CHOCOLATE!!

I'm sorry, I am going to veer away from my usual posts about Nolan to discuss my other love... chocolate.

Yesterday, Em and I celebrated her birthday by indulging in the Chocolate indulgence tour hosted by Savor Seattle. I heard about this tour from groupon.com (thanks Jennifer for that referral!). When i got the email about a 2 hour tour of the various chocolatiers of Seattle i booked it right away. The anticipation was worth it as the weather held out, and we had a great time tasting the many varieties of chocolate. I of course took my blogging eye and documented every treat. Here is our tour, sweet after delicious sweet.

Let me start off by introducing you to our super fab tour guide who was the perfect mix of educational, random knowledge (who knew they legalized Absinthe in the U.S.?) and Seattle-ite cooky.

We started off our day at Oliver's with a shot of a chocolaty adult beverage called a flatliner. I can't remember all the ingredients but 151 and espresso beans, but it tasted like a rum-y chocolate shake.

Then we ventured over to Dahlia's Bakery for their not so chocolate but still notable Coconut Cream Pie and super rich chocolate crinkle cookie.

I didn't get a shot of the pie before i ate mine up, but here is Em cheesy posing with the last bite of hers. Let me preface the next picture by saying that Emily had taken 3 other pictures that resulted in my eyes being closed so she told me to keep my eyes open and here's what happened. So flattering!

Our next stop was Caffe D'Arte where they make the fancy coffee drinks, including delicious dark chocolate mochas.

Next stop, the Chocolate Box where tons of different chocolate specialty treats are offered. Our sampling included this chocolate covered brownie that was more like chocolate covered fudge it was so gooey. The picture isn't great but I'm posting it anyways since this was my favorite of the day.

We also had mini cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing. so cute!

We wrapped up this stop with some chocolate gelato with a palate cleansing Lemon Sorbet.

We didn't sample these but i had to snap a picture of these very relevant Obama chocolates. Who doesn't love chocolate that also makes a statement?

It's not a tour of Seattle without a stop at Pike Place Market. I forgot how many great food stops there are in the market since i avoid downtown Seattle and any place with a lot of tourists but we stopped at the Confectional which made it all worth it. They specialize in cheesecakes, and this is where i started to go into a chocolate coma because I cannot remember what is actually in this deliciousness other then chocolate, some sort of fruit and a great crust! I might have to head down there again, despite the tourists to grab some more of this cheesecake.

Still at the Confectional, we had our second shot of the day. This one was alcohol free and called Colombian Drinking Chocolate. It was the consistency of brownie batter, but seasoned with cinnamon and clove. If I wasn't in a coma already this would have surely sent me over the edge, but was so good!

Last stop, Frans Chocolates for the ultimate gourmet chocolate experience. They keep their chocolates in jewelry cases, they mean business!! We tried a bunch of chocolates here, including Emily's favorite of the day, the Chocolate covered caramel with Grey Sea Salt.

There was this mural at Frans that was of Frans' granddaughter. I'm not sure if Fran herself did it but I do remember that it took 94 consecutive hours and over 4,000 chocolates. That is true devotion and a little creepy!

I had such a great time, playing a tourist in my own city and would recommend this tour to anyone that truly loves chocolate, because I consider my self a true choco-holic and by the end i was done with chocolate...at least for the rest of the day.

Happy Birthday Emmie, I love you and hope you had a great day!

Nolan's Birthday!

This last weekend we celebrated Nolan's 1st birthday with family and friends. Being an event planner by profession i of course had to have a theme and it couldn't be something simple. The theme was Reggae Monkey. Reggae since Nolan has loved reggae since he was brand new, it would instantly calm him even during the biggest fits. And monkey because if you have seen his crazy monkey feet you would understand. I decorated the house as tropical as i could on a budget.

Welcome to Party Central:

Our friend Jodi made Nolan a fabulous eggless, die free mango birthday cake with the most delicious dark chocolate cupcakes for all the guests. It turned out so cute, it was definitely a grand centerpiece. A close up of Nolan's cake on the top.

and the whole thing together. All the decorations are edible and delicious by the way.

