Wests Go West | Nick and Marie's move to Seattle

The Big News

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Marie

Nick promised a blog post this week about our big news and now we can finally share it with you all… Nick and I are buying our first house!!! 😀 We’re super excited!

Living & Dining Room

We had been looking at houses online for almost a year, so we got a pretty good feel for how much houses cost in the area. Decent houses in the area start at almost half a million dollars, so a townhouse was a good, more affordable option for us. We also wanted to stay close to UW so he could have a short bus ride to work (parking at UW is expensive, plus we would need to have two cars — right now, one car is all we need).

Three weeks ago, I found a townhouse online that was in our price range and looked pretty much perfect for us. We had Dad (a real estate agent) take us to see it a week later. Just over a week ago, we wrote up an offer on the townhouse, which was countered, and we accepted the counter-offer the next day. We wanted to wait until after the inspection (which was yesterday) before sharing our exciting news with everyone. The only issue that came up during the inspection was that the seller needs to install carbon monoxide detectors — no big deal. Other than that, the inspector thought it looked great, so the townhouse will be ours in about four weeks! Yay! 😀

Kitchen

The townhouse was built in 2007 and the previous owners took great care of it. It is a green-certified, energy-efficient building with a gas fireplace, bamboo flooring in the main living space, a covered balcony, granite counters, and a gas stove that Nick can’t wait to use. The kitchen is big and open (we can both be in it at the same time, omg!). There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs and there is a bonus room on the ground floor behind the garage. One of the big selling points of the townhouse was its fenced yard/patio area. It’s the perfect size for Nick and me and it looks great without requiring a lot of maintenance. It has a nice raised flowerbed, where Nick and I want to plant herbs. Location-wise, the townhouse is in a good spot, too. It’s only about 8 minutes away from our current apartment and Nick will have about a 30 minute bus ride to get to work.

Yard & Patio

We close on Wednesday, June 20, the day after Nick’s mom and friend, Donna, arrive in Seattle to visit us. It’s actually pretty neat because they’ll be able to see both our apartment and our new home. 🙂 They head back home on Saturday, June 23, so we’ll probably move in to the new place sometime between that weekend and the following weekend, depending on when we can get help.

So, that’s our big news! We’re so excited and can’t wait until next month! 😀

Categories: Seattle, The Move, Townhouse | 8 Comments

The past couple weeks

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Nick

This isn’t the promised post, but we just realized that we neglected to post about our outings over the past few weeks. Two weeks ago I participated in a Microsoft usability study. I got to spend the afternoon on Microsoft’s campus and be part of a focus group that provided feedback about an upcoming product. I had to sign an NDA so I’m not allowed to tell you what it was that I did, saw, or talked about. I can tell you that it was a good experience and that Microsoft’s campus feels a lot like a university campus. It was also amazing how friendly everyone was, from receptionists, to the people conducting the study, to random other people, everyone just seemed really happy.

After the usability study, Marie and I met up with my work buddies at Card Kingdom in Ballard. We played a board game called A Game of Thrones based on the book and TV series. The game was pretty awesome. The idea of the game is similar to Risk, but it all takes place in the Game of Thrones world, making it ultra cool. Card Kingdom was an awesome place to play this game. We had a private room for the 8 of us and the place serves food and drinks (including alcohol). They also have a huge selection of board games, puzzles, card games, table top games, etc. Much fun was had and we can’t wait to do it again. We’ll definitely be going back to Card Kingdom.

Carrie and Herbie

Two weekends ago Marie and I went with Marie’s dad to the Maritime festival in Seattle. Marie and Larry got “passports” to taste 8 different chowders. Marie was pretty full by the 4th chowder, but they had a good time with it. I would have participated, but chowder isn’t my thing. They unanimously declared Edgewater to have the best chowder. After the festival we ended up doing some other stuff with Larry and ate at Dick’s Drive-in for dinner.

For Mother’s Day we had a nice picnic at the arboretum with Marie’s mom, Carrie. We had a bunch of different fruits, cheeses, and other goodies. The weather was extreme cooperative over the past 3 weeks, so Mother’s Day was no exception.

We also started playing Diablo 3 last Tuesday. Marie will probably write up a review post in her blog at xaben.com, so watch for that if you’re interested.

So a lot has happened, but this isn’t the post I promised yesterday. That post will probably come by week’s end. Stay tuned.

Categories: Games, Outing, Seattle, Social Gathering | Comments Off

A Real Post is Coming

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Nick

So Marie and I have been pretty busy the past week or two. We have some news to share, but we’re still working on a great post about it, so in the mean time you can wonder what it is we’re going to be posting about. Until then, check out the awesome spring weather we’re having!

Honestly though, the weather was awesome over the past 3 weeks, so we got spoiled and now everyone here is complaining about this forecast. Watch for our exciting new post later this week! Probably Thursday or Friday.

