just laura

Hola! I was gone for a week in Talehquah, Oklahoma… home of nothing. I was at a conference for work where most of the week was less than ideal. There was no vegetarian food, the airline lost my luggage, there was much fighting going on between the different “factions” at the conference, and since we were in the middle of Oklahoma, we missed all of the Halloween parties and festivities back home. Lame! It wasn’t all a loss though… I did get to eat at Sonic once and I did meet some cool people from other cities – the Vancouver and Shreveport crowds were great! That said, after seven days gone, I’m super happy to be back home! Last night I was originally planning to throw my own Halloween party since I missed the rest, but after this draining week I canceled and spent a fabulously low key evening at home with Dieter. So nice… :)

Wohoo! Still glad to be alive and out of Oklahoma! Last night Dieter and I joined friends for Chris’s 26th birthday! We went to the Kingfish Cafe in Capital Hill. It was good food… but the wait was an hour and a half for our table… yuck! That’s okay though… it gave us time to socialize and chat with everyone. I had some fabulous sweet squash, and I also highly recommend the dips platter… the garlic artichoke and the yam ones were great! Today Alan is coming up from Vancouver, WA and we’re going to go rowing at the Center for Wooden Boats. Dieter isn’t joining us, but Andrew is. :) Dieter will be off looking for a job, then off kicking 12 yr old butts at the Bouncing Souls all ages punk show tonight. Yeah! He’ll join Alan and I afterwards as we head from Debs’s house warming to April’s Halloween party. Good times. Gotta run… time to eat some chips and salsa!

Job searching is tiresome. I feel like I need to write 50 different resumes and 100 different cover letters, just to tailor myself to the so many random, different jobs out there. Arrgh!

Time to throw a party for me!! Today I rode a bike for essentially the first time since I was 14 (yep, that was over 10 years ago)!! Wohoo! Dieter was very patient with me and we rode from Fremont out to Greenlake (to Gregg’s), then back to Fremont. I didn’t crash, not even once! I didn’t scream, didn’t freak out, didn’t hurt myself or others, and didn’t even get in the way of car traffic! It’s a good day!

He’d originally invited me to go on a night ride with him and Dan (seemed kinda bold to me, which is why I wanted to try an afternoon ride first, in daylight, where it’d ideally be a little more mellow and a little more safe). Well, after this afternoon’s ride he thought maybe it’d be better if I stay home tonight. (What was he expecting, Lance Armstrong?). Anyway, while I apparently wasn’t too fast, I think I did admirably in getting there and back. :) Huzzah for me!!

So tonight I got even more old photos up (and new ones too)! Halloween! Ivars! The first haircut of the summer! Wheee!

I’ve gotta say… I had a great relaxing four day weekend. I did nothing at all and it was fabulous. :) Stayed in bed late, ate, wrote some cover letters, talked on the phone, and watched some movies. Was nice and relaxing and just what I needed. Even got to catch up with my old coworkers and friends Ryan and Jonas. It was good to talk to these guys and hear about life in their worlds… Jonas is now doing Teach for America and Ryan is still with Enform up in the Dallas office.

As for today, it was a day of sleep, rain, work, and job search. I submitted a whole three applications today… wohoo! Feels like a lot to me, but compared to Dave’s 300, I know I’m just barely getting started. Yikes! This could be a long road ahead…

What else to do tonight? I’m trying to figure out what to bake to use up about 10 apples, and I’m thinking maybe I should start writing my holiday cards. (Doubtful it will happen, but I can at least consider it an option this rainy Wednesday). If you’ve got recipe ideas, do send them my way.

