San Juan Islands - Back to Basics

An expected break from city life had never been so, well, unexpected. This past weekend, we were supposed to go to Chelan for JR's birthday - a big house on the lake with four master bedrooms, that I was REALLY looking forward to. But instead, we ended up going camping in the San Juan Islands! I haven't gone camping since... I was 12 or 13? But I had already confirmed for the weekend, so whereever it took me I thought I was prepared to go.

Victor and I left Seattle immediately after work Friday and started driving out to Anacortes to catch the car ferry. The car-what?! Yeah, that's what I said! What the heck is a car ferry! Anyway, it was gorgeous because we were sailing along the horizon during sunset. And my GOODNESS it was cold! So thankful I brought a jacket, and it really was an afterthought - sadly. When we got to the island, the others met us up at the dock and we headed to the campsite. It was campsite G6. LOL. The fire was already going and there was chicken on the grill. Just what I needed! We set up our tents and joined in on the drinking! It was already around 11 by the time we settled down and we spent the rest of the night sitting around the fire. It was really really nice and relaxing.

Saturday morning we woke up to BEES GALORE. Oh goodness gracious, there were SO many bees. I HATE bees. Very stressful during the day indeed! We went into town to check out the scene - it was a quaint little downtown area with mostly restaurants and boutique shops. We grabbed some coffee, others got ice cream, we bought a few essentials (like batteries for the boombox - d'oh!) and headed back to the campground. I was in the girls car, and we ended up getting distracted on the way back. We passed by a farm with a CAMEL and a LLAMA!! We stopped by the side of the road and lured the animals over to the fence to take pictures of them. SO COOL. We decided to explore more, and we found a park full of metal art pieces, vw bug themed carts for rent, a private airport, and some gorgeous backroads. About an hour later we were back at camp, joining in on the drinking again.

Saturday night was more sitting around the fire, napping, drinking, playing F* the dealer and king's cup, and eating! The whole weekend is kind of a blur in retrospect, but I especially rememeber being all stressed out during the day by the bees, and then feeling SO relaxed at night when the bees had all gone to sleep. :) Sunday night everyone was exhausted and people were dropping like flies. I think by midnight half of us had gone to sleep and the rest stayed up to talk around the fire. I was one of the former, LOL. Saturday night was colder than Friday night, but luckily I had a warm sleeping bag! Overall I was very comfy, I should probably give my inflated mattress pad tons of credit. The only annoying thing was that through the night on Saturday night I was sliding down the slope that the tent was on so I woke up with my face in the corner of the tent. HAHAHA.

Sunday morning we woke up and ate breakfast, corned beef hash YUMMAY! Kristine went to the lodge for something in the morning, and happened to ask a lady about the ferry. This lady told her that we'd need to be at the ferry 2.5+ hours in advance to get into the queue. When she told us that we started packing up and getting ready to go! In less than two hours we had said our goodbyes to the people staying the extra day, and we were back in town wandering around. We went to this hot sauce specialty store where they had amassed all sorts and types of spicy hot condiments! Victor and I also explored small shops that had trinkets and cards, some of the stuff was pretty cool. We had lunch at the crabhouse restaurant and the crabcakes weren't that great. The popcorn shrimp was pretty good though! The ferry ride back was absolutely gorgeous! The sun was gleaming and it was the perfect end to a calming weekend.

Aside from the bees I had a really great time. There were a lot of funny moments and it was nice to hang out with people without technology. To actually interact without tv, cell phones, internet, etc - such a concept. Just getting down to the basics and enjoying booze, food cooked among friends, and genuine people.

New Horizons - Apartment & Bungie Jumping!

Last Friday, after work, Matt and I did our walk-through at the new place and then started hauling all of our crap in. Moving in hungover was not fun, I should not have gotten wasted in Kirkland on Thursday night. The boys did all of the heavy furniture lifting but it was mostly Matt's anyway. I had to drag my laundry bags of clothes, along with the other boxed items that I've amassed all by my lonesome! SUCH A WORKOUT! It ended up being a really late night, and not everything got finished. My bed was only half built, so I slept on the couch but I was so exhausted it didn't matter.

I spent Saturday cleaning the kitchen and my bathroom - wiping everything down and sanitizing. I went to Fred Meyers, Safeway, Dollar Tree, and a few other places to get household essentials. I was too tired to even think about cooking so I went to Victor's for dinner, he was trying to make pork but he accidentally made curry. It was delicious though! We went back to my place to pre-drink, and then we all headed to HG Lodge. My first real Seattle clubbing!! The club was nice looking, clean, and the people were more than decent. Mostly skinny asian girls and clean cut asian guys, then a few odd balls here and there. The most amazing thing is that there is NO dress code. Hat, sneakers, probably sweats even. You can wear anything in Seattle?! That's something to get used to.

Sunday we went BUNGIIIIIE JUMPING!!!! It was sooooo crazy. I was terrified, horrified, petrified, anything that ends with "fied" I was! The feeling of freefalling is like nothing I've ever felt before, and then the bouncing around after the initial fall is kind of like when you fly up on a peak on a roller coaster, except it's 5x more intense. I was so tense that I couldn't even scream! It was amazing though, and now that I know that I won't die from jumping I want to do it again. I'm sure I can really enjoy it next time! The people there were really nice and it was a spectacular experience. I wish it wasn't a 3 hour drive away, but I think it'll be worth going at least once more! When I think about the fall, I can still remember what it feels like and it gives me chills. That two hundred foot drop is insanity man. LOVED IT!

