A Martini with the Rossis: 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Merry Christmas from the Rossis!

Seattle Blizzard of '08

Deep Freeze 2008! To be said in a deep weatherman's voice as Dan would say. The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful and when there's no place to go let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Unless you're in Seattle where there are hills and we don't own a 4 Wheel Drive Vehicle with tire chains, in that case let it rain, let it rain, let it rain so Dan can go to work even though he says this is exactly the kind of break he needs before next quarter.

Although Dan tells me he has enjoyed "working from home," I unfortunately don't have a "work from home" job, so have made the treacherous trek into work via the 48 bus that has been a bit sketchy with its schedule. We have enjoyed our time with our neighbors and are thankful for the brief outing to get breakfast at Mae's Cafe in our neighbor Dustin's jeep. We are hopeful to make our flight to Columbus on Friday as some of our friends have been less fortunate and have had to cancel their flights home as they were told they would not get out before Christmas with all of the cancelled flights.

We haven't seen a storm like this since the early 90's...it is definitely a winter wonderland in Seattle!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!

Dan and I in front of the Stone Avenue Snowman

Dan and Rufus staying warm after playing in the snow

The first night of the storm brings the beginning of major snow to our little yard

Can I please go out Mom and Dad

Not without your sweater!!

Dan and our neighbor Dustin (also Dan's new business partner)

Family photo

More Stone Avenue pictures

Our garbage still hasn't been picked up. Hopefully next week!

Dan and Rufus playing ball

The Greenlake sign with snow pouring down

Walking back from dinner at Blue Water Bistro

Stone Avenue Sign

Stone Avenue Neighbors Christmas Caroling!! You can't see them very well, but they sure do sound good! We love our neighbors!!!

Boes Family Christmas

After seeing the James family we headed down to Chehalis to spend the night with dad. We had a fun evening of chilling out with dad before attending the annual Boes family Christmas party on Dec. 14th. We had a fun time eating good food and catching up with the Boes family. We had a long drive home as it started snowing on our way home...the beginning of a long cold spell in Seattle.

Opening Christmas presents after the party

Rufus with his new ball from Grandpa

Early Christmas Eve with the James Gang

For as long as I can remember we have been celebrating Christmas Eve with the James family. However, with growing families and living in different cities, last year it didn't work out to celebrate and it just didn't feel the same! So this year on Dec. 13th we headed down to Olympia to celebrate an early Christmas Eve. We had a fabulous time chatting and munching on our favorite Christmas Eve menu of horsdevours. Mom even celebrated her birthday again with her favorite red cake made by Aunt Susan.

Nice spread!

Mom's 60th Birthday

On December 11th we helped mom celebrate her 60th Birthday in style at Serafina, a wonderful Italian restaurant located on Eastlake in Seattle. We had a lovely evening full of good food and fun. Happy Birthday mom!

New Danskos...Yeah!!

Thanksgiving

Dan and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year! We had a fabulous turkey dinner with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Amy and Adam! Thanks for all of the help everyone! It was a great time.

Rufus turns 5

Rufus turned 5 years old on November 8th. To commemorate his special day, Dan and I made Rufus new dog bowls. Up until now Rufus has had stainless steel bowls, but it became obvious to us that he didn't like them when he kept going all the way upstairs to drink water out of his porcelain bowl. They turned out great and Rufus feels special knowing that his bowls were made with love from mom and dad (we know because he told us so in French, per Dan). Happy Birthday Rufus!!

Dan and I at the U-Village Paint the Town

Rufus opening his present

Finished product

Poppy

Dan and I had a lovely evening out with the Spacciantes at a new restaurant located on Capitol Hill called Poppy. The restaurant was started by Jerry Traunfeld (former Chef of the infamous Herb Farm in Woodinville). The food at Poppy is inspired by the Indian "thali" which means a platter served to each person with a variety of small dishes served all at once. The "thali" at Poppy highlights a modern Northwest tasting menu. It was a fun experience! Thanks for the invite Leah and Anthony! Check out the poppy website at www.poppyseattle.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Dad's Day to Shine

On October 18th we headed down to Chehalis to celebrate an early 60th Birthday with dad and to attend the grand opening ceremony of the new Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library. Dad was the Project Manager for the library and he received many many thanks and "job well done" praises throughout the day! We couldn't have been more proud. The new library was jump started by a huge donation from Orin Smith the former Starbucks CEO and a Chehalis alumni. Way to go Dad!

Dad opening his present before heading out to the library

People starting to gather for the ceremony. The high school jazz bland playing on the steps

Grandma, Amy, and I claimed our seats on the fountain early

Vernetta Smith cutting the ribbon

Family photo inside the library

Beautiful ceilings! The library even has the first drive up window in the state

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Recapping Portugal and Spain

Dear Friends and Family:

Happy Autumn!!! We hope you had a wonderful summer and are off to a great start to the school year. We started Fall in high gear with Dan starting back to school in his second year of the UW MBA program. We were so blessed to have two amazing weeks together in Europe before the quarter started. I'm finally getting around to posting a recap of our Europe trip on the blog. I took over 1,200 pictures, so to say the least it was difficult narrowing them down for the blog. We started our trip in Lisbon and ended in Barcelona. Each city was unique and amazing in its own way. I hope you will enjoy a small snapshot of each city.

Love, Dan and Mandy

Friday, October 3, 2008

LISBON

Lisbon is what Rick Steve's describes as a ramshackle but charming mix of now and then. The city has vintage trolleys, grand squares, and well worn people. The highlight of Lisbon for us was a guided walking tour that took us through each of the different neighborhoods within Lisbon, on the #28 Trolley, and to several spectacular viewpoints over the city. We also had a couple of our best meals in Lisbon.