Current state of ME

I've been sick all weekend, so this is all I can muster today:

listening 16 and Pregnant marathon on MTV.

eating FiberOne Oats and Chocolate bar.

drinking orange juice.

wearing pj pants and a Texas A&M t-shirt.

feeling sick.

weather grey with peeks of sunshine.

wanting to feel better.

needing to feel better by tomorrow since Tito won't be here to watch Santi all day.

thinking my cat makes weird noises when she sleeps (she's sleeping next to me).

enjoying the sound of Tito and Santi playing in the livingroom and the occasional visits from Santi.

creating an organized house this week by tackling each room separately.

pondering what will be happening in a few months.

loving spending time with my baby.

anticipating summer and swimming with my guy.

discovered here and here.

Fall

I do believe that fall has arrived in the Pacific NW. Not that we really had a summer, in my opinion. I can count on one hand the amount of times we went to the pool or the beach, which is sad. Oh well, fall is fun too...this year we're planning on doing some apple picking, going to a pumpkin patch (we feel like we can do this now because we have a little one!) and we'll also be celebrating my 33rd birthday! What a year it's been for me, but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Yesterday I ran a 10k race that I'd been training for since June. Not as consistently as I'd like but my goal was to run the entire race and not walk at all. Which I didn't. One blister and some very sore legs and 6.2 miles later, I crossed the finish line, finishing the race in just over an hour. I was pleased with myself, and managed to time the end of the race with Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" which is also the first song I heard on the radio when I got the official confirmation that I was pregnant with Santiago. So that song always makes me think of Santi, and I was running the race with him as my inspiration. Here are a few photos from the day:

With my friend Jess - a great training partner! (And yes, I'm wearing a skirt to run in..."real women run in skirts" don't you know? It has spandex shorts underneath and is seriously the best thing I've ever run in..and it's cute to, so I love it!)

With Santi before the race

With Papa Beto, Tito and Santi before the race

Mid run - one lap down, one to go!

After the race with Jess

With Santi

And just because you all read this blog to see Santi more than you do to see me, here are some of his latest photos - he's wearing his lobster hat, as he's really a "Maine" boy at heart!

Some of you have heard that I was in the hospital this weekend. Just wanted to update you on what happened to me. On Thursday evening, I went running with a friend (and did 4.33 miles which I'm pretty proud of in training for a 10k race in a few weeks.)

On Friday morning at about 4am, I woke up with pain in my arms. Like a dull achy pain. I got up and moved around, thinking I might have slept on my arm wrong. After a few minutes, I took a Tylenol. 20 mins later I felt no relief and Tito was awake, and massaged my arms, thinking that it might be dehydration from running. After another 20 mins with no relief, I took a nitroglycerin tablet that I keep for emergencies due to my heart condition. This had no effect other than giving me a headache. So we decided I should go to the ER to get checked out since it was better to be safe than sorry.

Needless to say, due to my history, they kept me (although it took them forever to get me back to a room and NO ONE was in the ER.) They did a blood enzyme test and it was negative. Then they did another one 4 hours later and it was slightly elevated. At that point, they decided to keep me in the hospital and repeat my enzymes at noon. When they did, it was elevated again. So they admitted me. Of course, it took them 9 hours to get me a bed, so I spent a total of 17 hours on a gurney in the ER. (Tito's dad was watching Santi during this time at the house.)

I finally got upstairs at 10pm, and they put me on heparin and then I went to sleep. That night they tested my enzymes again and the next morning they came in and said that they were elevated from a .4 to a 4. When the doctor came in I asked him what that meant and he said I had had a small heart attack (which for me, this was my third.) They wanted to do a cardiac catherization and said originally that they'd do it on Monday. Then, since it was a slow Saturday, they were able to get me in and I had the procedure that morning. The catherization showed that they think that I had had a clot/blockage on a very small artery that branches off from my main coronary arteries. They said that the clot wasn't there when they went in but they saw evidence of it (left over pieces of the clot.) They said it was in such a small part that it wouldn't have even been possible for them to get instruments in there to blast the clot if it had been present when they went in.

