Kawaii Kelly's Journal

Halloween-the day after

2009-11-01T19:22:22Z

Steve and I did not wear costumes last night, which ended up bringing our evening to an early end, as we were denied access to the last bar we wanted to go to. Oh well.
So we started our day with "Paranormal Activity". Pretty good movie. It isn't gory and doesn't have a lot of moments that make you jump-but never the less it was creepy. A good way to start off Halloween. We took the dogs for a walk in the park and only saw one costume of a dog dressed as a pirate. It was pretty darn cute. We did not get the dogs new costumes this year. They are pretty expensive, and there was really no one to see them in their costumes anyway, so why bother?
We ended up heading to Seattle for dinner and bar hopping with my sister and another friend. As previously stated, we were not in costume. I had dressed as Wednesday Addams for my work party, but since I knew Steve and everyone else was not going to be in costume, I didn't wear it. We ended up walking to this pizza joint which was having a Halloween party of sorts. There was a costume contest and Halloween drink specials. There were a lot of cool costumes at this place, although we saw people in costume all over the streets last night. Lets see we saw a Bob Ross, Bert and Ernie, Lady Gaga, Prince, Thelma and Shaggy, Jack Skellington, a black unicorn, the Joker, the Hamburgler, Nancy Kerrington (complete with bandaged knee), mostly everyone was dressed up. After that we headed to another place. We saw less costumes here, but I think we saw a bee, someone dressed like a bottle of beer or something, and we walked by a sex shop that had a pumpkin carving contest where we saw a pumpkin with a strap on (a corn cob) and a few other kinky pumpkins. After that we went to another bar where we got shut down for not having costumes. So we ended up walking back to the apartment and watched "Monster Squad". A pretty fun evening.
Friday I did dress up in my Wednesday Addams "costume". I didn't have to stretch myself to far to get into character. Anyway, my work was having a costume and cube decorating contest, so our group did a "walk of fame" theme. We had a red carpet that went through our row, and we did each of our cubes in the style of the character we were dressing up as. So I had did my cube dark and scary, the guy next to me had a space theme as he was Will Smith from "Men in Black", the next gal had made a huge Gotham city poster for her Catwoman costume, then we had a very swanky cube with a canopy and plants for our Cleopatra, then on the opposite side we had a giant tv with pizza boxes, drums, guitar, and pics of Madonna and Claudia Schiffer for our Wayne and Garth pair. We won the group costume contest, but lost the cube decorating contest. There was another group who did a hanuted pumpkin patch that looked really awesome. It was my last day of work, so it was sort of a bitter sweet day. I was having fun, but I was still super busy working. It is strange to be so heavily involved with an aspect of the work that we do for a client and to be let go. It has just been really strange because I am so involved (or was so involved) and they just let me go so they can make room for someone else who is going to be starting the whole complicated process from scratch. I am not sure I get it, but it is not for me to get I suppose. Anyway, I got a very lovely bouquet of flowers from my counterpart, and a giftcard from my replacement. It was very hard to say good bye, but because of all the happy stuff that was going on, I didn't get too down about it.
I headed over to the Sony office to partake in Steve's company's Halloween festivities and I must say, their decorations went all out. It was very creepy and every aspect of the place was Halloween. Unfortunately by the time I got there most of the people had left, so I missed all the costumes and the kids who came to trick-or-treat, but I was glad to at least see all the cool decorations.
It has been a fun Halloween weekend. Last Halloween we kinda sat out all the festivites, and I am glad we didn't do that this year. Now on to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

BBrrrrr

2009-10-25T20:52:34Z

We actually had to turn on the heater today. I think the high is supposed to be in the 50's today. I want to have natural light in the apartment so I have the shades open, which I think may be causing some of the chill in here. If I close them though, it will seem like night time. So we are running the heater. I am nervous about running the heater already with my unemployment coming up, but I don't want to be freezing in my own home either. I asked Steve to set it at 68 degrees, so I hope I will get warm here soon!
Last night we had a few people over to carve pumpkins. I think everyone had a good time and we had a lot more traditional pumpkins then when we had people over last year. I had a lot of fun and I think everyone else did too. My mom brought over carmel apples and made the carmel herself. I didn't get to have one last night, so I can't wait to eat mine today. I love carmel apples, it was the first thing I wanted when I got my braces off way back when. I haven't had one in a long time.
Today I plan on just chillin at home. I have some errands I should do, but they can wait. Sometimes on a Sunday, I really do just want to stay home and not have to be running around doing a bunch of stuff. Especially when it is cold out like today. Although, it is just going to get colder, and greyer, and darker. It is already dark when I take the dogs out in the morning, and when we turn back the clock next week-forget it, it is going to be dark quite a bit around here. It is hard for me to get stuff done during the week. It sounds stupid to some I am sure, but I don't like leaving my dogs home alone all the time. So when I get home during the week, when they have been alone all day, I don't really like to leave them. The cats aren't as clingy, so they are ok, but my dogs need companionship and I like to be with them too.
This week should be pretty interesting. It is my last week on the job and I am still training my replacement and getting her ready, then we have our work Halloween party. I am going to try to dress up in something simple, but so far it seems like our simple idea, isn't so simple. I would like to get something together since it will be my last day and all. Steve's work is also having a party, so I may stop by there too. Oh and on Tuesday we are going to see the MJ movie. I am sure I will need a whole box of tissue and then some to make it through that movie.

