So Long 2009

Let the music tell you the rest...

last day in Washington

Sadly friends, it has come to an end.

My flight leaves at 9:30am tomorrow... meaning I need to wake up at 6am.

So, I should be asleep right now.

Naturally, I am not.

Luckily I was able to spend part of the day with Miss Katie Pwoatahhh.

Remember her from here?

We went to Cheesecake Factory for a lovely little snack, where our server managed to talk without moving her mouth.

We noticed.

And then shopped at Bell Square...

Where I met my mom's best friend,

Shaun.

I am sad to leave. I really am.

Every time I come home to Washington, I always feel like it's home and where I belong. I hope and pray that I will end up here.

It was a great trip. I was able to see so many of my close friends and spend good quality time with my family.

Farewell Washington... but not for long.

Hopefully.

Trip to Washington... Continued.

Today started out with lunch in Highlands at a new place called Agave. It was quite delicious I might say, and the chips and salsa were to die for.

We tried to take some pictures as a family and this is the best we came up with.

It was a bright afternoon... don't mind the glares, closed eyes, and shadows. We don't claim ourselves to be professionals here.

Then I went to visit Brandi and her little guy, Cade.

He is such a cutie and so fun to play with!

And he is SUCH a ham! Every time I pulled out the camera, he would stop what he was doing and smile so big!

Cade is so funny. I'm pretty sure I spent the evening laughing because he is so entertaining!

Sionara 2009!

Hello friends and fellow bloggers.

2009 was a ride, let me tell you.

For my close friends and family who know me, they know that 2009 was LAME.

I'm just going to be frank here:

2009 SUCKED!

I am so ready for 2010 to begin. This is the year. This will be the year of great things.

Of the achievement of amazing goals.

My intuition is speaking to me...

though, I choose not to listen to it sometimes, it's almost always right.

Well I'm listening to it now!

This year will have happiness.

This year will have passion.

This year will have excitement.

It's out with the old and in with the NEW.

The new page of life!

Rejuvenating.

That's how I feel.

2010 goals to come.

Christmas Day

The next morning, we woke up to the beautiful tree and some presents!

Dolly's loot

Bebe's loot

We only stayed up until 3 am setting everything up and then finally went to sleep and SANTA finished the job.

Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was so fun this year!

I spent the beginning of it with one of my FAVORITE friends, HEATHER!

Since she has moved to Pullman, WA, I have not seen her since JUNE and I have missed her dearly!

We went to lunch to Frankie's (a Redmond fav) and pretty much sat there for about 3 hours catching up, eating, drinking diet coke and of course, laughing hysterically! I love how every time we get together, it's almost as if nothing has changed and we are back in high school and acting like everything we do is the funniest thing ever. I love this girl to death and I am so glad I got to see her and her family even though it was only for a little bit.

Here are some pictures from that afternoon.

Thank you Jason for supplying us with the most amazing holiday background.

(Sorry Heather, don't kill me for posting this picture.)

K... he is seriously the cutest kid ever! I love being his fairy godmother!

P.S. We are in the market for a new fairy godfather. Any takers? haha

Climbing for the camera. Look at that charming little face!

Then, we continued our holiday tradition of making tacos for dinner only this year we decided to switch it up a bit and make some of these delicious enchiladas. Recipe found here.

We took some pictures and spent some quality Christmas Eve family time together.

Such a fun and relaxed Christmas Eve for the family and I am so glad I was able to come home to Washington to be with everyone!

Shiba Inu

Went shopping with the fam on Monday and someone was carrying a baby one of these.

So cute.

Doesn't get very big,

Very clean,

and cuddly.

I want one.

christmas 2010

Next year,

I will be starting my Christmas shopping early.

Like in January.

I hate that I am still shopping days before Christmas to get gifts for people.

If I space it out just perfectly, I can get gifts for people before Thanksgiving and call it good.

I just need to be strong and not shop after I get all the presents I need. I just need to keep telling myself to STOP.

But it's hard.

I love shopping.

And Christmas.

And shopping for other people.

But, that's my goal for next year.

2010.

Acapulco Fresh

hello friends.

I am home now... in the lovely city of Sammamish and I am so glad to be back and enjoying the TRUE holiday weather:

cloudy:

With a chance of rain.

I was excited to come back home and experience the food and the scenery.

To see old faces and friends. To catch up and make appearances.

One place brings so much joy to my heart.