Nolan finally got a taste of his first birthday cake. This beautiful cake went from this...

to this...

to this in just a few short minutes.

He had such a great time and I think he'll really enjoy this birthday thing. Now to start planning next year's party! I'm thinking trains.

Thank you to all of you that came to celebrate with us and for those of you that have been there for us this last year. We couldn't have gotten through this without your support and encouragement.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOLAN!

New Year New Bathroom

When we first walked through our house we fell instantly in love. It was the first house that felt like home. It was airy, comfortable and most importantly was move in ready! We realized very quickly that move in ready isn't always live in ready and got started on projects. We scraped the paint of the deck to show the natural wood, ripped out a jungle's worth of plants, completely remodeled a basement to make room for a nursery, painted every single wall and finally updated the bathroom. The bathroom had zero storage when we moved in, and we worked around it pretty well. But when Nolan was born there were 3 people with one closet sized bathroom...how do people manage this?!?! The picture above is what it looked like when we first bought the house, staged for open house. If only we were that neat!

And this is what it looks like now.

I still have a few things to do including switching out the light switches so they are white, hanging the toilet paper thingy and some touch up paint but i think it came together nicely. I finally have my vintage cottage bathroom with storage and will try to get over the fact that i most likely just changed it back to how it used to look when it was built in 1944. Oh well, it's a good thing I love it!

Trip to the Museum

We met up with GiGi (Great Granny), YaYa (my mom), Auntie Em and Cousin Clem at the Burlington Children's Museum. We had a great time playing and exploring, unfortunately my camera died right after we got there. I'm hoping Auntie Em will email me more since i hijacked her camera and took a million shots...was that subtle enough!

Here are a few of him in the semi truck driving a stick shift and watching the turtles Marvin and Bernice play. We had such a great time, and will definitely be heading up there again once he's walking so he can really explore everything that museum has to offer.

As Promised...

Nolan's first Christmas was so much fun. We were able to stay at home, relax and celebrate in our own way which we all enjoyed. Since Nolan isn't all that interested in toys right now (he prefers anything but actual toys) we kept it simple, but YaYa didn't disappoint. She brought him a multi tasking dump truck that you can walk behind, ride on and comes with mega blocks. Did i mention that it makes truck noises? Nolan loved it of course.

I love his big chunky cheeks in this picture, he really liked the blocks!

I baked cookies to bring to the Christmas party and of course saved a few for Santa. Thanks Libby for passing along your recipe for Gingerballs, they are building quite the reputation!

We got all dressed up and headed out to the Kirk-Riley Christmas Eve Bash. It was a traditional Italian Christmas party where you eat and drink until midnight. We only made it until 11:00 but we had such a great time!

Thank goodness Nolan is still young enough to let us sleep in on Christmas morning, i fear that this may be the only year that happens as he was pretty excited to open his presents and stocking.

We wrapped up the morning with one of my favorite Christmas traditions, watching A Christmas Story over and over again until you can recite the lines from memory. Nolan loved this scene in particular, i think it was all the shrieking. **Note the crossed legs!

It was a great first Christmas, I hope Nolan loved it too!

My pictures are being held hostage!

I have misplaced my cord that connects the camera to the computer and therefore I cannot upload pictures! I'm so bummed out about this but I have finally given up my search and will be hunting down a replacement cord tomorrow. I have tons of updates for you though so stay tuned! Here's a preview: Nolan's first Christmas, Trip to the Museum, and a bathroom remodel...it's been a busy few weeks. Back to you soon!

The Clingmans

Portraits

PS - if you haven't done so already. Check out the link below to see a few shots from our very cold (32 degrees) portrait session last weekend. Here are a few of the favorites...

http://onetreephotography.blogspot.com/2009/12/braving-cold.html

This was the best portrait experience i have ever had and i think the results are fabulous. Thank you Jessica for capturing this time so beautifully!

