Living in Seattle, we're blessed, according to my mother the word to use here would be cursed, with about six months of rain. Keep in mind my mother lived most of her childhood in Nebraska while I grew up in the middle of the Tongas rainforest in Juneau and then transplanted to the Seattle area. So, it makes sense that our views are a little different on the vast amount of rain our area receives. My views are that it's a very strong blessing, and recently coming from a small farming community, that just happened to have a college in it, on the Eastern side of the state, I know the importance of the rain. But the importance of the rain to crops and livestock isn't what interests me about the rain.
There is nothing, in the world, more intoxicating than the smell of the air after a fresh rain. The water you breathe in. The dampness of the wood. The smell of wet grass. The fresh, crisp taste of it all. Rain nurtures the earth as it nurtures my soul. And after a great rain, the feeling of being renewed is all over. The rain has washed away all of our troubles, concerns, and questions about life...until Monday at least.
The months that bring the rain are, by far, some of my favorites. It was quite disappointing to move to the Seattle area in June and find that our summer was extremely dry and our Fall quite slow on the uptake. But the current weather is more than making up for the summer now. And thank goodness for that.
Sometimes a kick in the butt is all you need to realize you need to change yourself. I suppose my kick in the butt came yesterday. My husband has been trying to get a job that was pretty much tailor made for him. He'd been in for two in-person interviews and one phone interview. He was a finalist. And instead of choosing any of the finalists, they contracted out. It's been heartbreaking because I know my husband is angry. Angry at the company for not saying that was an option, at the general health of the world and nation's economy, at himself for not getting the job. And it's heartbreaking. Because none of it is his fault.
Marriage is a confusing thing. We all see our parents and their successes and utter failures. We assume what marriage will be like and once you're in it, you realize it's not at all what you imagined it would be. But you cope. And you try. You give everything of yourself to the marriage and to your significant other. And I know it's cheesy, but the saying "If you bleed, I bleed" couldn't be truer. And with that sentiment and disappointment, I have received a kick in the butt.
Today I woke up at five in the morning, a time that is unheard of, and managed to drag my sorry butt as well as my husband's cute butt out of bed and to the gym. I read somewhere that exercise will improve your mood and outlook on things. I hope it does. For him. For me. Because we're in this together. And if waking up at an ungodly hour is what it takes to help both of us through one of the worst economic disasters since the 1930's, I will do it everyday.
I love my life. I love our opportunities. I love the family that has so kindly brought us into their homes and taken care of us. But most of all, I love my husband. And always will.
Below are the pictures that were taken of the Baby Shower. As you can tell, it was a beautiful party and I am happy to say that the Soon-to-be-Mommy was very happy with with her swanky party.
It has been a busy time for our little family. My friend's baby shower was beautiful. In the next few days I'll upload the pictures that we took and post them on here for all to see the decorations that came out just as beautiful as a field of lavendar swaying in the breeze. Okay, maybe not that gorgeous. But pretty damn close.
Our life, as I mentioned, has been pretty busy. Last weekend we had the family baby shower in Olympia. The drive wasn't too bad to Olympia, the food at Vick's Pizza was scrumptious (I always love pizza), the family members that I met were very sweet, but taking my husband to the city of his Alma Mater is always worth it. He always has this wistful...aura, which is a new age word I'm not fond of using, around him. Though, much like Ellensburg for myself, he has out grown the town and both the town and the man have moved on to bigger things to worry about. But I still love our occassional trips to that city as we do have some family there.
As mentioned earlier the baby shower that I was planning was wonderful. I didn't make cupcakes, thank goodness. I was running out of time on just about everything. Planning a baby shower and working and living a sane life do not go together. It reminded me of that joke diagram for college where you can only choose two options of three with the three options being good grades, social life and getting plenty of sleep. Thankfully, the end has been found and we are past the insanity that was baby shower planning.
This coming weekend has baby birthing classes, which exhaust me just to think about!
Today, though, I have been suffering from a bit of a cold and stomach ache (too much stress!). And have been in recovery mode. This week is also the beginning of what I hope to be a much needed self improvement start. My intention is to work out in the morning, eat healthy and wholesome foods, and overall take care of myself in the long run. Hopefully I'll be able to stick with it. Thankfully this bug is mostly gone it feels like. Now I'm going to take time to relax and hang with my husband.
