Something Else to Blog About

While searching for new foundation today, I stumbled across a cosmetic line called shu uemura. I have difficult skin to match, because of the glorious red cheeks and the "cute" freckles, and the gal at Nordstrom just didn't get it right.... so, at 8:30pm, I swung on down the hill to Southcenter (aka Westfield Shopping Town) to have my color matched by the counter's manager. 

Turns out the line's manager is a gal I went to high school with, and while she was matching my tone, I was thinking to myself about how different it is to see someone 12 years after the last time you did, and how much some of us change, and how much some of us don't.  From one 30 year old to another, I'm sure neither one of us looked the same, but in my mind's eye I still see her with her layered chestnut hair framing her face, her colored t-shirt under her overalls, or the tighter black denim jeans, or the baggy denim... any one of those popular trends that phased in and out- and back in again now!- over the last 12 years... As I was looking at her now, hair colored to beautifully compliment her skin, the trendy-chic all black that they wear at the cosmetic counters at Nordstrom, I couldn't help but wonder if she still saw me in my 501's and athletic t-shirts. (oh, wait, what am I wearing after work? Jeans and a t-shirt!) 

Maybe it was a little odd for me because I didn't go to my 10 year reunion, so I didn't really see everyone after we all "grew up". 

After catching up, which was great, we did find a foundation that I'm pretty sure will work- we'll see.  I've been using MAC and Philosophy for SOOO long!  I'll let you know how it goes.

Something to Blog About

I know there was something I wanted to say- been thinking about it all day long... and now, it's escaped me. 
*sigh*

Believe it or not, I actually wish I could bring my work home with me.  Not the personal records part, but the work, the busy work.  I swear, it doesn't take long at all, it's just a matter of not having training or 8 hours of claims each day.  I'll get there, I know it, and I just have to keep telling myself that... if only my house were in Tacoma, or I worked at the Kent office, then I could do the OT and not feel guilty about leaving Stanley locked up for the extra hours!  It was going just fine as long as I could get about an hour extra in every day. 

Choir auditions are this weekend, I just don't know what time- kind of frustrating, actually.  The website said to email the conductor to inquire about auditions so I did, and *crickets chirping* nothing. The funny thing is that the conductor must have come to PLU just after I left, because he studied with some of the same conductors I did, but I don't remember him.  You'd think he'd have a little more professionalism on this?  Idunno. *shrug*

Rraah. 

I'm going to put the laptop away for now... if I can remember what I originally wanted to write about, I'll let ya know. :-)

Yup...

... you read those tickers right...
Norway in about 5 1/2 weeks, and Spain in 3 months! 

Can you believe it? 

Wednesday Wonders

I wonder when I will feel like I know my job?  *sigh*  I love being a CR, but have definately forgotten what the learning curve feels like!

This Blog is Now Private

If you know someone who wants to be on this blog, have them send me an email! You will have to set up a gmail account, but you can set everything so that it goes to your hotmail/yahoo/whatever-it-is domain. :-)

Hooray for not-Monday.

Another Pit in the Family!

I adopted another dog today, a gift for my aunt. The little gem's name is Sasha, and Stanley loves his new cousin!

They spent a fair amount of time getting used to playing with each other, I had to play referee- which tired the heck out of me- just to make sure they didn't get too carried away and hurt one another. I've read that pits are a lot like teenage boys, where they start playing and then one pushes the other one a little harder, so the other pushes back just a little more, and they just don't know when to stop... Luckily both dogs are very naturally mild mannored, and were fairly easy to pull apart by the harness when their ridge's were up... (they have a ridge that goes from neck to tail that stands up when they get defensive)

Sasha is the sweetest little thing, must weigh all of 40 lbs, and when she's ready to lay down, she circles, and as she puts her front down, she'll kick out her hind legs at the same time and almost belly flop! She found Stanley's favorite vantage point right away.

This precious little gem is a 2-time shelter guest- she was first found wandering, then was adopted and that owner left the pup chained up outside the entire time! When Mom told me Sasha was available again, because I was actually looking at her before Stanley, I thought that maybe I could get her- up until this very afternoon, I thought for sure that I could handle 2 big dogs.... HA! My aunt said she would like to adopt Sasha if she was still available, so I headed down to the shelter... Turns out they were having an adopt-a-thon at Reber Ranch, "Diamons in the Ruff", and that's where she was... My aunt wasn't able to be there before they closed, so I adopted the dog!

