Jet Setting

This last week was really busy with travel. It all began last Saturday with a plane trip to San Francisco via Salt Lake City. I know, I know, kind of a round of about way to get there but it was cheap. I got in to SFO at about 10pm and was up by 5:30am to get ready to walk in the Nike Women's Marathon. As a team we went to the starting line together then separated to our various time zones. My friend Lisa and I were in the 12-14 min mile zone.

There were bodies everywhere you looked with a buzz in the air that was reminiscent of NYC on New Years Eve. It was cool to see so many people out running/walking to help raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma research.
Since neither Lisa or I were going for time we took a moment to enjoy our surroundings. In fact, we took several moments to take pictures a long the way. (I would be showing them here but they are on my brother's computer at the moment and are not accessible).

After walking for about 10 miles I happened to see my brother Eric and his family drive by. They pulled over to see if we wanted a ride back to our hotel. I told him that it was tempting, but we were still in the middle of the race. Lisa almost went for it (she is 5 months pregnant)but figured she'd gone this far, what was a few more miles. Our true motivation for finishing however, were the Tiffany's boxes that we knew were waiting for us at the end. It's sad I know, but HELLO, when will I ever get a Tiffany necklace again?

Okay, so the race was great, I was exhausted, sore and walked away with 4 blisters on my feet. I was in bed that evening by 9pm trying to get some sleep before my 4am shuttle pick up back to the airport.

I headed to Baton Rouge via Georgia (are you noticing a trend here)to meet up with Jeff so that we could go ghost hunting with another brother of mine and his wife. Myrtles Plantation was the scary haunt of choice. Supposedly this is one of the most haunted homes in the south. The rooms we stayed in had a couple of children that had died of yellow fever as well as a voodoo priestess who was hung by the chandelier. There were nine of us in all including three teenagers. I admit, I was the only one to scream, but it was for good reason. That stump really looked like a giant lizard! Alright, alright, I'm a wimp!

The ghost hunt began as soon as it got dark and we wandered around the grounds and the house looking for evidence of ghostly behavior. The jury is still out as to whether we actually came in contact with a note of not. There was an instance when we were asking a ghost questions and we thought we got some responses. I just don't completely trust that it wasn't someone in our group doing the responding.

After a fun filled evening with very little sleep, we parted ways and Jeff and I headed to New Orleans to check out the city. We both determined that it would be a great place for people who are big into partying. We wandered the streets finding some that were nice and seemed safe as well as others where we determined the police presence meant that we should not be hanging out there. (smart huh?)

We were on a quest to find beignets at Cafe Du Monde. Beignets are these yummy doughnut like pastries that are served warm and covered in powdered sugar. It is VERY difficult to walk away from that cafe not covered in white powder. Hmm...note to self, police+powdery white substance=bad times in New Orleans. :)



The next day we decided to take a road trip out to Biloxi so that Jeff could visit the Hard Rock Cafe. He is on a quest to visit each HRC and collect a pin. We decided after we drove around the city for a while to take a detour out to Alabama since it was only about 20 miles away from where we are. (My quest is to go to every state in the US) Alabama was short and sweet. We stopped long enough to use the facilities then headed back to Biloxi for lunch.

Jeff and I found a cool cemetery after lunch and spent some time checking out some of the damage that still remains from Hurricane Katrina. Most of both states have rebuilt themselves but we were still able to see evidence of the devastation around
the cities. There were driveways that led to grass without a home and we also saw foundations that were still in tact but had difficulty figuring out what was once there.

We finished our trip back in New Orleans with another trip to Cafe Du Monde. I made the mistake of booking my flight out of Baton Rouge not realizing how far it was from New Orleans so we had a 2:30am wake up call which was painful. I headed back to Seattle through Baton Rouge via Memphis and slept most of the way.

Though it was a whirlwind of a trip, I had a lot of fun. I will probably never go back to New Orleans or Biloxi but am glad to have had the opportunity to check it out. It doesn't really matter where I go it is the people that I am with that I care about. We laughed a lot despite our exhaustion and have memories that will last a lifetime.

Where to start? Adventure to The Olympics with Lucy.

