another busy weekend

This summer has been so busy...we've pretty much had plans every single weekend!  This weekend is no different with plans to see the AMAZINGLY TALENTED Jack Johnson at the Gorge in eastern Washington.  The concert is tomorrow night and we have plans to camp over at Sun Lakes for the rest of the weekend.  

For those of you who are not from the Seattle area, which is probably most of you, eastern Washington is like the Palm Springs of Washington (except in the winter).  It's HOT and, for the most part, very dry in the summer.  I seriously can't wait!  This will be one of most relaxing weekends thus far this summer...with an itinerary of listening to great music, enjoying the sun, swimming in a lake and generally having fun!

My sister and her boyfriend are joining us which is exciting because we haven't been camping together since we were kids!

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In other news, my friend K's wedding was SO much fun last weekend.  I will post a recap with pictures sometime next week.

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I'll leave you with a picture that just exudes summer!  I took at it at Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula last weekend.  I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed with my photography skills...

P.S.  I did edit it a little in iphoto (antiqued & blurred the edges).

happy birthday america!

I thought I'd post a quick update before the long weekend, as I will be out of town with no internet access.

I am currently frustrated with WW and the $300 worth of food we bought last night for this coming weekend isn't going to help. Last night at my weigh in I was up 1 POUND! UGH! Why am I fluctuating? My sister is losing at least a pound or more a week and I'm stuck with losing mere ounces, or even worse gaining!

It could have been the weight training I did last week (supposedly when you lift weights and your muscles are sore they are retaining water)...but I only lifted weights one day...I am still slightly sore though.

It also could have been the gyro, strawberry lemonade and strawberry colada I consumed on Sunday...but nevermind that.

This weekend we are heading our cabin down at Mt. Rainier with friends. I'm looking forward to the 3 day weekend and getting away from work and the city. We'll do a little hiking, some swimming, sunbathing, golfing...and lots of eating. Did I mention we spent $300 on food last night?!?! Granted $50 was just in beer...

Anyway, tomorrow is a short work day...off at 3 and then heading to the mountain. Hope everyone has a fun, happy & SAFE 4th of July!!!

summer is FINALLY here!

Summer has finally reached Seattle! This last week of June is forecasted to be great weather, which is a welcome change from the crappy rainy weather we've had during the first 3 weeks of June.

It's SO nice that it's actually warmer outside than it is inside (doesn't happen very often here) and today I spent my lunch break basking in the sun!

This weekend it is supposed to get up into the 80's and my plans include lounging by the pool at my condo with my sister and going to an outdoor festival on Sunday. I can't wait! I'm actually counting down the days to this weekend as if it was a vacation!

I'm also looking forward to getting a little color on this pasty white skin that hasn't seen sunlight since LAST June! And, now that I've officially lost 12 lbs (I was down another .4 last night), I can feel a little better putting my bathing suit on!

Anyone else looking forward to a relaxing weekend?

i haven't forgotten about this blog...honest!

I've been busy and haven't had much time to blog lately. So, I thought I'd just share a quick update of what's been going on.

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As of Tuesday I have lost a total of 8.2 pounds! While it's not coming off quite as fast as I would have liked it to, I have to say that I am starting to feel my clothes becoming a little looser! Woo Hoo!

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Not much new on the wedding front. Once we got our venue booked I sort of slowed down. We're planning on just enjoying the summer and maybe meeting with a few photographers, but not stressing on it to much.

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We're participating in another fun run this Sunday. It's the Furry 5k that benefits the Seattle animal shelter. While we don't have a dog to run/walk with, it's still a good excuse to get together with friends and sneak some exercise in!

I'm also going to a water aerobics class on Saturday morning with my WW buddy. I can't wait! If we like it, we'll be getting up at 7am every Saturday to go.

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Friday is my little sister Courtney's 8th grade graduation. I can't believe how old she is or that she'll be in high school next year! Gah, I am OLD!!!

an honorary norwegian

This weekend, well Saturday May 17 to be exact, was the Norwegian Constitution Day. While I am not Norwegian, I work in an area with a large Norwegian population and one of the women who lives in the condo where I work is very involved in the community Norwegian club. Apparently this area is host to the 2nd largest Norwegian Constitution Day parade outside of Oslo itself!

She has been telling me about this special event for months and I mentioned to her that I thought Jason was Norwegian. This fact completely thrilled her and she was SO excited to meet him that she invited us to her party and to enjoy the parade and festival that was scheduled for Saturday.

