Photos from summer

Here are a few photos I took this summer while we were in the States.

House

I know, I know, it's been a while. I have just been SO busy!! I keep meaning to post and add some new pictures, but I just never seem to find the time. I don't have the photos available right now, so I will have to post those later. Hopefully, not three MONTHS later. ; )
Anyway, we've been busily working on our floor plan. I posted a copy of it yesterday. It's actually not the latest copy, but it's mostly right. I'm still trying to work out the master bathroom. Cliff had had the idea of doing away with the tub and just having a huge walk in shower, but I couldn't quite get it to work out right. Plus, we had already replaced the other bathroom's bathtub with a shower and I was a little concerned that having NO bathtubs would be an issue if we ever decided to sell it. I don't know though. I think most people only take showers these days. The only person I know who takes a bath anymore is my mom. Anyway, as I was rearranging things, the hallway into the bathroom was moved and is no longer centered on the tub. I kind of like things to be symetrical, so I may shift it back over. However, that means the closets would no longer be similarly sized. I ALWAYS get the smaller closet for some reason, so I'm not sure if I want to do that. Then again, even with the smaller size it would probably be twice as large as what I have now and I really don't need a huge closet. I'm just happy to have my own space. It took a long time to get the kitchen the way I wanted it. For some reason, Cliff insisted on this enormous island. That thing is 5X11 feet!! I had to take out the countertop between the kitchen and the breakfast area for it to fit. I thought it would look terrible, but when I use the program we have to look at a 3D representation it actually looks pretty good. It's a totally open floor plan except for the bedroom areas. We wanted an open plan because whenever we've had get togethers in the past, people always ended up in the kitchen around the island. I'm still trying to decide it I should put in some architectural elements to visually divide the living room and kitchen. We probably won't start building until around August so we still have time to think about everything and work it all out. As we've worked on it, Cliff's "man room" has increased a lot. It's the room to the right of the entry. I think the last measurement was about 15' X 17'6", not including the bar area. He's going to set it up as a guy hang out to watch sports and stuff. The room to the left of the entry is supposed to be the formal dining room, but we're not really formal dining kind of people so we're planning on using it as our home office instead. Plus, the breakfast area in the kitchen is large enough for a good sized table. We should probably get one that is expandable because we won't need the larger size except when we have company. Anyway, if anyone has comments/suggestions about the house, let us know because you might come up with something we haven't thought about. Our friends Mark and Jessica just got married and I think they may buy one of the other lots on the cul de sac. We're going to have our own little commune going. ha ha. Ang and Chris have the first house on the street, so they're ironing out all the kinks with mail delivery. I think it's solved now, but for a while everything kept getting returned because no one knew where the street was and thought it was an incorrect address. Their house turned out really nice and John did an excellent job with the landscaping. We're definitely going to have him do ours as well.
The weather is getting colder here. I heard on the radio the other day that there was a chance of snow. It surprised me because I hadn't realised it had gotten that cold yet. I guess I am getting used to it although that is one thing I most definitely will not miss.
Seoul has a Coldstone Creamery now. For those who are not familiar with it, it is a chain ice cream place where you can choose different flavors of ice cream and there are a lot of things you can request to have mixed into it. The server puts your ice cream on a marble slab and uses metal paddles to mix in your choices. I always get the berry berry berry good concoction. It is sweet cream ice cream mixed with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. I always ask for bananas to be added as well. It's pretty good. I don't really like candy in my ice cream, but the shop has a large selection if that's what you like. It also has different nuts and brownies and graham crackers and things like that. Anyway, we discovered it when we met some friends for dinner in that area about a month ago. I think it just opened in September so it's pretty new. Seoul has a lot more foreign restaurants than it did when I was here in 97-98. There is a great little Italian place in Itaewan called la Tavola. It is reasonably priced by Seoul standards (about $14-17 for an entree) and the food is excellent. The prosciutto wrapped buffalo mozzarella is first rate and I am completely addicted to their roasted chicken. It is the best I have ever eaten and usually comes with asparagus and roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic and a sage butter sauce. Allissa loves their mushroom soup. Pretty much everything I have eaten there is phenomenal. I'm a little picky sometimes, so if I say it is great, it really is. If you ever make it to Seoul - eat there!