First Week of the New Year

It's been a crazy first week for me. Work is pretty insane but I'm really enjoying things at the same time. I just have back to back to back things to do and not enough hours in the day. The first 3 days, I started work at 7am, worked straight through lunch and stayed until 4:30-5pm and barely ate more than an apple/yogurt/cereal because I couldn't give up my hands! But now I'm forcing myself to take a break. I used the on-site gym for the first time and I gotta say, it's pretty darn cool that I don't have to get in the car to go to a gym to workout!

John and I are still on our 24 kick. This entire week, we've eaten dinner infront of the TV while watching 24...can we say addicted? Man we LOVE this show....the BEST EVER! Very sad that David Palmer died, at least we get to see him on the insurance commercial. I'm still debating whether or not I want to watch the season premiere in a week...I might just wait for the DVD to come out so the both of us can watch together since John goes to bed so early. We'll see...I might not be able to hold out!

We had dinner at the new Mediterranean Kitchen in Kirkland yesterday and it was fantastic just like the Bellevue location, but way cheaper (you save like $5 a person)! I think it was only a little over $25 before tip and it's closer to our house which is great. We never did take-out before, but I think we might from now on. John had his usual, Beef Shawarma and I tried the Algerian Chicken and got a small baklava too. YUM-O! Brought it home and had a great meal watching 24. lol

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family! I can't believe it's already been a decade since 2000 when we were all worried about Y2K. John and I decided to be an old married couple and stay in for New Years Eve....we actually were in bed at 9pm! lol...I know how sad right? =) But we did wake up at midnight when all the fireworks were going off and wished each other a Happy New Year!

2009 was a pretty decent year overall. I did get laid-off, but in the process had a FANTASTIC 7 months off! Traveled to Italy, Greece, and Japan, had awesome summer weather, started volunteering at the Everett Animal Shelter, did lots of reading, spent more time with Stitch and started cooking a lot more. John definitely loved the last one! But the year ended pretty great because I got a new job! Working as a HR Coordinator for WildTangent! I worked a few days and had Christmas through the New Year off and back to work in 2 more days. Whoo Hoo!

John's been working a ton of overtime because he's trying to save up for an NSX. We now have 4 cars between the two of us, 3 of which I don't even drive. I insist that he gets rid of at least 1 car before he gets another...we'll see if he listens or not. Each car seems to have some darn sentimental value to him that he can't part with. He's also really into photography as well. I bought him the 6 million dollar Crumpler and a speed light for xmas...and he bought himself another lens...I'd say no more extra camera gear for a while, what do you think? Boy my hubby has some pretty expensive hobbies!

I think my New Years resolution...or one of them, is to update our blog more often. I totally slacked off for the past year because I was just plain lazy and I also forgot our log-in information. =) Let's hope this resolution sticks for more than a few weeks.

Here are some random photos from this past year (no particular order).

Stitch helping himself to bean sprouts.

Ahhh....Venice!

Rome - Spanish Steps

Our new porch that Kit, Jordan and John built over Memorial Day Weekend.

Picking out our pumpkins from The Farm in Snohomish

Stitch - Jekyl & Hyde

For all of you who don't know...Stitch is the love of our life but is a terror when it comes to other pets, especially other dogs. He hates them with a vengeance and can't stand to be anywhere near

them. He's just an old man who wants to be left alone.

Well I decided to take him for the very first time ever to a dog park and thought that it would be a once in a lifetime experience because he would growl and bark at every passing dog and I would get dirty looks from everyone and leave because I was so embarrassed. I don't know what possessed this little monster but he was an ANGEL the entire time! A few low growls here and there when some dogs came at him too fast or kept wanting to play with him but other than that he was SOOO good!!!

For the first time in my life, I wasn't the embarrassed owner with the small yappy dog! There were times where I just walked way ahead of him and he never once wandered off! Poor John missed this amazing moment in his kid's life. Joey was actually pretty scared of all the other dogs and had his tail inbetween his legs the entire time. He did some sniffing but got really frantic and tried to hide if too many dogs came at him. Poor Kid. He would hide at anyone's feet the minute he got scared. We're going to try and go as often as possible so that these 2 can get used to it.

We're on our way to Magnuson...here Joey is trying to get as close to Stitch as he possibly can.

I think he's trying to kill him with love!!!

Amazing or what?