Earlier this summer Lucy and I decided to catch the ferry heading over to Kingston so that we could do a couple of hikes in the Olympic Peninsula. I wanted to stop in Port Gambol on the way so that I could take a few pictures. Port Gambol is this picturesque little town a short distance away from Kingston. I have often passed by here on my way to the peninsula and have always wanted to stop but never had. So as Lucy and I made our way through Port Gambol we noticed a rather large man walking around in a kilt...and no shirt. To say that our interest was piqued would be an understatement. After asking the "parking patrol" woman what was going on she informed us that the Renaissance fair was just beginning. Lucy and I could hardly believe our luck!

After taking some pictures of the town we wandered over to check out the unique individuals who dress and act the part. There were knights, blacksmith, and even Monty Python graced us with his presence. Lucy was called my lady, to which she responded, "who me"? We couldn't help but laugh at the scene that was laid out before us, it was literally like walking back in time.

We lingered at the fair for a while then decided to make our way to Hurricane ridge where we took in the beautiful view and went on a three mile hike. We came across a deer who was eating leaves right next to the path we were on. Yes, I jumped, I can't help myself! Lucy and I had heard that the flowers up on the ridge were really pretty so we were eager to find them and get some pictures. Yeah, the people who told us about the wild flowers were delusional, there were hardly any there and they weren't very bright. Oh well, it was a good hike anyway.

The next day Lucy and I set off for a nine mile hike at Lake Ozette. The hike was loooong! I know nine miles in theory isn't bad, but three of them were on the beach, so that slowed us down a lot! The main reason that I wanted to do this hike was because of the petroglyphs that were carved hundreds of years ago by the native Americans who once resided there. The ranger had given us a map (which was not to scale by the way) so that we would not miss these really cool rocks. I felt like a little kid on a treasure hunt and was probably more excited than anybody else who was there when I finally located them.

The hike on the beach was starting to make me a little nervous. The markers that let you know where the trail head is off of the beach are not obvious so any time I saw what looked like a marker I would climb up the path and check it out. By the third time I checked and found no trail I started getting worried. I asked Lucy if she thought that we should turn around, to which she responded with,"your call". No pressure! With no markers, we had no way to know how far we had gone so I said a little prayer and we kept walking. I had been here before, a long time ago, but all of the landmarks looked the same. I just kept saying, "lets go up to that bend and see what's there". Finally, after what seemed like FOREVER, we found the marker and were on our way back to the car. I cannot express the amount of relief I felt when Lucy pointed out the marker.

By the time we got back to the car we were starving and I think a little dehydrated. Neither of us was feeling well but by the time we got some food and water in us we were feeling a lot better. The drive home was long but we had a great time.

The following are pictures from our escapades:

Coming soon...an update!

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I promise to update soon, I have just been really busy with work and school and the last thing I feel like doing when I get home is boot up the computer. My last class of the quarter is this Saturday so I will be sure to catch up on my blogging after that. I have lots of pictures from some Lucy and Dawn adventures to share as well as life in general.

Stay tuned...

Hair today gone tomorrow.

Today I went to see Tan, a new hairstylist at the recommendation of a good friend of mine. My first introduction to Tan happened over the phone when I called to set an appointment. What I heard was, "Pizza Hut, what can I get for you"? When I apologized for making an error in dialing, he said, "no, no, no, this is La Fashion, how can I help you"? Yeah...Not the best way to make a new client feel like they are going to be in good, professional hands.

While I was a little apprehensive about going to see a new hairdresser, my need to "pretty up" my drab looking hair prevailed. My first impression when walking into the closet they called a salon was, Oh my, what have I gotten myself into. There was dust all over the shelves, clipped hair residue clinging to the floor and, wait for it...no hairdresser. Yeah, he forgot that I was coming.

So while I waited the ten minutes it took for him to race to the salon, I sat in an uncomfortable chair texting the friend who referred me to see if I was being punked. My patience was waning and I kept thinking about how I could submit this salon to the "Salon Makeover" show with Tabitha. She would rip them to shreds. As I contemplated leaving Tan walked in muttering something about the bridge and being distracted by it. He pointed to a seat and said, "okay". I reluctantly sat in the chair and proceeded to tell him what I wanted done to my hair. He went into great detail as to what he would do to make that happen, then walked away to get the ingredients needed to create the perfect hair color. Oh yeah, he mixed it all right there at the counter. I started to worry about whether or not he was going to cover me with a smock before doing the color or just risk it. I was envisioning giant globs of dye peppering my shirt and pants while he absentmindedly chatted and waved the brush around in the air to make his point. Thankfully, Tan came through, and my tye-dye dreams were no more.