But at that point, my heart looked good and the aneurysms were all still there, all still giant and from they could tell, all unchanged. I was shuttled back to my room where they elevated my bed which was flat, at a 45 degree angle down. I had to lay flat for 5 hours...doesn't seem to bad until you have a few hours left and your back is killing you from lying on the world's most uncomfortable bed! At this point, Tito, his dad and Santi were all there, so I was able to see them all before and after the procedure. When I was allowed up, I walked a bit and then finally changed positions.


So I was surprised when the docs came in this morning and said I could go home! They put me on Lovenox (hello old friend! I didn't think I'd see you again until the next time I was pregnant!) and Coumadin and told me to get rechecked in a couple of days to see if my blood levels were therapeutic.

Basically they said that I had a clot that formed in a tiny "branch" off off my main coronary arteries where my aneurysms are. So due to that, and the elevated enzyme levels, I essentially had a heart attack. A baby one, super tiny and no damage. They said when they looked at me via the cardiac cath that the clot was gone but that if it had been there it was in such a small spot they wouldn't have been able to get any equipment down there to remove it anyway. So the heparin they put me on the first day I was there apparently worked to bust the clot out of there, and keeping any damage from occurring to my heart.

Santi, Tito and my father in law came to the hospital today and I was so happy to be able to tell them that I could go home! And once we got home, I had a surprise - Santi rolled over! Back to front! On Saturday he almost went all the way...here's the video:

Almost rolling over! (8/21/2010) from Kate Davila on Vimeo.

And today, right from when we walked in the door we put him down on the floor and within minutes he'd rolled over! I hadn't seen him and thought FIL had just put him down on his front. But then we put him down on his back and he rolled right over!

Here's that video:

He rolls! (8/22/10) from Kate Davila on Vimeo.

Food Poisoning = no fun

So I am home today working away because I woke up at 3am to go to the bathroom and with a horrible gurgling stomach. For the next three hours I was throwing up and more. Not fun. I'm still not 100% better but managed to get down two English muffins and some apple juice. I'm hoping I feel better soon. It's very hard to not only be nauseous from pregnancy but also nauseous from illness.

I'm fairly certain it's not a bug and food poisoning because I'd felt "fine" (aside from the normal nausea that's been around for the last 7 weeks) all weekend. I was craving pizza yesterday after watching "Mystic Pizza" (I always crave pizza after watching that movie!) and we ended up in Lynnwood because Tito had to get his prescription for contact lenses. So we went to a place called Alfy's Pizza because we'd never been and a friend I know likes it.

Something should have tipped me off about this place. Maybe when we walked in and no one was there to greet us but then I looked over and saw a worker re-stocking the salad bar with no gloves on (he actually dumped a huge pile of olives into a bucket and it was overflowing so he was pushing it down with his hands. I didn't have salad for that reason even though I wanted some veggies. Or maybe it was when I saw one of the chefs delivering pizza to another table with a dirty bowl in his hand. And then a few minutes later when he delivered our pizza, he had the same dirty bowl in his hand, which I assumed was his as he had the fork from the bowl in his mouth. I'm not kidding. I just looked at him, but at that point I was starving and didn't think anything of it.

The pizza was sub-par to say the least. Think cafeteria pizza. In my opinion, it was really doughy (I like thin crust), the cheese was weird (I like a cheese that is melted and when you pull away the slice of pizza from the others there is a trail of cheese left), and the sauce was way too saucy (I'm really particular about my sauce because I don't really like tomatoes that much so I don't like sauce that overpowers the rest of the pizza.) Also the pepperonis (which I cleared to eat with my OB) didn't seem cooked all the way. And they were too spicy. Like they were government issued pepperonis or "fake pepperoni" instead of real, "crispy when cooked" pepperonis. So I ended up picking them off and eating just the cheese.

