Merry Christmas! (almost)

I'm really not that great at keeping up on this blogging thing....sorry.

In other news...my first quarter back to school ends next week. I have survived Biology, and now on to Chemistry. Then Anatomy & Physiology, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry and a couple others. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I still have a bio test to study for and pass next week.

Pampered Chef, well that's been slow, but I'll try to pick it up after the new year.

Volunteering, it's been a rocky start getting into the routine of going (couple of interruptions) so I'll leave that until next time.

Work...busy, but good busy. The work never ends, but I don't get stressed about it, just do what I can and then go home :) And I joined a vanpool (can't remember if I mentioned that last time or not). Well it's going great and it's really nice to know a few people in the company outside those I work directly with. The hard part has been getting used to waking up at 4:30 and meeting at the park and ride at 6am. My brain has not allowed me to accept and get used to it yet. But I still LOVE bagels on Fridays!

Penny is doing really well. She is dealing with the cold like a champ. And she and Dusty are still BFF. I'm excited to take her on the plane to go home for Christmas. It just makes me giggle a little thinking about that little monkey in her carrier under the seat in front of me. I just hope she doesn't cry or whine. Cross your fingers she will just snooze the whole time.

I went to the Apple Cup with Ryan and the boys on Saturday. UW Huskies vs WSU Cougars. It was a ton of fun. Started tailgating at 9am, the boys BBQ'd a turkey and then we went to the game. My first college football game believe it or not.

Anyway...Erin will be home soon and we're going to dinner. Take care, stay warm and enjoy the holiday season!

Time flies when you're busy

My apologies, it has been a month since writing. As you all know, time flies when you're having fun...errr busy with new job and school starting in the same week. That's right, school and work both started the same week for me.

I have been commuting to Seattle every morning for the last 4 weeks and don't hate it yet. I tried really hard to be a public transit girl at least 3 days a week, and LOVED taking the train. Anyone who has talked to me since I took the train the first time knows how much I loved it. It isn't a streetcar, or a BART train, but a REAL TRAIN, with real train sounds. It is really cool. But the downside was that it turned out to be a 12 hour round trip day. I would leave my house at 6:00AM (yes, AM) to catch a 6:25 train, get to Seattle at 7:25, and then get a bus over to work. After work I would generally have a wait a good 30 minutes until the bus would come to take me back to the train station and I would generally arrive back in Tacoma around 6:30pm. If my office was in downtown Seattle which is frequented by the various busses it would have been a different story. But my office is on the border of the Queen Anne and Belltown districts and the busses are scarce. Last week I gave in and decided to drive in from now on and it seems to be the right decision. The "rush hour" traffic here is nothing compared to the Bay Area. I can generally get from my house to my desk in about an hour and 15 minutes give or take (usually give).

King Street Station, Seattle

The Sounder

Flowers from Mommy in my cube :)

How do I like working in Seattle you ask? I LOVE IT! I'm in a "big fancy corporate building" (as the girl from wine country would put it) on the 6th floor where I have to carry my keycard at all times or I get locked out. The building is right along the waterfront with spectaular views of the Olympic mountain range, Mt. Rainer and of course the water. I can't see anything fun from my cubicle, but the conference room on my route to my bosses office and the kitchen has perfect views of the water. I love watching the ferries come and go and cargo ships being directed by the tug boats. Occasionally I can hear the train go buy and I think of my mom each time. And I spend my lunchtime in the "Oak Leaf Cafe" with big windows and a (sometimes) quiet spot to do homework.

That brings me to the other crazy new part of my daily routine...SCHOOL. I started my Cell Biology class 4 weeks ago and it is giving me a run for my money. Tacoma Community College (TCC) is on a quarter system, much like most of the colleges/universities in the area, and I tell ya, there is not a second to breathe! Had my first test 2 weeks ago and now I'm already stressing about the second tomorrow. The lab is my favorite part of the class, last week we looked at muscle cells and blood (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) under the microscope. I'm a nerd, yes, but it's getting me excited for Anatomy and Physiology. So I'm 1/3 of the way through my first quarter back at school...a long way to go until I'm a nurse.

