Adventures In The Evergreen State

It's been awhile since I've been on any kind of vacation..... well, for me any way! Traveling is one of my most favorite things to do, so I was really excited about this trip! I have been wanting to travel to the Pacific Northwest since about last August, and I was happy to finally be going!!
My awesome friend Christine agreed to go with me, and after finding some really good deals on a lot of things we decided to do it!

Our plane didn't leave until Wed night and it was such a long day waiting! All I could think about were the 50 things I needed to get done before I left! Of course I wasn't packed, so I was rushing about right until the time Christine came to get me for the airport!!

We didn't get to Seattle until pretty late. It was about 9:45 p.m. Seattle time which meant I was pretty tired because it was almost 11 my time. But our hotel was right next to the airport, so we were able to hang out and relax not long after arriving. I was SO excited for the next day and for our trip to really start!

(This is how close we were to the airport..... literally right outside our hotel room!! But I never heard plane taking off or landing! It was awesome!!)

But what would a vacation be without bumps in the road! We woke up the next day feeling like everything was perfect, because up to that point everything had been great!! We walked down the street to Thrift so we could pick up our rental car, and that is when the trouble started! We had booked our car online a few weeks before and our total was about $177. Well, the lady had me going through a bunch of stuff, and said that they would have to add some extra fees on. Well, our new final price was going to be $495!! Holy crap!! That is what I was thinking in my head!! There was no way that we were going to pay that price for a stupid car (it was more than double what our plane tickets cost us) so we had to walk back to our hotel. Stupid Thrify! We got back to our room and for a long time we tried to find some good deals on cars! We were in the city of Seatac, so we were about a half hour from downtown, so we HAD to have a car or we'd be stuck and the airport for 6 days! At one point we even considered renting scooters!! Haha!

After not really finding anything great, we just decided to get ready for the day, and talk to the front desk to see if they could help us. It turns out there was a free shuttle so a nearby, HUGE mall, so we decided to take it! We had so much fun hanging out and shopping!! The mall seriously was huge! Two big floors and on the third level there is movie theatre! We ate in the food court and went into lots of different stores! I was able to find a battery charger (I'd left mine home) and Christine found some cute shoes!! We also decided to see a movie while we were there (Julie and Julia), which cost us TEN BUCKS!! Jeez! And we even saw it before 6:00! Those poor people are getting ripped off!! But the movie was cute, and it was definitely better than hanging out in our hotel room all day!!

After a fun day of shopping, we went back to our hotel room and we were finally able to get our rental car situation figured out! We also got online and booked our Forks hotel room!!!

So the next day, we had planned to spend the morning in Seattle because we couldn't pick our rental car up until later in the afternoon. But, again we had more bumps in the road!! We'd already had car troubles, so I guess it was time for some hotel room troubles! We found out that morning that our Forks hotel room hadn't been booked because the hotel was full. Just great!! So we had to do some quick thinking and plan changing and we decided to head to Forks that day!

But more on that later!!

(This is us trying to figure out what to do after we found out our Forks hotel room feel thru)

After our fantastic road trip to Forks, we were on to Seattle! I was excited to be going to downtown and too see famous landmarks like the Space Needle!! Our first stop was Pike's Market! If you have never been there, it's hard to really explain how cool it is!! There are little stores all over, but people can come in and set up little booths too! You can buy everything from fish to flowers, necklaces to coin purses and fruit to pastries!! So awesome!! One of my favorite things was the flowers!! There is a whole, big long section where they sell fresh bouquets of flowers everyday! The flowers are amazing; the colors were so bright, and they have every single kind you can think of!! Some I'd never even seen before!! And then best part..... you can get a HUGE bouquet for only $5.00!!!

A popular part of the market though is the fish shops, which makes sense since Seattle is right on the water!! I was not a huge fan of the smell...... actually I HATE fish, so I held my breathe most of the time when we walked by those shops!! But, Christine told me about smoked salmon and she told me I had to try some! I was very very nervous about it and really planned to just swallow it whole! The guy gave me a HUGE chuck (to big to swallow) and I thought there was NO WAY I was going to be able to eat it. BUT................... it was AMAZING!! It didn't taste fishy at all and then I was pretty happy to have my big chunk!! Am I ready to eat other kinds of fish though......... uh............... probably not!!

Something else we did that was pretty cool, was an underground tour of part of the city. We went got to go down a lot of creepy stair cases and walked down a bunch of alleys while learning some pretty interesting stuff about how the city was started. The best part though was walking under the sky lights!! They are pieces of glass (that have turned from clear to purple) set into the sidewalk that let light in from above!! At one point our guide turned off the lights and it looked awesome!!


(From above)

(From below)

And a trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without visiting the Space Needle!!