We came home and watched a movie ("Vicky, Christina Barcelona" which was good) and then went to bed. But I woke up at 3am feeling so sick. Needless to say, I will never return to Alfy's Pizza again, no matter if it's another branch or my life depends on it. I guess I'm spoiled by my thin crust, perfect cheese and pepperoni mix from Pat's Pizza back during college. It's a good thing that place does not exist over on the West Coast, as I would eat it every day during this pregnancy. When we went back to Maine in June, Tito and I ate there twice. :) It's so good. For out here in Seattle, we'll stick with Pagliacci's. I guess I'm a pizza snob now. Oh well, it beats getting sick.

I think I might have a wheat allergy. I was looking online this morning for wheat allergy symptoms because I ate pasta yesterday and woke up with severe stomach cramping and (sorry!) constipation. It continues today although just the cramping as the constipation has subsided in the "natural" way if you catch my drift. I found a list of supposed wheat allergy symptoms and was surprised at how many of these I experience on a daily level:


Symptoms of a wheat allergy or wheat intolerance (not exhaustive by any means):

* Arthritis (don't have.)
* Bloated stomach (I have this constantly)
* Chest pains (have occasionally, not like heart attack ones but different, more sharp)
* Depression or mood swings (I would say I have mood swings and not just centered around my cycle)
* Diarrhea (have a lot - sorry if TMI!)
* Eczema (don't have)
* Feeling dizzy or faint (don't have)
* Joint and muscle aches and pains (my knees have been bothering me a lot more than usual. When I was younger I thought it was cheerleading stress on my joints. Now my knees will hurt when sitting on the airplane, or like last night when I was leaving work, got up from my desk and my knees ached and then had to take the three flights of stairs slowly because my knees felt like they were going to "pop" if I went too fast)
* Nausea or vomiting (Nausea a lot - pretty much every other day)
* Palpitations (have these a lot as well - went to the electrocardiologist and they said it's nothing to be concerned about. But now I'm wondering if they're not heart related at all)
* Psoriasis (don't have)
* Skin rashes (I have a weird one on my shins right now but it came about with my sun exposure in Houston so I don't think it's related.)
* Sneezing (occasionally)
* Suspected irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)/similar effects (I occasionally feel like this is what I have but then I'll be fine)
* Swollen throat or tongue (not really, although the roof of my mouth or gums will randomly swell up)
* Tiredness and lethargy (tired a lot - and not just from all of the traveling I've been doing)
* Unexplained cough (nope)
* Unexplained runny nose (my nose runs when I eat - pretty much everything I eat. But not spicy foods (not that I eat a whole lot of spicy foods)
* Watery or itchy eyes (nope)


So I made an appt. with my doc for next Saturday (first available appt. with my doc since I don't want to see another practice doc because I always have to spend a good 15 - 20 minutes explaining my history to them and my heart condition). In the meantime, I've got a list of things you shouldn't eat with a wheat allergy and I'm going to try and keep away from those to see how they make me feel... even if I don't have a wheat allergy I think I'm going to try and give up wheat products to see how they make me feel. Hardest thing will be giving up beer!! But I'm so sick of feeling nauseous or not knowing if foods I eat will make me sick or not something has to give, you know?

So we headed out last Thursday night for an overnight flight home. First stop La Guardia, then on to Boston, then drive to Maine. We made it to NY with time to spare and enjoyed some Dunkin' Donuts...Tito's favorite. As much as we've been told there are DD's here in Seattle, it's not true (according to their website at least there aren't any on the West Coast at all!) So Tito happily scarfed down an iced latte and donut.