Well, come to find out, Jason is NOT Norwegian! But, we couldn't tell this woman who was so obviously enamored with the fact that I was engaged to a Norwegian. So we went along with it!

And it was a blast! The weather here in Seattle on Saturday was perfect summer parade weather...it broke a record at 88 degrees. The parade wasn't anything fancy, just a bunch of people who were proud of the heritage, a few middle school bands and some unicylers! It was like a small town summer parade! So fun!

I joked with Jason that we were now honorary Norwegians!

Besides Saturday, the rest of the weekend was pretty event filled and fun! Sunday morning we participated in the Beat the Bridge 8k Fun Run. Well, I did the walk with a friend and Jason ran it with his friends. Afterward we all went out to lunch and soaked up some more of the much welcomed sun. Then, last night was dinner at my mom's for my grandma's birthday.

I ate way too much (both last night and throughout the rest of the weekend) and am NOT looking forward to my WW weigh in tonight. But, such is life. At least I had a great weekend and even got a nice workout in.

This week it's back to the grindstone and saving ALL my extra weekly points for this weekend...first camp out of the season!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Only 5 days until the 3 day weekend!!!

Happy Monday!

pick a team!

I am by no means a 'football fan', but when Superbowl comes around, I have to admit that I get a little excited. I just think it's a great excuse to get together with friends, eat a bunch of crap (guilt-free) and watch some football. I mean, I don't even really understand what I'm watching!

I don't usually even care who wins (except for 2 years ago when the Seahawks made it). This year, however, was different.

Jason's best friend is HUGE Giants fan...and since he had invited over for the game (and gave us Giants jerseys to wear) we decided to root for them. I gotta say, rooting for a team and having them win is a great feeling!

It got me thinking about how I am completey undecided on the current presidential race. I don't consider myself a Republican or Democrat...I agree with some conservative views and some liberal views. I definitely think the upcoming change in the White House will be a good thing, I'm just not sure who the best candidate is to create that change.

I LOVE presidential election season...ever since I was in college and was taking a political communication class during the Bush/Gore election. Even then I was really wishy washy up until the end, but for some reason, this year it's really bothering me!

I think the fact that we have a woman and a African-American man running for president is so groundbreaking...and I really wish that I could get behind one of them now and root for them until the end, but I'm just not sure yet.

I have quite a few friends who have already chosen Obama and are 100% decided on him and I envy them. I know, I'm weird.

I just want to put on one of the candidates jerseys and root for them until election day!

'tis the season...

This past Saturday night was my company holiday party. Last year it was held a the W Hotel in Seattle and this year it was at the Sorrento Hotel. It was SO beautiful. I was, once again, the party planner and the theme was cranberries. We had this huge glass bowls in the middle of the tables filled with water, cranberries and floating candles. At each place setting we had a stemless martini glass filled with cranberries in which we propped the name cards. We also had a signature cocktail called the "[company name]tini". It was basically a white cosmopolitan garnished with cranberries. SO yummy!

My sister Alicia was my date this year! We had a blast...but drank WAY too many "-tinis". After the part was over, around midnight, a group of us went out with the big boss where we continued to drink Grey Goose and tonics the rest of the night.

The party wasn't the only exciting part of th weekend. It started to snow Saturday afternoon and continued to snow until around 10pm. It was so pretty...and a perfect way to start the Holiday Season.

another sign?

So...I spent this most of this past weekend with Jason.

It was so great. It just feels right when we're together...and it's apparently visible to others.

We drove out to the coast on Saturday afternoon and stopped at this little surf shop. The owner and Jason talked about surfing and boards, etc. Well, as we were getting ready to leave the guys asks us "Have you guys been together awhile?"

We both just kind of looked at each other not really knowing how to respond, and finally Jason says "Yeah, a little over 6 years."

The surf guy responds by saying "Well, you guys look really good together. Like you belong together. You seem like a really nice girl. I wish my son would find a girl like you."

I didn't really know what to say...my eyes actually started tearing up! I mean...this guy doesn't know us or our situation and his comment couldn't have come at a more opportune time! I just smiled and kind of looked at Jason like "WTF?"

The rest of the weekend was amazing too.

So what do you think? Was it a sign? Was the song at dinner a sign? Or am I just crazy?

picture time!

We still have boxes everywhere, so unfortunately I don't have any condo pics to post yet.