Trees and stuff

2009-10-23T06:01:30Z

So the leaves are changing around here and it has made my drive to work extremely pleasant. There are so many mature trees in the business parks where I work. The main road I drive is lined up with trees and all the leaves are red and orange. This is probably a 4 block drive. Then you look around in all the parking lots and there are some that are yellow intermixed with the red and orange. Everyday when I am driving I feel like I really need to stop and really try to absorb what I am looking at. I am a girl who has always lived in the south, and being around the changing leaves, I really understand why people would want to go to the east coast during this time of year just to see what this looks like. Then when the leaves are falling and the sidewalks are completely hidden by leaves, it is just so cool to look at. This is my second autumn and I still feel blown away by it.
We are carving pumpkins this Saturday. This has become a little tradition of ours. We invited a few people over including my parents. I am looking forward to it. My Halloween deco is not complete without a jack-o-latern somewhere. We are going to have to spend the next couple of weeks pretty low key while I am out on the job hunt. Job hunting...so not fun.
I am listening to one of my favorite songs right now, "Silly" by Denice Williams. I am not sure how many of you know about this, Erika and Steve are the only ones I can think of off the bat, but I absolutely love old skool love songs. I mean the Low Rider Oldies. I swear, I would listen to Art Leboe all the time on Sundays if I was driving around, or before I could drive I would listen at home. Steve used to make fun of it because the people who call in to his show would say the stupidest things and would always use their gang name to make dedicatons. Oh and ladies in gangs, can we please get some original names? How many Smiley's can there be in this world already? However, that aside, I used to have some Low Rider Oldies tapes, and I think I need to get some on CD. I miss listening to my oldies! Let's see, I think I may have to listen to "Natural High" next, or maybe some Mary Wells. I have a Mary Wells CD that was a great find from Erika. "The one who really loves you" another favorite! I think what I am listening to right now, James Brown's "Try Me" is one of Erika's faves. This takes me back to jr. high. :)

Wedding Anniversary!

2009-10-22T07:04:21Z

So three years ago today Steve and I got married. To celebrate we went to the most amazing dinner at a restaurant in Seattle called Canlis. All the food was so good, it went far above and beyond my expectations, even though the restaurant is one of the top in Seattle. I had a tasting of pumpkin soup with brown butter and toasted pumpkin seeds which smelled so fucking good and tasted even better. I was already losing my mind and that was just the opener. Next I had the Canlis salad, which was full of bacon, cheese, and the dressing was so fresh tasting, it was a huge portion and I ate most of it. Steve ordered the sunchoke soup with sweetbreads. I had some, it was awesome. The main course for me was wild mushroom ravioli with marscopone cheese. The dish was sent from heaven and gave me little heavenly kisses all over my tongue. Steve had the waygu steak, which just melted in my mouth-the bites that I had. Truffle fries and a twice baked potato on the side that we shared, were more awesomeness. We capped it off with fresh made donuts and the most peanuty, peanut butter ice cream I have ever tasted. The place was good and now I understand why it is so highly rated. The service was awesome, the view of Lake Union was incredible-live piano playing all through dinner (even some "billie jean")...it was such a great evening. The food though...incredible
Steve got me an asus Eee pc netbook too for an anniversary gift. Although it is not just any netbook-it's pink! I love it! So flippin cool.
We both had to work today which is kind of a bummer, but we have had such a great night. The last three years have been pretty awesome, but so were the two before that. Steve and I shared some lovey-dovey sentiments this evening and what can I say? I am a very happy, and lucky girl. :)

New guitar

2009-10-11T22:34:37Z

Steve got a new guitar today and he is out on the patio playing it right now. It has been a while since he has done any guitar stuff, so it is prettty nice to hear him playing.
We just got back from running some errands and taking a major diet break and got some donuts from a place called Frost. We both got maple bars covered in bacon. I am going to eat a healthy dinner, so I don't feel too horrible about it. Some of the other donuts they have there are aztec chocolate with cayanne pepper, salted caramel, red velvet, french vanilla latte, caramel apple fritter, and pb&j. Pretty exotic for donuts and a little over the top for breakfast fare, but the maple bacon was quite yummy. Cupcake stores and fancy donuts seem to be the trends in desserts for the Seattle area.
Yesterday we took the dogs on a nice long walk to a park a ways from our place. It has been a dry weekend but it has been a little on the cold side. Which was nice for our walk. We also started in with the scary movies last night by watching the classic creepy film, The Shining. That movie never gets old, and still manages to scare me no matter how many times I have seen it. That one and Event Horizon are ones that still get me every time. I should probably get the latter on my Netflix so I can watch it this month.
Work has been pretty strange. I started training the new girl on Thursday and it is a little awkward. It is what it is and I am pretty much over the lame way things have been handled and ready to move on. Steve and I have been discussing if I will take any time off or if I will go straight into the job hunt again. I think I will start looking right away, but try to hold out for something permanent. It took me 3 months to get placed in the contract I just had, so I guess I just have to wait and see how things go using that strategy.

