Digitizing History

Over Christmas I decided to take some of the photos my Mom has been collecting over the years so that I could scan them so that they didn't degrade. I've started on some of them and thought I'd share. I hope I don't embarrass anyone too badly. Enjoy this first set from when we lived in our condo in Centerville.

Ryan @ J.P. Stewart School

Nick catching some air. Check out those moon boots.

Ry & Nick Sledding

Ry in his water wings @ the club house

Working on my fitness

Yeah Presents

Sledding out front

Starbucks 1600E Olive Way Happenings

I haven't posted in a very long time but I wanted to share some of the fun things that have been going on here in Seattle. Most recently the partners at my store voted me Partner of the Quarter. They made this fun little recognition wall in the store for me. I was taken completely by surprise. My boss presented me with a coffee tree. It's so cool I can't wait to see if it flowers in the spring

The Starbucks "Spirit Captain" position is where I've spent the past few months and I thought you'd like to see a few photos of our new digs. Hopefully you've had the chance to see what the old store looked like. If not I've got some interesting photos for you.

Our back bar. We've got four white wines, four red wines and three bottled beers in our selection, as well as some new upscale plated food items.

This is the front of the store with our dueling pastry cases. Basically if it gets busy you can send people to the left or the right. The gorgeous wooden counters have been re-purposed. That's right we're a very green store, right down to most of our lighting which is LED.

Here is one of two rooms that are partially partitioned off for meetings or study groups. You'll notice the walls are lined with burlap coffee sacks that are actually from our warehouse in Kent, WA. Where we keep our beans before roasting. The long metal table has been re-purposed from a school that had closed down.

Our living room complete with an indoor/outdoor fireplace, couches and chairs made from imported leather. A re-purposed wooden table.

This is the new front patio, of course it's covered in snow from the last storm. My guess is it's going to be insanely crazy out there come summer time.

This is David standing in front of the outdoor portion of the fireplace. Notice no snow under his feet. That puppy puts out some major heat, and of course in keeping with the "green" concept of the store it's gas.

Daddy and his baby boy.
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Formerly Chang's

What used to be Chang's Mongolian Grill
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About a month ago my good friend Tara dragged me kicking and screaming(quietly inside) to the Flower & Garden show. Frankly I'm glad she did, so I'm not sure why I was protesting so. Unfortunately, unless someone buys it, it will not continue in the years to come. Tara informed me the owners of the show have decided this will be the last year, they're retiring from the Flower & Garden circut, I guess.
In any case it was simply amazing, tons of incredible gardens and vendors that had everything you could ever imagine for gardening.

Keep in mind all of these photos were taken inside the Seattle Convention center. Downtown. Pretty cool stuff.

Light Rail/Broadway destruction

Today we were walking down Broadway, Capitol Hills main drag so to speak. It has been sad to see the empty store fronts of some of our favorite places, "My Favorite Piroshky", "Vivace," "Perfect Copy and Print." They've been vacant for several months due to the forth coming of Seattles light rail, stops opening 2010! Yeah Seattle! Lucky us. As we neared some our favorite places we noticed that the facades were still intact, but the backs had been ripped off.

Capitol Hill has changed so much in the short ten plus years that I've been in Seattle. Stores have come and gone, bars and clubs have been torn down replaced by tacky modernist steel and 80's day glow colors buildings. High price restaurants that serve animal crulety foire gras and capon for prices one can barely afford in this recession have moved in. Icons Manray, Bimbos Bitchin Burrito Kitchen, Cha Cha and Kincoras were demolished in then interest of more condos .. oh wait no one can afford a 300,000 dollar shoe box so now there is a parking lot where they once stood. I won't say wether the change is for the good or for the bad. I hope they have something constructive to do with broadway while they're working on the light rail.

Turkey & Twilight

So with another year, another vacation in my home town, Ogden, Ut. As always it's amazing to see how much my family has changed, and how much they have stayed the same.

My youngest sibling as bossy as ever, and where it used to annoy me to no end, now I find it amusing as I see a lot of myself in her. Jesse, is a brave and lucky man. The two of them are perfect I can't imagine not having him as my brother-in-law. And speaking of Jesse, check out Liquid Vision Films. I have to say here also that check out that gorgeous tree. My sister Amanda's first Christmas with her new husband Jesse, and their first tree. Very impressed!

This brings me to my next sibling. The incredibly talented, beautiful woman Hollie. I find it amazing that everything she tries, she succeeds. Too bad there aren't any singing photographer jobs .. hmm. And with Hollie, you can't forget Eli, who brings a whole new dimension to the Campbell Clan, and I do mean that in a good way. Seriously. Funny how each of us found the perfect compliment. Now you may be wondering where are the photos of my beautiful sister Hollie .. I promised her I would keep the photos under wraps .. but stay tuned .. in the near future you'll see.

Next of course, are Ryan & Amee. Now Ry, I've always been jealous of, his keen sense of business and his perfect credit not to mention his athleticism. I'm so proud of him, always going after what he wants and achieving it. You can always count on him, no matter what. And of course Amee, outgoing and kind. Seriously I couldn't imagine a more perfect match for my brother. Always willing to lend a hand not to mention extremely beautiful tho sometimes I don't think she knows it. Not only did she just become a full fledged travel agent, but she also works for herself selling clothes. Now I can't recall what the line she sells is .. but she wears it and she always looks fabulous. I always look forward to their visits to Seattle. We always have the best time ... bumps on the noggin and broken bones aside .. ;) And seriously .. look at this photo .. what a gorgeous couple!

brrrrphhh ... "What?" "Ryan"

Mom. What can I say really. She truly is the most amazing woman I know. For one, she seems to be able to manage eight children, two dogs, and our Aunt Terry, and stay semi sane. I think you have to know that when all is said and done all your children end up at your house you must have done something right. I only hope my kitties children will come for a visit.

The vacations are always too short, and this one was no exception. However with every vacation comes movies I've never seen and or course lots of sleep. First on the list, Twilight. Now before I arrived I'd never heard of it, but apparently it's based on very popular novel series by Stephanie Meyer. From what I'm told, you must read the books to understand some of the inside jokes that go on throughout the visually stunning flick. Fortunately for me I had very reliable sources that filled me in on the scoop. Now I must say, Edward, mighty good stuff. And although the acting was a bit, juvenile in places, for freshmen actors, I think they pulled it off. I give the show a couple of thumbs up, it's a definitely see, whether in the theater or at home. However, the baseball scene, must be done in the theater.

Next comes W.A.L.L.-E. Unfortunately I can only report on about 90% of this film as my sister took it home and I was unable to finish. However, I found it not only perfectly enjoyable as a no brainer, but if you sit back and take a look, the non verbal social commentary on today's society was pretty sickening. All in all, I'd rent this one. If you talk to my sister, it's a must have for your home library.

As for the action adventure flick. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I've heard a lot of yays and nays about this feature. Personally I found it to follow the exact same format as the last three films. Extremely entertaining, and I can't say how excited I was to see Karen Allen back. As for Shia LaBeouf, he did a great job, however if they decide to carry on the Indiana Jones film series, I'm not sure he can take Harrison Fords place as the new Indiana. But like I said, great job. On a side note, the legend of the crystal skulls is based in fact. For more information you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skull .