VA Beach

I took Friday off work to attend the wedding of Kelly Kimener and Barry Bausher. Got up at 6:30, dropped Goomba off at The Ranch, and caught the 7:50 bus to Boston. My flight was at 12:06 (one minute before my birthday time) and I landed in Newport News around 3 where my mom was waiting for me. We immediately went to chick-fil-a (oh how I miss you) and then we were off to the beach! While we were waiting for the elevator mom said, "we will probably run into people from the wedding ince we are taying at the ame hotel" at which time I aw the groom and hi men wlking toward me. (the story of how I lost my s key will come later, it come and goe). The wedding wa outide on the beach, and it wa beautiful. It wa definitely Kelly' tyle.

There wa some time before the reception o mom and I went over to the pool ide bar and waited. The reception wa actually a lot fancier then I wa expecting! Way to go guys! The food wa good and I enjoyed the company of everyone at my table, including you Mrs. Lovell!!

We all had a blast dancing the night away (the open bar alway helps). At one point I wa pushed under Kelly' dres. I'm not exactly ure what happened. I think Laura pushed me.

Saturday wa a day at the beach! Mom brought beach chair and we at outide all morning. I reapplied unblock every 30 minute and still got burnt. It wa hot, but we loved itting there and putting our toe in the water. We even sat by the pool for a while sipping our margaritas while having girl talk with our leg dangling in the water. It wa perfect!

Later that night we left the hotel to walk to a nearby bar outside for dinner. What we saw next wa a tragedy. Everyone wa looking at omething in the ocean o we looked too. Soon we heard sirens. There wa talk that omeone wa missing and was thought to have drowned.We finally left after they found the man and he wa on hi way to the hopital. We weren't ure of hi condition. Later that night when we got back to the hotel we googled and found out he wa pronounced dead at 7 (30 minute after leaving). Apparently two teenagers were in the water and started to show signs of struggle. This man ran out to help them and ended up drowning. He was only 20 years old. He was a hero, and I hope he rests in peace.

Sunday was uneventful as it was departure day. My flight wa delayed a long time (urprised surprise) but since I had to wait 2 hours once I got to Boston for the bu anyways it was okay. I just barely made the bus, but I did. Made it home at 9:30 and couldn't wait to go to sleep and wake up to go pick up my Goomba Woomba! Speaking of the flight, the guy next to me spilled his pretzel crumbs all over my laptop. Some of them must be stuck in my keyboard making it hard to hit the s button. Since using it so much in this blog it seems to be better.

I love you Kelly and wish you all the happiness in the world! Thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your special day!

High: A toss up of when my mom called me skinny and when she got raccoon eyes. We got back to our room Saturday and when mom took off her sunglasses she had a MAJOR tan line. She ran to the mirror and said, "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? HOW COME YOU DON'T HAVE IT!" I said I reapplied sunblock constntly and wore a hat. That' when she admitted that she forgot to put sunblock on her face. Thank you mom for the entertainment all weekend!

Low: 20 is very young age to die.

On Deck: My sister is visiting and we are going camping the second weekend of June in Northern NH!

Dogs are not accessaries

Being a dog owner is a lot of work. My boss told me it’s harder than having kids. I don’t believe that, but yes, sometimes it’s exhausting. The hardest part about owning a dog is dealing with other people. Goomba is a good dog. Yes he likes to play a lot and other dogs may not be into that, but he doesn’t bit or attack. He just wants to have fun and is always wagging his butt. 

Many of you know what I work on a farm and bring Goomba to work with me every day. He gets to run around the fields and he loves it. Some days Gary brings his German Shepherd and the two of them play all day long. It’s great! Sometimes though Goomba gets a little too friendly and trusting of strangers that walk by. This is a private driveway (once we get up this far I think) but that doesn’t stop people and kids from riding their bikes or walking with their dogs up here. Goomba sees them and since he’s in love with people he will invite himself to join them on their walk. The problem is, he doesn’t know when to stop. He will continue to walk until I run out there to get him. 