The weather turned very quickly in the last couple of weeks. The temperature had been mild and pleasant since I arrived at the end of July and suddenly it is quite cold. This morning my car's temperature read 45 degrees. I always say I love the cold, guess I didn't realize just how cold Washington gets. And the little bit of wind makes it just that much colder. I might be in for a long winter...here we go :) But it has been beautiful watching the leaves change color and Halloween decorations around the neighborhood.

That's all for now...promise not to wait so long to give an update.
Love and miss everyone!

Great things are happening...

I meant to write this post a week ago, but got caught up in all sorts of other things along the way. As the title of this post suggests, great things are happening for me right now...

1. First and foremost ... I GOT A JOB! Monday, 9/19 I will begin working at Emeritus Senior Living's corporate office in downtown Seattle. What will I be doing you ask? My title is Risk Reporting Coordinator III - I will be reviewing incident reports from the 500 communities nationwide and passing pertinent information along to the necessary parties. It sounds like it will be a perfect fit to make money and be able to take a class at TCC.

2. I'm getting closer to starting my volunteering at Tacoma General Hospital. I attended an orientation session on Tuesday and went yesterday for my TB test & Tdap vaccine. I'll be on the 8th floor in the cardiac unit every Saturday from 4 pm-8 pm and VERY excited.

3. My Pampered Chef business is doing well. Mom is leading a fantastic catalog party in California and I went to the Puyallup fair on Wednesday and worked the booth for 6 hours. I've also booked a couple shows for next month from the Kitsap fair last month and hoping for a few more bookings from the Puyallup.

So like I said...great things are happening! Funny how they happen all at once, but I think I can handle it. The new job starts on Monday, school starts on Tuesday and then I have a couple weeks break before volunteering starts.

Back to School...

I can't believe it's September 1st already! Tacoma schools started today (with some struggles) and I have been helping Maggie decorate her 1st grade classroom in Lakewood. SO MUCH FUN! Not enough to make me want to become a teacher, but fun none the less.

Here is the birthday board! Little candles with the kids names on them will go on the cake each month :)

the monthly calendar and weather chart

and my favorite.... the reading progress board! As the kids complete their reading their car moves along the "reading road to success!"

My classes start on Sept 19th...I even picked up my parking permit! I'm an official TCC student! Not sure yet if I'm taking 1 or 2 classes.....it will be just biology IF I get the job in Seattle in had a second interview for yesterday. (side note: it's a Risk Reporting Coordinator for Emeritus Senior Living, in downtown Seattle... cross your fingers!) If I don't get the job I'm going to stay enrolled in Chemistry as well.

I've started selling Pampered Chef products as an Independent Consultant ... pretty excited!

AND I'm going to start a couple volunteer opportunities... one at Tacoma General Hospital on a cardiac floor and another helping an elderly woman in Seattle about once a month organizing things in her home. Keeping busy! Phew...I'm exhausted just typing about it all, but I'm very excited about it all.

Oh, and to the Penny fans...she is doing great. Pictured below with her best friend, Dusty.

PHOTOS! PHOTOS! PHOTOS!

Hope you are ready for this...I have finally hung pictures in my room and am ready to post photos of my place for those of you in California that have been dying to see where I'm living. Yay! Oh I also have photos of my Standup Longboarding yesterday...so much fun!

Welcome to our home in Tacoma, WA!

Come on in, here is our comfy living room and dining area in the back.

And here we have our kitchen. No I'm not on a step-stool, there is about a 3 inch step down into the kitchen. And our washer and dryer are just on the other side of the fridge :)

Our cute little backyard...

Looking back into the living room from the dining area...

And now we are upstairs in my room...

Penny found a cozy spot between the pillows...

Below you can see my grandma's sewing machine that I repurposed into a vanity...

