Bored

I feel like my life has been in the slumps lately. I know a lot has to do with my current work project being slow but I just can’t seem to get myself out of it.

I’ve been stuck in Phoenix for the past year and there seems to be no end in sight. I just want to get out of it and move on.

I keep telling myself I have so many exciting things coming up in the next few months that I shouldn’t be so down. I’m going to Napa with my friends, I’m getting to see a girl from my pledge class get married and go to New Orleans, and I’m getting to go to New York for the first time to run the New York marathon. That’s pretty exciting stuff.

I just can’t seem to cheer up.

So in an effort to make my life more exciting I’m thinking of taking on a new hobby. Lately I have been reading lots of design blogs and DIY blogs and as someone who enjoys being very domestic, I wish I could sew. I’m an excellent cook and I’m able to cook some of the most complicated dishes, but ask me to hem some pants .. well let’s just say it’s going to be a disaster. That could be an option.

Another option is photography. I’ve always admired other cooks who are also excellent at photography and I think that would give me a new reason to keep up this blog. I cook all the time. But I stopped taking photos because they looked so dull in comparison to all the blogs I read on a daily basis.

Time to start looking in to sewing machines and cameras. We’ll see how it goes.

Trinity Alumni Association – Seattle chapter

Now I realize that I haven’t done a great job at this, but I happen to be President of the Seattle chapter of the Trinity Alumni Association. My duties as President began last summer when I was assigned 3 board members and the task of creating fun events around Seattle for alumni in order to ensure that alumni have life long connections with the university.

I had many good intentions, but I was never able to actually carry them out. After my lack of planning, the Alumni director at the university called me to discuss ideas. We decided on a sporting event. The alumni director, having much larger hopes than I do asked me to reserve a block of 25 seats at the Mariner’s game. 25? The most alumni that have ever attended an event was maybe 10. In addition to that the Mariner’s are a terrible team. No need to reserve that many seats. We decided to scale it back a little and waited to see what the response would be. After some glitches with the payment system we had 12 people buy tickets. Wow that’s exciting.

I was a little bit nervous about the game. What if the conversation was awkward? What if no one showed up? I needed to relax and just let it happen. I sent out an email to the group seeing if anyone wanted to meet up for drinks beforehand. No response. Was I going to be attending a game by myself? I’m not even that big of a mariner’s fan.

I arrived at the game 15 minutes before hand and found a woman already sitting in our section. She was someone new that I had not seen at events before so that was promising. She had moved to Seattle 2 year prior and was very friendly. A lawyer just like E. She was telling me how much she loved the city and that she wanted to give the alumni association a try. Soon 2 more people showed up, regulars, members that I had seen before. Both were very chatty and helped welcome our new member. Also Carson arrived bringing a girl who apparently graduated with me, but I didn’t know her. Also a girl who graduated the year before me showed up. We had a great range of graduates. 4 from the 2000- 2009 era, 3 from the 1990 – 1999, and 1 from 1980 – 1989 years. There were also 2 guests who were non alumni and 2 no shows.

Everyone was really friendly and the conversation flowed naturally just as I had hoped it would. The best part, the Mariner’s won!

After speaking to the people at the event, I gathered feedback about other activities they would be interested in having. I can’t wait to meet more alumni!

Kayaking!

In an effort to be a better big and an attempt to get out and enjoy Seattle’s “summer” I decided to take Rachel kayaking on one of my days when I’m in town. Just my luck, that day turned out to be.. well.. not so summery and no so ideal for going kayaking. Nevertheless, we went anyway. I can’t really say that I’ve gone kayaking that much, it’s mainly been easy canoeing on Texas rivers. Washington is a different story. We decided on Aqua Verde paddle club by the University of Washington. I give Rachel props for recognizing right away that we had been to the campus earlier in the year for a tour.

It was quite a cold afternoon and even though Rachel and I both had jackets on we weren’t at all prepared for the events ahead. 

We got on our spill skirts and life jackets and we were then asked “Lake Washington” or “Arboretum”. “Oh Arboretum” I said. I always see people kayaking in that area. the man spouted off directions that involved cross and taking a sharp left and going down a narrow channel. At that point I had no idea what he was talking about. Rachel and I both understood that he meant go right toward the dock, but we later found out this was incorrect. Our first attempt into the open waters was a miserable failure. Rachel and I didn’t seem to get the hang of the paddling in sync. We splashed lots of water, turned the kayak around and tried again.

