sunsets & pike place market

   The sky was on fire last night, it was hard not to marvel at the beautiful sunset God presented us with. From our front windows we have a front seat to every sunset, the one we experienced last night was perfect, I only wish I had the right lens to capture it's entire beauty, but since I don't, I had to make due...

   The air was crisp this morning as Kim and I bundled up for our weekly journey to Pike Place Market. I say weekly, but what I really mean is our semi-weekly journey, aka we've only gone twice in two months! However, it is sure to become a favourite past time. So we bundled and bounded down to the market making a couple necessary stops on the way, one to the mailbox to post a letter to my sister in Oregon and one to my bank to deposit a check and withdraw the much needed funds for our adventure...and this weeks groceries. So by 9:20am there we were, being baked alive in the stifling bakery we've come to love known as Le Panier! Wonderful place, if you ever have the honour to grace Seattle with your presence you must stop in. We sipped our Americano's and nibbled(or swallowed whole) our chocolate croissants while we sat at our usual table.
   Although you wouldn't know it if you only ever saw the inside of the crowded bakery, I can tell that the tourism season is almost at a close. We walked through the market and had no trouble not bumping into complete strangers as we browsed the flowers. Since I had the pleasure of choosing the last bunch we purchased, the honour was all Kim's. She picked out a beautiful bouquet with white and purple dahlia's, dark leaves, and green pom pom types of filler! It is simply gorgeous, and of course looks perfect in our apartment. We are now home listening(again) to Christmas music on the record player, tidying up a bit, and getting ready for the day ahead.

fall is here

The much anticipated and extremely welcomed fall season is upon us! This season marks the beginning of my favourite part of the year...the holiday season!!! My sister and I have welcomed the new season by unpacking our 'winter' clothes (which by the way we packed up only about a month ago), listening to Christmas music (I know, a bit extreme), decorating, and hosting, and attending fun fall parties! We had a curry night with our friends and attendedwhat I thought was going to be a fun corn maze afterwards...turns out it was a 'haunted' corn maze. We spent hours in line only to be chased through the maze by men with chain saws, witches, and scary girls with blood all over! Now that I can take 'travel through a scary corn maze' off my bucket list I can live a bit easier knowing I'll never have to do it again. Pumpkin carving was also on our fall agenda...the first time either one of us had carved a pumpkin. The night started off with dinner at our friends house, then a trip to the pumpkin patch known as Trader Joes, we then took our prized organic pumpkins and gutted them and made careful incisions which resulted in cute fall pumpkins. Our meal plans have lately tended to lean more towards soups and warm feeling meals, so in honour of this I made pot pies yesterday..            I was a bit nervous while preparing them, I had to re-make the gravy because our $200 stove decided to turn off half way through without my knowledge...hooray for cheap apartment appliances...I used canned chicken for the first time in the pies, and as if that wasn't enough my sister looked on and decided it would be the best time to ask me, with a hint of worry in her voice, if I was using a recipe or just making it up. But God is great, and they were good!I love the fall...stay long and go slowly please.

A Day for Volunteering

Since the big move of my sister to Seattle, we've had some exciting and fun filled days and we've had our lounge around and be lazy days...We took a break after my dad went back home, with him it seemed to be non-stop fun...we visited almost every beach in Seattle, went to the Ballard Locks, tried our skills at Kayaking, and drank mucho cafe! It's been quiet in the days since he removed his presence from ours. Today however, we spent a good couple of hours walking, reading, sunbathing, and smelling the fragrant flowers at Volunteer Park. Such a beautiful place, funny that I should never had gone there before. Goes to show how much of a recluse I am! The sun seemed extra hot today without a cloud in the sky. I am hoping to get rid of the pale, irridescent-ness that has become my skin tone, and exchange it for a more barely there summer glow. So far, I have a farmers tan. Great. Back to the park....beautiful...we set our too-hot-for-the-summer-fleece blanket down in a nice spot of greeness, then ate a small lunch of chicken and fries. Now down to business...we opened our books and began reading! Haha. Since my choice to bring a fleece blanket was an ill one, we quickly found out that fleece mixed with skin mixed with a burning sun creates uncomfortable sweat. We lasted all of about an hour, then we strolled into a quaint conservatory where we smelled the sweet fragrance of flowers which I cannot name, and then we strolled back through the beautiful mansion of our upper class Capital Hill neighbors to our lovely apartment. Home sweet home.

