Spa Party!

This past Saturday I had a spa party at my house. I invited more people than I had room for and thankfully, after several last minute cancellations, we had just the right amount show up.

I was roped into doing this party by my friend Kaesha who is selling the product, Sensaria. I was feeling apprehensive about doing this because, 1. I'm busy with school and work and church and life and 2. I feel weird asking friends to come to a party to spend money. Thankfully, everybody was game and seemed to have a good time.

After a few hours of good food, great conversation, facials, hand rubs, and foot soaks I was ready to hunker in for a good nights sleep...If only I didn't put off my preparation for a presentation due at 8:30 the next morning. Bummer!

Needless to say, I prepared just enough to get through the presentation and it went over really well. All in all, it was a nice weekend.

Case #0002 The Second Flood

Okay, so I had yet another flood in my basement. This time no appliance was involved, only mother nature and a clogged drain. I woke up at midnight to find 2 inches of water flowing through my Kitchen, guest bedroom, bathroom and living room. After spending an hour getting the water out with a wet/dry vac I headed to bed thinking about what lay ahead of me the next day.

We have this wonderful gardener/handy man names Oswaldo who rushed over to save the day. He spent the day sucking out the water that remained from the night before and did a great job. The carpets finally finished drying yesterday so I have spent today cleaning, rearranging and throwing things out. The carpets will probably need to be replaced at some point but thankfully it can wait.

I have to say that the damage could have been so much worse and I really feel like we were be watched over. Looking back in hind sight, there were so many warnings that went ignored such as a niggling in the back of my mind that said I should check the drain. We had half of the power in the house go out. It was this that prompted my dad to come down stairs and check the breaker box. Had the whole house lost power he would have ignored it. It was because of this that he noticed the water coming into my part of the house.

All I can say it that I am grateful, and that I will pay more attention to the promptings that come my way.

The Case#0001

Case:#0001 The case of the Flood

Victims:Mr. Washing Machine and Carpet





Culprit: Ms. Down Comforter



Hero: Dr. Bissel



Conclusion: Overflowing washing machine due to over stuffing.

Case Closed!

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.