I walked out two hours later feeling relieved and happy with the results of my hair. All was forgiven and even with all of the flaws, I would go there again. I would even recommend Tan to a friend, I would just warn them first.

Jeff's Birthday

This weekend started off with a bang when Lucy, Jeff and I headed to Teatro Zin Zanni to celebrate his 39th birthday. For those of you who have never heard of Teatro Zin Zanni, it is a combination of dinner theater, circus, and gymnastics. As you enter the large tent your senses are immediately put to work. The moulin rouge esque feel has you on high alert for fear you might miss some of the action if you are not paying attention. The performers are funny, talented and incredibly strong. We sat staring with our mouths gaping while we watched a couple perform a tango mid air. The meal that is provided has been given 5 stars, by whom I do not know, its just what they said in the advertisement. (Considering the fact that I probably wouldn't know the difference between a three or four star restaurant let alone a five star, it tasted good, so there you have it).

Jeff had several moments where he was in fear of being found out. He threatened to get me back BIG TIME if I mentioned that we were there for his birthday. It's probably a good thing I didn't say anything as Caesar, the "emcee" took great pleasure in pulling poor unsuspecting spectators from their chairs and into the spotlight. There were a few times when Caesar was searching for his next victim that Jeff was, I think, using the secret to keep him from being pulled up on stage. I can report that it worked because he stayed safely planted in his seat the whole time.

After being thouroughly entertained for three hours, Jeff and I headed up to Smokey Point to meet up with my little brother. Lucy decided to pass on the second part of our evening which was a trip to a haunted house to go ghost hunting. I know, I know, kind of an odd thing to do. My little brother has been getting into ghost hunting ala TAPS and asked if we could come along Friday night to help him out.

The house we went to had some sightings of a little girl. The owner (Mikey's co-worker) claimed to have heard a little girl giggling and singing lullabyes. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first and felt really dumb sitting in the dark talking to a wall. After we settled in, we all started getting into it. I have no idea what I would have done if we had gotten a reaction. (probably run screaming from the house like a little girl to hide in the car) We were able to debunk some of the claims as a result of her living on a busy street in a really old house. The evening was a bust and now we will never know what kind of ghost hunters we would be. I am secretly okay with that.

Jeff's birthday celebration was a lot of fun even though it ended with a no show of a ghost. It was 3am by the time we got back to the house, we were exhausted but it was worth it.

We continued the celebration Saturday afternoon with lunch at The Macaroni Grill, (another five star meal :)) where Lucy, Marly and her son Jett met us. Lunch was followed up with a trip to the theater to watch The Proposal. The movie is cute and Betty White is hillarious as usual. Later that evening Jeff and I met up with Lucy again to go for a walk at Discovery Park. We discovered a really long staircase in the woods that led us down to the water where we also discovered a lighthouse.

We finished the day sitting outside of a burger joint in Ballard where we ate dinner and talked for three hours. I think we finally dropped Lucy off at about 12:30am. I know that I am only 38 and can handle staying up that late, but Jeff is a feeble 39 years old now, he needs his sleep. :)

The weekend was great and as always I had a lot of fun hanging with friends and the man that I...(Jeff hates when I get mushy)

Another fun adventure with Lucy.

Lucy and I set off last Saturday morning at 7:30am for a day of road tripping. I was feeling antsy and needed to get out of the city and Lucy wanted to test out her new camera. Out goal for the day was to head to Oregon to see Multnomah Falls then head over to see a replica of Stone Henge in Maryhill Washington. This was the plan for the day but as we drove we decided to add to it a bit by heading to Tillamok for ice cream then end the day with dinner in Astoria. I will get back to that little adventure later.

Highlights:



Multnomah Falls is a beautiful place surrounded by trees with a lot of trails surrounding the falls. There were plenty of tourists roaming about which made walking the trails slightly congested. I was really looking forward to taking pictures but was disappointed to find that my camera had been left on all night and so the battery was dead. Thankfully I have learned to be prepared so I brought a second camera with me...which I left in my car in the parking lot across the street. I was being too lazy to walk back and figured I would get pictures from Lucy. The picture you see above is what I took from the parking lot.


Our next stop on our adventure was Stone Henge in Maryhill, Washington. Stone Henge is a world war I memorial created by Sam Hill in the early 1900s. The project began when Hill was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site. He thus constructed his replica as a reminder that “humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war.


