Happy Halloween!

Halloween tends to be one of the more creative holidays. Personally, I am not such a fan of Halloween, but I do love admiring other people's work. To that end, I wanted to share a couple gems.





OMG... not a costume! But instead, a real life, horrifying moment.

But, oh wait... here you go. Lacy, as Brittany:





Not related, but also a good (albeit a bit frightening?) one... Katie, as Ewock:





Emily as the quintessential 80's exercise instructor:





What about Kenny, Joey, and Doug, as Prince and the Revolutions? (I can't believe that's my realtor...)








Okay, and so that's all I have for now. So I decided to post old news:





The height of my Halloween career: bush, box, beaver, muff -- and the Mayor of Cootertown!

What I will miss about our apartment

That's right...

For those of you who I haven't blabbered to already... we will be moving shortly because we have purchased a home! On December 5th, we will be moving into our new home in Ballard's Sunset Hill area.

Fate seemed to play a part in our search. We looked at upwards of 35 homes - maybe even close to 50 - I lost count. But on the first day of our home search, we saw the one that we actually ended up purchasing.

My dad came down for a day of house hunting. In true PK style, he insisted on driving around in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Ballard. ("You should start at the top, Krista, and work your way down," he said. I rolled my eyes, and he started giggling.)

We pulled lots of flyers on many mansions, all in the 1-2 million dollar range. We kept ooohhing and aahhing over the water views. I was just having fun spending a day with my dad in Seattle.

Then we came across a home that looked very nice but was priced a whole lot lower than the others. We pulled the flyer, drove around it very slowly, looked at each other and said, "Huh. Interesting."

We drove around for another hour so so, and then came back to this one to check it out one more time. The older man in the window saw us both times, so he came out and asked us if we wanted to see the home. He gave us a prideful tour, explained that he and his wife have lived there for 32 years, and expressed surprise that it had been on the market for 5 months already.

We went out our merry way, met up with our realtor, and saw a ton of creepy expensive houses, some of which made the blog a couple weeks ago.

A whole lot of fateful occurances happened in between then and the home purchase, but basically we felt like this home was quality, and priced right. Then we ended up getting it for a whole lot less, so it was really priced right. I think this couple was tired of open houses, and wanted to get it off their hands before winter. Just goes to show you that timing is everything!

After tripping over each other (and 3 cats) for the last 6 months, we finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, and are anxiously awaiting the move. Personally, I am looking forward to setting up a REAL home office, so I don't have to climb up on a chair in my closet to take down my printer, and plug it in underneath my side table next to my couch, every time I need to print an invoice.

We've had good times in this little place. I moved here exactly 3 years ago. It's been a fantastic, and unique Seattle apartment. Nestled away next to a (an extremely creepy) park, it has an unobstructed view of Elliot Bay. I will really miss this view -- photos taken during last night's amazing sunset:








I've had a lot of fun memories here, not the the least of which is the annual Palm Springs "Geriatric and Fabulous" theme party. (P.S. I love how Google Earth's map of my place still features a bright green astroturf covered deck.)








That said, there are too many positives about the new place to look back.

For instance, a big, beautiful yard that I get to dig into:





A walk-in closet!




Hollywood Regency built-ins:




A pretty entry-way:




And a real bedroom for my mom, and Lindsay & David! (Look how cute and excited my mom is about not having to brave cats jumping off the couch onto her her face in the middle of the night!)








There are other things that we can't wait to get our hands on and make small cosmetic changes (the kitchen cabinets, the very colorful maroon tile in the bathroom!!), but no changes are dire.

And, can anyone say... New Year's Eve party in Ballard? We will finally get to use the trillions of champagne glasses that we received for the wedding.

Fashion kitty

I don't mean to turn my blog into a kitty station, but, I love it when I catch beautiful moments like this:

Goodbye bums, hello gorgeous!

This morning gave me another reason to be really excited that we'll probably be buying a home and moving within the next few months.

