Aloha Friends!

Wow!  Well let's start the post with a re-cap of CDA's FANTASTIC 4-Oh! Birthday Bash in Hawaii why don't we....

5/28...CD, JD, Stephus and I were on the same flight to start the party.  That was a lot of fun at 9 a.m. in the morning.  I am sure the seatmates surrounding us had no idea what they were in for for the 6 hour flight.  I was just ecstatic that one of the e-books I had pre-ordered became available for download prior to the flight - so that kept me entertained.

Landed in Honolulu around Noon and promptly located a taxi to take us to the Park Shore Hotel in Waikiki.  Once checked in we were on the hunt for lunch and to wait for the Rents and the RT Baders' arrival later that evening.  The McBusta's had already been there since the Friday before, staying with JoseB's family.  We made arrangements to have them come get us Wednesday morning so he could proudly play tour guide of his home town of Waimanalo.  It was a fun day spent in the sun and surf, and some sights of the island. 

McChicks in Hawaii



 I was sharing a room with the Rent's, since I was solo for this trip.  So in saying that, because I am such an early riser, I laced on my walking shoes and was able to get in some early morning walks each morning we were there.  That made me feel good.  CDA's bday was Thursday and I woke to a text @ 5 a.m. asking if I wanted to catch the 5:50a sunrise with the birthday girl. Sure!  So met she and JD at Sbux and proceeded with the sunrise watching....only to be thwarted by the low lying clouds that morning.  From there we let the birthday festivities begin...complete with meeting up with sending JD, RTM, RTB and BAB to a ukulele factory and the rest of us to hang out for some rays by the pool before we met up with Stephus, Molly and Woo for lunch.  From there I headed to get a massage and they found a gun range.  CAM came with me to the Spa, but played WWF and wrote our her postcards while she waiting for me since she was not booked for any services.  It was nice to hang out with her.  We even managed to navigate the bus and made our way back to the hotel w/o any issues.


view from of Diamond Head from the Diamond Head Suite at the Park Shore

The group event gathering for the birthday girl on Thursday consisted of an arranged five course - private party dinner at Azure Restaurant in the Royal Hawaiian.  In all we had a party of 17 for this occasion.  The company was great and the food was delicious.  From there it was early to bed for those of us that had to be a the bus stop to catch the 6:15a shuttle for our island tour.

5/31  JD's bday and he was one of the one's on the island tour with us.  He and I made a joke that we were each other's stand in spouses for the day for the photo opportunities.  Our tour consisted of stops at Pearl Harbor, The Dole Plantation, then up and over to ride along the North Shore and have lunch, a stop at the Blow Hole, Hanama Bay and a quick stop on the south side of Diamond Head and then dropped of at our hotel, and that was at 5pm! 

Stand-in Spouses for the day - JR & JD

The whole day was a ton of fun and we had such a great group on our bus.  Not to mention our tour guide....so knowledgeable with the history and legends of Hawaiian folklore.  He was Awesome!  We celebrated JD's bday at one of his favorite restaurants, Chili's!  They are no longer franchised in WA, so when CD and I found one on our walk to locate an ATM, she KNEW that would make his day. 

6/1...The last full day there before heading home on Sunday, we made a trip to Leonard's for Malasada's,

and then I was able to catch up with a former FMCC co-worker of mine for lunch at Duke's.  Beckster and I hadn't seen each other in person since '98...but we had managed to stay connected via Eff Book.  She and her hubby and two fur babies are stationed there for maybe a year or two before he is able to retire and then she wants to head back East. 

So that is the Hawaii re-cap...without going into too much blow-by-blow detail...  =)

June has just been me applying for jobs and getting back into the gym with Trainer Karen.  Since I was nowhere NEAR where I wanted to be for the trip to the 808 (via the # on the scale), I figured it was time to re-dedicate myself.  I had no excuses now since finishing school and all.  This has been my first week with her, and my body is already reminding me why I missed working out! 

Next Wednesday is Anniversary #9...and I was informed that my honey has made overnight reservations and that I am to pack a bag and make reservations to board the babies.  DONE!  I am so surprised he has had time to do this from AK since he has been working his tail off up there.  I did the math and this last trip up will have been 56 days!  However, it was necessary to do this long one to get him back on the right schedule for when the holiday months come up.  Since he was up there for Thanksgiving last year, he will be home for it this year.  The only problem this year is he will miss the first Griz game of the season, AGAIN!  because is falls on the Saturday of Labor Day wknd and he is not schedule to be home until that Monday. (insert pouty lip here).  The day after said anniversary is graduation!  That is going to be a very exciting day for me for sure.  Then I invited a couple friends to The Spot that Saturday for a very informal gathering to celebrate.  Should be fun.

