I had a wonderful Christmas spent with family! And we actually had snow on the ground!!! We haven’t had snow on Christmas in almost 13 years!! On Christmas Eve we all went to the candlelight service (minus the candles), then went and looked at lights, ate dinner, opened our stockings, and then played a game together. On Christmas morning my dad read from the Word and then we opened presents. I think opening presents must have tuckered most of us out , so most of us proceeded to take a nap afterwards! After my nap is was on to helping with the last minute preparations for dinner. The rest of the day was spent hanging out, watching movies, and making cookies. I am thankful for the time away from work so I could spend the holiday with my family. Now it is the day after Christmas and I am sitting here watching it snow outside. What a beautiful site….as long as I don’t have to drive in it!

I didn’t make it to work today due to 10 inches of snow!!! I need to go and buy a shovel!

Snow 2008

Well I am a little late on posting this, but I have now entered my 30’s!! I have to admit crossing over from my 20’s to my 30’s was not an easy transition. However I have accomplished a lot! In February I bought my first townhouse! Since then I have been been fixing it up and making home improvements. Twenty-nine wasn’t all fun and games but I guess that goes with the territory of “growing up”. So now I have had almost a couple of months to get used to the idea that I am now the big 3 - 0, I think I am adjusting to it and coming into myself now. I am looking forward to seeing what new adventures are in store for me!

Beginning of November I spent 6 wonderful days in Acapulco, Mexico. I went with 3 other friends and we enjoyed the sun, sand & water! The first day we went to Walmart and bought groceries and then the rest of the day was spent by the pool! Each day we would experience something new and of course spent quality time in the sun. We enjoyed experiencing the culture, the sights, the food and watching the sunset every evening! This may need to become a yearly event!!

As you have noticed, I am a little slow on posting what is happening in my life, but here goes my latest adventure!
So I decided to be different this year, and I spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with friends. I took a couple extra days from work so that I could do some exploring while I was over there. Thanksgiving was spent with my friend’s big Italian family. It was a great time of meeting family and eating awesome food!
Friday my friends and I spent part of the day in Atlantic City and walking the boardwalk. I was able to try my first experience of Jersey pizza and I must say it was tasty. The other half of the day was spent in Philly and of course we had a true cheese steak sandwich, cheese wiz and all! Again, it was good food. We ran up the steps to the museum just like Rocky did in his movie, saw the Liberty bell and walked to Penn’s landing.
Saturday was our big New York City day!! It was amazing with how much we fit in to the day. We went to Liberty Park and we were able to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island. After that, we drove by where the Twin Towers stood, but we did not get out as there was still so much construction going on. Then I experienced my first dirty water dog (from a street vendor), hot nuts (from the street vendor), Macy’s store, Empire State building, Saks 5th Avenue store, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, FAO Schwarz Toy Store, Carriage ride in Central park, Carnegie Deli, Broadway, Radio City Hall, New York Style pizza, and Times Square. And there was much more in between all of that! It all went so fast and it is hard to believe that I even saw all of it, but I am so thankful that I got the opportunity.
Sunday I explored more around where I was staying in Jersey and walked on few of the different boardwalks in the area and ate some of the local cuisine.
Monday I had to return to reality, but I will never forget my Thanksgiving of 2007!

Here is a quick update on life for all of my family and friends:
Just this past month I was asked by my employer to travel to California to train on an upcoming project and I had to pleasure of working out of Monterey Bay. However, it wasn’t all warm and sunny the whole time. I must have brought some chilly weather and rain with me from Seattle since I experienced it about half the time I was down there. I ended up staying down there for about 10 days, so I was excited to get back home and be in my own environment. I did get to sit on the beach on one of my evenings down there and watch the sunset. I also went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and was able to experience the local charm and beauty in the surrounding towns. I spent the weekend with my best friend Tina and was able to finally celebrate Christmas with her! We also went back to Yosemite Park and this time we were able to see Yosemite Falls with water!
Once I returned back home to Seattle, I hit the ground running with helping a friend move, hang out downtown Seattle, experience a sunset up at Deception Pass, toured a winery, ate a big Italian dinner cooked by friends and picked up my mom from the airport. My dad returned from overseas this last Thursday so it has been nice to have my parents around for a few days. Friday evening I took my parents to the Melting Pot which is this great fondue restaurant. It was about a 2 1/2 hour experience, but we ate great food! Mom also was able to open her birthday presents as I will not be able to be with her on her birthday. Saturday we experienced to Tulip Festival together and had a great time taking pictures. Easter Sunday will be church and then a big dinner with friends. We will have a fun time cramming into my small apartment, but we will have lots of great food to eat!!
Anyway, that about sums up the past month of my life, and I am sure a lot more is to come!

