Post Turkey Bliss

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving day surrounding by friends and family with traditions new and old. Continuing on with our theme of everything new this year Joe and I spent Thanksgiving with Uncle Charlie and Jim, 2 of their friends, and Joe's friend Matt who drove up from Oregon. Dinner took place at their cabin in the mountains about an hour outside of Seattle. The weather was unseasonably nice (last year they had to dig out their cars from all the snow) and we were able to take advantage of the sunshine and take a walk around a big lake with the mountains as our backdrop. The exercise and fresh air got us rejuvenated before tackling our big meal later in the day. Charlie worked hard at creating a very tastey feast with new dishes to try and new takes on old favorites. (I learned the many directions that cranberry sauce can be taken but I'll take the canned kind any day!) One of the most entertaining parts of the day was when it came to setting the table and things had to be moved around to accomodate 7 people at the table. When all was said and done the light hanging above the table was not centered and so that opened up a whole problem solving situation as to how the center the light. Let's just say the solution came from a padlock and key and leave it at that! :-) We introduced the group to Apples to Apples which turned out to be a big hit with everyone. We came back into the city on Friday as Joe had to go back to work. Matt and I headed downtown to the market and to see the Christmas Tree at Macy's. Not quite the spectacle as compared to the tree at Rockefellar Center but combined with the white lights lining the streets it gives you that Christmas feeling just the same. I was even able to dig out our Christmas decorations and got our place in the holiday spirit. Nala has definitely been enjoying new things to try and play with! So now here I sit trying to get ready for some busy weeks ahead before the Christmas holiday. How did it become December again?????

Cooking for Thanksgiving-Really?

Just a quick shout out to everyone on the east coast. We've had a pretty uneventful week out here and find ourselves getting ready for Thanksgiving. This is the first year that I've really had to contribute to dinner itself as I previously contributed to dinner by setting the table or pouring the water. Welcome to adulthood and greater participation on the day we give thanks. I found myself asking "What does someone who dislikes to cook, and isn't a big fan of casseroles, or potatoes, or stuffing bring to a Thanksgiving dinner ?" I turned to my good friends at the food network for some advice and after looking to see what category my cooking level fell at (less than 10 minutes and an easy level), I narrowed my choice down. Did I also mention that I have strict rules about never using a recipe with an ingredient I never heard of, never attempting anything with more than 6 ingredients, and if it involves cutting things with more than a simple cut in half then forget it! Believe it or not such recipes exist and I will attempting one to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. This year is not just about new traditions but also about stepping up to the plate and trying something a little scarey. For some that means jumping out of a plane or moving to another country. For me it's stepping outside my comfort zone of pouring more than water at dinner and actually having a contributed dish at the table. Of course I could just substitute the water for wine and consider it baby steps to really cooking...........
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and know that we're sending hugs from one coast to another!

Concerts, Protests, and 50 degree weather

Another interesting week here in Seattle. I started off the week attending a Jason Mraz concert on Monday night. For anyone who knows who he is, and knows his amazing ability to make girls swoon with the first strum of his guitar, will understand the major crush I developed after his show. (Joe's even okay with it) He was soooo good live and a great way to kick off the week. I should have been a groupie in my previous life:-) The week continued much the same and went by in a blur of therapy sessions, paperwork, and a neverending list of e-mails to respond to in my in box. Does anybody else ever find e-mail to be more stressful than helpful???? I've also added two identical twin girls who were adopted from China less than a year ago to my caseload and of course and wondering to myself "what am I going to do with them?" I really do learn on the job everyday.
This weekend Joe and I found ourselves witness to something very real to what has made so much of the headline news (at least on the west coast anyway). We were downtown doing a little Christmas shopping and one minute the streets are filled with shoppers and then the streets become filled with protesters against the passing of Proposition 8. It went on for miles with thousands of people walking in it-gay, straight, animals, children. Reading the signs was the best part-from "Jesus had 2 dads" to "Britney had 2 marriages why can't I have one"- it was an interesting thing to watch. I felt a little sad for the couples who were holding hands with signs with the date of their wedding and accompanying pictures. Love is love-nobody should be denied all that it encompasses. The most amazing thing was that it was a peaceful protest in the sense that cops were on the sidelines keeping an eye on things but no one got out of hand. Even the protesters who were speaking out on the other side of the issue remained respectful.
Saturday night I attended a showcase of singer/songer writers called The Hotel Cafe Tour. Almost a smaller and updated version of the Lilith Fair. It's always inspiring to hear the stories behind these amazing talents that my not be played on Top 40 radio but have so many good songs to listen to. The venue was small and the audience eclectic at most but I heard some amazing female voices accompanied by their guitars and piano. Gotta love the indie scene!