Categories: Seattle | 1 Comment

Opening Day of Boating Season

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Marie

Yesterday was the Opening Day of the boating season in Seattle and Uncle Peter invited us to join him on his boat for the festivities (thanks, Uncle Peter!). The weather wasn’t supposed to be that great (partly cloudy and temps in the low-50’s – compared to nearly 70 today!), but it was actually pretty nice, especially when the sun was shining on us. Nick and I even got a little sunburnt, whoops!

Crew team

We woke up early and caught a bus to the University of Washington. From there, we walked down behind Husky Stadium, where Peter took us to the boat on a dingy. The Windermere Cup crew races started at 10am. The Husky Men and Women crew teams both won the Windermere Cup, beating teams from as far away as Argentina.

At noon, the boat parade began, led by a Seattle Fire Department rescue boat that sprayed streams of water into the air. We saw the historic Virginia V steamship, which was built in 1922. We also saw a bunch of small steamboats and amphicars. To advertise the King Tut exhibit that opens in Seattle later this month, there was a giant jackal on a barge. Speaking of barges, there was a band rocking out on a barge that was tacked onto the front of a small tugboat. It was a pretty fun group to watch, in part because there were bikini-clad dancers and someone in a panda costume. 😛

Seattle-decorated boat

The decorated boats were cool, too. There was a Scottish boat, a boat with a volcano on top, and a boat decorated to look like a yellow submarine that played The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” I think my favorite decorated boat, though, was the Seattle-themed one. It had the Space Needle on its mast, the Pike Place market sign, mountains, UW and WSU cheerleaders on dangling off either side of the boat, people tossing fish like they do at Pike Place Market, and it was towing a little cardboard ferry behind the boat.

We had a great time, ate yummy food, and got to see some neat boats and crew races. Our location wasn’t the best for taking photos, but we still got some pretty good ones. Click the link below to see our photos on Flickr.

Flickr photo set: Opening Day of Boating Season

Categories: Outing, Photography, Seattle, Social Gathering | Comments Off

Mount Baker Ridge Viewpoint Photo

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Marie

Incredible sunset photo of Seattle by Darrell Benedict. It’s taken from the Mount Baker Ridge Viewpoint, so I guess Nick and I will have to take our camera there sometime. 😉

Categories: Photography, Seattle | 3 Comments

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Marie

It’s April, which means it’s Skagit Valley Tulip Festival month! About an hour north of Seattle, there are acres upon acres of tulips, daffodils, and other flowers that bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. Nick and I had already been planning to go when Mom suggested that we go together yesterday (she had to drive up that way to meet a friend anyway).

Orange Tulips at the Tulip Festival

The two big tulip farms are Roozengaarde and Tulip Town. We decided to go to Roozengaarde, whose “family business of growing tulips, daffodils and irises is the largest in the world.” It was the perfect day to visit, too; the weather was great and the flowers were at their peaks. And there were so many people there! We were incredibly lucky and got a parking place up close.

The flowers were beautiful and the daffodil field seemed endless. The ground hadn’t been packed down well, so sometimes it felt a bit like walking on a waterbed (which the kids loved). Roozengaarde had a beautiful garden area, too, which showed off some really interesting varieties of tulips. Before we left, we treated ourselves to some fresh, local fudge and kettlecorn. Yummy!

Freighter in Samish Bay

Flickr photo set: Tulip Festival

While we were chatting with Mom yesterday, she found out that neither of us had been to Bellingham (a city about half an hour south of the Canadian border), so we took a scenic drive along Chuckanut Drive, a windy road that goes along the shoreline of Samish Bay and Chuckanut Bay. We found a nice spot to pull over and we had a picnic with a beautiful view of Samish Bay.

Prior to our picnic, we drove through an odd little town called Edison (population 133 people as of the 2010 census). There were some interesting-looking shops and restaurants (like “Slough Food” and “The Lucky Dumpster”). There was even someone driving his tractor down the road. Further down, we saw a place that was advertising bison burgers and there was a whole herd of bison grazing outside! We saw some people paragliding, too.

We then drove ever so briefly through southern Bellingham (so we could say we had been there) before returning home. We all had a really nice time and great weekend. 😀 Be sure to check out our tulip festival photos on Flickr!

Categories: Outing, Photography | Comments Off

The Woodland Park Zoo

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Nick

Earlier this year Marie picked up 4 tickets to the zoo on Groupon for a steal. So, yesterday Marie and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo with Carrie and Amanda (Marie’s mom and sister). Oddly enough, we realized that this was the first time Marie and I have been to a zoo together.

Grey Wolf

It turned out to be a perfect weekend to go to the zoo; the weather was great. My favorite part of the zoo was probably the bear exhibit, even though the bears weren’t the most cooperative with the camera. The exhibit has a live streaming bear cam, if you want to check it out.

We took a bunch of photos at the Zoo, so be sure to check them out on Flickr!

Flickr Photo Set: Woodland Park Zoo

Categories: Outing, Photography, Seattle | 1 Comment

The Big News

A Real Post is Coming

Mount Baker Ridge Viewpoint Photo

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

The Woodland Park Zoo

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