not let the holiday escape me and sent Mr. Ramon flowers from Seattle favorite Fiori. They always do such a stunning job.

So I want to send a Happy Valentine's Day to my guy - Mr. Ramon will you be my valentine?



Hope you all had a sweet day with your loves!