Seattle

So my last bit of work travel was this weekend. I had to go to Seattle for the same work event I had to go to Minneapolis for because we have a different new staff person in that region that I needed to help train. I know, I live such a hard life.

I haven't been to Seattle since 1995 when my dad and I flew there on my very first plane ride to meet up with my mom and brother for our first big family vacation driving through Alaska (and the start of many adventures for all of us). Digression: On that plane ride I distinctly remember two things 1) I got really air sick on take off. I was clammy and nauseated and just thought I was never going to get through 3 hours of this. Dad leaned down to me, and said "that sick feeling will go away when we level out." How did he KNOW?! I couldn't believe he knew I was feeling so sick (I later found out from him that I was white as a sheet and looked ill). At the time it was one of those amazing my-parent-is-omniscient moments. The second thing I remember is that the tops of clouds looked like brontosauruses. And actually, now every time I fly I look out the window to see if the tops of clouds look like that - even though you never see the same image in a cloud a second time. End Digression.

So, because I hadn't been to Seattle since I was kid, I made sure to get an early flight on Saturday, so I would have the whole day to sight see. The event I was hosting was Sunday afternoon, and I flew home Monday morning so that I had almost 2 full days in the city. My coworker had been in the city all week so he picked me up from the airport and we went straight to Pike Place Market.

My view of Mt. Rainier flying into Seattle. I was waiting to see the city and then realized that white stuff is clouds covering the city.

My roommate used to live in Seattle and she told me not to buy all the flowers and produce when I got to Pike Place Market - Silly Laura, I am in town for two days, why would I possibly want to buy perishables?! ...Oh...

These amazing bouquets were only $10!!

The produce was picture perfect and I had to remember not to just grab it and eat it

This is a cabbage rose. According to signs it is not edible.

Fresh chilies turned into wreaths. I am used to seeing dried peppers so these were very colorful

I did consider purchasing a bouquet of flowers knowing I would only have them for a day because they were beautiful and had vibrant colors and there were tons of chrysanthemums. But ultimately it didn't seem fair to the flowers. I did however, buy food at the Market.

Mmmm. Clam Chowda

Macaroons and pinwheels from La Panier the Very French Bakery

After the Market, we jumped on a ferry and headed over to Bainbridge Island. The main reason was to get photos of the Seattle skyline. It does not disappoint. (Never knew the Space Needle is so far from the rest of the skyline...by far I mean about 1 mile)

Bainbridge was fun to walk around and look at the fall colors. It was just a small town, but colorful. And leaves are way prettier when you don't have to rake them up every weekend.

 After Bainbridge, we rode the ferry back (Actually, we had to run back to the ferry to catch it before it left within the next 2 minutes. Let's just say Seattle wasn't quite so chilly for a while) and went to dinner at Tutta Bella, a pizzeria that makes wood-fired pizza with local ingredients. One of my high school friends who lives in the area recommended it.

The next day, we slept in and then headed out for our event, which went very well. Then the sun came out! This wasn't anything new to me but my coworker hadn't seen the sun all week so we practically drove off the road when he realized the clouds were clearing and the sun was coming out to stay. We quickly got back to the hotel, changed clothes, and went back out to Discovery Park. Although the signs said only authorized personnel were allowed, it was clear that people came here to hike all the time so we ignored the signs and went all the way to the edge of the park near a lighthouse along the Puget Sound (and go figure, it was a Sunday so nobody cared).

It was a nice sunset...wasn't an Arizonan sunset, but I guess because it was a rarity, it was pretty good.

My coworker had picked a hotel downtown so we were walking distance to the Space Needle. We didn't go up in it because it cost $20 and in person it isn't that tall (only 11 stories) and doesn't have a roller coaster or bungee jumping like the Stratosphere in Las Vegas (I haven't been there either) so it seemed like a steep cost for views I saw on the ferry to Bainbridge for $8. We were joined for dinner by two more coworkers who had flown in that day to begin a week of college fairs so the four of us went out to dinner again, and then stopped by the Space Needle for some pictures.

The Space Needle was purple in honor of a University of Washington coach who had recently passed away

And then, just like that it was time to leave. At least it was a clear day this time. Turns out it has stayed sunny this week, while in Phoenix we were cloudy and windy all day and in the 60s for most of the day. It seems I took the sun with me and then left it there. I am pretty ok with that.

It isn't a quilt but...

So, with my mom out of town all summer I haven't had a chance to make a quilt for Michaela's new baby boy, Everett (due in November). I was however, able to make his name plates to go over his crib.

When Margot was gestating, Michaela and I made name plates for her room. Luckily, during my trip this summer I got Michaela to show me a picture of the bedding she is using in the baby's room so I could match colors.

I moved!

So for the 8th time in my 5 years in my office I moved into a new space! I was most recently in a cubicle meant for 5 people and what do you know, 4 months after moving into it, we hired a bunch of students and needed a place to put them.


The good news is I am in an office...with a window! After 11 months in a cubicle I am back in a space with a ceiling and a door. Mostly, I just need a place to hold all my swag :)

Travel Season

This fall we have been a little short staffed in the office so I have been on the road again traveling to exotic locales like Tucson and Kansas City.

I started my travel season in Tucson in September. I had volunteered to go thinking we would have a new staff person in place to take over Tucson but alas that did not work out. (Good news is we now have a rep for the area so I am no longer our Tucson rep).

Everyone assumed I would be staying with my parents but they were still gallivanting about in Alaska. I did however get to have dinner with a couple of our newer reps - taking them each to eegee's for their first dinner and getting to talk to them about the job and our office. It was fun!

