Song of the Day

The Shins - Simple Song

I have been listening to this song non stop for 2 days. I don't see myself quitting for a good week or so

Iced Coffee

Lately we have had an extra cup of coffee left over in the pot so I have been making iced coffee out of it in the afternoons. I thought it was pretty tasty with my little french vanilla creamer. Well, I have learned that I have been doing it the "wrong way". I came across this recipe and I can't wait to try it! 

Iced Coffee Recipe

Resume...Check

I was fortunate to have been given some b-day money this month so yesterday I went out and got a couple new items. Yay! So today knowing I was going to drop off my resume at Anthropologie I put on my new dress and felt like a hundred bucks. I drove into the city this afternoon and walked into the store hoping that they were still hiring. And they were! I was so relieved. I filled out my application in the store and brought an UN-CRUMPLED version of my resume. I didn't want a repeat of last time. After I finished filling out the application I met the manager and and talked with her for a couple minutes. She seemed very nice and was happy that I could start at the beginning of August because that is when they will be hiring next. So it worked out perfectly. Next month I will have a group interview...I have only done that once before and it was a bit strange so I guess I will see how it goes. Too many people trying to stand out is what I remember. However, she seemed to like me and hopefully a good first impression will give me a leg up in the interview. I decided to not apply at H&M for a few reasons. I have spent quite a few days thinking about what happened in the Apple store and meeting Sean from Southern CA. When I told him I was going to apply to Anthro, he said it's quite difficult to get a job there (his girlfriend wasn't accepted there)  and pretty much inferred that I probably wouldn't get in and that I should apply to H&M. Well...that definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Secondly, he mentioned his girlfriend worked there and could put in a good word for me. That was very nice of him. But then he went on to tell us how his girlfriend needs a good girlfriend, how she wants to lose weight for their wedding (he mentioned that bc he knew Brian works at the gym), and I basically felt like I was being set up to become this girl's new best friend. The word Clingon kept flashing in my head and I felt a little weird about the whole thing. So...I kind of went into town today knowing I wasn't going to apply there even though I brought two resumes with me. When I got home I officially emailed the manager at Nordstrom telling her I wouldn't be applying there. I just have a gut feeling that isn't the place for me just like H&M isn't. And I decided I was going to go with my gut and not settle for some job I will hate. If I am going to work retail hours I want to love my job dammit! :) I am very blessed not having to worry about finding a job right away and am able to take my time finding the right one. 

On another note we've got Sally and David coming on Saturday and A LOT of housework to get done. Yikes! 

Album of the Day

Guyamas Sonora

Forks and Knives (la fete)

Great album for a sunny morning 

Sunshine

The sun is finally shining through my window again! It's been quite a few days without it so I really appreciate any sun I can possibly get. Brian's parents arrived in Olympia, Washington last night so I think they brought some California sun with them. Hallelujah! I could do with a tad less rain during summer. Running errands around town I find it funny that the locals are the ones complaining about how they hate the rain and that they are going crazy from lack of sunlight. I kind of want to say, "why do you choose to live here then?" where the sun doesn't shine that often. Strange. 

I went to orchestra practice last night and I can tell some people have been practicing. Phew! Still, the strings are the worst section. haha. Our conductor Dan was talking about doing sectionals in the future and I kind of dread doing that with our violas. There is one lady in particular that bothers me only because she gives off the vibe that she has been playing for a long time now and I can see her totally taking over even though she isn't the best viola player. Every time I sit next to her she gives me little pointers like, "this is what totally helped me on this part" and of course I am nice and smile and nod meanwhile thinking, lady, I played this part way better than you and was actually in tune! All well. Such is life I suppose. I am learning that no matter how old we get the what I would like to call "high school/immature issues" never go away. HELP. 

Here are some pics of the glorious sun :)

Hiatus

Well, it's been a good week since I have last visited my blog. I attribute my hiatus to sheer laziness! But now I am ready to get back on track. 