Santa Train

We went on the Santa Train today. Emily discovered this little gem months ago and we bought the tickets so far in advance that i almost forgot all about it. Lucky we did since all trains were sold out. Here's how it works. Drive to North Bend, board a 1908 restored train, listen to an 80 year old conductor sing Christmas carols, ride to Snoqualmie, wait in line to see Santa, get hot cocoa and cookies, get back on the train. The entire process takes about 2 hours and although it was FREEZING outside, we had a great time hanging out with Miss Clementine and her folks. Nolan of course loved it since there were tons of big kids to watch and adults to flirt with.

Here is Miss Clem waiting for the train.

Here are the mamma's/sisters once we were all on the train.

Look a this pretty lady!

Nolan's glamour shot with the antique steamer trunks.

Just as I expected, lots of tears for Santa. I predicted as much!

The money shot!

The happy/cold family on the train ride back.

It's officially Christmas time! Merry Christmas all!

The Final Countdown

Nolan turned 11 months old today. It's his last month as a baby... my baby. In one month he will be a 1 year old, otherwise know as a toddler. If you can't tell by the subtle tone, i have mixed feelings about this. Pat likes to say whenever i get blue about Nolan growing up too fast, "It's better then the alternative" which is definitely true but I know I will miss these days with my baby.

Everyone says "it flies by" but seriously where has the last 11 months gone?!? When he was about 3 months old we had a guest speaker come to our PEPS group and he had an 18 month old. He told us we won't even remember the first 6 months and I remember thinking "this guy is full of s#*@!" I felt like i was in the middle of the most traumatizing journey of my life! I was existing on very little sleep, even smaller amounts of food and virtually no showers and this guy is telling me this will all be soon forgotten?

Now i understand what he meant. I forgot about the sleepless nights, the delusional/hormonal fights with Pat, endless days worrying about why Nolan hasn't pooped and all the crying.

But what i haven't forgotten is how he would always hold his hands together like he was praying, the little clicking noise he would make with his tongue he would make when he was hungry, and how happy i was when I saw all that brown curly hair when he was finally born (I still think his curls will come back one day).

I am surprised how i long for those moments now and wish there was a way to put each of those memories in a box so that i could open them and have that moment all over again. In some ways I feel like this blog will be able to offer this in the future. A way to look back and remember the moments and achievements month by month. The blog holds me accountable to documenting everything and even if no one reads it I would know that these moments will last forever somewhere out on the Internet universe. Cheesy, I know but somehow motherhood has made me a sentimental, emotional mess (a.k.a - my sister). Who knew!

But as i said previously I have mixed feelings about Nolan turning 1, its not all longing and feeling blue. I am so excited to see what is around the corner too. I know we are just getting into the fun stuff of him being able to play and experience things with us. I can't wait for Nolan to be able to run into our room on Christmas morning and tear open his presents, for him to tell me those crazy stories kids tell and to learn where he fits into this world. Plus, birthdays mean a party and I've been planning Nolan's 1st birthday since before he was born. Consider it a professional casualty that he will always have a birthday party with some over the top theme but this is how i get through otherwise difficult transitions... by celebrating!

Alright, Sorry for all the words and feelings, I know you come here to see the pictures. I promise i have lots of pictures coming. Here is one taken December 10, 2008. I had just started having contractions that week and a few days after this picture was taken my doctor said he would be born "any day now"... try 30 days!!

Thanksgiving Revisted

The Clingman's hosted Thanksgiving this year and had my family over. Pat cooked a Jurassic sized turkey and we had a ton of great food (as always). Clementine and Nolan played a game of Hide and Seek, this is Clementine telling Nolan to come find her.

She was a great hider but Nolan needs to work on his seeking. Maybe next year they can try again.

Then Nolan did a little fashion show with Clementine's new winter boots. They were a huge hit!

We sat around and chatted for a while.

And finally it was time to eat. Nolan's first turkey and stuffing.

The boys (Pat, Nolan and cousin Mason) in their post turkey lounging.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!