If you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE mexican food and furthermore, I love Acapulco Fresh. A hometown favorite.

I was so excited to come home and eat here and reminisce about the good times when I ate there.

While discussing all the fun things I wanted to do while I am home in Washington, little sister, Dolly told me that Acapulco Fresh is out of business.

I laughed at this comment thinking she was playing some sort of sick joke with me.

So I turned to my mother and said, (and I quote),

"Ha Ha! Dolly just said Acapulco is gone! Ha Ha!"

Note the laughing... which soon turned into tears when I found out that what I thought was a joke was actually a reality.

Shoot.

Seriously!?!

What the heck?

Thank you Sammamish.

You let me down.

sweet tooth.

I actually really don't have a sweet tooth.

I rarely like to eat candy.

I sometimes skip dessert.

I would rather enjoy a salty/savory treat than anything sugary.

I'm crazy, I know.

But, let me tell you some candies that just make my mouth water.

My guilty little pleasures if you will.

MOOSE MUNCH. Kirk brought this over a few nights ago and I'm pretty sure I ate the entire box. It was AMAZING. Such a delicious and purely heavenly snack. And it has dark chocolate in it. MY FAVORITE!

Not just ANY Laffy-Taffy... WATERMELON Laffy-Taffy. We discovered it at the 7-11 and now every time we go there (which is almost on a daily basis) we have to get a handful. These are SO good and definitely bring joy to my heart.

This little number is vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce topped with cinnamon sugar pecans.

This is found at Carrabbas as the "John Cole" and is absolutely DELIGHTFUL.

I generally don't enjoy any sort of nut in my dessert but this is just SO good, I don't even CARE!

Last, but certainly not least, caramel apples. My favorites are the ones from Kneaders or Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and the flavor is called caramel apple pie. MMmmmMMM. I have dreams about these babies. They are tart but very very sweet. I don't have the power to turn these away...

What are some of your sweet tooth divulges?

Mi Casa.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Lovely lady and friend, Becca (check out her blog here)has asked to see pictures of the humble abode.

And here they are.

Enjoy.

the red front door.

the view from the inside.

the living room.

the living room again. LOVE the fireplace. LOVE it.

Kitchen.

my bedroom!!

my desk/work area. Kirk hooked a sista UP.

another view of the bedroom.

my getting ready/reading nook. that mirror, that's where i get ready. those books, i read those.

the bathroom.

So there you have it! It isn't exactly to par but it will have to do for now! I like it and find it cozy!

My favorite place to be is sitting at my desk working on my blog and feeling professional.

What's your favorite place in your home?

more purple.

Remember this color?

Well... it is now...

THIS color.

Purple.

I enjoy.

Do you?

The 2nd of December.

Well, for those of you who are not aware, yesterday was the first of December.

(yes, I did start this post yesterday...)

Now it's REALLY and LEGALLY time to celebrate the Holidays and spread that Christmas cheer.

In honor of this fine festivious time (yes, I do realize this is not a word),

Sister blister Ani and I have put up the tree.

It only took us about 15 long laborious minutes and the tree looks GLORIOUS.

some Christmas decor... I made the candy dish and painted the frame on the picture!

And Kirk and I...

For kicks.

ENJOY!

Ohhh the Holidays...

Ok... I wouldn't classify myself as a Grinch or a Scrooge by any means.

I actually LOVE the holidays and am feeling very festive this year.

But I have had at least 5 encounters with people this holiday season that makes me seriously question the reasons why I love Christmas.

I mean seriously, I feel as though people are meaner at this time!

Maybe it's the stress of the holidays combined with today's economy.

Or it's just the way people get around this time.

Story NUMERO 1:

There I was....

Minding MY OWN business.

Turning into a left turn lane and the lady wouldn't let me in! The light was green and I needed to get into her lane and she wouldn't let me.

So, I went anyway.

She got SOOOOO mad at me that she started to hit her head with her fingers and tell me that I'm stupid.... I guess.

I just ignored her and went on with my drive. She continued this hand hitting head motion. I'm assuming because I didn't respond to it that she just kept doing it until I got so mad at her back. But I wasn't about to let her affect me. I was having a good day. No way was I going to let this lady get to me. (Mind you she was a grown woman. I would say in her 50's. I mean really lady... do you REALLY have the time to try and make someone else upset? Seriously. Get a life.)

So then, she got in front of me somehow and decided to STOP in the middle of the road and not let me go.

