workplayworkplayworkworkwork

This last weekend, I did a bit of birthday shopping on Saturday with Miss Natalie. She was shopping for her cruise to the Amazon with her mom. Dood, we shopped for 6 hours and only hit Ross and Target!

On Sunday, Chris, Tony and I went to Crystal. The snow was pretty nice. We are going again this Saturday for my birthday. Wheee! And then we are having a few friends over Saturday night for a small celebration of ME! Being Born! Yay!

Since the jet stream is finally cooperating, the snow hasn't stopped. Whistler has gotten tons of snow lately. We cannot resist the powder and will be making a trip up there next weekend. Yay! The lodging is pretty cheap, too.

The weekend after that, we hope to go back up to Mt. Baker. Gotta get in the snowboarding while we can!

Now that Trish is gone, I get to take care of the office manager duties. With that being said, I really shouldn't be taking the time to write this, but I must. :)

Oh! Congratulations to Rachel and Kevin! they are now the proud parents of little Aiden.

Also, thanks to the Davidson family for the REI gift certificate. It was put towards new snowboarding boots that are desperately needed :)

OK, back to work!

Oh Wait! The Good News!

The work drama will lessen soon! Both Alysa and Trish will be leaving at the end of this month! Yeah!

Where has the time gone?

Last weekend, a trip was made to the beautiful Whistler, British Columbia. Mother Nature decided to play nice and dumped a good portion of snow on us whilst there. Adrianne, Julie and I participated in the Roxy snowboarding camp for women. I learned a bunch of new things like jumping! I fell in a tree well while doing a tree run. Oops. No worries - I wasn't hurt and had my whole group to help me out.

As always, tons of fun happened. Except, well, Julie fractured her thumb. It's minor, but is still The Suck.

Mother Nature is now giving us a bit more snow. Tony, Chris and I will be venturing up to Mt. Baker on Saturday evening for a fun-filled day of snowboarding on Sunday. Wheee!

My time has been filled with the random stuff. Work keeps us busy as always. Movies are watched often. I started seeing a new chiropractor to help with the sciatica. She rocks. I still need to get up off my ass and get back to the gym. We fell out of the routine in a hard way.

OK, must get back to work. Happy Friday!

Blue Hair!

My newest color!

California is getting all of our rain

It isn't fair. Chris and I went snowboarding on Saturday at Crystal. The mountain was pretty void of people and snow. This has been a sad, sad winter.

Work has been uber stressful for Tony due to Alysa. She's just not easy to work with. I had my run-ins with her when she first started so now I only talk to her when I absolutely have to.

Due to the stress, we haven't been in the mood to do much except stay at home and watch movies. We did go out last night with the peeps for dinner and drinks. Tonight, we are going to Chris' for movie night. After we launch our new product, we're hoping that much of the stress will be alleviated. We haven't gone to the gym in forever. I miss working out. We originally stopped due to the NY resolution crowd. We hope it has died down by now.

OK, I should get back to work. Oh guess what? I changed my hair color! Tony picked this one out - electric blue. It's very different than the blue i did in 1998. Yes, I'll take some pictures soon.

New Year's Eve Fun!

OK, so it's a little late, but here you go!

Mt. Baker fun

After work on Friday, Tony & I picked Julie up and went over to Natalie's house to meet with her and Chris so we could caravan up to Mt. Baker. We made it to our cabin around 10/10:30. Shortly thereafter, some friends of Natalie's came over to hang out for awhile (Elan, Bryan, Eugene, Raven). Somehow, all of us fit into the hot tub at the same time. Needless to say, about half of the water spilled out. Due to complications, that was the last time the hot tub got used this weekend :)

Saturday morning, we arose early and headed to the mountain for snowboarding fun. We met up with friends staying in another cabin (Jill, William, Scott, Gray). We dispersed around the mountain in the morning, met for lunch where we ran into Elan and then snowboarded for the rest of the day. It snowed all day! That night, Adrianne, Josh, Jason, Kristen and Wyatt showed up. A few more people showed up to Elan's cabin, too, and they all came over for potluck and board game fun.

Julie & I headed out to the mountain before the rest of our cabin on Sunday morning. It's hard to get so many people up and motivated at 8am! It didn't really matter since Tony, Chris, Adrianne & Josh were snowshoeing/boarding and not taking the lifts that day. With all of the snowfall on Saturday, we got some excellent fresh powder runs in the morning since we were on a lift that wasn't open on Saturday and wasn't groomed. It was so rad. We boarded so hard that day and now are exhausted. Hiking all day wore Tony out, too. We met up with about half of our total group and ate some yummy italian food before heading back to Seattle.

To sum it up, it was a successful snowboarding trip. It's been snowing in the mountains around here and it looks like Stevens Pass will be open this weekend. It actually snowed here this morning but it didn't stick. Keep sending your good snow thoughts because it seems to be working now!

Thank you for the good snow thoughts!

