Speaking of Poker...

Don is on his way to Vegas right now with Jeremy for a huge trade show dealing with his main industry now that he supplies to - the movie special effects industry. It should be an awesome opportunity to make some strong new contacts, pull in some new business, and learn more about the industry. I'm sure he will have a wonderful time.

It's been a while since I've had a couple of overnights in the house to myself and I'm starting to think about what I want to accomplish with my time so I don't end up playing online poker all weekend. So here is my to do list.

1. Get the house picked up.
2. Make a meal plan for this week and pick up groceries.
3. Make an exercise plan for the week that includes walking the dogs.
4. Get the office into shape so that Don will give me my dining room table back!!!!

Wish me luck!

Week 1

Well, I've finished my first full week of work and I'm still happy to be there! I can tell it's going to be a place where I can both succeed and be challenged. I already have learned a few new things this week. Some parts of the training process are a little bit frustrating as training processes can be. I know a lot and I'm eager to run but of course they have me crawling to begin with. So for the moment I am being way underutilized and have to deal with some periods of boredom throughout my day. But I have a great team and it will only get better from here. They understand the process and can get things done. From an operations standpoint things seem a little disorganized and a bit chaotic. I'm sure there is a method to the madness but just not easy to pick up on for someone new coming in. Still, type A person that I am, I'd like to see about things becoming a little more streamlined and systematic down the road. I think that is part of the vision also for the company as people transition into their new roles. Things should become a lot more defined and it will be much clearer whose responsibility is what. Also, hopefully there will be more checks and balances which will help again with the quality and consistency of the work being produced.

In exciting news, I got my first paycheck yesterday! It feels soooo good to be earning an income again. Though I was thankful for my unemployment insurance while I needed it, it is very nice to not need it anymore. We celebrated my first paycheck together by picking up the tab at Mexicali's for a night out on the town with Jeremy and Katy, and Rian B who showed up unannounced in the area last night for an unknown length of time. He is on call for a possible show they are doing this week in the Valley. They ended up being cheap dates anyway as we got a very good deal on our food and drinks. Then I got them back by coming home and playing poker where I won all of their fake money and cleaned Rian, Don, Jeremy, and Katy out of all of their chips tournament style. It may have helped that I was the only one not drinking excessively. Although I do have to mention that Katy (who was the most inebriated) and I were the last ones standing at the table. Who says poker is a man's game?

Also, we finally paid off Cordy's $1000 vet bill from when she got Pancreatitus last year right before we moved. So stay tuned to hear updates on the dogs' health. They usually like to get violently ill or poison themselves for a trip to the Animal ER whenever our balance actually gets down to zero.

First Day Part 2

It was great! I do like my coworkers! It is a very nice office and I have a nice desk - corner space with a window. Everybody is pretty relaxed and flexible. The office equipment is all very good quality and up to date - huge flat screen monitors, wireless mouse, and very comfortable desk chairs, etc. It is nice to be working with people again in a team environment as opposed to all by myself at my previous job. We all went out to lunch today to a nice Chinese place in Burbank. The commute is not bad at all - about 15 - 20 minutes with no freeways. Sounds like I can leave the house closer to 8 am since I don't really need to be there until closer to 8:30. Which means maybe we can sleep in a little later or walk the dogs a little longer. Ideally I'd like to walk the dogs in the morning and again first thing in the evening when I get home. I think they are having a hard time adjusting to Mommy being back at work. They missed me today and are sticking to me like magnets. I was starving when I got home from work today and glad we had some leftover pizza that I could just heat up instead of having to take the time to cook anything. I need to readjust to the 40 hour work week and a fixed eating schedule, and also bring in some snack bars or something to keep at work. I also had a chance to check out the HUGE Ralph's grocery store on the corner this morning since I arrived early to work. It is a very nice facility and will probably be the place I get the majority of my groceries especially for quick weeknight meals. All in all I'm quite happy!

