Maui, Day 1- October 15, 2008

On the first day, Tim and I got up at the asscrack. Try 4:30am on for size. And for the record that is 1:30am Hawaii time. This was not particularly fun but I think the anticipation of going to MAUI! made us forget about the early time. We got to the airport by 6:30ish for our 8am flight and landed in Maui after a 5 and a half hour flight at around 11am. The flight was not particularly long, I think because we couldn't wait to get out of the freezing Seattle weather and into the sun. Here are the pictures- they tell the story best:

Our first picture in Hawaii... after we got "leid" after walking off of the plane.

Look Seattle! Maui has Starbucks too. It was our first stop for iced tea. It felt SO HOT since we had layers on because when we left Washington, it was freezing.

In our POS Sebring Convertible (seriously, who buys these cars?!) and on the way to the Fairmont in Wailea. It was cloudy the first day. But hot and fairly humid. It was so nice to have a convertible.

Taking pictures while trying to get out of the rental car place.

Our view to the ocean when we first walked into the lobby of the Fairmont. Beautiful!

Our room wasn't quite ready so we took pictures while we were waiting.

Lovely. He looks totally thrilled.

We walked to the spot on the Fairmont grounds where we would be having our wedding night dinner together on the 20th. It was right next to the ocean and very secluded. So perfect.

More of the same spot without the view of the ocean.

Kissing picture down by the ocean while we were waiting on our room.

We then trekked to the pool bar for some lunch and fruity drinks. Here is Tim with a strawberry daiquiri. It was the best way to kill some time even though both of us wanted to have our room so we could be in our swim suits! And let me just mention this pool bar (and all of the Fairmont restaurants, really) were unbelievable. They were all natural, all organic. These cups are made out of corn. We felt really at home here. It was perfect for us.

Maui Mojito. Drink of the whole trip, hands down. It was amazing.

After lunch and after we got our room, it was mid afternoon and we made our way just south of the Fairmont to Makena. There is a little hidden beach down there, appropriately named secret cove beach. This is the beach that we got married on. We went to check it out on the first day. It was absolutely pristine and more than we could have hoped for.

Standing in the water at secret cove beach.

The waves here were so gorgeous. It was still so weird that first day was so cloudy.

More of the beach... in the background is Molikini Crater- a popular snorkeling spot.

More beach.

Feet in water... it was so nice to be in WARM water again!

More of the secret cove beach.

Climbing the lava rocks above the secret cove beach. Let me just say- I did this 5 days later in barefeet and a wedding dress. THAT was a riot, I am sure (well, I know... I have the pictures to prove it!) It was probably good I practiced climbing here.

Leaving the beach in the sebring.

A view of the Fairmont grounds.

A view of Polo beach at the Fairmont.

More of the Fairmont grounds. It was a beautiful resort.

There is a pathway that goes all the way from the Fairmont to the Grand Wailea to the shops at Wailea. We walked this on our first night to see the scenery and to just be on the beach. It was gorgeous. We saw huge green sea turtles along this first walk as well. And, funny enough we literally saw about 4 weddings on that first day along all of the beaches between the resorts. Apparently Hawaii is a popular place to get married... not really a big surprise given the scenery.

Our first sunset of our Hawaii trip did not disappoint.

More sunset. We walked back to the Fairmont and spent the rest of the sunset just sitting on the beach and listening to the ocean. It was the perfect beginning of our two week trip.

Probably not the Hawaii recap you were looking for...

But I just want to request that everyone out there who reads this keep my family in your minds... pray if you do that or just send good thoughts our way.

My parents and brother along with my aunt and uncle were headed out to the great northwest this coming weekend for a little shindig we are having. However, as most people know, my grandma (mom's mom) is 89 years old and still lives by herself. She has actually been in pretty good health, not exceptional but not bad considering her age.

Lately she has been falling a lot more. This week alone, she fell twice in a day (on Monday). Last night she called my mom around 6pm to tell my mom that she was going to bed. Earlier in the day during physical therapy, she was very disorientated and didn't even recognize herself in a picture (it was her at my mom and dad's wedding 34 years ago). Late last night my mom was driving home and just had a feeling that she should stop and check on my grandma. When she got there, my grandma was on the floor in the hallway. She had fallen again.

She wears a necklace around her neck that she can push if it's an emergency to summon paramedics/call 911. But it was not functioning last night. At least my mom had the gut feeling to go check on her. We aren't really sure how long she was lying there but my mom called 911 when she got there. It took the paramedics 2 hours to get an IV in. [As a sidenote, Tim could not believe this. He said it's absolutely ridiculous. But then again paramedics in different states- like washington- get trained a lot more than in other states and have other methods if they can't get an IV within 2 tries.]

At around 1:30am my mom and grandma finally made it to the hospital. My grandma has severely broken her femur and will require surgery if her heart is strong enough (her blood pressure has been extremely low lately). A CAT scan also revealed that she has had a stroke that has affected the right side of her body. Understandably, she is in excrutiating pain and it has been difficult to keep her pain at a tolerable level.

My uncle is flying out to KC today to be with my family. My dad and brother are still flying out tomorrow, my aunt is no longer coming up here and my mom is going to try to make it at some point this weekend depending on what happens in the next few days and when/if my grandma does have to have surgery.

That is all I know right now and I will update if I find out something further but mainly I just want everyone to keep my family and my grandma especially in your thoughts and prayers. I love her very much and wish I could be there with her.

Hawaii Recap

I am going to start a little bit of a Hawaii recap. I am going to try to be diligent and make a post a day about various days of our Hawaii journey. If I miss a day, no emails. I will try my best. There is an incredible amount to post. But lucky enough, I have pictures that tell most of the story better than I ever could.

I thought that last week was Halloween?

I guess since Tim and I had only been back for a day on Halloween, we are celebrating the creepy holiday this week.

Several days this week, we have gone down to the garage in the morning and Winston's windows have been wide open and he has been unlocked. Ok, let me just say- we just got back from 80 degree, sunny Hawaii weather. It is, in comparison, FREEZING in Washington, not to mention it has been pouring down rain for the whole week we have been back. Yep, rainy season has started. (Apologies to all people who are coming up to visit us in the northwest next week. It will not be pretty).

Anyway, to say that it does not make any sense why the windows are down in Winston every morning would be an understatement unless coming home from work I unconsciously decided that I wanted to take a freezing cold bath. Plus, I am somewhat compulsive with locking the cars so it is pretty much a guarantee that when I got out of the car, I locked him.

So the first day this happened, it was just a "what the hell?" kind of a moment. That moment was compounded by the fact that standing there, the FJ decided to beep continuously at us even though neither of us was touching the remote to that car.

The second day was just eerie creepy. I decided to start a routine of trying to not make Winston or the garage haunted. That basically involves not shutting myself in the garage and booking it out of the car and the garage as fast as humanly possible. Pretty much I imagine a fire in my ass and book it up the stairs. It scares the living c-rap out of me and TWICE since I've been scared like this in the garage (after the Winston incidents), Tim has managed to ALMOST make me pee my pants. The first time he was sitting on the stairs when I walked in. I was all, "What in the f*** are you doing there?" And then almost fell over and died because my heart was beating so fast. He was sitting on the stairs calmly so he wouldn't scare me. Um, really? The second day, he was not around after I almost lost my life the first day but he turned on the light for me WITHOUT. ME. SEEING. HIM. making me think that our garage ghost was trying to trip me out even more.

