To the airport we go

Off to Utah to put in some face time with the family. Hope everyone enjoys the holidays...Merry Christmas!!

Just my luck

For months I have been whining about not being able to find my eyeglasses. I finally got over it and bought this great new new pair.

The VERY NEXT DAY guess what I found buried in Rob's old gym bag in the garage (along with my other rollerblade!!). That's right, my old glasses!

Really, what were they even doing there!?! I have absolutely no idea and neither did Rob. Oh well, now I have two pairs. :)

Word to the wise

When you find yourself in your pajamas and needing to run out to your snow enveloped car, heels may seem the best option to keep your warm feet from sinking into the snowy ground (which they certainly do), but they don't do much in the traction department. That is how you end up sliding around and eventually landing on your keister...along with being wet and cold. Opt for putting on your boyfriends boots instead. Your bum will thank you. Not that I would ever do anything like this...I'm just saying.

Cabin Fever to the extreme

There has been a huge dumping of snow in the Pacific Northwest...this is quite the rarity for us. Because of this Rob and I have been working from home since Thursday. I have been going crazy! There is an entire list of things I need to do and places I need to go before heading home for the holidays. I am scheduled to leave tomorrow night and still have a huge list of things to do. It looks like I may have to venture out onto the icy roads for a little while tomorrow. I mentioned my cabin fever to Rob and he suggested we watch The Shining in order to gain a little perspective. He thinks he's funny!! :)

Here is an upstairs window shot of the whiteness that has taken over our lives. However, I will say that this is a really pretty sight at night though.

Jason

Today marks the birthday of my big brother. We were pretty good buddies when we were younger, but don't get to see each other too often these days. He keeps pretty busy being daddy to 3, finishing up dental school (while getting a Masters at the same time!) and getting into oral surgery school. He is so driven and has always been an incredibly hard worker. Take a break and enjoy your day Jason. Happy Birthday!!

Here's to another 30...

Today my parents celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. I am so blessed to have such amazing parents who have set a wonderful example for me and have shown me what a loving relationship is. Congratulations Mom and Dad!!

Who is the crazy one here?

I just stopped by the bank on my lunch hour. One of the sales employees was trying to convince me to switch to another account that they were running a special on. I was not biting. At the end of her schpill (sp?) she said 'You'd have to be crazy not to switch over!' Me, crazy? Mind you, she was wearing a reindeer antler headband that had blinking yellow lights with bells on the ends. And I am the crazy one?!? I mean, this isn't some preschool center where you wear this kind of attire to amuse the kids...this is a financial institution! Did her coworkers/boss not see the problem with this?!? I had the hardest time keeping a straight face as she talked to me. I about died when she got up to walk to another desk and jingled all the way. Perhaps I am more Scrooge-like than I thought??

Mix these two together and add some jingle bells and there you have it!

As I searched online for a picture to share with you all, I couldn't find anything that resembled hers. I SO wanted to snap a picture of her with my phone, but I would like to argue that I have more class than that. I think the real reason is that if I were caught I would be embarrassed and forced never to visit that establishment again. That would be a pain! Hence, no picture. Thinking back, I still think that I should have taken one!

Grossest thing EVER!

I stopped by Petco yesterday to look at a heated tank for my fish. As I headed down the main aisle my eyes caught sight of the most disturbing of all disturbing sights (as far as pet shops go). There was an entire rack full of animal themed calendars. But wait, that's not the bad part. Right front and center was a calendar of...R-A-T-S...yes, Rats! I barely glimpsed at it and felt a shudder run through my body. I had to fight back the urge run out crying (or convulsing). Who buys a calendar of rats!?! Rodents are my biggest fear/disgustment/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. They absolutely unnerve me!

I am struggling just to type out these words, they get to me that bad. Needless to say, I didn't stick around and buy a tank (what a wuss, I know) for my little guy. That will have to be another trip...maybe I can get Rob to do it?? I will never again enter a pet store without this awful memory resurfacing. I know this sounds overly dramatic, but that is just how big of a baby I am...and I am not going to work on it. :)

This post has gotten to be too much for me. I had better go and lie down.