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 55% Spider-Man 55% Superman 55% Iron Man 45% The Flash 45% Catwoman 45% Supergirl 40% Robin 37% Wonder Woman 35% Batman 30% Hulk 25%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…

Venom 39% Lex Luthor 38% Mystique 36% The Joker 35% Apocalypse 32% Kingpin 31% Dr. Doom 31% Magneto 29% Dark Phoenix 27% Riddler 26% Mr. Freeze 26% Juggernaut 24% Catwoman 24% Green Goblin 16% Poison Ivy 14% Two-Face 12%

Strength, disguise and adrenaline are your greatest weapons.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

So as some of you know, I have just gone through quite the life experience. Sunday I returned from Montana to find that we were getting snow out here in Seattle. Quite the shock, since that doesn’t happen too often! Up in Bothell where I live, we had about 3-4 inches. Monday morning I got up at 4:30am to make sure I could give myself plenty of time to get to work. However, I made it to work in record time, 20 minutes!! Well little did I know, that my trip home would be a whole different story! I left work at 4:40pm and didn’t see the inside of my apartment until 1:15am the next morning. 8 hours and 35 minutes of a commute for roughly 15 miles. Who knew a thing like this could happen. Now I understand all the stories about people abondoning their cars and relate to the chaos and fear. For about 2 1/2 hours of my trek, it was snowing heavily, and then the last portion it was just cold and the roads freezing over with ice. Thank the Lord I had a few carrots and an apple left over from lunch. Now my bladder was another story! It is amazing all the thoughts that go through your head when you really need to go to the bathroom, but not too sure what to do about it. I thought of a few ideas, but I won’t share. My next issue, was that my phone was on it’s last bar and did not have a car charger that worked and I was still hours away from home. Soon the roads were frozen and I was sliding into the next lane and couldn’t do anything about it except stop and pray. I don’t remember ever being this scared in my entire life. Finally I turned off my car, went through my trunk, found my car charger and got back in. I just prayed that my car charger would actually work this time, and thankfully my prayer was answered. I immediatly called my dad who stayed on the phone with me for the remaining 2 1/2 hours of my journey. We prayed and talked and told stories, and I felt as though my dad was sitting in the car next to me, which was a HUGE help. He was also able to get on line and try to see what was going on ahead of me. He was my eyes from afar. God truly answered our prayers and gave my tires traction and while other cars were spinning out around me, God kept me steady and moving through all of it. I have never been so thankful to walk into my apartment and see the bathroom and then my bed! Tuesday, I was thankful that I didn’t need to go to work and heard on the news at 7:00am, that some people were still just arriving at home. I heard it took one person 14 1/2 hours to get home!
Well, this marks another Seattle adventure to add to my memory book. Until next time, be sure your car is winterized!!!

Yakima Valley was our destination for both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend, and wineries were our target. So I must say that I have not acquired the taste of wine, but throughout the weekend I did learn that there are some white wines that taste mighty fine. Our first tour was quite educational and we took a tour and learned about their process. That part was great, but the wine was not to my liking. Saturday we ended up touring 5 different wineries and we all found something we liked. Terra Blanca is where we discovered a delicious Late Harvest Chenin Blanc which we all had to get. Sunday we fit in 4 more and ended on a high note when we discovered Alexandria Nicole Cellars. They had a wonderful, inviting tasting room with great service. Their whole line of wines were all worth purchasing, even the reds! I wouldn’t personally purchase the red wines for myself, but I would be able to purchase them in confidence knowing it would make a great gift.
So once again, I have had another great weekend full of adventure.

Well I thought I had better do a write up before a month passed by. My parents came for a visit and I was able to take a couple of days off from work to hang out with them. We planned a trip to Victoria, Cananda and had a blast. It was beautiful up there and I am so thankful we had decent weather. We went to Butchart Gardens and enjoyed to beautiful flowers. It was a little crowded there, but it was definitely a must see. I was also able to start my christmas shopping at the gift store there. We then headed downtown Victoria and started exploring the shops and sights. I of course had to buy a sweatshirt to add to my ever growing collection of sweatshirts! I did also buy more christmas presents and my dad and I took lots of pictures of cool looking buildings. The next day we found a really cool antique book store and had fun looking through old books. We also checked out a cool castle that we were able to walk around and see most of the rooms and learn a little bit of history. We went out to the Fisgard fort and lighthouse and explored the area around there as well. (Brenna, I took lots of cool pictures of the lighthouse!) We also went to the underground sea thing, but wasn’t too impressed with it. That night we ate at a really good Italian restaurant and then topped off the night with some Gelato ice cream. So again, I packed in a lot of fun into a few days, and I am so glad that I was able to do it with my parents! I think I may lay low for a couple of weeks until another adventure arises.