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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Right This Second - Winter Version

I just couldn't be inside this morning.  I layered up (long johns, jeans, favorite although ugly winter sweater, snow socks, down jacket, knit beanie, snow boots).  At a balmy 20 degrees, Seattle at sunrise after a snowfall is maybe the most magical sight you've ever seen.  Look what I spied.

I'm pretty sure this didn't go according to plan.


sunrise



Gasworks






Like


Who wants hot cocoa?

Monday, November 22, 2010

Right This Second

Starting in on Sunday's emails on Monday night.  Good job. It's going to be a late night.

In other news, it's still snowing and it's still wonderful.  There's no place else I'd rather be.  Snow in the Northwest is nothing short of magical. 

Right This Second

+freshly showered and snuggled in bed
+with yorgurt and granola
+watching the snow fall

Life is good great.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

No Thoughts of My Own

Recently I have been thinking a lot about a lot. Couple specific things, couple general things, couple irrelevant things. But with all those I've been struggling to articulate any conclusive or comprehensive ideas. So I'm taking the words of others to help articulate what has been weighing on my heart.


1.) Consider the stories of the good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10 and the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke chapter 16. Those are stories for thought.

2.) Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quoted saying, "We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer." Ponder that.

3.) “Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth ‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.” Try practicing that.

4.) In this same vein I want to link to my BFF’s blog where she writes about a recent experience of hers and I quote her here saying, “People. We're here for each other. Our motto should be: burden me. And we should mean it. Let our loved ones come to us with their troubles. And you know -- some people are gonna exhaust you with their needs and demands. But who's to say you won't have to lean, hard, on someone some day?”

I haven’t come to any other conclusion that sounds more like what should be practiced. Say, "Burden me." Practice kindness and forgiveness and with that I promise the opportunity to practice patience won't be far behind. 

That's the most I've come to understand yet so far from able to truly practice, but not for lack of opportunity.

Lies I'm told

We have this fancy software program that when you call the voicemail system it reads you your appointments. I have my boss's trip on my calendar so whenever I listen to a voicemail it says, "You are currently out of the office in Paris, Geneva, Lisbon." This is false. I am at work, in Seattle.

Lies, all lies.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Here's what you may need to know

Well, it’s fall. There isn’t a more beautiful place in the world than autumn in Seattle. The weather has run the gamut of sunny warm autumn days to torrential downpour. The leaves on the trees turn spectacular colors of red, yellow and orange. Not only is it my favorite season, it is my personal reset button. It a new year; the time of year allows me to restart and recommit. Here’s what you may need to know about my autumn so far:

Something Festive:

Corn Maze: the manfriend and I headed north to navigate a corn maze which involved a lot of slipping and sliding due to soggy fields and poor footware choice. The highlight was watching a complete stranger who was innocently walking along only to have his feet slide out from under him and bite it hard into the corn stalks in front of him. Oh cuss, we laughed so hard (outloud) that I kinda felt bad. You woulda too if you saw it so don’t judge. Lessons learned: I have even less of a sense of direction in the dark and in a corn field. Hot apple cider on a cold night is a match made in heaven, 3.) Cowboy boots have no traction. None.

I’m going to go ahead and cross that off the bucket list.

Something Fresh:

Moving on Up: In one week my morning commute was 1.5 hours each morning, at which point I would rather have put a hot branding iron through my eye. I had had enough; I decided to move south. Now cozied up in a beautiful craftsman home in Wallingford I’m a mere 3 miles from work I can avoid the freeway entirely to get most places. I am within a short walking distance from the Burke Gilman trail that provides wide biking and running paths. I’ve been running every Saturday morning. I now have 2.5 roommates: one who makes chocolate cake balls and then leave for a week (love and hate this). One who I share a bathroom with and we have yet to strangle each other, and the .5 who likes to snuggle, meow real loud, and burrow into my freshly cleaned sheets but is too cute to drop kick or get mad at. The best part of my room is the beautiful skylight the lets in tons of natural daylight and during the pouring rain the sound lulls me to sleep. It is nothing short of grand.

chocolate covered chocolate cake balls


Roommate .5


Autumn


Some thing(s) fun and random:

+My sister comes home at the end of the month and I’m very much looking forward to her visit. 1.) because she’s totally preggers and going to be enormous….like a real oompa loompa. 2.) it’s the holiday season and she likes to decorate the house way more than I do. I just like basking in it. 3.) We will be visiting our favorite Thai restaurant….multiple times, I’m sure of it.