My next trip was to Minneapolis and Kansas City in October. I was in Minneapolis just for the weekend to help train a new staff member on how to host one of our recruitment events. It happened to coincide with a big football game so I found our alumni chapter's viewing party and got to cheer on with about 15 fellow alums. The alumni association holds up to its purpose - you really can make friends for no other reason than having gone to the same school.

Since I was only in Minneapolis for two days and it was my new coworker's first trip to the city I got to take her around to my favorite places. If you go to the Twin Cities have breakfast at Key's Cafe. They have pancakes bigger than your head and amazing cinnamon rolls. Dinner has to be at Ciao Bella. Hands down the best Italian food I have ever had and I go there EVERY time I am in Minneapolis. And for some fun shopping you have to go to Fringe Accessories in downtown Edina. They have beautiful and trendy jewelry and all of it is under $40.

After Minneapolis I flew straight to Kansas City. I was there for the week visiting high schools and attending fairs. I did get to cross off two more states off my bucket list of visiting all 50 states, and the city is more hilly than I thought it would be. Other than that it wasn't any place special. I got some barbeque at Oklahoma Joe's, which is the recommended spot everywhere I went. Even Jason Sudeikis, who is a Kansas City native, suggested eating there. I thoroughly enjoyed my pulled pork sandwich. I found the sauce more sweet than spicy and their baked beans were delicious! I did have a couple mishaps where I forgot I was in the middle of the country. I ordered a "west coast" omelette at one place and the avocado that came with it was pretty brown and then I went to lunch with another rep I had befriended and she wanted Mexican food...it was as lackluster as you would expect. What was I thinking?!

All in all it was a good, but mostly uneventful trip.

Fun Fact for Father

(Had to be alliterative, right?)

October has 5 Mondays, 5 Tuesdays and 5 Wednesdays. It is called Money Bags and only happens every 823 years.

I could have called this a fun fact for family since most of my family love this kind of thing but these little known facts always make me think of my dad :)

Laborious Labor Day

Is that even a word? The good news is I didnt do any work over this 3 day weekend but I did do a lot!

Michaela and Margot have been in town for the last 10 days. Most nights after work have been spent hanging with the BFF and weekends have been filled with shopping trips and pool time.

Earlier this week, my coworker's boyfriend was performing at an open mic night in Glendale so in true Phoenician style (read: will drive any distance as if it is no big deal as long as it is "in the valley") Michaela and I left Mesa and headed to Glendale - on a week night no less! We had a great time. Of 15 comics at least 10 were really funny, including the boyfriend. So whew! I can stay friends with that coworker, haha. It was nice to do something out of the norm.

This weekend Michaela and Margot actually spent the last two nights of their trip at my place. Sometimes 10 days is just too long with family (not that I would know anything about that) and I just happen to have the best roommate around (and a spare bedroom) who is all about having guests over to our place. She was petsitting this weekend so it was just me and the girls. We had a lazy saturday swimming and then singing along to the Little Mermaid. I dropped them off for dinner with her parents and inlaws and then after Margot was in bed Michaela and I ate chocolate and popcorn while watching Bridesmaids. It was really perfect.

Then Sunday I woke up at the crack of dawn to drop them off at the airport. I was very sad to see them go.

Luckily, my cousin Liz and her friends had come to the Valley for the long weekend (staycation) and I met up with them for the rest of the day. We ventured to Ikea for liz's first visit. I try to prepare people for the experience but lets face it, Ikea can be overwhelming. We had fun though and then we headed out to the outlets near wild horse pass (they are new and fancy).
Then in true Phoenician style (see definition above) we drove to their resort up in Carefree...north of Scottsdale (basically drove from one end of the Valley to the other). Their villa was fabulous and we spent the evening in the pool. There had been plans to go bar hopping on Mill (again, very Phoenician) but we decided to forgo that for the booze and pool already at the villa. Liz has super chill friends.

Today was more of a chill out day. My roomie and her boyfriend were home and we watched a movie. We are incredibly lazy about it because 1) her boyfirend always picks the movies 2) they are always bad or at least not great 3) we havent bothered to correct this by picking the movies ourselves. I can appreciate that he loves movies but am baffled that every terrible B movie that comes out is exactly what he picks. Then again I tend to go to the theater to watch the movies I really want to see so the movies he picks are generally anything else.

All in all it was a great weekend. Now to get pumped up for fall travel. We are short staffed in my office so I have had to take some recruiter duties again. I will be in Tucson all of next week and then next month I will be in Minneapolis (overnight) and then Kansas City for the rest of that week. I think I am also going on an overnight trip to Seattle at the end of October. It is a good mix of places I am really comfortable and places I have never been.

Perhaps Labor Day means the start of the laboring season...it sure does for me.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Turning 65 is a big accomplishment! not only are you a respectable speed limit...







But you can also get Medicare! 



...And that is about it. The internet doesn't seem to think 65 year olds only think about healthcare. 

So instead I decided to find out who else is 65 - you know, so you know the kind of company you keep.  

learn more at: http://www.floridatoday.com/viewart/20130720/NEWS01/307200031/Snooty-manatee-turns-65-Sunday

Learn more at: http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2013/04/israel-65-years-of-achievement.html

 And of course... the celebrities who get to sign up for medicare as well...

See full list here: http://blog.planprescriber.com/2013/03/26/celebrities-turning-65/

So you are in some great company dad - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (now don't set off a fire alarm with all those candles)