That brings us to the end of our house tour. There is a bathroom, but that's nothing of real visual interest. And Erin's room is on the other side of the hall from my room (don't think she would appreciate me posting pictures of her room on the internet).

Now for the fun stuff! I went Standup Paddleboarding yesterday with Maggie (a friend of Ryan's...and now mine). We went to a small beach in Steilacom on the Puget Sound. It was an impromptu trip at about 4 in the afternoon when the sun starting shining through the clouds. The water was COLD, but nothing worse than in Northern California, however I was very careful (and successful) to not fall into the water. It is a pretty interesting sport, stand up on a giant surfboard and paddle around. It's a great total body workout, and you really have to use your core muscles to keep balanced on the board. As you'll see in the photos, I got pretty brave and paddled out about 40 yards. Enjoy...

Mom... I'll be saving my money to get myself one of these boards of fun! And Jane... yes, I put sunscreen on, and I'll be putting some on again in a few minutes before I leave for a walk along the waterfront.

I do miss California and all my friends and family there but I'm really enjoying being here, and very glad I took the leap of faith to make this move.

Crabbing in the Sound

Hello there Friends and Family! ... here's the latest update...

Went crabbing last Friday in the Puget Sound with Ryan and his 2 best friends, Mike & Cal (Erin joined us later in the afternoon). It was all fun and games until we had to get the meat out of the crabs today to make crab cakes for tonight's BBQ. The weather was perfect yesterday, sun was out and the wind was minimal if at all; and of course I did get a little sunburnt, but I figure I can use as much color as I can get before the real Washington weather sets in.






Saturday night we had a BBQ here at our place - Cal made amazing hamburgers and Erin made SPECTACULAR crab cakes with the crab we caught on Friday. Penny was a little party animal ... jumped from lap to lap, begged as much as she could until she got cold and had to put her sweater on.

And the million dollar question - no I have not found a job yet, however I have applied for a grand total of 10 in the last 24-hours. There are a good number of health care jobs open around here, even for non-licensed professionals such as myself. I'd really like to stay in the field if possible to keep my "foot in the door." So keep your fingers crossed and pray I find something in the near future.

New things I've tried you ask? Played Ultimate Frisbee last night, interesting game - reminded me of why I stopped playing soccer and basketball, I hate running up and down a field a million times. I suppose if there were more than just 6 of us and I could hang back in the "end zone" or "goal" (not sure what it's called in Ultimate Frisbee) I would have been a lot more useful. Regardless, I'll try it again next Monday. Also did 40 minutes of Yoga earlier this afternoon - good break from the job applications.

Oh and by the way - how cool is it that I get an amazing view of Mt. Rainier from the Target parking lot!? Don't ever have to ask me twice to go to Target anymore, I'll go just for the view :)

That's it for now, the mess in my room is calling for some organization.

First 24-hours

I arrived in Washington yesterday morning. The sun was out and the temperature was perfect - some may say I brought the sunshine from CA. Arrived at my new house and absolutely love it! Erin did an amazing job of finding a comfy place for us. 2 bedroom, one bath townhouse with a backyard, garage, washer and dryer, dishwasher! I love the laminate floors throughout and that my bedroom has a window and full closet (yet my clothes still barely fit). I also loved being able to sleep in my bed for the first time in a month - so much so that I slept for 14 hours.

It still feels surreal, but I think it will really sink in that I live here when I finally get a job and then when school starts in September. It's absolutely wonderful having family here and that Ryan's friends are so welcoming. Knowing people already will make the adjustment much easier for me.

Went on a 3.5 mile walk today with Penny, Ryan, Dusty (Ryan's dog) and Ryan's friend Maggie. Beautiful walk through a park and along a golf course that overlooked the water. The weather is perfect so I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible while it's here. Hopefully we will have the same great weather Saturday for our housewarming BBQ.

Now to continue unpacking...


P.S. Pictures of the house will be posted soon.