Needless to say, I'm freaked. It feels like it should be Halloween week. Now I want this to be over and the garage to stop being haunted. I am willing to flirt with the thought that MAYBE Winston has an electrical problem. But since I started doing my little routine of booking it into the house (along with making sure everything- including the radio) is turned off on Winston, he has not rolled his windows down and Duncan has not been making any strange noises as he did at the beginning of the week. Hmmm. What does this mean?

It should be mentioned that his windows have been down at varying heights and he doesn't do this anywhere BUT in our garage.

Stay tuned for updates on Mr. Garage Ghost.

And we did it...

I am so proud today to be an American. For so many reasons.

It wasn't just about Obama winning and McCain losing, it's about the change that I am now hopeful will occur for us now and for our kids in the future. It's about a nation that is hopeful, accepting, and willing to take steps forward.

VOTE bitches!

I do not personally care who you vote for or why... whether you are ignorant and just pick someone based on what the media says or just because you like their, um, style, but the point is that everyone should get out there today and vote. I did, several days ago actually.

I have been following politics religiously this year and like to think that I am much more informed than I have made myself in the past. I have read both candidates policies have watched countless hours of both right wing and left wing media, have read articles and articles of opinions, policies, personal addendums... It has become somewhat of a passion. Because whatever you do or don't believe, this country needs a new leader, a change, someone in a time that is uncertain at best.

It is in ALL of our best interest for our future, our kids future, our country's future to take an active and vested interest in who we want that person to be. We can all make that choice for whoever we respectively believe that person to be. For me, I have no hesitation saying that I voted for Barack Obama.

Now your turn- go vote.

The countdown is on...

We leave for Hawaii in about, um, a day. Actually less than a day if you want to get really technical. Aside from the fact that I developed a cold yesterday, a cold that I have fighting so freaking hard not to get, I am still pumped. I think that sun and beaches will be the cure for the cold so it's all good.

We had a fabulous weekend... so fabulous in fact, that it probably weakened my immune system. Hence, the stupid cold.

Ashley got in around 9pm Friday night. We took her out to our favorite Thai restaurant and then headed to Rhett's house for his birthday party where a little game of flip cup indoctrinated Ashley in to the folks of Washington. Of course she was a pro... apparently flip cup is popular in Missouri too.

The next morning we headed out early to ride the duck. It was essentially a land/water tour of Seattle. Awesome. We met some nice folks from Wisconsin so that was fun too. We then headed up in the space needle. Then went to pike place market and then walked to the best sushi place ever. If anyone is ever in Seattle, check out Wasabi Bistro. If you like sushi, naturally. Then we went straight to the Angels and Airwaves/Weezer concert. It was such a high energy/amazing concert. Loved it.

Sunday we got up and threw on our hiking clothes and went into the mountains then to Snoqualmie falls. It was awesome.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend and I'm pretty sure Miss Welch had a good time exploring Seattle too. I actually took a fair amount of pictures but of course have not downloaded them yet. When I do, I will post them. They tell the weekend story better than I can.

Now onto the next journey... Hawaii!

500th post anniversary

Today my blog is 500 posts old. I may not always feel like I am very dilligent in posting but that is noteworthy.

Happy friday thoughts...

1) It's sunny in Seattle! It turned fall here about two weeks ago and started to get more rainy and um, FREEZING. But today it is nice, crisp, and sunny!
2) Fall color leaves. Love it when they are just pretty colors but haven't fallen yet.
3) Thrilled to see an old friend this weekend. Miss Welch is visiting from Missouri.
4) Plans this weekend include: friends birthday party tonight, and Weezer/Angels and Airwaves concert tomorrow night. Um, awesome!
5) No more lost kittens this week.
6) FIVE days to Hawaii day! YAY!!! :)

Run Away Kitty

Monday...

Following an insane weekend of running around, I started a new audit of a new client. A HUGE client, probably one of the biggest ones I have ever had. Tim has been taking me to work because my Arizona plates are um, suspended because I don't have Arizona car insurance. Reasonable since I now live in Washington but apparently it suspends my plates. I know, I know, I have been up here a year and a half! Anyway, poor Winston has been inactive lately. I don't want that ticket.

As a sidenote... I do have a Washington driver's license AND the FJ is in my name in Washington so I am PERSONALLY legal. Just Winston is not. But that is not entirely my fault. The state of Washington is being difficult and even more difficult is the lien holder who 1) never transferred the title to Arizona (WTF? How was I even able to get plates there??!) and 2) never transferred the title to solely my name in accordance with the divorce decree, which, by the way, I can't even tell you how many times I have called them/talked to them/faxed them this information. Ugh. Such a mess. I have been going back and forth with the Washington DMV and the lienholder for literally months now.

Anyway, Winston has been MIA as a result so Tim has been taking me to work. We leave in a week for Hawaii and are absolutely swamped trying to get ready for that and for everything else. So Monday night, I get home late and we are working on stuff until about 10pm. We relaxed for about 20 minutes on the couch until we realized we were both falling asleep and should just go to bed. We go to find the boys (the cats) and only find one. It occurs to us that we are horrible parents... both of us cannot recall the last time we saw Tyson.

Both cats are indoor cats and Tyson especially is absolutely paranoid of anything. Case in point: I was getting dressed one day and placed a shirt on the bed... he jumps 10 feet in the air and runs and hides. He, however, is very athletic and likes to show off his abilities.

We used to let both cats roam the decks so that they could be outside and lay in the sun if they wanted. This was not a problem until Tyson tried to show off his athletic abilities and would jump up onto the two inch metal rail and almost fall two stories down. He had been better lately about it so we had been trusting him more.

Unfortunately, it occurred to us on Monday that in the midst of everything going on, the door had been open earlier in the day for about 20 minutes and we were not dilligent on keeping an eye on him. He must have slipped out, jumped off, and then either slipped (because it was raining) or jumped down two stories.

No idea but at 10pm that night, we were freaking out. We scoured the house, walked around the neighborhood, call 24 hour pet watch since the boys have chips (which, by the way is totally stupid because as we found out, they do NOT act like GPS tracking devices and the only way to find your cat is if they somehow manage to turn up at one of the scanning facilities... and there are only 500 in the whole US). Ugh.

At about 11:30 we decide to go out and look again... keep in mind that it is FREEZING, dark and pouring rain. We pass a raccoon and freak. We look behind bushes, and nothing. We call his name, nothing.

All of a sudden under some stairs, hiding in the very back corner, I see a kitten. It's Tyson. Holy shit.

I say his name and he starts screaming... he is scared shitless, he is cold and wet and dirty, and he is starving. We take him up (he actually was too scared and disorientated to get far-literally he was only about 30 feet away but hidden very well) and give him a bath, food, and water. He purrs the whole time. Now he is happy as a clam after his little adventure.

Needless to say, even though our story had a happy ending, it was seriously scary (especially when we were told that only 4% of lost cats are ever found!) I have never had any cats do that and it was definitely a lesson learned. Here is a picture of the little adventurer:

Emily and Ryan's Wedding. A crazy day typical of probably any wedding day.

Tim's sisters wedding, September 20, 2008.