2nd time. Still a failure. But 3rd! 3rd times a charm. We made it out in to the open water of Lake Washington. We kept going right and kept looking for this narrow channel the man had discussed but we never found it so we just kept going.

Rachel is aware of the fact that I love to take pictures. Especially at events where she’s present. I want to document our big little adventures after all. After snapping two shots, my camera battery died.

Rachel was amused.

What’s that. I have a camera on my iPhone. No need to worry Rachel, I’ll get plenty of photos.

Here I am testing out the forward facing camera. I’m a dummy and failed to actually look at the camera and not the screen when taking the photo.

Smile!

It was good times. After getting done paddling Rachel and I were sufficiently soaked and cold. At first I thought oh we’ll dry off, but then I realized that without sun you can’t really warm up. We were going to be heading to downtown to E’s office to watch what we could of the Blue Angels show.

Once downtown Rachel and I were both shivering and quickly hoped in to the Seattle team store to buy a sweatshirt. I went for a lovely Sounders sweatshirt and Rachel went for a Seahawks jacket. Now slightly warmer and almost forgetting my phone (I left it on the floor of the store, silly me) we went and got some teriyaki (Rachel’s favorite) and headed up to Union 2. Our view was fantastic, despite it being grey out Rachel was able to see many of the planes fly right past us. She seemed to enjoy herself, but sadly we had to head back to Bothell.

I look forward to our next outing.

Also to note Rachel and I have been together now for over 2 years! I can’t believe it. She has grown so much since we first met.

iPad

One of the fun perks of being an Avanade employee is our extended benefits program. Extended benefits is meant to be a work/life balance fund to offset the fact that consultants work very long hours. In previous years when I wasn’t traveling I was using the fund for my personal trainer, but now that I’m never in town, I use it for fun things to help make traveling less painful.

Ever since the iPad came out I have been patiently waiting for extended benefits to reset. September 1st, new allowance and on September 1st I was waiting in line at the Apple store.

I could hardly contain myself when I got home, I quickly downloaded tons of apps. E was laughing at me because a few days before he had bought a new gadget and he spent the evening ignoring me and here I was completely ignoring him.

My review on the iPad. I love it. The apps are lots of fun, and I love that I can throw it in my purse and carry it everywhere. The one thing I really don’t like is the lack of multitasking that I’ve come to expect from the iPhone. But no worries, the iPad is getting a software update in November.

I’ve already traveled with it twice and it’s turned out to be a lot more handy than lugging out my laptop. I can also keep the iPad in my lap during take off and landing so I don’t have to mess with my bag.

A great purchase.

I also used some of my extended benefits money to buy a membership to the Alaska Airlines board room. Since I’m going to be traveling back and forth to Phoenix on Alaska it’s going to be a necessity to have a place to relax in the mornings. I’m lucky that I also have a President’s Club/Red Carpet Club membership since some Alaska flights take off from the dreaded N gates.

Goodbye Chicago!

Last week I said my final goodbyes to Chicago. Well I hope not final goodbyes. I loved Chicago and I hope to visit again soon.

Anyway.

Last week was my final week on P&G/IDP and now I am happy and enjoying some much needed R&R at home with E.

P&G was such a great opportunity to grow my career as well as get the opportunity to work on a such an awesome project. Olay & Pantene are brands that everyone recognizes and I played a big role on their web sites. I can’t believe that I have been in Chicago for almost a year. Time has flown by so quickly and now that it’s all over, I have to say I am going to miss not working in Chicago. Not only because Chicago was a great city, but my co-workers on the project made my time away from Seattle FANTASTIC.

So here’s to you Chicago

Goodbye:

Springhill Marriott,

Renaissance Marriott,

Courtyard Marriott (and you too Igor),

Mother Hubbards (thank you for many drunken nights and sports games)

Boss Bar,

O’Callaghans

Hopleaf (I loved the mac n cheese),

Goose Island Brewery (as much as I love your bourbon beer, it knocks me out)

English

Giordano’s (I’m so glad I had my last deep dish)

Gino’s East

Portillo’s

Hot Doug’s (so sorry I didn’t get to see you)

Millennium Park (I love how beautiful of a park you are)

Soldier Field (thanks for my very first NFL game! It was an experience)

Oprah!

