Whirlwind of a week

I almost have to go backwards to remember everything. I'll start with today and the 3 hours we spent in IKEA!! I thought Ryan would die, we came out with $240 worth of stuff and not a ton to show for it. Ryan is maddeningly trying to put together a file cabinet, so far has been 3 hours into the project. Why does furniture assembly have to take so long? Something tells me we won't be going back there anytime soon.... At least we ate Swedish meatballs!

Although I only was called in twice to work this week--once as a diet tech, the time just flow with stuff going on every night. I haven't been this busy socially since, well, I can't remember. I went to a book club which was held at a bookstore in a quirky area called Queen Anne. It was only an hour and unlike any other book club experience I've ever had--it actually stayed on topic. Ok, but that might have been its downfall as well. No time to get to know the others or talk of other books. The oddest thing was there were 2 dogs in attendance!! Am I living in Europe or the US??!!

On to some dangerous notes: I went to 2 DiscoverU classes: one on travel writing and the other on supporting your wanderlust. Which as you all know, I have been majorly bitten by the traveling bug and cannot and do not wish to get it out of my system. In fact, the more I travel, the more I want, it's truly an insatiable quest for me. So am thinking what better way to include this love than to try to make it happen as a career. More on this as I figure it out..... My research has begun!

The house has been given a facelift with much-needed curtains and furniture rearrangement! We've made the step tansu/entertainment center into a half-wall which opens up the living room tremendously, it's amazing what a few well-placed items can do for the space. Next up: getting rid of the beloved comfy couch and recliner!!!

Another close call

I have to find a new hobby! The Texas Longhorns are about to kill me!! Another too close game, with us down by 21 points most of it. They only played well in the 4th quarter, this is 2 weeks in a row. I don't know how they managed to win the game with a field goal as time expired. I screamed so loud and my face got so red, I have a headache from it all! Twice I had to go to my room I couldn't stand to watch. Please no more close games!!! My heart can't take it.

I am beginning to find a life (aside from college football) here. Have you ever heard of meet-ups? Check out http://www.meetup.com/ if you want to meet people that share your interest in anything in any city. There's a group here that gets together to try out different ethnic restaurants, that's next on my list to check out:-). So I've started doing The Artist's Way and I met with a group today going through the exercises from Julia Cameron's book. I am attempting to unleash my inner writer. So I find out it is national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to complete a novel by November 30th with at least 50,000 words!! That's only 1,667 words per day with the goal of quantity over quality. I figure I'm only 3,334 words behind if I begin tonight. So I'm going for it! What do I have to lose?!

Today has been full of plumbing fun in our house. We came home from dinner (Polynesian!) to find a stream of water coming from the kitchen sink. What a lovely smell it emitted. So everything under the sink is wet and Ryan seems to think it's been this way for a week. Oh, the joy of being a homeowner! And earlier this morning, he disassembled the washer and dryer the sellers left to see if our washer and dryer work. So far so good. So now we have to decide which set to sell on craigslist..... The best is our breakfast nook has finally emerged from behind the appliances! About time we've reclaimed this space....

Dia de los Muertos

Hope you all had a spooky Halloween! We had a much different one than last year....we actually got some kids who dressed up and said trick or treat! Well...only 4 of them before we went out. The kids we did get were cute. I asked them what their names were and one kid said: I don't know how to say it but I can spell it. Of course, I had to urge him on further: C-A-R-T-E-R. Oh, Carter, what a good speller you are, I say! Too precious!!

Bought tickets to the Rodrigo y Gabriela concert that day on Craigslist. Our seats were standing room only but right up front. Which was awesome to literally see their fingers flying across their guitars using them as drums as well. If you haven't heard them, they are great and if you get the chance to see them live...DO IT! They're strictly instrumental with a slight heavy metal edge...every now and then they'll thrown in strains from Stairway to Heaven. Heavy on the Spanish accent....but oh so funny when they do talk, dropping F-bombs quite frequently.

Happy Day of the Dead!!

Escapism edition

Wow, did the Horns ever escape Nebraska's onslaught! I can't believe how well they (and Jamaal Charles, the same man who lost us the OU game) played in the 4th quarter, too bad that was the only quarter they played, arrgghhh. I don't know how many more games like that I can take. I was screaming so loud I'm sure passersby were concerned, ha! Texas has to beat Nebraska or else I have to take it from the whole extended family. BIG sigh of relief! Hard to believe they moved up to 15 in the BCS.

Still adjusting to working full-time (well really only 4 days these past 2 weeks) but this is due to training. Tomorrow I train one more day then I'm in the on call position, meaning they call me if they need me. Not until Thanksgiving when I fill in for a girl on maternity leave will I have scheduled hours. My boss seems to think I'll work pretty frequently....we shall see. Got my first pay check, yay! Swedish Hospital charts on-line so reading the Dr's handwriting is not an issue, yay! And maybe now someone will read my note, ha. Rounds are really fascinating, in the neuro ICU a Dr. leads it and shows all of the disciplines the MRIs and chest X-rays when appropriate. I'm trying to become familiar with all of these neurological disorders, such as moya moya. It's so fun to say! It's a sad place though. Without giving too much information, there's a sad case of a woman who's 14 weeks pregnant with an inoperable brain tumor. She was nauseous and lost all this weight which everyone thought was due to her pregnancy. Swedish is basically a cardiac and neurological specialty hospital, there are a couple of other diagnoses sprinkled throughout but thus far, I'm already wondering if I'll get bored. You can only give so many cardiac diet instructions to 80 year olds who do not want to change..... The bus commute is easier now too, except that I have to run out the door some days to make it!

