I'm in Portland this weekend for some family bonding time.

I think it's the first time I've been down here without Jon since we've been married.
But it's really good to just hang out with my parents and brother, with no agenda and no responsibilities. 

I miss seeing them on a regular basis.

Everything is official at my new job. I moved in to my office yesterday.

This morning, I'm doing some frantic paper writing before my brother gets here and we leave to catch the ferry for our weekend camping adventure. It's supposed to be in the low 60's and raining all weekend, so by "camping adventure" I mean weekend of doom.

But I will be with my family, so perhaps that will make up for the awful weather.

Jon and I are heading to Leavenworth on Saturday. Why you ask?

Leavenworth's forecast....
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.

Mill Creek's forecast...
Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. 

What would YOU do?

I can't stand this weather any longer. In case you think I am being dramatic (never!), this is the longest cold streak Seattle has EVER had! It has been 270 days since the temperature last reached 75 degrees.

So yes, I am getting in my car at 8am on a Saturday to drive 106 miles in search of sun.

Jon and I spent the weekend at The Cabin with my brother and grandparents.

I can't remember the last time it was just us. I usually only see my grandparents on holidays when the whole family is there.

It was quiet, relaxing, and FUN.

I'm looking forward to going back soon.

I love weekends.

But sadly, my weekends for the next month are all spoken for.

I hope I have time to clean my house.

We didn't end up seeing a movie this weekend.
But I had a good time anyways.

I forgot how much fun it is not being in school.

Jon and I hiked Wallace Falls this morning.

We only made it to the lower falls, as Brian ended up in Seattle much earlier than planned. He was supposed to take a friend to the airport this morning to catch a flight from PDX to SEA to Germany. Unfortunately, they ended up having to skip the middle man (PDX) and drive him to Seattle to catch his international flight.

Good thing Brian was already planning on coming up to Seattle today.

Currently, the boys have Jon's truck pulled apart and are working on replacing the heater core. I am so impressed with my brother's car repair skills.

I'm making them steak for dinner as a thank you for a job well done.

And then I'm going to watch my newly purchased New Moon dvd. Shameful? Yes. But I still love it :)

Brian is coming up to visit tomorrow. I'm super excited to see him, and for him to come to our place! Normally, we're the ones going down to Portland. He's only been to our new house once, and we've lived there for almost a year!

I finally saw Whip It last night! I LOVED it! Maybe it's not the most original story, but it was definitely fun.

It's going to be almost 70 tomorrow, I think Jon and I might hike Tiger Mountain again. It was so beautiful last time, and a great workout.

Tonight, I'm going out with a bunch of girls from work/grad school. We're celebrating the end of the quarter with a little drinking, some happy hour food, and Rob Pattinson. Heh heh.

I've been exhausted lately.

This weekend will be a good chance to catch up on much needed rest, relaxation, and time with Jon. I miss him.

On Wednesday, I came home early from work and ended up watching the movie I Capture the Castle. I loved it. LOVED IT. It's one of the best movies I've seen in a really long time.

I just got home from class.
I'm 75% of the way done (with this class, this quarter).

It feels pretty good.

I miss my weekends.

I clearly did not get enough sleep last week - so most of this weekend has been spent catching up. I slept 10 hours last night, and then another hour this afternoon. And I feel GREAT!

Now off to watch a movie :)

Ciara, Matt, and Kisa are coming to visit this weekend.

I'm pretty pumped. The last time Ciara came to visit me for a whole weekend was in the fall 2006 - so a good three years ago. I've never spent more than a few minutes at a time with Kisa, so I'm really looking forward to having a whole weekend with her. Plus, Jon is a total sucker for babies.

Hopefully the drive isn't too horrible for them. The weather sucks today.

Jon ended up having to work last night, so I began Phase 1 of the Operation Guest Room.

The color we're painting it is called "sugar and cream," which is an off white color with a very slight yellow tint. I LOVE it. Getting the guest room ready is going to be quite a process, but painting is definitely the first step. My goal for the weekend is to completely finish painting the room. I'm 1/4 of the way done thus far, and it looks great!

Jon is throwing me a "make-up birthday" tomorrow since we had to cancel all of our plans yesterday in order for him to work. I think I'm getting the better end of the deal since I'll now have a WHOLE day to celebrate instead of just a couple hours. Plus it's Halloween, which is pretty much my favorite holiday ever.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend.

The last 6 months, we've had an employee out on sick leave, with several temps cycling through our office to fill her position while she was out.

Unfortunately, my co-worker won't be coming back after all, she's decided to retire after 22 years of service and today we're opening up her position! I'm on the hiring committee, which is exciting because I'll be working really closely with the new person we'll be bringing on staff, and I'll actually have input and decision making power when it comes to choosing someone who will be a good fit for my team.

In other news... my weekend plans include the following:

Proctoring the SATS

BOWLING!

Teaching Sunday School

Making a Christmas list for my mom

Visiting with some REALLY old friends

Watching The Brothers Bloom & *hopefully* Whip-It!

Reading The Millennial Generation (for class)

& RUNNING!

Speaking of running, Jon and I are training for a 12k! I'm not sure how this decision came about, but apparently running is going to be our new hobby. We'll see how that goes... but so far, we've had a lot of fun!

Enjoy your weekend!