It's a lot taller than I thought!! I always love going places and seeing famous landmarks!! The Needle has a restaurant on the top that actually rotates and Christine and I debated for awhile whether or not to eat there. In the end, we decided that we were on vacation, so what the heck!! The food was crazy expensive, but it was pretty dang yummy!! When we were done, we got to walk the rest of the way up to the top!! We were there at night so the view was amazing!! All the lights were on and we could see lots of ferry boats and cruise ships going across the bay!! It was pretty chilly up there and it was the one time I didn't have a jacket, so we didn't stay outside to long!! (Hanging out on the top of the Space Needle. I look AWFUL, but it's the only picture I have of us up there!!)

The best thing about Seattle though was the scenery!! They are right on the water and because of all the rain there are SO many trees!! I mean, you drive on there freeway and it feels like you are driving through the Utah mountains!! And when you are actually IN the Washington forest.... holy cow!! There are SO many trees and so much greenery!! I loved it!!

This is driving on the FREEWAY between two major cities!!

A sunset view of Elliot Bay from Pike's Market. I LOVED just staring at it every time we passed it!!

I love this picture because you can see Mt. Rainier in the distance!! It is HUGE!! The first time I saw it, it shocked me for some reason.... I don't really know why!! Probably just because I am used to being surrounded by the mountains, and in Washington they don't really have huge mountain ranges, so this one just sticks out like crazy!!

This is the view from our downtown hotel room

The view from the top of the Space Needle
This is Mt. Rainier from the air. No, that is not snow!! Sure looks like it though huh?!?

Funny Stuff

I got an email at work today that was pretty dang hilarous!! I thought I would share some of it here!! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the crap was going on when I first saw it.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

- Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the heck do I respond to that?

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat looser before dinner.

Hope these made you smile at least once!! I was pretty much rolling on the floor by the end!!

Opinions Needed!!

Tomorrow I have a hair appointment to get rid of my sad orange hair!! But if you know me well, you know that making decision on my own is my LEAST favorite thing to do!! I cant decide exactly what I want so your opinion would be GREATLY appreciated!

First, and most important is COLOR!! I don't want anything that is red and/or orange in any way (not that is doesn't look amazing on other people).

My hair is dark brown, but I want to add some highlights or lowlights... something that will make it look less flat! I cant decide if I should go with a lighter shade of brown, a cinnamon color or carmel color. What do you think??

Lighter?? Darker?? Chunky?? Thin??? AHHHHHH!! Too many options!! What should I do??

And second is my bangs. I hate the way my bangs are now.... they are more like a super short layer than bangs. So which of these should I go with??

Side swept?? Or full bangs?? Again, AHHHHHH!!! Which do I choose?!?!

Please, please, please be honest!! Even if you thing all of them would look lame on me!! I'm open to other ideas too...... as long as they are not red or orange... or purple.... I don't think my work would let me in the doors!! I really need help deciding!! THANKS!!!! :0)

Door Dingers Will Be Punished

Jeez it took me a long time to get around to this post!! There were some pictures I needed that were on my dad's computer and I have just been to lazy to take the time to get them off!!

I remember I used to be SO scared of driving! I was baffled about how you were supposed to keep the car going to the speed. It was also really really hard to keep the car in the same line while looking over my shoulder to change lanes. And driving on the freeway..... FORGET IT!!

But I finally go the hang of it and passed my driving test the fist time around!!

I always used to joke that I got my first car from the tooth fairy because my parents bought it not to long after I got my wisdom teeth out!! It was a good old Ford Taurus. (I look ABSOLUTELY horrible in this picture... so PLEASE just look at the car)

Man I had some interesting times in that car. The first time I ever ran out of gas was in the car with my best friend Lacey. I was so mortified at the time, but now looking back it was pretty dang funny!! I did a 360 on the freeway on ramp in the car and I broke down in that stupid car more times than any one person should have too!!

I also remember many HOT summer days, coming home from Utah county with my awesome friend Amanda, and the darn car would start to overheat so I would have to turn the heater on. Yeah.... 100 degree temperates+Heater on high=One dang long drive!! THANKS for sticking it out with me Amanda!!! :0)

That car also had stupid trunk problems!! When it would get to hot, the trunk would just pop open by itself. I got to be a pro at stopping really fast and slamming it shut while driving!! One day, after a LONG day of work at Discover Card, I went outside and of course the trunk was open. I tried FOREVER to get it shut with NO luck!! I finally slammed it so hard that the top of the taillight broke.

After the Taurus I moved onto a Pontiac. Her name was Bonnie the Bonneville! I was NOT happy about driving it as first, it was a boat compared to the Taurus!! But the air conditioner worked, it didn't over heat and the interior wasn't maroon! I got in my first accident in that car, and my tail light bit the dust again!


