Seattle/Anniversary

I'm probably going to write two posts today; one about Seattle and one about my quick trip to the West side to see my family.

First, I love Seattle. So does G. I think... no. I'm SURE he would move there in a heartbeat. In face, Seattle is where I'm most heavily concentrating my job search.  Our second anniversary came up and we did a two-day trip.  One day was hiking up at Manastash Ridge in Ellensburg, and the other was in Seattle.
First, Manastash:

It was a little steep

The top was a memorial for people who have passed on

Ignore the scowl on my face

It was a long ways back down, too

Happy Anniversary!

So the climb was worth it just for the views.

The next weekend we went to Seattle, specifically to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). I was so impressed.  My favorite art isn't modern art or those beautiful Grecian urns. It's the paintings. I love them, especially impressionism.  I also really like Native American art.  In the NA art, we saw a lot of blending old and new, and taking traditional designs and putting them into new forms.  I see the wisdom in it- this is truly how culture is carried forward. 

This Guy!

Cheez!

Ok, she didn't go, but she wanted her picture in here anyway. Cheese!

I was fascinated by this indoor lodge pole with two figures. It had a twin on the other side. WOW

Oh Monet!

Angry white guy with bible

Considering the age of this piece- almost a thousand years, I'm blown away.

This cedar box is made from one piece- bent wood.  The top and bottom are separate but it's otherwise ONE piece!

This is The Triumph of Poseidon 

This is a close up of someone having to smell Poseidon's foot.

That's Zeus as a Swan, with Leda and their children, Helen of Troy, Castor and Pollux. Why are baby cherubs so terrifying?

This is a tapestry called "Oiling". Beautiful, no? Yes! I love the traditional/modern blend.

This guy is outside of the museum.  His hammer swings. 

We went by the Market afterwards. 

Apropos of nothing, this is a great phone background

We had lunch and then gelato at a place called "Gelatiamo".  "Yumm-o"!

This is a view from the water from a block outside of the museum.

I had so much fun on this trip.  No pressure, no real agenda.  Just relaxation. We ate lunch at a place called "Wild Ginger", where G said he had the best pad thai he's ever had.

And just because I love them, here are a few pictures from our wedding, two years ago. <3 br="" nbsp="">

If you look in my bodice, there's a small book of poetry in there. A gift from a lovely person.

This makes me smile!

We tried lots of cake before settling on the tres leches cake. 

We framed this one.

My sister Patti, me, G, and his brother, T. I love T's tie! My friend Cathy made the bouquets, and Charlotte lent me her pearls. They are the ones who made it happen. Well, the party part, anyway.

Just for the record, I never thought I'd get married again. I think that neither did G. But here we are. I wouldn't have it any other way.  These are the important things to us: spending time together, family, adventure, kindness, commitment.  It's not that we're constantly celebrating how awesome our marriage is. C'mon, I'm a human and sometimes a cranky, reclusive, selfish one. But even in those moments I know that I'm truly loved and that someone accepts my love in return.  

Happy Anniversary, G. Thanks for all that stuff ^^.

Why I'm Still Smiling

I found out three weeks ago that I'd be losing my job.  The job that I took so we would have some security. The job that isn't what I wanted but what is what would allow us to settle nicely in our community, buy a little house and live our little lives. She didn't want to tell me alone so she had one of the deans come with her. I think she took it harder than I did. Seriously, bless her heart.

Sent this to my boss the other day when I was working from home. :)

I hate it when my plans are interrupted.  Of course, I've been down this particular road four times in the last two years at the same university.  The reason this time: funding cuts. Well, that's the first reason. The second reason is politics and truly, the budget cut wasn't about me or anything I have or haven't done. The university is overall sort of graceless, with some really nice, kind and loyal people interspersed throughout.  But mostly, they just don't have their stuff together.

I was offered another job- one that I helped create when I was on a committee this spring.  I'm pretty proud of my work on that committee too. And it was a great compliment to me that the job description was lifted directly from the report that I wrote (with credit too).  But ultimately, it's not what I want to do at this stage of my life. So I said no. G put it nicely. He said that it was time for me to recognize that while this is a nice place, I'm in a bad professional relationship and it's time to break up.  I agree.

So we're looking at packing and moving again.  I am tired of instability and I'm tired of feeling as though I am employed at the whim of people who do not know me, nor care one way or another about the predicament they leave me in.  I don't trust my university anymore.  I have a signed contract- guaranteeing me employment- and it did no good. That's all I'm going to say about it because I don't want to go down a bitter path.  Instead, G and I have decided that we'll take time and do a national job search. There isn't any place that's off limits, though we're more excited by Northern, cold climates than boiling Southern ones.  Like I said though, nothing is out of consideration.