Sunrise on the way to NY



Landed in Boston and got our rental car. I succeeded in pissing off the rental car agent because he was trying to upsell me into a larger car, sell us the insurance, etc. and I eventually had to tell him that I had worked for Enterprise and didn't need his sales pitches and that we would take an economy car and if they didn't have one then they would put us into the next size available for free. He didn't like that. He also didn't like it when I told him their policy (Alamo) of having to pay for all second drivers was "stupid." At Enterprise if a couple is married they count as one and can both drive and anyone after them is an additional fee. Apparently this guy was telling me you had to pay for all additiional drivers, married or not which I thought (and still think) is dumb. Especially since Enterprise owns Alamo and National now. Whatever. We got out of there with a compact car since they had no economy cars and were on our way.



Boston bridge

At this point, I've slept about 3 hours because our seat partner brought her Chihauhau with her who apparently has attachment issues and was whiny, yippy, etc. throughout the whole flight with the most high pitched bark I've ever heard. I would occasionally fall asleep to be woken by a bark, or when she let her dog out onto her lap it would jump out and would be on the floor licking my legs. Also, the owner didn't seem to know the rules of space on a plane and she kept taking up our shared arm rest, and then leaning over into my seat space. It was fine for a bit as I could lie on Tito's shoulder, but when she attempted to "snuggle" up to me in her sleep I sort of elbowed her awake. :) Tito hadn't slept at all. So he was super tired, and I drove (totally breaking our rental agreement) so he could sleep.



Entering Maine!



We stopped at LL Bean on the way up so I could return an indoor/outdoor thermometer my parents had given us a few years ago that stopped working. I exchanged it for a gift card and managed to get a cute rain/spring coat with a hood. Tito also managed to charge his phone since both of ours had died so we could call my parents. We drove home and I found my second wind to go to the bride to be's mom's house to put together napkins for the wedding we were going to on Sunday. Tito crashed and went to bed. I got home at about 9pm and crashed as well.

Woke up early on Saturday and spent all day (9:30am - 4pm) cleaning with little breaks and didn't eat (I was so focused on getting done I didn't want to stop to eat fearing I'd lose my motivation.) We had plans to meet friends at their place 30 minutes away to go to dinner so we headed over there after showering and changing. It was so great to see them (the girls were two of my bridesmaids in my wedding and the last time we'd been home was for Beth's wedding two years ago.)





Went to the Sea Dog, which is Beth's favorite restaurant (they actually had their reception at the Bangor, ME one two years ago.) We attempted to go and see The Hangover, but missed it by 10 minutes, so we went and got drinks and back to Beth and Pete's house to play Trivial Pursuit and Asshole and catch up...


We left at 2am and slept in the next morning until 9am. Wedding was that day, and after the wedding, we headed up to Orono/Bangor area to see our old college haunts. Got into Bangor around 6pm and changed and headed to Orono for dinner at our favorite pizza place - Pat's. So deliscious!


Tito excited for his pizza



Digging in (notice my super curly hair brought on by the humidity!)




After dinner we headed next door to a favorite college bar, the Bear Brew Pub. There were 4 other people there - being a Sunday night and out of classes, the town pretty much dies down and the population decreases by 12,000. We didn't care and enjoyed a drink!





Headed back to the hotel to sleep and slept in until about 9am. Woke up and started coordinating meeting many people throughout the day and then headed up to campus!



Hancock Hall - Tito's old dorm and where we first met and had our first kiss. Awww...



Tutor Program - one of the places Tito worked while an undergrad.

We stopped into my old work and saw my old boss, who is one of our closest friends. We were able to catch up and made plans to stop by her house later to see her daughter and their old AFS student who I also know who was randomly visiting the same weekend.

Headed to lunch to meet my friend Natasha and her son Ryder. I haven't seen her in about 7 years so it was nice to get a chance to catch up. We wanted to go to a different restaurant but everything else was closed for lunch so we ended up back at Pat's. :)


After lunch we headed back to campus, driving by one of my old houses I lived in with my friends Adrienne and Kate.


