Fall has arrived

School starts back up on Wednesday. Will be starting my 2nd year of Pharm school. Summer was filled with work, weddings, and the great outdoors. I(cheryl) have hiked 80 miles this summer with one overnight backpack trip in the Olympics to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary.

September: We had Greg's parents in town. Since Greg has a grant due, we ended up staying in town. Luckily Greg's parents are easy guests. They rented a car and drove down to Canon Beach for 1 night.

That's the short version of the our summer. Goodbye sun and warm weather.

The House

Thank you everyone for the congrats!

I realized that I haven't mentioned the house. Yep, we bought a house! The house is in Maple Leaf, just south of Northgate Mall.

It is a duplex. So we rent out the back, which has 1 bedroom, living room and it's own kitchen. We are separated by a wall. So, we don't see our tenant very much.

The front is where we live, and it has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, laundry room and a big kitchen.

Our real estate agent fought for us. There were 5 offers on the house and we got it!!

Ring in the New Year!

The last 5 months has gone by at a blink of an eye. Where have we been?

As for me (Cheryl), I have started my internship at Harborview Pharmacy and worked hospital hours, which some of you know and are groaning now. The hours are not consistent, nor are the days!

Once September hit, it was a quick trip to Italy, for Greg's work, and the start of my career: pharmacy school. The 1st quarter was very overwhelming. Not only were there a lot of material to study, but clubs and brown bag sessions constantly filled my oh-so-limited-free time. Anyhow, the 1st quarter is done! And now onto the 2nd quarter.


For Greg, he has been swamped with work. He is currently working on submitting an abstract to the ADA meeting in June. He is also working on a RO1, which in layman's term, a really difficult grant to be funded and it will mean Greg has finally made it as a scientist. Of course, the RO1 is very competitive. It sure takes a certain personality to do this career!


Lastly, I couldn't resist myself, a pharmacy-related information. Especially since it is a new year, majority of use have goals to be healthier and skinnier. FDA just added 41 more diet pill on a warning list! Click Here

Have an Awesome 2009 and a safe one!

Suby!

Welcome the new member of the Morton Family : Suby!

Name: Suby
Date: July 1, 2008
Age: 2003

Catch UP

Okay, bare (or is it bear), anyhow bare with me. This is a catch up Post.

Beginning of May:

Greg and I went to Montana to visit The Alkires. They have a new addition to their family of 3: Nathan. Beautiful and very strong, of course! And it was fun to see the dynamics of 2 children. All I have to say is that I need to start working out again to keep up with them! We had a great time catching up with them and even attempted some trout fishing.







White Water Rafting in the Wenatchee River:
Yes, Greg and I attempted this. "Do not try this at home" This was on the hottest day in Seattle and the snow was melting like crazy, which meant very strong rapids. In fact, I lost my sunglasses, but no worries it has been replaced by another Awesome one. Oh we also stopped by Stevens Pass on the way there.





Matilda's and Ian's Wedding: It was on Memorial Weekend. Located at Normandy Cove, which was a very beautiful day for a very beautiful wedding.




Now it's June and we head South to the Bay Area, where I spent 2 days with Grandma watching Indian Movie, while Greg had a meeting just North of San Francisco before his Conference in downtown SF. We were able to squeeze in Alcatraz before we arrive back to the gray weather in Seattle on Tuesday.


Golden Gate Bridge





Hyatt Elevators



Grandma, Cousin Terry and his girlfriend Icee.

Just another Weekend

The last razor clam dig of the season for us. Since we had to be on the beach digging at 5:45am, we decided to camp overnight instead of driving down at 3am. We had a great time, despite the HAIL! Yes, hail on the beach and on us. But we had a GREAT time!

Seeds of Compassion

Photo by Rod Mar/The Seattle Times/Sunday, April 13, 2008

Greg and I had the privilege to see the Dalai Lama speak at Qwest Field this past Saturday. He talked about making this Century the "Century of Dialogue" and to focus on teaching children compassion.

What is compassion? According to Wikipedia, "Compassion is often characterized through actions, wherein a person acting with compassion will seek to aid those they feel compassionate for. Acts of compassion are generally considered those which take into account the pain of others and attempt to alleviate that pain."

How to practice compassion? The Dalai Lama said, "Daily" and it starts at home. Through daily practice and choices, these accumulated actions will create change in our life and in our society.

Special thanks to Andrew Westmark for the tickets.

April Fool's

As we all know, little Miss Cheryl has a mischievous side. So April Fool's Day is just another day but with a twist.

What is the worst thing to get at Harborview? Any guesses?

Anyone, who has been to Harborview know the answer: parking ticket.

What does Cheryl do? Borrowed a co-worker's parking ticket envelope and stuffed it with a note saying "April Fool's Day! by the way, LOVE Cheryl + Megan (the accomplice).



Who got this? Well, of course the husband Greg!