MER will be home for July and the month is already filling up...trip to the 406 and then the 208 from there for some fishing on the Clear Water River with the EL Wildey's.  My MT sista,  her son and Trucker Joe are coming over to play tourists for a couple days....then we will be getting ready to pack MER back up tot he 907. 

Mahalo!

May I help you?

Oh my....I have fallen down on the job in keeping up with posts.

First off...the big news....

Ta Da!!!!  I did it! And I managed to stick to my personal goal of graduating with honors!  My last day of school was March 28, and the graduation ceremony will be held in June. 

M came home on April 1st...no joke!  So we decided to take a couple days and head back to the 406 to check in on the folks and detour home via Idaho to steel head fish on the Clear water.  Thankfully Mandy Jo was able to stay with the babies.  She was a big help, especially being able to stay an extra day at the last minute b/c SOMEONE wanted to cast for one more day. 

While we were away I was contacted by the Catering Events Manager at RTC asking if I wanted to come work with her for a while.  I actually did my on-campus internship with her back in the fall quarter.  She is a lot of fun to work with, and we have very similar work styles.  Since I already had the basics down, she went to bat for me to be brought on to cover her office while she took a medical leave in May.  So I filled out the paperwork to be put into the RTC system as a Substitute Admin.  Which means I am in a pool of people that would be called on to see if they are available should an admin assistant call in to take vacation and someone was needed to cover for her.  For now, though, I was working with CN from April to just this last Friday.  I would've stayed til the end of the month; however, I had plane tickets to HAWAII  for CD's big 4-Oh!

But let's finish April...before M left to head back to the 907, he had an opportunity to follow his Valley Rugby Boys to Boise for a couple games.  That left the weekend open for Cowgirl and I to head up to the Vancouver, BC Expo.  That was a lot of fun.  Vegas had nothing on some of the attendees at these functions, costumes and all.  Out sole purpose was to meet with actor Sean Patrick Flanery.  He is hilarious and we have been following him on Twitter.  He shares his pearls of wisdom, thoughts and opinions.

We had great weather and a great time.  We definitely need to do that again!

M left at the end of the April, and I continued on with my working with CN at good 'ol RTC.  Let me tell you, that woman has needed an assistant long before I sought her out for my internship.  It's no wonder there are some nights she is staying until 6-7 o'clock at night.  There is so much to do, know, and keep on top of for the Catering side of things.  Her office is NOT one that can sit idle for any length of time, especially in regards to email and voice mails.

So, closing up on May's activities.  I just bought my cap, grown and honor cord for June 27th.  I spent the weekend packing for Hawaii, and getting the house ready for HAH to spend the week dog-sitting here.  I thought I was going to get off easy, but 5 days before I am to leave, I had to take Maggie May to the vet to have a toenail removed.  Add to that, I am told Stella has Giardia for the second time.  AWESOME!  Well, at least I can take care of that medication part before I leave.  My problem with Maggie is trying to keep her mellow.  If you have met my Maggie, you would know that that is easier said than done.  When we had her fixed at 6 months and picked her up from the vet, they said, "Wow, we even gave her some medication to mellow her out, but she just doesn't do that, does she?"  NOPE!  They had to remove the whole nail, leaving the pink meat of the quick exposed.  Ewwww....looks painful.  But you can't leave her in the Cone-of-Shame un-supervised, so they say.  I had to for two days until I could get my hands on one of the inflatable donut collars.  Only to find out that it is not effective for her because she is so long-legged, she can still reach her exposed toe to lick it. 

One more picture to share....

This is my birthday wisteria.  I can't remember what birthday # I received it, but I do know that I had both babies at the time.  After winterizing it for one winter, we brought it back out and planted it in the front yard by a wrought iron panel we erected for it.  Last year I only had one small blooming cluster, so this year I was super excited to see this out my from window. 

That's all the news for now....so excited to be headed to Hawaii for CD's 4-Oh! bday celebration.  It's going to be so much fun!  Signing off - I have to tear the house apart to look for my camera...

