Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Our weekend in Idaho

As promised, here is our Idaho recap...
*edited to add pictures!
We decided a few weeks back to take a long weekend and head to Idaho to visit one of my best friends Cami, and her family. Before leaving we were a bit nervous about the road conditions. A few times over the past couple weeks the mountain passes have been hit with these huge dumpings of snow (especially huge considering it is almost April...). We were over prepared with chains, emergency kit, radios, extra food/water, etc. We got very lucky and didn't have to deal with a bit of it. Both on the drive over on Friday, and home on Monday, the roads were dry or bare/wet. Thank goodness for that!
We had such a good time over there. There was no agenda. We hung out at their new house, played games and watched movies, spent time on the farm, and most importantly we played with baby Lexie. Over the past year Cami and I have been able to get together on 5 different occasions. I don't think we've been able to do that since high school! She is one of my oldest friends and it was great to spend some quality time with such good friends. I miss them already.
Jeremy and Jordan spent most of our first night playing Guitar Hero and trying to be rock stars. Those two with a couple beers and a plastic guitar are hilarious. Though it would probably be wise of the two of them to keep their day jobs... :)

Lexie. I could write for days about Lexie. She is approximately 2 feet of 15 month old adorableness. She is such a good baby. I have been playing with my new fancy camera for a few months now and I got plenty of practice on her this weekend. I probably took almost 150 pictures... I just couldn't stop! Her little grin just melts your heart. She is beautiful, happy and so smart. Cami and Jordan are expecting again and I cannot wait for October!
We tried to go up and do a little snowboarding Sunday morning, but that didn't really work out as planned. With 50+ mph wind (this is just a guess by the way, it was blowing so hard I could hardly open the car door or stand up straight...), and blowing snow; the visability was awful. It was hard to see the road in front of the car. We tried to turn around and ended up slidding off the road and getting stuck (we did pick the right side of the road to slide off though - the other side was a cliff). After about 25minutes of digging a plow came along and so kindly pulled us out. There's a first time for everything! No damage to the car, no one got hurt - it was just a crazy adventure!
The 11 hour drive was definitely worth the visit. We're already starting to talk about our next get together. Besides, an 11 hour drive isn't so bad when you can stop for Sonic along the way... :)

Note: Thanks for the tip Holly! The Sonic Sunrise is de-LISH!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Home from Idaho

We are home safe and sound from our weekend trip to Idaho. We had a fun and relaxing weekend with Cami, Jordan and Lexie. We're exhausted from the 11 hour drive, so we'll update tomorrow. I hope everyone enjoyed their Monday at work! (okay, rubbing in our 4 day weekend wasn't nice...)

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Oh Yoga, How I Missed Thee.

Yesterday was my first yoga class in... well... actually I can't even tell you because I don't know. Because of this small fact I was a bit nervous about my first class back. Shoot, I have even stretched in... months? That is very unlike me.
Michelle (AKA - the most wonderful yoga instructor of ALL time) welcomed Rachel and I back to class with open arms - and wide-open eyes as Rachel is now half way through her pregnancy and she wasn't even married yet when she saw us last! My fears were for not. After only a couple of minutes I fell right back into the routine I love. Sure, class kicked my butt, but in a good way. I came home with tons of energy and slept like a rock last night. And this morning, I'm more awake than I have been in weeks and just a little bit sore, but again, in a good way.

Note to Rachel: You do Half Moon again before you find your 'center of gravity' and yes, I will have a heart attack. You'll thank me when your child emerges without brain damage because you fell over in yoga class. (I'm not sure that could even happen... but I'm fulfilling my Auntie duties by requesting that you abstain!)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Rental House

Believe it or not the lease for our first renters is up at the end of the month. Yes, that means it has been a full year since we've been in our new house and had the rental property. Where did the time go?!

Even in this economy we know that this investment is the right one. How do we know? Because it isn't easy! It requires a lot of dedication and hard work.

The inside of the house appears to be in really good shape (they're in the process of moving out so we've only peeked through the window...), we're very fortunate about that! The yard however... well, that's going to be a process. We went over to the house yesterday and did a few hours of yard work. We were able to weed about half the beds (we focused on the front for curb appeal), do the edging, and trim the bushes. In the next week and a half we'll do some planting, finish the weeding, and bring in new bark and gravel. It'll be a lot of work, but it's already looking better!

Now, we've just got to find new tenants. Know anyone that needs to rent a house?

Monday, March 16, 2009

Mt. Baker Part II

Holy fresh powder batman! Jeremy, Erik and I arrived at Mt. Baker yesterday at approx. 9:30am. It was just barely snowing at the time, but they'd received 11inches the night before and 5 inches the previous day. Not long after we'd arrived the snow showed back up with a furry! At times (especially at the top of the lift) we could hardly see a thing it was coming down so hard.

We've never been up in powder like this, it was AMAZING. We got in a ton of runs and even some out of bounds adventuring (part of that particular adventure will explain my sore neck, but that's not important...).

When we got back to the car, sore, tired and happy, we found that while we were there it had snowed probably another 4 inches. It was pretty windy and hard to tell the exact accumulation.

All in all - a GREAT trip up to the mountains. Now, will you pass the heating pad?

Friday, March 13, 2009

Best Day of Work in a Long Time

Yesterday I spent the entire morning/afternoon downtown at a lecture. The lecture was being done by Bruce Tulgan (internationally recognized as the expert on the multigenerational workforce). There is nothing quite like starting the day with a nice walk downtown and a latte and croissant from my favorite french cafe (Le Panier at Pike Place), that I enjoyed while looking out at the Sound and the ferries. Of which was followed by an intellectually stimulating lecture (whos topic I believe will help address some of my current frustrations in 'Corporate America'), and lunch on the sunny steps of SAM (Seattle Art Museum). What a phenomenal day. I haven't felt that relaxed and happy during a days-work in a LONG time. LOVED IT.

(Oh, and if you are so inclined, you should really check out a couple of his books - Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, and It's Okay to be the Boss are two I find very valuable)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

...and again.

That's right - snow again. We woke up this morning to about 1 1/2'' - 2'' of the stuff. Hey, it's a good excuse to curl up and have a relaxing Sunday morning, right? Right.

**Edited Monday, March 9th 4:20pm**
Apparently I posted a couple days too soon because we had almost 6 inches today!