Blommer Chocolate Factory (how fantastic is it to have a chocolate factory in downtown, it always smells like chocolate outside)

Lake shore drive – (the views are definitely in competition with Seattle)

7th on State (how I loved your noodles and your turkey burgers)

Xoco and Frontera Grill (thank you Rick Bayless for the delicious food)

Harry Caray and your quirky restaurant

The Bergoff (I will never be eating there again)

The Chicago River (how I loved seeing you through the seasons, the best was in the winter when you were completely frozen)

The L (if only public transportation was as wonderful in Seattle)

7-Eleven – thanks for being open late at night

Au bon – my morning coffee

Corner Bakery – one of my many favorite sandwich places

Hannah’s Bretzel – more sandwich love

Starbucks – Javier thanks for being such an awesome barista

Eno – God I love this wine bar

Bombay Wraps – Indian Food + Wraps = Fantastically delicious

Purple Pig

United Red Carpet Club

and Last and probably least, Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Many many hours wasted there

100,000 miles

I haven’t blogged in a long time. Longer than I’ve ever gone since I started this blog. So many things have happened since I last blogged:

Eric visited Texas with me, the first time since he was in high school:

We took Rachel on a tour of UW:

Eric made a 2nd trip to Texas and my sister graduated from college (again)

I went to Hawaii with Eric’s family

AND I turned 26!!

You would think that any of those events would have led to a lengthy blog post, but no. Today I am blogging about a big accomplishment; this week I flew my 100,000th mile for the year.

I am both thrilled and disappointed at this amazing feat. Yes I have missed out on many events with my friends.family.boyfriend, but I have gotten to experience many things that I know not many people will ever get to experience in their lifetime.

The best way to describe my life of travel is that I lead a double life. Monday – Thursday I am on auto-pilot for the most part. Wake up at 3:45 a.m. on Monday, have Armani take me to the airport (my car service guy), get myself through security and sit in the Red Carpet Club, eat breakfast, and wait until my plane boards. Having elite status means going first class which is a very nice perk, but I spend the entire Monday morning flight sleeping. I sleep the entire 4 hours. I’m not sure how I do it, but amazingly enough my body shuts down once I board the flight, and then wakes up right as we start our descent. Once I’m in Chicago my day is basically half over as it is noon before I get to work. I work laterish then drag my bags to my regular hotel, retrieve my bag of toiletries (which I store at the hotel over the weekend), grab dinner/hit the gym and then crash around 10.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are pretty basic. I wake up, maybe go to the gym. Grab oatmeal from the hotel (I eat it every morning) and work a normal day. On Wednesdays I try to have some work/life balance and I will go out to dinner with some of my co-workers.

Thursdays are fly home days. I leave work at 1:30, arrive at the airport, back through security, and then again to the Red Carpet Club. I don’t eat lunch on Thursdays so I can get in more work so at Red Carpet I normally eat carrots and ranch dressing and maybe a few yogurt covered raisins. If my flight is delayed (which they have been lately), I will enjoy a glass or two of wine. If my flight continues to be delayed I’ll get a sandwich and probably another glass of wine as at this point I could have been at the airport for 4 or more hours. Once on the plane I may doze off and I try to catch up on my weekly shows that I’ve downloaded on my iPhone. Sometimes I watch the movie if it’s good, but since they only change the movies at most every 2 weeks I’ve normally already seen it. Back in Seattle, Armani picks me up and Eric waits for me to come home so we can have dinner together. Then I try my best to stay awake until 10.

Then I’m home for 3 whole days. This is when my other life starts. For my 3 days home I’m a total home body. I love getting coffee with Eric in the mornings, snuggling on the couch watching a movie, and maybe having people over for dinner. Lots of people don’t understand why I don’t want to visit them on the weekends or if I don’t have any interest in staying out late. Quite simply, I’m tired. The last thing i want to do is spend my weekend doing something stressful or tiring. I just want to do what I want to do and I want to do it on my own time. On both of my trips to Texas I spent the weekends sleeping on futons and that was not my definition of “relaxing”. Even though I love my family, it’s too much for me to live out of a suitcase for 2 weeks straight. I like the downtime of coming home for the weekend and unpacking and pretending that I don’t have to hop on a plane again on Monday.

