I love....

National Geographic magazine. A few years ago, I went to a garage sale and saw about 100 issues. I bought them all! Okay, so they only cost me a dime...seriously. But I couldn't pass them up. :)

So this year, for Christmas, my parent's gave me a subscription to National Geographic Magazine. YAY! And the first 3 issues came in the mail on the same day. I'm so excited!!

Guanaco's Tacos Pupuseria

I love trying new things. In fact, it's one of my all-time favourite things to do.

This weekend, when we were trying to decide where to go for dinner, I got a hankering for something new. So I pulled out my trusty iPhone and started shaking the Urbanspoon application. Up popped Guanaco's Tacos Pupuseria. Sound interesting? I thought so. And it only took me 1 1/2 hours to convince my parents to go! haha :)

This was after the persuasive speech. I was pretty excited!

Very colourful facade

Have you ever heard of a pupusa? I hadn't, and was certainly intrigued. I later found out that they are a traditional Salvadorian food that look kind of like a savory pancake. Turns out, they are corn tortillas filled with beans, cheese and pork. Yum. I also had a yuca frita ("tropical tuber like potato, served with curtido [marinated cabbage], radish, tomato slices and bite size morsels of pork") and a pastelitos guanacos ("flash fried corn flour pocket filled with beef, onion, carrots, served with curtido"). To wash it all down, I ordered the Horchata, which is a traditional Salvadorian drink that I can't even begin to describe properly...but I will say that it was a sweet mixture of flavours, light brown in colour, milky, with cinnamon, cocoa, almond, and ground rice (for texture). It was a very tasty meal, overall. :)

Mom and I, about to devour the tasty goodness

Top left, yuca frita. Top right, pupusa. Bottom left, pastelitos guanacos. Bottom right, curtido.

Our drinks. Dad's Bud Light Lime. My Horchata. Mom's Cola Champagne.

The definition, and pictures, of "Guanaco"

2 year old runaway

Yesterday, my brother-in-law, Rob, had the day off from work. He decided to get up early to make breakfast for the boys and read them books. While they were reading the Clifford book, Marc-Andre said, "I want to watch Clifford and Dora on the TV." Rob told him, "No television. Maybe later." Marc-Andre kept pressing to watch the TV, and Rob continued to say "no". No kid likes hearing that, so he started to cry and fuss about it. Rob sent him to his room until he could stop crying.

A little while later Marc-Andre came out of his room, fully dressed in a Cars t-shirt and his cowboy boots, carrying his little suitcase packed with clothes, and declared, "I'm going to go to Seattle."

:)

Sickness invades

As you've seen in recent posts, my sisters and their families came for a visit in early January. Marc-Andre decided to bring sickness along with him...and being the nice little boy that he is, he decided to share with the rest of us.

The very first night, Marc-Andre got sick. The next day it was Luc. The next was Mary. The next, me. They stayed for 12 days. The sickness is still here....7 days after they left. *sigh*

So I thought I'd post a few photos of the poor little guys. :(

Marc-Andre, all cozied up on the couch watching Cars

Luc, also watching Cars

Luc even got hives from the stress of the sickness!

But don't worry, we are all feeling a lot better now. Not 100% yet, but a LOT better. :)

Lions and tigers and bears...oh my!

The zoo... My parents bought me a membership this year. So when my family was in town, it was the perfect activity. Marc-Andre kept exclaiming, "I'm going to go see a giraffe!!" That's all he cared about. I didn't even know he knew what a giraffe was. :)

When we got to the giraffes, Clayton picked up Marc-Andre so he could get face to face. He was so excited!!

Hungry hungry hippos

MA and me looking at the tigers

Clay, Trees, and Autumn enjoying the zoo

I love this pic of MA! He's sitting on the komodo dragon statue. :)

Rainy day at the park

On a lovely, rainy Seattle day (prior to everyone getting sick), we decided to head down to a local covered park to let the nephews run around and play. It was a blast!

The family invasion begins

For most, Thanksgiving and Christmas mean family get-togethers. But this year for the Cutter clan, January is fortunate enough to get the fun reunion privilege. What a great way to start the new year!

On January 1st, Teresa, Clayton and Autumn arrived! They spent a week here as a “long layover” en route to Hawaii, where they are moving for Teresa’s schooling (she’s completing her Masters of SE Asian Archaeology at U. of Hawaii in Honolulu). I was so excited to have them here! Autumn is now 4 months old, and is SUPER cute.