First Day

I'm getting ready to head off for my first day of work. Don got up with me this morning at 6 am and we walked the dogs together which was a great way to start the day. It feels really good to be in professional clothes again with hair and makeup done. It's been a while! Now I'm sipping coffee with my husband and working on our laptops until I leave the house. I'm sure this nostalgia and excitement about getting up early and going to work will wear off soon. But right now I'm enjoying every minute of it.

I hope it goes well today....
I hope I like my coworkers and they like me...
I hope I have a nice desk/workspace...
I hope I get to have instant messenger at work...
I hope they have a cool breakroom or at least an adequate kitchen space for bringing my lunch and/or preparing food...

I'll let you know how it goes tonight. Have a good day everyone. :)

I Caved

Everybody check out Don's blog for pics of his new Mini Cooper S.

http://donsearlylight.blogspot.com/

Bonus!

Well, it's only 38 days late (long story) but Don's end of year bonus check FINALLY arrived. It was a more than respectable amount considering he only put in 6 months last year - way to go honey! - though not quite enough to fulfill all of the financial priorities that we set before Don gets into his Mini. That would have been too easy. We still have a bit more work to do. After playing with the numbers, calculating, budgeting, and strategizing how to make it stretch the furthest, we were able to kill the Big Credit Card, pay our 2008 taxes, along with a good chunk of this months' bills. We still have a little ways to go on our Less Big Credit Card but with both of us back up to our full time salaries we should be able to kill that one too in the next couple of months. After the last three months of being unemployed, I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to be back on top of our finances again. And the one and only nice thing about Don's bonus being late is that at least his next quarterly bonus is not far behind.

In other news, Don woke up this morning and told me he had bad dreams again last night. When I asked him what they were about he said that he had lost Seumas in a poker bet. A nightmare indeed! Far worse than the one the previous night where he had Great-Dane-Sized Tarantulas chasing him!

5 Things That Have Made Me Happy Today

1. My dogs' wagging tails and affectionate tongues when I woke them up this morning.
2. A gorgeous sunny sky and a crisp cool breeze during Don's and my new morning routine of walking the dogs together. I love starting the day this way and hope we stick too it.
3. No doggie business to pick up after on our entire walk -- they actually took care of business in our own yard before we left.
4. Vanilla Hazelnut Creamer for my coffee.
5. Fancy weekday breakfast of Applewood Smoked Bacon and Scrambled Omelet with swiss cheese, fresh basil, and fresh tomato salsa.

And it's not even 8:00 a.m. yet. It's the little things in life that count. Sometimes happiness can pass you by if you forget to pay attention to it. What gave you happiness today?

Bed Time Stories

What an exciting day. My first ever trip to Ikea. What a cool place! My mission to get new bedding today was mostly successful except for the most crucial element. The down comforter that I wanted (the awesome version that was really cheap) was out of stock. However, they have ordered more and it is in transit so I will have to go back and pick it up in a day or two. I did however pick out my awesome new duvet cover (also from Ikea and super cheap) and after two trips to Linens and Things decided to make a significant investment in all of the crucial elements of bedding...

1. A new Mattress pad/liner to protect the mattress and replace ours that is very old and practically shredded.
2. A new extra blanket to go in between the sheets and the Comforter - today we learned these are called coverlets. The one we have been using for the last five years, while it is homemade, super comfortable, and has great sentimental value, unfortunately over the years it has become too stretched out and hangs way over the edges of the bed. So it will be graduating to the spare bed and now we have a nice cream colored one to go on our new bed.
3. A new dust ruffle bedskirt - cream colored to match the coverlet - since our old bedskirt no longer matches our new bedding.
4. A set of new 18" deep fitted sheets to fit our HUGE pillowtop mattress. The color is called Seaglass, a very light seafoam green. 650 threadcount - I think I am in heaven.
5. And finally a gorgeous duvet. Very simple design - deep dark rich purple color. Soft cottony texture but with a satiny sheen that shimmers in the light.

It is torture that I have all of this exciting new bedding and I still have to wait a few days to pick up the comforter. This time I went 100% for comfort buying the softest fabrics I could find and easiest to wash. I can't wait to get everything and put it all together and see how much the room changes with the contrast in colors. Needless to say the maroon and gold we had before didn't exactly mesh with the periwinkle blue wall paper - wall paper which I should stress came with the house, we did not pick it out.

