VOTE bitches!

I do not personally care who you vote for or why... whether you are ignorant and just pick someone based on what the media says or just because you like their, um, style, but the point is that everyone should get out there today and vote. I did, several days ago actually.

I have been following politics religiously this year and like to think that I am much more informed than I have made myself in the past. I have read both candidates policies have watched countless hours of both right wing and left wing media, have read articles and articles of opinions, policies, personal addendums... It has become somewhat of a passion. Because whatever you do or don't believe, this country needs a new leader, a change, someone in a time that is uncertain at best.

It is in ALL of our best interest for our future, our kids future, our country's future to take an active and vested interest in who we want that person to be. We can all make that choice for whoever we respectively believe that person to be. For me, I have no hesitation saying that I voted for Barack Obama.

Now your turn- go vote.

The countdown is on...

We leave for Hawaii in about, um, a day. Actually less than a day if you want to get really technical. Aside from the fact that I developed a cold yesterday, a cold that I have fighting so freaking hard not to get, I am still pumped. I think that sun and beaches will be the cure for the cold so it's all good.

We had a fabulous weekend... so fabulous in fact, that it probably weakened my immune system. Hence, the stupid cold.

Ashley got in around 9pm Friday night. We took her out to our favorite Thai restaurant and then headed to Rhett's house for his birthday party where a little game of flip cup indoctrinated Ashley in to the folks of Washington. Of course she was a pro... apparently flip cup is popular in Missouri too.

The next morning we headed out early to ride the duck. It was essentially a land/water tour of Seattle. Awesome. We met some nice folks from Wisconsin so that was fun too. We then headed up in the space needle. Then went to pike place market and then walked to the best sushi place ever. If anyone is ever in Seattle, check out Wasabi Bistro. If you like sushi, naturally. Then we went straight to the Angels and Airwaves/Weezer concert. It was such a high energy/amazing concert. Loved it.

Sunday we got up and threw on our hiking clothes and went into the mountains then to Snoqualmie falls. It was awesome.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend and I'm pretty sure Miss Welch had a good time exploring Seattle too. I actually took a fair amount of pictures but of course have not downloaded them yet. When I do, I will post them. They tell the weekend story better than I can.

Now onto the next journey... Hawaii!

500th post anniversary

Today my blog is 500 posts old. I may not always feel like I am very dilligent in posting but that is noteworthy.

Happy friday thoughts...

1) It's sunny in Seattle! It turned fall here about two weeks ago and started to get more rainy and um, FREEZING. But today it is nice, crisp, and sunny!
2) Fall color leaves. Love it when they are just pretty colors but haven't fallen yet.
3) Thrilled to see an old friend this weekend. Miss Welch is visiting from Missouri.
4) Plans this weekend include: friends birthday party tonight, and Weezer/Angels and Airwaves concert tomorrow night. Um, awesome!
5) No more lost kittens this week.
6) FIVE days to Hawaii day! YAY!!! :)

Run Away Kitty

Monday...

Following an insane weekend of running around, I started a new audit of a new client. A HUGE client, probably one of the biggest ones I have ever had. Tim has been taking me to work because my Arizona plates are um, suspended because I don't have Arizona car insurance. Reasonable since I now live in Washington but apparently it suspends my plates. I know, I know, I have been up here a year and a half! Anyway, poor Winston has been inactive lately. I don't want that ticket.

As a sidenote... I do have a Washington driver's license AND the FJ is in my name in Washington so I am PERSONALLY legal. Just Winston is not. But that is not entirely my fault. The state of Washington is being difficult and even more difficult is the lien holder who 1) never transferred the title to Arizona (WTF? How was I even able to get plates there??!) and 2) never transferred the title to solely my name in accordance with the divorce decree, which, by the way, I can't even tell you how many times I have called them/talked to them/faxed them this information. Ugh. Such a mess. I have been going back and forth with the Washington DMV and the lienholder for literally months now.

Anyway, Winston has been MIA as a result so Tim has been taking me to work. We leave in a week for Hawaii and are absolutely swamped trying to get ready for that and for everything else. So Monday night, I get home late and we are working on stuff until about 10pm. We relaxed for about 20 minutes on the couch until we realized we were both falling asleep and should just go to bed. We go to find the boys (the cats) and only find one. It occurs to us that we are horrible parents... both of us cannot recall the last time we saw Tyson.