Today he joined a woman with her two kids and small dog (a shih tsu maybe?). Once I saw them I was clearly speed walking and then started running towards them. Goomba was trying to play and the shih tsu didn’t want any part of that. There was no fighting or biting, Goomba was just trying to say hello. I could tell the woman was trying to pull her dog away but this was useless being as Goomba was not on a leash and could just follow. So trying to be considerate I started running to get him away faster. The two little girls would not stop SCREAMING. Goomba was not barking or biting or even paying any attention the girls, why the need to scream at the top of their lungs? That will only make their dog more scared and their mom more angry. As I was getting closer the mom said in an angry voice, “who’s dog is this???” Well lady I’m running towards you it’s obviously mine. If you’re so worried about your own precious dog then pick him up. He’s a shiatsu, he can’t weigh more than 10 pounds. Don’t get your panties in a bundle. 

I understand that Goomba can be too playful and jumpy, and being a boxer even though he’s not full size yet he’s still “big” and strong and maybe intimidating to those with small dogs. But come on, you can quickly tell he’s friendly so stop acting like your dog is the most precious thing on earth. Yes, I love my dog immensely and can understand telling the need to protect him, but they are dogs and need to be socialized with other  dogs. It’s not like Goomba is a wolf coming to eat your dog. Dogs are made to play rough and if yours can’t handle it just pick him up until I get there and stop giving me an attitude.  It’s Friday, and the weather is awesome, you have kids and a dog, and are able to walk a walk in the middle of the morning – be happy! Stop killing my Friday buzz!

Earlier this week a neighbor on the farm brought Goomba back here saying he was chasing her cats inside. At least she said “he’s a friendly dog….but he’s chasing my cats inside the house….” I could tell she was slightly annoyed but at least she was nice about it and it was actually something to be bothered by.

I sure do have my work cut out for me with this dog…..but he is mine. And I will love him and defend him no matter what he does. He just wants to make friends and play with them. Hopefully we will find some owners who want the same thing for their dogs and realize that they are animals not accessories to look pretty and not be touched.

Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins

I woke up and immediately texted Megan saying it was her wedding day!! All the girls met at the hotel at 10 to get our hair done. Naturally I was the first one there even though I was the only one not staying at that hotel. I got my usual “wedding hairdo” of half up and curled. I felt awkward accepting compliments for it all night because I didn’t do it, so thanks? Megan got a very lovely spread for us to eat while we were all hanging out in the room. And naturally we put the WVU game on at 12. I was sent up to Chad’s room where he gave me a note to pass to Megan and his wedding band (for me to hold on to all day until Dave said “we will now do the rings”). Seriously? You made me hold on to that thing for 6 hours? Jacob at least had the box thing to keep Megan’s in but I was terrified I was going to lose Chad’s wedding band! So I pretty much wore it all day. I’m really sorry if this means bad luck, but I figured it was better luck then losing it. I did take it off briefly to try and get it in as few pictures as possible – but quickly checked my pockets after the picture was taken. Then later Megan gave me a note to pass back to him so I ran upstairs yet again. All of us got our hair done beautifully and it was now time to go over to the Bohemian where the wedding was actually taking place.

I drove Megan over and the rest of the bridesmaids met us in her suite shortly. The honeymoon suite was basically on the other side of the wall for the reception – which was right next to the outside patio where the ceremony was. We all got our dresses on, did our make-up, took pictures, played with the kids, more getting beautiful and hanging out until it was time.

IT WAS FINALLY TIME! And I was still holding the ring! Perfect! We did our bridesmaid thing and walked down the aisle. All the little kids did an awesome job. Megan’s 4 sisters all walked down the aisle holding their flowers AND kids. It was impressive. Next was Megan’s turn. She was beautiful. Megan, really, you looked stunning. (and super skinny!) Our friend Dave did the ceremony. If you told me when we went to Pawley’s Island and I met Chad and Dave for the first time that I would be maid of honor at Megan’s wedding to Chad and Dave would be officiating, I would have called you delusional. I remember in weather analysis class fall of 2005. Chad and Jacob sat with the “cool kids” and would talk about weather like that’s all they cared about and made nerdy weather jokes. I would look at them thinking “You guys think you’re so cool like you run the ATMS department”. That was also the semester I met Megan just downstairs in the Java lab. Little did I know I would have a front row seat (stand?) to the wedding 6 years later.

Being maid of honor was fun. I gave my flowers to someone else and held Megan’s. Then I fluffed her dress when she turned. We were outside and the weather was BEAUTIFUL but there was a big gust at wind at one point which pushed her dress some. Of course I stressed for about 5 minutes whether or not I should fix it. I decided if there was another gust I’d fix it but leave it until then. This may be creepy, but I was watching Chad the whole time, since I couldn’t see Megan. I love seeing the faces on people when they get married. They are so happy and nervous at the same time. Chad’s facial expression was definitely that of “I can’t believe I’m so lucky to be marrying this wonderful woman standing next to me.”