So given how much needed to be updated on the bedding it was a little more spendy than I had planned despite getting an awesome deal on the comforter and duvet. So it looks like that will be it for now. We'll have to save new dish shopping until after the paychecks start actually coming in.

Celebrate Good Times

Well, we are still on a bit of a high here at our household. Today I'm celebrating the new job and a bit of a belated anniversary gift (4 years two weeks ago) by going out and buying some new bedding for our bed. I have never been fond of the comforter set we picked out for our wedding registry. It was pretty but the material is scratchy and not even comfortable. Still Don really wanted it and that was one of my first concessions during the early stages of learning how to compromise in a marriage. Four years later I am still sick of it and it is now in bad enough shape that we can justify throwing it out and getting a new set. So I'm picking up Katy in a bit and we are going to hit the big bedding stores - Linens and Things, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Ikea too for a cheap synthetic down comforter if I decide to go the duvet route. Also on the list of possible splurge items today are a new dog bed for the pups and a set of new dishes since many of our original wedding set have broken and so now we have a missmatch of plastic and ceramic and it's about time to start over. Just like I didn't like the bedding that Don picked out he has never been fond of the dishes that I picked out. So we should both make out quite well on this year's anniversary splurges. I can't wait to get my new household items back to the house. Then I can play housewife for the my last week and get this place sparkling and beautiful with my fun new accents. It's like playing the Simms only real life!

Employed! Gainfully!

I landed an awesome job today with a top rated leasing company in Burbank. Awesome team. Very down to earth owners. I think we are really going to get a long. I don't know my official title yet but I will basically be a senior processor and a team leader for their credit department. It's a fantastic opportunity with a lot of responsibility and unlimited growth potential. Salary is great and benefits are sufficient. I'm so excited! I start on Monday. Now we just need Don's bonus check to get here so we can go down to the mini dealership and order his new car.

Quickies

A few brief updates to report on.

I recently kicked up the job search a little more aggressively. Am putting a lot more energy and focus out there and expanding my search to include related fields and a little bit further commutes. I also recently realized that the Red Line is an easy 30 minute commute from North Hollywood straight into downtown so that has opened me up to a lot of opportunities out there in the financial district which also usually involve better pay as well. I have been getting some good responses to my applications. So far I have one interview scheduled for next Tuesday and am hoping to hear back on some others.

I have been recently introduced to the game of poker and I really enjoy it. I don't even know what the version is called that we play -- I think it might be Texas Hold Em. We played tonight for the first time using actual money instead of just pretend chips and I walked away with $33 of the $45 pot! Pretty good beginners' luck!

I had a nice visit with the pastor of our church this week. Told her I was bored out of my mind from being unemployed and needed some volunteer work to do. So she hooked me up with a member of the church who is going through some medical procedures and needs help getting too and from appointments and errands and such. So I met with her today and we had a very nice visit and got a few things done together. I'm going to try to help her out a couple of days a week until I get a job. It's a nice opportunity for me to get out of the house and do something productive and hopefully the good karma will come back my way. She also seems to be a really nice person and I'm looking forward to getting to know her more.

I've started downloading audiobooks onto my Ipod to listen to when I'm out exercising or doing chores around the house and I love it! (Which is another reason I love the idea of commuting by subway - more chances to listen to my Ipod.) Currently I have been going through the book "Into the Wild," true story that was recently made into a major motion picture about a boy who goes into the Alaskan wild to try to live out his dream of living off the land and communing with nature and ends up dying alone. It is an amazing read and I definitely recommend it - part tragic and part inspiring; part wise and part foolish; the kind of essentially human story that everyone has an opinion about. I'm on the final chapter right now. If you've read it or are familiar with the story I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Diet and exercise are going well. Let the blood sugar get a little too low tonight and ended up splurging on Pizza. Still haven't caved to the soda cravings. I've realized that my will power is strong enough to get me through the Lenten discipline but as soon as it's over I'm going back to drinking pop. It just brings me too much pleasure to live without.