+I was on the phone with Seattle Municipal Court the other day. A very lovely customer service woman was having some technical difficulties is trying to connect me to another department. I was in no hurry so I was just chilling on hold until she sorted herself out. She comes back on the phone and says she’s figured it out and I says thanks as pleasant as possible. She replies, “You are patient and a good woman.” And I thought to myself, you have a job you couldn’t pay me enough to do , thus you get all the kindness and patience I can offer, which I can tell you isn’t much but it’s all I got. She also took my 800 dollars but that’s not her fault.

+Does anyone else think it’s a coincidence that the new Volkswagen sedan is called the “CC”. I think not.

+I need to get to NYC. It’s gnawing at me. PB and I keep talking about rendezvousing in the big city but we just can’t seem to make it happen. Fingers crossed it does.

Autumnal blessings and good cheer to you and yours this glorious season.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Other People's Children

My first real job wasn’t until college when I began working in an office on-campus. Up until that point I had always earned money nannying and occasionally teaching piano. That is all to say that while I don’t have any kids of my own or nieces or nephews (yet), I’m pretty good with kids. Well, at least I think I am. A couple weeks ago I met baby Greyson for the first time who was one month old, so adorable I wanted squish him up and put him in my pocket to take home with me.

Last night I had the pleasure of hanging out with two great kids, CJ and PW (both of which I’ve known since their births). We played “pool,” hide and seek, “Who can jump the highest?” “Whoever finds all the marbles and puts the game away gets a high-five from Me.” We read Fancy Nancy and Dr. Seuss. A lot of Dr. Seuss. I mean a lot of Dr. Seuss. So much so I thought I was crazy just like he was. I came to a few conclusions this night:


1.) Dr. Seuss had to have been off his rocker. Poor English, made up words, reversed sentence structure, what a whack-job. I know society wants to blame the deterioration of kids' verbal and language skills on texting and the interwebs, but can we look at the printed literature that we come to canonize as kids books. Let’s start there.


2.) I wish I saw the world through kids eyes still. Where you make up your own rules, find joy in hide and seek, knew how to share and take turns, and got really excited about brushing and flossing.


3.) Kids change your plans. I planned on blogging while they slept and CJ planned on staying up all night coughing like and 80 yr old with emphazema. Poor kid. So we read more Dr. Seuss.

As I put the kids to sleep last night, all was quiet until I heard PW’s voice say, “You can eat your dinner but it’s probably cold now!” Thanks PW, you’re so thoughtful. Also, that’s why they invented the microwave.


Right now, I think I want kids one day when it is suppose to happen. But until then I’ll just keep enjoying corrupting the minds of other people kids. Including my niece or nephew that is scheduled to arrive in April (insert giddy excitement).

As it turns out.

Welp, it turns out I still love my job. Its challenging, exhausting and energizing at the same time. I’ve been there 4 months now but just 2 weeks as a full time permanent employee so I’m still throwing down the newbie card whenever possible. I’m pretty sure this “fake it til you make it” mentality is going to catch up with me soon, but until then I hold on by life and limb not to drop the ball or let something slip through the cracks. I wish I could blog more about it and my day but I’m no dummy. I will disclouse a few highlights and observations:

+SBB: We need to take lessons from Cara, she is very amusing.

+Several mornings I really just want red vines for breakfast. But I also don’t want diabetes….so, it’s a toss up.

+I do expense reports for my team which I love and hate at the same time. Mostly because I get to be nosy but it’s painstaking and mind-numbing. Turns out boss lady for “dinner” had Pringles for $3 and a glass of red wine for $7. I’m not one to judge, I bet neither were worth it.

This convo:
Assistant: You look nice today.
Me: Thanks, I feel like a pregnant lady from a Brooks Brother’s catalogue.
Assistant: Well you don’t look like one.
(and that why we pay her the big bucks)

My favorite email to date from SBB:
“Wanted to tell you that I am very happy with your professional competence, initiative and good humor. I am glad that the foundation recruited you.”


“I do NOT have a puppy in my office.” - Boss Lady (closes door with puppy in hand).


It’s a good place. Real good.