What the hell was I thinking?

So, I decided that I would like to experience the American Dream.  No, not rollin' on dubs or jockin' the beetches and slapping the ho's as one would expect from watching MTV.
I wanted to build a house.  I've done plenty of contracting work in the past.  A little foundation work, a little roofing work, a little electrical work and a lot of framing work.  I, however, felt the need to do the entire Design-Build process, because I obviously don't value my marriage, sanity or physical body.  I bought a CAD program, learned it, sketched out my design, turned it into a set of prints, had the prints OK'ed by a structural engineer, took them to the City of Seattle and got a building permit.  That was the hard part, and took the better part of 3.5 years.
Here is the East Elevation:

Our goal was a house that had a minimal footprint, maximum efficiency, great views and was completely ADA accessible.  On top of those things, it had to be the buzzword of the day; Green.  While most people think green is the buzzword, the environmental design of this place was a first consideration, and the anchor for the entire process.  From the small footprint, to not demolishing the entirety of of the old house, to the non-toxic materials to the planted green roof to the natural light to the radiant floor, it's meant to be the most comfortable place to live, not a green product showpiece.  Everything in the process was held against the question "How does this decision effect us, the building envelope environment or the outside environment?"

Here are some of the folks that were instrumental in helping me out:
RFA Structural Engineers (Mike Chamberlain, Jennifer and the entire team at RFA) -
RFA Structural Engineers Home Page
VectorWorks BIM/CAD/3D design software - Especially local Architect Tom Greggs -  While he might not remember it, he first suggested VectorWorks to me in the Universtiy Village Apple store.  I was a long time AutoCAD LT (and back to R12) user and was sick of dealing with Autodesk and my PC.  I wanted a good 3D system that ran on a Mac.
Tom Greggs' blog
Vectorworks product page
Brian Gardner, guitar player, bartender and extreme help extrodinare.
Adrian Malatesta, legal consigliare
Pete Stewart, displaced musician and producer as we live in the recording studio.
There are plenty more, and I'll update as I can here.