The "Real" Seattle weather has come upon on

Well it was too good to last-the sunshine that is. The changing of the clocks also brought the changing of the weather and here in Seattle that means rain. Our skies have been dark and our days have been shortened. I didn't realize that we are far enough north to have it start to get dark around 4 and completely dark by 5. It's hard when I leave for work and it's dark and then I'm coming home in the dark as well. I find I need to give myself little "pep talks" to not just come home and snuggle under the blanket by the fire but to actually be productive even when the sun has set.
We were given a small reprieve and had sunshine yesterday with very mild temps (around 60). Joe and I decided to check out an area north of Seattle called Fremont. It's described as "an eclectic, artsy neighborhood of Seattle located in the north-central section of Washington’s largest metropolis. Overlooking Salmon Bay, the small community of Freemont bills itself as “the center of the universe.” It's is such a cool little place filled with shops, cafes, interesting statues, and a picturesque landscape to make it an enjoyable place to wander on any given day. We found ourselves browsing through a number of the vintage shops. They had furniture, records, dishes, clothes, accessories, shoes-you name it and these stores had it. It was so much fun to look through the clothes-especially the women's clothes from the 20's and 30"s where everything is so girly and feminine. One shop even had an old pink hair dryer that women sat under to get that perfect "beehive" look. I told Joe I wanted that for Christmas:-) We stumbled upon a Belgium brewery and of course Joe's eyes lit up at the word beer. It turned out to be this cool place with a great ambiance and a leather bound book that looked like the "bible of beers." A little piece of heaven for Joe.
This week is a little out of the ordinary in that I have Tuesday off for Veteran's Day. I'm taking advantage of the extra day to sleep in and am spending Monday night at my first concert in one of the downtown venues. So much music to see and hear here that I'm excited to finally take advantage of it!

Much Needed Mother-Daught Time

The past 5 days have been spent getting lots of mom hugs and getting just a bit spoiled:-) Thanks mom! It was great being able to show mom around and give her a feel for Seattle. We spent Wednesday down at Pike's Place Market and we were fortunate to have sunshine to enjoy the walk and the scenery. I introduced her to the homemade pasta booth and we enjoyed a great Italian dinner that night. Thursday brought rain and grey skies but the temperature continued to stay tolerable as we walked along the water at Alki Beach, stopping in for coffee in one of the cafes before heading over to Capitol Hill to take in the view of some of the million dollar homes. Friday mom was in Joe's hands as I had to work so they met Charlie for lunch on the Pier downtown. That evening we celebrated Halloween at a comedy club downtown. Now being new to the area, so much of what we know about a place is based off of reviews read on the internet. I found one with decent reviews and we decided to check it out. The club was located underground of one of the bars in the downtown area known as Pioneer Square. This area houses lots of bars and restaurants as well as a park that is often frequented by Seattle's homeless. Well don't you know the bar that we need to go to has a back entrance that faces the park where at least 25 homeless people were hanging out. We entered the bar only to find that we had arrived a little early and had an opportunity to enjoy a drink at the bar. The bar was empty and little shady to say the least but mom was a good sport and the show itself was very entertaining. On Saturday I took mom to the east side of Lake Washington to show her where I work, the area of Kirkland where I would love to live if we weren't downtown, and then to my favorite mall in the area. Over the course of 5 days we filled our stomachs with a variety of ethnic food from Thai to Vietnamese. It was a quick five days as I sit here having mom somewhere enroute back to Pennsylvania and I'm back to reality at having to face another busy week.

