Spring?

So, Spring officially started last week. Here's what it looked like at my house last night and this morning:







Crazy, Huh? March 27th. Hooray for God for unexpected surprises!

Still Learning...

I've been thinking a lot lately-- well more like the last several years, but especially in the last couple of weeks-- about how the way we treat people reflects God in us. Our home group has been watching the Nooma video series by Rob Bell. If you haven't seen them-- see them! They're great discussion-starters. The last two have led us into similar conversations about the way we live our lives. God has really been teaching me a lot about myself and my attitudes since my senior year of college (7 years ago!) and I thought I'd share a little of my journey.
Through most of my high school years, I was the worst kind of Christian. I mean, I wasn't out there door-knocking and telling complete strangers they were going to hell, but I had a pretty terrible attitude. And worse than being obnoxious to strangers, I was hurtful to people in my own family. I was too self-righteous to step down off of my self-assigned pedestal and share life with them. I was specifically horrible to my little brother. He's 16 months younger than me and was 2 years behind me in school. He was a rule-breaker. I was not. Obviously, this made him a terrible human being and me awesome. Well, at least in my mind it did. In reality, he was struggling and needed his sister to be there for him, not to judge him by his behavior. I left for college and our relationship improved a little, but it didn't feel very real. My senior year of college, my brother let our family know that he was gay. I, of course, struggled with this revelation for awhile. I had not seen it coming at all. From there, my brother began a dangerous cycle of surrounding himself with the wrong people, drugs, homelesness, etc. This went on for 5 or 6 years, and was really painful for all of us. In the last couple of years, my little brother has really turned his life around. He's been holding down a job for over a year, is off drugs and is in a steady relationship with a nice, responsible guy.
God has used my brother to teach me so much. I'm not sure why I ever thought that lecturing my brother about his choices would cause him to change anything. Throughout all of the most difficult points of our relationship, with all of his drugs, disappearing, and dangerous behavior, I could never stop loving or caring about him. God taught me that He had given me that love, and that love should be the foundation of all of my actions toward my brother. He taught me that homosexuality was NO DIFFERENT than ANY OTHER deviation from God's plan for sex. NO DIFFERENT. He has also taught me that if people do not know Him or have a relationship with Him, there is no reason for them to change their behavior. It is so useless and harmful for Christians to go around trying to make non-Christians behave like Christians. These revelations have made it much easier for me to just treat my brother with the love and kindness and respect he deserves as one of God's creations. I don't always get it right, but it is so much better. Through my relationship with my brother, God is also teaching me how to do a better job of loving the people around me. I want my life to show that I care about people. I know I will be continuing to be taught by God for the rest of my life in this area. Hooray for God for being willing to teach me!

Of Christmas & Cars

It has been an interesting couple of weeks around the Pritchard household...

Let's start by filling you in on what we got my hubby for Christmas. Eric plays the bass, and he loves it. It's one of the things that makes him really happy, and he's quite good at it. He plays for the worship team at our church, and I sing, so it's a great ministry for us to do together. For years, Eric has wanted to build his own bass amp, but the components are pretty expensive. He's had a couple of them for a long time- before we were married. After we got married, it got put on the back burner as far as financial priorities go, so he hasn't been able to get any new components for about 3 years. He had 3 major components left to get other than some cords, etc. So, for Christmas, his parents got him the racking system, and everyone in my family went in to get him his bass cabinet. It was awesome-- it was a lot of work to keep him totally in the dark, but he was so surprised and excited! His birthday is coming up next month, so I'm excited to see if we can all work together again to get him the last piece he needs. Hooray!

We had a great Christmas with our families. We spent the afternoon/evening of the 23rd with Eric's family for our traditional Christmas dinner/gift exchange/hang out and visit. It was lovely. On Christmas Eve, we met some friends for lunch and then spent the evening with my family- we went to Aunty Judy's house, ate, exchanged gifts, piled in the motor-mansion, went to look at some amazing Christmas lights, went to a movie, came back to Judy's and ate some more. Christmas day found us, as usual, at my parents house by 9am. We spend the whole day there in our pj's opening gifts, having dinner and just hanging out. The whole family was there- My sister and her family, Eric & I, Mom & Dad and My brother and his parter, Brent. We had a great time!