Stop that Cart!

Even though we have been living here for 7+ months now, every time we have a new "LA experience" it still tickles me. Today, I had one of those in the most unexpected of circumstances. I had a few errands to run this morning which included cashing some checks and doing a bit of grocery shopping. Luckily, my bank, the Trader Joes, and our local produce mart are all in the same parking lot so I could accomplish all of my errands with one stop. However, given the popularity of the shopping center, the parking lot is sometimes a bit of a zoo. I took one trip through the parking lot and seeing no empty spaces decided to circle around the block and park a ways away on street parking. No problem, I can stretch my legs a bit and the exercise isn't going to hurt me. Grocery shopping was a complete success. I stocked up on lots of regular items as well as have a weeks worth of dinners and lunches - 6 bags of groceries -- all for around $100. Gotta love Trader Joes. Well, I started the trek back to my car figuring I would just bring the shopping cart back to the parking lot when I was finished. Well, there I am pushing my cart along and I start getting close to the street and all of a sudden the front wheel jams and I practically fall head long into my basket. So I try to pull the cart back and reposition the wheel but it appears to be stuck. I look down at the wheel to see what it is caught on and nothing. It appears to be locked up for no reason. For the life of me, I can't seem to get the cart to move. Then I look up a few feet in front of me near the parking lot entrance and see a sign that says: "Shoppers Beware: Shopping carts are programmed to lock if you try to remove them from the Parking Lot." Wow! Who knew shopping cart technology could be so sophisticated! Ha ha ha. Well, it was a little bit of a challenge juggling all six of my grocery bags down the street to my car but we made it. And not without a funny story for my blog.

Dos Peros

This is why two wiener dogs are better than one.

Happy Tummies

Don and I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a lot of friends and loved ones in the last two weeks. Starting with our trip to Tacoma. And then as soon as we got back home Ben came for a trip out. And to top it off Don's sister Angie and her lovely boyfriend Mike were in the region on a golfing trip with his parents and went out of their way to make a quick trip out to see us and spend a little time with us before they had to fly back to Boise. They arrived early Friday evening. A little weary from traveling we had a low key evening, a nice dinner and some games at our house. But before they left the next morning we decided to give them a little taste of the good life in LA and drove them out to The Grove to have breakfast at our favorite breakfast place called The Farm. With market/farm fresh quality ingredients with the pictures and descriptions of the food below, you will quickly see why it is our favorite place. Here is what we ordered... Which one would you pick?

CINDY: Stuffed Crepe - Crepe stuffed with Scrambled Egg, Wild Mushrooms, Gruyere Cheese, and topped with a Champaigne Hollandaise Sauce.

DON: Eggs Benedict - Poached Eggs seved over Sauteed Spinach and Honey Roasted Ham on Toasted Farm Brioche with Hollandaise Sauce.

ANGIE: Buttermilk Pancakes - Three Pancakes served with Vermont Maple Syrup & Sweet Butter, Blueberry, Granola, or Banana-Macademia Nut

MIKE: Fried Egg Sandwich - Fried Eggs, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Shallot Aioli & Jack Cheese on a Toasted Croissant

Here we are at the end of our meal with happy tummies.

2 Miles

One of the reasons I have loved living in California is how inviting our neighborhood is for getting outside and walking the dogs in the lovely sunshine and seeing all the cute California homes. There is a wonderful loop that the dogs like to take through our residential neighborhood and I have been curious for some time about the length of the walk so this morning I finally decided pace it out with my car. What do you know, the loop comes out to be one mile exactly! Well, that couldn't be any more perfect. Since I am a person that likes to see and measure progress, I'm going to print out some kind of table that measures out 100 miles or so so that I can mark them off each time the dogs and I take a loop. I figure I will give myself some kind of reward everytime I get to a certain mark. This afternoon the dogs and I just took TWO LOOPS! Cordy was really not excited when we got back to the house and kept on going for a second time around! Oh well, she needs to get in shape just like Mommy does. I'll let you know when I hit my first 25 mile mark!