1) Supposed to be an outdoor wedding. It's Seattle. You'd never guess, it POURED.
2) Bride was obviously upset and crying because it wasn't the wedding she expected.
3) Three flower girls. At 2pm on the day of the wedding, two come down with the flu. Over the course of the next 6 hours, they puke 6 times.
4) The three year old flower girl made it, albeit with a fever, but made it.
5) One of the other sister's was in the wedding party. She changed her name a few days prior. Hard to remember in the chaos that her name was not what it used to be.
6) Same sister that was in the wedding party that changed her name decided an hour before the wedding that she did not feel comfortable being in the wedding. FREAK OUT.
7) Try to find a stand in. I was an option.
8) Beautiful ceremony, no glitches except the fact that the bride forgot to carry her bouquet and the groomsmen boutonnieres were about an hour away in a different city.
9) Lots of interesting people at the wedding... lots of diversity. From kids to grandparents to clean cut to piercing/tattoos like I have never seen before even to someone who was rumored to be a meth addict. The diversity was actually lot of fun... it made it interesting!
10) Tim and I somehow ended up as designated babysitters, which was awesome for us! I loved it!! I was watching the 3 year old flower girl Savannah (our niece) and Tim was watching our cousin Talia (I think she is 8 or 9)? We were all dancing together and during the toasts, I was teaching Savannah how to cheers with juice. It was a lot of fun.
11) Tim and I did not get home until very late that night due to the fact that we were helping clean the place up since we had a strict deadline to be out at a certain time. At one point, I saw someone dancing with a broom and I started dancing with a pile of trash in my hands with Tim who also was cleaning tables and had a pile in his. Crack up.
12) A great day and at the end of the day, of any wedding, the couple is married. That's all that matters. [And, as a side note, that is also why I do not personally ever want to be a part of the married chaos again for my own wedding...]

Stupid neck

Even though I wanted to adorn the chiropractor as king of the world after Tim's back ordeal, I have come to decide that I do not like chiropractors. Or maybe they just aren't right for me.

I went to the chiro about two weeks ago. When I was taking Tim in for his back, the chiro wanted to see me. He said that he could help the headaches that I seem to get rather frequently (I've always had headaches). So finally I went. He took some x-rays and found that instead of having a normal curved neck, mine was straight and instead of a straight spine, mine was curved.

Start adjustments, cool.

That weekend I felt ok.

On Monday of last week, I went back in for another adjustment.

Tuesday, I literally could not function. I was at work for 20 minutes. I could not do anything without feeling unbelievable dizzy, like I would pass out at any second unless I laid down flat on my back. That coupled with feeling like I would puke was unlike anything I have ever felt before.

I went to the chiro Tuesday to see if he could help more, and it did. Back Wednesday and felt ok. Thursday, didn't go but at Tim's sister's wedding rehearsal, we had to leave early because I almost passed out and puked again. Unbelievable. I was literally jealous of people who could walk around normally. THAT is not normal at all and should not be a problem for a healthy 26 year old!

Friday went again and did ok for the whole weekend. I have not been back since Friday and am not feeling dizzy at all...it gets better every day. I am feeling more normal than I have in two weeks. There is no reason that going to the chiro should make me feel like I am dying! I do not care how out of whack my body is... I can deal with headaches but I cannot deal with feeling like I am going to just peace out and die (it was really bad!!) So needless to say, I am boycotting chiros for the moment.

I am a HUGE proponent of healing bodies naturally, but I also believe in the power of the human body. I think that sometimes the more input you give it to try to heal itself, the more whacked out it becomes because it's just too much to handle (unless, like Tim's back, something is seriously wrong). (As a side note, I am a huge proponent of not taking any medications for this same reason). My body is extremely sensitive so I think that this was just too much. I think if I were to go, I would go more spaced apart and just until my neck and spine look more normal. Then hopefully my body would just adapt and I would be able to fix any minor problems without any sort of dizziness.

Family Fun Time

Like I briefly mentioned in my last post, my parents came out to Seattle to visit at the end of August, as did my brother. This was a HUGE DEAL because I have lived out here for almost a year and a half and they still hadn't ventured to the pacific northwest. They are not a huge fan of planes and 3 hours on one is not exactly their idea of a good time. But, much to my delight (and Tim's with the exception of the whole back ordeal that was timed right before they got out here), they made the trek.

During their stay, we saw more of Seattle than I have ever seen in the two years that I have been visiting/living up here. It's a pretty cool city! I mean, I have gone sight seeing and stuff but nothing like the sight seeing that my mom is capable of. Much of that is due to the fact that she bought these "Go Seattle" cards that you pay upfront for... it's either a 3 or 5 day card to do all of these touristy activities in the city and surrounding areas. It was awesome. We hit all of the places I have seen- pike place market, space needle, etc. but we also saw many things I've never been to- the SAM, music museum, other museums, boat trips, etc. Since I live here most of my activities revolve around the beaches in the summer and mountains in the winter- and of course all of the stomping grounds/restaurants that I love. I never really explored museums or anything of the sort! It was awesome and even more awesome that my parents paid for us to do it all!

One of the BEST DISCOVERIES EVER during their visit was this:

I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING YOU THIS PLACE WAS AMAZING. They make crumpets, obviously. I have never heard of these things. It is basically kind of like a biscuit/pancake type thing that they put cream cheese and organic home made jam on. And they toast it, but it's not really like toast. I am not doing it justice. Anyone that comes to Seattle and who is down by pike place market should try crumpets. They also have a HUGE selection of teas... it's like a teahouse versus the million starbucks that are around here, including the original starbucks that is just around the corner from the crumpet shop. I am not a coffee drinker but drink more tea than anyone would imagine so this was just the place for me. I believe I had their house tea which was an oolong/green tea mix. SO YUMMY. The day my parents left, Tim and I went back. And went again a week later when we had to run an errand in Seattle. It's that good.

Luckily when my parents were out here the weather wasn't horrible. Wasn't too great either, especially for August. If any month is really predictable up here, August would be it. Who am I kidding though? No month is predictable. My parents had a couple of beautiful 80 degree days but on a day when we were golfing it POURED. We thought it would hold off but then on the fairway of hole #11, it starting dumping literally harder than I've ever seen it rain here. But we got in a fair amount of golf so that was ok.

All in all, it was a great trip. They are coming back out for a few days in November and we will make the trip back to Kansas City around Christmas. Yay!

A pain in the back

Tim has grown up riding BMX bikes and rode them professionally for several years of his life. He still rides them when he can but doesn't ride as much as he used to, obviously, since he doesn't do it for a living. A few weeks ago on a sunny afternoon, he decided to get out of the house to ride for a bit. Afterwards, I get a text from him saying that his back was sore and he can barely walk. We both just figured he'd pulled a muscle and it would be fine in a couple of days. He went to his mom the day after for some body work to try to get the muscles to relax a bit and it definitely helped.

Fast forward two days later: we are at lying at the beach and all of a sudden I glance over and Tim is in excruciating pain. I ask him if he needs to leave and he says, yes definitely. He cannot move. He cannot walk. The lifeguard comes over to ask if we need help or to call 911. It looked bad. I let him lean on me and led him a little ways away from the beach to a spot where I can pick him up. We get him in the car and it seems like an isolated moment that was just weird.

We get home and have some snacks. He is sitting on the couch and all of a sudden just starts screaming in pain. He cannot move and is almost moved to tears by how bad it hurts. We try to get him up to walk and he cannot move. He walks 5 feet leaning on me and then collapses on the floor onto his back, in tears, where he lays for the next three hours because he simply can't move. We are both soaked from him crying. It is bad.