Autumn and Teresa in their swimsuits getting ready for Hawaii

I had a fantastic time with them here! We went to Pike Place Market, cracked and ate Dungeness crab, and went to the Botanical Gardens Christmas lights. Here are some of the pics from our adventures...

Pike Place Market

Me with baby Autumn

Trees and Clay

Trees and me

With one of our fabulously tasty crab

I love this one! Look at Autumn's face staring at the crab. haha

The family at the Botanical Garden Christmas Lights

A milestone, quite literally

I was driving home yesterday from work, stopped at a red light, happened to look down at my dash, and my odometer was at exactly 43,000 miles. How cool is that?! I realize that 43,000 isn't all the special of a number, in and of itself. Maybe I am easily amused. But I've never just happened to notice my odometer at just the right moment...at an exact number.

So I thought I'd take a quick picture to capture the moment.

Popping pills

This week has been the week of heavy lifting and bruises. As many of you know, I’m in the process of moving. I had the offer of a lifetime: to move into a large 2 bdr/ 2bth/1650 sq ft condo, living on my own but also close to family…and within my limited non-profit salary budget! *If you are wondering what the catch is…you are smart. There is one, but it isn’t that bad: The condo is on the market. So, I have to be willing to have open houses and willing to move when/if it sells. But in this economy, I figure I have at least 4-6 months before another move comes my way.*

As much as I enjoyed living with my fantastic friend, Jessica, I was also just ready to be out on my own. I had lived on my own before, loved it, and wanted to do it again. So of course I couldn’t pass this up!

The plan was to take two weeks to pack and gradually move my belongings from my old apartment to the new. Well, we all know how plans go….they completely fall to the ground and we are forced to simply roll with the punches. And that’s exactly what happened.

Seattle was hit with a freak snowstorm. If you are from Wisconsin, North Dakota, or Alaska…I realize that a foot and a half isn’t really all that much. But you have to realize that Seattle NEVER get’s more than 2-3 inches. We aren’t prepared for weather like this. We have hills, no salt (it’s not “environmentally friendly”), and no one knows how to drive in snow. So it pretty much incapacitated the city. I literally wasn’t able to get to my old apartment due to road closures. There was no way in. Daily I tried. Daily I failed…and slipped and slid all over the icy road.

Finally, 4 days from needing to be completely out of my old apartment (with 3 of those days being work days), the roads were open. Granted, we pretty much went down the road sideways praying and praying we wouldn’t hit anything along the way (and thankfully didn’t). But we made it.

And there the bruising, muscle straining, and pill popping began….

* Note to self for the next move *

1. don’t have stairs
2. hire big, strong men to help out
3. downsize

To Blog or Not to Blog

One of my friends has recently been trying to convince me to start blogging again. His reasons are mainly very logical (which is no surprise with him), with a fun reason thrown in every once in a while.

I confess…It has been 4 months since my last blog. But in all truth, that was intentional. I purposely stopped writing on my blog for several reasons:

1. I'm on Facebook and it is seemingly the easiest way to send updates to the masses.
2. I’m much more passionate about photos than writing, and frequently struggle with trying to come up with something to write.
   
3. I lead a fairly uneventful life, so the VAST majority of posts would be incredibly boring to everyone...even to me! :)
4. Who will take the time to actually read my blog anyway?? When I did write, I never got comments on it or anyone mentioning that they had read it. So what’s the point?

But I can say…I am inspired to try again. Not only because of the logical reasoning provided to me or the criticism from my sister Teresa for being a “horrible blogger”….but also because I am an avid blog groupie myself. I LOVE seeing pics and reading updates. I truly enjoy being able to share in their lives, no matter how mundane a task they are sharing. It is fun to have a way to stay connected, especially as the busy, hectic schedule of every day life prohibits staying in touch with everyone. Military life hasn’t made it any easier, with friends scattered all over the world.

Therefore, I find myself reading post after post, and checking blogs regularly just to see the next snippet of info. I sometimes even read blogs from people I have never met. Yes, I’m a groupie. “Hello. My name is Sarah and I’m a blogaholic.” It’s just plain fun to have a window into other people’s lives. (I didn’t major in Psychology for nothing.)

So, I’ve decided to try again. Welcome to my world...