I have a back up plan to teach full time at the university this next year while I look for something more suitable, so we're ok there.  The English department has been fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

So I'm still smiling. The weather is great- not too hot and not too cold.  Eleanor the kitty is in great health and seems to be more feisty every day, and G and I are both in good health.  Heck, everyone in our family is right now.  That may not seem like a big deal but to me it is.

Oh, and we had our second wedding anniversary a few weeks ago.  It was fun and we went hiking and even took a trip to Seattle to see the museum. G visited Trader Joes for the first time and we shopped till we dropped. It was a great day.

I'll keep you posted on the job situation. I haven't mentioned it to many people because I'm not in shock and I'm not really worried, just intent on doing the right thing.

May Days

Hello!
I feel as though I haven't visited the online blogging universe in far too long.
It's been a doozy of a month, people.
First, my husband turned 41.  Hard to believe someone this handsome is soooo old!  Haha, just kidding, G. 

Hello Handsome!

Also, this week I will turn 41. 

For each of our birthdays, we took trips to Seattle to do our favorite things.  Mine is to stare at the water for long periods of time and to learn something. To this end, we walked all over the piers, saw the outdoor sculpture park and took the Seattle Underground tour. We stopped by the outlet mall on the way home. Amazing day.  For G, it was seeing a good movie (The Raid 2), eating at a great restaurant, and taking a spin through Pike Place Market.
As for 41, well, we are both healthy and happy.  Our families are also healthy and happy and there isn't much more that I could wish for.  

I've been working on a project for awhile.  I have done lots of painting in my life. Small stuff, birdhouses, signs, things of that nature. I decided to take an ugly piece of furniture and re-imagine it as something a little more beautiful. 

Ugly coffee table

This coffee table was my $15 Goodwill find last year.  It held stuff, but that's about it.  A dog chewed up one of the corners and scratched the surface something fierce.  So I stripped it and sanded it and leveled off that corner as best as I could. And added a bit of glue. 

Ready for paint

Then G and I went to the hardware store for some pretty colors. Enamel paint is better for furniture than acrylic so we got some wall paint from Ace. I have messed around with Scandinavian designs, but nothing on this scale.  Deep breath. 

The background 

I used several coats of paint on this.  The thinner layers soaked into the wood better. Then I stenciled a design and just sort of went for it over a period of a week. 

Detail of top

The design above is patterned twice on the top, with small flowers around each leg.  

Here is the finished piece.  G liked it so much that he voluntarily rearranged the living room to make space under a window.
Pretty, dramatic change, huh? 

So what have you been up to? Let me know in the comments! 

Spring Break Pt 2

My last post discussed the first half of our trip to Shreveport/Bossier, Louisiana to visit my in-laws.  Let's pause for a moment on that one.  When I tell people we went to Shreveport, they immediately think it's a half hour drive to New Orleans- party party party!

Um, no.  NOLA is way on down on the gulf. There has to be something, anything in LA to take up the rest of the space of the state.  You know, people, commerce, school and places that make pie.  Shreveport is in the northern part of the state. It's much like southeast Arkansas or really east Texas.

Also, if you're visiting your in-laws, even in New Orleans, you're probably not partying all that hard anyhow.  When we moved from Oklahoma to Washington almost 2 years ago, I saw how hard it was for G to leave his family.  It was hard on all of them too.  So I started an Instagram account and connected with my sisters-in-law and MIL and I make sure that I post regularly about our life together.  I do the same on Facebook and here, on this blog, I chronicle our adventures (well, some of them) in an effort to keep us connected.  But it's not enough. You gotta see people face to face once in awhile.  I'm also lucky to really enjoy my in-laws, who are considerate, thoughtful, and kind people.

So we're visiting. We've gone to Natchitoches and have had a good time.

There were family game nights every night, and lots and lots of sweet tea.  Miss Ladybug has her yoyo (grandpa) wrapped around her little finger.  Those two are definitely in cahoots.

Ladybug gets sips of his sweet tea and she loves him so much, she passes out on his shoulder.   Cahoots, I say.

Anyway, Yoyo has to go back to work and the next day, Debbie (my MIL) takes us out and about. We begin with Strawns. It's a chain, and I'm sure they serve other things in their cafeteria-style restaurant, but all I saw was pie.  Banana, strawberry, and chocolate.  Homemade, no fake foods.  That was lunch.  They were out of banana, but we were assured we'd get another chance.  I was trying to be all delicate and stuff- I mean I was in polite company- but I could've easily eaten an entire pie (maybe a couple of them), and we reluctantly went on our way.

