It's been a long time!

I apparently was too busy in all of 2012 to write a single blog post! Obviously, a lot has happened. But this isn't going to be much because I'm writing this on my iPad (I got an iPad!) and I need to get back to studying (I'm getting my Masters!). I just thought to check my blog to see my 30 before 30 post, because I'm seeing Jay Buchanan tonight and I thought it might be on there. It wasn't, but I have done a few things in the last year that I can mark off.

So, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll write something again before 2014, but probably not until these next two quarters are over!

November 20th

Well its been a while so here's another post. It's Sunday before Thanksgiving, so I'm excited to work 3 days and then head to Monte to spend a few days with Tyler's family. Then up to Seattle to watch the Cougars beat the Huskies at Apple Cup!

I'm looking forward to lots of fun things in the near future, here's a countdown:

* Christmas in Republic / Wenatchee (I REALLY missed being home on Christmas last year when we were in Mexico)
* New Years in Yosemite with the Fischback cousins. So happy to have fun plans for New Years' Eve!
* Baby Sophia Grace due 1/16/2012! I'm excited to have a niece and hold her for the first time. And... learn how to change my first diaper? ha ha
* Mid-February - THAILAND with Holly & Justin!

But back to the present. I recently was "promoted" at my job. I've been on overload lately so we're hiring someone else to be a receptionist so I can focus on marketing and public relations. It will be so nice to be doing something more related to my degree! I've decided my new title will be Administrative Coordinator.

Tyler's still enjoying his job at the hospital. He's been covering the evening shift for Misty who's on maternity leave, so the 7 on, 7 off schedule from 12-10:30pm has been interesting. I know Kirk's enjoying having dad home in the mornings, and for whole weeks at a time. Once Misty comes back in January (and when the hospital and clinic merge) we'll find out more about the changes that could happen in his department.

I took a photography class with Mary Collier recently and am excited to a part of her "Momtography" Facebook group where we get weekly challenges and can show off our photos to get some constructive criticism. With only Kirky and Tyler as subjects (well Jen's belly too I guess!) I have to force myself to practice.

Here's a shot I took today for the depth of field or "blurry goodness" challenge:

Photography

Happy birthday to me! Tyler got me a new polarizing filter for my prime lens that I'm excited to try out. Sounds like I know what I'm talking about, huh? Not really. I just bought Photoshop Elements so I'm really excited to start taking more pictures and fixing them up, once I get it figured out. Here's a few shots I've taken recently. 

Updates

Looks like I haven't posted since we bought our house! We closed on April 7th and have really enjoyed living here so far. It's got a beautiful deck and backyard. The previous owner was a master gardener so it's great to have all these perennials pop up unexpectedly. Kirkland loves it because he's got a doggy door now. Though there's not much to see from the backyard and no good windows to look to the front, so he's stuck with barking at the neighbors cats.

The house was turn-key ready so we didn't have to do much to improve it. We replaced the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms & hall, and Tyler & my dad built a small portion of fence so it'd be completely fenced in for Kirky. Other than that, the only other change was Tyler's raised boxes for our veggie garden in the "greenhouse." We got a late start and with our weird spring, we'll have to see how they do. We're definitely no master gardeners!

 The little circle window is in the shower of the main bathroom, and it rotates around to open!

 He got a hang of it pretty fast after using the Pickens' doggy door.

 Using our breakfast nook on the side of the deck for the first time.

 Still a little chilly in April.

 Kirky's only vantage point of the kitties next door.

 "Greenhouse" before...

... and after!

African Animals Getting Drunk From Ripe Marula Fruit

Next big step...?

We put in our counter-counter offer for a house today. We'll hear back Monday (Valentine's Day!) from the seller. Exciting!

And, we (I) decided to sponsor another child through World Vision. She shares Tyler's birthday, like Jhonxary shares mine. She's also from the Dominican Republic. Her name is Raisa, and she's 4 years old, and super cute. :-)

Only a few more weeks before Erica & I fly down to Cali to visit Neub & meet up with Han & Aim! Should be pretty amazing.

Also, I just realized a HUGE addition to my 30 before 30 list. See a Jay Buchanan show. Seriously, very very important.