Meanwhile, I am researching back problems, calling doctors, etc. I decide that he needs to get to the emergency room stat. The only question is how? He can't move. What the hell are we supposed to do?

Three hours later, somehow, someway, we are able to get him to the ER. Mainly with the aid of a back brace and me using every once of me to hold him up and support his back. He is relatively ok during the time we were at the ER- especially compared to the rest of the day. The ER doctor is -sorry, mom- a complete asshole. He gives no consideration to the fact that we are not there because we want painkillers. Tim appears to not be dying so he says, "Yeah, back pain just sucks. Here's a prescription for pain medicine."

We go to Walgreens to get it filled. All of a sudden he is hit again with unbelievable excruciating pain. For the next 4 and 1/2 hours, he cannot get out of the car. We tried 800+ mg of Ibuprofen, Percocet (that the doctor had prescribed), muscle relaxers, ice packs, heat packs. He ate in the car and just stayed there. We tried baby steps. It did not work.

Finally around 10pm, his parents came over and with the help of his dad and some ice we were able to get him upstairs in to bed. For the next three days, he would require constant care- he was essentially flat on his back. He literally could not move. He will hate me for saying this but he was peeing into bags! I was giving him sponge baths and when the weekend was over, I made him lunches and left him pee bags to pee in if he had to. It. was. horrible. For both of us, obviously... more him than me! At least I was not in pain but it is hard to watch someone in that much pain.

We finally decided that he was only getting worse. We decided to try to get him to a chiropractor. Getting him out of the house and up off the floor was the only issue. His dad came over to help him. We find out that he has essentially dislocated his back. HOLY. SHIT.

The next two weeks would consist of daily trips to the chiropractor to get him to the point where he can actually be able to be mobile again. At least after just a couple of trips to the chiro, he was at least able to get up to go to the bathroom.

My parents came into town when he was just starting to be mobile. He was out of commission for their first couple of days. On the third day, he was able to come with us. Unfortunately, his body was so used to being flat on the floor that it kind of freaked out. When we were just about to start a tour in downtown Seattle he passed out on the bathroom floor. We rushed him back to the chiropractor, and luckily everything was ok.

Needless to say, the whole experience has been a huge learning lesson... don't take anything for granted- your loved ones, your health, your life. Everything can be a lot worse (and I know that even this is not the worst that it could get!) but times that are challenging and hard makes you really appreciate what you have in your life. Luckily today I can say that even though Tim is still seeing the chiropractor some and still having a bit of back pain, he is on the road to recovery and doing much, much better.

Quote of the day

"Today she decided to be suitably ambiguous, so you can think whatever you like about her (Amount of time scheduled for the opinions of others= zero)."

-Brian Andreas, StoryPeople.

Summer fun and other ramblings...

It has been noted by several people that I have not updated this blog for a while. Um, yeah. Sorry about that. I have no good excuses other than I've just been trying to figure out how the hell time goes so fast!

Here's a recap since July of the major events (to be followed by pictures, as soon as possible):

-July 4th was spent in a rather mellow way... just a nice barbecue with T's family. We had every intention to go see fireworks that night but by the time we left the family party, it was already 10:30 and fireworks started at 10:30.

-Mid July- Rich and Stacie's housewarming party. http://www.stacie-rich.blogspot.com/. They had their housewarming party almost a year to the day when they will be getting married next year. They are such a cute couple. I got to know them when I first started at my job up here... they were both seniors as well at the time (and they had met at work!) Within a couple of months, they had both left for private accounting controller jobs and I was the lone senior. Shortly after they got engaged. They are a ton of fun to be around and it was such a good day to hang with them and other friends, see their new house, and even play flip cup. Um, that took me back to the day.

-Late July- work golf day. Good times. I'm on the event committee and we were in charge of coming up with a theme for the day. We picked most ugly golf outfit- basically meaning come mismatched. I hope that someone has a picture of me that day. I looked fabulous. Black flowery shorts, pink striped golf polo, blue and white knee high soccer socks, red shoes, pigtails, and a purple flowery visor. Classy. I was on a team with my friend Rhett and we had a good time playing, looking ridiculous and drinking mimosas at 8am. I actually played really well. Afterwards, we all headed out to the beach. The company gives us the afternoon off so why not seize the opportunity to lay on the beach and play beach volleyball?

-First week of August- SeaFair in Seattle kicked off on Friday night by a gathering at Rhett's house. Fun times. It took me a year to actually figure out what SeaFair means. I'm still a little sketchy other than it means that everyone spends the entire weekend on boats on Lake Washington. I think there are boat races or something. Also on SeaFair weekend, we hung out with the little girls all day on Sunday. I think I've mentioned before that they are 5, 3, and 1. They are very cute. And also good birth control.

-Last weekend we went to our friends Steve and Krystal's wedding. I work with Steve and have hung out with him and Krystal on numerous occasions. It was a pretty small wedding and usually if you plan a Washington wedding in August, you are almost guaranteed sunshine and warmth. Um, it rained Saturday. For seriously the first time since June! But their unprotected ceremony was rain free. As soon as we moved to the reception, it started pouring. Luckily, that was covered. Interestingly enough, right as Krystal was walking down the isle, a bird pooped on me. Lovely. The row of us was trying not to absolutely die but it was so huge and disgusting and strangely hilarious. I have bad luck with being pooped on by birds. It's actually very odd.

I think those are the major events that have happened in the past month or so. More blogging to come (and pictures!)

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope everyone out there has a wonderful day with family and friends.

Mailbox Peak-June 22, 2008

Crazy, insane hike. There really are no words.

After hiking on a trail blazed by mountain men (meaning lots of stepping over tree roots, climbing rocks, trying to make sure you were going the right way), you get to the tree line and see this. Straight up- your pick, snow or boulder field. I picked snow, Tim picked rocks. The snow was actually fun and for a second I regained some energy at this point because I thought we were almost done. Quite the contrary, after this there was about another mile of climbing the to the peak.

We finally made it! The guy next to me is hiking Rainer in a couple of weeks. He asked if that's what we were training for too (or if we were just trying to kick our own asses). In the mailbox, people leave whatever memento they feel like and there is a log to write down your name and date. Not sure who actually decided to put a mailbox on top of a peak, but it works.

Resting against the mailbox, snow in the background. I just can't get over the fact that there was snow. In June. At the end of June. Crazy.

What we were looking down on...

The nice lady training for Mt Adams took our picture together.



Absolutely astounding view. On the way down the sun totally broke through the clouds.

Gorgeous. Would do it again in a heartbeat even considering the next day I was thinking cookie sheets as aids to get down stairs.

Mount Si-June 14, 2008

This was a round trip 8 mile hike to the top of a peak close by us- in North Bend (which is only about 30 minutes away). It was a great day hike- the path was well marked and it was not too challenging and the view was fantastic!




Looking over the side of the mountain.

I had to put the above picture of Tim in because I spent 10 freaking minutes trying to get it perfect. We have identical frames that he wanted to put pictures of us in (me in one, him in another) on top of Mt Si. He took an identical picture of me first so then I had to try to match it. I am not a very patient person so that was not a fun 10 minutes.

Pretty waterfall close to the base.