Both cats are indoor cats and Tyson especially is absolutely paranoid of anything. Case in point: I was getting dressed one day and placed a shirt on the bed... he jumps 10 feet in the air and runs and hides. He, however, is very athletic and likes to show off his abilities.

We used to let both cats roam the decks so that they could be outside and lay in the sun if they wanted. This was not a problem until Tyson tried to show off his athletic abilities and would jump up onto the two inch metal rail and almost fall two stories down. He had been better lately about it so we had been trusting him more.

Unfortunately, it occurred to us on Monday that in the midst of everything going on, the door had been open earlier in the day for about 20 minutes and we were not dilligent on keeping an eye on him. He must have slipped out, jumped off, and then either slipped (because it was raining) or jumped down two stories.

No idea but at 10pm that night, we were freaking out. We scoured the house, walked around the neighborhood, call 24 hour pet watch since the boys have chips (which, by the way is totally stupid because as we found out, they do NOT act like GPS tracking devices and the only way to find your cat is if they somehow manage to turn up at one of the scanning facilities... and there are only 500 in the whole US). Ugh.

At about 11:30 we decide to go out and look again... keep in mind that it is FREEZING, dark and pouring rain. We pass a raccoon and freak. We look behind bushes, and nothing. We call his name, nothing.

All of a sudden under some stairs, hiding in the very back corner, I see a kitten. It's Tyson. Holy shit.

I say his name and he starts screaming... he is scared shitless, he is cold and wet and dirty, and he is starving. We take him up (he actually was too scared and disorientated to get far-literally he was only about 30 feet away but hidden very well) and give him a bath, food, and water. He purrs the whole time. Now he is happy as a clam after his little adventure.

Needless to say, even though our story had a happy ending, it was seriously scary (especially when we were told that only 4% of lost cats are ever found!) I have never had any cats do that and it was definitely a lesson learned. Here is a picture of the little adventurer:

Emily and Ryan's Wedding. A crazy day typical of probably any wedding day.

Tim's sisters wedding, September 20, 2008.

1) Supposed to be an outdoor wedding. It's Seattle. You'd never guess, it POURED.
2) Bride was obviously upset and crying because it wasn't the wedding she expected.
3) Three flower girls. At 2pm on the day of the wedding, two come down with the flu. Over the course of the next 6 hours, they puke 6 times.
4) The three year old flower girl made it, albeit with a fever, but made it.
5) One of the other sister's was in the wedding party. She changed her name a few days prior. Hard to remember in the chaos that her name was not what it used to be.
6) Same sister that was in the wedding party that changed her name decided an hour before the wedding that she did not feel comfortable being in the wedding. FREAK OUT.
7) Try to find a stand in. I was an option.
8) Beautiful ceremony, no glitches except the fact that the bride forgot to carry her bouquet and the groomsmen boutonnieres were about an hour away in a different city.
9) Lots of interesting people at the wedding... lots of diversity. From kids to grandparents to clean cut to piercing/tattoos like I have never seen before even to someone who was rumored to be a meth addict. The diversity was actually lot of fun... it made it interesting!
10) Tim and I somehow ended up as designated babysitters, which was awesome for us! I loved it!! I was watching the 3 year old flower girl Savannah (our niece) and Tim was watching our cousin Talia (I think she is 8 or 9)? We were all dancing together and during the toasts, I was teaching Savannah how to cheers with juice. It was a lot of fun.
11) Tim and I did not get home until very late that night due to the fact that we were helping clean the place up since we had a strict deadline to be out at a certain time. At one point, I saw someone dancing with a broom and I started dancing with a pile of trash in my hands with Tim who also was cleaning tables and had a pile in his. Crack up.
12) A great day and at the end of the day, of any wedding, the couple is married. That's all that matters. [And, as a side note, that is also why I do not personally ever want to be a part of the married chaos again for my own wedding...]

Stupid neck

Even though I wanted to adorn the chiropractor as king of the world after Tim's back ordeal, I have come to decide that I do not like chiropractors. Or maybe they just aren't right for me.

I went to the chiro about two weeks ago. When I was taking Tim in for his back, the chiro wanted to see me. He said that he could help the headaches that I seem to get rather frequently (I've always had headaches). So finally I went. He took some x-rays and found that instead of having a normal curved neck, mine was straight and instead of a straight spine, mine was curved.