60 Park Street...first house with A and K. My room is the second floor with the three windows.

Once on campus, we went to the bookstore, got some souveniers (a UMaine cheering shirt for me and little baby beanie with black bears on it for future babies), and then walked around the Union.



At the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences building - thanks for my degree!

After awhile we headed out to see some of Tito's old buildings and his old professors. We ran into a lot of them actually (engineers never take summer breaks!)



On our way off to visit more friends, we stopped at the new (well a couple of years old now) Alumni House to tour it.



The guy working the desk was an alum and also a very enthusiastic one. He belonged to the same honor organization as Tito had (Senior Skulls) and was also current president of "Friends of Maine Cheering". When he heard I was a former UMaine cheerleader he was super excited. :)



In the music room with Rudy Vallee memorbilia....Rudy Vallee wrote our alma mater's song..."Fill the Steins to Dear Old Maine, shout till the rafters roar..." Yes, I know all the words, including the section where we shout "Drink, Drink, Drink!" at hockey games. Tito HAD to know it to be in the Senior Skulls as they would be randomly asked to sing it if they ran into other Skull brothers throughout the first part of joining the group (similar to fraternity gags)...and at our wedding, we had 8 Skull members there and they sang the Stein Song to me...



Reliving old UMaine cheering days...ok, I didn't cheer THAT long ago, but it feels like it!



The ceiling of the rotunda in the Alumni House. The "stars" actually twinkle!



Floor of the rotunda...12 columns representing the first 12 UMaine graduates

After leaving the Alumni House we made the short trip to Page Place, the street where three of my four former flowergirls live...they're neighbors and my old boss lives here too.



With Brynn, Mason and Elise. Elise is almost as tall as I am at 9 years old.

Had a great visit, then headed down the street to my old boss' house.



Me, Molly, Amy, John and Dom (their Swiss former AFS student who was coincidentally visiting.)


Tito, Molly and I...she's such a peanut even at 6! She takes horseback riding lessons and her mom has to buy her clothes on a specialty website. She said that the size that she buys her isn't even modeled by a kid, but by a doll they're so tiny! :)

After visiting and not wanting to leave, we had to because we had dinner plans with some other friends in Bangor. So we rushed over and saw them all which was great. The women are both Spanish teachers at UMaine, and one of the husbands is an anthropology professor there as well. One couple is from Columbia and the other wife is from Peru (her husband is from Maine). So we have known them throughout all of college, they've worked with us in several of our Latino Heritage events we put on throughout college and their son was a ring bearer in our wedding as well. It was a fun filled evening, filled with conversation, mention of babies (as always in Latin culture!) and just good times. It was funny for outsiders listening in I'm sure because we were loud and laughing switching back and forth between English and Spanish the whole time!





We headed back to the hotel and to bed early because we had to leave at 7am the next morning in order to make it down to Boston for our last visit and then to the airport.

We made it and met up with one of Tito's best friends Kamal (best man in our wedding), his wife Ashley and their baby Malik. They'd taught Malik how to say Tito, which came out as "Itooooo!!" so it was cute!



Not the best photo of me but still cute!

We made it to return the rental car, and then to the airport in record time. Had time to sit, relax and have a beer and then take off to our first layover which was in Phoenix. We were asked to voluntarily give up our seats in exchange for $300 vouchers, hotel stay and dinner and we did...but they ended up not needing our seats. Oh well!



Sky blue pink (as my Grandma would call it) in Phoenix


Sunset over the clouds in AZ

Made it home and waited to get our bags for about 45 minutes (4 flights coming in at the same time + all unloading at the same baggage claim + a million and one high schoolers returning from a trip to Mexico complete with facial and tongue piercings, braided hair and fake tattoos = an unhappy Kate.) But we finally got our bags and caught a shuttle bus back to where our car was and got home at about 12:30pm. Cats were SO happy to see us. I had taken Wednesday off and took the day to unpack (but left the suitcases out since I'll be using them again in 8 days!) and do laundry. It was so nice and relaxing.