But, I do have pics from the party last weekend and girl's night out this past weekend.

Enjoy!

Holiday Party at the EMP

The EMP - beautiful

Stephanie & me

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Girl's Night Out!

The girls out to dinner!

Kya & me - old college roomies!

Marisa & me

Thriller

a moment to breathe...

The last 4 days have been so busy and tonight I am finally able to stop and breathe for a minute.

Friday night my sister and I met up at the condo and painted until midnight. The place looks great. I painted one wall in my room a really deep plum color and one wall in the living room a terra cotta color. My sister repainted her whole room and we painted various other walls in the living room a mocha color. I promise I will post pics once we get all of the boxes unpacked.

Saturday afternoon my little brother had his championship football game. And they won...by one point!!! Once the game was over I headed up to Seattle to meet a friend for her holiday party (a month early). It was being held at the EMP (Experience Music Project) in downtown Seattle. We rented a hotel room for the night so we didn't have to worry about driving.

It was a blast! I wore this really great green, black & brown dress that I got at TJ Maxx for $20 and really cute black peep toe pumps! I will also post those pics as soon as I get a chance!

Sunday my mom and I came back over the condo and shampooed all of the carpets...yuck! And did some touch up painting.

Finally Monday came around and the actual move in began. I gotta say...I ABSOLUTELY HATE moving!!! Our couch didn't fit dow the hallway to the living room so we had to HOIST it up over the balcony railing! Last night was our first night staying in the new place...it was kinda weird, but still exciting.

Today I moved the rest of my stuff over from my mom's house. But, I still have my WHOLE storage unit packed full! I have NO IDEA where I'm going to put everything! I think I'm going to have to purge a ton of stuff...maybe have a garage sale!

So there's the update...I'm moved in, but not completely. And I . am . tired!

Bedtime!

3 days of peace...

I CAN'T wait for this weekend...

We are going to the John Mayer concert at the Gorge over in eastern Washington. It's an amazing place to see a concert...right along the Columbia River Gorge.

However, the concert isn't the only thing I'm looking forward too...I'm spending the next 3 days with Jason. I'm heading up tonight to hang out and then tomorrow we're packing up and leaving early Saturday morning for camping and the concert. I am seriously ecstatic!

Things have been progressively getting better. We've been spending time together and talking a lot, just not living together...which SUCKS!

But, maybe this is all for the best. They always say "everything happens for a reason". Well...I just hope that this 'reason' is good enough!

I'm back...

So, as you may or may not know, my dad was in town this past weekend visiting my sister and I. He lives in Southern California, so we don't get to see him all that often.

Anyway, we had a great time. It's always fun to be a tourist in your own city. We went shopping, to Pike Place Market, ate lots of good food & watched lots of movies. It was SO much fun to just hang out with my dad like we used to do when we were kids. It was also the most I've seen my sister lately too, so that was nice! All in all it was a great weekend.

My sister, Alicia, and I both have March birthdays, so our dad took us on a shopping spree! We each ahd $250 to spend on whatever we wanted, but the catch was that we had to spend it all while he was still in town! It was great...it's so much more fun to shop when you don't have to worry about money!!!

Some of my birthday purchases will be highlighted in one of my 40 Posts of Beauty, which, by the way, I need to get up to date!

One of my most favorite things is this red purse. I absolutely love it and have been wanting it since I first saw it! Now it's all mine!!!

Christmas came early this year!

I am STILL recovering from the parties we went to this weekend. But I do feel like such a social butterfly.

Friday night was Jason's holiday party. It was held at his office, but they hired one of those casino groups to come in. It was SO fun. Craps is my favorite game, but I never play it for real because, hello, I don't have that kind of money!

So everyone started with $5000 and twice during the night they auctioned off an iPod nano & digital camera. Well, between the two of us, we have one of each kind of iPod. I have a shuffle & video and Jason has the nano that I got him for his birthday. So...we really didn't need another one. However, I don't have a camera. Anyway, during the first auction we were outbid...but guess who left with a new digital camera Friday night? That's right...ME! It's super nice and I LOVE it!

It's a Casio Exilim...
Jason also ended up winning a gift basket filled with all kinds of goodies, including chocolate & caramel corn...we will definitley NOT be regifting that!

