touring seattle

we've been busyyyy around here! let's start at the beginning.

hello seattle!

the week before b started work, we bought a city pass [this thing is genius, it gives you discount admission to all the touristy stuff] and spent a few days downtown.

we went to the experience music project:

verdict: the boys liked the guitar sculpture, i liked the nirvana and jimi hendrix exhibits. how awesome is a museum dedicated to rock & roll?! answer: very awesome.

we went to the space needle:

verdict: we like tall landmarks [see also: empire state building, eiffel tower, etc etc] and this one delivered. it was windy at the top and seemed easy to throw stuff off the ledge. don't feel like i need to do it again, especially after learning about this secret from not martha.

we took a harbor cruise:

verdict: jack thought it was sooo cool to look over the side of the boat. for 20 minutes, anyway, and then he was over it. we learned about seattle's history, skyline and trivia facts while sailing through the sound on a gorgeous day -- it was totally worth it. loved it.

we went to ye olde curiosity shoppe:

verdict: this place was BANANAS. it's just a little shop on the pier, full of the most random crap you've ever seen -- real mummies, shrunken heads, bones, mermaids. we ran through it on our way home to get our cars from the transport service, but i wish i had more time to check it out.

we also spent our days hanging by the pool, unpacking, meeting up with friends passing through town, trying a few new restaurants and going to target daily. so basically, the usual. my mom came into town and then b started work on july 11!

moving pains

this photo was an outtake from our visit to the butterfly garden at the pacific science center last week, and i had to laugh when i saw it. this pretty much depicts the current status around here -- jack's over it and i'm constantly on the verge of feeling totally awkward. we're the two people in the back of the room, trying hard to blend in and pretend we're not feeling completely out of place.

things are fine, don't get me wrong. b LOVES his new job [hooray!], seattle is gorgeous, my mom is here and we've had a blast exploring the area. but moving is just tough.

i feel like i'm continually making small talk, pulling at threads to try to find a connection with someone -- anyone -- so i can feel like i have a tie to another person here. this inevitably leads to some slightly uncomfortable situations with the less-chatty types. [insert awkward silence here..."so...it rains a lot in seattle...?"]

maybe i should hand out a business card stating how many facebook friends i have and how many blog comments i get, so these new peeps know i'm not just some fully inept weirdo who can't carry on a conversation. sorry lady, you're the 12th person i've met today, you're not getting my A-game chit chat here.

i've now been to church 3x, an mba alumni dinner 1x, dinner with utah friends 2x -- but i still don't feel totally solid. i miss the comfort of our utah neighborhood, and my people.

not only that, i'm finally learning my way around town [thank the heavens above for the person who created GPS and then the other person who decided to put it on my phone], but it's still weird to get used to a completely new place. i have to figure everything out from scratch -- where my nearest mall/target/movie theater/church/etc. is, where the best place to park is, what's the fastest way to get there during rush hour.

we've moved a lot in our married life -- from LA to pasadena, pasadena to provo, provo to denver to provo, now provo to seattle -- so i also start comparing each new city to the old ones and wishing i could go back to one or the other. but then i realize, i've never actually hated any of the places we've lived -- in fact, i end up totally loving each one. i know i just need to give it time and settle in.

i learned a long time ago that you can't truly judge a new job, relationship, city, or apartment until you've been in it for six months -- so i guess we have five months to go before i have realistic results. so until then, i guess i better sharpen up my small talk skills. wish me luck.

jack's 1st

tuesday was our double birthday! jackal is now ONE YEAR OLD and we can barely believe it.

obviously i'm a little behind on blogging, so i'll be back with a big birthday recap [and other stuff] soon. but in the meantime...b made this totally awesome video about jack's first year of life. (you can see the video of his first six months here.)

the whole thing is amazing, but i especially like from 4:24ish to the end. enjoy!

back to work

today is b's first day of work! hooray.

my mom is here visiting, and i'm glad because i think i'd be crazy lonely if i didn't have her to hang out with. it has been SO fun having b around 24/7 the past three months and i really miss him already.

last week we did a bunch of touristy things and tried to squeeze the most out of b's last week of freedom, before he's chained to a desk for the rest of his life. [post on additional seattle adventures to come.] here's b and jack checking out the seagulls on the pier -- i love my boys:

grad school gave us the perfect little departure from regular life -- i loved his flexible school-year schedule and being able to meet him for lunch, having him come home in the middle of the afternoon, etc.

plus, the whole late-job-offer thing gave us three months of complete freedom after graduation. i wasn't too sure about this set-up at the beginning but it turned out to be perfect. our little family of 3 was together all the time and i loved it. we ran errands together [lucky for me, my husband loves target], watched parks & rec reruns in the middle of the day, went to the pool, etc. -- not to mention i got extra time to do things while j was awake because i had a built in babysitter :) jack has been so lucky to have his daddy here to play with him nonstop while he's at such a fun age. none of our other kids are going to be able to say that.

it's weird to have him gone, also, because the last time b worked full time -- i worked full time too. and we worked in the SAME place. we left at the same time every morning and rode the train into the city together. now, he leaves and i stay home. odd.

we miss you, b! have fun at work!

