Sunny Skies

I have to start by apologizing for the overuse of the word "lovely" in my last post. In the future, I will try to come up with better adjectives.

That said, the weather for the past several days has been...amazing. Clear blue skies, highs somewhere in the upper 60's to mid 70's, and enough of a cool breeze to keep you from sweating when you're out and about. On Tuesday, my roommate Kara and I met up with Dora and went for a walk on a 2.5 mile trail around Green Lake. There is an alleged rabbit infestation at Green Lake, due to people who abandon their pet bunnies when they don't want them anymore. So after seeing all these signs explaining about the rabbits, and how I shouldn't try to touch them or feed them...I didn't see one stinking bunny. I did however, get to observe two crows eating a dead squirrel :( Poor lil guy. 

The past two afternoons I have spent up on the roof deck, trying to cling to the vestiges of my tan and soak up every last ray of sunshine that I can. It's quite peaceful up there, and I've been studying in preparation for my program (I still have 8 chapters to get through by Sept 15). It's better than school though, because I know this stuff directly relates to what I'll be doing every day at work...and I want to learn it. 

Another book that I've been reading and is making quite an impression on me is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a sort of memoir/recipe book/informative article, about a family that spends a year eating only what they grow and produce from their farm, or is grown and produced locally in their community. Quite a lot of insight into the american food culture (or lack thereof) and why it's harmful and what can be done to change it. Very interesting stuff. Also I want to try and make my own cheese now. I didn't even know you could make your own cheese, but apparently it's pretty easy.

I'm off to the DMV to get a Washington license, and if I feel really ambitious, I might even register my car today (unlike certain other members of my family who sometimes live in a place for a full year or more without ever registering their vehicle).

Here are pictures:

This is Green Lake, about halfway through our walk.

This is me and my roommate Kara. 

A kind passerby offered to take a picture of all three of us. 

I made Dora and Kara stop at this bench for a picture, but they picked the senior picture pose.

Celebrate!

Today my Washington State Nursing License is active! Meaning that I am now legally allowed to practice nursing here, and that the hospital can officially hire me. I'm not sure what would have happened had my license not come through in time, but thankfully I don't need to worry about it anymore.

My roommate is here now, and we are both excited to live and work and get to know this city. There are still a lot of little annoying things to be done around (and purchased for) the apartment, but it definitely feels like a home now. We're planning to take the bus to the hospital (so we know which one to take and where we're going) and then to Pike's Market on Thursday. Basically it will be a test run for next Monday. And I get to go on lovely adventures to get an emissions test, a new drivers license, and register my car. I think I'll just stay here forever, to avoid having to move again. 

We had dinner the other night with Dora, and then went to the beach. I didn't see any whales, but I did put my feet in...and the water is frigid. Why I put my feet in: Dora's dog Hattie (who is a cute little spaz) loves playing fetch at the beach, so we brought her with us. Unfortunately, her tennis ball had a hole in it, and when Dora threw it into the water, it sank to the bottom. Hattie kept paddling around in circles, frantically swinging her head from side to side, trying to find the ball. It was one of the most tragically funny things I've ever seen. We got her to come out, and could see the ball on the bottom in probably 1 1/2-2 feet of water. I was going to wade in and get it, but then I put my feet in and changed my mind.

Our other adventure this week involved a giant moth that's decided he wants to live with us. He's about 2 inches long, and enjoys fluttering right into your face. After chasing him around the apartment with a paper bag (and lots of shrieking), he flew up into one of our light fixtures. He's been there ever since and is still alive and crawling around. We brilliantly remembered (after the fact) that we own a vacuum cleaner, but we don't know how to get the glass part off of the light fixture so we can suck him up. Giant moth 1, Kara and Rachel 0.

Here are pictures:

This is the roof deck, and a lovely Seattle sky. I'm glad I got here when I did, and can make memories of this city in the summertime that will remind me that the long rainy winter is worth it.

Our little dining room. We love this table, and got a great deal on it, too! 

This is our lovely 32-inch flatscreen (Kara's contribution). Our couches should be here in a few weeks. 

My bedroom. It's hard to get a good picture of the whole thing, but against this wall is a bookshelf, bed, and nightstand (once I get it).

My lovely giant dresser from Ikea. I have never had extra drawer space in a dresser before, but everything fits with ease into this one.

I will post more pictures once all our furniture is here!

Ah, city life.

I have a really interesting neighbor (neighbor being used here to describe someone who lives nearby, but not directly next door). Beginning yesterday, I have heard, at random intervals, what sounds like a hearing-impaired, adult male (who I can only assume has some kind of mental or social disorder) singing quite loudly. His song is atonal, with no melody, and very repetitive, with the same nonsense words sung over and over. It usually lasts 15 to 20 minutes. I hear it best from my bedroom window, which would imply that it's someone else in my building or the building across the way who also has his windows open. At first I assumed it was a homeless person, and it didn't seem to be bothering anyone else yesterday.  Then this morning around 8:45, I awoke to the lovely strains of the song again (it seems to always be the same song). Then I heard someone else, very close and very loudly, yell "SHUT UP!" Ah, city life. If it starts again, I'm going to go prowling down the hall and see if it's someone from my building. I know from reading the 'policies and procedures' that any behavior that is obnoxious or offensive to others outside your unit is prohibited. So, we will see. 