Saturday night was MY company holiday party...that I've been planning with a coworker since June. It was absolutely amazing. We had it at the W Hotel in downtown Seattle. It is officially my favorite new hotel in Seattle. The colors they decorated with were black, plum & silver and we made centerpieces with 1'x1' mirrors surround in fake snow with snow covered pinecones & candles. It look great. Plus, we actually reserved 2 meeting rooms and the smaller one we made into a lounge which was really dimly lit with lots of candles & comfy furniture. It was just SO much fun & so beautiful that words can't even describe it.

Every year at my party we do a Gift Card Grab game where everyone gets a number and #1 picks an envelope first that contains a $250 gift card to somewhere, then #2 can steal or pick another envelope. So, guess who ended up getting a $250 gift card to her favorite store? That's right...ME! Target here I come!!!

The only thing about my party that wasn't so much fun, is that I did end up having one to many drinks and wasn't feeling to hot yesterday. I literally laid on the couch ALL day!

So here's a picture, courtesy of my new camera, of Jason and I Saturday night a the fabulous W Hotel!

Oak - Lahoma...

Friday night I attended a 7th grade rendition of the classic Rogers & Hammerstein "Oklahoma". My sister Courtney was Gertie Cummings...and she was great. I've had the title song stuck in my head now for 2 days...but it was really fun.

Courtney is only 12 and in 7th grade, but she is perfect. She's actually in the process of becoming a model...she has a contract with a modeling managment company and recently had a portfolio of pictures taken.

This is one of my favorites.

Anyway, other than the big show Friday night, this weekend has been pretty low key. I'm suffering from a cold or possibly an ear infection (with my luck) and feel like crap.

Last night Jason and I watched Back to the Future on Bravo. I don't think I could EVER get enough of that movie. I know it's like 20 years old, but it's such a great movie. And Michael J. Fox...well he's a fox! I just love it!

Today my day has consisted of watching Laguna Beach reruns on MTV, surfing the interet, checking out this cool website and registering all of my family & friends, grocery shopping, watching the Seahawks, making a pot of spaghetti sauce and now blogging. I feel exhausted. Pathetic I know, but being sick really takes a lot out of you. I just hope I'm feeling better tomorrow morning.

I also want to send out a Congratulations to Janet...she got married on Saturday. I can't wait to see all the pictures. And Happy Birthday to Lindsay who turned 22 yesterday!

Me = Best Girlfriend EVER

So first I must tell you that I am currently enjoying my first gingerbread latte of the season and it is DELICIOUS!

Anyway, today is Jason's birthday...the big 30!...and I have a surprise for him. I woke up this morning and pretended like I was getting ready for work, just like any other day, and let me tell you it was HARD! Knowing that I really didn't need to be dragging my butt out of bed was killer, but I had to do it.

As soon as Jason left I ran to the grocery store and got the ingredients for carrot cake cupcakes...and my gingerbread latte of course! My plan is to surprise him at work with cupcakes and lunch...and the best part is that he has NO idea I'm doing it! I'm so excited!

Plus, I'll give him is gift tonight...but I can't say what it is until I give it to him. I know he doesn't read my blog, but just in case...

Crap for sale...

Packwood, WA is a really small hick town just south of Mt. Rainier.

There is one grocery store, 2 bars, 3 restaurants, a hardware store, a sporting good store and a liquor store...that's about it.

Well...this is where my family's cabin is! Even being as small town as it is, we always have so much fun down there.

This weekend was no different. And to top it all off, Packwood has an annual Labor Day flea market...woo hoo!

Here are the top 3 things we saw for sale at the Packwood flea market:

1. a sign that said "We Don't Skinny Dip...We Chunky Dunk"
2. purses made out of Capri Sun pouches (seriously...Capri Sun pouches that were sewn together...)
3. a hat that read "Guns Don't Kill People, Husbands Who Come Home Early Do"

To add to our white trash festivities, we went shootin' on Sunday! Yeehaw!

Actually, it was kinda fun. I even got a bullseye on my paper target!

Now summer is officially over, but I'm not complaining...because fall is my favorite season and it's almost here!

Redneck Yacht Club

Every summer we go camping a few times with Jason's parents in Eastern Washington. They have a boat and jetskis/seadoos that we take over to Eastern Washington on the Columbia River for a weekend of fun.

Now, we're not rednecks by any means, but whenever I hear the country song "Redneck Yact Club", I think of these camping weekends.

Here's a bit of the lyrics:

basstrackers, bayliners and a party barge,
strung together like a floating trailer park
anchored out and gettin loud
all summer long side by side there's five houseboat front porches
astroturf, lawn chairs and tiki torches
regular joes rocking the boat that's us
the redneck yacht club

It just makes me laugh because there usually ends up being about 3 boats and we all tie up together "like a floating trailer park"!