Now back to reality for another week or so and then off to Houston for the 4th!

Busy bee...

So I've been MIA again. But this time with good reason. Busy bee with work. My husband's grandmother passed away last week so we've been mourning her and remembering (and for me learning new things about her through his stories of this wonderful woman!)

In the next two months, I am going to be gone a lot. Some for work, some for pleasure. Here's the schedule:

June 8 - June 15: Corning, NY for conference for work
June 18 - 23: Maine for my older brother's wedding, and visiting my alma mater (college) and friends
July 3 - 6: Houston for my friend's wedding

I have three days of downtime between the first and second trip and 9 days between the second and the third. Lots of organization will have to happen. Hopefully the weather warms up in Maine and the rain goes away so it'll make packing easier. Houston is going to be hot. Actually I think the word is HAWT. Humidity, heat...ahhh....I actually do miss that from my time living in Florida. Sometimes you just need a few hot days to make you appreciate the ones where it's 75 and sunny with a little breeze. I can promise my hair will be a crazy curly mess. I will do my best to tame it. But it will not be straight. Might have to actually get my hair styled for the wedding so it doesn't look like Grace from Will and Grace's crazy 80's hair in her flashback episodes.

I've now lived in Seattle for 3 years and 4 months. Sometimes I really like it. Like today, when it's 80, sunny, and just perfect. Like last weekend when it was similar, and like this weekend when it's going to be awesome. Sometimes I don't like it, like when it rains. Or actually when it's grey. I hate the grey. But for now I'm loving the sunshine and warm weather. I'll take it for now. :)

My garden is growing like crazy. Well the window box garden that it is. We have crazy amounts of parsley, cilantro, oregano, lettuce and spinach. I've had two salads with the lettuce and spinach and it grows back so quickly, it's great! Tomato plants that were positively pathetic when I bought them, all dried out and almost dead and only about 2 inches tall are now 6 inches high with nice strong roots. No tomatoes yet, but hopefully soon! Also still waiting on our poblano peppers and jalepeno peppers to come in. Again, hopefully soon on those. I'm feeling an urge to make some salsa and pico de gallo!

I'm running a road race this weekend with my husband and a friend of ours. Just a 5k but it's the first race I've run since I was about 5. Yes, I used to run road races with my dad back then. Didn't run the whole time, but still finished each one. And I have a trophy at home that is for a first place finish in one of them..first place in my age division. Which was 18 and under and I was the only one! Winner by default is still a winner. I will not be winning this race this weekend, but it's nice that I've gotten back into running. Something fun, free and easy and somehting to do with my husband which is nice too.

So hopefully I won't be MIA for too much longer...and will be back with at least some photos of my upcoming travels/experiences.

Disturbingly funny

I love Justin Timberlake, just like many out there in the world. I love his singing, stage presence, etc. I also think he has great comedic timing when he's on SNL. I had DVR'd this week's episode and watched it last night and I haven't laughed so hard in awhile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKqDlIhRsPY

Sunny days

It's sunny in Seattle today, supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow and 60's all weekend with rain. Yay. My parents are visiting today through Tuesday, so it should make for an interesting weekend. Today they are hanging out with my brother who lives here too, but tomorrow they're on their own because I am working. I am taking Monday off so we're heading to do some sight seeing over the weekend to some new "non-Seattle" Seattle things...like the Ballard Lock, Nordic Heritage Museum, UW Arboretum and Japanese Gardens, Skagit Valley tulips, etc., etc., etc. No Space Needle, Pike Place Market, etc. this time since this is the 3rd time they've been here and we've already done those things, and I just "did" them with my brother in law and sister in law 6 weeks ago.

I have a whirlwind of things happening work and personal-wise over the next few months...should be interesting. Hopefully the swine flu doesn't get me before then. :)

Gross Monday...