I have thought of getting Rae, (outside of April Fool's) but the phone number listed at her work directory didn't reach her. What was I planning? Can't tell, I may still use it one of these days. {evil laughter}

Knitting Monster

Finally back on my knitting binge since the wedding. So I started my group up again GetKnitty Which is a lot of fun just chatting with friends.

Recently, I was told about a super awesome Knitting/crocheting blog, where knitters worldwide post their projects and can help with any questions.

Ravelry
This link was given to me by a friend; thanks Jenny! This is website, where you can record your project and also see who else in the World is working/worked on the same project! This is great for asking others questions when you get stuck. Enjoy this knitting/crochet forum for it is one of a kind. :)
https://www.ravelry.com/account/login#

Of course, while I started my knitting, Greg has started his Seattle Footy!

With my knitting binge, I may make myself this! j/k! hahaha!

You what!?!

Oh okay...Rae you twist my arm...

Here are the rules...
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


1. My mom side of the family, including my mom are from Calcutta, India.
2. I volunter at my church as a door greeter.
3. I found out the hard way that I have ezcema. Apparently, it has been dormant until now.
4. I try a new recipe once a month.
5. Looooooove shoes
6. You can often catch me looking at the sky
7. I randomly belt out tunes, especially in my sleep (last time was Star Wars theme song)

Helloooo? Are you out there?

Sorry! We have been M.I.A. Last week was filled with "Vision 08 Conference." During the conference, world famous pastors from all over the world speaks on leadership or simply "how to - be a stronger and better person". Despite the fatigue, we always feel greatly inspired and gain new perspectives. "Nope, we don't believe in being a stick in the mud."



So, here is the brief message:

Speaker - Jentezen Franklin from Gainsville, Georgia

Speaker - Kong Hee from Singapore
"The main motto is "Loving God" and "Loving People""

Speaker - Rick Godwin from San Antonio, Texas
"What is your "I Must",in other words, your destiny in life?"

Speaker - Bill Hybel from Illinois
"Leadership is working with the team to develop "ownership" by working together to create the main purpose or creed of the "company", "marriage", etc."

Driving home Friday night, we created a rough draft of our "Marriage Ownership Creed"

"Building a strong and fun Marriage based on God's Word"

Tiger Mountain

The hike itself was easy compare to the ice rink at Rattlesnake Ridge. We did get some snow near the top, which makes hiking a million times more fun.

As for the view, here is a picture that describes it all.


However, the birdies made up for the view.

The BLUE BEAST

"A picture is Worth a Thousand Words"

(D'OH! Sorry Tania. I must have pressed the "publish post" instead of just save.)

Our Green Machine=Ford Escort went to the service shop and gave us this car! This HORRIBLE car! It smelled like cigarette smoke! To understand the horribleness, here is a true story.

It was a cold Sunday night and the clock just striked 7pm. The happy couple were cuddling on the couch, when one of them decided to run to the store.

Greg: "We need to get milk for tomorrow."

Cheryl: "Can't we eat our cereal with water?"

Greg: "No"

Cheryl: "Okay, let's go to safeway. It's the closest."

30minutes later (20 of it was gowning up)

At Safeway after paying for the milk, 2L coke, orange juice....

Greg: "I need to get motor oil"

Cheryl: "Okay, toss me the car key and I'll put the groceries away."

The key was tossed. I(Cheryl) goes put groceries in the car and place the key into the passengar door. Flick the wrist and realized one half of the key is in my hand and the other half is in the door. (oh-oh!)

We ended up walking our groceries to our home, which took 20 minutes. Plus this was the day before my bday....Greg was not happy.

What happens next?

Well, Greg hammered 1/2 of the key straight and superglued it together overnight. The next morning (see below On My Bday!), Greg braved the snow and made a replica of the key. Surprisingly, the replica worked!

Thus the well-deserved name The Blue Beast. There were other incident but this one takes the cake. :)

On my Bday!

What a great present to wake up with SNOW covering the ground! Just the day before(sunday 27th), I was telling Greg about how sad I was to not be on the mountain with snow. Looks like the mountain came to me.



What fun! For dinner I wanted to try something different. Rather than the usual Ray's Boathouse, I decided something more stylish. With a bib and a MALLET, this birthday girl went to town. I'm sure others were thinking....Is it a woodpecker? No. Is it a jackhammer? NO. It a crazy little Asian girl with a MALLET!.....

Weapon in hand = destruction




Hopefully by now, I have you all wondering where this wonderful place is. The Crab Pot!

Fun at Snoqualmie!

Megan(co-worker), Wanda(sister) and I hit the snow on Saturday, Jan. 26. We had a blast going down Easy Rider, Dodge Ridge and so on. By the way, these are intermediate run and this is only my 2nd and a half time snowboarding. The half was when I have gone snowboarding 5 yrs ago! time flys! Here's a map of Summit West

The Morton Jr's First Christmas

This Christmas was extra special as it was the first one that we celebrated together as "Morton's" We have already started some of our own family traditions.