Joey was pretty curious but wanted to approach and not really be approached for the most part.

Our New Entertainment Center

Tada! Here is the final product.

John's creative juices were flowing...built us a new entertainment center. It's actually really nice and professional looking, once he's done staining it, we hope it will look like something out of Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn!

Check out the molding detail...very nice!

Pumpkin Patch

Isn't this a nice photo of Johnnie?

We went to The Farm in Snohomish to load up on our first pumpkins of the year. We spent a lot of time choosing them out and finally settled on 4 for ourselves and one tall but wide one for Amy and Brian! =) It's funny because John chose out one for A & B but when we got to their house we let Amy pick out which one she wanted, and she ended up picking out the exact one we had in mind for them! Does John know his sister or what? =)

This is the first pumpkin we choose to carve...I gave John a tracing that was 3 out of 4 stars in difficulty level but of course he tackled it and 2 hours later we had our first Jack o' Lantern!



Such concentration...

The photo just doesn't do it justice...it's a Haunted House just in case you didn't know. =) See the bats? Clouds? Moon? Creepy walk way up to the house? Of course you do!

Strike Vacation

For all of you who don't know, Johnnie has been on strike from Boeing for 2 whole weeks now and there have been NO talks of negotiations. Hmmm...wonder how long this will last. I can only make it so long being the suga mama! But it will be fun while it lasts!

I took all of last week off to hang out with my hubby and we had a fantastic time! It's great going to bed whenever you want and not have to worry about waking up for work the next day and sleeping in as long as you like!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - Cape Flattery (Neah Bay)

Some stops on our way...

After a 30 minute ferry ride, 4 hour car ride and 30 minute hike...

This is the INCREDIBLE and breathtaking view you get....it was the most amazing thing we've seen and well worth the all day trip we had to make. Cape Flattery is the most Northern tip of the peninsula and where the Straight of Juan De Fuca begins.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - Tilicum Village

John went years and years ago, but I've never had the chance to so when we found half price tickets we jumped on the opportunity. Took a long boat ride over and was greeted with a beautiful sight of the Long House. We were each served clams in nectar juice...I of course gave the clams to John but the nectar was surprisingly good...not too seafoody tasting. Went through the buffet, which wasn't fabulous by any means but hey...food is food! Basic salad, baked red potatoes, rice pilaf, dark bread, salmon (of course) and found chocolate shaped salmon when we were seated. The show was ok...but there's just something about seeing an Asian and black person performing that just took away from the whole authenticity of it...don't you think? I was honestly expecting a whole cast of Native Americans...wouldn't you? Then took a short walk around the area and back on the boat headed home. It was an overall good experience, but I wouldn't pay full price and sadly, don't have plans on ever returning...

Saturday, September 13, 2008 - Hike at Easy Pass (North Cascades)

We decided that we wanted to do a hike and intially thought about Ross Lake where John, Brian and Aaron went a couple years ago...but I didn't think that I could make the 17 mile canoe trip plus a hike up the mountain in one day. I did some research and being the lazy person that I am, choose the hike with the least amount of miles...even though it was labeled as 'strenuous.' I should have listened because it was the most difficult hike I have ever been on and was pretty much panting like a dog not even 20 minutes into it! John was going along his merry way of course and I told him to walk ahead so that he wouldn't have to lag behind me. It was 3.5 miles (one-way) of switch-backs up hill pretty much the entire hike up. But in the end, we had a good time and had really great views along the way.

we decided to start an organic vegetable garden late into the season. this was a simple project to do. the hardest part was actually removing the sod and then tilling the soil. since the area was only about 4 feet by 8 feet we went ahead and did it all by hand once again. the raised bed frame was built with six 8 foot "cherry timbers" from Home Depot along with some twelve inch spikes to hold it all together. the soil consisted of a few bags of top soil, peat moss, cedar grove organic compost, and a bag of steer manure. the soil was so rich that the plants started to "burn" when they were first put it. once they were use to the soil they started to grow like a child. i swear you were able to see a difference in size every day. ha ha.
peppers for salsa. we also have a jalapeno somewhere but it doesn't seem grow. good news is it wont die either.
cherry tomatoes...............yummy! jessica will really like these
cucumbers for pickles? i dont know why i bought these either
zucchinis yummy! these are great on the grille with a little bit of johnny's seasoning, lemon juice, and some olive oil.