Goings on

Spring is finally coming to the Northwest. I am amazed by the colors on the trees and the flowers. I guess one benefit of all the rain are the bright and vibrant colors. Mother Nature has cut me some slack and provided several days of sunshine. I must say those days are just wonderful and the sun is something this southern girl misses. Along with the entry of spring is the opening of the Farmer's Market. This is something that I have been waiting for since it closed in December. I love that place.

Dave and I decided to grow some veggies of our own. We decided on herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, artichoke, cauliflower and various types of peppers. Our kitchen counter has turned into a mini greenhouse. Today I realized that we have sprouts so far so good. After Roxie and Gunner tried their paw at garden I decided to put up a fence around the beds. They seem to think the veggie plants would be happier out of the ground.

Dave has been traveling a lot theses days. I was able to join him on one of his trips to Hawaii. I don't think I have even seen such a beautiful place. We stayed in Waikiki. It was so nice to sit on the beach feeling the sun on my face, sand in my toes and taking in all that is Hawaii. I got bit by the island bug for sure. How can anyone not love a place that starts the daily news with "it's aloha Friday!" I think in a past life I must have been an island princess...or so I like to think! We went to the North Shore, snorkeling at Turtle Bay, paddle boarding and lived out "Duke's on Sunday" Jimmy Buffet song. We also visited Pearl Harbor along with USS Arizona and USS Missouri. I was so taken with the Arizona. I was not aware there is fuel still leaking from the ship. It was so strong you could smell and see it. It was the most unbelievable experience.

I still managed to get to The Carolina Cup because after all it is a rite of spring! I got to hang with my peeps and of course cause a little mischief! ;)

I have rediscovered my love of painting. A little known fact about me is that I painted in high school and loved it. I don't think I was ever really good at it but loved it none the same. I went to one of those sip and paint places with my cousin Lisa last Friday. It was so fun. Although I may not paint like Van Gogh, I ended up with an original piece of artwork.

That's all for now! As they say in Hawaii...ALOHA!

Happenings and Goings On

It has been a while since I last posted (four months to be exact). There has been a lot going on over those four months.

Our second trip out here was through the southern part of the US with a brief stop off in New Orleans and Baton Rouge for the USC/LSU game. Many people questioned why we would do this drive twice and of course my response was "We have tickets to a football game and no way I am passing up a trip to NOLA!"  You see being a southern family football is religion and NOLA is just great.

The bonus to this trip was the surprise wedding of Amy and Chris Cox.  They got married the Saturday before we left so the trip turned into their honeymoon.  We were so happy to be there as Dave served as their photographer and I was Amy's "best bitch" which is a honor/title I took very serious!

The trip there was more like an 8th grade dance. You know where girls on one side and boys on the other; since we are adults we were a boys car (Dave, Chris and Lee) and a girls car (Amy, Rikard and myself).  The guys were able to listen to ESPN radio and of course the girls had a moving dance party. We even performed "Island In the Stream" to all passing cars.  In NOLA we ate, drank, took a swamp boat tour and went on a ghost tour.  Rikard was almost eaten by a gator on that swamp tour.  I think in a past life I was from NOLA.  I cannot tell you how much I love that city! LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULEZ!

After a very close game and being called "tiger bait" by a bunch of unruly 10 year olds we left Amy, Chris, Lee and Rikard to continue the trek west westward.  We made several stops along the way.  One of the most interesting was the Hoover Dam and not for the reason you think.  Apparently we just missed seeing a man jump to his death from the top of the dam.  We did see his body and it being brought up by the medical examiner that almost ran over Dave.  Again my staring almost got us into the trouble.  We spent a couple of nights in Vegas, San Francisco, and Santa Monica.  I was very overwhelmed in Vegas since I have the staring issue.  There was tons to stare at and I think I almost got lost a couple of times.  We drove through Napa which was one of the most beautiful places I have seen.  We just missed the harvest season so everything was bright colors.

We found a house here in Lacey to rent and spent the first night in the house sleeping an air mattress.  It was really nice to finally be living like normal people and not nomads. When the household goods arrived I was thrown into a giant game of BINGO and I was loosing horribly.  In the words of Sofia Patrillo "picture it Lacey, 2012..." I was sitting at the counter as five men were walking through the door rattling off numbers and in no particular order.  Box 302, box 212, box 4, table leg 6...you get the point and I had to check off all of it.  Just reliving it gives me a slight panic attack.

We have all settled in nicely to the house.  It has a great little yard which we hope to enjoy in July, August and Sept.  There is a wonderful trail just outside of the neighborhood that goes on for miles for running/walking/biking. On very clear days we can see Mount Rainier from our neighborhood.  

Our first visitor was Pat.  She came out here for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Oh the stories there are about Pat and the Homeless.

All four of us are trying to get used to the weather.  I think that Dave, Roxie and Gunner are having a better adjusting to the weather than I.  I have found out that most people out here take vitamin D so I have added that to my daily dose.

My cousin lives just up the road from us (well hour drive) so it has been really wonderful getting to have dinner, chatting, and shopping with her.  We both think it was our grandmother that put us in the same location to reconnect.

We met our neighbors which happen to be LSU fans so it has been really fun hanging out with them.  Come to find out the guys work in the same office.  What a small world.

So that has been pretty much what is going on here on the West Coast.  There will be more updates!