Christmas Day was quite festive with everyone wearing their Christmas hat during dinner. We had quite a spread with a mix of Australian, Chinese and American cuisines such as a 6pound roast, cornbread, bok choy, salad, mash potatoes, and ..... a new Christmas tradition of lighting the plum
pudding on fire. Loved it so much, we lit it on fire 3 or 4 times!

For those of you, who don't know what a plum pudding is. Plum pudding
is an Australian Christmas Tradition and it's similiar to a Fruit Cake.
It's actually denser than a fruit cake. It comes wrapped in a cloth
and gets boiled in water for 1 hour. Afterwards, you pour some whiskey
or brandy on top and light it on FIRE. You eat this smothered in
Custard, which I also bought with the plum pudding. However, if you
are a beginner like me, you make lumpy Custard, which is what we ate
with the above plum pudding.

As for the 75F, blue sky, sunny weather, we enjoyed it very much.
Played tennis on the day of Christmas. Several days before, Eva and her
friend as well as Greg and I went to Los Angeles County of Museum of
Art, aka LACMA. But we got tired after 2 hours and decided to leave
rather than see the rest of the museum! So much for being an Art fan!
At least Greg was able to see the La Brea Tar Pit next to the museum.
Of course, we topped it off with a burger "from In & Out."

Lastly, I was very happy to spend some time with my little sister Eva before she ships out on her 3 month "Semester at Sea."

MLK weekend

Bam !! Clam !! We are back baby !! Cheryl, Greg and Wanda left Oceans Shore beach full of holes after digging up 45 clams in about 45 minutes. Came back and deep-fried them. Delicious. Have plenty left over to make clam chowder. Look forward to hitting the coast again next month.... We might even test out our new tent that we bought at REI. It has really cool features and is extremely easy to put up.

For MLK, our original plan was to visit the Woodland Park Zoo. However that plan was cancelled by errands that took longer than we anticipated. Instead, Cheryl had a hankering to cook a pot roast in our new slow cooker. After grocery shopping we came home with a 2.5lb tip sirloin roast. While the roast was cooking, Cheryl spontaneously decided to go for a hike to work up an appetite. We decided to test our new hiking boots by climbing to the summit of Rattlesnake Ridge in the ice and snow !! The view was awesome on a crisp, sunny, clear Pacific NW day. Came home to the magnificent smell of the roast and devoured most of it.

Hunting little dudes down!

Yep, it's that time again! When Greg and I pull on our waterproof gear and rainboots, just to march onto the beach in hope of digging up more than 3 clams! Our Thanksgiving Clam Dig was a diaster! 3 clams! sshessss..Take one bite and pass it on. We'll be heading out this Saturday at a decent hour because low tide is at 3:58pm. This means, we will have to be at the beach an hour before low tide to hunt these little dudes down! That's right, they are not escaping this time!

Ring in the New Year!

Well maybe snowboard the New Year in. My co-worker, Megan, has a cabin at Crystal Mountain and did a night hike well before midnight. Tired from the hike, most of us went to bed! Talking about getting old. However, Greg and I as well as Megan and Collin made it to MidNight! Cheers! To celebarte we went snowboarding. Even Wanda came up and met with us!

Due to many winter sport and in anticipation for spring to come, I have become a sporting store stalker! So far, backcountry.com, sport authority, cabela, and Big 5 is a new home for a 5'1" Asian city girl. You don't even want to know what I have been searching for. But I will let you know what I have purchased: 1 golf glove, snowboard boats, marmot sleeping bags...yikes!

As for the gift-giving day, tor those of you, who already know, Greg and I, joined by Eva, went to LA to celebrate Christmas. We had a great time hanging out with my Dad and seeing my brother again. Those who are curious about my other sister, Wanda stayed in Seattle and spent time with our extended family in Seattle and went innertubing the on Christmas Day.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope this blog finds you well. Happy New Year!

Leavenworth!

An invitation from Rae and Andrew to stay at Rae's Parents' Cabin in Leavenworth was too-o-o good to pass. So, Greg and I stopped off at Les Schwabes to get our tire chains on our way to this Bavarian town I have heard so much of. Luckily, the roads were well plowed and we didn't need to use the chains at all. But there was definitely SNOW! 18 inches of it on Sunday!

Leavenworth was a nice change of pace for us compared to the normal errand running across town. While at the cabin, if a painter where to looked through the windows, he could have a painting of gathered people chatting around the fire holding a cup with steam wafting from it.

That was the night before. The following morning, we went to the rental shop to get me a pair of snowshoes, and headed out to the SNOW. We spent about 4 hours hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail, and hopped over many covered little streams. Very Pretty. The scene, of course, was gorgeous. But enough of my chatting-"A picture is worth a thousand words."





Thanks again Rae and Andrew!