In the final stretch

February just got away from me....so I am going to MARCH forward...

I am in my final month of school!  I can't believe it!  That's part of the reason Feb got away from me.  I was working at an internship in downtown Seattle on Mon/Wed/Fri and a math class on campus Tues and Thurs.  I was taking the bus into Seattle for my internship...which required me to catch the 5:48 a.m. bus out of Maple Valley.  I must say though, thank goodness for Cowgirl and HAH.  Cowgirl helped me navigate the transit when I first started out.  Then HAH and I were able to carpool to work for the week her brother took off. (he is her regular carpool buddy).  My last day in Seattle was last Wednesday.  It was such a great experience overall.  I told M I was glad I was only there part time, I looked at the experience as one that was helping me ease back into the work world, not to mention back into an office atmosphere again.

M was home for three weeks in Feb.  It was nice to have him here, and I kept his honey-do list full.

Babies are good.  Although we did learn why Stella had been limping lately.  She has bad arthritis in her knees.  The good news is, we can go the glucosamine (sp?) and anti-inflammatory route for a while until we can afford the $1500 surgery.  Even with that, we were told we would have to keep her quiet for up to three months after the surgery.  The bad news was I should have secured Pet Insurance when I was checking them out, as now she has a pre-existing condition and we're screwed!  Dang it, Dang it, Dang it!!!!

My baby peanut

That is all the news from us my friends.  When I am not finishing up my internship hours, or in school, I am doing the job search thing.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I would appreciate all the good job hunting vibes you can send my way!

XOXO ~ J

Merry New Year All-a-body!!!!

Picturing a Wonderful start to 2013!

 

Wrapping up December

Where do I even begin to start to recap the last 2 1/2 months?  I apologize for that peeps. 

This quarter has been fun.  I must say, for as much as I was complaining about my summer quarter class schedule (being on campus from 8a - 5:30p) - I am soooo glad I did!  Doing that allowed me to concentrate on my Psychology class this quarter.  Then left my last general education class, math, for my last quarter.  My on-campus internship has been a blast with the catering department.  There is so much that goes on behind the scenes there at Renton Technical College with the on and off-campus catering events and such.  I don't think a lot of students are aware of that aspect.  I wasn't until now. 

M came home for the month of October.  Just in time to spend most of the month over in Forks for fishing.  Unfortunately, with the extremely dry summer we had this last year, that made the salmon run three weeks BEHIND our annual Roberts' Sibling Weekend.  The only one who caught anything was EW.  However, it still was an enjoyable weekend with everyone!  We already have our eye on a new rental location for 2013.  The other news for October....I received a 98 on my mid-term for Psychology!  I was one of four individuals that got over 95 and one of 10 who overall got over 90%.  I have really enjoyed this instructor, and have encouraged another one of my classmates to take his class next quarter.

I sent M back up to Dutch for November and pounded out the school work and incorporated morning workouts into the routine with my classmate KC.  She too, lives here in the Valley of Maples.  KC started a quarter after I did and will be finished at the end of June.  Turkey day was spent up in Coupeville with the G's.  Even got to see my long lost cousin AJG III.  Yummy stuff....especially the stuffing! 

M followed a boat down from Dutch and was here in Sea-town this last week, but left today for CAT school in Peoria this week.  He will be home Friday, and I will be out of school until 1/2/13.  Oh my goodness!  I will be able to spend time with my DH?  That will be the best Christmas present this year!  Added to that, we will be spending Christmas week in the 406.  Which will be long overdue - since we did not get over for either big holiday last year.  And I have to brag...but can't post pics just yet, but I did really well on gifts this year!  Stay tuned!  (wink, wink)

Signing off, have to feed the babies and head off to the 'Rents for Sunday dinner.

Fun in the 406

I had such a great time with my MT sister and friends last weekend.  We did the Rivalli County Fair on Friday:

So glad I was "tall" enough for this ride!

MT Sister

 Griz game on Saturday:

JRR & LW at Washington Grizzly Stadium

and the Route of the Hiawatha on Sunday. 