I'm talking in the MIDDLE of the road. And this woman feels so inclined to not allow me to go.

I'm not kidding.

SERIOUSLY.

Story NUMERO dos:

There I was... Working at Shade.

This lady was buying some shirts.

I rang her up and told her the price.

She proceeds to tell me that that cannot be the correct price because those shirts were on sale.

I informed her that the particular shirts she was purchasing were not on sale and the sign says "select colors."

She thought that the sign was VERY deceiving and that she felt ripped off but that she would purchase them anyway.

I said that I was sorry she felt that way and we should fix our signs so that other customers would not feel the same way.

The lady got SO mad at me that this is what she said,

VERBATIM

"Ok! I got it! There is no need to just keep on talking about it! I already said I would get the shirts and you just went ON AND ON AND ON about the signs and I get it! OK!?"

um... what?

She then turns to her daughter and tells her to finish the purchase and that she was going to get the car because she doesn't want to be in the store any longer.

Seriously... what?

I just think that there is more to life than to be mean to perfectly innocent strangers.

Especially during the Holidays.

Let us rejoice.

Not be Grinches.

SHEESH!

Grateful.

I am grateful everyday... for days.

But today, being Thanksgiving and all, I am particularly grateful for this day.

I am grateful for many things.

My family.

My friends.

My sister.

Kirk.

My job.

The Gospel.

I am also thankful for these things as well...

While they may not be so deep and meaningful, I am still happy they exist.

Movie theater popcorn.

Diet Coke.

Mashed potatoes.

The Food Network.

Grey's Anatomy.

Floral fabric.

Vanilla.

My bedding.

Blankets.

Boots.

Laughter that keeps on going.

My heater.

Hand sanitizer.

Notebooks.

Dark chocolate.

Ice Cream.

Great movies.

Christmas.

You may think these are silly trivial things, but I do appreciate their existence.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had an absolutely WONDERFUL day!

SHADE Day After Thanksgiving Sale

Shade is having an AMAZING sale on Friday... BLACK Friday that is.

Everything in our store will be $30 and under and from 8am to Noon, everything will be an additional 30% off.

Then from noon to Saturday night, everything will be 15% off.

You should come!

Talk about a steal of a deal.

Check out all the sweet clothes at www.shadeclothing.com

I am working both Friday and Saturday.

And yes, I am scared.

10 Days to Touch 10 Million Lives

Ok... This is the coolest thing ever.

Kirk's good friend/professor/colleague, Clint Rogers, plus many many others, have helped with this movement to give Thanksgiving a little bit more meaning.

"While traditional media will begin their usual 'How to Prepare a Turkey' segments for millions of viewers, we wanted to take a deeper approach to this day."

Clint has asked Kirk to be the team's marketing consultant and assist in the construction of this site!

"This Thanksgiving season let’s pause from the hectic rush of life and reconnect, and especially let’s reach out together to those who currently believe they are inadequate, worthless, or “not enough”. Together we can touch 10 million lives this Thanksgiving – and reach that one person who needs it now most of all."

It just so happens that this little project has already reached its quota and touched 10 million lives before Thanksgiving by reaching

TIMES SQUARE!

Watch the Wisdom Film HERE.

Talk about inspiring.

Happy Thanksgiving.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

-Melody Beattie

(thanks trudy)

Christmas Movies

I don't know why but I have been craving Christmas ever since Halloween... It may have something to do with working in retail and all the stores getting ready for Christmas so early!
I haven't busted out any Christmas decorations or movies yet but let me tell which ones I am excited for:

-The Grinch
-The Holiday
-Dan in Real Life
-Elf
-Charlie Brown Christmas
-Home Alone
-Santa Clause
-Miracle on 34th Street
-It's a Wonderful Life
-Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, this does please my soul)
-Serendipity
-The Family Stone
-Meet Me in St. Louis
-National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Eau De AMAZING

Found this scent at Anthropologie this weekend and have fallen in love with it.

Not only does it smell like heaven (or vanilla), it was a steal for only $18.

Yeah, I'm not ashamed of naming the price.

It's that good.

And I invite all of you to enjoy this heavenly scent too.

It will only bring more pep to your step and joy in your heart.

So if you see someone skipping down the sidewalk whistling a happy jingle,

It may in fact be me... wearing this divine perfume.

Or I guess, it could be someone else who has found the truth in fragrance form.

Logically.

:)