I also got in my second accident in the car. Solidifying my terror of driving in the snow!! That car also broke down on me. I guess I shouldn't complain, because it only happened twice. Where as with the Taurus and I cant even remember the exact number of times!! The first time I was in Salt Lake and the battery died. So I hung out on the side of 7th East until my dad could get there. The second time was on my birthday and I was trying to get up to the U on my first day of school. Yeah, not so fun!!

And now that I am FINALLY done with school (I swear the graduation post is coming soon) and I am working full time, I FINALLY have a new car!!!


I LOVE it!! I bought it on June 28th from Riverton Hyundai!! It is a 2009 Hyundai (the Y is NOT silent according to my Korean speaking brother) Elantra. It has air conditioning and cup holders, two things I had been missing for a very long time!!!

It's a lot of fun!! And it's still kind of weird that it is mine!! I don't know how I'm going to feel about it on August 6th when I make my first payment though!! Haha!! Just kidding!! There is no way I could not love my pretty silver car!!

So this next picture is VERY random, but it has to do with my car..... well, with the windshield anyway!! I went through the car wash last night and the place i went too had yellow, blue and pink soap. After is gets sprayed on it sits for there for a minute and this is the result:

Crazy huh!!! I took lots of pictures of it while I was sitting there!! It's the little things that entertain me!! :0)

The Concert, The Coaster And The Wizard

Okay, I am having a major brain freeze and I cant think of a creative way to start this so I am just going to go right into it!!

First I have to say, if you have not seen the new Harry Potter movie and don't want anything ruined, then beware because ***SPOILER ALERT***

I have been SO excited for this movie!! Last November, July seemed like a lifetime away to wait for it to come out! But like always, time seems to fly by and it was here before I knew it! I really wanted to see it at midnight, but it is almost three hours long and there was NO WAY I would have been able to make it through the next day!! So I went Wednesday night with my awesome friend Danielle and some of her other cool friends.

It wasn't too bad in my opinion... well, nothing could have been worst than the butchered third movie! I knew there was a chance I would cry, and I most definitely did. I think my favorite part was the quidditch tryouts and match!

It has been forever since there has been really good quidditch in any of the movies so that was really exciting for me! Seriously, watching it makes me wish it were a real sport!!
Now, the whole thing wasn't great. I was not happy that they blew up the Weasley's house!! Where is Harry supposed to go after he leaves the Dursley's in the 7th movie?? And where are they going to do the wedding??

Not to mention the fact that that whole part is NOT in the book!! And what happened to the big battle at the end, when Harry shares his Liquid Luck with his friends so they wont be killed?? The Death Eaters don't just walk out of the castle!! And Harry WOULD NOT have just stood there and let Malfoy threaten Dumbledore... where was the full body bind cures?!?!

For some reason this really drove me crazy! I usually don't have too big of a problem when movies are not exactly like the book (because there is no way there ever could be) but for some reason this was really bothering me. And then, when I was watching it again, I realized that the whole blowing up the house part was probably for die hard fans like me. It was not something I was expecting. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time worrying that Harry was going to curse Ginny of accident!! So, while I wasn'tt overly happy that they added 10 minutes and left 10 out, I think I am finally okay with it.

And last is the death scene. I cried.... a lot! It was just really sad seeing Snape yell the killing curse. If I was crying then, it was nothing compared to when Professor McGonagall raises her wand and everyone follows her. I LOST it!! And then I lost it again when Faukes flies around the castle and disappears. They did that whole part very well!!

*** END OF SPOILERS***

So that was on Wednesday. Well, on Friday I went to Stake Lagoon day with my awesome friend Christine! We couldn't go up until I was done with work at 2:00, but it was probably okay because it was SO hot outside!! The first thing we did when we got there was spray ourselves with 85spf sunblock.... the result.... SUPER shiny-ness!! It was pretty embarrassing!! But it didn't last long because we rode the Cliffhanger first so we could cool off!

(This picture was right after the sunscreen incident... hence the shiny-ness)
I love riding Wicked!! It is by far my most favorite ride. I even rode the Sky Coaster, which is my LEAST favorite ride. We of course rode Rattlesnake Rapids because it was too dang hot not to be wet! Poor Christine got soaked!!

We also decided to do the old fashion picture thing! I had never done it before and it was a lot of fun! We decided to do the formal wear with sweet hats and parasols! The picture we decided to keep was one where was are supposed to look like we are whacking each other with our umbrellas.

The next day, Saturday was a really busy day. I spent the morning cleaning the house so my mom could come home from girls camp to cleanliness! My family then went to my work summer party, which was going to Jordan Commons to see Harry Potter.

That night I got to hang out with Christine again at The Fray concert. SO MUCH FUN!! I had never been to the Usana Amphitheatre so I didn't really know what to expect. Our tickets were in the pit and it was SO AWESOME!!