We also got to visit with some of our friends who were visiting from out of town. Dustin & Kendy Wallace, who moved from Enumclaw to Omaha at the end of the summer, were in town and we got to spend all of Wednesday evening with them. Aaron and Amy Redelsperger were also in town. They brought their two adorable little girls over and had dinner with us on Thursday night. It was so good to catch up with our friends!

On to the car story-- A few days before Christmas, my transmission started acting up- slipping, etc. I took it to my regular mechanic. He had it for a week (including weekends, Christmas, etc.) but couldn't figure out what was wrong and told me I needed to take it to the dealership. I did. They took another week to figure out what was wrong. Long story short, it needed a new transmission to the tune of $3500. We still owe $5000 on the car. We don't want to invest a bunch of money in it because it's too small for the business and for hauling kids around (not yet!). So, we had them put a $600 band aid on it while we figured out what to do. Another long story short, my parents co-signed on a loan for us, and last night we bought a 2004 Chevy Malibu Maxx. We love it! It's going to be a great fit for the next season of our life. And, it's still under warranty for awhile, which makes me feel good. Not to mention it has the hauling capacity of a small SUV with the fuel economy of a mid-sized car, and it has the roomiest interior ever, even in the back seat, which is great for us not-so-small folks! Come see me-- I'll give you a ride!


Hooray for God for giving us family and friends and for taking care of us all the time!

Christmas Eve!

Most of you probably know that I get just a little bit excited about Christmas. There is just something amazing about this season. A big part of it for me is that I get to give lots of gifts! If you've ever read that book about the love languages, I'm totally a gift-giver. It's one of my favorite things to do. I love picking out just the right gift for people. At Christmas time, I get to give gifts to everybody all at once, and it's so exciting I can hardly stand it! There are a couple of gifts I am especially excited about this year. I would tell you what they are, but I don't want to run the risk of ruining the surprise. The one I'm most excited about is for my Husband... maybe I'll post again in a couple of days and let you know the whole story...

We're looking forward to spending time with lots of family and friends over the next few days. Yesterday was Christmas with the Pritchards. I am blessed to have such wonderful in-laws! Today, we are having lunch with our friends the Daceys, then cruising in Aunty Judy's motor-mansion with my fam to look at Christmas lights, then going to a movie. Tomorrow will be Christmas with my family all day. Wednesday evening is dinner with the Wallaces who are visiting from Nebraska where they moved in August, and Thursday will be dinner with the Redelspergers who are up from Cali.

I'm hoping to make it to Portland soon... I miss my friends!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Finally!

So, I have lots of hair. It's curly and thick and it was getting really long. I mean seriously, really long. It hadn't been this long since high school. It was taking over my life and driving me crazy! So yesterday, I finally got a haircut!!! Hooray!!!

Here's proof:

Before:



And After:




Also? Yesterday I went to pick my niece up from high school because she was sick. I walked into the office and the student who was working in there asked me "oh, are you just getting here, hon?" WHAT?! I said "Actually, I'm 28 years old and I'm here to pick up my niece." Seriously, people-- this happens to me ALL THE TIME! I know, I know, I'll be glad when I'm older and look really young. But the thing is, right now, I want to be treated like a grown up and not a kid! Geez Louise!! :)

Business is Booming!

I know I haven't blogged in forever, but it is what it is. Running a business takes a lot of time!