Weekend Itinerary:

Friday -

• 4:00 pm - get off work
  
• 5:30 pm - get home
  
• grab jon, leave immediately for decemberists/andrew bird/blind pilot concert
• 6:00 pm - concert starts
• 12:00 am - get home
• 12:01 am - collapse
  

Saturday -

• 4:30am - wake up
• 4:45am - leave house to pick up tim & carlee,
  
• 5:30am - drop t & c off at seatac
• 6:45 am - get home, drop dead
• 9:00 am - mill creek town center for hair cut
  
• 11:00 am - lunch at mill creek festival
• 2:30 pm - leave for west seattle
• 3:00 pm - joyce and jessica's party
  
• 6:00 pm - head home
• 6:30 pm - collapse

Sunday -

• 9:00 am - leave for church
• 9:20 am - church service
• 11:00 am - teach 2 year olds
• 12:30 pm - head home
• 1:00 to 6:00 pm - FREEDOM
• 6:00 pm - leave for no doubt
• 7:30 pm - no doubt & paramore concert at white river
• 12:00 am - **hopefully** get home from concert
• 12:30 am - collapse
  

Tonight: Puyallup
Tomorrow: Portland

Yet another weekend of traveling. At least I love my families.

Well, it's looking like I might not finish Catch-22 today. However, I refuse to return it to the library without finishing it. I guess I have my next few evenings carved out for me.

Jon and I were in Portland this past weekend. I didn't get to see Ciara, which was a little sad, but I did get to spend a lot of quality time with my family. We went and looked (lusted) at houses. It's painful to see how much more we could afford in Portland. Hopefully the next two and a half years will go by quickly and before we know it we'll be considering the move.

In a moment of weakness I purchased the Twilight dvd. I watched it with my parents and Jon this weekend, but we didn't quite make it all the way through. My dad was a good sport, but I'm pretty sure he died a little on the inside while trying to make it through the movie. I guess I'll just have to enjoy it on my own.

This week is spring break at SU, so even though our office is open, there are NO students here! I can't believe how quiet campus is. I'll be glad when next week comes and things pick up again. I guess I get really restless when I don't constantly have work to do.

This weekend was good.

Friday night Jon and I went for a long walk to unwind from our week. Thankfully, we get to spend a lot of quality time together as is, but our walks usually include talking about the future and hopes/dreams/goals, the kind of things we don't usually talk about on a day to day basis. It's always very refreshing. We then headed over to Bothell to meet up with our small group for the first time. We did a scavenger hunt and then headed over to the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville to end the evening. I think we both enjoyed ourselves, although it will probably take the entire small group session to even learn everyone's names! I'll just be glad to have a few more familiar faces at church.

Saturday morning Jon and I begrudgingly got up at 7am and headed down to Portland. I got to hang out with my mom all afternoon, which was lovely. We went and saw Confessions of a Shopoholic which was adorable and fun and a great chick flick. My whole family, including Uli, went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner and spent a nice evening just hanging out, relaxing, and catching up. Jon was sick (with a cold this time) so we ended up going to bed pretty early.

Sunday went by all too quickly. We woke up around 9 and had a relaxing morning that consisted of coffee, waffles, reading the paper, and taking a nap. After everyone had showered and finally gotten ready for the day, Jon and I went grocery shopping with my parents (exciting, I know) and then we came home and ate a late lunch. By that time, it was already 3 and we had plans with Ciara and Matt - so we said our goodbyes and headed over to the Hartzell's condo. It was great to see Ciara with her little baby bump! She looks good pregnant :) We ended up playing sequence (Matt and I kicked ass, go Team Awesome!) and then Jon and I had to hit the road. We got home around 8:30 last night, and by the time the car was unloaded, we were ready for bed.

Overall, we had a good weekend. But as usual, I felt so sad when we were headed back to Seattle. I wish I could just bring my friends and family home with me. I miss them terribly.

This week will be fairly calm (I hope.)

This weekend has felt so long and relaxing, and it's really only 1/2 way over since I have tomorrow off. Sweet!

Yesterday, Jon and I woke up early, made breakfast, worked on a puzzle, showered, and around noon realized that it was Valentines Day. Whoops. Our celebrating included going to Costco, an estate sale, watching Oceans 11, and working on a few "projects" and by projects I mean Jon played Guitar Hero while I sewed a new purse. We made delicious pizza for dinner and just relaxed.

This afternoon, Jon's parents are coming up for a late lunch. We realized a few weeks ago that they hadn't been to our apartment since we moved here in July. Whoops. We both have issues remembering to invite people over. It's something Jon and I are both working on.

Tomorrow I'm going to kick back and relax! Since we're having company over today, our house is clean and laundry is done, so there is NOTHING that I have to do tomorrow! I can't even describe how wonderful that feeling is. Perhaps I'll rent Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Guilty pleasure :)

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed their weekends!

I can't believe this is my 100th post! Happy blogiversary to me.

I am so pumped for the weekend. The weather is supposed to be awesome (freezing cold and snow!!) and Jon and I get to spend some quality time with friends, family, and each other. Well, unless it snows enough that we can't drive anywhere. But c'mon, this is Seattle. We're talking 1-2 inches of snow max. Enough snow to be excited about, not enough to hinder transportation.

Work has been busy, but I'm so distracted by the fact that it's Friday that I'm struggling to get through everything I'm hoping to have finished by 4:30 today. The papers I'm processing right now are for late withdrawals, something SU does that I think is ridiculous. It's basically a get out of jail free card that students can use 3 times. They can turn in this paper and withdrawal from a class up until the last day of finals. SO many students just us a LW at the last minute to avoid failing a class, and their excuses are always so brilliant...

"I'm going to grad school and can't fail a class"
"A D is not up to my standards"
"An F would look bad on my transcript"

BLA BLA BLA! You're the one who is FAILING. It's your fault! Take some responsibility people.

Honestly, I'm annoyed. I had to RE-TAKE a class when I got a D in it. Sit through the SAME material for another 3 months, but you know, I actually learned something this way. For these students, they don't take responsibility for their own academic performance. Instead, they just use an LW and pretend they never took the course.

Enough about that.

YAY for the weekend. And please enjoy the Elf Dance below.

-K