Bush Street in San Francisco's new street sign.

The Big Picture website has some amazing photos of the historic day.

Devoutdolls Octobabies are so adorable and edgy.

Reader Photos of the inauguration day uploaded to the NYT.

If you like that old time banjo music, check out the Field Recorders' Collective.

At paste magazine you can personalize the famous Shepard Fairey Obama poster.

Who doesn't like a youtube dog video?



Have a great weekend!

take a few moments to say goodbye to George....

I had to work today...it was worth it!

p.s. it was spirit hat day, so i supplied the students with red, white and blue hats and gloves for this historic day. these photos are right before lunch, that's why we are lined up and ready for recess. i had to hold my emotions in all day long, luckily we have a TV in our classroom, so we watched part of the inauguration this morning. it was amazing and more importantly....the kids love President Obama. With that in mind, I do believe that he will change our world in more ways than we can ever imagine.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."

-- Martin Luther King Jr., Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963

In the spirit of MLK Jr. the call to service for this national holiday is needed now more than ever. USA Service is one website where you can find service opportunities. I plan on donating feminine hygiene products and some canned food to a local food bank. On the Second Harvest website you can find local food banks. I am counting on my Animal Shelter hours as my ongoing commitment to my local community...I hope that with this initiative the volunteering bug will spread.

Oh course I have the day off. The sun is shining and it is slowly getting warmer. Yesterday I got the vacuum and other stuff for the house. So, today I am hoping to take it easy.
There are 13 basketball games on today! I will probably only watch 3, thank goodness we do not have cable, huh?! As I was looking up the start times I came across the article The Meaning of Obama: NBA Embraces New Leader's Message and it sounds as if Dreams from my Father would be right up my alley. (For more reasons than one.) I am excited in general, but it is even more exciting to think of an active, in shape president who also plays and watches basketball.

Warren Skalski/NBAE via Getty Images

... And I could play basketball, with a consuming passion that would always exceed my limited talent ... --Barack Obama

Schmancy is a cool store in downtown Seattle, which is having some problems in the current economy. Nancy and Fancy are located in the same block and the three of them have some great, handcrafted toys, housewares and jewelry. We never go out shopping, but yesterday we went downtown and braved the wind and cold temperatures to take care of some of our needs.

Zanadu was one stop and we picked up a stack of comics, which was exciting. We rarely get to go to the comics store together. Pull Shapes , B.P.R.D., Hellboy, Echo and blue monday were all procured and I stayed in bed today and read them while Topher went to work. Lucky me!

Topher is home now and we thought we were going to go to a movie, but instead we are going to watch the Flight of the Conchords. Work this week was okay, Friday was pajama day and most classes had parties. We watched Underdog and had popcorn and hot cocoa and cider. The students could all bring one stuffed animal, so the younger grades were pretty bananas with all the excitement. It was pretty cute! Tonight Topher is going to see the dwarves with his buddies and I plan on continuing to do the stuff I go on the weekends, yoga, cleaning, reading, knitting and getting ready for the week...

We decided to go out on a real date (Thanks Mom!) for New Years Eve. (With new clothes and haircuts to boot!) We headed home before midnight, while we still could walk and the rest of the night was fun and a bit of a blur. We played our favorite songs from 2008 for each other and drank some bubbly. Here is the only photo of us together from the night, but the rest are pretty funny!

2008 was great and we can not wait to see what 2009 brings us!

Happy New Year!

hungry?

Hey everybody, I just thought I would put in a little advertisement for my work here. We've been really, really slow lately (rumor has it there's some sort of recession going on), and it's a lot more fun for me and my co-workers if we actually get to cook food for people. Yesterday 50% of our lunch business was Heather. She said "It's good!"

If that review isn't enough, here is a video where my boss (the chef) talks about the resturaunt.


So come on in, I'd like something to do.

Thanks!

Also, Christmas was really, really nice. We got to spend it together and we've been happily opening presents and cards all week as the mailman delivers them. Things got pretty backed up during our snowstorms last week.

Happy New Years everyone!

It's snowing again

Last minute shopping? I stumbled upon the World of Good ebay Store this morning. The online store has items that I have not seen in stores, including these very cute animal friendly clutches:
W of G is a socially responsible company that helps build communities by ethically sourcing their products.

Introducing Butter!

We have begun to give magazine subscriptions as gifts recently. It is the gift that literally keeps on giving!
Some of our favorites:

Seed
W
Adbusters
Gastronomica
knit.1

Happy Christmas Eve!

Snow in Seattle

I was surprised yesterday afternoon when it started snowing again. And then even more surprised when it did not stop until 8 in the evening. We decided to walk to Ballard to mail some packages and to meet Nels to watch the NY Jets (Farve) game. We started at Matador, mailed the packages...then we happened to walk past the Jolly Roger Taproom...and had to stop in. We were really hungry after walking all day and we closed the bar (at 8 mind you) and then walked home. It was beautiful out and reminded us of "home", back in Wisconsin. The best thing though, is how much warmer it is here. It is so quiet and people are really staying in in Queen Anne, though Ballard was bustling.

One of my coworkers reminded me before school was canceled, that animals are really affected by the weather. I spotted a hummingbird looking around our porch last week and dug out the hummingbird feeder and made some new nectar. I put in on the bedroom window and it is really cool to be able to sit and watch them eat. It's also nice to do something like that for someone, some animal this time of year. We wanted to get toys for the Toys for Tots, but with this weather, it doesn't seem likely. (See if you can spot the tiny birds in our photos.)

When I was little we made "Snow" Ice Cream from the massive amounts of snow we got in Wisconsin. The snow back then might have been cleaner or we just knew less about the amount of pollution in the world. Is it safe to eat snow? There is not a definitive answer.

Who's on vacation?

Cute Overload is a website dedicated to cute animal pictures and videos.

Bailey the Unknown Reindeer is a video making the rounds this year...


Can You See the Sunset from the Southside asks Can you see Santa from the Southside? and offers many Christmas songs you may have forgotten about to download for free. I got them all, but I am excited about Wham's Last Christmas and Debbie Gibson's Sleigh Ride.


The cute shelter dog of the week is...Lucy!

I love looking at stores Top Ten gift lists! Showpony is the store owned by former owner of Olivine. Check out her Top Ten list...so great! My wallet has been saved from the snow!

And I leave you with The Funky 16 Corners Hot Pants under the covers with James Brown mix! This site is amazing, download a playlist and put it on and get ready to party...good times!