Back in Seattle!!!

As some of you know, I have moved back to Seattle!! Deciding to leave California was an extremely difficult decision and in no way an easy decision. Out of respect for John, and his family and/or friends that may continue to look at this blog, this will be the first and last time I will mention leaving California. John and I parted ways on great terms, and he is an amazing person, and I wish him my love and best of luck with his adventures in California.

So, why the photos of Seattle? The photos below were taken shortly after I got my first digital camera. I think it was 2002ish. It was a little Canon Powershot point and shoot type camera. It was a mere 3 megapixels. But it served me well. My parents got it for me for Christmas while I was still in graduate school. I used to take study breaks and go on outtings with my camera, taking pictures of different things around Seattle. I took pictures all over town, so much fun. I took pictures in Ballard, Golden Gardens, Pike Place, various locations downtown, pictures of old cars, cool signs, buttons in elevators, gridlines on escalators in the bus tunnel, skyscrapers, sunsets, pretty much anything I saw that I thought was cool. Those first camera breaks took place almost 7 years ago. I have lived in Seattle almost 10 years now, but it wasn't until I actually went out exploring with my dinky little camera that I fell in love with this city. Needless to say, when I moved to California, my heart broke for Seattle. My family, friends, and all things Pacific Northwest. I was a mess. So this is my love letter to Seattle, I've missed you, and I'm happy to be home.
Neon sign at Ray's Boathouse.
Caffe Fiore at night, 85th street location.
Golden Gardens at sunset.
Shilshole Bay marina at sunset.

Considering my return to Seattle, this girl's adventures in California have come to a close. With that in mind, I need a new blog title! Anyone have any ideas? I'm open to suggestions. Please feel free to leave a comment with any ideas you might have!!

Crazy dog.....

This furry little white pooch is my parent's dog, Bailey. She is a West Highland terrier, and she's super cute, and full of energy! When I was at my parent's place last week I was able to catch her kickin' it in one of her favorite spots: riding around on my mom's shoulders. It doesn't seem like the most comfortable spot to lounge, but she loves it. I think she likes to be up high, and at eye level to people so she can lick their face. Crazy dog.....

Shoe tree

On our way through eastern Oregon, my parents and I stopped to take a photo of a bizarre shoe tree. It is a dead tree decorated with shoes. Super cool. The tree is located about 10 yards from the U.S. 97 highway shoulder, a few miles outside of Shaniko, Oregon.
My photos didn't turn out as I had hoped, somehow I ended up setting the camera to tungsten light instead of daylight, that is why they have a blueish tint to them.

Blog break.....

This blog is going to be quiet for another week or so. Frank and I are heading out on a road trip this weekend. More news later......

Peace out, unemployment!!

Today was my first day at the new job! It was an orientation day, but still a work day nonetheless. Let's just say it was quite the shocker when the alarm went off at 5:45am. Yikes. I haven't been up that early in a LONG time. The orientation was in Pasadena, and I am not familiar with traffic from Santa Clarita to Pasadena, so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get there. Little did I know that there isn't really bad traffic to Pasadena, so I managed to get there super early. WAY too early. Like over an hour early. I tried to take a snooze in my car, but I was too antsy pantsy for anything restful to occur. Orientation went well, and tomorrow I head to the actual worksite for a couple weeks of on-the-job training. I'm really excited about this new company! I think it will be a great experience!

Top 5 things I will miss about being unemployed:
5. Feeling free as a barn swallow
4. Blowing through multiple works of fiction each week
3. Working on my goddess like tan
2. Hangin' out with Frank upwards of 24 hours a day (he follows me around like a dog, it is awesome)
1. Rolling out of bed whenever the mood strikes......why, hello 10am, so nice to see you!