Having group fun with the crazy glasses at the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar

For those of you that like to ride bikes, of the pedaling variety, I would encourage you to do this route/trail.  You can even rent a bike if you so desire.  But I would recommend you bring a gel seat cover if you are going to do that.  My who-haw bones were sore for a couple days afterwards.  You can find info on-line  (http://www.ridethehiawatha.com/) , but let me give you the cliff-note version....it's part of an old railroad line that goes from ID to MT, most of it being on the ID side.  You can start from either end, and there are shuttle buses that run from top to bottom to deposit you from whichever end you started from.  We started at the top on the MT side, going through a 1.7 mile long tunnel.  A headlamp/bike "head lite" is required.  From there is really all down hill, you basically coast for 15.5 miles.  The scenery is beautiful and they are 47 informational signs along the way, so you can stop and take your time to read some history lessons. 

The MT side starting point...1.7 mile long tunnel

MT Sister & Jer

Oops...the sign said Foot Traffic Only Jer!

I was imitating the Line Nazi - "GET IN LINE if you're going to catch the shuttle!"

I left early Monday morning in order to get a head start on the Labor Day traffic goers....so glad I did too.  The Vantage Hill was busy and everyone was jockeying for position.  I got home, unloaded, decompressed, then headed into Seattle to pick up the 'Rents from their little week of boating with TSY.  The good news is #1) I did not have to read any headlines that stated, Wife kills husband and throw overboard in Desolation Sound and #2) they are still married!  They are gearing up and getting ready to hit the road this month for their road trip to Hershey, PA for the Swap Meet to beat all Swap Meets.  They are expected back around Thanksgiving.  I think they are getting the hang of this retirement thang!

MER is plugging away up in Dutch.  They are super busy up there right now.  Hopefully he will still be able to get to his week of training at the end of the month.  If not, he tells me he might be doing it in December.  Per the usual, we are in a wait-and-see- holding pattern.

I am getting ready to head back to school here in a week.  For those of you who are not on Eff book, I am happy to report that I managed to meet my personal goal of staying the the Honor's List with a summer quarter GPA of 3.73.  If I can manage to do that again for my last two quarters, then I will graduate with Honors!  Hmmm....why couldn't I have been this motivated in high school?  Ha ha ha!

There ya go peeps....catch ya later!

July-Aug 2012

Alrighty then!  I have some breathing room now that my summer quarter is finished and I can finally post an update. 

M and I had a great time in MT for the Victor All-Class reunion.  The weather was very warm, but beautiful.  It appeared to me that there was a great turn-out.  But I wasn't from there so not sure.  What I can tell you is that a good time was had by all on Friday and Saturday night.  Especially Saturday night, huh LW?  (wink wink)  Thank goodness I had M looking out for me.  Apparently we left BEFORE all the fun started at midnight with karaoking. Oh, and I was repeatedly told by many of M's female classmates that I married the nicest guy.

I ended up flying home Sunday of that weekend to I wouldn't miss any school.  M stayed on for another week to visit with friends and spend some time helping his dad out.

Other than that, we have just been hanging out here in the Valley of Maples.  M was so excited that he was actually home for the Sportco Tent sale this time.  I was happy I went with him, because I found a new pair of Teva sandals on sale.

M left last Sunday and will probably be home around the first of Oct.  Then he will have the month of October off to fish his little heart out!  We have made plans with the siblings and spouses for another fishing weekend in Forks. 

I only have two quarters of school left in my program.  The light is starting to become brighter at the end of the tunnel.  I will have an on-campus internship this quarter, and I took the bull by the horns and lined that up with back in May when I thought I was having to do that during the summer quarter.  That plan went out the window with the budget cuts we were told about a month before the spring quarter was to end.  So frustrating!  But not half as frustrating for me as it was for the ladies who were saposed to have been finished with the summer quarter.  So I will be working with the Catering Dept for the fall quarter.  Now all I have to do is get my off-campus internship lined up.  I have a couple of leads provided by my instructor from a couple of people that have gotten in touch with her.  That is what I will be working on during this break.

This weekend is a Harley is coming up from AZ for a little Cart Spa party that Cowgirl lined up.  We are going to get pedicures at a little place in Seattle that has a "Party room" so that we are all together!  Then we will se where the day takes us.  Before we meet up for that I will be taking my older twin, CAM  and Izzy to Kenmore air where they are going to takeoff and meet up with the gruesome twosome, RTM and TSY on the Knotty Girl.

NEXT weekend is the home opener for the GRIZ!!!  I am boarding the babies and heading over Friday.  Bummed that M won't be making the trip with me...but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do when it comes to Grix Tix!  Sorry Honey! (not)

Take Care y'all!