I have to tell you that working for myself is the most rewarding job I have ever had. It allows Eric and I to have a lot more flexibility with our schedule and it will eventually allow me to stay home when we have kids. I get to do everything exactly the way I want to do it without worrying whether my boss will be pleased with me. Not to mention that I get to make a living doing what I really love!
I had a wedding on Sunday, and it was beautiful! It was at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, right on the water. I got to use a lot of orchids and lillies. I'll put pictues up when I get some. My niece, Kylie, helped me out with the wedding. She took a floral design class at her high school this year, so I don't really have to train her, which is awesome. Plus, it allows us to spend quite a bit of time together.
I'm also working on booking more weekly accounts. I have 4 businesses I deliver to right now, and my goal is to have about 20. Weddings are the biggest money makers, but weekly accounts provide more steady income, which is really nice.
God has really blessed this season of our life together. Eric really loves his new job. The fact that it's here in Enumclaw just makes it that much better. We are just really enjoying everything that God is blessing us with right now!
That's it for now. Make sure to visit my business web site at www.paisleypetals.com.
Hooray for God for keeping us afloat while I give my dream a whirl!

Big Changes

No! I'm not pregnanat! Stop it! I did, however, turn in my letter of resignation for my job on Monday. And my next job is going to be... (drumroll)... opening my flower business!!! Am I crazy? Possibly. But, I've done over 30 wedding so far-- probably even done the wedding of some of you reading this blog--and I love doing it. I just don't feel fulfilled working for someone else when I have this marketable skill that I can put to work. If the business takes off, it will allow me to stay home when we do have kids (LATER!), which is our goal. I do have an opportunity to work from home part time doing booking for a guy who does assemblies in elementary, middle and high schools, but that isn't steady income, either. So, this is all a little scary. I am meeting today with a few people I know who own their own businesses to get advice. Eric is working on a website, and it should be up soon. I'll be sure and let you all know. We would appreciate all of the prayers we can get as we give this a shot. I'll be at my current job until April 30th. After that... well, we'll just see what God wants to do. Hooray for God for being so awesome and trustworthy and able to take care of us!

Snow Day!

My mom has worked at Black Diamond Elementary School since I was in first grade. Apart from never having to worry about forgetting your lunch money and getting to see inside the world of the top-secret teacher's lounge, the best benefit to her job was that we were always among the first to know when school was closed for snow. Long before it showed up on the local news, my mom would get the call from the school employee's phone tree. I remember how the snow transformed our yard. My parents have 5 acres of property-- an eternity of playspace to a kid in the snow. My brother and I would sled down the driveway, build snow forts, have snowball fights and build snowmen until we were frozen. Then, we'd come in and sit by the fire, drink some cocoa, and we'd be back at it again as soon as we were thawed out. Snow days were my favorite.

On Tuesday this week, I had my first grown-up snow day (note: just then, when I tried to type "snow," it came out "snot." "snot day." Gross.) and it was amazing! It was just like being a kid again. It had been so cold here that when the snow fell, it was falling on top of ice. We here in the greater Seattle area are not used to getting much of this kind of weather, so the whole area just basically shut down. Eric and I watched the news until about 6:30 with our brekfast in bed. Then we walked to the store to buy hot chocolate, batteries for the camera, and a few other snow day essentials. We spent a few hours on work that we had brought home with us in preparation for the storm. Then we headed up to the local golf course to go sledding with my sister's famiy and my parents. I almost hit my head on a tree. Seriously. I was *this*close. We put up Christmas lights on our cute little house and finished decorating the inside. Then it was off to my sister's house for chili dogs and "White Christmas." What a great day! It was different from, but every bit as enjoyable as my childhood snow days. Hooray for God for being so creative and for making something as fun and beautiful as snow, and for an unexpected day to hang out with my hubby!

Here are some pictures of our house and car in the snow, us in the snow, our neighborhood in the snow, random palm trees growing in Enumclaw (serious) covered in snow, and a bonus picture of our Christmas tree. Thanks to our awesome friend Jeanne for helping us pick it out and set it up when she was here over the weekend. Love you, pally!

I'm Alive, I Promise!

Hi, friends! Guess what the hubby and I are doing this weekend? Moving into our new house! We are homeowners! Hooray!!! I am really excited to get moved in and settled. This will be my 7th move in 5 years, so it will be nice to be able to stay in one place for awhile. I bet you want to see some pictures of our house, don't you? OK, you can:

Here is a picture of the outside of our house:


And here is another one:


Isn't it just about the cutest little house you ever saw?

