Anniversary Weekend in Laguna Beach

Happy 16th Anniversary to us! Hard to believe how fast time flies. After our game at the Rose Bowl we went to one of our favorite places - Laguna Beach.
































The weather was perfect and we spent the weekend eating at some of our favorite restaurants including Nick's. Loved out hotel, went for long runs and relaxed.

We also witnessed a young man propose to his fiancée which was super sweet. It happened right in front of us while in Laguna Beach. He got down on one knee and asked her - she said yes! I've never witnessed an actual proposal live - felt like we were part of it. People clapped and hugged, cars honked, she cried, they kissed - very romantic! I wish I had taken out my phone and gotten a picture.

I always look forward to returning.

Back to work tomorrow. Looking forward to it. I have a great job and there is a lot going on that I should be able to share soon.

Later -

Jim
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Final PAC - 12 Football Stadium

Kent and I can finally say we have seen a football game in all 12 of the PAC -12 football stadiums! The last one was this part weekend when we attend a game in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl against UCLA.


Unfortunately we lost but we still had a great time. What a nice stadium inside. So the stadiums we have been to in the PAC 12 are:

Washington - Seattle
Washington State - Pullman
Oregon State - Corvallis
Oregon - Eugene
Cal - Berkley
Stanford - Palo Alto
USC - Los Angeles
UCLA - Pasadena
Arizona - Tucson
Arizona State - Tempe
Utah - Salt Lake
Colorado - Boulder

We have also seen the Huskies play in Chicago, San Antonio, San Diego, Las Vegas, Lincoln, Provo, South Bend, Baton Rouge. We try to make it to two away games each year. Next year we will be in Hawaii.

Funny thing about this Saturday was our 16th anniversary and we had tentatively planned on getting married that day. We then realized that the Huskies were playing UCLA at the Rose Bowl that weekend and since it was our last stadium we decided to postpone the wedding. Lol....priorities.






Ran into Andrew and Heidi who are friends we met several years ago in San Antonio at the Holiday Bowl.





Went for a run the next morning and explored the area around the Rose Bowl.



Pasadena is a really beautiful area. We stayed downtown near the city hall. Can't wait to make it back when the Huskies return to their glory days and play in the actual Rose Bowl. Going to the Tournament of Roses Parade is also high on my list!

Later - Jim

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King County Legislative Forum

This past Wednesday we held our 18th annual legislative forum. It was amazing! We had a crowd of about 500 and nearly 25 legislators in attendance. I was honored to introduce the speakers for the evenings events.



Ed Murray the new mayor and first openly gay mayor for Seattle was in attendance! So proud of our new mayor! As a state Senator Ed has always supported the needs of those with mental health and substance use disorders.


Representative Tina Orwall from the 33rd Legislative District who is a social worker by background attended the event. She has done so much to improve the lives of the citizens of Washington residents.


My dear friend and colleague Mary Taylor who is the King County Drug Court Manager was my support for the evening! Thanks Mary! You are the best!


View of the crowd. Event is held at Town Hall Seattle.



Already looking forward to next years event!

Jim


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Big Trees

So most of you know that I am a Master Gardner. I went through the program several years ago because I love gardening and I love garden design.

Our yard is definitely a work in progress. At one time it was a lovely Japanese design but it was not tended properly and became very over grown.

We had a tree on the north side of the house that we decided to take out and replace with a different variety. It was not just a matter of not liking the tree it was also that the tree had become too big for its location, was growing through the power lines and caused a leak in our bathroom ceiling. It also had signs of a disease so we were concerned that it could come down in a storm. Now when you take a tree down in the city it can be tricky. I went to the city and tried to determine if we could take it down and their rules are long and confusing but things were pointing in the direction of the city getting even stricter on the rules.

All indications were we could take it down - we contacted an arborist who took it down for us. So not to draw too much attention and because we know we were going to replace it with a more suitable tree we went to Big Trees and bought a replacement - a maple called October Glory. As you can see from the picture - it is in fact a - big tree!



The picture above is the actual tree we purchased. We picked it out in the fall so we could see what it's true fall color was knowing by the time it was delivered and planted that it would be bare!












Can't wait for next year to see it leafed out and them in its full glory in the fall. We planted it back further so that as it grew it would not be in the power lines to the house.

Since we were putting in new trees we decided to all a couple of Japanese Snowbell trees to the parking strip. I love these trees and although they are bald now next spring they will be beautiful!









This is what they look like now but in spring they are green with fragrant white flowers and then yellow leaves in the fall. The picture below is an example of what they look like flowering that I took off the internet. I love how they soften the look of the house and they are going to be awesome this next spring!













Later - Jim
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College Game Day in Seattle

Despite the loss at Stanford, College Game Day came calling! It was super exciting - for those who are not familiar with College Game Day, it's a weekly Saturday morning ESPN college football show. They travel around the county to high profile games. They had never been to Seattle before so it was a big deal!













































It made for a very long day as we had to arrive at 4:45am and the show started at 6am and is three hours long!

In the end the Dawgs laid a big ol' egg but it was still a lot of fun!

Later - Jim

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Early Birthday Surprise!

Back in early October my parents pulled off the surprise of the year by taking us zip lining!

They would not tell is what we were going to do - only that they had planned a surprise and we were to show up and they would guide us to our surprise.

We drove done so it was a nice rode trip in which we also took in a football game at Stanford! Here are a few pictures from our weekend.




































We could not have asked for a better birthday surprise! We had a terrific time and were truly blown away by the effort they put into pulling this together and that they too in their 70's and 80's actually went zip lining with us! We are so lucky and so proud!

The Huskies did not end up winning the game but it was very close - it was their first loss of the year. Little did we know that they would go on to lose there games in a row!

Later - Jim