A New Routine

A lot has been happening around here lately.

For starters, I turned 26 last weekend. It was one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. When we woke up Saturday morning, Chuckie asked what I wanted to go do and of course, I said "donuts." If you know me, you know donuts are my favorite food. So what better way to start off my birthday than with some fresh donuts and coffee?

After donuts, I had an interview with Niketown in downtown Seattle for a part time position, which is in addition to the other two part time marketing/arts jobs I already have out here. Then Chuckie and I went shopping at Banana Republic because we had a Friends and Family discount for 50% off everything and we both had gift cards. Then, only 2 hours after my interview, I got a call from Nike letting me know they'd like to hire me and could I start this Monday?! Um, YES! So now I have 3 jobs.

The evening of my birthday, we decked ourselves out in Louisville apparel and headed to a hole in the wall bar a few minutes from our apartment to watch the Big East Championship game. Louisville pulled out an amazing win- the best birthday present! Then we were off to another bar to meet up with friends and participate in the early St. Patrick's Day celebrations! Like I said, a GREAT birthday this year.

Oh yeah and one of Chuckie's gifts to me was Girl Scout Cookies. Does he know me well or what?

 

So that was Saturday. Monday I started my new job with Niketown, and on Tuesday we moved apartments. Because, you know, we haven't moved enough times this past year already so we wanted to add one more move just for fun. No but seriously. The apartment we were in was ok for a little while. But there were several things about it that we decided we can't deal with for 5 more months. First of all, it was in the basement of a house. We had no windows, no ventilation, crooked floors, and probably some mold from occasional basement flooding. Also, it was a studio- so basically all just one big room, which is not ideal for hosting visitors.

 

So we found this new apartment through the same company. It is also fully furnished, so moving would only require moving our few belongings we brought to Seattle, in a better location close enough for Chuck to have a 10 minute walk to work and close enough for me to walk to Niketown, a one bedroom so much bigger, a designated parking spot, and a brand new kitchen and bathroom. Oh yeah, and we have tons of windows. I am not exaggerating when I say my overall mood has improved SO much just in the few days since we moved here. I think it's the windows.

Oh and I love what we named our WiFi router.

View of the Olympic Mountains from our living room? Ok!

We love it.

So, in addition to turning 26, getting a new job and a new apartment, we're also trying to get out of the rut we've been in lately where Chuck gets home from work, we make dinner and then proceed to spend our evening watching Raylan Givens mess some people up on our new favorite show, Justified. And while we love our Raylan Givens and plan to keep watching so we can catch up to the current season, we have a new plan to start getting a run in or some type of exercise after work before the dinner and Justified routine starts. I know it's not a profound idea- this is what most normal people do on a daily basis. So we need to become normal. We need to get healthier and stop being so lazy. Plus, now that I'm working at Nike I'm required to wear the Nike Fuelband so I gotta hit my daily Fuel points goal, people!

This weekend we're looking forward to watching a lot of basketball and exploring more of Seattle. My parents come to town next weekend for their Spring Break visit- I can't wait.

Happy Friday, everyone!

 

Sami and Seattle

As you know from my Canada post, Sami came to visit me and Chuckie in Seattle last week for her spring break. She arrived late Saturday night and left Thursday morning. Since we spent all day in Canada on Sunday, we didn't get to start exploring Seattle until Monday. I of course had created an itinerary for her visit and we stuck pretty close to it the whole time!

Monday morning we were moving a little slow, so we didn't get out of the house until almost lunchtime. We headed straight into downtown to meet Chuckie for lunch at a REALLY good Mexican place right by Amazon. Then we walked over to the Seattle Center where the Space Needle and all the museums are located.

Then we took the bus to Fremont where we shopped in all the little stores, Sami got to see the troll and other fun sights in Fremont, and then we got a cookie. After Chuckie got home from work, we cooked dinner and then went to see the new Oz movie. We approved.

Tuesday morning, Sami and I took the bus straight to the Seattle Art Museum, which Sami was really excited about because the initials of the museum spell SAM, like her.

We explored their special exhibit- a collection of several paintings from a London Museum, in the US for the first time ever- and got excited when we recognized an extremely famous painting by Rembrandt.

The china room was our favorite.

Then we happened upon the Roman art section. Sami was happy.

After our very cultured morning, we did some shopping and then went to Elliot's Oyster House for oyster happy hour. Sami tasted her first oysters. She was not impressed.

When Chuckie got off work, he met us at Pike Place Market which to our surprise and disappointment, all basically closes by 6 pm. So we weren't able to get the full effect but at least got to see the fish guys throw a fish. So that was good. And then most importantly, we got to see the original Starbucks!