Here is a picture of the washer and dryer that the sellers took with them which they were NOT supposed to take. They didn't do it on purpose, and our most awesome real estate agent in the whole world bought us a set to replace the ones they took.


Here is a picture of my kitchen. This is the room I am most excited about in the whole house. I know it just looks like a normal kitchen, but let me take just a moment to explain to you the kind of kitchen I have had for the last year. The fridge is old and has no working light inside. I have a grand total of 2 cabinets in the entire kitchen, one of which is under the sink and clearly must house the trash can. My counter space is equal to approximately 2 square inches. The stove is one of those tiny apartment stoves that you can't even cook a pizza in without it touching the sides and getting all burnt. And the dishwasher? Non-existent. And let me tell ya, 2 people make a lot more dirty dishes than one people. A lot! Anyway, I LOVE my new kitchen! I was unpacking things the other night and trying to decide which of my many, many cabinets to put things in. It was awesome!


Hooray for God for our new home! And guess what else? Hooray for God for our first anniversary! It was this past Sunday, and we celebrated by spending Saturday night at the Mayflower Park Hotel in downtown Seattle. We went to the market, had lunch at Lowell's, ordered a movie in our room, slept in and had room service for breakfast... it was awesome! Well, except for the bus ride there and back, but that is another story for another day. I'm off to do some more packing!

Tagged

Jeanne tagged me with the book list, and I have a feeling if I don't post it pretty soon, I'm going to get in trouble. So, here we go:

A book that changed my life: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis- it was the right book at the right time. I was struggling with feeling like what I believed didn't make any sense. Even though I know that God is too big to be understood, the logic of this book was just what I needed at the time to keep me on the right path.

A book I've read more than once: The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, The Harry Potter series, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A book that made me laugh: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

A book I would take with me if stuck on a desert Island: Hmmmm... no idea. Other than the obvious survival guide or something like that

A book I wish had been written: Um... The next Harry Potter book would be nice... I always hate it when I finish one and have to wait for the next one!

A book I wish had never been written: The Shipping News. I had to read it in high school and I HATED it! I was so mad when it was recently made into a movie... I refuse to watch it!

A book I've been meaning to read: (this answer used to be blue like jazz, but I've started reading it since I started working on this post a couple of weeks ago, so now I don't know...)

I'm currently reading: Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller
The Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum... there are 14 Wizard of Oz books. Did you know that? They are really fun. My hubby loves them and has them all.

Real Friends

I know it's been awhile since my last post. Things have been very busy around the Pritchard household lately. Mostly, we've been working on planning a big, fat, fabulous 30th birthday party for our dear friend Rebecca. The party was on Friday night, and it was wonderful. Everything went just the way we wanted it to. We spent about 4 months planning and preparing for this party, and part of me is kind of sad that it's over! But it really was a perfect evening- good weather, good food, good friends, and I think our friend Rebecca felt really loved and special, which was the entire goal of the party, so that was awesome. I could go into lots of detail about the party, but what I really want to say about it is this: Planning a party of this scale is a lot of work. I won't lie. It's lots of hard work. But I can not tell you what an absolute joy and pleasure it was for us to be able to do this for Rebecca. And I'm not just saying that to try to sound nice. I really mean it. When you have someone in your life that you care about as much as we care about her, it really is a joy to be able to do something fabulous to bless them. Rebecca's friendship has been such a blessing to me over the past 10 years that I can't even begin to show her how much I care about her-- a big party is just the tip of the iceberg! Everyone should have a friend as great as Rebecca. That would be awesome! Thanks, Jeanne, for being such a fabulous, lifetime friend! I love you! Hooray for God for picking us to be friends!

I'll try to post pictures from the party soon... but I'll have to get some from Jason first, because I was so busy, I forgot to take any!

Also, in case you are curious, all is well with our house-buying process. It appraised for $7,000 more than we're paying for it, and we close on September 15th. Thank you for your prayers!

Home Owners?

