...and I'm not talking about Baby Minster.  This weekend I broke down and let us buy a paper shredder.  Now don't get me wrong, I wanted one and knew it would be useful to have, but in all our efforts to weed things out of the condo and simplify, I resisted in an effort to have one less thing that needed a place.  Jack, however, has wanted one all along and I just pushed to NOT get one. 

Well, in our weekend long process of cleaning out the second bedroom, separating things to go to storage, along with things to be donated, and identifying 4 boxes of papers, records, statements, etc. that all needed to be gone through, I realized it was time to give in.  And quite frankly, I wanted to make my husband happy and if a new paper shredder will do it, then who am I to say no?!

I would say that since we moved in to our condo just over a year ago, I have always felt like it was in a state of transition and organization.  We worked at going through boxes of things we knew we didn't necessarily want to keep, we kept trying to find just the right arrangment for the furniture we had and figure out where we could use a piece here or there, and we organized stuff to find storage space, sometimes where there was very little.  I continue to feel like it is still a work in progress and maybe I always will. 

But with Baby on the way, it seems the "transitional" state of our condo has been taken to the next level these days.  We recently bought a new mattress for ourselves.  After sleeping on my full size bed for over year, we upgraded to a queen and were able to put our new comforter and linens to use to go with the paint color Jack and Steve worked so diligently to put up in that room a while back.  With that new mattress, something had to be done with the old one, right?  Well, for the moment, it is standing up against the wall in our 2nd bedroom where it'll soon be taken to my parents' house for use in one of their spare bedrooms.  But in the meantime, that second bedroom looks like we haven't made any progress on it at all, when we really have!  It's a little discouraging to be quite honest, and I am glad that over the weekend we'll be able to make the switch.

I also just picked up our crib this week that needs to be assembled.  Since the mattress is in the bedroom, the box is currently just leaning up against the wall in our living room.  And just last night we visited with my brother, sister-in-law and their two kids, where we were gifted a whole bunch of gently used baby things free of charge.  (Thanks, Jim & Renee!)  Since I didn't want them to continue to have to store the stuff, we loaded up the things we thought we could use in my car to bring home.  And where are these items now, you might ask?  Most are in our dining/living room area.

Frankly, I think even Bentley is a little confused as to what is going on.  As we went to bed last night, instead of sleeping on his bed out in the living room, he started out laying in the second bedroom close to the door on the hard floor.

Despite being a bit overwhelmed by the current state of things, I am looking forward to this weekend when we'll be able to move some things around and get back to making our condo look like a home.

I met the guys after work a couple days ago for dinner and a few beers at the Hop Haus.  Although the service was a little slow (despite not being crowded), the burgers were really good!  I had a guacamole and bacon burger, which comes on a pretzel roll.  I couldn't finish it all, but it was fantastic!  They have two locations, one in River North at Erie & Franklin, and one up north in Edgewater on Clark.  They also have a great selection of beers (pilsners, IPAs, lagers, etc).  As an added bonus, their house fries were waffle fries!

Two weekends ago, Mary and I took our last vacation before we have Baby in tow.  Mary's parents were going to be in Seattle visiting family, so we decided we'd tag along.

We made it a long weekend, arriving late Thursday night and staying until Monday. Friday, we got to spend the afternoon hanging out with Mary's cousins who live in Seattle. We drove around West Seattle a bit to catch a great view of the skyline.  Afterwards, we walked around Capitol Hill just checking stuff out. There was no shortage of coffee houses, pizza places, and an interesting assortment of shops and bars. All in all, a very cool place.

That night, we all met up for dinner with Mary's parents and aunt and uncle, who came in from outside Seattle to visit as well, at Salty's. I had grilled Alaskan salmon and Mary had king crab legs. After a nice long relaxing dinner, we called it a night.

Saturday, we decided we'd peruse the Pike Place Market.  We spent a few hours just walking around, sampling pastries, baked goods and smoked salmon, and just generally checking things out.  Mary's mom treated us to a few nice little treats.  One of the more interesting things to see was the fish throwers.  Not a lot of people were buying the enormous fish, but the few that did provided a great show for us tourists.  We also discovered what I consider to be the best cupcakes ever.  They were mini cupcakes from a Swedish bakery.  Mary and I split a chai cupcake and a pumpkin cupcake.  They were perfectly moist and delicious! 

That evening we went to a restaurant called Von's Roast House.  Again, the food was great.  Sunday, after Mass, we made a stop at Bakery Nouveau and were fortunate enough to get a table while we sampled some fabulous pastries (twice baked chocolate croissants, parisian macaroons, passion fruit tarts).  Then it was on to some wine tasting!  I felt bad that Mary couldn't participate, but I guess that just means we'll have to go back after the baby is born.  We only made it to one winery, but it was a good one: Chateau Ste. Michelle.  Despite the fact that it was raining, the grounds were beautiful, and the wine was great

After the wine tasting, we said goodbye to Mary's family from Washington, and had one final dinner with Mary's parents at the Pike Brewing Company.  I don't think I had very high expectations for the menu, it being a pub, but the food was actually really good.  I also had one of their beers, and it was great as well.  I definitely recommend stopping there if you're in downtown Seattle.

The next day, Mary and I had breakfast at the hotel, made a quick stop at the market for another pumpkin cookie, and went straight to the airport.  Althought it was only a long weekend, the trip was so relaxing and easy-going, it was just what Mary and I needed!