I went to my car this morning to take Brian to work, and found out that some creep had broken into my car! I know most urban individuals have probably had this experience many times before, but this was my first. I can't tell if anything has been stolen, so that's a good sign. I didn't have anything of value in there, besides my toolbox full of jewelry tools and supplies, which thankfully was left behind.

This, combined with the dumpster fire fiasco, combined with the fact that my neighbor woke up a few weeks ago to a bum in his living room going through his stuff, makes me REALLY HAPPY to be moving the hell away from this house. It's been a great place for the last few years and I'm sure I'll shed a tear as I pack up, but Kinnear Park seems to be going downhill. From sketchy to even more sketchy.

Speaking of sketchy, the house search has been just that. It's amazing what one can't buy with a lot of money (a.k.a. a huge loan) in Seattle. We've seen it all, but I thought I'd share a few photos of some of my favorite features, while traipsing through people's homes.


Shuffleboard linoleum:




Charming yard accoutrements:




Historic radios:




Inviting showers:




Outdoor fireplaces (I liked this, actually):




And, last but not least, rustic watering holes!:

Reader challenge

Hey, everybody!

I am having the most difficult time finding shoes for fall. This has a lot to do with my miniature-sized feet (5), but it also has to do with what I want to wear on a regular basis. The fashion gods must think I have outlandish criteria, because I'm starting to feel like it simply doesn't exist (at least not for less than $400).

What do I want, you ask? I want a pair of awesome shoes that I can throw on with a million different outfits. I don't want anything that rain can soak through. I don't want the ubiquitous tall heels. (Wedges are okay.) I'm skeptical of the lace-up phenomenon. I want a pair of shoes that goes with jeans, mostly. Something I can walk in -- while not looking like a hideous hippy.

My challenge is. Well, I want to know what you all wear when you need a casual pair of shoes for fall and winter. Think practical, but cute. Tell me what you wear, take a photo of your own shoes, or steal one off the internet.

Here is your inspiration. Miu Miu, Buckle Strap Maryjane, $385. I am in looooove.

Have fun!

Sharing a recipe

When fall comes around, soup starts sounding like the perfect dinner. The following is a super easy recipe that I've been making for years and years, and felt the need to share. It's from the Williams Sonoma "Vegetarian" cookbook. It takes less than a half an hour to make, and it's full of greens.

Greens & Farfalle Soup



Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• small pinch of red pepper flakes
• 8 cups vegetable stock (they give you a recipe for this, but the short cut secret is to buy the vegetarian "Better than Bouillon"mix -- it comes in a glass jar)
• 1/4 lb dried farfalle pasta (or you can use penne, orzo, fusilli, etc.)
• 1/4 lb escarole, carefully washed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 lb Swiss chard, stemmed, carefully washed, and cut into 1-inch pieces (I used Kale, it worked...you just have to cook it a bit longer)
• 2 tsps fresh lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  

Directions:
In a large soup pot over medium low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is soft but not golden, about 2 minutes.

Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the pasta is cooked, 12-15 minutes.

Add the escarole and Swiss chard, stir well and continue to simmer just until the greens wilt but are still bright green, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately. Pass the Parmesan cheese at the table.

Serves 6.

I love this recipe!!!

A motivated helper

A friend reminded me this morning that my blogging has been severely lacking lately. Not only have I been trying to figure out how to up the monthly self-employed income -- a fairly simple formula called, work harder? -- but we've been house shopping in our spare time. I've probably seen over 30 houses in the last few weeks. Most of them are pretty nasty, but there's one in particular that we like a lot. The only issue is that it's really tiny. But the upside is, we wouldn't have to buy a lot of new furniture! Stay tuned.

We've also been trying to work our way through our wedding thank you's. It took me a few months to muster up enough gumption to even tackle this project...I was so sick of wedding things by the end! But luckily I've found a motivated helper in our cat, Pulgasari: