Tulips and daffodils

This past weekend, my parents and I loaded into the car heading towards the Tulip Festival up north. We were told that the daffodils were all gone, and that the tulips were late to bloom this year. So really, I wasn't expecting all that much. But it was gorgeous!

Check out the photos:

Dad's bday

On April 8th, my dad turned the big FIVE-SIX. Isn't it amazing how quickly parents grow up?!

To celebrate, my mom, two sisters (and their families) and I all chipped in to replace his GPS, which had been stolen out of his car earlier in the year. Out of everything that was taken, he was by far most heartbroken about losing his GPS. It pretty much meant the end of geocaching for us for a while. Plus, he used it a lot for work, going to and from meetings with clients.

So we decided it was time to replace it, and with an even better one than he had before. :) You should check it out:
When he got home from work, Mom and I presented him with the printout of what we bought. (It hadn't yet arrived in the mail because UPS lost it. sigh) And then we went out to dinner with my grandmother to Ciao Bella. YUM!

Happy Birthday Dad!

From all of us. We love you! :)

I'm the big stuff now

I realize that I took a long hiatus from the blog for a while...and for that I apologize. But a lot of my life/upcoming decisions had been, in some way, focused around one event that hadn't been finalized, and therefore couldn't be discussed.

But it's now been finalized...so I can finally discuss it! :)

The big news: I GOT A PROMOTION! My old title was Resource Development Administrative Assistant, and my new title is now: Office Manager / Volunteer Coordinator. It became official last week. I have been doing the Office Managerial duties for a while now, under the guise of an Admin Asst. ha! So it's certainly nice to be recognized for what I have been doing. My boss is really great at that...recognizing you for what you actually do, not necessarily just what your job description says you are doing. And I will also be adding the Volunteer Coordinator position on top of it. One of my co-workers will be getting married in July and moving to California. *tear* I'm still secretly, and extremely selfishly - yes I realize that fact - hoping that they will decide to either postpone the wedding or have her fiancee move up here instead of her move to CA. preferably the latter, for their sakes. lol Since neither of those look possible, it has been decided that I will be taking over her role with all of our amazing volunteers. If you want to volunteer with Medical Teams International, let me know!!

And now I can start making other decisions that I've been putting off....like apartment searching, vacation dates, etc. I am now once again starting the process of moving forward. *sigh of relief*

decorated snowmen

I've been slacking. It's time to begin blogging once again. :)
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Over the Christmas holidays, a volunteer came in to decorate our reception/lobby area at work. She's really very good at making the space classicly Christmas. While she was sorting through our stash of decorations, she came across these really cute bobble snowmen characters. They definitely became a fun talking point around the office as we'd walk by, tap them on the head, and bobble bobble bobble.

Once Christmas was over, noone in the office wanted to put them back into storage. So we decided on a solution: we would decorate/dress them up for each holiday. We started with St. Patrick's Day. And this was the result (sorry about the poor photo quality. this pic was taken with a co-worker's cellphone):


And then there was Easter:


Soon it will be Cinco de Mayo. Stay tuned. This one's gonna be good!

The difference between life and death

Before:

My pretty little crocus. I just got it to start growing.

After:

What my touch can do.

Is this a bad omen for spring??

Am I really seeing this??

As I was driving to work earlier this week, I looked over at the driver next to me and did a triple take. Yes, a triple take was necessary for this one, folks.

You've all seen the typical bad choices: putting on makeup, eating, talking on the cell phone, etc while driving. This one, to me, just topped the list of funny.

I looked over, and what did I see? The guy was playing the HARMONICA! And I mean, all-out, two-handed harmonica action.

Oh what I would have given to have my camera handy. But then, I guess I would have been one of those "typical bad choice makers" by taking pictures while driving...

And I thought I moved a lot when we were in the military!

So I'm in the middle of another move. This is my second move of 2009, and it is simply a temporary shift until I find another apartment.

At the beginning of January, I moved into a 2 bdr condo in my parent's condo complex. The owners had moved into an assisted living facility several months prior, and had the condo on the market. With the economy going farther and farther into the ground, they were completely not hopeful for a sale in the next 6 months....but they were going into the hole every month paying the HOA, taxes, and utilities. So we worked out a deal that I could stay there until it sold, if I was willing to keep it on the market and allow open houses on occasion. Sounded like a great deal to me. I was getting my own apartment, lots of space, great views (yes, I could actually see the water and the mountains from my balcony), all at a minimal cost (well, a good amount in terms of my non-profit salary, but a miniscule amount of what they could charge for that unit!), and most likely get to stay in it for at least 6 months....all the while helping an elderly couple. Can you say "win-win"??

I got all my pictures on the wall, my candles and decorations up, things arranged just so.....and THE VERY NEXT DAY - literally - someone came to look at the unit and put an offer on it. Okay, so either I have an impeccable taste in decorating or God has an interesting sense of humour. You decide.

But this week I'm moving out. To where?, you ask. Well, I found a great cozy little place nearby. It's called a storage unit. Yep, all my stuff is being loaded into a small little storage unit down the street, and I'm (along with a few bags of clothes) moving back into my parent's house until I can find a new place.

Luckily, I like my parents and they like me. And luckily I'm not living out of a shopping cart underneath a bridge....though, thanks to our lovely Okinawa friends, I do have a shopping cart for just that occasion. :)

But it kind of feels like I'm moving backwards, not forwards. I'm 25, and I'm moving back in with my parents. Yes, I know it's only for a month or so until I can sign a lease and move in to a new apartment. But still. I was finally living on my own again. Finally starting to feel like I was becoming ME again. And two months in, I'm out again.

So, here's to quickly finding an awesome, cute and safe new apartment! :)

Come on in...

Ah, specialists are special. They actually know what they are talking about. And I like them. :)

As most of you know, I have been pretty sick lately...crazy headaches, swelling in the right side of my face, no energy, etc. I spent some time in the urgent care facility early this week and got some meds. But several days later, the meds hadn't done a whole lot. So, this afternoon, I went to a specialist.

He gave me my first CT scan. For those who don't know, the machine looks something like this:


I'm a big fan of this kind of technology...really, any kind of technology that lets me see inside. I just think it's AWESOME! I informed my doctor of this, and convinced him of my sincerity and desire to learn. He then proceeded to give me a school-like lecture on everything I was seeing. He was great! Answered all my questions, told me more than I could possibly remember, gave me interesting factoids as well as scientific jargon, and spent more time with me than he probably had allotted. I like specialists, remember? :)

I was so stinkin' excited to see my pictures. I just had to share. Aren't they COOL?!?!


Now you wish you had a cool CT scan like this too, don't you? It's okay. You can admit it.

Valentine's Day

This year, I spent Valentine's Day with my parental units. We started the day with Starbucks (of course) and then went to the Seattle Home Show. There, a cute little Tiger Scout gave my mom and me a rose...just because. It was soooo sweet. :)

While I enjoy going to the Home Show, it really really makes me want a house...or at least an apartment that I can paint and/or remodel. *sigh*

After spending some time there, dreaming, Dad and I went off for a few hours of geocaching. And it was a very successful day. We found 3 out of 3, and actually stumbled upon a letter box cache that we had no idea was there. So we found 4 out of 3! Ah, Valentine's Day brought us good luck.

Here are the pics!

The beautiful flowers that my parents sent me at work!

















Dad and I snagged some cool Hot Wheels from the geocache for my two nephews. :)

Marley and Me

I went on a Daddy / Daughter date the other day. We went to see the movie Marley and Me. I really really liked it. Granted, it isn't a movie I would take kids to see. There were definitely parts that were really difficult to watch. But overall, very good.

It was an honest movie. A portrayal of life's joys and difficulties. And a depiction of how a pet can truly become part of the family.

So, I decided to share a few photos of some of my family members from over the years. :)