I'm hoooome!

YAY! I made it. Two long-ass flights cross-country and guess what? I didn't hyperventilate, pass-out, wet myself, piss off an air marshall or get air sick! I got to spend 3 1/2 fun-filled days in Virginia Beach and Washington DC. I saw things like this:


King Neptune statue on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.

And this, which totally made me jealous of course:


Horseback riding on the beach? SIGN. ME. UP.

Don't forget these little guys:


Practically the highlight of my whole trip.

We took them to the boardwalk and every other person we saw wanted to stop and ask about them. At the end of our walk, I tied Gator up to this giant crab for a picture...he wasn't amused:


"Listen lady...I know you're a friend of my moms but that doesn't mean I need to tolerate having you tie me up to a giant crab." He got me back the next day by peeing in Petsmart in Fredericksburg, VA while he was in my care.

Saturday was nice, we spent the day hanging out shopping for pet costumes at the coolest pet store. Ever. That night we had dinner at Lynnhaven Fish House where I had some of the best crab cakes ever. I also tried Hushpuppies for the first time and was very impressed with them.

The next day my friend was gracious enough to humor my desire to see Washington DC and drive me up there. We stayed with her friend (who is totally awesome) and her dog, Trinity. Trinity modelled the ballerina outfit that my friend brought up for her.


I think she liked it.

Later, the three dogs needed to eat...which turned the kitchen into a shark tank feeding frenzy:



That night, our friend took us on a driving tour of DC. This is the first place she took us:


Yes. The city jail, the morgue, and a mental hospital. I thought maybe she was trying to drop hints at our sanity.

I almost missed the capitol building because we were going hysterical laughing at random things, but I did get to see it lit up at night:


It was beautiful.

The next day I saw the Washington Monument



The WWII Memorial



The Jefferson Memorial



The Lincoln Memorial




It was a fantastic trip. Really. I got to have lunch with a good friend of D's and mine. I spent lots of quality time with my friend C, who is one of the best friends a girl could ask for. I met C's friend, who I consider a friend now. I saw things I've always wanted to see and more. It was amazing. Truly. I want to go back...like, tomorrow.

WHAT is that SMELL!?

I'm sitting at my dining room table and H left her plate there this morning and it has maple syrup on it from her waffles. That mixed with the smell of the donuts I picked up for D this morning and you have a smell that resembles paint thinner or varnish. *GAG*

If I was a better version of a housewife, then I'd get off my duff and take the plate to the kitchen...but I'm busy writing to you, Dear Blog, so the smell will have to wait until I can guilt D into doing it after he gets off the phone do it myself.

You can see where my priorities are lately. Be as lazy as possible for as long as possible. "Why put off til' tomorrow what you can get someone else to do for you today." I don't know who said that, but he/she was a wise wise slacker person.

And the word you're looking for is...."Aaaanyway..."

I've been on a total Joan Jett kick for the last few months. Which is obviously rubbing off on H. My latest favorite song is this one.



Sorry, I can't explain the closed captioning on that video...whoever posted that obviously can't hear very well. Even I can tell that the words don't match what she's actually singing. *mental face palm*

So yeah, I really only posted this so that I could listen to the song. I don't even care if you're bored. I'm being selfish and nanner nanner nanner.

(I did get up though, and took the plate to the kitchen. My eyes were burning and my hair was falling out in clumps.)

My feud with technology

My iPhone has been acting weird...or should I say, Twitterrific has been acting stupid. I keep getting load errors and it keeps crashing. I have to log in to the mobile site and then open the app so that it works. So I've not been "twittering" much...

Add to that my computer acting like a big frozen cow lately and I'm feeling completely let down by the Gods of Technology. It gets worse when both problems come up at once and I have to go do something else...like spend time with my family (I'M KIIIIIDDING!!!)...

D worked on my computer all day yesterday because I whined about it he loves me so much. It seems to be working better but still not super great. I'm atleast able to listen to iTunes and be on the internet at the same time. It used to be an either/or situation. I wasn't able to run two programs at once for a long time. If I was working on my resume and posting it to jobs on the internet, I had to close it, open the internet, post it, close the internet browser, open my resume...etc...

So I'm taking donations. If you have a 'spare' Macbook Pro (Go ahead, click and drool, I make it a habit to do it atleast once an hour a day) I would be happy to take it off your hands...for free of course...I'm unemployed you know!



So much to say...

It's almost like I don't blog everytime a new thought enters my head anymore. *sigh*

One more thought...

How come the Red Sox couldn't have played the same Angels team that is currently playing the Yank-Mes? (I feel dirty posting those links on my blog.) If we had been able to pull off a series win against them, then we'd have real baseball to look forward to...stuff like this...



(That's my main man favorite player, Jason Varitek giving Cheater-Pants A-Rod a face sandwich.)

OK. I'm done now. I think that's everything that was on my mind this morning.

I will SURVIVE

I've been feeling like crap this week. It's one of those moods that I can't explain. It's not PMS, I don't think it's the weather, because I love this weather...it's not my husband or daughter...it might be feeling useless being unemployed but even that isn't so bad now that I'm interviewing. I just can't pinpoint what it is that is bothering me.

The song, I Will Survive, I realize is about a lost love and surviving that, and that is definetly not my problem - I don't think I could possibly be more loved. But the thought that no matter what life brings me, I'm going to survive. I'm not going to lay down and let this feeling suck me back into my depression and allow it to run my life again.

So I got up this morning, showered, hugged my family, made my daughter laugh and giggle all the way to school, came home, hugged my husband again.

