What do food & wine, real estate sales and home remodeling have in common?
We are an architect who is deeply involved in construction, and a real estate broker who has had careers as a professional actor/singer, systems developer and is now also a hobby sommelier. The latter person (me), could be viewed as indecisive, but I prefer to think of myself as a curious person who likes to learn new things. I am Diane. I have been working with homes for sale in Mercer Island, Seattle and Bellevue since 2003 and currently work with Windermere Real Estate. I got my sommelier pin in 2010 and am a vice-chair of the Washington Athletic Club Wine Advisory Committee.
Ty, the architect, is a building design visionary with broad, expert construction knowledge and skills. He graduated from Penn State with an architecture degree in 1985, and has been and architect and capital projects construction manager since. He understands the most minute detail about a building and can envision and architect sublime structural, lighting and color possibilities for a space.
We have been a couple since January, 2010 and were married on the 2011 Winter Solstice, on 12/22. That’s us to the left on our happy day. We met online and our first in-person meeting was over martinis at the sadly short-lived Stir in Bellevue. So, the title of this blog reflects the way we became “we” and the open-ended way we intend to approach the subject matter. We also want to have a little fun with it.
We rehabbed a 1910 Craftsman bungalow on Seattle’s Phinney Ridge together in the first part of 2011. That’s the living/dining area looking through to the kitchen & breakfast room above. (It’s adorable!) Ty says our work together on what turned out to be a big and arduous project is how he knew we’d be a successful married couple. I figure that the couple who works to build value together is well-matched. So, we expect marital success from different viewpoints.
We are now taking on the remodel of a mid-century custom home on Mercer Island. (This kitchen was last updated by Gerry Gerron, the founder of G2 Architecture, when he owned this home. We will definitely be talking more about this space as we move forward.) 
Ty and I intend to provide some inside knowledge about houses, the real estate market in Seattle, food and wine, and other items of benefit to everyday life. We invite comments, questions and suggestions about how we can make this blog more fun and beneficial to our readers.