Cravings

I want a Coke sooooooooooooooooooo badly!

Snowball Effect

Contrary to the blog title, no it is definitely not snowing here. In fact, Don and I came back from our cold and rainy trip to Tacoma to three stunningly gorgeous days up to 80 degrees and we are loving it. The dogs and I have had some really nice pleasant walks this week.

No the snowball effect that I'm referring to is the figurative one. I've never been good about watching what I eat, or more I should say I've never really tried to. But it's something I've started lately as I'm sure you've read in my previous blogs. Well, my biggest area of weakness has to be in eating out and we have been doing a lot of it lately due to our traveling. Well, tonight we had a lovely meal out at the Hamburger Hamlet treated by Ben. Thank you Ben! We were quite hungry when we got there so I know a dinner salad would be out of the picture as it would not come close to filling me up. And after all, it is the Hamburger Hamlet and those burgers were sounding really good. Plus, big juicy burgers go really well with high calorie sodas which I had just given up for Lent. So with water to drink, I started noticing going through the menu that you could order a turkey patty in place of beef for any of their gourmet burgers without any additional cost. Now, a turkey burger goes pretty well with water! So I ended up selecting a turkey burger with light goat cheese and pesto, tomato and arugula. The hardest step was now what to do with their sides as I am a huge addict of their mesquite fries. But since I had already made the decision to go healthy on the drink and the main, I didn't want to undo all that good work and cancel it all out with the calories and saturated fats from the fries. So in the end I was good and ordered the side salad instead. I am really excited at the moment about seeing how just committing to one healthy choice can snowball and lead to so many other healthy choices. And most exciting of all, was that by the time we were finished with our meal and ready to go, even though I had cleaned my plate I still felt very light and pleasantly full as opposed to everyone else who was felt heavy and sluggish from their high calorie meals. So I am very proud of myself and feeling empowered. Cheers.

Ashes to Ashes

With the event of Ash Wednesday a week ago, thus begins one of Don's and My favorite church season -- the season of Lent. I had been planning to try and make it to PLU chapel for the service, but Tuesday night I came down with the traveling cold and so spent most of the day resting in my hotel. However, luckily Stevie invited us out to dinner and then we joined him and Jenn along with Matt and Emily at First Lutheran for a nice traditional evening Ash Wednesday worship. It was a wonderful service and it really spoke to Don and I both in a very meaningful way - thank you Holy Spirit. The Pastor was very direct and engaging in his sermon. He didn't try to fancy it up with bells and whistles or fire and brimstone and thus it allowed us time to digest and meditate on the meaning of his very simple truthful heartfelt message.

The reason we love Lent so much is because of the very real way it allows you to focus on your faith and your spiritual life. I've always been deeply and romantically attached to monasticism -- the fasting, the studying, the praying, the self giving service. Perhaps, now ourselves being in the desert, we will find ever new meanings this year in our Lenten Journeys through these 40 days and nights. For our disciplines I have decided to give up soda and Don has given up alcohol. There have already been a few moments where I have realized that, wow, this is not going to be easy, but I guess that's the point of a discipline isn't it? But it is such a refreshing and rewarding experience to get away from excessive indulgences which our culture so very much perpetuates -- all of those meaningless things that get in the way of our true purposes, self-sustaining wholeness, and the recognition of God's divine grace in the world around us.

Also, just the opportunity to worship with close friends again made us aware of just how much we missed having those close spiritual connections and relationships and realized that for all of the good things that we really like about the church we have been going to off and on since we moved down here, that the hospitality is not amazing, and we really don't feel any more connected to the congregation now than we did our first Sunday there. So we may begin to start exploring some other churches in our neighborhood to see if there might be some place that we connect more with.

So there is a little bit of where we are at this Lent. I hope that your own Lenten Journeys are filled with glimpses of God's grace and meaning for your own life.