Utah was a-okay. I got to meet all of Tony's immediate family. They are all pretty nice and laid back. We took his 10-year-old nephew snowboarding for the first time on Friday. He picked it up so quickly and was doing extremely well by the end of the day. He's converted now - let's just hope his parents support him in his new sport. Tony has dreams of him being in the Olympics one day :)

Utah is weird, though. The mormons are all about the big family and they look down on people that aren't mormon nor have large families. A family with 4 kids is considered small. It's quite obvious why Tony had to leave because he just couldn't fit in.

Work is still busy but not as busy which is why I have time to write this now :) I spent most of my night last night organizing pictures. There is still a lot for me to do but I will get them up as soon as I can.

Mother Nature decided to be nice to us and is dumping a fair amount of snow on Mt. Baker. It's not record snowfall, but it will make for some nice snowboarding. They got 32" last weekend and are expecting about 16" more this weekend. Everyone is very excited!

So I checked out plane tickets for Memorial Day weekend and it looks like I'll be able to afford to go down to San Diego w/o taking any time off from work. Although my boss is okay with us taking time off, other people in the office have been making a big deal about it. They are so weird!

It would be nifty if Mom planned to visit San Diego at the same time *hint*hint*

More snow, please!

Whistler fun! Pictures coming sometime in the future.

We are leaving tomorrow night after work for a long weekend in Utah to visit Tony's family. We'll also be going to Park City for a day of snowboarding. Wheee!

OK, back to work. I hope to get on the computer more when I get back from this trip. Next weekend, we are going to Mt.Baker for a weekend stay in a cabin with many friends. Please send lots of snowfall thoughts our way!

I always have good intentions

Hm. I wrote this on the 18th and it didn't publish yet. Let's try this again...

A List of Things To Do always sits in my head. It is constantly growing. There are not enough hours in the day.

My days of work are filled with no free time on the internet. I have fallen behind on correspondence and I don't like it one bit. I have to decide between writing in here or writing back to someone. Yet, my chances to do either are rare.

The conditions for snowboarding have only worsened. It has been raining here like crazy and we've been experiencing record high tempurature. We have adventures on the weekend. I should be more diligent about writing about them here before I forget them. Although the conditions have sucked, we've still managed to go snowboarding every weekend. However, there will be no snowboarding this weekend since all of the resorts have closed due to the rain & warm weather.

What is up with this weird weather everywhere?

Apologies

Allow me to apologize for not responding to your email or calling you back yet. I will do it soon. Promise.

I have a head cold. Last night, Tony gave me Nyquil and I passed out in 10 minutes. I had plans to Get Things Done, but that didn't happen.

It is supposed to start snowing in Seattle tomorrow afternoon. It's been very cold here (for us) this week.

Work was filled with icky drama last week, but all seems better now. It's amazing what a long weekend will do for people's perspective.

Work,work,work,play,work,playplay

Work has been very busy and my nights have been filled with non-computer stuff.

Christmas was fun and relaxing.
Work has been "interesting."
New Years Eve was tons of fun. We had a few people over and then we wandered out for a night of debauchery. I would show you the pictures, but mom would see them and then i would be embarrassed!

Saturday was spent cleaning and recovering.
Sunday was spent snowboarding at Crystal. The conditions were less than ideal, but they weren't scary like Whistler.

Oh wait! I almost forgot the news that will make all of my family members worry! Christmas weekend, we got up insanely early and drove up to Mt.Baker. it was me, tony, natalie & evgenia. We met up with Chris when we got there. On Evgenia's second run, she broke her arm! Tony & I were out on another part of the mountain and didn't find out until we met up with Natalie for lunch. Nat & I got the car and pick evgenia up from the medic station and drove her back to Seattle. She was admitted into the hospital and had surgery the next day. Yes, her arm was that badly broken. She now has a plate in it.

2 friends have broken themselves this year already! It is so The Suck!

p.s. happy new year!

Then God is 7

Oh lordy I am grumpy today. I slept poorly last night due to a snoring Tony and mind that would not shut off. *grump*

Although there is no new snow, we may still go snowboarding this weekend and just deal with the crappy conditions. It's too hard to wait! We don't have any other plans for the holiday. It's all about the low-key.

This weekend was filled with pinball playing fun and dancing fun. Tony & I stayed in last night and watched the movies Safe and A Simple Plan. Both were very uplifting. NOT!

OK, lots of work to do.

Comfortable seats for my bruised butt

Tony & I are now the happy owners of a 2001 Volvo V70 Cross Country wagon. It is a joy to drive and ride in! We already have a snowboard rack on top and it's been put to use. It holds lots and lots of gear which is why we chose it.

Last week, I had a head cold. I got over it. That's the way it goes.

After work on Friday, we met up with Chris and Ira and drove up to Whistler. I am happy to report that our car easily carried 4 people, 6 snowboards and the 4 people's luggage & other gear. It was a comfortable 5-hour ride.

On Friday, it rained instead of snowed. That made for very unfavorable conditions on the mountain. It was icy like I've never seen before. Ira had just waxed his board. All signs point to trouble. He broke his wrist before he got to do one run. Poor Ira.