I love the Northwest. I love how we have 4 distinct seasons, and it never gets super duper hot or cold. I love the trees and the mountains, the lakes and the rivers, the plants and the flowers. I love Seattle and Portland. This is a great, great place to live! But we pay for it, don't we? I am overwhelmed by how expensive everything is. Since I got married, I've really been feeling like we will just be stuck renting forever (think squints from The Sandlot- FOR-EV-VER). Home ownership just seemed like such an unattainable goal. I didn't know what to do to even begin to reach it. However, my best friend from forever happens to do home loans for a living. So, we set up a meeting with her this past Saturday to discuss what we could qualify for, how we could make it work, etc. To be honest, I thought we would be at least a year out from even being able to seriously think about buying a house. But she is really good at her job and encouraged us and helped us figure out a way to get into a house. So, we thought we'd start looking around. We drove around town looking at what was for sale. And then we found it. The one and only house in our price range happened to be a well-kept, super-cute 1926 craftsman. Tiny, but that's all we need right now. So we put in an offer. CRAZY! Our real estate agent (whose kids I baby-sat for 8 years before college) said we're not going to see anything else like this come around for awhile, if ever. So we went for it. They accepted our offer! Our inspection is on Sunday afternoon, so hopefully that will go perfectly and as of September 15th we will be homeowners! Any prayers you could offer up on our behalf would be very much appreciated. Here is a picture of what will hopefully be our first home:



Hooray for God for answering our prayers and helping us get out of the rent cycle and for providing all of our needs and a lot of our wants!

*** Update *** We had our inspection yesterday. The current owners are going to do a couple of small things for us like getting the chimney cleaned, but other than that, we're set. Now we just have to wait for the appraisal from our lender, and then we will be done and we should close on September 15th. Hooray!

2 presents and 2 big ol' kids

This is the story of 2 presents and a couple of big ol' kids.

When Eric and I were dating/engaged, we didn't get to see each other much. He was living in Seattle and working noon-10PM and I was living in Enumclaw (an hour away) and working 9-4:30. It was not an easy time for us. A couple of months before were married, Eric's cousin Pamela came back from a mission trip to Mexico. She brought us 2 finger puppets as a gift- a boy and a girl. Since we didn't get to see each other very much, she named the boy Eric and gave it to me and named the girl Paula and gave it to Eric. That way, we could carry each other with us at all times. I kept Eric in my purse in a special zippered pocket. This was present #1.

Present #2: Julianne and Zeke gave us a digital camera as a wedding present. They made sure to give it to us before the wedding so that we could take pictures on our honeymoon. We didn't have a camera, so it was the perfect gift.
Big ol' kids: My husband and I refuse to be boring grown-ups. Sometimes that causes us to do things that some might think are stupid or weird. We don't care. Hence, our honeymoon pictures. Most people would take pictures of scenery, have someone take pictures of the happy couple, etc. Not us. We took pictures of Eric all around Victoria. That's him above by a fountain outside some government building.


Here he is listening to a piper when we first got into town.


Here he is holding a Canadian flag outside of one of our favorite pubs in Victoria- Irish Times

We had so much fun taking pictures of Eric in Victoria that we continued the tradition once we got home.


Here he is watching the sunset with Paula from the lifeguard chair at Pritchard beach.



And here is the happy couple and their pet giraffe, Perry, nestled in amongst our nativity set at Christmas time.

Hooray for God for being able to have fun in life, and for a husband who doesn't stifle my child-like spirit!