Bellingham, WA

Tim and I took a trip up to Bellingham (which is about 30 minutes south of the Canadian border, 1.5 hours north of here) right after we got Duncan, the FJ back in February. We wanted to take the FJ for its first cruise so we decided to explore up there since I had never been there. It was a pretty cold day but Bellingham was a pretty cool town. It's pretty like here but it has a much more small, college town vibe.




We look very northwestern here. Which is I guess what we are... but Tim even has a flannel jacket on- that's rustic! Now I need one I guess to really fit in..

Stunning views of the ocean.

Um, ok, so the purple star fish was a little weird to me.

I think this picture is from right around the same time period but on a different hike called Edgewick just east of here... it was FREEZING that day but we wanted to get outside so we did Edgewick which is easy but also has a huge waterfall so it makes you forget you are actually freezing to death.

Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis

Ugh.

This is the phrase of the day for me that FINALLY explains my stupid eyes for the past two months.

So, at the end of busy season, I went to the eye doctor up here since I needed new contacts and hadn't been since 2005 in Phoenix. I got new contacts, an eye exam, and was on my way. I think I may have posted about my experience with eye dialation but other than that, no issues. The dude changed the type of contacts I had but they seemed fine so no big deal.

A few weeks later, I arrived in Phoenix after experiencing dry eyes for a couple of weeks. That night my right eye was insanely dry and I spent the better part of the night attempting (and failing) not to itch it. I woke up with it swollen shut and looking like someone had implanted a golf ball into my eye socket. At 8am the first morning I was in Phoenix, the day I was supposed to see all of my friends, I landed myself right into urgent care. I got a few drops of stuff that made the swelling go down and thought I was good to go.

Three weeks later, my eye is still swollen but you can't really tell unless you're two inches from my face. It's gooping yellowy crap which is very unusual for me and I can't really keep my contacts in because they get dry and my eyes start to itch.

I go to the eye doctor- again- explaining the whole Phoenix debacle, what eyedrops I had been using from them, etc. I say that maybe I have dry eyes or allergies- I'm not sure. Then...

He. is. a. total. asshole.

He gives me some sort of retarded attitude telling me that "it is allergy season here" and "since both eyes itch, it's definitely allergies." The whole time he's talking to me like I'm a total idiot or hypochondriac and shouldn't be there wasting his time. This is my problem with arrogant pricks like him- ESPECIALLY when I am paying for his services. I mean, seriously, dude, what the hell?!?! Oh and then the best part at the end of my visit, he doesn't even thank me, he just leaves me sitting in the exam room and I figure out I'm done when he walks in with another patient. Nice, now it's my turn to thank him for wasting MY time.

So I leave feeling pretty pissed and like I'm stupid because apparently "it's just allergies" but I have another dose of some eye drops that should help, assuming I do just have allergies. I start using these eyedrops and they seem to help but I'm still getting the gooping and itching. I start taking over the counter allergy medicine thinking that HAS to be what's going on.

Finally, this past week, I have had enough. There is no crease in my right eye because it's so swollen and I just can't believe that it's allergies anymore. I've NEVER had allergies like this. So I make an appointment with a new eye doctor. SHE. IS. THE. NICEST. LADY. EVER.

Thank god.

But apparently, I have this giant papillary conjunctivitis which guess what that means?! I am allergic, all right. To what, you ask? TO MY NEW CONTACTS! UGGGGGGH! That stupid idiot switched the type of contacts I use because he claimed they were better (according to this new amazing lady, they are actually a cheaper kind and not better at all). So these new cheap contacts he claimed were better are made of materials that apparently my eyes absolutely despise. She said she has never seen a worse case of this in terms of inflammation of my eyelids, specifically my right eye. Lovely. And she didn't even see any of the goop! Gross! So now, I have to start wearing my glasses for a month (after getting that prescription filled since I haven't since, um, college) and then start aggressive treatments to treat the inflammation and THEN once that has gone away I get to wear new contacts... which are actually going to be the old type of contacts I wore. What. a. pain.

She said it would most likely be a long road. It is totally annoying but I am just glad nothing is really wrong. I actually called her as a final resort because I got freaked out from looking at the internet and reading everywhere that I was going blind. That and I was sick of dealing with swelling goopiness. At least now I know that I am going to be ok even if I do go insane from having to wear glasses for a month...or more.

Thunder?

I just heard thunder here. THREE times. I think that is the first three thunders I've heard in about 5 years. SO. AWESOME.

Life, lately.

Or life after CPA. Or life after being promoted to audit manager.

Wait, what?!!

Apparently things professionally couldn't be better at the moment. Passed the CPA exam and effective July 1 (coincidentally tomorrow), I'm a manager at my firm. Holy. shit. It's so weird when things start to just fall into place. I know it's been a lot of work to get to where I am right now but it's just like one day all of a sudden everything makes sense and it just all clicks together. It's very refreshing. I'm very excited for the prospect of this next year in my new roles.

Tim also just passed his national medic test on the first try Saturday, which was very exciting. It's quite the accomplishment. The test is not given very frequently (once per year) and it's kind of the practical equivalent of my CPA exam. If he wouldn't have passed it he would have had to fly to California to retake it and if he didn't pass then, well, he would have basically been screwed till next year. My understanding, anyway. I'm very humble in how little I know about his profession. Most often when he talks about any of it, I'm standing there with my mouth open, like, "You. have. got. to. be. kidding. me." I don't think I really need to explain how nuts saving lives must be but to really hear all of the intricate details involved in it-including even the petty politics that exist in his field just like any other- but to deal with that coupled with everything else usually just leaves me shaking my head in astonishment.

This was one half of the ending of his year of medic school and finale of his degree in para medicine. The only thing left is one trauma team lead on a call (meaning he has to have a trauma patient and he has to completely lead the call, make all of the game time decisions, etc) and a written exam. Then he's done.

To celebrate all of our accomplishments in our professions as of late, we spent the weekend in the sun. Wait, did I just say in the sun? When referring to Seattle? I know, it surprised me too. So much so that I want to run around like a two year old on Christmas and tell everyone- "hey, guess what, it's 80 degrees outside. And sunny! And I've been wearing a bikini for the past three days! Aren't you excited?!" While they look at me like I'm on some sort of drug and that if I'm that happy, maybe I should share.

It has been ABOVE 80 degrees here for the past 4 days and shows no sign of any worse weather in the next week. I. am. so. freaking. excited. I really thought we were skipping summer this year. I'm TOLD that every June it takes a while to warm up and "that's just how it is here" but in my reality June is summer and I don't care how it is here. Finally summer cooperated. Anyway, Saturday while Tim was gone all day, I was at the beach. When he got back that evening, it was so hot we went BACK to the lake. Sunday we coupled beach time with running up a mountain. I do have to say that even though we practically ran up 2.5 miles in 90 degree weather at about a 10% incline, it was SO much more tame compared to the beasts of mountains we've done the prior two weeks. No comparison and probably the one and only reason we were even remotely able to run up the thing on Sunday.

Two weeks ago we started with Mt. Si then last week we did mailbox peak. I will write more about mailbox in another post once I have my pictures downloaded and have not already written so much. It was by far one of the most intense hikes I have ever been on. Suffice it to say for now, we were hiking in snow (in June), we were ABOVE all other peaks around us, we were asked by people if the top if we were either a) training for Rainer or b) just trying to kick our own asses (the latter), we were hiking for approximately 6+ hours, the trail was just made by some mountain men (so it was not clearly marked in the slightest...actually that was very cool) and the day after we did it, I stayed home from work. I spent the majority of the day working from home wondering if sliding down the stairs on a cookie sheet would work to get me from point a (upstairs) to point b (downstairs). My only issue was trying to figure out a way to propel myself back UP the stairs after using the cookie sheet down. More on all of that later.