Fall is here

2009-10-04T23:09:22Z

The weather is sure getting crispy around here. It has been in the low 60's all weekend. It has been nice and I can't wait for the trees to start turning.
So my boss ended up sending an e-mail to my partner about my release at the end of October. Probably not the best way to break the news but what do I know about management? She was pretty unhappy to say the least, but my boss is out of the office until Tueseday. I know that my team is upset, but I know there isn't anything that they can do to change the situation. Maybe I will be able to temp on another team, but even if that is a possibilty it will only be a short term solution while I am looking for work elsewhere. I think I am at a point where I really need to have a nice long talk with myself and figure out what I want from a job. I have been treading water for a long time and I really need to figure out where I want to go and how I can get going there.
This weekend Steve got to see some friends from SD and I spent some time with my sister. I had pizza for the first time in two months. I haven't really talked about it on here but Steve and I decided to join Weight Watchers two months ago. They started a group at my work and I thought I would give it a try. Steve decided to do it with me and so far I really like it. We have been having decent results and I feel like it is a program that we can stick with for the long haul. So that is why I hadn't had pizza in such a long time. It probably wasn't the best food choice I could have made, but that is what I like about WW, it isnt' so drastic that you are forbidden from eating out if you want. '
This afternoon I am putting up our Halloween decorations. I have been waiting patiently for October 1st to roll around so that I can finally get them up. Putting up the deco puts both of us in a happy mood for sure. Meep! I better get started before the sun goes down. :)

Walking papers

2009-09-30T05:06:44Z

I found out yesterday that my current contract will not be renewed. I am being replaced by someone who is currently on another team. The client this person currently works on is no longer using the company's services, and she has 10 years with the place, where as I am the lowly temp, with only about 7 months under my belt. Oh, and I also have to train her. Nice huh?
I am pretty disappointed because I have really worked hard and built a good relationship with my team, and I thought maybe it could turn into something permanent. Alas, it is not meant to be. The thing that sucks though is that my team doesn't know what is going on yet and my boss asked me not to tell them. She was supposed to tell them yesterday, but she didn't. Some representatives for the client I work on are coming into the office tomorrow too. They want to have a "team bonding" lunch and guess who ain't gonna be there...my counterpart was complaining that I was not being included, and I had to bite my tongue. My last day is October 30. I love being unemployed right before the holiday season. It is so dope! *eye roll*

Feeling awesome today

2009-09-20T19:03:58Z

Last night we went out to Seattle for my sister's boyfriend's birthday. I consumed many drinks-one too many, which led me to be pretty sick this morning. I usually don't drink when I go out with my sister, I am not sure what came over me yesterday. It was fun, but I do feel bad for keeping Steve out all night, when it seems he has caught my cold from last week. We are staying in today for sure. I have a bad headache and don't feel up for much anyway. Although I really should do something fun with my dogs, because I feel like we have spent no time with them for the past few days. We have just been way busier than normal this week.
First off, Steve's friend was here from out of town, so we hung out with him a couple of times. My sister invited us to go to a concert, my parents took us to a concert, and we were out bar hopping in Seattle last night. With such busy nights the dogs have been left alone a lot, and our dogs are not the types that do well by themselves all the time. If it doesn't rain and I start feeling half way normal, I will have to take them for a nice long walk, or maybe take a trip to Petco. They love going in the car and going to Petco. It is kinda sweet the way they act.

Random stuff

2009-09-13T19:33:24Z

First off, I really should have went to see Three Mile Pilot when they were in Seattle last month. I was having some stomach issues which kept us home, but now I think I should have just took the risk and went to the show anyway.
Congrats to Irradio who won best rock album at the SD music awards! One of Steve's friend's is the bass player-who some of you know. Said musician is in Seattle today, and hopefully we will get to hook up with him sometime today.
Having a cold this weekend hasn't been too fun. I am getting a very late start on some spring cleaning and I wanted to work on that some this weekend. Last weekend I worked on the kitchen. I straightened out the cabinets and tried to do a really good clean on everything. I still have a couple of cabinets I need to work on, but it is basically done. Next is the living room, which isn't in too bad of shape-but there are a few things I want to get rid of. Then I need to get rid of some clothes and some other boxes of crap that I seem to lug around. I wonder if I am brave enough to just throw out some boxes that are in my closet that I never look at. If I open them, I will want to pack rat it, like I have been doing. However, if I never look at that stuff, do I really need it? I don't think I can do it though. I will have to look in them just to make sure there isn't shit in there that I want. Bah.
We didn't end up going to Jazz Alley this weekend. Dave Bruebeck was there, he is the 88 year old pianist who played with Miles Davis. We are seeing another pianist (71 years old) who played with Coltrane. I am really excited. I really love seeing jazz live. I really do like jazz when I hear it, but I don't know much about it. We also are probably going to see another band on Thursday with my sister. That will be an outside concert, but the weather has been nice up here this weekend.
I haven't mentioned how disappointed I am with America's Best Dance Crew this season. It is horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last time they do this show. All the crews are bad. I am not sure if it is because they are coming off such a good season or what...There is a Seattle group in there this year and they aren't very good. Although b-boy battles are one on one type situations for the most part-not choreographed stuff like on ABDC, so I can understand why a b-boy group would not do as well with this format. I like Afroborike actually and I think they have some really good dancers-but other than that I have not been impressed. I really can't call out a winner or even the top two-there are no favorites at this point. I think the one all girl group has a chance maybe, but they are no where near as good as Beat Freaks from last year. No one who reads this journal watches this show anyway, but I felt the need to rant about it because I used to really look forward to this show. I just started watched SYTYCD and I like that, so I guess that is how I will get my dance fix in.