The Joys of a Working Partner

After staring at the computer for hours on end today trying to write 4 IEP's, I will admit that my creativity and enthusiasm for typing something witty is at an all time low. I do apologize. I've found that the months of October and November have decided to present a challenge to me in terms of how many IEP's I can write, how many meetings I can attend, and how many new preschoolers I can take on before hitting my breaking point. Thank goodness mom is coming to visit to give me a little break. I plan on getting enough "mom hugs" to last me until at least April:-) As I've been hitting the computer hard this week, Joe has started a new job at Blockbuster. He finally gave into searching for any job to fill his time (and our bank account) and was hired as an assistant manager at Blockbuster. Right now he's in training and comes home every night with some kind of random story from the day as well as lots of frustration. It wasn't long before he was on-line looking for graduate programs. This week has also been an adjustment in that Joe is no longer home to cook which leaves the question every night of "what are we going to have for dinner." My enthusiasm for cooking after a long day (okay who are we kidding, my enthusiasm for cooking in general) is always lacking and although I could be perfectly content with my eggs and toast or bowl of cereal, those foods aren't consider a meal in the world of boys and so we are back to trying to alternate cooking, dishes, etc. As I stand putting dishes in the dishwasher for what feels like the hundreth time that week, I can't help but close my eyes and wish for the kitchen fairy to come and relieve me from all things domestic....... Joe was off on Saturday so we decided to venture down to the international district to hit up the big asian market that sits at its center. There is any kind of ingredient for asian cooking that your stomach could desire so we filled our basket with goodies for cooking Pad Thai along with some other sauces and spices. Of course now just sits the question of who is going to cook it?

In Search of the Laid Back Attitude

As the weeks progress and I find myself inundated with an overwhelming amount of work, I find myself asking "Where's the west coast laid back attitude that I've heard so much about?" It certainly doesn't exist in the education environment with everyone arriving early and staying late constantly in motion of trying to take care of everything. I found out early on that the majority of Speech Therapists all share the common trait of Type A personality to which I too join that group so there is no solace of laid back attitude at our monthly meetings. So where does this laid back attitude exist? Suprisingly enough I found it with a trip to the dentist. The dentist-I know! For those of you that are aware of my fear of sitting in the chair with the bright light shining at me and latex gloves checking out every crevix of my mouth only to hear that I again will be hearing the sound of a drill and another silver coloring will be added to my mouth should be just as surprised as I was. I found myself sitting in the leaned back chair Saturday morning with different people poking and prodding in my mouth, yelling out numbers to be recorded, and saying words that I know do not exist in Webster's Dictionary. The numbers; referring to the state of my gums around each tooth, were what I had heard in the past but the reaction to which was very different. A previous visit to the dentist had them upset with my "4" as a person my age should not be experiencing something that high, etc. Here the hygienist didn't even flinch when she said 4 outloud and instead said that it was not big deal and they only really get concerned with "5." Well I reached that magic number too and still-very mellow reaction and a mild scolding to floss more. When the dentist walked into the room I was waiting for my fate to be handed to me, already hearing the drilling of the needle, my arm hairs beginning to raise. But what she informed me of was something minor and I had a choice of how to proceed. A choice! Yes I was given a choice of how invasive the next procedure was going to be. Where was this all those times when I would work myself up and almost be in tears of what I was told was going to happen next? Not only did I have a choice but I could have it taken care of "whenever was convenient." What-you mean they work around my schedule? I walked out with my little plastic bag filled with floss and a new toothbrush and felt relaxed and laid back after a trip to the dentist-not tense and scared for the life of my teeth like previous experiences had given me. So although I continue to search for the prominient showing of the west coast attitude, I can sleep soundly knowing that my first encounter came in the least expected (and one of the most feared) places-the dentist office.