November Favorites

Everything here in the Pacific Northwest is done changing colors, trees are starting to get naked, and it.is.getting.cold. I am not naive to the winter weather here, Andrew and I visited last November, but golly. It sure is a different kind of cold! The wind just cuts through all the layers you have on, and makes it feel like you've gotten the wind knocked out of your lungs. If that isn't pleasant enough there is usually a cold mist pelting you in the face at 40mph too :) It is manageable, and I refuse to let the grey get to me! My vitamin D gummies have become the highlight of my mornings. Here are my favorite things as of recently.

•  Reading this book. Oh my gracious! IT IS SO GOOD! I'm not even an avid reader or anything, but this is an awesome one. I've tried to start reading before I go to bed, instead of hauling my laptop around and watching The First 48, because I heard its bad for you and whatnot with the lights from the screen and your sleep cycle blah blah. If you haven't read it, I would check it out! Or do it the easy way and watch the movie.

•  How I Met Your Mother is probably one of my favorite shows ever. Like many shows, Andrew got me hooked on it because he got hooked on it. It is my understanding that during a deployment there is a lot of movie/TV show watching and downloading, maybe or maybe not illegally. Andrew's collection now includes all the seasons of lots of different shows and about 100 movies. When he leaves his hard drive here to go to air drop school, that means I watch all the episodes systematically, one season at a time :)

•  Spending my weekends volunteering. Not only does it give me a great sense of charity but its awesome experience to get acquainted with how the aquarium works and the people there as well. Talking to guests and watching kids use their brain never gets old. Volunteering also gives me sweet opportunities to see the aquarium after-hours, which is an experience in itself. The underwater dome (pictured) is the most amazing, tranquil place when the lights are out. I can't wait to see what awesome things I get to do when I start interning!

• Trying not to be a Grinch! Don't get me wrong, I love me some Christmas time. Giving thoughtful gifts is probably one of my all-time favorite things to do year round, and this time of year that activity gets its own little spotlight. In the recent years I just haven't felt that butterflyish feeling right after Thanksgiving like most people seem to have. Mine usually sinks in right before Christmas eve haha! Better late than never. It is hard to get excited when there's nobody to hang lights with, chop down (yes we had planned on chopping our own tree this year!) and decorate a tree, make cookies, and wrap presents with. All those little events along the way that are like the pre-game to Christmas. Just like fall though, I WILL get that feeling, even if it takes a bit to sink in.

Alright, time for me to get out of here. It's been great November, we'll see ya next year!

Cheers,

KLM

K is for Ketchup and Mustard

Not literally ketchup, but catch up :)

Here I am, readjusted to being in solo mode L It was only a short reunion for Andrew and I, but at least this time he isn’t as far away, overseas, and dealing with war conditions.  He is busy doing an air drop upgrade, being a stud C-17 pilot, as usual. Long distance training is a lot easier for me to deal with on a daily basis; I can call him whenever I want …which may or may not be a good thing for him ;), and we’re only a plane ride away. Even though I probably won’t see him till Christmas time because of scheduling stuff, it puts my heart at ease to know that seeing him is not out of my control, unless they recently started border patrol in western Oklahoma. Here we are on a Sunday outing before he left, at the Hawk's Nest, which is a fun place to watch the Seahawks lose. God forbid we take a serious picture.

Other than that, life is good! I’m puppysitting this week for a coworker who is in Hawaii while it rains like the dickens here. Ruby is a great listener. And she smiles at me when I sing in the car.

I have no plans for Thanksgiving, besides watching the parade and football with Ruby, and eating a turkey sandwhich. Andrew and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago so we could experience the whole sha-bang of cooking together, which I was really looking forward to before we learned of his training dates. I meant to write a blog about it but got caught up in the readjustment of being by myself and work and whatnots. It was about 7 hrs worth of cooking: Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, stuffing, homemade gravy, pumpkin cream cheese truffles (courtesy of a Pinterest recipie that WAS A LIE that didn’t turn out at all like described. WARNING: They are NOT pretty like the picture shows. Not at all.), and apple pie! Almost everything from scratch besides the stuffing, rolls and cranberry sauce. It was exhausting but definitely fun. Here is Andrew with his beloved turkey. The second time he did this pose, post cooking, the wings fell off. He was so proud of all the crap he stuffed into that thing. It all paid off, because it was yummy, so thank you Chef Barrier!