Doolittle

2009-09-03T06:09:44Z

So the Pixies are touring to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doolittle. They are playing 2 shows in Seattle, but of course I didn't find out in time, and now they only have lame seats left for one show and the other is sold out. They are going to perform the whole Doolittle album and the b-sides. I probably should just buy the tickets anyway even if I am going to have a bad seat. I haven't seen them and I am fond of the Doolittle album. *Ponders*
I am going to Jazz Alley in Seattle next Friday with Steve, my parents, and my sister to see an 80 year-old jazz pianist. Should be pretty dope, I am excited. My stepdad is way into jazz, so I am sure this guy will be pretty good.
My mom's birhtday is on Monday. I am making her birthday cake and I am going to attempt to decorate it with an image from her favorite movie. We will see if I can pull it off. It is nice to be able to be here for her birthday. I had missed a lot while I was living in San Diego.
Random thoughts...

Vegas and other stuff

2009-08-31T01:28:27Z

As Steve said in one of his earlier posts this week, we went to Vegas last weekend. It was a really fun trip. We didn't get to stay anywhere fancy due to airline costs, but who stays in their room anyway? The first day there we walked the strip and had an authentic Roberto's meal thanks to Guy Chapman. The next day we hung out with Guy again, this time at the Atomic Testing Museum. It was a really interesting place, although quite frightening and creepy. That night I picked StripSteak in Mandalay Bay for dinner-primarily because they serve a truffle macaroni and cheese which I have really wanted to try. It was a really good dinner. I would probably say I prefer CraftSteak, but it was still a really good meal. The next day we met up with Guy and Jenny this time, and went to Madame Tussaud's and to lunch. That night we saw David Copperfield. I think we have now seen all the main types of shows in Vegas, magic, Cirque, and a showgirl show. I had a lot of fun this trip although I would have liked to have spent some time at the pool just relaxing instead of feeling like I was on the go the whole time-but maybe next trp.
My sister watched the dogs while we were away and seeing them and our cats was the best part of coming home. I am glad I had a short week at work, although one of my co-temp workers was let go on Friday. She was the person I have become closest with at work so I was pretty sad to see her go. For myself I will still be employed through October it looks like, and my team has really gone to bat for me in trying to get my extended beyond that for a temp-to-hire position. The company is on a hiring freeze so they cannot hire anyone from the outside, but being in a temp-to-hire position would really give me a lot more stability. I like where I work and would love to have job stability, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that something positive will happen soon. I talked about it earlier this summer, but Steve and I are definitey thinking about buying a house soon and would love to get settled. I mean, we might want to start a family someday and with 4 pets, a two bedroom apartment makes that impossible. Let's face it, I can't keep up with the amount of shedding that is going on in here! It is insane.
September is right around the corner which means Fall! It was so beautiful up here in the fall last year. I am excited. Not to mention Halloween coming up and in October we will be celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary. :)

Been a while

2009-08-04T05:25:05Z

This weekend we went to a craft show in Seattle called Urban Uprising. Most of the people selling had etsy stores, and seeing all the cool stuff was very inspiring. It definitely made me want to explore my creative side-which I really haven't felt like doing lately. I got a really cute head band and two necklaces. One necklace had a really cool tree charm, and the other had a cute cavalier charm. Steve got a print of a fox painting.
It has been really warm here lately. Everyone is saying how this is the hottest summer that they have had up here in a long time. How is it that when we move here they have the most extreme winter and summer? Come on now. This is just crazy lame. Anyway, this weekend was pretty flippin warm. Sunday I really felt like doing nothing at all. I totally vegged and then Steve and I decided to go see the movie The Hangover. It was really funny. A completely raunchy film, but I was laughing pretty much the whole time. Zach Galifinakas has been on my radar lately though, and I think he is really funny-so that might have had something to do with it.
My job is still up in the air. We had a meeting today, and they told me that they are attempting to extend me through October because my job is technically being billed to another team. It is pretty much a waiting game right now.
You know, every job environment has drama and this one is no different. Today I had a chat with my partner in crime at work, and I was getting in on all the dirt. It is hard when people have those types of conversations with you, because for me, I really don't want to talk shit about people. I mean I have my observations, but I try to stay neutral. Anyway, I learned that my counterpart at work is going to apply for another job on another team. It doesn't mean she is going to take the job and it doesn't mean that I am going to get her job is she leaves. I just have to wait and see how things unfold.
I am happy that I finally talked to Erika today. I haven't really been good about contacting anyone lately. I am really becoming quite the hermit. I don't know what is wrong with me. I sort of get this way a lot it seems. I go through big spurts where I just want to be alone, and then I feel like being social again for a short time. However, I need to make sure I at least attempt to keep relationships going while I am being hermit-like. I am lucky to have a friend like Erika though, where I can pretty much pick up where I left off and not have any weirdness when there is a lapse in conversation. There are a lot of people I miss, and I just really need to make that contact again.

