Adventures of Cindi and Rob

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Red?

Somehow, Rob and I convinced ourselves to use Red to accent our family room. Our TV will be mounted here.

We also recently purchased a red sectional couch which we will be picking up on Saturday.

Stay tuned…

It is true, Rob has an obsession with sound. He loves or hates sounds depending on what they are. When he finds a good sounding song, he will obsess over it for weeks. When he finds an irritating noise, he will obsess until he figures out how to stop it. He is the first to hear every rattle in a car and will stop at nothing to make it stop. He hears noises in and around the house that sometimes I can’t even hear after he points them out. He also has a great ear and recognizes good music whether it is in the form of rock of Broadway musicals.

One of Rob’s biggest obsessions are with sound coming from the speakers in his house. From the first time we looked at our house, he was already planning how to create his ideal entertainment set up. With each time we returned to the house he came up with more ideas of how to make it sound and look just the way he wanted. I told him, as long as it looked good in the end, he could do whatever he wanted. When he told me he was going to put in in-wall speakers, I have to admit I was a little scared with this do-it yourself project, but I tried my best to keep my doubts and fears to myself. The plan was for the speakers to go in our ceiling, behind the couches.

We moved in and Rob wasted no time in ordering his first set of in-wall speakers. The day they arrived in the mail he was ready to get up in the attic and get to work. He got out his saw and started sawing a hole in my popcorn ceiling. I was scared and skeptical, but still tried to keep my mouth shut. He worked from the attic while I was in the livingroom scrapping “popcorn” from our ceiling to make the speakers fit just right.

After about 30 min or so, our project was done. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. Below are the pictures of our brand new “in-ceiling” speakers.

They look pretty good, don’t you think?

All I can say is, “GOOD JOB ROB!”

After this little project, I wasn’t as scared when he took a chainsaw to my fireplace mantel…

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Hitting the Slopes

Rob and I have decided to teach ski lessons on Saturdays again this year. Today was our first day of instructor’s training. On Friday night, as we were up late stripping the hideous wallpaper in the master bathroom, we were both wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. By teaching skiing, we had taking away our only free day to do house repairs.

But on Saturday morning we were both excited. It was the first time on the mountain for both of us this year. Before our training began, we took a few practice runs. Conditions were icy, but for being early December in Seattle, it is a miracle we even had enough snow to ski on (last years training was done inside because it was 50 deg outside).

After the first couple of runs, we were both feeling pretty good and ready for our training to begin. We had a good day, with a morning session and an afternoon session. With this only being my 3rd season on skis, I was very happy that I felt no apprehension. I think I’m actually starting to get the hang of this skiing thing.

This is me getting ready for our first run. The weather was gorgeous. It is not very often that we get to wear tinted goggles, but today we definitely needed them because the sky was perfectly blue and sunny.

Rob coming in at the end our our training.

One of the perks of teaching is Rob and I can do ski exchanges with other ski resorts in the Northwest. This makes our love of skiing a little more affordable. We are planning a trip to Schweitzer in February to celebrate my 30 birthday. You’re welcome to join us!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Black Friday and House Repairs

What do you normally do on your day off? Sleep in? Lay around the house? Watch some movies? All of that would be nice, but that is not how it works when you are married to Rob… :)

We started the morning at 4 am when we woke up to our alarm. We quickly got dressed and headed to Fry’s an electronic SuperStore. We had one goal in mind. A 46 in Plasma Screen TV. We arrived at the store at 4:30 am. The Line was HUGE. It wrapped around outside the entire store. But I do have to give it to the Fry’s crew. They had everything very organized. There was no cutting in line, which kept the customer outburst to a minimum.

When we got into the store, Rob and I went separate ways looking for the TV line. I stood in line while Rob tried to inch his way a little closer. He quickly made friends with a man toward the front of the line and stood in line with him. It’s a good thing that he did to, because they quickly ran out of the TV we were looking for.

After we got our ticket for the TV, we had to stand in another line, to actually have a sales person place our order for the TV. After we stood in that line, we had to stand in another line to check out. But we did it. We got the TV we were looking for and an LG BlueRay player as well. We got amazing deals on both so I guess you can say that it was worth it.

Our new TV! Rob is sooooooo excited about it!