I had to remind Megan to take her flowers once she walked back down the aisle. Then I got to walk with Rev. David Ramsaur. And that is how Megan and Chad got married. Now….let’s party!

Oops before we get to partying we need the speeches! I got a text from Megan a few weeks before the wedding saying “Jacob is giving a speech at the wedding. Will you give one for me?” My reply was, “Yes of course I’ve already been working on one.” I may sound less crazy if I said I started writing their speech when they got engaged, but that’d be a lie. The truth is I started thinking about a speech for these two long before they were engaged. Even with all that time, I was still extremely nervous. It was immediately after the ceremony – and I had to go before Jacob. My heart was pounding and it felt just like I was back in school about to give my map discussion or math senior seminar – especially since both those professors were in the audience. I absolutely hate public speaking. It’s terrifying. I’m pretty sure I was shaking but everyone said I looked completely fine and did a great job. It actually went well. I remembered to say everything I wanted to, and I didn’t rush through it. People laughed when I wanted them to, and I left moments to pause during sweet stories for reflection. To Megan and Chad: I truly and deeply meant every word I said.

Photo Credit: Joe Covert

Okay, now let’s party! The food was delicious – an open bar is always a plus too. I strangely hung out with Jacob a lot that night. Not that there is anything wrong with that – I guess since both our S.O.’s weren’t there and we were both 2^nd in command to the bride and groom. If you’re reading this Jacob Carley – you are much cooler than I ever gave you credit for in college and maybe we will get to hang out again one day!

This blog is getting a little long, so I will try to cut it short. The rest was full of normal reception fun. Cutting of the cake, talking to Bahls and Dr. Miller. Is it weird that even after I graduated I feel the need to call him Dr. Miller instead of Doug? Dancing, bouquet and garter action, Megan breaking her toe during Miley Cyrus. She was a trooper about it thought. Megan: “Miley Cyrus Party in the U.S.A. came on and things got a little crazy. Someone jumped on my foot.”

 Bahls

 Dr. Miller with all the ATMS students

Oh wait! Also I got to sign the marriage license as a witness! So official. That was pretty exciting.

Photo Credit: Joe Covert

High: Watching my friend marry my best friend to another friend – all while standing inches away!

Low: I helped Megan put on her shoes – and I volunteered to do it. This is HUGE considering how much we all know I hate feet! That is how much I love you Megan Stone. I mean Hutchins.

On deck: Not much going on (or at least planned) until Kelly’s wedding in May at VA Beach. Geez – why so many weddings?? I must be getting old.

I leave you with some more photos:

Photo Credit: Joe Covert

Photo Credit: Joe Covert

Asheville, NC

Thursday:
Last weekend I took a trip down memory lane visiting Asheville for a long weekend. I flew in Thursday for my bff's wedding. Once I got my rental car, I drove straight to meet her and fiance (also known as Megan and Chad) to watch some March Madness. Megan is a hug WVU fan and after that game UNCA was playing Pitt. What? UNCA? Yes that's right. We made it into March Madness! We ended up losing, but we put up a pretty good fight. First half anyways. From there, we went to El Chaps. If you know Megan and me, you know that this was one of our favorite things to do in college. Hard Dr. Miller test? Senior comps? Why not go to El Chaps afterwards and eat some queso with a pitcher of margaritas! Next, Bier Garden. It wouldn't be a trip to AVL without hitting up the Bier Garden.

This is where we started to celebrate Megan's Bachelorette party, so some details will be left out. But while finishing up here and deciding where to go next, someone mentioned the Arcade Bar which apparently had two NES systems at the bar to play. Megan and I knew we HAD to go there IMMEDIATELY. We talked over and as soon as we stepped into the bar we knew it was awesome. All we could say over and over again was, "WHY WASN'T THIS HERE WHEN WE WENT TO SCHOOL???" So naturally, we played! Megan started pulling all her Mario keychains out and I was yelling I NAMED MY DOG GOOMBA! I guess we needed everyone to know how much we deserved to play.