Meh

2009-07-08T05:07:22Z

I was at work during the memorial today and I was super busy anyway. Steve said I wouldn't be able to handle it. I haven't really spoken about MJ on here and everyone has their opinion about the man, and the way his death is being covered-but for me it has had a big effect. I really love his music, the videos, his little mini-movies, and when I hear the songs on the radio it makes me very sad to know that this man isn't in the world anymore.

I will miss you Michael.

Reflexology

2009-06-22T00:22:23Z

Steve and I got up pretty early this morning and went to go have coffee and see about getting foot reflexology at this local Chinese massage place. We have tried to go to this place two times but it is always too busy. This time we were finally sucessful and had the best hour long reflexology sessions for $25 each. They did foot and hand reflexology and gave us mini massages on our legs, arms, backs and heads. It was very relaxing and such a good deal. Mystery solved as to why that place is so crowded.
Today Steve is spending the afternoon with a friend and I just walked the dogs and cleaned the house. Steve is going to be out of town next weekend, so I am a little sad that he is gone today, but at the same time I am glad to have some chill time. I have been doing a lot of overtime at work and have just been busy in general. I am happy to be busy at work, but it has been a little overwhelming. I am still learning my new job and because it is so busy I have been making more errors than I am used to. Not to say that I am so perfect or anything, it is just that I usually have more time to check my work and make sure that things are correct. It seems like I am rushing around a lot now, so things aren't getting checked as well as they should, which of course creates more work when we have to go back and correct mistakes, which creates more of a time crunch to get the regular work done...the vicious cycle basically. Anyway, I am not sure when the schedule will let up. It is just going to be crazy for a while. Which I can't complain about too much-hopefully that keeps me working!
Steve and I were able to entertain (sort of anyway) our first visitor from San Diego last weekend, Christal! It was great seeing her and nice to have a familiar face up here in the pacific northwest. It was also cool to see her work and that of the other people that she was showing with at an artwalk here in Ballard. Seeing her made me miss Daygo, and our other friends-I hope we can get out there pretty soon.
Oh and to go off on a tangent, this "More to Love" show that they are advertising on tv is so horrible! I really can't stand to see the commercials for that show. Although all the dating shows, "Bachlorette", "Bachelor", all that shit they are all so bad aren't they? I just hate how the chubby girls are portrayed and then of course the bachelor they are competing for is chubby too. Blah.

Thank you

2009-06-03T01:39:08Z

Thank you everyone who wished me a "happy birthday" yesterday! It means a lot..
=D

Birthday weekend stuff

2009-06-01T02:56:20Z

My birthday is tomorrow, but since it is on a Monday and I will probably have to work late, we did birthday stuff this weekend. Friday night Steve took me to the mall to buy me some birthday presents. I got some cute clothes and an even cuter Tokidoki purse. I got my haircut in the morning and then last night we went to a local club that was having all 80s coverbands night. There were four cover bands, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, New Order, and The Cure. We met up at my sister's for some food and drinks, then walked over to the club. A couple of my sister's friends came along and we met up with a couple of our friends at the club. All the coverbands were really good, much to all of our surprise. I got pretty toasty as well so overall it was a really fun evening. Today we went to my mom's for dinner and they made the best stuffed tenderloin steaks and a homemade chocolate cake. So yummy! I got some gifts there too. I got some cookbooks, converse, a couple of gift cards, and a bottle of Kramer Vineyards pinot noir. The Kramer Vineyards is in Oregon. I have some Kramer Vineyards wine glasses, and I just think it is so cool to now have a bottle (which is supposedly very good).
It has been a really great birthday weekend. Tomorrow I turn 31 and most likely will have to work late. If I get off early enough Steve is planning to take me to one of favorite Thai places in Bellevue. So overall I am really happy with how this birthday turned out. I had made a weightloss goal for my birthday which I didn't even come close to meeting, but that is my only real disappointment with this birthday. Getting healthy is a life long process, so I am not beating myself up too much for not meeting my goal. I hope that tomorrow they will let me off the hook at a reasonable time, but I just switched clients at work, so who knows what I am in for. Last week was a nightmare, and I pretty much have more of the same coming up. I am trying to learn someone else's job before they go on vacation in a week. Not so fun to be sure, but that is a whole other post for another time.
31 tomorrow!

What's this? Nice weather?