Leaving on a jet plane

To celebrate my mom’s last night here (and because every other night we’ve been putting furniture together, finally remembering to eat frozen pizza and soup around 9 pm, then falling into bed), we went out for dinner on Tuesday night at Ray’s Boathouse. It’s right on the water, designed so that every table has a great view, and best of all a 5 minute drive from my building. I had previously decided that I would have to start trying seafood when I go out to eat here, and at Ray’s my courage was richly rewarded. I ordered the blackened red rockfish, served over polenta and with a salsa of onions, tomatoes, and peppers, accented with a delicious spicy avocado sauce. It was easily the best meal I’ve eaten in a long time, and it was FISH. Also the ambience of the restaurant is really great. I’ve already decided that is where I will take any and all of my visitors for dinner. 

 After we ate, my mom and I decided to try to find a Fred Meyer that was supposed to be close by. My roommate’s mom had told us that Fred Meyer is kind of like Target, but with groceries. So we had decided to stock up my pantry before she left. After trying to find it without the Nuvi and getting lost, we were directed to the store in a not-so-great area of town. (Let me pause here to tell you that the woman we are renting our second parking space from who also lives in our building, named Joan, told me all about how I should not carry a purse when walking in this area, and gave me mugging-prevention safety tips. She’s a retired nurse, and is pretty great.) Anyway, we got to Fred Meyer, and my impression was that it is like a Super Wal-Mart on steroids. We did all of our shopping, and when we were checking out, my mom asked the cashier what the limit was on debit cash-back. My mom wanted to leave me some cash to buy more furniture or whatever else when my roommate comes back into town on Saturday. Neither her question nor the cashier’s answer was spoken very quietly. My mom got the cash and gave it to me, and I put it in my pocket. I had to stop to go to the bathroom as we were leaving, and noticed a very suspicious looking man walking really close behind me down the narrow hall. He went into the men’s room, then came out of the bathroom just as I was leaving the ladies’ room. He left the store before us, and then stood sort of pacing near the entrance to the store. We exited and steered clear of him, and walked quickly to our fortunately close parking spot. I tried to exhibit a ‘show of force’ (what we called it in psych nursing when dealing with an agitated/violent patient), by keeping my shoulders back and forcefully lifting the heavy box that my just purchased desk chair came in. My mom even grabbed the serrated knife (useless due to its being encased in impenetrable plastic) out of our grocery bag. He was still in front of the store pacing oddly, and watching us. I’m just thankful to God that he didn’t try to do anything. After we got in the car and locked the doors, he went back in the store. It was very weird, and my mom and I were creeped out and I promised that I would not go back to that Fred Meyer at night. And also perhaps be more careful about not broadcasting that I have a large amount of cash in my possession. 

Wednesday morning I took my mom to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye, and I cried my way back to the city. When I got home the sun came out and I had lots of things to do (like put more furniture together), so I didn't have much time to wallow in despair about her leaving. I'm so thankful for the time we got to spend driving across the country together, talking and laughing, and all her help in getting me settled here. 

My friend Dora had had a pretty stressful day, too, so she invited me over to hang out and just veg and watch movies. Her parents are out of town and I spent the night over there. Also she has this great little dog that likes me and likes to cuddle, and it helped me not to miss Tessa so much. 

The roommate and her parents are coming into town on Saturday, so I will probably spend tomorrow making sure everything is clean and organized. I will be so happy when everything is settled and I have all my furniture. Cannot wait.

Sorry, no pictures this time. In the very near future, I plan on going out and exploring the neighborhood, and I will try to acquiesce to my brother's request for pictures of 'Seattle' things.

Getting settled

Okay, I’ll confess. I love, love, LOVE putting furniture together. It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle, only better because you have instructions and when you are finished, a piece of furniture. It’s making me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t run off and join a nice Amish community, and become a cabinet-maker. Except they probably don’t let the women help with the furniture building, now that I think about it. My mom said I should sell my services to IKEA, they could send me out with their customers to assemble the furniture. My future as a furniture assembly person is far more likely than a future as mover of fragile household objects. I believe the total damages include: 3 broken glasses, 2 broken coffee mugs, 2 broken plates, a shattered plastic Halloween candy bowl, and one beautiful lamp with only two legs where there were once four.

It’s been an exhausting couple of days, with the moving, and the shopping, and then moving what I’ve bought, and then putting things together, and then carting all the trash off to the recycling/dumpster, and then going out and buying more and doing it all over again. But this place is starting to look like a home, and I like it. Also I'm amazed at what we've been able to fit into my little car. Very large pieces of furniture including a desk and hutch, a side table and storage ottoman, and most impressively a bar-height table and two chairs to go with it. There's been a lot of taking things out of boxes and re-arranging several times. Again, sort of like a puzzle...I know it will all fit in there, I just have to figure out how. I think it helps that I grew up  with McGuiver's brazilian brother as a dad. 

