our bedroom...

...is done.  With the completion of AJ's home-made curtains, we have now FINISHED!  Out with the yellow paint, track lights, leaky windows and dirty white carpet...in with the earthtones, hand-crafted lamps, airtight and bright new windows, and organic wool carpet with a cork yoga studio insert.

Take that, Sunset!

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

Before...

After!

sew like the wind!

My wife excels in nearly all she does - brewing beer, cooking, gardening, swimming, personifying Jersey. This is not news to anyone who knows her.  Today, she finished the curtains for our bedroom - another talent in her repertoire...seamstress.  See below for her handiwork.

The raw materials

Sewing like she's never sewed before!

Attention to detail...

My task while AJ sewed...

The finished product!

those wacky scientists

A scientist recently had a great idea - affix a CO2 sensor on top of the Space Needle to monitor daily fluctuations of the now-famous greenhouse gas around downtown Seattle.  Then, display the information in real time so any random Joe can see how the measurements go up and down 

(http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/Space+Needle) due to wind, weather, morning/evening commutes, etc.   Science - love it!

Adrienne's boss was that scientist with the idea - so she got the opportunity to go up the Space Needle in 70 degree weather to do a little maintenance on the instruments.  She literally went to the tip-top of the Needle - above the restaurant, above the observation deck, through the boiler room, up 4-stories of telephone-pole ladders, and out to the scene you see above and below.

Nice job perk!

omg, that's disgusting....

I decided to open up a bottle of my wine and try it.  Its recommended that it spends 4 months in the bottle, and this has only been in for 1+.  But when I bottled it, it tasted pretty good - so I thought it might be drinkable.

Its drinkable alright - if you like turpentine and mouthwash with a subtle after-taste of battery acid.  It was disgusting...it needs to age.

look what we got!

Well, there goes the money to reside the house....

AJ and I are both water people, but since body-surfing and swimming are generally 'out' in the frigid Puget Sound, our relationship with the water has floundered.  And what does a floundering water-relationship need? Kayaks of course!  

Adrienne noticed that recently on Craigslist, people are apparently spring cleaning and seemingly just want to get rid of stuff because things are cheap.  She saw these online this morning, called immediately and secured the sale.  Between our phone call and picking them up, about a hundred other folks inquired - some even offering considerably more money - but the guy already promised them to us, so we lucked out.  Included in the sale: life vests, spray-skirts, paddles, roof rack, and two 15' touring kayaks.  

We bought 'em for pennies, drove straight to the Sound, and gave them a spin.  Awesome!   

branding

I'm thinking that when we're done saving the oceans, perhaps Adrienne and I can just sell our wares out of an old station wagon.  Today I bottled batch number 4 and 5 of my wine while drinking a beer that Adrienne made last fall.  Meanwhile, AJ was making all sorts of delicious things from scratch in the kitchen - Kimchee, vegan fish sauce, and BBQ sauce.  She asked me to make some labels for her goods - thus The 20th Avenue brand is born.  My wine is from The 20th Avenue Cellar.  AJ's assorted goods are from The 20th Avenue Kitchen.  Our garden is ramping up to be most prodigious - so we will soon have fresh produce from The 20th Avenue Garden.

Stay tuned folks - I think we'll be a worldwide household name soon.... 

indonesia

AJ and I returned from Indonesia last night.  The trip was over-the-top stellar and has whetted our appetite for more excursions to southeast Asia.  We visited the world-famous beach breaks and cultural centers of Bali, and chilled like professional chillers on Pulau Bunaken where coral walls fringe the shoreline.  A couple pictures are below, but I will be sure to add many more in a folder at my flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjmeyerphotos/) - check back soon!