Monday night, I went to Fred Meyer because it was on my way home. I had to get some more pots for re-potting my plants and wanted to see if I could get some more veggies and/or flowers for the deck and potting soil and didn't want to pay a ton of cash somewhere else. I never shop at Fred Meyer because they're over-priced IMO (at least compared to Target) and kind of out of the way for me. But I figured I'd give it a try. As usual, I found things that were "ok" but not exactly what I wanted. I wanted flower boxes, of which I'd gotten one last year for about $6 each but they didn't have them and only had ones that wouldn't fit on my deck for $15 each. So I opted for two large round pots and two more large hanging pots. I wanted some cascading flowers/greenery for the hanging pots but didn't really find anything, so I ended up with some smaller flowers. I did get a steal on some cherry tomatoes that can be planted in a hanging basket for $.99 each though which was unexpected.

As I grabbed my pots, plants, potting soil and gardening gloves, I made my way to the check out. Aside from the fact that it was an express lane, and the two people in front of me had about 30 items (the sign above the checkout actually says "about 12 items" which apparently means up to 30) I got in line and waited to put my things on the belt.

After doing so, I moved forward so the woman behind me could put her things on the belt. She immediately started talking to me. I smiled politely and turned forward. She started saying how hot it was in the store (all the doors were open and a nice breeze was blowing in.) I get to the front where my overly cheerful cashier was ringing me out and having a conversation about wines with her next door cashier neighbor. Not about wines they had for sale mind you, but just types of wine in general. Then she rang up my plants and the price came up wrong, so I had to get her to stop her convo to correct it.

Sometime during this, I look back and see the woman behind me with what appears to be some sort of creamy donut frosting on her face. She asks for a paper towel and I assume it's for her face. The cashier takes about a century to get her the towel, then continues to ring me up. I keep watching the woman behind me as she uses the paper towel on the floor. I think she must have spilled something and she'll ask the cashier for another towel for her face. She doesn't. What she does do is lean over her little plastic bag from the bakery section and proceeds to throw up in it. I instantly recoil, becuse it's gross, but also because I don't want to accidentally get "sprayed". I point this out to the cashier who has totalled my order, I've run my card and am "waiting for cashier". She just stands there and looks at the woman, and watches her throw up. No helping. No offering of paper towels. No calling over the intercom for a "cleanup", as it's hazardous material. I look at her and ask her to punch the button to charge my card. She doesn't move. So at this point, I'm trapped between my cart filled with things that aren't paid for and the woman behind me throwing up, who with each cough is pushing her cart into me.

What seemed like 20 mins was probably only a few seconds before the cashier snapped out of it, hit the button and handed me my reciept. As I walked away, the cashier started ringing the woman's things up - ummm...she's probably a bit busy throwing up and maybe needs a second before getting her credit card out to pay you, you think? Maybe it's ok to put your blinky light on signaling a manager and get the aisle cleaned up and allow the woman to compose herself before shoving her out the door with her purchases?

Ugh - I had to leave the store before I saw the end of it because I was feeling nauseous. I felt so bad for the woman, but couldn't do any more than I did without creating my own "mess". Yeah, I don't really like shopping at Fred Meyer and I think that sealed the deal for me...I doubt I'll ever go back.

On another note, and a much nicer one, I did manage to replant all of our potted flowers last night, as well as some new veggies and took some photos...our deck is small and the sun only hits it directly for about 4 hours in the morning, but things seem to do ok there. I was actually thinking of asking if I could have a small plot of land to build a garden at my complex yesterday since I like growing our own veggies...might bring it up this weekend to our manager as a community thing since we have a lot of older women who live there who might join in. Anyway, here are our plants so far for the spring:



Geraniums, gerbera daisies and some other flowers I forget the name of... :)




Gerberas




Serrano peppers, golden oregano and poblano peppers...hopefully these peppers grow and we get a few good ones for cooking/making salsa




Parsley and geraniums and unknown flowers in the back. I used some of this parsley last night with our dinner and it was delish




Tumbling Tom tomatoes in the hanging pot




Some greenery that is supposed to bloom into red flowers similar to impatiens..