Daily Happiness

Then we went and met a friend for lunch. She is a friend of D's from high school who friended me on facebook and we've become friends. She has a very contagious laugh and her positive attitude is infectious...it's hard to walk away from seeing her not feeling uplifted and happy. It was good to see her and I'm glad I went. If you're reading this, you helped me more today than you might realize! Thank you for lunch and thank you for meeting us and thank you for becoming a good friend to me :-)

Song of the Day: Just Dance by Lady Gaga - people think she's weird, but I *heart* her.

My Adventures in the City

Yesterday I had to go downtown for an interview with a staffing firm. I tossed and turned about whether I should take the bus or drive my car. The term "Free Parking" was deleted from Seattle vocabulary a long time ago, so if I drove I knew I'd be paying premium downtown parking prices...but if I rode the bus I'd have to...well...ride the bus. Riding the bus here isn't too bad until it starts to rain and the homeless people move onto the buses, causing the wet, mildewy smell to explode in larger than life proportions.

I decided to drive. I figured with my less than stellar gag reflexes and aversion to wet people, showing up $15 less rich for paying for parking would be better than showing up covered in my own vomit from riding the bus.

Anyhoodle. It was pouring rain, naturally. I made it downtown on a wing and a prayer...and maybe a few muttered words. After driving around the block about 5 times (which is fun trying to navigate all the one-way streets...) I found the parking garage they told me to park in. Of course it was a valet lot over a Ritz Carlton-type mall, but I parked there anyway because I was so not going back out in the rainy traffic. I figured that the luxury garage would have a luxury elevator for it's luxurious guests, but I couldn't find it...so I walked up the dirty car ramp mumbling stuff about "how do they expect their luxurious guests to feel walking up this stupid ramp?"

I'm not even going to get into how the guy that parked my car looked a lot like the garage attendant in Ferris Bueller.



Yeah. My car is that cool.

Anyway. I digress. After riding up in the scariest elevator ever, I made it to my testing interview on the 43rd floor of the building. It was cold, foggy and rainy and from where I was sitting, I felt like I was visiting George and Jane Jetson. It was awesome.

After a terrifying moment of panic where I thought all of my knowledge on MS Word, Excel and Outlook had fallen out of my head, I was able to calm down and actually enjoy myself and the interview. I think it went well and they think they should be able to find me something after I get back from my trip next week.

When I left the office I thought that there was no way in Hell-O that I was going to walk back down that dirty, scary ramp again and I was determined to find the stupid elevator. I went into the uber-luxurious mall and walked up and down all around and looked high and low for that damned thing and couldn't find it. I couldn't even find the stairs that lead down to the parking garage. So I left. And went out an entirely different entrance that exited me out onto a street that was two blocks in the pouring rain away from the ramp.

Coming down the dirty ramp and walking up to the cashiers cage, I look to my left and there's the elevator. I wanted to ask him, "Did you have that installed in the last hour???"

Whatever.

Oh, and on a side note. Pedestrians in downtown Seattle are nuts. Especially in the pouring rain. Crosswalks mean nothing to them. They dart out into traffic, wearing dark gray rain coats naturally, coming out from behind delivery trucks. I finally got so fed up trying not to commit vehicular manslaughter that I got on the freeway. Which is a gem. In the rain.

The recruiter had asked me if I was able to drive or take the bus should I be offered a job downtown and I said, "Oh, I'd prefer to drive." Yeah. No. Suddenly being covered in my own vomit after riding the bus? Not such a bad thing.

Happiness

Since I don't have anything nice to say right now, because I'm in the throws of some serious bummerness...I'm going to post my daily happiness and then leave the computer alone for awhile.

Todays Happiness

Waking up this morning wrapped up in my flannel comforter, with my cat laying on my hip. Warm and cozy in a little cocoon and not wanting to move.

Happy Birthday D!

In April of 1998, when D and I met in person for the first time (picture above) I don't think that either one of us had any idea that 12 years later we'd be married and raising a daughter together. I wouldn't trade the life I have with him for anything! I'm so lucky to have found him.

It's his birthday today, our 13th together! I hope he feels as special today as he makes me feel everyday!

Bah humbug

I'm not really in a bad mood, thankfully, but I am kind of bumming today.

The good-ish news is that I finally got a phone call about my resume...from a temp agency. Which, the more I think about it is probably a good thing. We have a vacation in February, and then we're possibly moving next summer...so maybe a permanent position isn't what is best for me right now.

The bad-ish news is that while we were discussing my salary preferences she basically told me not to get my hopes up about ever making my previous salary again. At least not in the next year or two. It's not like I was high up the salary ladder before, but it is somewhat discouraging to know that no matter what I do, I'll be taking a pay cut.

So as not to close this post on a negative note, some more good-ish news is that the weather here has finally become fall. Yay! It's going to rain, rain and rain some more this week. People are already starting to whisper about snow and record cold temps...this makes me do the happy dance.

Next weekend we are going to a pumpkin patch to let H run off some energy in the corn maze, the hay jump and maybe on a pony ride or three. They have little kid carnival rides too, and when we went last year I couldn't get her off of them. Fall is probably my favorite season, followed closely by Winter, then Spring. I could do without Summer at all, unless it's more a Spring/Fall weather combo..



Song of the Day - The Climb by Miley Cyrus - I know she gets a lot of crap from people, but recently I was going through some serious confidence issues and this song came on the radio and instantly hit home.

Todays Happiness
Dropping my daughter off at school this morning, she gave me the biggest, longest, sweetest hug and before she ran off to the playground gave me the "I Love You" ASL sign.