i crack up everytime i think about Jasmine's restraint when trying to empathize with me why letting go of so many pieces and chotskie's needed to stay in the house. she is not a sentimentalist, she is a fabulous designer with a great eye. i, on the other hand, have a story behind every platter, card, blanket, picture, jewel, etc. etc. and for at least the first day she kindly listened to the stories. on day two, the response was a little more along the following lines: I think we can let those go, i think we have grown out of that, i think we need a larger memory box. (: (:

Jasmine hopped on the train from Portand and arrived our first visitor to our home in Seattle. i couldn't believe my joy to host...fresh flowers from the farmer's market, clean sheets, fun foods... i repeat you are all invited to my house... only now it will actually look hostable. She was a super star trying to make the best of our interesting layout and beloved pieces. I really love the progress we made (some pics below) and we are invigorated to keep putting the place together and begin to feel like we are at home. someday i'll be ready for a video tour.

In the meantime we enjoyed picnic at Greenlake on our hottest day yet (78!!!), where yes, as seen below a lovely woman was walking her TURTLE. yes. seriously. And we also began chipping away at our list of Seattle's best resturuant's and had a very memorable first visit to Sitka and Spruce (also pictured below). Thank you Jaz for being a fab first guest, enduring my endless memorabilia, and the serious home improvement!