Until then... I'm off to sleep with the windows open and the 75 degree breeze blowing in. In Seattle. I'm in warm weather heaven.

I PASSED.

Do I really need to say anything else???

I passed the CPA exam. I passed. I PASSED. I FREAKING PASSED. FINALLY, I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!

I just wonder when I'm going to stop repeating that in my head and feeling so freaking excited and about ready to jump out of my skin.

Major celebration in order.

Or maybe the major celebration is Hawaii in October but definitely a celebration is in order... and STAT.

(And by the way, I almost peed my pants when I found out this morning... I didn't stop shaking for about 30 minutes. And is it ironic at all to anyone else that literally a year ago to this exact day I started my job up here?)

Holy. god.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The front page of the Seattle Times today: Colder than Siberia.

Literally.

From the Seattle Times: "While Seattle hasn't seen a 70-degree day in more than two weeks, Fairbanks, Alaska, has had six of them in the past 10 days. Even the Siberian city of Tomsk, Russia, hit the 70s last weekend."

Are. you. f-ing. kidding. me.

It has been pouring for 5 days straight and I would be surprised to find that we have topped 50 on some of those days. And not to mention the wind storm that we had a couple of nights ago that knocked out our power for about 4 hours.

For the love of God... it is June 11!! I keep crossing my fingers that somehow we are going to make the switch from December to June one of these days. It certainly is not the 120 degree June that I have been used to the past few years. Ahhh, I would take sun and heat now... even the 120 degree kind.

Head Injuries and such

The past couple of weeks have been all about my head. First, using my head to attempt to pass the last section of the CPA exam and second using my head as a tool to hit against things as I move to our new townhouse.

I do not quite know how the CPA exam went. I never walk out feeling awesome but in at least three cases, this has been ok. It’s yet to be determined if I am FINALLY done or not. I can’t say either way. I don’t want to be too positive or too negative so I’ll just be neutral and wait and see.

We got the keys to our new townhouse on May 26. I took the CPA exam on the 28th so we really didn’t start to gradually move things over until that day. On that day, I decided that in the process of moving, I would hit my head on the kitchen floor. Not on purpose, of course. I had gotten the whole kitchen moved in by myself since Tim was still in Ellensburg at school finishing up his finals and last week of classes. On Saturday the 31st, I was attempting to get as much packed and moved as possible by myself since Tim was on shift. It all went ok until I decided that I was superwoman and could move and take apart the mammoth table by myself. I got it all turned over ok but couldn’t figure out how to get the dumb legs off (turns out I didn’t have the right tools). When I stood up out of frustration, I forgot that there was still a leg attached and wham! Crap, head again. Ow.

The third head incident happened on Monday after we were all moved in. It was our first morning there and we were getting ready to take a shower. Well, the shower just happens to be extremely clear glass so as I reached in, or thought I reached in, BAM! And again, the head. I felt like a dumb bird that flies into a window. It was pretty classy. We were both laughing pretty hard at that one.

Anyway, the new place is great. It’s only a couple of miles away from where we were. It’s about 1600 square feet and is three stories. The bottom is the two car garage, the second level is the living room, dining room, kitchen and half bath. There is also a really cool fireplace that divides the living room and dining room. The upstairs is the laundry room, the master bedroom, guest bedroom and two baths. It’s very cute. I’m really excited to be there!! We finally just got everything big in on Wednesday when we got our couch. Now we just have to hang pictures and we will be set! I’m thinking housewarming/Tim’s graduation/YAY it’s FINALLY summer in Seattle party ASAP.

No removal this time

Today I went in for my 6 month visit to the dermatologist for a skin check. For the first time in the past couple of years I had NO moles removed. In fact, she actually said, "Your skin looks excellent." Imagine that!

And here's my plug for all of you sun/fake-bakers out there, from a former fake-baker. DON'T TAN (and wear sun screen)!!! My skin looks so much healthier now that I have not been tanning for two years. I am definitely white but I have gotten so many compliments on how good my skin looks and it was compounded even more with my recent dermatologist visit. I am a converted believer in sunscreen. Where I used to lather on baby oil, I now am lathering up with SPF 60. I look younger now that my skin is not so dark and I just generally feel better now that I am not tanning like I used to. Granted, a few weeks ago, regardless of the sun screen that Tim and I slammed on, we both had a couple of missed spots that we got a little bit pink. And in Hawaii, even though we will be applying suncreen, I'm sure we will still get some rays. That, I think, is ok. It's just the excessive tanning that I used to do, and I know many people still do, is not ok... at least in my opinion.

Everyone knows and has heard the dangers and risk of sun exposure and how it can lead to skin cancer. I know from my experience after having about 10 moles removed and being an excessive tanner for several years of my life that it's just not worth it. Hopefully I never get diagnosed with skin cancer. You never know, but I'll do whatever I can now to prevent it, regardless of my ignorance and stupidity before. I did have a conversation with a lady in the dermatologist's office a year or two ago and she said, "If you don't take care of your skin now, no matter how dark you are, it's not a matter of if you get skin cancer, it's when." Yikes.

I don't need to preach here. I'm just excited that my skin looks so good and feels so good, that I heard such great news from the derm, and that all of it is a result of being totally natural and taking care of my body. It just feels so much better than being tan ever felt.

Dr Mr. Weatherman,

I have a serious problem with you. When I flew back from Arizona on Monday morning, I almost cried at the thought of leaving the warmth, the sun, the ninety degree days. But you gave me hope and let me sleep easy that cold, rainy first night back in Seattle from the Arizona sun. You comforted me by telling me that for FOUR days this week it would be sunny and over 75, starting with today. I cherished you for this and vowed that if it really happened, I'd love and trust you (and all weathermen/women) forever.

Well unfortunately, Mr. Weatherman, with all due respect, YOU LIE.

Our relationship as we knew it was once over. You can no longer be trusted as it is currently 50 degrees out, cloudy and looks equivalent to a November day in Kansas City NOT the sunny November Phoenix day that you PROMISED. And seriously, why does anything have to be equivalent to November when it is MAY?!?!

I am sorry that it has to end this way but it just does. You either need to start telling the truth or just start telling me that every day here is going to suck so that I never get my hopes up and then when it actually is sunny, I don't have to be mad at you.

Sincerely,
Freezing Arizona turned Seattle girl

UPDATE: Mr. Weatherman, you are forgiven. The day started off rocky but it turned into a perfect, sunny 75. Now let's hope tomorrow we really do hit 90. But seriously, is it necessary to have "excessive heat watches" and tell everyone to drink plenty of water? 90 in Phoenix is cool. Let's not overreact here.

Turning another year older.

On April 29, I officially hit the other side of the 20s. I guess it's not really that old but I'm starting to feel old. I mean, I graduated high school 8 years ago. How fast does that go by? Quite a few of my friends are mostly married, many have started having kids. I have a handful of friends who have gotten divorced, some who have had abortions, and some who have decided that being single/alone/childless/against the "norm" (if there is such a thing) is best for them. Actually, now that I think about it, these people are the strongest people I know. It's kind of a time in my life where I feel like I really have to think about where I'm at and make sure that what I am doing is in my best interest. Do I really love my career? Am I really happy? Am I doing everything I can to make the world, or at least a part of the world, a better place?