Settling into Seattle

I'm two and a half weeks into this new chapter of my life.. and everything is GREAT! I'm catching on pretty quickly at the new job - I've already been entrusted to check customers in and estimate on repair orders! I still have a lot to learn with how to explain services to customers and upsell, but I think it will come in due time. On a daily basis I balance books and do lots of that maths. I'm getting better at it. LOL

Things I love about Seattle so far:
- Radio stations: such awesome music! If I made my own radio station it would play exactly what 89.5 FM plays here.
- THE WOLF! My favorite morning show from the Bay Area (Fitz in the morning) is still on the air in Seattle. SUCH A TREAT!!!
- Gorgeous weather: I haven't had to wear, nor borrow, a jacket since I first got here! The weather is simply perfect at the moment. People keep saying it'll start raining anyday now, but hey it's been sunny and warm for 2.5 weeks!
- Nice people. Everyone here is nice! My new friends, my coworkers, my customers at work - no one is rude or condescending. HUH?! I know!
- Easy mornings: When I get up at 7:15 AM, the sun is already fully up! It's so easy to get out of bed.. so much moreso than it was in SF. I'm just a tad bit worried about when winter sets in and the sun doesn't come out until late. Oh well, I guess I can worry when the time comes.

Over the past week, Matt and I have been making preparations for moving in together. We found a place near where I work, and it's also convenient for Matt to take the bus to his work. It was a tough choice! After viewing a handful of complexes we got our options down to two, and we ended up applying for the cheaper, more convenient and smaller unit. The one we almost chose had tennis/bball courts, 4 pools, a duckpond, and a gym. It was also huge and really nice! But Matt would have had to take two buses to work from there instead of one, and I'd have to drive to work instead of being in walking distance.

I think either choice would have been fine though. And I don't regret the decision we made. We're moving in on Friday! We already got our furniture and we're still in the process of getting other household things together. Exciting! I'll post pics next week :)

Perks & Possible Obstacles

Today I finally got some real responsibility at work! I picked up a Benz from a customer's house, and a BMW from the detail shop - driving luxury cars, HELL YES! This is part of the job that I didn't even think about, that a perk would be getting to try out fancy Euro cars! Pretend ballin', 20 minutes at a time. I also was allowed to answer the phones and balance the books by myself. I'm learning things quickly and I think I've made a great first impression. Three days in and it's finally getting less boring. :)

The downside is that the shop car is a manual VW. I haven't driven stick since high school, or shortly after. And I'm pretty sure I can't do it anymore. If we don't get another shop car I'll have to learn. I suppose I'll have to learn anyway in case I need to pick up/drop off a customer's MT car. Yikes!

Settling into Seattle

The drive up was rough, but I was expecting it to be. The first six hours were the worst, mostly because I was so excited I didn't really sleep the night before. The traffic in Portland was horrendous, and I will do everything in my power to NOT have to take that drive ever again. My mom wasn't bad, she didn't irritate me that much. It was kind of distracting when she kept telling me to "look" at things though, because I actually look when someone points. I am guilty of doing the same in Alex's car, LOL.

Aside from being endless, the route was very scenic and the weather was quite nice. I only got hit by a rock in the windshield once, and it hasn't spiderwebbed yet *fingers crossed* -- overall I'm glad to be here. I had dinner at Aunty's house as soon as we got to Seattle. It was nice to see Seattle family after what must have been ten years? The house looks a lot different from what I remember seeing as a child. Smaller, and prettier. Driving around Seattle with Klaus was weird, because I felt like I never left SF.

I got to Victor's after 10, unpacked, and showered. I charged my Kindle while I was getting ready for bed and got to fire that bad boy up. SO COOL! I went to sleep, but was awoken by Matt and JR, who wanted to say hello. Those two are so silly. I slept soundly that night(after they left me alone), and woke up refreshed.

Saturday morning I had an appointment to view Clocktower Apartments, which I didn't like too much. I'm sad that there aren't any vacancies for the complexes that I wanted to live in, but still looking around to gauge my options. I went to buy some stuff during the day, and read some Kindle. On Saturday evening, I went with Matt to Eric's goodbye party. I got to see Menie! And I met a bunch of people, also caught up with people that I had met before. It was Hawaiian themed food and fun times, YUM! Saturday night Victor came back from Cancun, and there was crabbery at the house. My first day in Seattle was a SCORCHER.

On Sunday, we went to Walmart to get a fan because the house is SO HOT!! We had lunch at 5 guys burgers and fries and it was deeeelicoius. The portions there are CRAZY, but I like it! Came back to the house and watched Shark Week, until we went to an early dinner with Charles in Kirkland. I had some really good dungeness corn clam chowder!! This is why I LOVE Seattle! Sunday was an early night, because I had a big day to get ready for. And of course, I was restless and couldn't sleep. Story of my life!

Monday was my first day at the new job, it was pretty easy and straightforward. First days usually are though. I wouldn't say I LOVE it there, but it's not horrible. I have to admit though, I missed BMW and DA because the people I work with now aren't sassy enough. I know I won't get any hilarious, NSFW jokes, or shameful Youtube links anymore. Sigh. I guess we can't have it all. After work, I met with my Aunty, my Uncle and my mom for a bite to eat at Panera. We caught up and I said my goodbyes to my mom - I'll see her in a month though. After dinner, we had Tetris Battle and watched Limitless. LIMITLESS WAS SO GOOD! Way better than I was expecting. I need me some clear pills!

I really like Seattle so far, but I'm getting restless without having found an apartment yet. Matt is moving out too, so we're looking at 2bdrms and I think it'll be easier, as well as more affordable. Hoping to find something this weekend, otherwise I'll just take what I can get so I can finally unpack and stop living out of boxes! The weather is absolutely gorgeous here, and I haven't had any griefs yet. Hopefully things will stay this way <3.