This is where I felt old for the first time (besides being able to rent a car). I saw a kid with a Boston hat next to us so I thought I'd make conversation. which is weird because we all know how socially awkward I am. This was our conversation:
Me: Hey! I'm from the Boston area!
Kid: Yeah? Do you go to school here?
Me: No. I graduated.
Kid: When?
Me: Three years ago.
Kid (with a sour look on his face and tone in his voice): What are you doing here?
Me: My best friend is getting married this weekend!!!

Then him and his friend left and Megan and I took their seats. THREE years ago. I graduated THREE years ago and this kid was giving me a hard time for being in town waiting to play nintendo at a bar. Whatever. Moving on...

I finally went to bed at 2 and got a text at 5 am....

Friday:
"My car broke down on route 4. I'm waiting for a tow truck. I tried." I was devastated! Adam was supposed to come to AVL and go to the wedding with me. I was so excited to show him where I spent 4 years of my life, meet my friends, and go to my bff's wedding. I tried really hard to be understanding because we knew he was having car problems earlier in the week and the airport is over an hour away so it's not like he can just call a taxi. Adam, I know it wasn't your fault and it's over now - but you are 0 for 2...you're going to have to meet one of my friends eventually!!

Since I no longer had to go to the airport to pick him up, I spent the morning walking around downtown. It was AMAZING! The weather was GORGEOUS! We couldn't have asked for better weather. I wondered the streets of downtown in my tshirt (which I had to dig out before packing) and my sunglasses. Downtown has really stepped it up. Chocolate Fetish has doubled in size! I got some chocolates to bring back since Adam couldn't be there. I also picked up some treats for Goomba since I felt guilty for leaving him.

Later all the girls were meeting to get our nails done. This was my first time meeting Megan's sisters. It was slightly overwhelming. Luckily, they were all awesome and welcomed me into the group like I was one of them. They were so sweet. Afterwards, on to rehearsal! This was kind of weird because there was another wedding at 7 so we didn't really have a lot of time. Why would the hotel do that? We walked in and out and talked a little about who does what when. It was quickly over and we were on our way to dinner. Dinner was fun. I saw with the other ATMSers and we all talked about what we've been up to these days. My plate came out, we laughed at how small it was, then Terry's food came out and we laughed even harder.

Mine was supposedly 4 oz and Terry's was supposedly 8 oz. the surprising part is he finished his BEFORE me. But this is a Monroe, maybe it isn't so surprising? We well went to our hotels after dinner since we were tired and had to wake up early for the festivities!

Saturday:
THE WEDDING! Separate blog to come later. 


Sunday:
Before I trip I bought tickets to see the Biltmore. Adam is a photographer so I thought he'd enjoy this, and I get a discount if I buy them ahead of time. Without Adam, I didn't really care to go by myself, but I already had the ticket and a lot of time to kill (my flight wasn't until 6:30 PM) so I went anyways (but you can tell from the photo I'm not sure if I want to be there).

I don't know why I wanted to see the gardens so badly, obviously in March there was really nothing there. Although I did find a greenhouse type thing with a bunch of flowers and there was one room I walked in and there was just a TON of orchards. It was beautiful. (For anyone reading this, orchards are not my favorite flower but they are a very close second.)

As I was leaving I got a text from the newlyweds saying they were bored. hahaha. So I headed over to UNCA to meet up with them. My oh my how the met lab has changed! It looks so much bigger! Almost like there's no way it could be the same room. We got some lunch, then I said by to them for the second time as they headed to the airport. Then I just drove around AVL some more until it was time for me too to go to the airport. I got there and guess who I saw! None other than The Hutchins'. There was no room on their flight, so I said goodbye yet again and sat in the airport waiting for my turn. If you read my facebook at all, you know that my flight was delayed. Delayed enough to make me miss my connecting flight. With only one flight from ATL to Manchester a day, they wouldn't be able to get me home until Monday late in the day. Well this sucks. I have to pay an extra day to board Goomba, another day of parking, and miss another day of work. I was not a happy camper. But wait, what's this. The plane taking me from Atlanta to Manchester is flying into Atlanta from SC, and seems to be delayed?? Maybe there is hope!! After several hours, I landed in ATL at 8:30 (when my original flight was supposed to leave) and my connecting flight was delayed until 9:30. OMG! I'M GOING TO MAKE IT HOME TONIGHT AFTER ALL!! This is GREAT news!