Eventually the TV will go above the fireplace, but we have some work to do before it gets there, like get a mount, paint, and install in wall wires for speakers, etc. This is Rob’s big project for the next couple of months. :)

After Fry’s, we headed over to Bed Bath and Beyond. They were offering 20% off your entire purchase. We had about $200 worth of gift cards, so we decided to make the most of money. We got a lot including a new garbage can that I have been wanting for the kitchen. I love it! I can throw stuff away with dirty hands and not get everything else dirty. It’s the best.

The garbage can fits perfectly at the end of my island counter.

After we got back from Black Friday deal hunting, we spent the rest of the day on house repairs. Fixing and cleaning gutters, fixing trim, putting up outdoor lights…the list of small repairs goes on and on and on. Owning a house is a lot of work! But so far we love it. :)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Viva Las Vegas!

Last week, Rob and I went to Las Vegas for a few days. I had been there before, but I have never seen as much of the city as I did with Rob. We went everywhere, visited every casino, watched all the free shows and ate at several buffets (eating this way, one meal a day was more than enough!). Rob even talked me into playing the slot machines a little bit. I had some pretty strict rules. I never played anything that cost more than 25 cents to play and I never played more than $5 at a time. I would also cash out as soon as I doubled my money. It turns out that I'm pretty good at choosing slot machines and abiding by my rules worked out pretty well. I told Rob the key was waiting for the machine to choose you instead of you choosing the machine. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm crazier than ever, but it worked for me! I did need a little coaching from Rob. The machines are crazy. Going up, putting in a quarter and pulling arm no longer exists. There are so many options. Half the time I didn't play because I had NO IDEA how to play.

Me at my first slot machine with my winning voucher. I played $5 on this penny machine and came out with $32! (it was really just dumb luck, because I had no idea what I was even playing for on this machine.)

We got free admission to a car show at the Imperial Palace. They had cars from all years and all types, including concept cars that were never actually produced. Some of the cars were worth $3,000,000. This one, for obvious reasons, was my favorite.

Rob and I also decided to check out Circus Circus. I had never been there, but he had childhood memories of begging mom and dad for money and being let loose to play all the video games and play all of the carnival games for prizes. He even one me a few prizes...

Prize Number 1: A teddy bear. Rob won this by rolling a ball in to holes at the end of a lane and making his horse move forward. He won on the first try!

Prize Number 2: A Horse. Rob won this by making 2/2 baskets in the basketball hoops.

Prize Number 3: A Monkey: Rob won this one by rolling a ball with amazing accuracy and accruing the right number of points. Anything over or under wouldn't have one. He won this one on the 2nd try.

Prize Number 4: The coveted Bob the Builder Pillow. This one took a few more tries, but he was bound and determined to win it. He won this one by scoring a certain number of points on Skee Ball.

I am the luckiest wife ever. I knew I was marrying an amazing man, but I had no idea that I was marrying a man with so much skill in winning carnival games. I can't wait until next fall when the state fairs return!

Boating in October... BRRRRR....

Stephanie Bishopp is my friend who lives in New York City. She loves it out there, but misses being so close to a lake with access to a boat. In October, Stephanie turned 30 and with that, her insanity was multiplied. One day, in September, she called me and said tickets were really cheap from NY to SEA and she wanted to come home one weekend in October. We chose Oct 17th as the best date. The plan was to spend all Saturday morning on her family's boat, wake boarding and enjoying the Indian Summer that Seattle was experiencing.

We woke up on Saturday morning, not to a nice, warm indian summer day, but to pouring down rain. And I mean pouring. On the drive to the lake it was difficult at times to see the road ahead of you. It was really coming down. Stephanie was not to be deterred. She had come home to enjoy the lake and the boat and that was what she was going to do. Rob and I did our best to support her in her pursuits.

Here is Stephanie and I bundled up and ready for a freezing and wet ride. We did our best to dress warmly. I was dressed head to toe in my ski gear. I figured it would keep me the warmest and the driest.

Rob decided to get creative in his wakeboarding outfit. He didn't want the rain hurting his eyes, so he decided to wear ski goggles. We were afraid the ski goggles would sink, so he tied an empty pop bottle to the goggles. It worked like a charm.

Rob being brave and trying out the FREEZING water first.

A beautiful rainbow that graced us with it presence as the weather started to clear

Stephanie showing off her moves and getting some BIG air!

Thanks Stephanie for sharing your birthday insanity with us! :)

Utah Bridal Shower

Back in October, I flew to Utah to find a wedding dress. While I was there my sisters threw me a shower. We had a ton of fun and it was a mini Bellevue 3rd Ward reunion. It was fun seeing and catching up with old friends. Here are some pics of the day.