Dena just asked me how my weekend was, and though it’s only Monday, it took me a long time to even remember what I’d done. I’ve got it now, so I’m writing it down. :) Friday – hung out with the boys watching SHREK (funny stuff!) and finding the wackest website out there…
www.createafart.com. That website provided us almost 45 minutes worth of pure entertainment! Check it out if you’re not around polite company. :) Saturday I began shoe shopping, and then had a lovely pre-Thanksgiving dinner party co-hosted by Rod. I got to see Jake for the first time in forever, and that was very cool. I miss him! Got to talk to Elisa on the phone too… but we still haven’t gotten together since she got back from her trip. Hopefully when I get back from Vegas next weekend, we’ll be able to go out and bond. After that, we drove out a few hours, over the pass, to Cle Ellem where the sky was huge and the view of the meteors was unobstructed. It was really cold, but the view was amazing! We saw 30 or more meteors an hour! So nice!! Andrew started to doze, so we eventually packed up the sleeping bags and headed back to Seattle. I slept on the car ride, as I had to get up an hour later at 6am to head to Vashon Island for a service project I was leading for 60 youth. It was a gorgeous, crisp, clear sunny day and it was fabulous to get out on the island, in the trees, and do outdoor work. When I got Sunday afternoon, I was surprised by a call from Moses and we joined him and Jenn for a fun trip to the Buckaroo and then Red Robin for all you can eat french fries! She’s really cool… and they seem to be having a great time together. :)

Today, Monday came and it brought back the cold and rainy weather. Despite the lame weather outside, I had a good day. My interview this morning was good, and the HR woman invited me back next week for round two (I get paid to go, whether I get the job or not. Yeah!) Then later this afternoon at work, I was offered a pickup shift at one of our child care sites. I ate mac and cheese and played foosball with preschoolers, and earned a couple of extra bucks doing it. Not a bad day at all! Yeah! Tomorrow I leave for our family Thanksgiving in Las Vegas 8am. I really need to get packing done, but the clothes have to come first. So, I’m watching the end of My Own Private Idaho and waiting for the dryer to finish. Hope everyone is well. Take care!

Wow… I guess I’ve been kinda bad lately… not getting these entered or updated too regularly. Guess I have an excuse this week since I was out of town with family. :) Anyway, speaking of family, Las Vegas was fun for the week, but I’m glad to be back home. When in Vegas, we tried to tour the Favorite Brands marshmallow factory, but it closed down. We also tried to tour Ocean Spray, but they too closed their tours. We did, however, eat lots, hang around the hotel watching HBO (Ghostbusters rocked!), and saw Harry Potter (it was good, but the book was even better). One of the highlights of the trip was riding the roller coaster at New York New York, and another was when my Uncle Tom got us tickets to O, the Cirque du Soleil show at the Bellagio. It was a very cool show, with lots of amazing acrobatics and diving! Too fun! Our last night in Vegas was my favorite. We did dinner at Bucas (had the Pope’s eerie room), then all of the cousins gathered about for some kid time. I brought the Book of Questions, and we had some great, insightful conversation as a group. It was fabulous to have real bonding time, not just polite conversation when we gather for meals. Yeah! That’s what I was most thankful for all week… genuine conversation with the family. :)

Returning home from Vegas was really nice… Moses brought me a care package from Eugene (tofu pates, bean dips, fab chips… all really good natural food stuffs from his home town!). So sweet! I also found my care package from Chris and Alyssa waiting at my neighbor’s apartment… they’re too good to me! Super soft socks, tons more good foods, and even a CD of Austin music. Thanks guys! Even my apartment building management left me a little something… a one pound box of chocolates. How cool is that? And the icing on the cake… I got to see Dieter for dinner at Broadway Grill… yeah! It’s like Christmas and Birthday… only it’s a full month early! A girl could get used to this!! :)

Just as exciting, I found out I was hired as a substitute teacher at the place I applied before break. I’ve already worked three days this week and it’s been fun so far! (Tiring too, but as I get acclimated, I’m sure that’ll mellow down). What else? Scott gets into Seattle tonight for a three day weekend, so that’ll be fun! Hopefully I’ll get to see him and Ross both as we go out and bond! Anyway, that’s the update. Take care!