Crazy Times and a God who Provides

What a crazy couple of weeks this has been! We went to Portland for the big Cascade reunion. They did a really great job putting that event together. If anyone missed it, next time, don't! Seriously-- it was great to see everybody and hear old groups sing together again and have chapel again. Then, my hubby had a crazy, CRAZY week at work. He worked almost 80 hours. Gross. Then on Friday, Rebecca came to visit us. We had a great time with our good friend! She got to stay all the way until Tuesday morning. It was so nice to get to spend some good quality time with her. We went to dinner, went shopping, took her to some of our favorite restraunts, read magazines, took naps in the shade, ate and hung out with the fam, went to the races, saw a fireworks show... it was great! (thanks for coming, friend!) I mean, we stayed with her when we went to Portland, but seriously-- she was so busy with the Cascade event that we didn't really get to see her much at all until we took her out to celebrate when it was all over. This week is going to be crazy again... Eric's sister is getting married on Saturday and Eric is in the wedding and I am doing the flowers. Tonight is the bachelor party, so Eric will be out late for that, and then he has to go do a job for work before he can come home. Then tomorrow is the rehearsal and dinner all the way out in Enumclaw. Then Friday I have a Dr. appointment, then I have to run into Seattle to pick up the flowers, then spend the rest of the day putting all of the arrangements together. Saturday is the wedding. It's hard for us to be so busy because we really are just so in love that we want to be together all the time, and a regular work day is quite enough apart-ness, thank you very much. But do you know what is great about God? He gives us just what we need. Yesterday for the 4th, Eric and I turned down all invitations and just stayed home together all day. We needed that so badly. I think the last time we did that was probably on our honeymoon. If it wasn't for that time together, I would have been crying when he left for the bachelor party tonight. But even though I would prefer to have him here, I was able to smile and sincerely say "have fun!" when he left. Having that time together yesterday will help us get through the rest of this week. God is so good to us. Hooray for God for meeting all of our needs and a lot of our wants!

Life updates

Well, I haven't really posted in awhile. Here's what's been going on with me:
* I'm still working on planning the shower for my sister-in-law
* I'm also planning a party for my friend Rebecca's 30th b-day. Let me know if you want to be in on the planning, and I'll tell you where to sign up!
*My mom is taking our family (mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, niece & nephews, brother, husband, aunt, uncle &cousin) on a cruise next April to Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel. Fun!
*My hubby is looking for a new job. This is a good thing for several reasons including, but not limited to the following:
1. His current job involves working with a lot of poisons
2. His current job is ridiculously poorly managed
3. His current job requires him to work wierd hours, even though at the beginning, he was told that it wouldn't
4. His current job does not allow him to get enough sleep-- ever
5. He has other things that are important to him like our marriage, church, and the band
So... he had a job interview on Tuesday for a much better job. Please pray that God would do what's best for us where a new job is concerned. We really need a change.
*The band had a show on Friday. After the sound guy and the other two bands were paid, the Upset Victory guys got $2 each! :) It's exciting to be a part of my hubby's blossoming music career. Make sure you go to their website and join their mailing list so you can keep up-to-date on what's happening with them.
*My job is getting better. I am getting more and more training and finally starting to feel like I know what I'm doing.
*There are currently 2 people in my life who cause me to constantly struggle with my attitude, and I'm related to both of them, which means there is no escape (no, my fabulous husband is not one of them). God is really working on my heart, but it's hard. Feel free to pray for me about that.
*My niece graduated from the 8th grade yesterday. I am so proud of her-- she is so much more sure of herself at 13 than I was even through high school. She is one of my favorite people of ever. She looked so cute and grown-up in the dress she wore to her dance last night. I can't belive she's going to start high school in the fall!
*My hubby and I are coming to Portland. We're staying with our dear friend Rebecca and we're really excited to get to spend some time with her. I am grateful for Rebecca and how comfortable it is for us to be around her. She's the kind of friend that didn't go all wierd on me just cuz I got married. She loves Eric almost as much as she loves me, and I love that the 3 of us can hang out and have a good time.
*I'm excited to see all my Portland friends this weekend!

That's all for now. If you're going to be in Portland this weekend, let's make sure we get together at some point!

Hooray for God for life and all of its craziness and the things He teaches us through it all!

HELP!

So... I am throwing a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, and I am having a really hard time thinking of ways to make it special. I can't really do a fun theme because she just wants gifts from her registry- which is a good idea since she's never lived on her own before and she needs a lot of stuff- but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make it not just another boring shower. The other problem is that I really don't know her that well, and that makes it hard to do anything really personal. But I found out on Saturday that no one was throwing her a shower, which I thought was ridiculous, so I'm doing it. Any bright ideas?

Girl's Weekend!