2009-05-18T00:25:20Z

It has been really sunny and actually warm this whole weekend. We took advantage by going on a bike ride yesterday, and taking the dogs to the waterfront today. There are mulitple bike trails out in this area, but the one we normally take is the most flat, therefore I can ride my cruiser. My sister's old roommate gave me her bike, which is sort of a mountain/street bike, but the seat is really uncomfortable. However, it is a lot easier to ride if there are hills and things like that. I should ride it more so my booty can get used to it, but I love riding my cruiser too. It was a really nice ride. So many people were out and we saw quite a few rollerbladers too, which is kinda odd for out here. Most people are cyclists. I want getting on my skates again soon.
Going out with the dogs today was fun too. We bought them some monster sized leashes which were probably intended for large dogs, but have made walking them a lot easier for me. They don't pull on me so much but they do get excited when they see people or dogs and with these thick leashes I felt like I could really keep a good hold on them. They are definitely getting used to being around a lot of people and aren't going quite as crazy as they used to. This makes me so happy. I am glad that we are able to have them out and about and they aren't pulling me or jumping on people too much.
In two weeks I am going to be 31 years old. Steve and I joke about it, like I am getting old or whatever but I don't really feel that way. I think the only thing that bothers me is that my grey hair is pretty hard to get rid of. My dad's hair is pretty much completely white with some grey and he has been that way for years. He is 53 years old. My mom has a lot of grey as well and she is 54 so...I knew I was going to go grey early, but damn! I have to dye my hair about every 4 weeks. I don't have an obscene amount of grey hair or anything, but it is something I don't much like looking at. I have been dying my hair black for the last few months, but I think I am going to go back to red. Something lighter for summer I think. Anyways...that is my gripe about getting older. Lol.

Shopping frenzy

2009-05-04T02:05:52Z

I spent way too much money this weekend. Friday we got ahead and bought a father's day present (along with a couple of cds). Saturday we bought two new pillows (memory foam-awesome), a mother's day present, make-up, and a teapot. Today I bought groceries, and slipcovers for our couch and chair.
I have been wanting to get a teapot for sometime now-just to add to my dinnerware collection. Steve and I invited my mom, stepdad, sister and her bf over for afternoon tea on Mother's day. I love going to have tea myself, and I thought that it might be a cute, and casual way for all of us to get together for Mother's Day. I am even going to order my mom a corsage.
Our couch and chair are not that old but when you have 4 animals wandering around, there is a lot more wear and tear than normal-hence the slipcover purchase. I am not sure if I can trust the cats around these covers but the chair and couch does look a lot nicer now. I don't want to take them back.
Now I am just trying to relax. We have been having a lot of problems with the dogs lately. I believe it is stemming from changes in their diet. Our dogs have the most sensitive stomachs. Phillip is getting better but now Sabrina is having trouble. Steve and I just got a little lazy and gave them different brands of dog food, and frankly our dogs cannot handle that. My sister will give her dog table scraps and different types of bones. Phillip and Sabrina will get sick if they have any variation. There are some bones that Phillip will eat and his eyes will get all funky and have a ton of boogers. I am telling ya, these dogs are the light of my life but geeze they are high maintence! Steve went out yesterday in the rain (a sudden downpour) and now he is feeling crappy. So we have both been in crappy moods and the tension has been really draining. I really wish there was one more day for this weekend.

kawaiikelly @ 2009-04-28T22:12:00

2009-04-29T05:26:27Z

Well, as mostly you all know Steve and I spent the weekend in Astoria, Oregon. Photographic evidence on Steve's lj and flickr.
We packed up the dogs and drove out Friday night. The drive was supposed to be 3 and a half hours but I am sure it was a lot longer than that. It is weird but you have to take a lot of winding roads to get there. There is no freeway really. I am making it sound really remote, and it isn't, but there is just no freeway to get there that we found. We didn't stay in Astoria, but we stayed in the next town over, Seaside. Nicky's (my sis) bf's family has a beach house there. We were invited to stay with them.
Saturday we woke up fairly early and we got coffee and pastries in Seaside then headed out to Astoria. It wasn't supposed to be too cold or rainy, but alas, it was very cold and it rained quite a bit. Our first stop was the County jail from the first part of the movie. It looks just like it does in the movie. It is not open to the public anymore. Right across the street from the jail is Mikey's dad's museum, also from the begininng of the movie. The kids ride by it on their bikes and the dad is taking the flag down. It is a really cool house and you can take a tour of it for $5 bucks, but we passed on that. The outside was the most important part anyway.
A couple blocks away from that was the bowling alley. Another scene from the start of the movie where Chunk is watching the car chase with his pizza and milkshake. The owner of the bowling alley told us that they get people from all over the world coming into the bowling alley and taking pictures. She rolled her eyes at our excitement but we didn't care. I went outside to take a picture of Steve in the window, but then it started to rain so hard! I only got one picture and it pretty much sucks. :(
Next we went to find Mikey's and Data's house. We were on the street but went in the wrong direction. Luckily a neighbor having a yard sale was out and told us how to get to the house. We had to park down the hill from the house and walk up. There was a sign that said "Goonies on foot welcome, no parking" or something like that. We walked up and took tons of pictures. It looks very similar to what you see in the movie, but it does seem a little smaller for some reason. We must have seen about 5 other groups of people walk up to the house and take pictures in front of it too. It was pretty funny. Of course Data's house was right next door and it looks the same as in the movie.
Next we headed to Cannon Beach where the famous beach/rocks are. It is called Haystack Rock and it is flippin' huge in person. We went down the beach and looked at it and it from different angles. I am pretty sure we got a shot with the three rocks. It was pretty cold, and started to rain, so we didn't stay on that beach too long.
That was pretty much the end of our Goonie adventure. I am sure if I would have done more research I might have been able to find some more sights. I did have the address of the highschool where Andy is practicing her cheerleading, but we didn't see it right off, so we didn't go. We also could have went to Ecola State Park and possibly find the spot where the restaurant stood, but I heard it is pretty hard to find, so we didn't bother.
We spent a little time in Cannon Beach. We went to a wine tasting, went to lunch, then hung out with the dogs for a bit before heading out to dinner. Sunday we went to breakfast at a cute, little, restaurant called Grandma's Country Kitchen, where grandma supposedly made all the food herself. It was pretty good but Steve had undercooked eggs which ended up making him sick. We took a walk to the beach with the dogs and let them run around on the shore. Then we headed home. It was a great weekend, apart from Steve getting sick. Actually it seems I caught a cold too. I wouldn't mind going back sometime, as the people were nice and Seaside seemed like a cute town. Astoria seems a little run-down, but it still is a cute place with a lot of character. I am thankful to my sister for taking us out and making it possible for the dogs to join us.