My all-time best friend, Stephanie, is quite pregnant and the time on her pregnancy is ticking down. She is due on November 18 and due to some unfortunate circumstances, the man that was involved with the creation of this beautiful baby is not involved. Which means that in addition to being her best friend and supportive during all of this, I am also her birth partner, child's godmother, and baby shower planner. Keep in mind I've never had a child, let alone thrown a baby shower. I have been to a few baby showers and I know what people hate (most of the traditional things such as games) and what people enjoy. To be honest, I'm excited for the birthing classes and the number of hours we will be spending in the hospital when she goes into labor. And I'm so thankful to my husband for being not only my support during all of this but for being part of Steph's support system as well. I really did marry the greatest man on Earth. The birthing classes have been booked, the tour with the hospital scheduled, and the books regarding everything I should need to know have been purchased. (I'm considering taking a doolah class as well!) The only thing I don't have ready is the baby shower, or as I like to call it the Mama Shower.
In my experience these events have been uncomfortable, especially for the people who don't have children. No one likes going to them. Ever. So, for Steph's Mama Shower I'm making sure we're celebrating her and her baby. Our games, which Steph's mother came up with are adorable. And they're not embarassing! We're having two tables. The first table will be where party-goers can decorate onesies with fabric paint. The second table will have a list of letters and each person can take a letter, draw on a piece of paper the letter and an object to go with it and Steph's mother will later make it into a book to teach the baby her first words. Adorable, am I right? The food is going to be a barbeque. Everyone loves a barbeque. But the decorations, now that's my department. We already created the invitations! The colors on the invitations (A bright pink and purple) are the general color scheme I'm going with.
The invitations went out a few weeks ago. So now the decorating planning has begun. My lovely husband has been helping me with some ideas and execution of decorations. Below are some of my inspirations for the decorations at the party...
These little pom-poms are so cute for this party!
Minus the wire thing
I looooove this
And finally, my favorite part, the cupcakes. While cake would be just fine, cupcakes are generally slightly more labor intensive but leave less room for error (I have completely murdered my fair share of cakes that could not be saved with just some frosting). Being from the Seattle area, I know that the place to get cupcakes is Cupckake Royale. Unfortunately, I'm doing a lot of this planning in the most inexpensive way I can. James and I are saving to eventually move out his parents house (Way to suck, economy). So, I happened upon a website that had a recipe that Cupcake Royale uses. Here it is below.
Vanilla Buttercake Recipe
makes 1 dozen
2 3/4 c. Cake flour
2 3/4 c. Sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 c. Local egg whites
1/2 c. Warm water
1/3 c. Sour cream
5 ounces Butter
3 tbs Expeller-pressed canola oil
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Pasted
Line a cupcake tin with your favorite cupcake wrappers, and set your oven to bake at 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a mixer and mix on low speed. In a separate bowl, combine water and sour cream. Add vanilla paste and egg whites to this mixture and stir until combined. Add the butter, oil, and 1/4 of liquid mixture to your dry ingredients, and mix on low speed until moistened. Increase to medium speed and mix for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gradually add the remainder of the liquid mixture in three doses, beating for 20 seconds after each dose. Scoop batter into wrappers. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden. Set cupcakes aside until they are cool to the touch, then frost ‘em up with real buttercream.
I also found a video on how they get their signature frosting look!
If you've never had a cupcake from Cupcake Royale, you are missing out. They are beautiful, yummy, and just to die for. Truly. Here is an example from their website.
Now that I have a bit of my plan laid out, it looks like it should be easy enough. And fun for everyone involved. Once the party planning starts to go into full swing, I'll be sure to take pictures (with my camera I'm ordering next week!) and post them on here!
Now it's time to relax in a bathtub! Have a lovely Sunday evening, my friends!
"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie
burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when
everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest
girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles." -Audrey Hepburn
This week has been one for the books. At work I've been catching up on things that have been pushed back due to me being, well, ill. (Truth be told, I actually set up this blog when I was sick. There is only so much work from home that can be done!) In addition to my, well, pretty busy work this week I also happened to have a company meeting that was on a boat on Tuesday. That I might have drank at. And then might have had to deal with some family issues. To top it off, Thursday was my hubby's big interview. We should hear back from the company next week. Fingers crossed! In addition to all this hectic insanity, I finally received word this week that I do not have cancer. Which is beyond a relief. Like I said, a crazy week. But my favorite part of any week is the weekend. Or what I want to call, my recovery days.
Time for a nap!
For me, the weekend is vital for my survival. But this weekend arrived just in time, it feels like. Today consisted of laying around in bed and waiting for the desire to get out of bed. It didn't arrive until about 11:00 when James, my husband, and I finally rolled out of bed. We headed to one of my favorite restaurants, Torreros, and contemplated the day. On recovery days it is vital to do exactly what one wants and nothing more. So we stopped by Best Buy, which I haven't been in for at least three years, wandering around and then went home. Then it was nap time. Glorious, wonderful nap time.
I think heaven looks like this.