This weekend, my family is splitting up into two very distinct groups: girls and boys. The boys (My hubby, dad, brother-in-law, and 2 nephews) are going fishing over in Eastern Washigton. The girls (myself, mom, sister, and niece) are staying at a new hotel in downtown Bellevue for some good food, shopping, and relaxing. I was thinking about it this morning, and I feel so blessed to be part of a family where 3 generations of girls can just hang out together and really enjoy each other's company. These 3 girls are the most important women in my life. We love and support each other through the good stuff and the not-so-good-stuff, and I treasure these relationships. I am really looking forward to spending some time with my girls. Also, I'm looking forward to staying in a nice hotel, having my room cleaned for me, being steps away from great food and shopping and doing some serious relaxing. I wish I could just go now, but we all have to go to work/school first. Hooray for God for 3 great girls who love and support me and for the opportunity to do the same for them! Anybody else doing anything fun this weekend?

Saturday Morning

It's Saturday morning at 8:21 and I have already been up for approximately 2 hours and 41 minutes. In case you are unable to figure this out for yourself, this is a completely inappropriate time to be awake on a Saturday. My hubby and I do not usually sleep the day away on a Saturday because we like to go out and get breakfast at our favorite breakfast place before a) band practice starts and/or b) they close the griddle and I can no longer get pancakes. So, usually we get up around 8 or 8:30. But not 6 or 6:30. That's just ridiculous. But, Eric and I both have to work today (gross) and we still wanted to have breakfast together, even though he had to leave an hour and a half earlier than me. So, yesterday I bought a couple of cinnamon rolls and we had those and coffee for our Saturday breakfast today. I know this is starting to seem like a complaining post, but I'm getting to my point, I promise... You see, I HATE mornings. HATE. Getting out of bed is one of my absolute least favorite things to do. And those of you who know me well (i.e. have been my room mate and/or family member) know that for me to get out of bed an hour and a half earlier than necessary is quite an accomplishment. So, guess what? Hooray for God that I get to have a husband that I love so much that I want to get out of bed early on a Saturday just to get to have breakfast with him before he has to leave!

Portland Bound

Well, since most of you who read this blog live in P-town, I thought I should let you all know that Eric and I are coming down for a visit. My friend Dave is graduating from Cascade next Saturday (April 29th), and we're going to be there. We'll be coming down Friday night and staying until Sunday afternoon. We'd like to see as many people as possible while we're in town. Let me know if you'd be interested in meeting us at Spag after church on Sunday for some lunch. The last couple of times I've been to town, I've tried to get peole to come out to lunch on a spur-of-the-moment thing, and not too many people have been able to come. So, I'm going to give the ol' "let your friends know you want to have lunch with them after church a week in advance" method and see how that works out. We're excited to see you all!

Birthday Fun

So, yesterday was my birthday. I am a big fan of birthdays. I think it's fun that everybody gets their own special holiday and we celebrate how awesome we think they are. This birthday was a special one for me... it was my very first married birthday. It was so great to wake up next to my husband in bed and hear him say "Happy Birthday, Wife!" We both took the day off of work and spent it together hanging out in our awesome city. We had pancakes for breakfast at Luna Park Cafe (our favorite breakfast spot), took a lovely drive along Lake Washington Blvd. (all the cherry trees are blooming), Went to the Experience Music Project (my sister bought us a membership as a wedding gift), went to Elliot Bay Books (sign in the children's department said "attention: all children left unattended will be given a free espresso and a puppy."), Went to Pike Place Market (bought some beautiful tulips), did some shopping around Westlake (nothing exciting to say about shopping), Watched a Movie (Ice Age 2- pretty funny. Eric said he'd like to see a live action movie where Ray Romano and Queen Latifah had a romantic interest in each other) and went to dinner at the Icon Grill (great dinner, and the most AMAZING ice cream sundae I have EVER experienced). So, it was a great, great day. Oh, and my birthday present? My hubby recorded the song he wrote for me and put it on our ipod so that I can listen to it whenever I want (which will be daily, I assure you.) It was a great day, and I am excited to see what the rest of this year has in store. Hooray for God for letting me turn 27!