After the market we had dinner at the Yardhouse and then went home and watched old SNL videos. :)

Wednesday morning Chuck accidentally took my keys (and his) with him to work, so we had to ride the bus into downtown and get them from him since our whole schedule that day involved the car.

We had breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe, the same place Chuckie and I celebrated his birthday, and then went to Discovery Park for a hike. It was raining and kind of cold though, so we just walked to the viewpoint, took some pictures, and left.

That afternoon, we did some shopping at University Village, then drove through the University of Washington's campus. Sami was extremely jealous of their beautiful campus and wanted to switch schools.

 

 

 

 

 

That night we had dinner and ice cream in Fremont with our friends Jonelle and Matt and then Thursday the trip was over. :(

 

Unfortunately Sami didn't get to enjoy much nice weather while she was here and of course it's been sunny and kind of warm every day since she left. But I guess she got the true Seattle experience! We had so much fun while she was here but wish our big sister Laura could have been there too. We missed you, Laura!

Oh Canada

A few weeks ago, Chuckie and I were discussing what we should do with my sister while she was out here visiting and he suggested taking a day trip to Canada. Vancouver is only about a two and a half hour drive from Seattle, so we decided to do it! Sami flew in late Saturday night, so early Sunday morning we were off to Vancouver- the 3 of us and Chuckie's LGO classmate Gold.

Now, this is gonna sound a little crazy, but, this trip to Canada was my first time ever leaving the United States! So I was VERY excited! The drive was scenic and pretty easy. We got to the border, answered a few questions about why we were visiting, how we knew each other, where we were from, and then boom! We were across the border!

Literally less than 3 minutes across the Canadian border, Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." came on which gave us a good laugh. We decided that was our theme song for the day.

As we were driving into downtown, I snapped this picture out the window of the stadium, called BC Place, where the opening and closing ceremonies were for the 2010 winter Olympics. When we passed it at night leaving town, it was all lit up with different colors and looked really cool, but unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of it that time.

Our first stop was at Stanley Park, one of the largest parks in North America. It was a little chilly, but we had our hearts set on riding bikes around the park so we layered up and braved the cold. (It wasn't THAT cold, I'm just making it sound more intense.)

Before you see this next picture you have to know what I was TRYING to take a picture of, because it makes it even funnier. I thought Chuckie was riding right behind me, so I was trying to get a picture of him on his bike. I was taking the picture without looking because we were riding and I didn't want to lose focus and fall off of my bike. So I made a face just in case a small part of my face ended up in the picture and I snapped. Later when I looked at my pictures, I found the result.

 

 

He is SO FAR BEHIND ME and I got WAY MORE THAN JUST A LITTLE OF MY FACE in the picture. It's so ridiculous. Sami cried from laughing when she saw this picture. Last week on the blog I put a picture of us on a hike and said it was maybe the best picture ever taken of me and Chuckie. Well, I think this one definitely trumps that one.

 

Anyway, moving on...

 

Chuck proved to us that he could eat a banana and ride a bike at the same time.

 

 



Gold, Chuck and Sami at a pretty spot along the bike trail.

After biking, we drove to the public market on Granville Island. We walked around and watched a guy juggle knives while balancing on a ladder, went in and out of all the little shops, did some taste testing, and bought the most delicious donuts. Next we drove to Gastown, an older part of Vancouver with cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks. It reminded us of Boston, so we liked it!

Then we saw a building that looked strangely similar to the Flat Iron building in NYC, except this one was a lot smaller.

 

We had some drinks at a cool place there and then walked to an Irish Pub for some "comfort food that feels like a hug." It was tasty.

Right before we left Canada, we had Chuck snap a few pictures of us in some traditional sorority girl poses so Sami would feel like she got the full "spring break" effect, even though she was in cold and rainy Canada and her classmates were in warm and sunny Florida, and neither of us were/are in sororities.

It was a great day trip and a great way to start off Sami's visit!

March 7, 2012

This sounds really dramatic... but I'm saying it anyway because I don't know how else to start this post. So here it goes.

One year ago today, our lives changed forever.

Ok. Got that over with so now I can tell you why.

Last year at this time, we knew Chuckie would find out soon about LGO. Current students told us that when you're accepted, you get a phone call from Don, the head of the program. For whatever reason, we were expecting the phone calls (or no phone calls) to happen the week of the 10th-11th. We had psyched ourselves up for months leading up to this- the GMAT, the application process and due date, waiting to see if he would get an interview, the actual interview... It was several months of agony. (Well, for me anyway. I'm a very impatient person.) So by early March, we were more than ready to find out if we were going to uproot our lives in Kentucky or if we should plan to settle in for another year while Chuckie re-applied and/or applied to other schools he was interested in.

