In search of exciting, complex spirits on National Ghost Hunting Day (September 24), we traveled to one of our favorite happy haunts (Winthrop, Washington), to see if we could scare up any saloon ghosts or jilted dead brides, but we found something better: Blackberry Raven Cider. If Welch’s Grape Juice had a tipsier sister, with… Continue reading A Toast to Good Spirits

Cryptic creatures called “fruit snacks” showed up at my parents’ house in the mid 80s—along with leg warmers, shoulder pads, and some creepy-looking dolls that had been hanging out in cabbage patches. At first, these snacks seemed a little strange. Were they actually fruit? Were they candy? What were they thinking? What were they up… Continue reading Taste for Nostalgia

Bring on the space aliens! The hot tub has landed. For those who may be new to this blog, I’ve often joked that the minute I get a hot tub, unnecessary and invasive visits from extra-terrestrial beings will commence. So far, this has not happened, but the hot tub is only a few months old.… Continue reading Be Careful: I Drip

That intoxicating, just-fell-in-the-garbage-smell is right within reach if you go on a whale-watching tour with Nate on his birthday. It means that a whale has chosen you for a special treat. An adorable humpback whale named “Two-Spot” spewed water through his blowhole onto the people standing out on deck, and when the people outside came… Continue reading Whale, It’s Nate’s Birthday!

The best doodles I ever had took the form of a snack called Cheese Doodles. They were squiggly, crunchy nuggets of goodness that resembled Cheetos, but they tasted just a bit better. I ate so many of them during my childhood and teenage years, that you could say I have doodles inside me. Well, one… Continue reading Oops, I Doodled Again

A sensitive creature, the basil in our yard has somehow determined that the world is basically a tire that has been set ablaze—and so it must grow profusely, while it can. It has grown so much that when I ask Nate to simply grab “a few sprigs” of basil for a little sauce I’m making,… Continue reading Leave the Cooking to Basil

Follow a trail of smashed cupcakes to a break room filled with popped balloons and overturned chairs—and you’re smack-dab in the middle of the wildest work-related baby shower you’ve ever seen. Well, maybe not super “wild,” but reckless in the sense that you left a stack of papers on your desk for a good 1-2… Continue reading Craft Alert for When Everyone at Work is Having Babies

On a steamy, steamy day–ripe for intense, sultry embraces with adventure–I went looking for clams. I needed something to satisfy the depths of my seafood cravings. I was clamming up with a desire that only the Pacific Northwest could rake up from the sand. And Nate was not far behind. We found it at the… Continue reading Clam-a-Bam! I’m in Love

A shell-shocking screech, from inside our beach mementos collection, triggered the craft alert. According to highly scientific hypotheses that will never be proven with actual science (it’s literally just a hunch), ocean sounds trapped inside conch shells and such, can suddenly just “erupt.” The resulting sound is thus: “eeeeeooowwwwhooosh!” I’m no shell whisperer, but I… Continue reading Craft Alert: Knotty Nautical Necklace

After a bucket of butter took a tumble from a large piece of flatbread I attempted to share with my family at a restaurant, I walked out wearing the aftermath. Two large butter stains showed up on a light jacket I used to keep the air conditioning from blasting me with a tempest of arctic… Continue reading Spot On!