Portland, again

Since there was nothing exciting happening for us at home we thought a quick weekend jaunt down to Portland was in order. We packed a few bags, I grabbed an audio book (which Rob nixed as soon as we got in the car) and we were off. On the way down we watched (well I watched and Rob listened to) Snatch. It is such a funny movie, but I have the hardest time understanding all of the British dialogue. While I was struggling to follow it while watching it, Rob was getting the whole thing without even seeing what was going on! Every time I watch it I pick up more and more of it. At this rate, a dozen more viewings and I should be about 50% there. :)

We checked in to our favorite Portland hotel, the Lloyd Center Doubletree (which has the most comfortable beds of any hotel we have EVER stayed at!!) and headed across the street to the mall for a little shopping. Number one on my shopping list is something to wear for the family photo we are having taken while I am home for Christmas. For this we head to our bestie, Macy's. Their Macy's is quite different than the ones we have back home. One of the funny things they have are little quotes on the dressing room mirrors from Clinton and Stacy from TLC's What Not to Wear. It made me laugh! :)

After striking out horribly at Macy's we did some more shopping, I tried (unsuccessfully) to get Rob to ice skate at the rink in the middle of the food court and grabbed a bite to eat at the Billy Heartbeats diner before we mosied across the street to the movies. We saw The Day the Earth Stood Still. It received two big thumbs down in my book. Rob thought it was great though. This led me to wonder if I really hated the movie or if I am just too old to go to the late movie and be able to get into it entirely. After careful deliberation I concluded that the movie really was garbage. I am not into all that sci-fi stuff. No judgement.

After sleeping in late, here are a few shots of what we looked out upon when we finally got around to opening the curtains.

It snowed!! What the crap!?! I flicked on the news and they said that it would only get worse. Upon hearing this we high-tailed it out of there as fast as our tired selves would take us. We did not want to get stuck in a snowy icy forever-long drive home that evening. I know that this may look like nothing to most of you, but the entire NW shuts down when it snows. We do rain, not snow! Locally we have huge icy road problems due to all of the millions of hills that make up our city.

The drive home was definitely longer than usual, but not as bad as we had expected it to be. Here is Rob being a super cautious driver, a.k.a. driving with one hand lightly placed at 9:00 and playing with his iPod in the other. He makes me feel so completely safe when he is at the wheel! :)

In hopes of out maneuvering the weather, he was determined not to stop until we got closer to home...not even when I begged him go to the Starbucks drive-thru. He is a real toughie...I almost cried (not really!). After a quick stop at our local IHOP (of course!!) for the starving driver we were back home. Even though our trip was shortened a bit, we still had a great time!

Big Winner

Friday night Rob surprised me by taking me up to the new Snoqualmie Casino, our own mini Vegas just one town away. Neither of us are really big gamblers, but Rob definitely enjoys it more than I do. I have a hard time losing money, and I rarely win anyways. Rob is more from the 'bet big, win big' school of gambling while I like to save my dollars and stick to the nickel slots. Within the first 10 minutes of us being there Rob had already lost $200 at the blackjack tables. I couldn't handle the losing and was ready to leave.

We decided to try out the slots before taking off. Naturally I headed towards the nickel slots and found one that looked fun - it was a cow dairy themed game called Milk Money. I slipped in a $1 and on my second try I hit a major jackpot, well major by nickel slot standards. I won over $30 bucks! I know $30 bucks isn't very much, but it was more than I had ever won before.

I took a picture of the screen, but before I could get a good shot a casino security guard came and told me that cameras were not allowed on the casino floor. I already knew that (I got in trouble for taking pictures in a Vegas casino a few years back), but I thought it was worth a try. I decided to cash out and head to the ladies where I could take a picture of my winnings in private without anyone around to ruin my happiness.

I was still on a high and wanted to keep playing. I went on to win another $20 bucks or so then lost $20 again. This was more than enough excitement for us. I cashed out my big money and told Rob that I was going to take him somewhere nice for dinner with my winnings, or at least as nice as $30 could buy. After some shopping at Bellevue Square I treated my beau to the classiest of all classy establishments, Red Robin. Quite the night!