A big week

This week has been so insanely busy; I've been working till midnight almost every night. I can't believe I'm even finding time to post today, as the big fundraising event at Seattle Design Center that I've been planning is tonight, but I guess I've been so organized up till now that it's sort of like a "show up and execute" situation.

I've been supremely stressed out but something beautiful has emerged out of the quagmire of never ending work. I've received a lot of support from my two favorite men in my life, Brian and Puli.

First, Brian decided that he would worry about all of our dinners this week. I thought, "Cool, pizza. I don't have to cook." But on Monday night I was pleasantly surprised with a restaurant quality Curried chicken and sweat potatoes over Basmati rice - and on Tuesday I was surprised with Chicken with roasted lemons, artichoke hearts, and capers, over angel hair pasta.





Both dinners were really delightful! I didn't even know he could cook! Up till now, he's cooked a real "from scratch" dinner once, and I've been begging for that same dinner ever since (Greek Spaghetti). Two dinners in a row is unbelievable, and he was going for a third until I suggested going out for drinks and appetizers last night at this new bar in Ballard.

What got into him? It's so adorable. I feel that having someone cook for me is one of the biggest treats of all time. I just love it.

Back to Puli. Last night I was creating guest file folders and he decided to really jump in and help.





The particularly funny thing is that he didn't fit in that box, at all. His rear end crushed and hung out the back of the box.

Less than 24 hours to go before I get my life back!

Why this works

This morning I had a little Photoshop project for work so I ventured on to Brian's computer, only to have one of those moments where you are totally struck with why you love someone.

I found a file on his desktop entitled "house decor ideas," which, on its own, is probably the most adorable thing EVER. But then inside it, I found this photo, titled "wall color, wood, materials".





I am not even sure how I will concentrate the rest of the day. He is SO cute, and he has such great taste.

My other recent moment like this was this past weekend, when I was gmail chatting with Lindsay about a few new Laura Ashley prints, found on her new blog obsession, The Peak of Chic.









She said that these prints would look good in the style of our new home (rather traditional), and I agreed but replied, "Brian would die first." But then I remembered that I should give him a chance. He looked at the prints on my computer screen and to my surprise, pointed out a few of them that he liked. Then, one of the more adorable things ever came out of his mouth:

"Yeah, I've always wanted to do a small bathroom in an ornate print."

I just love that my husband said "small bathroom" and "print" in the same sentence. It's like my secret dream. (Oh, he is going to just kill me when he reads this post.) But see guys? This is why it works!

Husband to the rescue!

What is it like to wake up in the middle of the night to a blazing fire outside of your bedroom window? Well let me tell you!

On Sunday morning at 4 a.m., our Lower Queen Anne recycling bin was the victim of a ruthless, brutal torching. It didn't deserve it, the poor little guy.

I woke up to 15 foot flames that were spreading like wild fire, so to speak. It was another one of those moments lately where I haven't been so great under pressure. Brian had fallen asleep on the couch, so I shrieked his name and he stumbled over, muttered some expletives, and told me to call 911.

First he tried filling our kitchen garbage can with sink water but it didn't make a dent in the fire, and it was spreading fairly quickly amongst the leaves and brush. Then he remembered that we have this shoddy garden hose along the side of the building; luckily it was long enough to extend to the fire, and within 10 minutes or so, the fire had subsided.

As the fire was dying down, we heard the fire trucks drive right by our house. I ran down to the street and flagged them down.

Frat boy central! They ran up the hill to the fire and said things like, Dude!!!!!! One of the guys let us know that there's no way they'd ever be able to get a fire truck up my driveway. Plan B! They asked if they could borrow Brian's garden hose.

Once they stomped around on the embers for awhile, a couple of them started expanding upon the heretofore sophisticated conversation with small bits, such as, So this is 626, and next door is 630? Huh. Nice place you got up here, eh? This is great!

One time the station checked in on on us via walky talky: What up, man!?

Then one of the firemen turns to Brian and says, Second dumpster fire in this area tonight - do you think it's arson?

But being as he just finished up fighting the fire, he didn't have enough time to conclude his investigation.

What do you all think?





Oh, by the way, it's REALLY FREAKY to wake up to a fire blazing outside your bedroom window.