The dedication plaque on this American Stonehenge reads:

"In memory of the soldiers of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country. This monument is erected in the hope that others inspired by the example of their valor and their heroism may share in that love of liberty and burn with that fire of patriotism which death can alone quench."


Not only was this an interesting place to visit on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but it was also a fun way to learn about Maryhill's history. Lucy and I
spent a little time at the Maryhill museum where they house some of Rodin's sculptures and artwork. I am not a huge fan of Rodin but it was worth seeing.

In the parking lot of the museum Lucy and I pulled out our map and figured out which route we needed to take to get over to the coast of Oregon. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and I started to question whether we would make it to Tillamok before it closed for the day. Lucy and I decided to bypass Tillamok and head straight to Asotria. We were feeling really proud of ourselves for being able to navigate so well and actually reach our destinations without getting lost...we probably should have waited until we made it back to I-5 before we got too excited.

We made it to Astoria by 7pm and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the local stores were hosting an art walk. Hunger out weighed our need to be culturally filled so we found a little Italian restaurant and hunkered in. It was prom night in Astoria so we found many scantily clad girls roaming the streets. There was a couple sitting close to up where the girl, in her pretty, barely there yellow dress spent most of the evening trying to keep her naughty bits from making an entrance of their own. Apparently Astoria has not heard of double stick tape. Lucy and I wondered whose parents let them leave the house like that.


With our tummies full and a very long drive ahead of us, Lucy and I headed on the 101 toward home. It was about 9:30pm at that point and we were both getting tired. We were doing really well until we came to a point where we could either go straight or turn right. Neither sign said 101 on it so we guessed as to which way we needed to go. Well...we guessed wrong. About 30 minutes later we were driving down what seemed to be a residential street and I jokingly said to Lucy, "wouldn't it be funny if this ends up being a dead end"? A block or two later Lucy says, "are we on Joe John road? Did that just say Joe John road"? (by the way, who names a street Joe John road?) Sure enough we were on the road of Joe John which confirmed our suspicions; we were going the wrong way!

I turned around and made my way back to highway 103, which we could not find on the map at first. We made sure to back track to the fork in the road we had come across earlier and found our way to 101. Feeling a little relieved to be on a somewhat familiar highway Lucy and I started chatting. It was right about then that a cop pulled up behind me and pulled me over...nice. Well, if you are anything like me you don't take out your old insurance or registration forms when you get the new ones. I proceeded to hand the police officer one expired registration/insurance form after another. When I finally found the correct forms it was all I could do to keep from laughing at the situation. The man took pity on me and let me go with a warning, which I was incredibly thankful for.

Adventures aside, I finally dropped Lucy off at her house at about 2:30am and crawled into my own bed after 3am. We had a great time visiting new spots and creating new memories. Hopefully this will inspire you to go visit some of these places, it is worth the drive.

Stem Cells

As you know I am preparing to donate stem cells on Monday for a 62 year old woman. To prepare for this procedure I have to go in and get one injection in each arm for four days prior to the donation. Before you even begin this process the doctors go over every possible detail of what you may experience, what could go wrong, basically what to expect. In all of my optimism I thought, I can handle anything, this won't be hard. It is less invasive than donating bone marrow, so how bad could it be? Well...six injections later I am feeling like a 90 year old arthritic woman whose body is not happy with what I am putting in it.

Last night Jeff and I went to a wedding reception and there were several moments when I had to stop and wait for my chest to stop throbbing. When I woke this morning I felt like my head was going to explode and my heart was doing loop-de-loops. I figured that I would ask about these new symptoms when I went in for my injections this morning. (I seriously thought that I was going to end up in the hospital) Thankfully, everything that I am feeling is considered "normal". I am feeling this way because the growth hormone is creating more cells in my bones and the sternum, being a larger bone will "ache" more. They told me before I started this that the fourth and fifth days were the worst and that the symptoms would go away as soon as the injections stopped. I am only on day three...

I must say, I am extremely disappointed. I was expecting to have grown at least 3 more inches but it just hasn't happened. I guess I am stuck at 5'4 & 3/4s. (That's what heels are for, right?)

All in all this has not been a bad experience, just uncomfortable to say the least. I just keep thinking about why I am doing it; call myself a wimp, take some Tylenol and get on with my day.

My next post is going to be much more exciting I promise. I still need to blog about my trip to Stone Henge with Lucy last weekend. It included a waterfall, an unplanned trip to Astoria, getting pulled over, and getting a little lost. It was quite the adventure.