To go shopping.

Charming Charlies is a cute, cute, cute little accessory store. I loved it because they have everything organized by color and not by item.  So in the green section you'd see green scarves, necklaces, hats, and a few dresses.  Nice, right? Right.

I never buy myself jewelry.  I don't know why- it seems self indulgent.  And G and I agreed that he wouldn't have to buy me jewelry.  I guess I meant to get around to buying some but it never seemed like the time.  Debbie heard this and whipped out a wad of cash.  "You go pick yourself out something and I'm paying for it!" "No thanks, I'm good."

My words of protest fell on stone deaf ears.  I know that aspect; her son gets that way when he's set on a particular course of action and will hear nothing else.  I sighed internally and tucked the cash into my bra as dramatically as I could.  She acts like I'm her daughter or something.
Oh.  How sweet! I'm not sure I've ever experienced that before, except with Charlotte. But that's when she's insisting on paying for our margaritas!

G and I wandered about the store.  We looked at so many possibilities!

Tiaras! I always wanted a tiara!

And lots of pearls...

And a gorgeous clutch I would never use but would love

More beautiful clutches

Do you see why this took over an hour?

Iridescent in purple, red, and beige.

Debbie

So finally, I settled on a beautiful statement necklace... 

And a gold and green necklace/earrings combo. 

There is just one catch: every time I get a compliment, I say "My Mother-In-Law has great taste!", which I happily do, because inevitably someone will comment on my pretty jewelry. 

Also in cahoots

We packed up and headed out of Charming Charlie's and off to a few other stores. 

 I can't believe we found- in Shreveport, LA- a Rogue beer made with VooDoo Donut's bacon maple donut!! Holy S$%#!!

And Easter is coming too... 

Our last stop that day was a casino. In LA, you can't have a casino, unless you use that loophole where it's on a riverboat.  There aren't any riverboats in Shreveport, so in a "sure, we're not just paying politicians off" move, there is a moat dug around the casino and filled with water.  Then the moat is covered over with walkways.  

They got my money anyway. Debbie, G and I all decided to split up and take the same amount of cash.  Debbie and I came back with the same amount, $0.  G? Yeah, he had all of it since he doesn't gamble.  :) 

The other highlight of the trip was spending time with Stashia. I have never had a pedicure before, and as it turns out, neither has she.  While Debbie and Dormilee (her mom) were getting their hair done (with Ladybug in tow), we ditched G and his dad at a bookstore and got our toes did.  We skipped to the Starbucks next-door and grabbed a bit of caffeine, then both picked out purple polish and waited to see what would happen next.  

I loved this part!

Pedicure selfie!

Look at them toes!

Purple!

 The pedicure was fun. There was soaking, massage chairs, and of course, coffee and conversation.  The uncomfortable part was when the lady took what looked like a rasp to my feet.  I thought she was going to file off my toe prints.  I guess now, if I commit a barefoot crime, they'll never catch me.

While we were hanging out, some lady with an appointment came in.  The technician took her to the back room, and 10 minutes later, both came out.  The lady looked embarrassed and beat a hasty retreat.  The tech said several sharp things in Vietnamese to her fellow nail techs- who turned in unison to stare at the fleeing woman.  

I don't care what your primary language is: When someone does something bad or stupid, you can always tell.  Indignation and shame both translate easily. 

With beautiful feet and caffeinated bodies, we went about our day and had a family dinner out so we could get some cajun style food.  I got the fried crawdads but passed on the alligator.   

Finally, we had to leave. We had a last lunch with everyone - including lots of sweet tea- and dropped off our rental car at the airport. Goodbye, Louisiana! 

-----

Twenty seven hours later we actually left the state.  Without complaining too much, let's just say that weather, incompetence and a wish to never, ever use American Airlines or the Shreveport airport ever again have been burned into my mind.  One example: as we stood in line for three hours, a lady in a wheelchair was behind us the whole time.  Nobody thought to move her forward; we ended up getting to the front (finally) and we gave her our place. That put us dead last. I tweeted my frustration and all that American said in return was that it was nice of us.  Seriously? It wasn't nice- an elderly woman in a wheelchair should NEVER be neglected. We are not that society. After so long, we looked bad: Tired, disheveled, and a bit defeated.  When we finally left (on United Airlines) we made it to Denver where we had to run to catch our connecting flight.  I had an asthma attack. The air there is thin and my lungs were burning. Burning.  But we made it, even if I spent the next few days laying low.  We made it to Seattle and even made our bus home to Ellensburg, where we arrived at almost 1 a.m.  