We caught the last part of Jack's Mannequin and from what I heard they were pretty good. I think I might just get their CD. We then made a stop for cotton candy and a churro! Yum!! The Fray was great! I didn't know tons of their songs before then, but now I'm a HUGE fan!!Being in the pit, I was able to get some pretty good pictures! There back ground stuff was four long strings on lights. The picture above doesn't do them justice because they really were so amazing!! They sang a lot of songs and then did there bows and a lot of people started leaving. They missed out though because they came back out and sang some more songs. One of those songs was "Happiness". I had never heard it before, but I LOVED it!! They were great!!

THANKS CHRISTINE for hanging out with me all weekend and for inviting me to The Fray with you!! It was SO much fun!! :0)

One Whole Year

HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY TO MY BLOG!! Wahoo!!
Well, technically the it was yesterday, but yesterday was, well... we wont even talk about it! So I am "celebrating" today! A year ago today my friend Nicole convinced me I needed to start a blog so we could keep in touch while she was in Germany. I was SO confused when I first started and it's kind of funny to go back and read how frustrated I was that I couldn't get the stupid cutestblogontheblock to work for me!! I eventually got that figured out and now a year later I am confused about how to get cool fonts and signatures on your blog. Maybe one day I will figure that out!!
I still need to blog about graduation (I'm horrible, I know) and my new car! But, the pictures of both are on another computer and it might be a few days before I can get them off. So, instead I thought I would just do a short update (my life if really that lame that I can pretty much sum it up in a line or two) as well as some observations.

So to start with: updates. I have a new position at work. I guess I have been doing it since the end of May, but it feels more official now. I am working towards becoming a loan officer and now work in our Indirect Lending department. I approve/deny loans all day, go through packets, fund and talk to dealers. Yep, it's that exciting!! Haha!!
And that is pretty much it for updates (told you it would be short)

Onto observations. Okay, so seriously it is JULY and there is already Christmas stuff out at Hobby Lobby! I think that is pretty insane!!! And it's not just one isle, oh no, it's a whole section. And of course if there is Christmas stuff out, so is the Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff. Wow, is summer already that close to being over???
I guess it must be because the stores all have their back-to-school stuff out too. Crazy!! Every time I walk past that section in any store I think "HOORAY I don't have to get any of that this year"!!
But there is a part of me that wants to go over and just buy the crayons and markers!! I love that kind of stuff!!

Another, very random observation....... synchronized swimming is crazy stuff!! I couldn't sleep one night and was flipping through the channels and saw a competitions going on. That stuff seriously is not for sissy's!! I have NO IDEA how that can keep themselves vertical in the water, while doing the slips, at the exact same angel! I ended up watching the rest of the competition because I was so intrigued (Russia won, just as an FYI) :0)

I also have a Walmart story for you. I know that there are probably some of you out there that are gasping in disgust that I shop at Wally-World but I am POOR my friends!! If I can save .6 on shampoo then I'm gonna save my .6 gosh dang it! Haha! Anyway, I was checking out and using my debt card and had to sign the pad thing. Well the pen was freaking out and making lines without me even moving the pen. I told the checker outer lady and she said "oh, it doesn't matter what your signature looks like on there." In my head I'm thinking "IDENTITY THEFT, IDENTITY THEFT." Jeez!! What if I wasn't really Amanda M and I was using her card to buy beads and mineral veil and finger nail polish........ I totally would have gotten away with it!! To me it seems like this happens WAY to often!! They should be required to ask for ID verification!!
And as I was leaving Walmart, I saw this lady, totally walking away from her child, who just happened to be throwing big old rocks, in the parking lot around the cars!! She was half way up the isle before she even tried to get his attention. Sheesh!! What a trip to the store it was!!

Well, that is about it for my BLoGovErSaRY CeLEbRaTiON!!! Pictures and more exciting blogs to come!! :0)

I.........

I saw this on someone elses blog and thought I would steal it! Yeah I know I know! I do that a lot!! Haha!

I AM ... listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I WANT ... to loose a lot of weight
I HAVE ... a new car with air conditioning and cup holders!
I WISH ... magic existed
I HATE ... the feeling of jealously
I FEAR ... being alone
I HEAR ... cars rushing down the highway
I SEARCH ... for good deals on vacations
I DON'T THINK ... the cookies I made tonight turned out very well
I REGRET ... more than one thing
I LOVE ... the smell of dryer sheets more than anything else
I ACHE ... for something I don't think I'll ever have
I AM NOT ... ready for the weekend to be over!!
I DANCE ... only when I am alone with the blinds closed
I SING ... in the car, at the top of my lungs!
I NEVER ... went to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
I RARELY ... go out of the house without mascara
I CRY WHEN ... I have had a really long day and everything seems to be going wrong
I AM NOT ALWAYS ... confident
I HATE THAT ... my closest isn't big enough for more shoes
I'M CONFUSED ABOUT ... where to go from here
I NEED ... a long vacation
I SHOULD ... be folding my laundry