Anyway, this weekend we're taking my little brother and sister, who are 10 & 12. They're SO excited! I'm definitley looking forward to a litle R&R...

...especially after last weekend.

Plenty of sweat and tears...

I'm still pretty sore today, but I'm starting to feel better. Hottubbing last night definitely helped!

The hike was definitely worth the pain! It took us about 4 hours to get to the lake. There were a few sections of the trail when I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it, and yes, there was some crying involved…hence the title of this post. But, thanks to Jason, I made it! I really don’t think I would’ve been able to had it not been for him.

The last mile felt like the longest mile of my life. It really felt like we should've been at the lake at that point...and we actually started to wonder if we had taken a wrong turn. Finally we saw a clearing in the trees and there was the lake!

It was beautiful...and totally worth it! There was only one other group camping, so we had our pick of 5 campsites. We chose campsite #6 and set up camp.

Here's a picture that I'm sure you're curious about...it's a button...

...FROM MY BRAND NEW PANTS!!! Nice! Luckily, the zipper was strong enough to stay up without needing a button.

We were both completely starving...so we decided to start dinner, which included a gourmet selection of freeze dried Chicken & Rice for Jason and Pad Thai for me (please disregard the disgustingness that is this picture of me).

I must say that I was really looking forward to my dinner of Pad Thai and had to keep reminding myself along the trail, that if I just made it to the lake I would have a delicious dinner to reward myself.

This is what I ended up with...

...it tasted like Cup-o-Noodles with peanuts.

We did however, bring a somewhat more delicious dessert of Apple Crisp with us...

...it was slightly more edible that the Pad Thai.

For those of you who didn't know, this past weekend was the Perseid meteor shower. It was like nothing either of us had ever experienced before. Now I've seen shooting stars, but they're usually just a small star that happens to move really fast. These meteors were huge! We probably saw about 15 or so before we went to bed. The best one was burning blue with a long tail behind it...it looked like it was going to crash into the hillside next to us. I wish I would have been able to take pictures of it...but even if I had, they would not have done it any justice...it was beyond words (or pictures).

I was a little nervous going to bed, as there were signs posted at the entrance to the campground that we were in “Bear Country”. YIKES!

Jason tied our food up in a tree to keep any animals (bears) from raiding our camp. This included toothpaste and other toiletries we had brought that have sweet smells, such as deodorant.

Now, let me just say that the fact that we have to put all of things that we wear on our bodies out of reach so bears don’t get into it doesn’t really calm the nerves.

Fortunately though, we didn’t hear any animals…none whatsoever. Phew. I did, however, wake up numerous times during the night thinking that I was hearing something that turned out to be nothing.

In the morning we packed up pretty early and headed out.

The hike down wasn’t really difficult, except for the area that had forced me to cry the day before... In this part the trail is about 16” wide with rocks and in some place boulders on the path itself. There is a steep drop off on one side and to top it all off, there are bushes overgrown on either side. So…you can’t really see where you’re going. Plus, the trail was slick from the dew overnight. Again, I had a moment or two where I didn’t think I was going to make it…but I did.

I don't think I've ever been so relieved to see the truck!

Here's a picture of us at the end of the hike...we were FILTHY!

All in all it was a great weekend and I can't wait to do it again...although, maybe next time we could find a trail that is a little wider than 16" and a little shorter!

You can see all the rest of the pics on Flickr!

I survived!

I feel like I have been run over by a semi and then thrown over a cliff! Every single muscle in my body hurts and I feel like I could sleep for a week! But, the lake we hiked to was beautiful! We took tons of pics and I'll post them as soon as I can get them uploaded onto Flickr. For now, here is a pretty picture to just give you a taste of what it was like! More to come...

Backpacking trip this weekend...

This weekend is going to be my first official backpacking trip! I'm actually pretty excited about it. We're hiking up to Boulder Lake in the Cascades. The hike is a little under 4 miles each direction...with an elevation gain of 2,500 ft.

The only kind of camping I've ever really done is car camping, with a cooler full of drinks, an air mattress to sleep on and usually a nearby restroom! This is definitely going to be different.

Jason is really into hiking & backpacking, and I never have been. So, I'm looking forward to the weekend and will hopefully have lots of pictures to post next week.