New Year's Eve

I was excited this year for New Years Eve. My friend Rachelle and I had decided to go to the bowling alley for their Monte Carlo night. We didn't feel like going out with all the crowds and we know we always have fun bowling. Dinner was included and they made some excellent prime rib. We were put into groups and then they started explaining what we would be doing. I had never done Monte Carlo before and to tell you the truth was lost most of the night! They had a paper that described the ways you could win, but it was hard to figure out. They had colored pins and you could win money if knocked down certain pins or left certain ones standing up. They had an MC who walked around teasing with people and helped let you know if you had a chance at winning money on your lane. It wasn't what I had expected, but Rachelle and I made the best of it. I did end up winning $10 though! Of course, they made a big deal about it turning midnight and passed out noisemakers. We had thought we would go out after bowling, but both of us were really tired and just wanted to sleep!

Right before midnight

We did make the holiday more exciting before the evening even started. We had been talking about this for a couple of weeks and just spontaneously decided to go through with it and not tell anyone until afterwards. After Rachelle got off work at 4:30, we drove down to Tri-Cities and had our noses pierced!!! I watched Rachelle get hers done first and still went through with mine. There was only a little sting and my eye watered up briefly, but other then that it was fine. The next couple of days my nose was pretty sore. I still love it everytime I see it and when it sparkles throughout the day. I told my sister about it and sent her a picture. She loved it and couldn't wait to see it in person. I decided not to tell my parents and waited for them to notice it. They were pretty cool with it, so I was glad about that. Most people didn't notice it and we were so bummed. People thought we already had one since a lot of people have them nowadays. Now I'm so used to it that someone will mention it to me and I will almost forget that I have one! When my dad noticed it, he asked why I did it and I said I wanted to. It was as simple as that, just because! Isn't it so cute!!!

Christmas

Christmas was a little different this year for me. I didn't have to physically go into work, but I was on call. Starting at 7am that morning until 3:30pm, I was on backup for the tech who was working. When they got off I was on call the rest of the day until 7am the next morning. Needless to say, I couldn't go anywhere for the holiday. It actually worked out just fine because the weather had been awful and tons of snow had been dumped making traveling anywhere iffy.

My parents and I talked about it and came up with a plan. They came down Christmas Eve and we made the tradional Clam Chowder. They spent the night and we fixed breakfast in the morning. We took some to Andrea, who had to work that day. We opened gifts, spent time relaxing and then they left about 1pm to head back home.

Christmas Eve Clam Chowder dinner

Random pic of mom and I

My dad and I in our black hats

I only got called in about 3 times which wasn't too bad. When Andrea got home from work, we were able to eat our snack foods we had bought. Then we took our time opening our gifts to each other and didn't get interrupted by me having to go to the hospital. Even though I rather would have traveled somewhere and had all the family together, the holiday wasn't too bad.Sparkling cider

New Jewelry

New earrings

Moving to a new apt

Towards the end of last year, my friend Andrea and I had been talking about moving into a two bedroom apt together. She is wanting to go back to school and it would save both of us money. I talked to my apt manager right away to put the bug in her ear. We were thinking it might be another 3 or 4 months before one came available. However, we were able to move into one in the middle of December! It came open so suddenly, that I didn't get myself ready and had to pack at the last minute. Of course, it didn't help that I got bronchitis during that time and had to put packing on hold. We were so glad we were able to get moved in before Christmas and somewhat get things organized. The apt has been wonderful! It's great having two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We decided that I would pay a bigger half of the rent to help her save more money. So because of that, I got the bigger bedroom with two closets and an attached bathroom! She said she didn't have enough clothes to fill up two closets, I don't seem to have a problem! Haha! Even though we both were used to living on our own, it's great knowing someone else is home. We also made sure to talk about our schedules before the move. We both knew we were involved in different things and have different friends. So sometimes we only see each other at work in passing when we have plans for after work and don't see each other. She is an early to bed person and I love being up late so sometimes we don't see each other a lot at night. There are some differences, but we have a lot in common and have had some great heart to heart talks. So far everything is going great!

Kania Clinic

I decided at the beginning of November of 2008 that I was going to put my notice in at the Kania Clinic in Tri-Cities. I had been working there since January and mainly did it to help pay off my school loan as quickly as possible. I was getting towards the end of my loan and decided that driving back and forth to only work four days a month wasn't worth it anymore. I hadn't been there a long time, but I really liked the people there and was going to miss them. I was looking forward to being able to have that extra day to get things done. Now I have three days off in a row!Natalie, Me and Sally

Sally, Nicole and Me

Me and Sally

Halloween

This year I was looking forward to Halloween because a bunch of friends and I were going to dress up and go out. It had been so long since I had dressed up. Rachelle and I had been planning this for months before and kept picking up little things here and there for our costumes. I was able to get off an hour and a half early from work that night. Thank goodness since I used all that extra time working on my hair and makeup. We had practiced my makeup several time before, but it was always someone else doing it for me. I was a little nervous, but so happy with the results and how it turned out.

Trying out different eye makeup ideas. I didn't go with this look.

The finished look!
Celeste(Vampire), Barbara(Marilyn Monroe) and Me(Goddess)
Rachelle(School girl) and Me
Lucy(Catwomen) and Me

We all met up at a place called the Pheasant in Hermiston that had a live band and dancing. We all just sat around and talked and laughed and took lots of pics. Then when a good song came on, we were out on the dance floor!

It was great to act like a kid again and go crazy with your costume and makeup. We are already planning for next year and maybe a party instead.