Last I wrote about was having to redo my resume...check. I rewrote it, went to Nordstrom to meet the manager and ask questions about the job. The manager was super nice and I got a really good vibe from her, however the position is commission based and knowing myself I would be way to stressed about making sales and not having any fun. I haven't emailed her yet and told her I am not interested but I have pretty much decided that I won't take it. So on Saturday Brian and I drove to University Village to take in a resume to Anthropologie. Unfortunately it was pouring rain...really raining hard. So because I forgot to bring an umbrella I stuck it under my coat to keep it from getting wet and of course became crumpled up. Brian looked at me and just said, "we can't take that in." So I was pretty upset that I did that to my resume. On top of that I was feeling irritable because I was hungry, Brian was irritable because he was hungry so we decided to just get some lunch. After lunch we both felt much better and dropped into the Apple store to check out computers. One of the employees who was helping us was from Newbury Park and told me his girlfriend works at h&m and would be willing to put in a good word for me. So if Anthropologie doesn't work out I will apply there. I feel like I have met a ton of native Californians here. So far I have met more people who grew up out of state than locals. It's the strangest thing. 

Friday I met up with a family friend and showed him around Seattle...it was raining so by the end of the day I looked like a wet animal because silly me forgot to bring an umbrella and didn't have a hood. Oops. But we still had a great time, walked around all day and enjoyed the scenery. Even when it rains it's still so beautiful here. I can't get over it. 

At Red Hook Brewery with Paul

Sculpture Garden

Some vino on my balcony

Some new flowers for the pot

Tuesday

Well I mentioned yesterday that I was going to turn in my resume to Nordstrom. It didn't end up working out how I had originally planned unfortunately. My computer had a virus so last week Brian had to completely wipe my computer and start over. So I had saved my resume in my email in case something like this happened and I would need it. So I go to open it and all I see is foreign code...no resume. I immediately panic and thought maybe I don't have the right program to open it up. So because I don't have Microsoft Word I download the Word Viewer program which is what I used to create the document. Well, that didn't work either of course. So not only can I not open the dang thing I have lost all my work resulting in me having to redo the whole thing. SO annoying. I had to call the girl at Nordstrom, tell her I wouldn't be able to make it and create a whole new resume. So to say the least I was a tad irritated. All I can say is I CANNOT  wait to get a new computer!! And one with Word already on it for crying out loud. So after I realized the my resume file was not working/corrupted, all the resumes I had sent out applying for jobs here was wasted energy. I am still annoyed thinking about that. 

But I ended the evening in a good mood. I went to the store and got a couple steaks and spinach for creamed spinach and had that for my birthday dinner. Lately Brian and I have been watching all the reality cooking shows and because we have watched so much I get little tips here and there on technique, flavors, etc. So last night I cooked my first proper steak. I was so proud of myself. haha However, because I had to cook it at such a high temp. the smoke alarms went off twice and we have 3 of them in our little apartment. Slightly overkill. So I was just glad the steaks came out right and the spinach was tasty as well. Poor Olive took refuge under the couch and we had to lure her out with treats. So all in all my birthday was an ordinary day and I am so glad I was able to share it with this guy! He makes any ordinary day wonderful. 

28 Today

I can't believe I am 28 years old!! How did the time go by so fast?! To be honest it's a little bit disconcerting that my life is just flying by before my eyes. Everyone would always say "just wait until you hit your 30's... 40's" and I would never believe them. But now...I understand and I haven't even reached my 30's yet! Crap. Today I am not doing anything particularly special. This afternoon I am going to drop off a resume at Nordstrom and meet the manager there. A part-time position is opening up in September so I am going to meet the manager, put a face with my name and just ask questions about the job. I really would prefer to work at Anthropologie so I will apply there as well and see if I can get that gig. We shall see! Then hopefully going to the gym and cooking a delicious meal! Not sure what to make yet...maybe ideas will come my way later this afternoon. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Well this weekend went by pretty fast. Thats how it goes unfortunately. Friday I had my regular video chat with my parents. They were having a bbq at the house so I got to catch up with close family friends. If we didn't have video chat these days I think I would be way more home sick. So I am grateful for the technology!! Saturday I had my volunteering then after Brian and I went to costco to get some hot dogs. Sometimes that is the best $1.50 ever spent. There is just something about the hot dog and diet coke. SO good and we are definitely going through a phase. Then we went to the Lynnwood mall for the first time. Our mall here in Everett totally sucks. It's always dead. However, it is fortunate for the music program I'm in...because its so dead they were able to get the space for next to nothing so in that respect it's great. Saturday night we hung out at home and had a very late dinner...about 10pm! It gets dark much later and that kind of throws off our whole schedule. I am liking it. Sunday Brian and I went to Woodinville for some wine tasting. That was great fun...I did a sparkling wine tasting for the first time. Then we had lunch at a brewery which also held tours for $1.00 so we took it after we ate. Fun to see the process but the guy leading the tour was pretty annoying. His whole spiel was poorly scripted and he thought he was SO funny and super clever. Unfortunately for us he wasn't. But boy was that place crowded!! There were hardly any parking spots and SO many bikes. That't the place to be I guess. Then after lunch we went back to one of the wineries that has a pond/man made lake where we relaxed. Brian read his book and I nodded off for a bit. And here we are today. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Our brewery glasses we tasted from