Time for a shower

Friday was indeed a busy day for me....although I had finished much on my to-do list, I hadn't even started on some of it, and Michaela's bridal shower was at 6pm that day. I woke up early, at 8am...only a couple months ago this would have been sleeping in for me...nevertheless, I awoke at 8 and went to Safeway for a few last minute bridal shower things. By 8:45 my basket was filled with mini quiche, the ingredients for bruschetta, a baguette, a bottle of perrier, and some french lemonades that seemed like a perfect fit for the
                                                                                              theme we were aiming for. By 9 I was back at the apartment grinding coffee to make french press. The next few hours were a blur, cakes were made, things were straightened, dishes were washed, floors were swept...and mopped...and nails were painted. Lisa and her sister-in-law Jillian arrived somewhere around 3:30pm, it was at this time we figured out that some of the planning for the shower got overlooked...so, we quickly thought up some games, bought flowers to decorate, wrapped prizes and favors, found some music, frosted the cake, re-arranged the furniture, found outfits that didn't make us look fat, and set out the food...and then, VOILA, we were finished! There were a few mis-haps; late guests, an accidental two toned cake, forgetting to hand out the favors...but all in all it was a success...and most importantly, I think Michaela had a good time! :)

I decided to do something productive today. Over the weekend I found a chair next to the dumpster outside my apartment. It was a sad little chair in need of some help. I didn't have much in the way of upholstery fabric, and since I'm trying to cut costs wherever I can, I had to make due with what I already possessed. So around 11 am I started in on my project...5 hours, 1 bag of garbage, a backache, and a mexican coke later I've finished my re-covered chair. For a first timer I think it went ok, it's somewhat lumpy, and puckers in the wrong places, but overall a success.

Jobless in Seattle

Unemployment is a funny thing...I have to see it this way or else I might spiral into a deep depression...anyway, unemployment is a funny thing, when I do have a job all I can think about is how much I don’t want to work. I want to be able to travel anytime I wish, have time to do hobbies, and just plain not have to go to work.  This perspective changes when I am jobless, all of the sudden I wish I was working, I can’t travel because I have no money, I feel guilty about spending time on hobbies and not looking for a job every second of every day...my eye starts twitching due to the uncontrollable stress of my slow demise. It seems that every bill shows up at the same time. My parents have to send me money so that I can eat something other than peanuts and cheese. Where have the days of my youth gone? The days when I had things so together...when I had money to pay off my car loan, and insurance, and have a savings? Savings? This has become a foreign word, a word in a language I don’t understand....

I’ve heard a saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Nothing in my life has gone the way I planned, and if God is laughing right now then I am glad He can see the humour in my distress. Not only am I in the 11th hour, I am in the 59th minute of the 11th hour. Has God then abandoned me? Is my faith too weak? Does God help everyone except for me? I hate that I question God. I pray every day to hear His voice, but all is silent....no whisper, no word, not even a “wait.” Nothing. Have I ever heard His voice? No. At times I’ve willed myself to hear His voice, I’ve even convinced myself that I did hear it...but it’s always been silence...like the silence I hear now. All I can do is keep on living, praying for provision...all I can do is wait.

Saturday I fly to Sacramento...my sister Kim has decided to move up to Seattle with me so that we can slowly wither away together.  She lives in Auburn, CA right now so I'm going down so that we can drive up together. I'm excited for the trip and hopeful that family time and stress-free living will stop my twitching and bring changes.

Due to this impending trip, I am busy.  My older sister Lisa and I have planned a bridal shower for our friend Michaela, which is set for Friday at 6pm. This is a mere 2 days away....I've still got to prepare, the apartment needs cleaning, a cake needs baking, gifts need wrapping, food needs cooking, and games need making!  

In addition, I found a chair by the dumpster that I am planning on recovering for a quick fix. I am borrowing a staple gun from Matt, I bought staples for it yesterday...so hopefully by the end of today it will be done. 

Michaela has asked me to make two bridesmaid dresses for her wedding, I've almost just finished one of them, and I need to make the other, I was hoping to get this done before my trip, we shall see if this will come to pass. For now its off to finish odds and ends. 

Life is full of little adventures whether you choose to see it that way or not. I, personally, have chosen to see these adventures...although they may not always be interesting or exciting adventures, they still deserve recognition.