Work schmurk

I am officially a bus commuter. I love the idea but the reality of waiting and lots of stops is time consuming. My commute is only 8 miles one way but it takes 35-50 minutes and that doesn't include actually waiting for the bus and walking to the stops. Unfortunately, this is the only feasible option as it costs $12 a day to park in the garage!! I wish the city had a subway system to avoid the car traffic entirely. The upside is I get time to read and people watch!! I've met some interesting people and already have interesting stories. Such as yesterday in a meeting a man "coded", he is a nurse so was able to verbalize he was going into anaphylactic shock. Turns out he's ok, overreacted but sure made for an exciting meeting! The jury's still out on the job. My first day was not super productive in terms of showing me the ropes. I will say that I was led to believe I'd have some say in my schedule and immediately realize that I'm filling in full-time for someone going on maternity leave. Not a huge deal except that I was scheduled to work Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nice, huh? I said we might have an issue here. As an on-call dieitian (with no benefits) I had no intention of working those holidays when my family is in TX and NE!!!

House stuff has come to a complete stop now that I'm working. Which is not good as there is still a washer and dryer in our kitchen, the second bedroom still has some boxes, and stuff is not in its final place. We're still not sure what to do with the second bedroom. We need some sort of office space for the computer, files, books, etc. but want to have a bedroom for when people visit. Is anyone going to??? You might be thinking just combine the two but you have not seen how tiny it is! A wall bed would actually be really helpful, if I could talk Ryan into it. Good news, though: workers are currently installing our new furnace as I write. HEAT will be so nice!!! Temps in the 50s and rain has not made the house fun to come home to. The crew is currently pounding away in the basement and singing Beat It by Michael Jackson. It sounds like they are just under my feet. :-)

Settling in

So on the yuppie front....according to a former Seattleite, we are yuppies, but it's ok everyone is. As long as it's not the poor connotation associated with materialism, I'm ok with that.

Texas Longhorns won! About time!! And they took it to IA State but we needed that after 2 losses in a row. The K-State loss was rough, I have no idea what was up with Colt McCoy and our special teams. They looked awful! We gave up 2 TDs on punt returns and couldn't get a TO to save us! As much as I "hate" OU, this loss last weekend wasn't super tough as I expected to get spanked. Horns played really well, up to their potential. So now we have the Dish and a DVR, moving up in the world (further evidence of our yuppiness). Good thing, though, as we spent a lovely 3 hours this morning, during gametime, at the DMV. At least I didn't have to suffer through another game at Hooters! Hard to believe Nebraska lost so badly at home. I'm afraid to call my brother! Another crazy day of college football!!

Still having fun exploring the 'hood. We found another downtown area in Green Lake that we like, with some good restaurants and bakeries. The fall colors are really pretty!! Bright red and purple trees. Tomorrow's weather forecast has warned us it's the last nice day, rain's expected for the next 7 days. Just in time for me to start work riding the bus every day, should be a joy. I took the bus on Friday to go downtown to the Central Library (yes, I am a nerd, hey does this factor in to my yuppiness at all?). Ann Patchett (author of Bel Canto and new book, Run) gave a book reading and I took a tour of the library. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm admitting this. It was really cool, actually. Did you know Seattle is the most literate city? I believe it as I'm about to become a book reading groupie, I think. Many cool authors are visiting in the coming months, I get so excited about this kind of stuff! The bus was ok but a super smelly man sat by me when I got closer to downtown. It's definitely more diverse downtown that in my neighborhood, I didn't realize it until this trip. I wish everybody used Dial....

Granola (crunchy) or yuppie?

I'm having an identity crisis. Yes, I chose Seattle as it fits in line with my organic, natural, healthy lifestyle as well as my political and spiritual beliefs (I'm not going into religious beliefs in this post). I am most definitely a Democrat, although there are more independent and alternative types here. I don't have any piercings or tattoos and am not a vegetarian or vegan (although I do make vegetarian choices at home and in restaurants more frequently than meat). I frequent farmers' markets and am a big fan of buying local to protect the environment. I recycle like a fiend (although the City of Seattle makes you, the recycling bin is double the size of the trash can). Does this make me granola? Here's some more evidence: I've started acupuncture and taking Chinese herbs again, I've just joined a yoga studio, and I will be using public transportation to get to work. But I was just told I'm living in a yuppie neighborhood by a source that I trust! Can I be both? And why this box/category anyway?? And to further complicate or add yet another label to this mix, there's the category of DINKs (double income no kids)--but I'm not working yet, not until Monday. Or my new favorite: DINKYs (double income no kids yet). So can I be all of these (starting Mon. anyway)?? Help! I've already consulted Wikipedia and was unable to clarify this....