First day of work

I've known Sandi long enough to remember talking to her about becoming a nurse.  Then came nursing school application and acceptance followed by long days of studying and interesting clinical experiences.  Graduation sometimes seemed like it would never come, but it did.  Five months looking for a job culminated in finding her dream job and Providence Portland as a nurse!  After a month of orientation Sandi left for work this evening.  I'm so proud of you, Babe!

 

 

Sandi Kruger, RN, BSN.  First day of work!

Modernizing the lights

Sandi and I decided to update the lighting in our home.  It was a campaign to move our house into the 21st century.  We had a lighting consultant come out to help us.  Turns out, our house is mission-traditional.  We found lights to complement. 

To keep it simple, I want to show before and after photos. 

Kitchen



a new pendant!

above the sink



dining room



Computer room

hall lights (x2)

guest bedroom



ok, one casualty with a broken glass

guest bath

guest bath overhead



master bath



master bath overhead



master bedroom

with his & her reading lamps!

 

 

finally, with 4 cans in the family room, we can read by the fireplace







old doorbell

 


new dimmers and switches



new doorbell



new outside lights on both sides of the garage

Happy Valentines Day

Perhaps the biggest point of contention in our happy marriage is the guest bathroom.  Specifically, the old unused toilet paper holder on the north wall.  It was as useless as it was ugly.  I moved in almost ten years ago and had done nothing about it; why change anything now?  Sandi hated it and always wanted me to fix it.  Other things always took precident. 

 

To prove my love for Sandi, I used Valentines weekend to remove this aborition.

 

 

 

You can see how ugly this thing is. 

I need to carve out a larger hole to reach a stud.  I also had to install a back board to attach the new drywall.

 

Not a bad fit.

Now add the texture (probably the worst part of the job).

 

Wow!  Like it was never there (if  do say so myself).

 

I love you, Babe!

Cannon Beach!

 

Arcaida Beach (looks like a lion, doesn't it)

Last weekend was a 3-day weekend so we decided to head to the beach!  Cannon Beach is a favorite because it is so close and has so much to offer the day-tripper. 

After a brief walk on Cannon Beach we drove to Arcadia beach for lunch.  This is the same beach I proposed to Sandi 2 years ago.  Our sack lunch was of the gormet variety including smoked salmon and tapinad spreads.

 

We couldn't believe how sunny and warm it was.

 

We walked the town after lunch to vist our favorite art galleries.  I found myself looking for paintings to decorate my future den.

By mid afternoon, we were ready for a coffee break so we headed over to Insomnia Coffee

We highly recommend this place
if you are at the beach or in Portland.

so cute!

 

and then took a long walk on the beach.

 

We walked past Haystack Rock and turned around when the sun set.   

 

The sun kept you warm and when it set for the day it got cold.  We were ready for a nice hot meal in town by 5:30.  I had the perfect place picked out but failed to notice that it was closed all of January.  Not a bad problem to have at Cannon Beach as restaurants abound.  We chose a local grill that served great seafood.

 

The day was not over yet.  We left the beach after 7 and drove to Camp 18 to finish off our date with marion berry cobler and hot tea/coffee (mine was alamode!).

hmmmmmmm

What a great day!

G'day Mate!

Sandi and I had a blast in Australia!  The festival in Newcastle was great, but I didn't take any photos.  It was Sandi's first festival 'on-staff' and it was fun to have her around, both to experience a day-in-the-life of a festival and to have her help.  She can tell you a lot of cool stories from the day we arrived until after follow-up was finished.
 

On to Sydney:

This photo was taken from a ferry to Manly Island.  The sailboats were out in droves.

It looks like the boats are about to tip, but they never did.

Skipping ahead to Cairns (pronounced 'Cans') we flew up to see the Great Barrier Reef on Thursday (Wednesday in the US).  Sandi, myself, and 4 friends from the Palau team rented a condo for 3 nights to get away from it all.  We were across the street from the beach.  The next day, we traveled to Port Douglas to snorkle the outer reef.  The coral and the fish were amazing.  Neither Sandi or I had the equipment to take good photos under the water, but a friend of ours took his camera.  I will post them when I get them.  In the mean time, you can look at this link for an idea of what we experienced http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com/nature_gallery.htm
 

After our snokeling trip, we went out to dinner.  Sandi and I celebrated Thanksgiving by having kangaroo steak and sweet potato mash.
 

The following day, we went a boutique zoo to hold a koala.  We also got to feed wallabee and see crockadiles. 

When our time in Cairns was up, we flew back to Sydney and said goodbye to our friends.  Carey and Kevin had to drive back to Newcastle that night, so they dropped us off at our hotel.  Our hotel bordered the red-light district (complete with prostitues, strip clubs, etc.) so our friends weren't terribly excited about our choice.  As we later found out, if you turned left instead of right, you were just fine.

Rather than show all 300 pictures of the Opera House, here is a sample of other Sydney attractions we saw:



St. Mary's Cathedral

The skyline reminded me of Seattle's skyline - very interesting and diverse.

The Botanical Gardens included an extensive array of grasslands, fountains, statues, trees and everything that makes a garden beatiful.  We spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before our flight home wandering through the gardens. 

The gardens are home to the Governor's mansion.

Hyde's Park in downtown Sydney

Sandi relaxing in a 'secret garden'

 

 

We have much more to show and tell, but we'll look foward to seeing you in person.