I have been without my little guy for two weeks! It feels much longer. My parents are driving him down a week from today, and I am super excited to see him again! I think he is going to adjust pretty well to his new digs. There are lots of birds and squirrels out on the golf course for him to stare at all day. I think his new favorite vantage point will be the master bedroom window. 
Eat your heart out, Lauer!! So, Kyle and I made it safely down to California. Our first stop was at the Burgerville in Centralia. And yes, Kyle made that face on purpose. Unfortunately, my picture taking ended at Burgerville. I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures on our road trip. I had the camera in the car the whole way, but we didn't really see anything picture worthy along the way. We tried to get a picture of a tug boat in a Burger King parking lot, but it drove away before I could get a shot of it. I know, way lame. Truthfully, the drive down was more barren than I imagined it would be, the California part anyway. It was like the drive from George to Moses Lake, WA, super dry and not much to look at. We stopped in Portland the first night and got to spend a few hours catching up with Jon and Cathy Ward, which was super fun! It was great to see them. From Portland to Ashland, OR, Kyle and I managed to kill the whole ride playing the celebrity "who would you rather have sex with?" game. It was quite entertaining. What did I learn about Kyle from that game? He does not find Janeane Garofalo attractive. I think I finally got him to choose Janeane over Roseanne Barr. For me it came down to Flavor Flav and Michael Jackson. Both choices make me squirm, but I had to go with Flavor Flav. I mean The Gloved One no longer looks human. The last time he looked normal was during the Bad era. Now he looks like an alien ghost. Ewww. Anyway, that game managed to provide us with 299 miles of laughs! Our second night we stopped in San Francisco and stayed with Jon and Ashley, and we all met up with Corbett and Jessie for dinner and drinks. I can't believe San Francisco is only a 5 hour drive from Valencia! So cool. It will be nice to shoot up there for a weekend every once in awhile. We arrived in Valencia on Monday evening, and John gave us the big tour of where we live, and I really like it! It is really quiet, and peaceful. The town seems easy to navigate, and there is tons of places to walk to, and lots of shopping. Plus the weather kicks ass. It has been 80 degrees the last three days! I drove Kyle to LAX on Tuesday morning. I have been working on unpacking all the boxes and making our place look more like home. I will post some pictures of our place and surrounding areas soon!
I've fallen in love with these two cuties this past week that I've been staying at Casey and Kim's place! Lincoln has the most adorable face, with huge brown eyes that melt my heart. Pip is so loving, and she does indeed follow Kim wherever she goes. Kim has Pip well trained to take good photos, while Lincoln has the hardest time sitting still of any dog I have ever met! He just wants to be part of the action at all times. Lincoln has been keeping me company at night, which is awesome, despite the fact that he takes up about 2/3 of the bed:) I'll miss them when I leave town!
Gina is the cutest pregnant woman I have ever seen! I am so excited for Atticus to be born!! He is due to arrive in early May, and I'm already planning a trip back to Seattle to visit him in June. Gina, Paula, and I spent the majority of the day today hanging out and taking some snap shots of Gina's baby bump. I love touching it so I can feel him move, but he's grown so much at this point that he doesn't have a lot of room to "kick it" anymore. Can't wait to meet you Atticus!!
On April 6th, John and I celebrated our two year anniversary! It seems like we have been together for longer than two years, but when I look back on the time we have spent together, it really has seemed to fly by. We met for the first time at Cafe Fiore, the one off of 85th and 32nd in Ballard. John was living in Ballard at the time, and he walked to the coffee shop for our first date. There is a street close by (33rd Ave NW and 77th) where the entire street is lined with trees that blossom so beautifully in the spring. John said they were in bloom during his walk to meet me for the first time. A year after our first date, John and I were living together in Ballard, just a few short blocks from that tree lined street. He took me to see the trees while they were in bloom, so gorgeous. Now, two years after our first date, the trees are in bloom again, so I decided to take some photos since we probably won't be back to enjoy them for awhile.
I have the most awesome friends of anyone I know! I am constantly amazed by how generous, thoughtful, and most of all, hilarious, they are! Saturday night was my going away pub crawl in Ballard. When I arrived at the Lock & Keel, I was surprised to find all my friends wearing t-shirts with my picture on it, most of them had the above glorious photograph, one of my favorites from 2007. It highlights some of my many stellar qualities. I like to keep things real with my Old English 800 trucker hat, while throwing out some double deuces to all my homeslices. So along with the photo, each t-shirt was also adorned with an original quote from yours truly. 
How can you not love this little guy? If your name is Frank, it isn't a problem. Frank and Bailey first met at Christmas 2006. One look and Frank knew that his life's goal was to destroy Bailey. Bailey was all happy-go-lucky, wanting to be Frank's pal, and Frank was having none of it. Enemies forever. It is like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, neither can live while the other survives (guess who just watched Order of the Phoenix?). So here we are, April 2008, Frank's blood lust for this fluffy white beast has yet to be quenched. I doubt they will meet again, as Frank is confined to the upstairs bedroom at my parents house, while Bailey gets full run of the main floor. 
I am finally out of the house in Ballard, and I will miss the neighborhood so much! It was really sad to see the house so empty. Frank didn't even know what to think, he was really out of sorts, just laying in the middle of the empty living room, his favorite lookout chair taken to the thrift store the previous day. Monday morning I filled the car with the rest of my belongings, put Frank in his little cat carrier, and drove to Moses Lake to spend a few days with my parents. I think by Issaquah Frank had had enough of the adventure and decided to let me know by taking a dump in his carrier. Poor little guy! I felt bad for him! Now he is hangin' at my parents place for the next few weeks, resting up for the big journey down to California!! 