I don't know if it's just me, but naps are something that I love to do. I don't think my husband loves them as much as I do, but during weekends, I love curling up in bed and just drifting off to sleep. When I wake up, I feel amazing. Probably due to the fourteen plus hours I've slept in the last 24. But I just love naps.
After we eat dinner with our family, I think I may even give my self a spa evening. According to my husband, it's a time where I lock myself in the bathroom and come out smelling pretty...I can live with that.
The most important thing I've learned from these weekends, though, is that taking time to relax and really just take a moment out for yourself is so important for your sanity. Or what sanity you may have left.
Everyday I wonder how I can best accomplish what I'm doing quickly, efficiently and most of all...without making a giant impact on our world. One of the tasks that I'm attempting to manage is transportation. How can I get where I need to go and where I want to go without spewing extra pollution?
The Trusty Neon
My husband and I are like most Americans, we own two cars. I have a 03 Dodge Neon and he has a Saturn, no idea on year or model. For the most part, our cars get pretty awesome gas mileage (32mpg and 34 mpg). We currently don't use both, in fact the Saturn is currently sitting under a tree just chilling. We drive it every other week, I'd say. Our main car is the Neon. It's a little nicer. A little newer. Always dependable. (That's saying a lot for a Dodge!) Our cars are the equivalent of the most eco-friendly cars you can purchase that run completely on gasoline. The Neon has been a pretty stupendous car, but something I've noticed is that I don't use it that much. Actually, I haven't driven a car for at least a month, maybe longer.
Isn't it pretty?
I live in a beautiful city called Kirkland, a suburb of the Emerald City, or Seattle if you're not being fancy. While I live in Kirkland, I work in Pioneer Square, which gets a pretty bad reputation due to a large amount of, well, homeless people. They're nice! They're just...sometimes for sure on some strong drugs. Pioneer Square happens to be the oldest part of Seattle. As in part of the original Seattle. For those of you who had your Washington State history classes, you know this, but for those who haven't, prepare to be enlightened. In the 1800s (you can Wikipedia to find out when exactly, I'm a busy lady) a large fire happened in Seattle that burned most of Seattle down. It was rebuilt, as all great things are, and the actual land was raised. If you're ever in the Seattle area, check out the awesome Underground Tour. It rocks. In addition to being a beautiful area of town (The buildings are just insanely gorgeous) as well as the old part of town, it is also the most annoying for parking. Unless you're paying $13.00 a day or somewhere between $200.00 and $300.00 a month, you are not going to be parking in the Pioneer Square area. Thankfully my employer gets the King County Metro bus passes also known as the ORCA!
Busing right along... My bus is in this picture!
Now, taking the bus. Taking the bus is always an interesting experience. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. But always interesting. I hadn't been on a bus since my sophomore year of high school. And it was not good. It may have had something to do with that kid assaulting me at a bus stop, but I avoided the bus at all costs. With my job in Seattle, I couldn't do that. So I have learned two things from my experiences. First, the bus is a great way to get around in Seattle. At any time of day. The drivers are, for the most part, nice. And they will help you find your way around. They can be a little crazy when they drive, though. Second, the non-busing folks of the Greater Seattle area do not like the buses. Currently, Metro is in a bit of a financial crunch. They asked the King County area to raise car tabs by $20.00, temporarily, to make it so there are no cuts in service. Naturally, because goodness forbid we ask people to pay for anything that helps them, the non-busing population are outraged. Let me just make a few comments on this. If the routes that are cut do end up being cut that means thousands, and I'm thinking double digits thousands, are going to be on the road again. And that would be...just awesome. Don't you think? On my bus alone, we get anywhere between 50 and 75 people on our bus at any time. Probably more. And if you ride the 255 to Kirkland, that number is closer to 100. Again, taking the 255 as an example It comes about every seven minutes. That's almost a 1,000 people an hour during rush hour. You get the idea. We're talking a lot of people. So not only is riding the bus awesome because you're reducing your carbon footprint, you also assure that roads and freeways can stay open by having less people on them.
Oooooo...Shiny!
While I enjoy taking the bus, as it gives me time to daydream and read a book, I know that my husband and I are going to need to trade in our trusty Neon soon. We're going to do something that is almost unspeakable in this country, only have one car! We're planning on using both the Neon and the Saturn as part of a trade-in for a new(er?) car. The car has already been chosen. We've agreed on the Ford Fusion. Since when did Ford start making such awesome cars?! And while it is a hybrid, and batteries are not so eco-friendly currently, I have hope that it will get better soon. I mean, this car has way more get-up-and-go then my Neon. It's going to be nice when we buy it.
So now that I've discussed my transportation and how I get around, how do you, my dear reader(s?) get around day to day?