I'm not really sure that I have all of the answers, or that I really ever will. I guess as birthdays and years come and go, sometimes you just ponder the questions. I'm doing the best I can and while there are some areas of my life that might need some slight renovations, I think, generally, I'm doing well for where I'm at.

My birthday weekend was a lot of fun. I took off a couple of days so that Tim and I could have a four day weekend together. We went on hikes, went to the ocean and rode horses on the beach!, made awesome dinners, and ate a lot of cake. Couldn't have asked for a better time. I worked on my actual birthday but got to do happy hour with friends and dinner/cake/presents with Tim that night. He got me so much stuff. I'm not going to brag about how awesome it is on here but I will say one thing... watch out for me in the kitchen. I seriously have the best set of knives ever now. Shun knives? Anyone ever heard of them? They are amazing. Now I just need to take a cooking class.

I'll post pictures from the birthday weekend soon (once they are uploaded). I've been pretty busy with work and now I'm starting to study again for another test (hopefully the last) at the end of this month. Last weekend, I had a long weekend in Phoenix which was a belated birthday present for myself and it was much needed... both for friends and sun time. I miss it there.

Birthdays are always a good time to reflect, a good excuse to take trips to catch up with friends and to be selfish for a brief second of time... just a little bit. Even if it's eating half of a rather large cake by yourself. And not feeling guilty about it in the slightest.

A follower and a catcher complemented by the cuddler.

This is Tyson. Or Tyson the Bison. Or Ty. He loves to play catch. He's like a dog, literally. Emerson played catch but not with the gusto that Tyson does. It is probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He also appears to guests to be the more antisocial of the two cats but he just absolutely loves Tim and I. He follows us around everywhere and he cries (IE: screams) when he can't find us. Wherever we are, he's lying right beside us. He also plays so hard chasing stuff around that he gets out of breath and can barely stand up straight. It is hilarious. He is definitely the more athletic brother.

This is Calvin. Or Calvin the Kitty. Or Cal. He is the sweetheart. He just loves to be around anybody and loves cuddles. He loves to get licked by the dogs and to put his face in yours to get as close as possible. It is very cute! He doesn't play as hard as Tyson does but he likes to chase around obnoxious things (IE: things that jingle loudly). He explores a lot and generally just seems to be happy go lucky... especially if he has someone to cuddle with.

These boys just turned 1 on March 17 (which was also Berkeley's 6th birthday- unbelievable that I've had her for 6 years!!) It is so funny to me how each animal has their own distinct personality and quirks. I love them all so much!

How I know.

It is the end of the 5th day of a battle with the flu. The second battle of the year and the one thought that might reign over me. Tim and I both have missed days of productivity because we have been crippled with fevers over 101 degrees and aches that make us feel like we are 101 years old.

Today we were feeling slightly better. Sleeping an average of 15 hours a day for the past 5 days coupled with a slight addition to pain/fever reducers (aka Tylenol) has kind of boosted our bodies back into semi-functioning. We have actually regained our appetites and tonight we decided to actually make food. We were also starting to get slightly bored... another sign that maybe we see the light at the end of the tunnel. We thought about going outside but wait. Oh, we can't. Why? It's SNOWING. ARE.YOU.KIDDING.ME?! Last Saturday it was 82 degrees and now it is snowing. I think, just maybe, I could possibly be back in the midwest without knowing it.

Anyway, we decided to make burgers tonight and it was a royal disaster. We were going to make sweet potato fries to go with the burgers but those turned into a sloppy orange mush. It didn't really matter because we probably still weren't hungry enough to eat them anyway. The burgers were done long before we decided to chuck the fries and as we were putting mayonnaise on their rubbery goodness (as a result of getting overdone), I look up from what I was doing to see Tim bellowing over me with mayonnaise on a knife over my head. Uh oh. I grab the jar as my defense.

And then I have a smear on my nose. Damn. Score one Tim. I then chase him with the jar and get some on his face. Yes. Nicely done!! We are then running around the island in the kitchen full on in our mayonnaise war when it happens. I am held down by Tim with the knife of mayonnaise coming straight for my hair and screaming about how I have bad mayonnaise/hair related memories.

Flashback: when I was about 12 years old, my mom read some health article about how mayonnaise and the egg whites in mayonnaise is good for your hair. Well, my mom only used to buy miracle whip. Um, has anyone ever SMELLED miracle whip? In my 12 year old innocence, on a HOT summer day I allowed my mom to put miracle whip all over my hair. Though, I'll have to ask her why she thought that her 12 year old daughter's hair was in such bad shape to need this mayonnaise treatment... I know she had good intentions but the outcome? Horrible. I smelled like miracle whip for WEEKS. And not just smelled. Reeked. I do have to say though, my hair was incredibly soft.

To the present.... I am currently getting globbed by big knife fulls of mayonnaise. In my hair. On my face. On my clothes. I then, intelligent person that I am, decide to jump so that I can get mayonnaise in his hair. He was already in the process of washing it off his face though so in the meantime, he is protecting himself by the spray sink water. I got drenched.

I'm not exactly sure who won this impromptu war although by the end we were both dying laughing and hacking so much that it would have been amusing for anyone to watch. And here is how the story ends. At the end of a horrible sick week, on the verge of a disaster dinner, with mayonnaise in my hair, my shirt soaking wet, hacking up both my lungs, and looking at the snow falling outside on April 18, I am happy and content. Laughing.

Tim's version: Hi blogger land?!?!?! So apparently I'm talking to who knows who?? But anyway, I was about to spread some mayonnaise and decided to smell it myself when I got a tiny dab on my nose, but Jenny didn't see that, so I got the BRIGHT idea, but NO. I'm way too nice, so I tell her what I was going to do.. Then I proceed to tell her that it really DOES smell bad.. SHE BELIEVES ME?!?! Why? Must be her good faithful heart in her fiance. So naturally I put a HUGE smear on her nose! :) And thus the war started..

Hawaii

I think that the title of the post should be more appropriately titled...


HAWAII!!!!!!!


That is about how excited I am. I can barely contain it.


Tim and I are taking a 2 week hiatus over there at the end of October... leaving on October 15 (the day pension auditing season is over) and coming back on October 30 (we have a red eye flight on the 29th). Um.... I cannot wait. We will be spending a week on Maui and a week on Kauai.


The tickets were bought last night. I got a smokin' deal. Now is the hard part... waiting for six months!! Sigh. I will try not to talk about it too, too much in the next six months.

Spring Day in Seattle.

Today it was 65 degrees and sunny here in Seattle. I'm kind of laughing at myself right now because a day like today in Phoenix was a relatively "cold" day... not warm, by any means. It was a day that was used as an excuse to wear a sweater just because it was cold enough to. Today? Today at 65 degrees in Seattle? I skipped happy hour to go run. In a tank top and short pants. It was amazing. It was the first day since spring hit in March that I've actually felt like it's spring and legitimately going to be summer soon.

I also didn't have to go to my least favorite clients today. I'll go back out next week... which is fine because it wasn't today. Next week I'll just complain about it and it will suck even more because the deadline will be that much closer. Oh well.