4th

pretty much every blog i've looked at over the past 24 hours has included an overload of jubilant, patriotic, red white & blue sun-soaked photos of all the amazing fun they had on the 4th of july. this is not one of those posts.

the 4th of july is my most favorite day of the year. i LOVE the fireworks, the bbq's, the celebration of america, the corny neighborhood parades. i love it. but this year...was a little off.

j woke up at 5:45 a.m. to squeeze an extra two hours out of the holiday [not really, it's because he's been staying up too late lately, i know this because dr. weissbluth is my sleep training guru] so i was already wiped. i also had a slight homesick hangover coming off the weekend...then spent a good five hours of the 4th of july trying to organize THIS:

... and i knew i was in for a rough day. then our festive 4th plans fell through and, not knowing anyone [or any good places to go] in town, we had no back-up. i was on the verge of tears, thinking this was the worst 4th of july ever, when all of the sudden everything perked up.

our 4th was rescued with by good friends [in town for an internship], a block party bbq, patriotic-sprinkled ice cream sandwiches, mini fireworks in the street and a baby double-fisting his first taste of watermelon. isn't that what the 4th is all about?

we went home while the sun was still shining so jackal could hit the sack. b and i turned on a movie [independence day of course] and i fell asleep at 930 p.m. without one real firework spied. what a night.

i might be a little depressed that my first 4th as a mom was just that: more mom-like than i prefer. but really, it wasn't so bad. i was with my family, i'm in a beautiful new city, i still got a home-grilled burger for dinner and i still love america. plus, we've already cemented plans to spend NEXT 4th of july in my very favorite independence day location [lake powell], so at least i have that to look forward to. hooray for the red white & blue!

hellooo seattle

we made it! hooray. after a crazy couple of moving days, we said goodbye to our friends, took one last swing on the playground, grabbed one last cafe rio salad and were on our way to the airport.

the new company [heretofore referred to on this blog as "msft" so as not to get me in trouble w/ the hubs and/or random google searches] generously flew us out in first class, which was cool since i've never flown first class before. but actually it turned out to be more like a cruel joke, because wow. you think it's bad flying on an airplane with a baby? try flying on an airplane with a baby when you're also sitting in the super-quiet VIP section with a bunch of stuffy, rich men who won't even smile at your adorable baby who is grinning right at them. yeah. i was pretty tense. also there were no warm towels so the wedding singer got my hopes up for nothing.

anyway, we're here. and the sun was shining when we landed! yay, thanks for the great welcome, seattle. i think you and i are going to do just fine together.

we're staying in temporary housing until our stuff gets here, hopefully this weekend. the apartment is a lot like the one we stayed in last summer. plus there's a jack-height window which the kid looooves. the first thing he does when he wakes up every morning is reach for the front door and grunt -- i swear, he'd be outside all day every day if he could. so it's nice for him to have his own little window to peek out of and think he's playing outside.

on today's agenda: pick up our new keys, go to the post office, make a home-cooked meal for dinner and possibly go to trader joe's. oh, and try to find my way around town without solely relying on my verizon navigator. new lives are hard to get used to.

out with the old, in with the new

everything is off the walls, we've got boxes lining our living room and my suitcase is packed. the movers come tomorrow and we fly out on wednesday! next chapter, here i come.

we've been busy cleaning out and organizing and it is really fun. i love feeling like i'm getting rid of clutter. HOWEVER this inevitably leads to me getting nostalgic and mopey when i have to throw things out. i get very attached to things, apparently. clothes that i've had since college, the couch we bought together when we were engaged, the desk b got when he moved to san francisco, etc. etc. -- even though i never wear the clothes anymore, the couch was falling apart, and i hated that desk.

b told me this commercial was meant for me. i shared it on facebook too, but it's hilarious:

speaking of getting rid of things, i don't think i ever blogged about b's car accident. a few months ago he was coming home from the gym and hit a car who turned right in front of him [pretty much an exact replica of the accident from last year]. he was completely fine, no airbags even, but turns out the car was totaled. MY car, the one we bought three weeks after we got married, the one i zipped all around southern california in. boo. b effectively destroyed both our california-license-plated cars in the two years we were in utah. all that remained from the corrolla were hubcaps:

today, we picked up a new car. thanks to a sweet insurance payment we didn't even have to pay out of pocket. [actually, b bought it a few weeks ago, but had to wait on various paperwork to go through. nothing like the last minute!] we're now the proud owners of two honda accords.

it's bittersweet, feeling like this part of life is coming to a close. it seems like just yesterday we were moving in and b was starting school. geez. time goes too quick.

next blog post coming at you from seattle!