The girl I sat next to on the plane got to her seat and said, "Oh good you're reading too so I won't feel bad for turning my light on." Then I continued to read the entire flight (luckily I had such a good book to keep me entertained and distract me from what a long day it was) while she read 5 minutes then quit, got out her computer, and was on twitter the whole rest of the flight. Weird. After all of this, I landed in Manchester around 12:30 and drove home. I finally made it home around 2:30 am, went to sleep, and woke up for work the next day. It was a long journey home, but overall, it was a fantastic trip and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

High:
I got my Starbucks, Chick-fil-a, and Yuengling fix.

Low:
My wedding date didn't make it.

On Deck:
I'm not sure. either my sister visiting me or Kelly's Wedding in VA Beach at the end of May.

Blue Square

Steven’s Pass

On Wednesday, my sister and I went snowboarding at Steven’s Pass. She has two boards and I brought my own boots and all that jazz. We woke up, drove 1.5 hours, and made it to the mountain before 10. 

My new snowboarding jacket I bought in the summer has a cool zipper pocket outside of the main jacket zipper, but up higher than a normal jacket pocket. I thought wow how cool I can put my ID and credit card there for easy access. Wrong. Ski places now give lift tickets in the shape of a credit card. Instead of hooking it onto a zipper somewhere, you put it in this front left side pocket and just walk up to the lift, do a little shimmy, and watch the thing read your card and let you on. Pretty fancy. Anyways, back to snowboarding. We went up the Daisy lift a few times to get warmed up. This is after all only my second time out this season, and the first time was only two hours. Naturally I eat it within a minute of starting. I was going down thinking oh yeah I can do this, piece of cake, look around for Rebecca, then WHAM! I wasn’t even going that fast but just because I had lost focus I hit some weird snow and just fell. I got the wind knocked out of me and had to sit there for a few minutes just coaching myself to breathe. 

Whatever. This stuff happens. I know it’s a tough sport. When I’m ready I got back up and continued down the mountain. We went two or three times and then I said, “Let’s do something different.” I think Rebecca was excited I was ready for a blue because she’s way better than me and the easy stuff is boring. This was my goal for this season. To get on a blue square slope. I DID IT! I knew snowboarding with my sister would be awesome because she would push me in all the right ways. She knows what I can and can’t do and she knows what the slopes are like. If she said I would be okay then I said let’s do it! At one point she even called me fearless. I don’t know about that, but I guess it’s half true. Yes, I went down slopes that looked super intimidating and scary, but I also kind of did a Z riding my heels the whole way down. You’re supposed to make an S. Heels side turn, toe side turn, repeat. Well, I’m still working on my toe side turn so I like to say I do Z’s instead because I do a regular heel side turn, then I start boarding goofy and do a heel side turn like that. I did however make some excellent progress on my toe side turns!! Once we got on the blue square I had a little more room, and the slope was longer and slightly steeper. Both important factors. Sometimes the green circle is just TOO EASY to do something. I had this problem at Whaleback last year with flat areas and will get to it again when I talk about Crystal. I was doing my thing, learning how to toe side turn, going down steeper slopes, we even tried another blue square which was slightly harder than the first. I did AWESOME at the end of that one. It was a perfect day. Besides that first one I didn’t have any falls that were too bad. There was one where I thought I should have broken my arm, but I didn’t. There was another where I wondered how I got my leg to twist like that, but I could still walk on it (days later it still hurts, maybe I damaged it more than I thought). Snowboarding has to be one of the most fun things ever invented. Once we were exhausted (after about 5 hours of snowboarding) we headed to the car and on our way home. Not before getting some boys to push the car out of the parking lot. They got a lot of snow up there on Wednesday. It was beautiful to snowboard while it was snowing! We got home, ordered pizza, drank some wine (because the beer was gone), and waited for John to drive in. Easily one of the best days ever!