I had to bring Stanley to meet Sasha before the adoption was complete, to make sure they would get along. I wasn't worried, but they had to see it just to make sure... success! Although, the whole ride home, Stanley wouldn't look at me. It was as if he was thinking "what the heck did you do to me, why is she here?" By the time we got home, the two were taking to each other, and man- let the romping begin! Stanley eventually went to his toy basket and carefully selected which toy(s) to share... first was Gator, and it was so funny- Sasha would try to use her weight to tug, and Stanley would just drag her around the room! I think she kinda liked it, because she didn't let go, she just let him drag her around the living room, dining room, and rec room. It was hard to get some good pictures of them rough housing, because I was nervous that one would push the other one too hard and I wouldn't be able to stop it.... but they were fine.

Here she is, playing with Stanley's new lobster that grandma (my mom) just got him... this didn't last long, he pounced on Sasha and they proceded to play tug-o-war with the poor lobster. I thought for sure they were going to rip him in two, just like a wishbone. When it came down to it, the only toy Stanley did NOT like sharing was his little yellow starfish (xref the first picture) That's his little security blanket, and he body slammed the little one when she came running up to him with it in her mouth. I managed to catch that first photo as they were running side-by-side holding it, just before he tricked her into slamming into the corner, then he ran off and hid it at the bottom of the toy basket.

Mom and Carol came over while Dad fixed the fence in Carol's back yard, and I think it was love at first sight- like it was for all of us! By that time, both dogs had tired out a bit, and they were more playfully wrestling, which was sooo funny. After Carol, Mom, and Dad left to get Sasha settled in at her new home, Stanley looked everywhere for his new found playmate. Between his moments of deep sleep, which he's in another one right now, he whimpers and wanders, sniffing all the spots where they wrestled this afternoon. I told Mom that Carol and I will have to set up play-dates for the dogs. *grin*

I know, I know, I am totally turning into one of those people who talks about her dog all the time, but you know what, I think I'm okay with that!

I am such a huge fan of adopting pets- this is the third amazing dog we've gotten from the King County Animal Shelter, and the employees/volunteers there work with the dogs so much... a HUGE kudos to them! If any of you have ever had any reservations about adopting- especially a pit bull, check those fears at the door, and trust that these dogs have been worked with and want nothing more than to please you and love you back!

Speaking of loving you back, Stanley is ready for his cuddle time, and he's really cuddly right now. I am going to cuddle with my pup.

Good night, all!

Blog Worthy Blog

I think you should all read this blog. I went to highschool with the author, and she always has such a wonderful perspective that I've admired and respected. We weren't super close in high school, and only just reconnected courtesy of myspace, & facebook, and I'm really glad we did.

Pictures from PA!

Now, if blogger wasn't so difficult to insert photos with any sort of format whatsoever, then I would have the blog wrapping around these wonderful photos- enjoy!

Pennsylvania in Pieces

I ended up with over 100 photos from my trip to Pennsylvania, so I'll post it in pieces! It's going to be a little disjointed, because I either have to post backwards from the last day to the first, or just ask you all to read them backwards! Or, well, I guess I could write them individually. :-)



...



Got it- I'll write about it, and post the pictures in a separate blog.



I left early in the morning, with just a little hang-up at security because my sheer scarf was a potential threat that needed to be sent through separately. The flight had a little bit of excitement, a man had a mild heart attack- and there were 4-5 doctors on the flight! I never want to hear "Is there a doctor on board?" again. Scary.



A quick layover at Chicago-Midway, where a slice of pizza is $8, and off to Pittsburgh! It was really funny- on Southwest, you get to pick your seats, and if you sit in the very front then you get tons of leg room, so you KNOW I was all over that! The one hang-up is that your carry on has to go back behind you in one of the overhead compartments because there's nowhere to stow it during take off/landing. I cannot tell you how many people passed up sitting up front for the 20 minute flight from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia because they didn't want to be separated from their purse or laptop for 20 minutes! A gal hoppin' a flight for a wedding shower and a guy hoppin' a flight to meet up with his buddies and go drinking in Philly both decided to sit up front- one had no luggage and the other had a tiny purse that slipped in with the flight attendant's bag.



After being on planes for 7 hours, I welcomed the 20 degree chill that slipped down the tunnel from the plane to the airport, and you know what, I couldn't wait to find a real bathroom! And you know what else, they don't have any well-marked bathrooms in the terminals at the Philadelphia airport. I didn't see a single one until I got to baggage claim!



It's so great to see family, and it's even a sweeter reunion when you haven't seen them for a while! Spending time with Doug, Mimi, and Sydney was so wonderful. There's so much to tell, I don't know where to start!!! Or if I should just leave the memories inside my head... we went to Hershey & they totally put up with me being a cheesy tourist, drove all over the country side, and I got to sit in and participate on Doug & Mimi's small group. That was great, because I haven't really touched base with my faith for a while... Turns out that Sydney just got her lisence, so we went for an adventure to find elephant garlic... it's pretty hard to find that out in Dutch country, and after an hour and 3 stores, we found it at.... drumroll please.... Walmart! Turns out there aren't a lot of Italian food ingredients in Richland PA.