Brian was able to hoist me up the tree! 

  

Friday Favorites

Per usual I am perusing clothing sites and Topshop.com is definitely one of my favorites. They have way too many cute things that I am constantly drooling over. Here are some of my favorites today. 

bleached denim strappy dress

stripe cut out sun dress

slouchy tee dress

stripe drop waist dress

speckle tee dress

flower patch dress

sleeveless crochet collar top

Music Station of the Day

Pandora Station: Badly Drawn Boy 

Life Lesson for Lindsay

For the past 2 months I have really learned how to budget and I will say it's one of the hardest things to do. Ugh. It's not fun! At all! But I will say that it's really an eye opener to see what you spend your money on every day...sometimes you don't even realize that all the small things have added up to like $100. One of the hardest things for me is not buying new clothes. I really do love clothes shopping unfortunately. And I am happy to report that I haven't been shopping in 2 months except for 1 sweater from Goodwill that cost $2. I don't think that counts :) Another difficult challenge is working within a grocery budget. Back home I didn't realize how much we were just spending on food alone. We would eat out a lot and buy food from the store. We were wasting a ton food because things would spoil and have to be thrown out. What a waste of food and money! So we hardly eat out and make everything at home while trying to keep that grocery bill down. And that part is all up to me...pressure!! I just have to add that on the rare occasion I send Brian to the grocery store I always end up laughing because most times he comes home with something completely different than what I asked. And then he chimes in that this is what happens...I think it's his ploy. Makes me laugh every time. All this budgeting will pay off because we are saving up for a new computer. Both our laptops are on the fritz...I honestly can't believe they have lasted this long. Amazing. It will be SO nice to open a browser and not have the computer seize up and not complete anything for a good few minutes...these are my daydreams as of late. 

I just decided 2 minutes ago to crockpot (my new verb) a beef roast with potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots for dinner. Cheap, easy and there are always leftovers. Settled! 

Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend just flew by! I guess that shouldn't be a surprise see as how that's how they usually go. Friday night I decided to make a healthy version of a fried chicken meal. Instead of frying chicken in oil I baked it in the oven, I made coleslaw with reduced fat mayo, mashed potatoes with buttermilk (ok that wasn't so healthy) and corn bread (mix from trader joes-SO delicious!) I haven't had KFC in years because I refuse to give them any money and I like to choose my own meat and make sure I purchase the meat that makes me feel the least guilty. Let's face it, our meat industry here is disgusting and despicable. I made the "mistake" in doing some research and am forever scarred. :/ Anyways, the meal turned out very tasty and I would definitely make it again. 

Saturday Brian and I went wine tasting in Woodinville and later that evening came across a neighborhood german place in university village (north seattle) where we hung out that evening. In no way do I consider myself a beer kinda girl but I was all about it that night. Maybe it was the atmosphere or I have discovered that I prefer german beer...but I really enjoyed it. The crowd was great, the music was great, our server girl was fun to talk with and we decided that was our new hangout. Sunday I vegged out while Brian went to our friend Noah's house to experience how to bottle home made beer. And now it's already Tuesday! Tonight I have orchestra which I am looking forward to. Hope everyone is having a great tuesday!