Super Bowl

Superbowl Sunday, otherwise known as the least attended church day of the year, actually turned out to be a rather exciting game. Despite not having any specific team to root for, with the numerous exchanges of possessions and leads in the fourth quarter, it definitely kept us on our toes to see who would come out on top. Also, got to see several great friends including Steve S. and Katherine who hosted, Steve W. and Jenn, Steve C., Jesse, Ben, Milton and Laurie, Jenny and Kevin and their adorable boy Patrick, and Kelly and Dave. So it really didn't matter whether the game turned out to be a flop or not, we still would have had a great time. Earlier in the day we also got to catch up with Emily and Michael and see their new turn of the century home and all of the exciting renovations they have planned.

Don's workweek starts tomorrow. I have a few things on my agenda to do this week while he is working including some Tacoma stores I want to visit, some more job hunting and interview prep to do, and a few friends to see who have daytime slots available. I just hope the week doesn't go by too quickly.

T-Town

We made it to Tacoma safe and sound and are already enjoying our time in the Pacific Northwest catching up with friends. It was an interesting feeling getting off the plane and stepping back out into the Northwest Culture. The sights... the sounds... the way people dress. It was definitely a feeling of relaxation like coming home after a long trip. I'm definitely a product of this culture. It has left it's mark on me in a major way and although our move to California is the best thing that's ever happened to us I still think that this is the place I will return to at some stage in our lives even if it be a couple of decades for now. Of course, we always dream of retiring in Bellingham - the most beautiful city in the world but the place with no jobs :)

We have been enjoying the fresh clean air (thankfully no Tacoma aroma), the lack of traffic congestion, and the awesome selection of fresh seafood and microbrews. Of course the best part though has been seeing friends we miss dearly. When we arrived Friday night, Nathan, Christian, Matt and Jessica all answered the last minute call to meet us at Stanley and Seaforts for a night cap before calling it a day. Yesterday, after driving all over Federal Way to all of the Starbucks trying to track down the elusive Emily, we finally gave up and decided to go and crash on Nathan and Hannah's privacy and gave them a 12:00 p.m. unannounced wakeup call. We visited with them for the afternoon which included lunch at Duke's Chowder House where I had the Northwest Seafood Chowder in a Sourdough Bread Bowl and Don had Snowcap Beer Battered Fish and Chips. It was awesome and probably not the last time we will eat there this week.

Then for the evening Brian and Tiffany invited us over to their place for an evening of games. They are now living with Cameron so we got to see the adorable baby Devlin who is talking now and miraculously continues to get cuter every day. We played with my camera and then she had to go to bed but not before I got her in a cute ladybug costume. Apparently she is very big on the dress up. We also got to meet Cameron's new beau, Dan, who is a fabulous cook and made us an amazing spread of gourmet appetizers including baked brie with caremelized onions, wine and shallot glazed steamed clams, and cajun fried catfish. Wow, we infinitely approve Cameron! As the night wore on our party grew and Michael, Nathan, Hannah and Matt S joined us and all had a great time.

Later this morning Don and I will be headed to a Superbowl gathering where we will get to see even more friends that we haven't seen in a while. We are all about maximizing our time here to see as many people as possible and as often as possible. It's kind of hard for us to make the plans ourselves since we are laid up in a hotel so we are kind of at the whim of others to invite us out and host us. If you find yourself with some free time in the next week give us a call and we will come on over or make a plan to meet somewhere. Group activities are highly encouraged. Starting tomorrow Don will be working days at Revchem through the end of the week but we will be catching dinner every night so if you want to have us over or go out with us let us know what night you will be free. I will have the days free for the most part for anyone who has an irregular work schedule and wants to get together. I know I'm planning on trying to make it to PLU chapel this Wednesday for Ash Wednesday service if anyone is free. Friday night we are going to see Nathan's play along with Matt S. and Emily R. if anyone can make that. It sounds like it's supposed to be really good. Next Saturday afternoon from about 11 to 5 there is going to be a brief period of Epic Arena gaming if anyone wants to roll up a character and join us. So far Saturday evening is free and then we leave Sunday morning the 10th.