Let down

2009-04-17T01:36:36Z

So an email went out this morning from the receptionist that had the subject- "Did you lose something?" then the body said,"a ring was found and is at the front desk". Then a little bit later another email goes out with the subject-"Owner claimed the ring. Read more to find out what happened". So I open the email expecting to see an amusing or entertaining story about this ring being misplaced. Instead the body of the email said: "I gave the owner the ring back."
Oh wow! I am glad that I read on to see how that story ended...what a let down!

Pretty great day today...

2009-04-16T03:47:49Z

I basically removed staples and paperclipped paper all day long. Yep, this is why I spent 10 years in school after highschool. At least I kept busy which is a positive. I would rather keep busy doing something mundane, then actually have nothing to do but trying to look busy.
Last night on Discovery Channel, or TLC-not sure which, they had a movie called "Mermaid Girl". It was a documentary of an 8 year old girl who was born with her legs fused together and she actually looks like a mermaid. Her feet are twisted in on eachother. She has no vagina or rectum. Apparantly she is the only girl like this in the world. She was really a cute girl. I am not sure how to feel about some of the programming on Discovery and TLC though.
So steve and I have been thinking about taking the big plunge and buying a house. If any of you home owners have some advice you would like to share with us-I am all ears. Home ownership has been a big dream of ours for a while now. I am not sure if it is even feasible at the moment, but we are going to try to find out. There are the issues of credit and if we would even qualify for a home loan. I am going to sign us up to take a first-time home buying class. Steve and I are big time researchers. We do so much research before we do anything big, so we have a lot of work ahead of us. However, like I said earlier, in this market with loans being hard to come by and our history, it might not even be feasible right now.
I have also seen that a hip hop class is going to be starting up next Monday at a dance studio by my house. Next Monday I am going to a concert, but my sister and I might check it out the week after. It is a drop in class, so I don't think it will matter if we miss the first day. I am a little nervous because I have never taken a dance class before and I am not sure what it is going to be like. I have been talking about taking hip hop for so long now, that I have to go at least once to see how it is. If I hate it, there are a lot of other dance classes at that studio...so we will see.
I just watched a movie called Eagle vs Shark. It was highly entertaining. I recommend it. I am pretty excited because Gepetto just came in from Netflix. It is a made for tv movie with Drew Carey and I used to hear the songs at KB all the time and I really fell in love with them. I can't wait to watch the movie.
I am so glad it will be Thursday tomorrow. Would be better if it was going to be Friday though.

Last House on the Left

2009-03-15T00:56:35Z

Is anyone going to see this movie? Steve and I watched the original not too long back.
I remember watching a countdown of scary movie moments on Bravo around Halloween time, and ithis movie was on the countdown. When people were talking about it they were freaking out about it. I also remember my step mom saying that it was one of the scariest/disturbing movies she had seen when she was younger. So we saw that it was On Demand, so I told Steve I wanted to watch it. As most people can tell from the trailers, the parents enact some revenge on the people that did bad things to their daughter. This is the same concept in the original movie. About mid-way through Steve was clowning it big time and I was waiting for the terrible stuff to happen. I think the concept is disturbing, but it wasn't delivered well by the actors-not to mention the terrible score. I guess some people feel that the juxtaposition of the happy songs against the disturbing story makes for a psychologically eerie movie, but like I said, the emotional connection wasn't there from the actors, and therefore I didn't really feel too much during the movie. Actually the bad guys were pretty good, but the parents weren't very good (acting-wise).
There was a lot of fucked up shit that happened in the original movie. That is why I am curious what is going to happen with the new version. I wonder if with the bigger budget and possibly better actors, if the horrific story will come to life. The main bad guy in the new movie is a really good actor. I have only really seen him in Deadwood, but he was very good in that show and he played a variety of characters. Somehow though, I doubt they will leave keep all the gore and stay true to the story line completely. I just don't think that a main stream audience will be able to handle it.
I never saw the remake of The Hills Have Eyes either. To me, the original was very scary and surprising. I didn't expect the story to go where it did and I thought that movie delivered on the scares. The idea of people trying at all costs to steal a helpless baby for the purposes of eating it, I mean that is just fucked. I mean, it wasn't a great movie or anything but it did scare me.
Anyway, I would love to hear what people think about The last House on the Left if you go see the remake-or even if you have seen the original.