The only other injuries all weekend were bruises. By the end of Saturday, I was trying to board on solid ice and it didn't work so well. It was not fun. However, it did not stop me from going out on Sunday. Things were better on Sunday since I knew what runs to avoid. I remembered how to turn properly and that made me very happy.

Since the conditions were crap, we left Monday morning instead of going back out for a 3rd day. As we were leaving, it started to snow. Typical. Even though the conditions sucked, we still had tons of fun.

It's been unseasonably warm here which means no more snow for now. We'll be refraining from snowboarding this weekend since the conditions will still be poor. I'm just hoping that we'll get to go out on X-mas day.

Work has been keeping me busy which is why I haven't posted much lately. Sorry about that.

Damn

something to tell but I can't say until it's actually in our possession...

No snowboarding this weekend :(
Only shopping instead.
Picked Chris up from the airport on Friday. We all went out for dinner that night and then went back to Chris' to view his pictures from his trip.
On Saturday, it felt like I was coming down with a cold, so we stayed in.

Not much happened this weekend except for, well, maybe I'll write about it tomorrow.

The good, the bad, and the fugly

Amazingly enough, our house was in great shape by the time our guests arrived on Thursday. Tony & I made Tofurky, Tofurky gravy, gravy from scratch, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, a broccoli-parmesan dish and a spinach & asparagus salad. Everything was from scratch - Tony even made the dressing for the salad. We learned what recipe not to use again for gravy. Everything else turned out wonderfully. Sol brought more stuffing and the most delish pumpkin pie. Amanda brought a corn casserole that was straight from the south. Sandi & Jim brought pumpkin pie and cranberry relish. It was all so wonderfully yummy.

After our feast, we went over to the house where many friends live and hung out for awhile. Fun was had.

We were very lazy for the rest of the weekend. Nothing interesting to report.

Weird things are happening at work. People clashing. Arguments happening. Disappointment. Why can't everyone just get along?

The snow is falling in the mountains and we hope to get out this weekend. Next weekend will be our first trip to Whistler this season. I am so very excited! It's so nice not to have to worry about figuring out how we are going to pay for lift tickets and food when we go snowboarding like we did last season. Being gainfully employed is great!

Yarg! I am a Pirate!

I've had one too many tootsie rolls today. Why aren't they all gone yet?

My brain is thinking about all I need to do at home tonight. Our place is not ready for people to see on Thursday. I must finish finding places for all of my crap, go grocery shopping, clean, cook and bake. I would like to be on my way to the gym right now, but Tony is in the middle of something. I will be patient.

Tony made a little movie out of some of the footage he took at Mt. Baker on Sunday. Watch it here. It doesn't look like any local resorts will be opening this weekend afterall :(

Guess what? Exciting news! I got a raise today! Yay! It also looks like I'll be getting to do some Project Management. Very exciting for me!

Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Mt. Baker is opening on Sunday! Tony & I reserved a cabin for Saturday night :) I am so excited to try out my new gear.

This is going to be a busy winter. We have an out-of-town snowboarding trip planned each month and are talking about going to Utah in February.

Working out has been going really well. Tony decided that he really likes weight training, so we stopped doing as much cardio and started doing more weight training. I just know this will help with soreness from snowboarding. I guess we'll find out on Sunday!

I am so excited about getting back out on the mountain. I have missed it so much this summer!

Carrots make my hair orange

I put things in my mouth that I know are not good for me whatsoever. Like a brownie. Tony bought us Vietnamese Iced Coffees this morning and also purchased a couple of brownies. It took me all day to eat mine.

And then we had pizza for lunch.

Tony is a bad influence! Bad Tony!

I'm eating carrots now in hopes that my body will forgive me for the rest of the crap I've put into it today.

Doodeedoodeedoo

Friday night, Tony & I had our first visit to 24-hour Fitness. That night, we were scheduled to meet with trainers. Well, Tony's trainer didn't show up. All we did is talked to the trainer I was scheduled with. She didn't take us through a routine or anything. It was a waste of time. We didn't have much time to work out that night since we had plans to go to Sunny's for a movie night.

Saturday, we had brunch at Broadway Grill and ran a couple of errands. After getting back home, I unpacked for a couple of hours and then we went to the gym for a little bit. Before heading home, we picked up some food at the grocery and invited Chris over for dinner. He hung out for awhile and then Nat & Cody came over to retrieve him for a night of dancing. I would have liked to have joined them, but we are watching our funds right now. After they left, we just hung out and watched the TV.

We stayed in on Sunday; most of my day was spent unpacking. Amanda came over that night and brought Ju-On (the original The Grudge). It wasn't as scary as the American version, but it was fun to see the similarities & differences.

Yesterday was our first long workout at the gym. I made Tony use the weight machines and I made him work hard! He was pretty exhausted afterwards, but I think it was because he hadn't eaten enough all day. Before we went to the gym, I had my second appointment with the endocrynologist. They drew some blood and will test it to see if I'm on the right dosage of medication. He was surprised that I hadn't lost any weight since starting the medication. *shrugs*