Listen to Jay's music here

Valentines Day

Hugs All Over Valentine's Day Card

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2010

We started off the year with a surprise party for Tyler's 25th birthday. Tyler had interviews for his first "real" job in January as well. He was offered the job in Wenatchee and accepted. A few weeks later, I got my acceptance letter from Evergreen and had to decline. In February we went to a Super Bowl party at big-time Saints fans Scott & Tina's.  In March we saw two great concerts, Jamie Cullum and then John Mayer. Easter was the first time we used our fine China, and we had both parents, Jen & Geoff over for dinner in Tacoma. In April I went to Washington, D.C. for the first time to spend time with my EHS girls. On Earth Day, we bought the Prius. We ran our first 5K at the Tacoma City Marathon in May. Mom and I went to see James Taylor & Carole King on Mother's Day. We went to Marc & Erin's wedding on the 15th of May. May also held the final episode of our favorite TV show, "Lost." In June we went to California to celebrate the life of Grandpa Fischback. Then we moved to Wenatchee, to "The Bat House." Jennifer also moved home in June, which we were all very happy about. We spent an interesting week in Minnesota for the 4th of July. We came back to Wenatchee and had a fun summer spending time with Hannah, and Tyler began his job at CWH. August meant Kacie & Travis' wedding and my 25th birthday all in one weekend. We also went to Priest Lake with Manoah & Connie and saw John Mayer and Keith Urban at the Gorge. In September we moved into the Mayer's house and I began my job with Wenatchee Pediatric Dentistry. We had a packed house for our house warming party / Oktoberfest in October. November 15th was Kirkland's 2nd birthday, which we celebrated with some wet dog food and doggie party hats. We had Thanksgiving in Wenatchee and later went down to Pullman to watch the Apple Cup, which sadly, we lost. December was a countdown until the 18th, when we left for a week in Mexico with Grandma Martin and 28 family members. It was my first Christmas with no snow. We enjoyed the slow paced life down there so much now Tyler & I are talking about moving down there for a year.

My New Years resolution was no shots of hard alcohol, and for the most part I was successful (you could probably get me on a technicality like a drop shot Jaeger bomb or sipping nice Tequila in Mexico). I'm actually considering continuing it on into 2011. As for a new resolution, I've still got a few hours to think about it.

Happy New Year!

2010 Christmas Card

Family Snowfall Red Christmas

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The song I can't get enough of, right now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EIeUlvHAiM

It makes me sad to really love a song, overplay it, and then not be able to listen to it. But I do it again and again.

It wouldn't be a true amateur blog if...

...I didn't go several months without posting anything. It's funny to look back at my 30 before 30 only 6 months after I came up with it. There are things on there I'm definitely not interested in now. I attempted War & Peace (its a free download on my Kindle) and I just couldn't do it. So I'll have to come up with some other huge novel to tackle. I've also discovered that I'm not a long-distance runner and have no desire to run a half marathon. I'm also pretty much over the fish tattoo... so I guess I have some editing to do!

Since I posted last we've moved to Wenatchee. We started out in the "Bat House," which was an old fruit warehouse turned into a home up Squilchuck. We had bats in the attic, ants in the kitchen, the occasional mouse in the house and we watched Kitty, the owner's cat. Quite the zoo. We were there until Labor Day when we moved into the Mayer's house next to my parents. I've found the worst part of living next to my parents is telling people that's where I live. Other than that its actually not bad at all. They don't bug us, we can bug them, borrow whatever we need.... Of course I wouldn't want to be here forever but its pretty nice paying $1,100 rent for a 3200 square foot house on the Country Club! The exact same we paid for our 1,000 square foot house in Tacoma. Kirk loves living next to Woobie & Grandma Brenda, and its nice to have Auntie Jen dog sit while I'm at work.

I'm really enjoying my job at Wenatchee Pediatric Dentistry, and Tyler loves Wenatchee and working at the hospital. The plan is still to move to Olympia so I can get my Master's, if I can ever get him to leave. He's tried to talk me into commuting since its only 3 days a week but I don't think its realistic.