Tomorrow and other stuff

2009-03-08T23:54:18Z

I found out that I will be starting my new contract position on Monday. I am nervous, but I think someone else will be starting the same day as me, so at least I won't be the only newb on the scene. I will be making $4 less an hour than what I was making at my last contract job, which is kind of a bummer, but this seems to be the nature of the beast right now. A lot of the jobs I have seen advertised or have went to interview for are hiring at lower wages. I also don't have a definite end date for my contract. It may be short, or it may last a really long time. I am glad that I will be out working again, I just hope I like the place and the people I work for. I am really lucky that Steve has been paitient with me and also very lucky that I was eligible for unemployment.
Yesterday after Steve got a haircut, we went to Borders and bought me another book! I got a comic pocket book. Then Steve got a phone call from a co-worker inviting us to see Watchmen, so off we went to the movies. I liked the movie. I have not read the book, so I had no expectations going in. Some parts were a little slow, but overall I thought it was pretty good. Of course we stayed to see Dan's credit at the end too. After that we went to dinner and it started to snow. Yes it is still that cold here Californians!
Today we went to the Seattle Kennel Club Dog Show. It was a lot of fun. We missed the Cavaliers, but we got to see a few anyway at the Meet the Breeds area. We also got to see the Dancing Dogs. I love watching that even though some would think it is pretty stupid.
So now Steve is raiding in EQ2, well sort of, and I am getting ready to straighten up the house I think. I am going back to work tomorrow, so I won't have as much time to do things at my leisure any more. I can't believe it has been 2 months since I last had a job.

Temping again!

2009-02-27T22:47:37Z

It is better than nothing though, right? Looks like as soon as I get my background check straightened out, I will be on another temp project. I still don't have all the specifics, but I believe my contract will be for 6 months. I was really hoping to land a permanent job this time around, but at least my contract jobs have been with two really good companies. I will find out my start date either tonight or sometime next week. Since I still need to fax some stuff in for my background check, I won't be surprised if I don't find out today.

Other than that nothing really new has been going on over here. Last weekend we went over to my sister's place with my parents for a little appetizers and conversation. My parents hadn't seen her new place, so that was really the point of our visit. We had fun though. We didn't do too much else with our weekend. Did some shopping and ran some errands.

I have been trying to keep busy with art projects and I am starting to work on some multi-media projects with paper cut-outs. So far it has been fun, I love trying new mediums to express myself. Although using an exacto knife is not that easy, especially with circles and small details. I have continued my unemployed, tv addiction and have been watching a ton of shows. I did not watch the last Top Chef and I am glad I didn't because I am really not liking what I have heard. If they do a reunion show though, I will watch that. America's Best Dance Crew certainly has not disappointed me. The two best crews are in the top this time, but I am disappointed that the girl crew did not finish stronger. I thought they were a lock for the title, but Quest crew really blew me away on the last show, and I think that they will end up with the title. Unless the show is fixed, then they might put the girls in for the win. They are definitely a good crew, but for last impressions, Quest left a really good one. They need to do a show with all the top crews. We have major Jabbawokeez love in this house. I really am just going to start taking hip-hop classes one of these days. I love the way it looks and it seems so fun.

New Netflix Picks

2009-02-18T19:18:24Z

I added some old tv shows to the Netflix and watched a couple episodes through the "watch now" feature on the X-Box (awesome feature, btw). The first series I am watching is Dead Like Me. I caught an episode on Sci-Fi and I liked it. I decided to add it to Netflix because I am pretty sure that the show originally aired on Showtime which means the Sci-Fi episodes are probably cut up. I can watch the whole season on the X-Box, but a few episodes are only available on the actual disc. That is kind of disappointing.
The second show I added (but have to wait for it to come in the mail) is The Dresden Files. This is a show that was on Sci-Fi, but I guess they pulled a Firefly and aired the show out of order, so it never got beyond one season. This show is based on a series of books and I enjoyed the first book (the only one I have read so far), so I thought I would check out the show. Seems to me to be somewhat similar to Angel, but the detective is a wizard instead of a vampire. I will probably pick up the second book this week.
I am thinking I might add the show Joan of Arcadia too. I caught an episode of that on Sci-fi and I actually liked it. I swear since I have been unemployed I have really become addicted to tv. However, DVR and Netflix is really the only way to watch tv. I would much rather tape a show and come back to watch it later, or wait for a series to come to DVD then have to watch it as soon as the show airs. Well, unless that show is America's Best Dance Crew then I can't wait, lol.