Top 5 reasons why I am happy to go back to work:
5. Less time to think about missing my friends and family back in Washington
4. It is about time I started to use my brain for other things besides figuring out what lame television show I'll watch next (I actually watched "Camp Rock" the other day.....seriously! what is my deal?.....although, if I was a 13 year old girl my walls would be plastered, I repeat, plastered with BOP magazine pictures of The Jonas Bros)
3. Feeling like I am contributing to the greater good, as opposed to feeling like all I do during the day is contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, and my size 10 carbon foot print
2. I don't want to look like a leather bag by my 35th birthday.....less pool time = less damage to my precious epidermis (it is your largest organ, ya know!)
1. I am thisclose to be briz-oke as a jiz-oke fool!! Me no likey that feeling......

Peace out, unemployment!!!

SoHo shelves.....revisited

So here are the shelves, all put together and at the top of the stairs. I finally emptied all my boxes full of CDs (hard to believe I'm still working on unpacking).
Before moving down to California, I had purchased these CD holders by Discgear. They are super cool, and a great way to store CDs if you are looking to save some space. Each one stores 50 CDs, and it comes with a companion album where you can store all the written materials that are included with the CDs. Buh-bye jewel cases!

New gadget

This past Christmas, John got me a gift certificate to Bose. We finally ended up using it over the weekend for the 3-2-1 GSX DVD Home Entertainment System. It arrived yesterday and we hooked it up last night. It is pretty much awesome. It holds up to 200 hours of music, so I need to start downloading some of my CDs onto it. The sound quality is incredible! John and I popped in the first Lord of the Rings movie and were blown away. We will finally be able to compete with our neighbors when they blast their music on the weekends (they are super nice, and we actually really like them, but they seriously pump up the jams at times). Up until we got this system, all my CDs were still in boxes on the bedroom floor, so that motivated me to unpack those bad boys. I'll post a picture of my finished music bookcase later.

Almost legal!

Goodbye Washington license! You've been punched! Ah, I am sad to see my Washington driver's license go. I really liked my most recent license picture too! Who knows what my California license photo will look like, I didn't get a chance to see it at the DMV this morning. Hopefully I won't look like a zombie. I always try and over smile in the pictures because I had one license photo in my early twenties that was just horrendous. I looked like I just woke up, I wasn't smiling, one side of my face looked numb, my eyes were barely open.....and can I get a side of double chin with that? Ugh. Then I had to live with the stupid thing for 4 years. Not cool. And the answer to your next questions is: Yes. Yes, I am vain. The license I got when I turned 16 was like the best license picture I have ever seen. I was so happy to pass my driver's test and get my license. When you looked at the photo it was like you could hear me say "Hells yeah! I just got my license!!" in the background, I looked so freakin' happy. If they would have let me throw up the rocker hand and stick my tongue out in the photo, I would have. Now, 15 years and 40 additional pounds later, I'm just hoping my photo looks decent and my chin-chin-charoo doesn't multiply in said photo. I'll keep you posted......

I got skills, yo!

It is not a secret that I love Cost Plus World Market. I could spend hours in that store looking at everything from furniture, to rugs, to knick knacks, to greeting cards, to strange things from other parts of the world. I have been compiling a list of some furniture items that I'd like to get once I start working again. Yesterday I bought the Soho bookcase and put it together all by myself. It ended up being a lot less confusing and time consuming than some of the furniture I've put together in the past (I'm talking about you IKEA, yeah you!).

Jig-saw puzzle stage. I had to bring those pieces in one at a time from the garage, they are not lightweight.
So far, so good.
Alright, not bad, just need to stand it up at this point. Note to self: lift from the knees, not the back.
And voila! Now how am I going to get this upstairs?........

Next on the list? The Lugano dining table. I don't think I'll be putting that one together myself:)

More pages......

The layout above is a technique I scraplifted from a layout I saw in the August 2008 edition of Creating Keepsakes magazine. I modified it a bit though. I made the tree out of patterned paper and epoxy buttons. The picture was taken at my parents house in May 2008. Left to right: Dad, Mom, Chris, Mike, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Judy.
Close up shot of the tree. I had a great time making it. The quote at the bottom of the layout: Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family (Anthony Brandt).
"Frank Loves Grandma" is my first attempt at using my sewing machine on a layout. I am happy with the results! I stitched around the patterned paper and around Frank's photo.
Close up of "Frank Loves Grandma", you can see the stitching a bit more clearly in this shot.