So there's the update. Maybe I'll learn my lesson and blog more often so I don't have to write so much. Probably not though. :-)

First 5K

Tyler & I ran our first 5k today in the Tacoma City Marathon. We were originally planning on running the half marathon, but after we started training (read: I started training, Tyler played basketball at the Y) we decided to just do the 5k. After running it we agreed we'd like to do it again, but aren't really interested in pursuing a 1/2 marathon. Maybe a 10k eventually. But it felt good to complete it, even if it's only a little over three miles. My time was was 34 minutes which put me at 14th in my division (women 20-24). Tyler ran a 23 which made him 4th in his division (men 25-29). Not bad! We're hoping to do it again this fall and beat our times.

Penny Prius!!!!

I can't believe it! I've been wanting a Prius really bad lately, Maxine is only getting older, so last week Tyler & I went looking for cars (what he called a "shopping spree" ha ha) and we bought one! I love love love it.

Kirkland Signature

Here's some recent pictures of our dog Kirkland! I think he's the cutest dog in the world, but I guess everyone thinks that about their dog. :-)

He won't stop biting and licking his paws. So I bought him some socks.

After a cloudy / rainy winter, he likes to sit outside & enjoy the sunshine.

He got a haircut and looks like a fancy Westie now. :-)

Kirk loves his momma. 

Jen got him a "Laker Bunny" for Easter. He now has no ears and a lot less stuffing. :-)

This is my reason for wanting a king size bed. ;-)

Things I'll miss about living in Tacoma

When I found out Tyler and I would be moving to Tacoma, I had a very different picture of it than I do now. It doesn't have such a metropolitan feel as I imagined it would (Spokane's population is actually bigger) and living in the Proctor district has been really great. Here's some things I think I'll miss when we move to Wenatchee this summer.

1. Pastor Dean Curry's sermons at Life Center Church. They're always impacting, funny, and scripture-based. I still really miss New Community in Spokane, and it's weird going to a "mega church," but I'll definitely miss his great talks. Hopefully we can find a church we really like in Wenatchee.

2. Walks on Owen beach with Tyler and Kirkland on the weekends. It was really fun to see Kirkland experience waves for the first time (he started out barking at them, but got used to them pretty fast). I guess before we moved here I didn't realize how cool Puget Sound was and how beautiful Commencement Bay can be on a nice day.

3. The "urban village" feel of the Proctor District. North Tacoma is really pretty cool. I always pictured a crowded city with lots of crime, but we live on safe, tree-lined streets with 100 year old houses and lots of kids in the neighborhood. The coolest thing is the walkability from our house. The Safeway and Metropolitan Market are just around the corner. There's the Blue Mouse Theater that shows movies for $4 a few blocks away, and of course, a Starbucks just down from that. There's a little place where we rent movies, and lots of restaurants and bars. It's got such a great small town feel. Oh, and the Farmer's Market on Saturdays is wonderful too. I can't wait till spring really gets here and we can go again.

4. Parties with friends in our little old house. After living in Pullman, where there are always a ton of friends to hang out with, I was sad to move to Spokane where I had just a few. Then we moved here, where I pretty much have none. Most of the friends around here are Tyler's, except for Krisi, Erica and now, Kacie & Travis (yay!). But we've been able to get everyone together quite a few different times, for our housewarming / my b-day party, Halloween, and Tyler's surprise 25th birthday party. We might be having another for St. Patrick's day and I'm sure we'll have a "going away" party. Since most people are coming from a ways away (Montesano, Seattle, Shelton and Burien) we normally have quite a few who stay here for the night and have a big breakfast in the morning, which I think is Tyler's favorite part.

Something that you'd think I'd miss but I won't? The shopping - there's really not a lot of places that I shop here that Wenatchee doesn't have. REI is the only one we've gone to a lot that I can think of, and really, how often do you go to REI? As long as I've got a Costco & a Target I'm good. :-) If you know me well you know I'm not much of a shopper anyway.

Things I won't miss? The cloudy days, the traffic (especially I-5 and by the mall), Tyler working 60+ hours in a week, my "blah" job, etc. But in general, I know I'll have pretty fond memories of living in Tacoma and our first year of marriage here. :-)