I have a new best friend that I’m very excited about. The Garmin Nuvi 200. It’s a GPS navigation device that is extraordinarily helpful when I have to venture out into this extremely confusing city. Roads here are bizarre. They have tons of those six-way intersections, and streeets that randomly change names or stop then start up again 5 blocks later. Getting anywhere before meant looking up the address, then plugging it into mapquest for directions that weren’t always reliable. Not so with the Nuvi. It’s like the world’s best co-pilot right next to me, telling me when I need to get over and how many miles till I have to turn left. I love it, and don’t know how I’ve survived this far in life without one. Seriously. 

Here are pictures:

This is me in front of my building, right before I met the owner of the condo we're renting from. Her name is Nancy, and even though she defines "internet included in rent" as a 'business center' with two computers located two floors below the unit, I like her.

Here's the living room with our makeshift couch. It's two twin air mattress stacked on top of each other, and before today was our only place to sit besides the floor. My roommate and I are planning on putting a tv above the fireplace, and also painting that wall a different color.

This is our lovely kitchen. Neither of us knows how to cook very well, so it will be interesting to see what we fill all those cabinets with.

My best friend the Nuvi. I plan to drive around later this week and get lost, then let her find the way back home. Should be fun.

Here I am trying to blend in with the natives. All I need is a few more tattoos. It clashes pretty terribly with what I'm wearing, but I should invest in one of these scarves asap.

At last...

We made it. Nothing too eventful today, aside from the dynamic geography of the state of Washington. It starts as a desert (or 'semi-arid arroyo' according to our guidebook), then grows gradually greener as you drive west. This is a beautiful state that I've chosen for my new home.

Fun fact: No matter what time zone we happen to be in, if I ask my mom what time it is, she looks at her watch (set to Central time) and says something like "Well it's 2:30 here, but that's really 1:30 our time." As if the time zone from whence we came is the only one that matters, even though it's absolutely irrelevant to where we are now. It makes me giggle every time.

Here are pictures:

 

Here I am on the lovely lake in Coeur D'Alene this morning. It was about 60 degrees outside, and there was a lone blonde girl swimming in the lake. She was about ten years old, and I'm pretty sure a direct descendant of Vikings.

Another shot of the lake. I would love to go back sometime (when it's actually warm) and go out on the water. 

Soooo nice to finally see this sign. We high-fived after crossing the border.

This is the Columbia River, as seen from the well-populated Scenic Outlook off of I-90. The surface of the water was like glass, and I was very jealous of the people down below in their boats.  

While eastern Washington was like a barren desert of despair, the last 100 miles to Seattle was through beautiful green forested mountains. I would really like to go back and visit some of the places we passed. 

The Little Corolla That Could

Today was our most ambitious driving day so far. We left Sheridan, Wyoming at 8 am (mountain time) this morning, and arrived in Couer D'Alene, Idaho at 6:30 pm (pacific time). A total of ~620 miles today, and ~1800 miles overall. 

We made a brief stop in Billings, Montana this morning to pick up another audiobook. It's amazing what a difference it makes. So today we've been listening to a lovely british gentleman reading the unabridged version of The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Most of the trip today was through Montana. I have to say, it's my favorite state that we've driven through so far. The landscape is beautiful, and the people are really friendly and normal. Unlike the people in Wyoming. There are some serious weirdos in Wyoming. But Montana's great. My mom is all set to buy a 20 acre lot and build a log house to retire to. 

The mountains proved quite a challenge for my little car. She chugged her way up the best she could, but it was kind of pathetic. I would have my pedal to the floor, and we would be going 45 mph. A line of semis with me at the rear, huffing and puffing our way up the inclines. Also it rained quite a bit today, which made for some frightening downhill stretches. 

Apparently Couer D'Alene is having an unseasonable cold snap...probably in the 50's right now, and supposed to get down to 45 tonight. It is still a resort town that is packed to the gills right now. We tried to get a room at the resort hotel (four stars and a lot like the hotels in Vegas), but they had no vacancies. We were able to get a very nice room at the Hampton Inn, and are going to try and take some pictures of the lake tomorrow.  

Here are pictures:

Tepees at Little Big Horn. We stopped at a gas station and were the only non-native americans  there. Well us and this one weird old guy who had on the shortest shorts I've ever seen on an adult male. 

When we passed this field, my mom got very, very excited. "Amber waves of grain! Amber waves of grain!" she said. I told her that they looked more like golden fields of straw, but she ignored me and started singing America the Beautiful.

"Where the skies are not cloudy all day" my left foot. There were plenty of clouds in the sky today.

Just one scenic hillside in beautiful Montana. I think that black thing cutting across the picture is a railroad track. Seriously, none of the pictures do it justice. At one point I felt like I was in a pine tree tunnel. A bear or a moose could have popped their head out of the trees and I wouldn't have been surprised. Very, very awesome.

We are going to sleep in tomorrow since we only have 300 more miles to go! It will be so nice to get there. I'll post more when I can.