I was feeling so springy and cheery today that I decided to paint my toenails pink in honor of spring. [Right now Tim is on a 48 hour shift but if for some reason he reads this before he sees me and my cute little toes, I know he is silently high five-ing some god of toes.] My toes have basically been neglected since the holiday parties back in December. Gulp. I know. Bad, bad, bad. But what's the point when you wear socks and shoes and have no reason to bare your toes?

Tomorrow is the last Saturday we have to work in busy season. Our busy season as auditors technically won't end until May but we are lucky in this firm to still be consistent with tax... at least in our work schedule. We'll still be busy but hopefully (fingers crossed) there will be no more Saturdays after tomorrow and there will be no nights at the office past 9pm. And at the end of this month? I get two days, repeat, TWO days off work for a long birthday weekend. I cannot wait.

I can't even tell you how happy I am today... I finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Summer is right around the corner and these mad work hours are this close to being over.

Happy birthday month to ME!

Rock Chalk Jayhawks!!!

I am and will probably always be a Kansas Jayhawk basketball fan at heart. It probably started because my dad is such a die-hard fan even though I didn't go to school at KU. Anyway, every year I follow them and faithfully pick them as winners in my brackets and usually just lose money. Not only did Kansas WIN the 2008 NCAA tournament last night, it was probably one of the best games I have seen in a long time. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS, baby! Ah, how sweet it is.

Random...

I am eating about 400 organic disney animal crackers. From the pile of crap that can be found around the office this time of year. Now, this is what I don't understand. WHY, WHY, WHY during this time of year, do we have to keep so much food around and fully stocked when all any of us do is just sit at our desks for 12+ hours a day? It seems very contradictive. I would think that even though we are working hard, this is the time of year when we should be eating less because, seriously? Who has time to work out?

So I have since gained 7 of the typical 10 pounds I gain during January to April of each year. Although in December I lost 5 for some reason so I guess now I'm only 2 over normal. It's probably not a healthy cycle to be in though. Gain 10 pounds in 4 months, hit June, lose it all in a month... simply due to being able to actually move again. It's a bad sign when now just going on a walk can make me sore. I TRIED to get up everyday and do yoga. It worked for about a month. That ended, um, about a month ago.

I have to do my tax return completely over. It's been done since the end of February but because March 2008 SUCKED I totally forgot to file until yesterday I realized it was oh, April 1, and I am actually one of those many millions of people who do have to file my return by April 15... two weeks away. Oops. Good thing I didn't realize that April 16. It's pretty stupid too because I'm getting a decent enough refund. You'd think I'd be jumping at the bit to file. Nope, I'm retarded. Anyway, so I used turbo tax online because I know how to do my own taxes (thanks to starting off as a tax person... and, um, HATING it). So I had already figured out how much I was getting back before I even entered the stuff into turbo tax mainly because I'm a nerd and as I was collecting my various W-2s and 1099s I was figuring it out. So putting it into turbo tax took all of two seconds. Then I forgot about it until yesterday.

Yesterday I go to e-file and problem 1. I have to have my 2006 return #'s if I don't want to sign a paper form. Ugh fine. Call Arizona and check. Problem #2: I owe turbo tax $90 dollars to file my return. UM, HUH?! Apparently even though I clicked the FREE turbo tax box, I somehow got "upgraded" to the $60 "deluxe" edition. ($30 I expected to pay to e-file AZ taxes). Well that's retarded. So I call turbo tax and they tell me to delete my whole return and start over. So NOW it's going to take me longer because I have to get all of the information again and re-input it and hopefully not forget about it for a month. I was so annoyed. I should have just used the tax software at the office. Now that would have been smart.

Last week I lost my last contact. Because I haven't been to the eye doctor since 2005 in Arizona (and thus, my prescription had expired so I couldn't order more of the same contacts), I had to wear my glasses that I got my junior year of college. Do the math... it was about 6-7 years ago. And every year my eyes seem to get worse. The prescription was just a little bit outdated. So I have spent the better part of the last 5 days squinting and walking around feeling like a little old blind lady. Yesterday I FINALLY had an eye exam. Everything went fine... he told me he couldn't believe I was walking (much less driving) with that prescription. Well, duh, I'm the one who knows how blind I've been! My eyes, again, have gotten worse. THEN he freaking dilated my eyes. I don't even remember the last time my eyes were dilated. Well, it kind of sucked because my appointment was over lunch. And apparently when your eyes are dilated you really can't see anything. I probably wasn't supposed to be driving. I got back to the office and realized that I couldn't see ANYTHING. So for four hours yesterday I was basically out of commission. On the plus side though, this morning on the way to work, I was absolutely amazed at how well I can see now. Oh, and I'm going blind. Apparently I have a thin cornea. Maybe I'll get a seeing eye dog named Sophie. Hopefully she will be an english mastiff and be Simon's girlfriend.

I am done eating animal crackers. I'll stop rambling now.

Quote of the Day

"I see many people who depend so much on information they have lost their sense of direction- and the basic understanding and perspective of living. I find that our culture is in an epidemic state of misdirection as well. In some very fundamental ways, never have we had so much information and knowledge, yet been so lost. Information is good. But wisdom is even better. And life is best when you don't divorce living life from that which most gives life. Use information and knowledge but don't ever let information dissect and diminish your living and cause you to lose your way."
-Dr Mark

Hmm. Food for thought first thing in the morning.

Several months worth of pictures, as promised. And not an April Fools Day joke!

On Christmas, our favorite 3 year old, Savannah.


Jordan, our favorite 5 year old with her new recorder. We might have received a phone call a few days later regarding the revenge that we are owed for buying such a Christmas present.

Our favorite baby, Mackenna. I think maybe we just woke up.

Going back to Christmas, I got literally 4 coats (one of which is the black and white one behind me-Thanks mom!), hats, sweaters, gloves, etc. Washington is a LOT colder than Phoenix in the winters. Apparently I was quite vocal about how unprepared I was.

Happy new flat screen TV! Funny that all of the men are surrounding it...

When I went back to Kansas City just after Christmas, I was able to make it to an old family friends wedding reception. His sister, Katie (above) was my very best friend through elementary school and middle school and we have remained friends since. We were fast friends the day she moved to Kansas City from Pennsylvaina and sat next to me in Mrs. Parish's 4th grade class. It was so good to see her! Plus, I found out that SHE is getting married this summer!

Happy 2008!!

A rainy day in Seattle in January... but clear enough to see the mountains when crossing Lake Washington. It was pretty.

Please show me some other state where people wash cars WHEN IT'S RAINING. (Hence, the lovely hard hat). I cannot even tell how hard I was cracking up that day (and still even when I look at this picture).

The truck was also washed on this rainy day. It might have been its last car wash. Sad.

SIMON (the English mastiff dog... he weighs more than me!) and Meg. He might be my favorite dog ever.

Kaylene, Meg and I at the "Don't wear black" party. The theme came as a result of Simon (who kinda drools). And the party was thrown in honor of the first working Saturday of busy season at the end of January.

Girls valentines night out. Love it.

Anchorage, Alaska. Beautiful city. February 2008.

There were dog races going on up in Anchorage when we were there for the Fur Rondy festival. It was pretty cool.

More of Anchorage.

More Anchorage mountains. They are HUGE.

Beautiful sunset in Seattle, February 2008.

Sunset in Seattle over Lake Washington, February 2008.

New FJ. His name is Duncan, February 2008.

Different view of Duncan, February 2008.


I think that's all of the pictures that I have...and done. Told you I would get them up sometime. Happy April!