Three days was just not enough time to spend there- I wish I could pick up their whole house and drop it down next door. I miss the Shade family!



Monday, Sydney had to go to school, so Doug, Mimi, and I went to Philly. I had my first Philly Cheese Steak at Campos, and it was AMAZING! I balked when they said to try it with cheese whiz- they wanted to put canned cheese on my deliciously grilled roast? EW! But I tried it- turns out that they call the melted velveta-style cheese "cheese whiz". It was pretty good, but I really do still like the provalone best. It was really funny- I was taking pictures of all the sandwhiches and a woman working there said "Whatta-you gonna do wit those pictures?" I answered "I'm Italian, you gotta take pictures of th'food! And I'm gonna blog about my first cheese steak." She asked for my blog site. (which is why I haven't made it private yet, but of course- I intended to have all this posted a lot earlier!) I told her I got the Italian roll for the plane, and she threw in 3 soft pretzels. It was a sweet and welcoming gesture. And then she told Doug & Mimi to bring her some ... I-don't-remember-what-kind-of-meat... :-)



Independence Hall, and the surrounding buildings, were absolutely amazing! The Liberty Bell- wow. The history around every corner- they have a building that has the beginning of the Preamble, large enough to see across the park! The pride to be a founding city for our country... I could spend a month in those buildings and never get tired of it!!!



I took lots of pictures of random buildings, of course. It was cold there the entire time, as low as 17 degrees! Turns out I missed their incredible snow storms by - just days. Dang it!!! I wanted snow!



The flight home was pretty uneventful, my back hurt a bit, but I figured it was just because I was sitting in a cramped plane for so long, and I had myself all twisted while playing Henry Hatsworth on my DS. I missed my puppy, but didn't realize it, not really, until I was on the way home! Doug & Mimi's dogs were a hoot, and they kept me distracted... When Dad picked me up from the airport at 10:40pm, I could hardly wait! Stanley was pretty happy to see me, and the parental units kept him good and happy while I was away.



My back was still pretty sore for the next day or so, and by the end of Wednesday I couldn't move. Thursday I called in to work from a parking lot, and had to wait for Mom to my rescue!!! Thursday night, it got so bad that I could not move. Something was wrong. I called the consulting nurse, who promptly said "COME IN" and then I rolled over on the floor to wait for Mom and Dad to rescue me again. As I was crying on the floor, puppy piled all of his toys around my head, then jumped up on the red chair with his head hanging over so he could see me, and just whimpered. It was so cute!



Turns out I had a kidney stone- 5.5 mm. Not the best end to the vay-cay, but we've now come full circle. :-)



Okay, photos will be next...

Wednesday Wonders

I bet you're wondering what happened to my blog about my adventures in PA??? Well, it's-a comin'. I've been busy doing other things, like passing a kidney stone that was a 1/4 inch long.

My wonder today is this: why do I have to have a stupid body? Last night, while dancing for the first time in months, my left knee (had surgery on the right) dislocated & popped back in, aka patellar subluxation, as I simply took a step! Luckily I had some of the pain killers from the kidney stone in my purse, and the lead I was dancing with got me ice right away, and luckily a friend drove down... I didn't go to the ER last night because I took the percoset and wouldn't have been able to give them an accurate assessment of my injury- but really, can't I save myself the copay? I know what it is, and it's exactly like my right knee... I think I'll go in to work early and then go to my regular doc, so it's documented, and so I can get any other pain killers if this doesn't get better.

Of course, another wonder: how is it that I've had knee problems for years and could barely find one knee brace last night, and it was in the last box I looked in?! Stanley seemed to know, he has been parrticular attentive, silly dog that he is.

I'm Going Bananas! (and other random musings)

Or, rather, I've lost my banana. I remember taking it off the bunch this morning, but can't seem to find it anywhere!

I made it back from PA safe and sound, and will blog more about that when I get home and settled in tonight. For now, just some random thoughts...

Do you ever think about those old supersitions from childhood? Like wishing on the first star you see, lifting your hands and feet when you go over train tracks, or reciting the letters of the alphabet as you twist off your apple stem to see what letter your true love's name will start with? I find myself doing those things all the time... without even thinking about it. (of course, I'm sure this doesn't surprise many of you) *grin* And what's funny is that- before I can think about it- I already have the "wish" when I see that first twinkle against the twilight-night sky, I secretly lift my hands and feet just slightly when I go over train tracks, and for the third apple I've eaten, the stem twists off at the letter "G".

So, as my lunch break comes to an end, I leave you with this: who is "Mr. G"?