Portland with Andrea

My friend Andrea, from the hospital had been planning for a couple of months to take a trip down to Portland. We wanted to go to the zoo and also to the Roloff farm, the family from the show "Little People, Big World" on TLC. So we decided to head down Oct. 12 and stay for a couple of days. I had been telling my friend Chelsie, who lives in Portland about the trip and she was so excited and was able to join us.

We took off early Sunday morning and went straight to Chelsie's apt to pick her up. We went right to the zoo and spent a couple of hours walking around and taking pics. Then we headed down to the Roloff farm. Andrea and I were so excited because we have watched the show and were hoping to see the family and maybe get some pics. Chelsie had never seen the show and thought we were hilarious how excited we were getting. We spent a couple of hours there and had a blast! We were able to get some pics with Zach, Matt, Matt's parents and Molly. Then we got pics of Jeremy and Jacob from a distance. The only person we didn't see was the mom, Amy because she was at a speaking engagement. We were also able to go on a tour of their property and see everything they talk about on the show. After we met up with Colby, who Chelsie and I went to school with for dinner and bowling.

On Monday, Andrea and I met up with Brad (ex-boyfriend) at Bridgeport, a really cool shopping center. We had breakfast and just walked around going in and out of stores. Then Andrea and I headed to IKEA!!! I love that store and was excited to take her because she had never been there before. We took our time walking through and each bought a little of this and that. After getting back to Chelsie's, we changed into some more dressy clothes and went to dinner reservations at The Melting Pot. After dinner, we picked up our bags and stayed at Brad's that night.

The next day Andrea and I had planned to go to OMSI, but it didn't work out. Instead we waited for Brad to get back from the gym and then the three of us went to breakfast and a movie.

The night we stayed with Brad, I was able to sit down with him and talk over things. It had been almost two months since seeing him and we both knew things were on the way out. We had a great talk and decided to remain friends. I think the distance was a big problem and we just were headed in different directions in our lives. We text each other occasionally and keep in touch. All together, the trip was a blast and Andrea and I already want to plan another one somewhere!!

Norwegians

After a very long nine years, Kristen and her husband Rune and their three children were coming from Norway for a visit. This trip had been planned for almost a year and we were so excited to finally have them come in the flesh!

I was able to be there when they flew into Pasco and spend a couple of hours with them before I had to head back home to work the next day. Then they came to visit me and see my apt a couple of days later. I was able to make it to church the next Sunday and then we went and had our family picture taken. We were also able to go out to the Country Mercantile in Pasco and the kids picked out pumpkins to carve. We had dinner at Chinese Gardens, which was so good and I don't remember the last time I was even there. We had a bonfire with s'mores and put candles in the pumpkins. Of course we also had to spend a day shopping! We started out with the guys with us, but eventually it was too much for them and we ladies forged ahead.

Even though I was only able to spend a couple of days with them, I had a great time. Them and my parents continued on to Cannon Beach for a night and then to Seattle for their last weekend. Now I believe the next time we will see them is when we make the trip back to Norway! It's been 16 years since I have been there and I would love to go back and experience it again.

Seattle

I finally made the trip up to Seattle at the end of September to visit my sister and family. It had been way too long and I don't want to let that happen again.

I got there around lunch time on Sunday and Jen had made an appointment for me to get a makeover at Bare Essentials! It was great! I loved it so much that I decided to buy everything they used on me. What an awesome investment and I still love the new makeup. That night we went to church and then met up with my cousin Lisa and my aunt Beth for dinner.

On Monday, Jen had to go to work. I got ready and walked down to have lunch with her. We ate in Post Alley near Pike Place Market. Then I hung out downtown shopping and walking around until Jen got off work. We went to Anthropologie and it is now one of my favorite places! Jen got a new lampshade and I tried on fun dresses. We then went and saw the movie, "The Women" and ate popcorn and candy for dinner! Hehe!

On Tuesday, I went downtown again to meet Jen for lunch. This time I walked back up to the apt and up QueenAnne hill! I must have been nuts! I was so out of breath, sweating and sore after that climb. I got my exercise for the next month after that! We made it a lazy night and just hung out at the apt downloading music to each others ipods. My sisters neighbor, Margaret came for a visit and we had lots of laughs.

The next morning Jen and I headed to our customary breakfast at Noah's Bagels. Then I dropped her off at work and headed back to Tri-Cities. I helped my parents with last minute things to get ready for our company from Norway to fly in that night!

Journey Concert

In Northbend

As I was looking back through my old posts, I realized that I never shared about the awesome concert I went to in September with my friend Rachelle. About 4 months before the concert, I heard something on the radio that caught my ear. I decided to look it up and found out that Journey, Cheap Trick and Heart were going to be performing together in Seattle. I had to jump at the chance to see them and my friend Rachelle from work was just as excited as I was. I was able to get that Friday and Saturday off from work, however I was nice enough to keep my call Saturday night.

We took off Friday morning and headed straight to North Bend to go shopping at the outlet mall. We took our sweet time going from store to store and had a great time. Then we headed to the hotel to check in and fix ourselves up for the concert. We took off later then what we wanted and boy was that a mistake. We got stuck in traffic for over an hour and were late getting into the concert. Thank goodness we didn't know Cheap Trick very well and that was what we missed out on. We got right in and decided to buy our souvenir shirts before there was a long line. I don't know if we had great seats or if it was the amphitheater. Rachelle and I had a blast! We took total advantage of jumping and screaming and singing at the top of our lungs! Both Heart and Journey were awesome! The new lead singer for Journey did a great job and had so much energy.

At the concert!

We were told we couldn't bring in cameras and so these pics are taken with my cell phone. The close-ups are from two big screens on either side of the stage.