Crystal

On Friday, Rebecca, John, and I went to Crystal Mountain. What a day. First of all, John has been skiing since he was five and is a superstar. Once again we woke up early, got geared up, and headed out. Crystal is a little farther, about two hours. It’s also where Rebecca first took me to go skiing way back when (back when I was in high school!). It did not go well. This trip still had its times, but overall it was still very enjoyable, enough though I forgot my knee pads in Rebecca's car. When we got to Crystal, we just completely skipped the easy stuff because it was so crowded and went up the Chinook Express, then over to another lift. The area between the two lifts is pretty flat so you have to work up your speed in order to make it through. Well, it’s too scary to go that fast! Needless to say I didn’t make it and had to unstrap my right foot and skateboard over. We hadn’t even been boarding yet and I was already exhausted!! This was going to be a rough day. We rode up the Forest Queen Express next (I was on a 6 person lift in the middle and didn’t fall getting off!! Yay!) and then went down a green slope. Fjkldasfjdlkajfkldsjfiorfjka. That’s what I have to say about that run. There were so many flat parts. I hated it. I was getting extremely frustrated and exhausted. I just did so awesome the other day in blue slopes, I don’t understand why this green was giving me such a hard time! I got so frustrated that I shed a few tears (how embarrassing). I was not having fun at all. My heart went out to the 7 year old girl on skis crying while her dad was screaming at her to just do it. If I’m crying at 25 then she should be able to cry at 7! I was pissed and this was not setting a good tone for the day. I know when John and Rebecca say they don’t mind they mean it, but I still felt horrible for making them wait for me for so long while having to skateboard and shimmy across this thing. I finally got to the bottom and said, I don’t want to do that again. That one sucks. Rebecca said I’m like her and would rather go on something steeper so I can just go. So next we went down a blue one, Downhill was the name of it. I loved it! It was good to just go down and do my thing and remember how much fun it can be. I quickly decided I was having enough fun again to practice some more toe turns, since I know that would result in falling.  Rebecca did great at kind of ignoring me and giving me my space, then just saying little things and cheering me on when I did something good and new. We went down that a few times and then took a break for “lunch”. We actually sat outside and ate a granola bar for lunch. It was too crowded inside and we were so hot and sweating anyways. It felt awesome to sit outside. John had been on the black diamonds at the top and said the view is amazing today, and if I’m up for it…it’s worth it. It didn’t take much for them to talk me into doing it. I was going to ride the Rainier Express to the TOP of the mountain. 6872 feet in elevation. Yes, John was right. The view was AMAZING. 

There was a lot of skateboarding to get to the slope. We were going down Little Shot, to Upper Skid Row, to one of the other green ones all the way to the base of the mountain. It was so scary! The inside of my jacket right around my mouth was super sweaty from me breathing really hard and saying “OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD” the whole way. My legs were KILLING ME because I’m basically squatting for long periods of times. Especially if I’m turning goofy instead of doing toe turns. I went really slow, was heel side 99% of the time, and sat on my ass a lot, but I made it down! I DID IT! In the middle I even did a few good S’s in a row! I was getting tired and my goggles were majorly fogging up. I  couldn’t see, I could hardly stand, I had to go down this super steep part, it was icy, and bumpy. I just wanted to get OFF THE MOUNTAIN!! Yes, I still thought it was worth the view, but I was ready to be finished. I was reaching that point where it started being painful and hard more than fun. We were done for the day and headed to the bar. Beer and nachos. Just what we needed. I barely had enough energy to pick up my glass of beer. It was 4 and we were hanging around until 9 when they had fireworks. Kind of cool to be watching fireworks when even though it was only 9, it was New Years back home. We had a good time waiting. Most people had RVs and fires. We had a love seat camp chair and a cooler of beer. We hung out, went on a walk, talked to some people, walked over to another bar, then stood outside with others watching fireworks. 

They were beautiful. We headed back to the car and drove home. I slept the whole way. We got back just in time to watch fireworks at the Space Needle. I went to bed immediately after that. This year was off to a horrible start (to be explained in a different blog to come next week about starting new years) but ended with a day of snowboarding with my sister. Perfect! Happy New Year everybody!

High: I DID IT! You're not so scary anymore blue square.

Low: I think I did some serious damage to my knee on one of the falls. It still feels funny. Like something got twisted out of place.

On Deck: I have no idea. Maybe a New Year and wrap up blog once I get home and relax. Or else I don't think my next trip is until March. We all know what that is!!! :)

Seattle Part I

Greetings from Seattle!

We all know how much I love Seattle. I visit it enough I almost consider it my second home. Just today I told Rebecca how I think I have more friends in Seattle then in NH. I was luckily enough to visit Seattle TWICE this year! One of them being over Christmas.