Finally, a short one-mile walk with my suitcase in tow and we were home. Safe at home with a snuggly kitty and our own bed. I am never leaving home again. 

Well, for now.  

Planes, Automobiles And The Bouncy Ball Project

Spring break finally got here.  Finally, finally. Finally!! I wrapped up my classes and turned in grades.  I'm a little afraid to check my work email because when you have 103 students, someone is going to be unhappy. Mostly, though, the students did a great job. I also finished up a round of prednisone to help my lungs recuperate after a three week bout of upper respiratory infections. I was pretty sure that after this, I'd be looking what might be called "un-slim" in my photographs.  What the hell. I'm more than my body. At least I was feeling better. That doesn't mean you're going to see a lot of pictures OF ME from this trip.

Family

I had a plane to catch and some logistics to work out before our Monday flight out to Louisiana to visit my in-laws.  G and I watch a show called "The Walking Dead".  Last week was the penultimate episode. The last one is tonight and we knew that if we didn't see the episode, it would be likely that we'd come across a spoiler on social media. So we stayed up until midnight and watched it.  Totally worth it.

We hauled our luggage to the local stop, hopped a bus to Seattle, caught a plane to Dallas and then Shreveport, and then rented a car to get around.  All told, we spent from about 8 a.m. until about midnight in transport.  And yes, I agreed to go visit my in-laws. I like them. They are fun, including my husband's grandma, my mother and father in law, my sister in law, Stashia, and niece (who we call Ladybug on the 'net). We haven't seen them in 18 months and hadn't met Ladybug yet, and we had a week for break, so why not?

How you know you're in the south

My favorite photo from the trip

It was a great week. One of the highlights was participating in "The Bouncy Ball Project".  I have a friend, Leah Kayajanian, who is a stand up comic in LA. Straight up. If that doesn't make you fear/respect/lust after her, you should also know that I met her in grad school. She's a great writer. So when she asked if I'd like to participate in her Bouncy Ball Project, I agreed. Leah is one of those people you would be like if you had the guts to abandon everything you used to be to become the person you want to be. She's smart, funny (obvs), hard working and I imagine her as something close to Cobie Smulder's character Robin Scherbatsky, drinking whiskey and chasing wild men.  I would've driven to LA to get the bouncy ball, just to tell a good story and toss a ball out to the mercy of the universe.  She has her name on all of them, too.  I think that takes a certain amount of chutzpah, to say Yes, I'm littering in the technical sense, but I'm really just spreading good plastic vibes. Call me sometime.

I tore in to the package. This is why we can't have nice things.

So I got the ball in the mail and promptly stuck it in my pack. The trip for this ball looks like LA
So off we went.  Now, I just had to find the right moment to release the ball and make Leah proud. Actually, I needed to find the right moment, release the ball, photograph that puppy, remember details and write something really pithy about it later to make Leah proud.  Damn.

This would be a good spot

A good candidate for bouncy ball-ness

It happened that on our second day in Bossier City (next to Shreveport), we decided to take a family road trip.  All of those people I mentioned, plus G and me, all piled in a huge SUV. I think it was the luxury version of the Exxon Valdez. I LIKED it. Smooth ride and as a bonus, I got to sit next to the baby and be silly with her the whole way there and back. We went to Natchitoches, Louisiana, where they filmed the movie "Steel Magnolias".  Aha! Strong southern women overcoming obstacles and living in community with one another.  Perfect.

If we get arrested, I'm blaming her

It was a warm day for me, in the low 60s.  After Ellensburg with its snow still on the ground, that's a warm spring day.  I got Stashia and Debbie (my mother in-law) in on the plan, which seems appropriate.  Yes, my accomplices in creative littering were my sweet, thoughtful, church-going in laws.  You'd think that these traits would work against the bouncy ball project, but you would be wrong.  These women are sort of hardened criminals, prone to gleeful ball tossing at random intervals.

Nobody would suspect them.

We pulled around the side of the Steel Magnolia House and snapped a few pictures like normal tourists. I tucked the little yellow ball in a bed with a bunch of colorful petunias and hoped it blended in.  Then we took off, giggling.  Not having sirens and cops and handcuffs was a bit of a letdown, but you can't have it all.

Just regular tourists. Nothing to see here.

Look at the base of the sign

The rest of my adventure, including my first pedicure, Debbie's excellent taste in jewelry, gambling with the in-laws and taking 23 hours to get out of the damn Shreveport airport, will have to wait until I have a little more time and energy.  Right now, I have to go write that 25 page report that I was supposed to have finished last week.

Oh, and if anyone finds that ball, it wasn't me who put it there, despite photographic evidence.  It's got Leah Kayajanian's name all over it.