Small Group Date Night

 

Our small group had a night out on the town last week. We met up at Pink Door to watch some people from church play some great music. It was a cozy night in a cozy booth with people that make my heart feel full. I also love walking around the market late at night is also something I love, it feels calm and like Seattle and I are intimate friends.



Rockin on a Sunday

Our friend Andrew led the theme for the free music night at the cafe down the street from us & he KILLED IT!

Record time!

a picture tour of our Saturday! We started out with margharitas & tamales and ended with 9 new records, free t-shirt, and tons of dancing around to our record player, ended with coffee my Agin grandparents got us for Christmas (we mixed hazelnut and chocolate almond into one = amazing!)

some bon iver- for emma forever ago, sufjan steven- Illinoise, wilco-kicking television live in chicago 4 records!, explosions in the sky- all of a sudden I miss everyone, the dodos- time to die, def leppard, andrew bird- armchair apocryphya, animal collective- merriweather

Any suggestions for what we should get next???

Elrod's 1st Christmas

Joshua and I played Christmas by ourselves a little early. We wanted to have our own 1st Christmas alone before we went home.


Isabella (Izzy) the record player!



We got so many lovely gifts and such for our wedding that we decided not to buy each other much- just stuff to fit in a stocking and then we got each other :) a record player. We both love coming home and putting on music and it is really nice to just play a whole album. We've been finding new bands we like and don't have any of their music and records come with the mp3 download too! So it was perfect and we decided everytime one of us does something wrong we'll buy them a record- then thinking about this decided it promotes bad behavior a little bit :) and now we will buy them for something good- like at work or 6-versary!

We only have 2 so far- Architecture in Helsinki and Decemberists but we're excited to watch it grow.

 It's fun to have something that is just ours to build and listen to together PLUS how much fun is it to thumb through records at a record store- SUPER FUN!

insert "oooooohh"



cutest gift ever!






our new stockings!



We went to Pioneer Square that night and there were over 20 trees with knitted sweaters!!!! AHHH LOVE



Hubs went a little off the rules but he claims it would probably fit partially in the stocking- he got me a new tripod. He was tired of me tipping mine over and holding the stripped out screws in place to take photos! Plus he found me a clicker thing that lets me take photos while being 3 or so feet away from my computer = not blurry photos from my very unsteady hands & adjusting things and then taking photos!

But the best gift was the necklace he made me!!!He locked himself in our bedroom for a few hours and brought his drill and sauter gun! All week he'd been getting envelopes mailed to him and he kept getting excited, he said he was making me something (what a bookmark- what fits in envelopes!)

It is a necklace that has old subway/bus tokens from the 3 places I interned while we were dating- he'd always visit me and we'd run around on adventures all weekend, We still always talk about them. Plus he knows I like antiquey things! So he assembled, drilled, twisted it together for me and it is so AWESOME!!!



cookie snack on the tray Mallorie got us for Christmas!



I got him book darts- they keep a line in your books marked without falling out or being bulky, plus they are cute and nerdy! I got a vintage brown and sharpe caliper for him which is a company that is out of business but he loves their stuff and old tools. They sell for $100's on the internet but I found someone on etsy who didn't know what they had and scored it for him! Plus I found someone else selling an old brown and sharpe dovetailed wood box to put it in. He promptly placed it on the bookcase in it's spot. Lastly I got him a stainless steel flask to put on our whiskey tray. He loves metal things and I keep putting pretty glass things on the tray so I got him something manly to add. I got it engraved to say "even after the star's burn out" which he said to me once and I've always remembered it (I'll love you even after the star's burn out) It made sense at the time and in the location, OK it's cheesy but I don't care!

So the Elrod's 1st Christmas is over but we can't wait to get home!
I actually cried, CRIED on the bus on the way home last week because I miss my family so much. Joshua is doing his best but he can't shop with me the way my sister's do, or make cookies the way my mom does and this time of year it is really hard to be away, I've never been away this time of year before. So I feel really blessed that I still get to go be with them on Christmas!
But thanks to all the Seattle people who are surrounding us and making it awesome while we're here!



Elrod's first Christmas Decorations:  We have more than a tree which is big for us!!!


Anthony showing off


 

Christmas cards from lots of amazing people & families



Christmas kiss chocolates!



yeah that's right- $1 store! I even got it to bud!

Bumbershoot Music Festival & Flatstock

We went to the mainstage show for the Presidents of the USA show because we wanted to check out the stage and left after 3 songs- MAN were they terrrrible. The theme of the songs were 1-cat, 2-sun, 3-bug - yeah that bad. But besides that the sunshine was fantastic and cheery and there were about 7 stages and for some the backdrop was the space needle which was just fun.


We bought more fried foods and a couple of thai iced teas- Josh is obsessed, he craves them so we had to get seconds. But what was really nice was that everywhere you went there was live music to enjoy whether getting food or browsing the handmade merchandise.

A lot of the bands this year at the festival are local to Seattle and we were psyched about that because we love concerts but don't know any bands yet. We left feeling like we have a great basis for bands to reference, follow, and check up on who else they play with.
Worth your time to check out some of their music!

We ate snacks and sat by the fountain listening to Campfire Ok. They were a pop indie band but with the sun shining and the grass everywhere it set the day up on a really light positive note.

Pickwick!!!!!!

This show was awesome. It was in the an emergency exit back of house area inside one of Frank Gehry's building's the Experience Music Project building. It had incredible acoustics and we were right in front. They were a little gospel, r&b, folk, indie all meshed into amazingness. The lead singers voice live is to die for Josh and I danced like crazy and fell in love with them. Josh was sold when they kept inserting Star Wars movie quotes in between songs (he would know) They had a great stage presence and sounded SO STINKING GREAT that words aren't good enough. We thought Bumbershoot was worth it just to see them!- That good! So seriously check them out you won't regret it.

Craft Spells

The lead singer of this band was really funny. Their songs sounded a little alike from one to the next but kind of reminiscent to the Pomegranates in Cincy. Not as good but still fun to go see and watch live. We really want to check them out, we think the bands they play with around here would probably make for a good show all together.

EMP Building photos. We're pink!

3 Day weekend!

Josh and I did a lot of relaxing and hanging out at Greenlake. But we also went to Bumbershoot which is a 3 day music festival. We only bought tickets for Saturday but it was so fun! We found some really great local bands too. I'll make a post about that next and link the bands to it some of them you guys should really check out!

See below for all the relaxing :) This is the lake we always go running around. We sometimes bike there to read, walk around, or sit on the little docks that stick out into the water and people watch. It has 2 little beaches, lots of grass, ducks, an area where all the cute dogs run into the water, and canoeing. We are so blessed to live so close to someplace that we can walk to and immediately feel out of the city!
We brought our books I'm reading the Lord of the Rings books and he's reading Atlas Shrugged.

And of course we ate pizza & gelato!!

I wore a dress

He wore a vest

And we made a great night out of it!