So Wednesday, March 7th, we were hanging out at my parents house watching a UofL basketball game (surprise, surprise) with my dad, when a voicemail appeared on Chuck's phone. He had turned it off earlier during the game because it was acting up. Around 9 o'clock when he turned the phone back on, the voicemail appeared. Of course, he had missed a call in the 10 minutes his phone was off. He looked to see who it was from and said "It's a 617 number..." and started to listen. I could tell instantly by his face what it was, and I knew 617 was Boston's area code.

When he hung up he said, "Well, that was Don. Telling me I've been accepted to LGO!" I think I started screaming, my dad jumped out of his chair and high fived us and Chuck immediately started making phone calls to his parents and sisters to share the good news. My dad reveled in the fact that he was the first one to find out because he was "in the right place at the right time" and we waited for my mom to get home to tell her the news.

That night and the days following were so exciting but also full of mixed emotions. We both had great jobs in Louisville, great friends, a good routine and of course our families. Why would we want to leave all of that behind? Move to a city where we knew no one? Give up our weekly paychecks? Move away in the middle of planning our wedding? Miss our family and friends who mean everything to us? Because it's an adventure. Because we will grow. Because grad school has always been Chuckie's goal. Because it's an investment in our future. Because WHO SAYS NO TO MIT???

While LGO didn't technically start until June, I will always think of March 7th as the beginning of our LGO journey.  And I know I keep saying  "we" and "us" and "our journey" and talking like I'm in the program too so I need to note that while I am not up doing homework until 3 am, taking classes, tests, going to meetings, working for these partner companies, etc etc (Chuckie and LGO classmates- you're amazing, I don't know how you all do it), the SOs are VERY MUCH a part of the LGO program and this is our adventure too.  And we get the better end of the deal because while our LGOs are studying and doing homework, we're having happy hours and exploring Boston. :)

It's been a crazy year and we're looking forward to the adventures still ahead of us the next year and 3 months of the program. It's already going by so fast!

Uncle Jesse is 24

The blog has been a little quiet lately for no reason other than that just not much has been going on. I've been living the semi-unemployed life which includes a lot of walking the neighborhood, running errands like bank trips, job interviews and applications, and a LOT of Full House and Boys Meets World reruns on afternoon television.

Sidenote: Did you know that in the first season of Full House, Uncle Jesse is only 24 years old!?! What!? I am older than UNCLE JESSE?! I am not happy with this realization. (I need a job, quick, before I find out Mr. Pheeny on Boy Meets World was only 30 or something.)

Anyway, last week Chuck was in Phoenix and then we had a relatively quiet weekend followed by a relatively quiet week. We haven't been able to get out and do much exploring in Seattle yet, until this weekend.

Friday night we found a movie theater and went to see "A Good Day to Die Hard." It was your classic Die Hard movie, a little cheesy, a little funny, and a lot of car chases and explosions. It was just ok- but nothing can compare to my favorite one in the series- the very first Die Hard, where Bruce Willis throws Snape off the roof of a building at the end.

On Saturday we drove to a park really close to where we live called Discovery Park.  I made Chuck drive all the way down this little road in the park because I could see on the map that it led to the beach. When we got to the end of the road we found the beach, but also found that it was permit parking only. So I snapped this picture of a little lighthouse and then we headed back to the main parking lot.

Once we parked, we got a trail map and decided to walk the 2.8 mile trail loop around the park. It was awesome. It wasn't a bad walk and we got some great views along the way. I only wish it had been a little sunnier out!

Puget Sound. Without all the clouds you'd be able to see huge mountains in the distance.

After our walk, we met up with Gold and Orion at Gas Works Park, also close to where we live. Gas Works Park is right on Lake Union and has great views of the Seattle skyline. Supposedly this is the place to be on the 4th of July for the fireworks show. We'll have to find out!

About 50% of the pictures I've taken since last June have had sailboats in them. Why stop now?

And my favorite picture of the day- Chuck took this panoramic of Puget Sound on our walk. I love it.

Sunday we went apartment hunting for most of the day and then spent our afternoon hanging out at Starbucks with our laptops. I job searched and Chuckie worked on... something. It was a nice relaxing Sunday and I think we found a new apartment! More details on that soon.

I'll be back soon with more about our new apartment, remembering the start of our LGO journey that began one year ago this week, and Sami's visit- she gets here this Saturday!!

And now I'll leave you with the most attractive picture we've ever taken of ourselves. Have a good week everyone!