The one thing that Thanksgiving reminds me is that I dislike when people embrace thankfulness for one day. Why can’t people have that attitude, and the general holiday spirit all year round?? November through December is great for some people, but personally, the holidays serve as a reminder to be gracious, giving and kind, no matter how close the date is to December 25^th.

Besides our giant Thanksgiving feast, I have been cooking a lot lately, who knows why. Probably because leftovers are easiest to pack for lunch. My great and lovely friend Kelli always raves about this Pioneer Woman website, and all the recipes, so I tested it out and look forward to finding more goodies there. Here’s the lasagna I tried, it was yum! And Andrew approved.

Finally, I added some more pictures from Andrew's camera to the previous post about our trip to Canada, so go check them out! Until next time friends...

Cheers,

KLM

T is for Tea?

ANDREW IS BACKKKK! He surprised me at work last Thursday with flowers and everything :) After a relaxing dinner and day of shopping we began our journey into Ooooo Canadaaaaa. The trip began with a drive downtown, and a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, which is across the Sound. So here we are, in a car, on a boat, in the bay, goin to Bainbridge!

We then drove about an hour and a half northerly to Port Angeles, where we caught our 2nd ferry, sans car, and arrived in Victoria.

If you're not familiar with Puget Sound geography,  here's a general idea of our path. The drive was just gorgeous, as I have found with most things in this part of Washington, and it was nice to enjoy simple things like being in the car with Andrew.



After a full day of traveling, we finally arrived in beautiful Victoria! And then Andrew told me a surprise he had been keeping from me, and pointed out where we were staying! The Fairmont Empress......

Which was right across the street from their Parliament building.....

Amazing right? Our hotel room had it's own little fireplace and the staff were willing to do anything to make your stay a nice one. As you can see, the outside of the building was covered with ivy, and apparently, it too, changes color in the fall. Obsessed. I was obsessed with it. So.BEAUTIFUL! Here are just a couple of the many, many, pictures I took, solely of the ivy.

Obsessed I tell you. I loved staying at The Fairmont, not just for the ivy, or the service, but the atmosphere! Don't you always wonder what it would be like to live in a castle? Well, I do. And I figure this is about as close as I'll get. Though I don't know what I would do with alllllll of those rooms, while walking down the long, curvy hallways it was fun to think about. Until Andrew brought up The Shining and made me nervous to turn corners in fear that there would be two girls on tricycles at the end of the next corridor. Nice Andrew. Real nice.

Besides exploring the hotel, with it's own restaurants and shops inside the place, we mostly just walked around the town. The hotel was within walking distance of the ferry dock, and tons of shopping and great eating opportunities! We got takeout one night and sat in our room to watch American football, found a brewery (Sorry Canada, your beer sucks)....

Ate some salmon nachos, and waffles. Fancy waffles are quite popular there....

Found a Christmas store with an anal retentive owner who allowed no photos and minimal handling in his 6,000 square feet of PURE CHRISTMAS. (Yea I took one anyways HA!)

and finally, on our last day there, our favorite part of the trip, we had afternoon tea :)

We dressed up nicely, and had the opportunity to head to The Fairmont's very own, Tea Room. The tradition has been around for over a century and it was an amazing experience to be apart of. This link tells you a little more about the "quintessential Victorian experience," and what is involved in afternoon tea. Even though the tea was caffeinated, both Andrew and I found it to be super relaxing and felt like we could have sat there all day chatting and calling each other things like "dahling" and "my sweet." As a gift, we received some tea of our own, and I'll have to say, I look forward to drinking it again. Andrew now wants his own tea set.

Of course we, nay, one of us can never take a serious picture, so I had to opt for one on my own as we left town. Until next time Victoria!

Cheers,

KLM

P.S.