I started my journey Wednesday night of the 22nd. After work I jumped on Dartmouth Coach and headed to Boston for the night since my flight was at 6 am. My coworker's car recently broke down so I said he could borrow it while I was gone. He dropped me off at the bus station and I watched him drive away in my car with my dog. Goomba looked at me with those puppy dog eyes saying "why are you leaving me and where am I going?". I immediately missed him. I woke up the next morning, my taxi came right on time and I made it to the airport too early (surprise surprise). I thought I would make it through without getting electronically raped but they turned it on just as it was my turn. THEN, they said my left leg looked suspicious and I had to get a pat down. Do I really look that dangerous?? There were FIVE dogs on both my flights out here. The dogs made me miss Goomba, but also made me feel a little less guilty because all five spots were taking and there was no room for me to bring him along even if I tried to.

Anyways. Nothing else interesting happened in the journey. Oh except for the woman next to me spilled her water on me and it felt like I peed my pants the rest of the flight. I landed in Seattle. YAAAAY!!!! Rebecca and I got a drink and waited for our Dad and Debbie's (our step-mom) flight to come in. Then we went home and relaxed before going to the boat parade. I don't have any pictures, but it was pretty cool! We went down to the water and there were about 50 boats hanging out with lights on them. One big boat in the middle had the girls choir on it so they sung songs for 20 minutes then the boats all went home.

Next day was Christmas Eve. We went into downtown Seattle for the day. Dad thought it was funny how much Debbie bundled up and I left my jacket at home.

We got some seafood for lunch, cioppino for later, and halibut for dinner. We walked around some, got some veggies, then headed on the bus home. But not before looking at the Gingerbread Houses contest! There were only 6, but they were huge! And they had so much detail, they were pretty cool.

Games were played until it was time for bed. I won Dixit twice and then everyone decided to keep playing but stop keeping score. We finally went to bed and then......

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas was great! It's a big deal in my family, and we all always go overboard. Everyone loved their presents though. It was a different Christmas then I am used to, but my sister did a great job of playing hostess the whole time for us.  The day was spend playing with all our new games for the rest of the day. I don't know what was in the air, but I happened to win everything! Great for me, boring for everyone else. My luck ran out the next day though, everyone got their turn. Games played were: dicecapades, word on the street, quelf, play nine, telestrations, some island game, qwirkle, and I think that was it. Qwirkle is totally my type of game. I loved it. Rebecca said it was unfair because my mind works in that way and I can play through all the possibilities faster than everyone else and that's why I was so good at it. Dicecapades was another one of my favorites. Although the very first turn I had to do 16 push ups in 30 seconds. Even though push ups are my absolute least favorite work out exercise, I did it, and on hard wood floor!

 Merry Christmas from the Kings!

John (Rebecca's boyfriend) came over the next day and we had another day of games after going out to lunch. I've already met John but this was Dad and Debbie's first time. It we well. We all gave him Christmas presents and he handed some out himself. He drove in from Portland in the morning and then drove home at night. Lots of driving for one day but we appreciate it John! Thanks for coming out!

Monday: Snowshoeing!! We woke up early, packed a lunch, and drove east to Steven's Pass. By the time we got there and put on our rental gear, we started hiking around 12. We did a big loop of about 4 km. On the first half we walked by the creek. It was awesome! I guess no one else had walked there yet because there were no footsteps to follow so I got to be the trail blazer. Every 5 minutes my dad would ask "how do you know where the path is?" I don't know. There were some markers in the trees I was following and sometimes I just went for it. What's the worst that could happen? It felt like we were just walking in a forest covered in snow. It was our own winter wonderland and it was even snowing for part of the walk. Every few steps we would stop and saying "it's so beautiful!!" then keep going and say the same thing a few minutes later. I tried to sled down a hill by sitting on my snowshoes, but we had the wrong kind so it didn't work. Actually I just about did somersaults down the hill. We all had a great time though and can't wait to do it again one day.

This morning we woke up and made breakfast before driving Dad and Debbie to the airport. We all said our goodbyes and sent them off their way. Rebecca and I came home to eat lunch and just watch tv and talk all afternoon. Perfect relaxing time before gearing up for a day of snowboarding tomorrow!

High: It's against the rules to name more than one, but it's Christmas! There are too many! Either playing the games or trail blazing while snowshoeing. 

Low: The woman sitting next to me on the plane spilling her water in my lap.

On Deck: The rest of the week! Seattle Part II. Wednesday: Snowboarding, Thursday: Hanging around with Seattle people, Friday: More snowboarding and New Years, Saturday: Something fun and then flying home. Sunday: traveling all day then reuniting with my two boys!