Monet and Epi waiting patiently for their turn on the porch...

I'll have to see if I can get a clear shot of the whole porch but it looks nice with three hanging pots across the front, and then little groupings on each side with the flower box in the center with the peppers and oregano in them. I really want a garden space though...I'd plant cucumbers, romaine lettuce and beefsteak tomatoes if I had one!

OK, so apparently you can't embed a video on Blogger...but check out this link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr9_5uZn6ds&feature=player_embedded

Elmo and Ricky Gervais (from the British version of The Office). Too cute!

My weekend!

I had a busy weekend, busier than most have been recently. But oh so much fun!

Friday - I left work a bit early and headed downtown to meet friends for a happy hour at Twilight Martini Lounge. This is right by Pike Place Market and has a super yummy and cheap happy hour menu! We shared updates on our lives, good food and drinks!

I left the bar around 8pm, and drove my other friend home, and then came home to meet Tito as he was on his way out to Fremont to hang out with a friend. This is a friend of ours from undergrad who moved out here last year. He is from Kenya, and leaving for a matter of months to go home and see his family. He's not 100% sure if he's coming back so Tito wanted a chance to see him before he left. I stayed home and cleaned the house though since it was a boys night. :)

Saturday - I woke up to sunshine! I headed out and hit up the DMV to finally get my WA license after 3 years of living here. It took only 20 minutes, they asked no questions about how long I'd lived here, gave me my old license after punching a hole in it and sent me on my way for my photo. Stupid lady taking the photo, had me stand back, I smiled. Kept smiling. She didn't look like she was going to take the photo, but I still smiled. She looked down to her left and talked to someone of which made me think she wasn't going to take the photo yet so I looked at who she was talking to. Turned me head back around to the camera and she snapped the photo then. The result? A photo of my dead pan with my eyes half opened. I asked her if we could take it again and she said no. I usually have good license photos too! So I think I'm going to look into "losing" the license and see if I can get another one taken where I at least have my eyes open!

After the DMV, I drove over to the UVillage to walk around and go to H&M. Hadn't been there in awhile, and picked up a cute little top, some black satin peep toe espadrilles and a collection of little turquoise wooden beaded bracelets. I also headed to Crate and Barrel but didn't find anything to really buy but picked up a new shoe rack and some storage things at Storables. (Have to bring the shoe rack back because it was missing a piece which was annoying to find out.) Headed home and made brownies, and pico de gallo.

Tito headed to Kirkland to meet up with Erik and Mike for a man playdate. :) Headed out to M's house for B's birthday dinner. Had a great time enjoying fajitas, chips and salsa and pico, and brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce, as well as wine, beer and good company! After dinner, we headed to a new martini bar in Kirkland. It was packed and a little small for the space, but B and M snagged a table and we camped out for the rest of the night.

Sunday - woke up, grocery shopped, then got lunch at Subway and Tito and I headed to St. Edward's State Park to enjoy the sunshine and have a picnic. We spent three hours in the sunshine, soaking up Vitamin D, relaxing, reading, and just loving life. Headed home, grabbed some movies and settled in and watched both (Role Models and 7 Pounds.) We liked both of them for different reasons, and it was nice to spend a good day together, and good evening snuggling and just enjoying each other's company.


Some photos from the weekend:


Jess and I (playing with the color accent feature on my new camera)


Jess and purple coat!


Not a great shot of me, but with my new license


The ladies at dinner


Happy Birthday B!


On the way to the bar - I'm riding in the "big girl" seat in the middle of E's new Highlander


Cheers to B!


The ladies


Tito and I at St. Edward's State Park enjoying the sunshine!



Epi and I after a day in the sun (with Monet looking on in the background)