Start adjustments, cool.

That weekend I felt ok.

On Monday of last week, I went back in for another adjustment.

Tuesday, I literally could not function. I was at work for 20 minutes. I could not do anything without feeling unbelievable dizzy, like I would pass out at any second unless I laid down flat on my back. That coupled with feeling like I would puke was unlike anything I have ever felt before.

I went to the chiro Tuesday to see if he could help more, and it did. Back Wednesday and felt ok. Thursday, didn't go but at Tim's sister's wedding rehearsal, we had to leave early because I almost passed out and puked again. Unbelievable. I was literally jealous of people who could walk around normally. THAT is not normal at all and should not be a problem for a healthy 26 year old!

Friday went again and did ok for the whole weekend. I have not been back since Friday and am not feeling dizzy at all...it gets better every day. I am feeling more normal than I have in two weeks. There is no reason that going to the chiro should make me feel like I am dying! I do not care how out of whack my body is... I can deal with headaches but I cannot deal with feeling like I am going to just peace out and die (it was really bad!!) So needless to say, I am boycotting chiros for the moment.

I am a HUGE proponent of healing bodies naturally, but I also believe in the power of the human body. I think that sometimes the more input you give it to try to heal itself, the more whacked out it becomes because it's just too much to handle (unless, like Tim's back, something is seriously wrong). (As a side note, I am a huge proponent of not taking any medications for this same reason). My body is extremely sensitive so I think that this was just too much. I think if I were to go, I would go more spaced apart and just until my neck and spine look more normal. Then hopefully my body would just adapt and I would be able to fix any minor problems without any sort of dizziness.

Family Fun Time

Like I briefly mentioned in my last post, my parents came out to Seattle to visit at the end of August, as did my brother. This was a HUGE DEAL because I have lived out here for almost a year and a half and they still hadn't ventured to the pacific northwest. They are not a huge fan of planes and 3 hours on one is not exactly their idea of a good time. But, much to my delight (and Tim's with the exception of the whole back ordeal that was timed right before they got out here), they made the trek.

During their stay, we saw more of Seattle than I have ever seen in the two years that I have been visiting/living up here. It's a pretty cool city! I mean, I have gone sight seeing and stuff but nothing like the sight seeing that my mom is capable of. Much of that is due to the fact that she bought these "Go Seattle" cards that you pay upfront for... it's either a 3 or 5 day card to do all of these touristy activities in the city and surrounding areas. It was awesome. We hit all of the places I have seen- pike place market, space needle, etc. but we also saw many things I've never been to- the SAM, music museum, other museums, boat trips, etc. Since I live here most of my activities revolve around the beaches in the summer and mountains in the winter- and of course all of the stomping grounds/restaurants that I love. I never really explored museums or anything of the sort! It was awesome and even more awesome that my parents paid for us to do it all!

One of the BEST DISCOVERIES EVER during their visit was this:

I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING YOU THIS PLACE WAS AMAZING. They make crumpets, obviously. I have never heard of these things. It is basically kind of like a biscuit/pancake type thing that they put cream cheese and organic home made jam on. And they toast it, but it's not really like toast. I am not doing it justice. Anyone that comes to Seattle and who is down by pike place market should try crumpets. They also have a HUGE selection of teas... it's like a teahouse versus the million starbucks that are around here, including the original starbucks that is just around the corner from the crumpet shop. I am not a coffee drinker but drink more tea than anyone would imagine so this was just the place for me. I believe I had their house tea which was an oolong/green tea mix. SO YUMMY. The day my parents left, Tim and I went back. And went again a week later when we had to run an errand in Seattle. It's that good.

Luckily when my parents were out here the weather wasn't horrible. Wasn't too great either, especially for August. If any month is really predictable up here, August would be it. Who am I kidding though? No month is predictable. My parents had a couple of beautiful 80 degree days but on a day when we were golfing it POURED. We thought it would hold off but then on the fairway of hole #11, it starting dumping literally harder than I've ever seen it rain here. But we got in a fair amount of golf so that was ok.

All in all, it was a great trip. They are coming back out for a few days in November and we will make the trip back to Kansas City around Christmas. Yay!