I’m not complaining necessarily, it’s just that my life has changed drastically in the last year. My traveling has afforded both me and Eric many luxuries. Free plane tickets, first class upgrades, free hotel rooms, hotel room upgrades, no wait in the security lines, airport lounge access, many free drinks. This 100,000 mile marker comes with even more benefits and I can’t wait to cash them in. Will we go to South America? Europe? Australia? Who knows. All I know is it will be free. Even though I’ve missed out on a lot this year, I know that it will be well worth it when I can spend a few weeks traveling and not have to worry about cost. Not many people can do that.

Officially a Westside Resident

Today I changed my address for all of my mailings which means… I’m officially a westside resident. It’s funny how if you would have asked me 2 years ago if I would move to the westside and my answer would be a huge NO. But here I am.

Part of this move to the westside is due to E living on the westside and me moving in with him.

We’re living in Queen Anne and I love it.

Here’s to many new adventures.

Proof I’m still Heather

I received this compliment today from someone who used to know me really well, but now is just someone who follows my life on facebook (much like I do most of my old friends).

you are amazing. your facebook is like a picture of success. just that you are seemingly able to be everything you wanted to be that you talked about. Out door adventures and such, hiking, biking, running

It totally made my day.

The other thing it did was to prove to me that I am in fact still the same person I’ve always been. Or at least the person I always wanted to be.

Over the past few years I’ve made many major changes in my life and people have often told me that I’ve changed and that I’m not the person I used to be. They tell me that I’m not the Heather they used to know, that somehow I’ve morphed in to someone else. Some people have even questioned the people I’ve chosen to be with and spend my time with and accuse them of manipulating me to be someone I’m not.

But here is someone that I knew very well for 4-5 years. Junior high through freshman year in college I talked to this person every single day. And to them, I’m the person I always talked about being. It’s no surprise to them that I am the way I am.

And it felt great to hear that.

Bandera Mountain

Pacific Northwest, how I have fallen in love with you. I must admit, this hasn’t always been the case because sure there are days when living in the northwest is … well.. shitty. But those days seem to be wiped from memory once you experience a good day in the Northwest.

March 6th just happened to be one of those amazing northwest days. This year we have been having an abnormally warm winter. Most of our days have been full of sun and mild temperatures. This has allowed for me and Eric to go hiking all through the winter.

This past weekend Eric and I drove out to Bandera Mountain. I have to admit, I didn’t know anything about this mountain and just chose it at random. The last time I chose a mountain I didn’t know very much about, both Eric and I were not in good moods for most of the hike. But I still decided to recommend the hike and we headed out.

The first portion was VERY BORING. Pretty flat, Not a lot of elevation gain. And I was wondering when we would be gaining the 3000 feet we were supposed to be gaining.

Finally we started seeing snow, proof that we were getting higher up. After a small field of snow we hit some rocks. At the rocks it was a scramble up. Lots of climbing on our hands and knees to get to the top. Really awesome.

Then we hit our first great view.

Yep.

Can’t beat that.

Why would anyone not love it here?

Then it was time for the up hill. At this point it was just a “make your own path” sort of hike and up we went.

The views were awesome from all sides.

After we got to the top, we spent a few minutes taking it all in before we descended.

After we got done, we spent most of the drive home talking about what a fantastic hike it was. It was by far my favorite.

Snowtubing

One of my goals this year was to be a better big to Rachel. I haven’t really done a good job of that this year, but no sense in giving up on that goal yet.

I had set up time with Rachel to go with Big Brothers Big Sisters to go snowtubing. Days before they canceled due to lack of snow. I don’t know if everyone is aware but Seattle has gotten NO SNOW this year. Absolutely zero. I thought I lived “up north”, isn’t snow what happens in the winter?

Anyway. I still wanted to go snowtubing and BBBS alternate event was flag football which I didn’t want to do. I knew there was snowtubing at Snoqualmie Summit and I had just been there a few weeks previous and I knew it wasn’t too far away.

Bright and early Saturday morning I picked up Rachel and we headed out to Snoqualmie.

For around $30 I was able to get two-2 hour passes for the tubing hill. Not bad.

Rachel loved the snowtubing, with the exception of having to drag her tube up the hill, which I made her do. I eventually gave in and let her ride the “lift” up.

I made a deal with her that every other run, she would have to carry her tube. I need to encourage lots of activity.

After about an hour and a half Rachel was done with the tubing and was tired.