Why Hello, Blog!

Fancy meeting you in a place like this!

Life has been a blur. A mix of work, school, and wedding planning.. mixed with a good dose of babies, medical issues and a slight struggle with mild depression. It's the end of January, and the world is still marching onward.

Speaking of marching... I want to elope desperately. I want to run off to Thailand, get married by the Andaman Sea in a Buddhist temple... The only thing in our registry would be hope for a more exotic life. Val wants to make me an honest woman in the most honest of ways- a classic church in a historical town. Herein lies the beauty of our pairing.

He is calm, thoughtful, meticulous. I am brash, irritable, impulsive. He has toned me down to be a better functuning member of the human population. Ah, to love and be loved.

Val Learns to Ride

For the 4th of July Val learned how to learn a motorcycle, I started my own business, and we made pasties for dinner. Might have been the best 4th ever!

Another day, another layout

So I've been playing around with the idea of updating my page... again. Something about this doom and gloom weather that makes me want to scream and look for something that's a tad springy. Well, here we go! Let there be birdies!

I've done the yearly life review and decided to focus on two things: Haiku and fitness. A haiku a day for the entirety of my 27th year. And running. A lot of it. I've discovered that I actually enjoy running quite a bit, although I tend to run myself into shin splints and knee problems. I've backed off for the last 2 weeks and will resume it as soon as this crazy month is over. I'd like to be half-marathon ready by 28- I think it'll help the stress levels as the wedding gets closer and my body will get back into shape.

I genuinely feel sorry for Val- I don't want him to be the poor hot guy who settles for a girl who promptly eats her way to fatsville. While I love my food, I treated it as a coping mechanism while dealing with some serious stress issues. I've since discovered alcohol (just kidding).

Anyway, haiku time:

The sun rays stinging
Pale skin turns angry and red.
Pain for Mexico.

Wedding Details

We've decided to get married at the Thornewood Castle in Lakewood, WA. After viewing it today in person, we watched There Will Be Blood. Ironically enough, the castle is actually featured at the end of the film.

Nothing in the world quite like looking at your sweetie and at the screen, knowing that next year you'll be married at that very location.

Here are some pictures that I took this afternoon of the castle.

Love is in the details.

I got engaged on a sea plane.

It's just as awesome as it sounds.

In honor of Valentine's day and our monthiversary, Val had made scheduled a tour of the Seattle area via seaplane and set a reservation at McCormick & Schmidt's directly following.

I should have noticed how nervous the poor guy was. And normally people don't tear up when the plane is taking off... but he was all sorts of romantic and nervous looking. I figured he was just excited to be flying on a float plane!

So while we were mid-air and just after passing a gorgeous lighthouse, he tapped me on the shoulder. I look over and he has an open ring box in his hands. He had tears in his eyes and asked... "Will you?"

I just stared. I was stunned.

After a few moments he told me to try it on, and it's been sitting on my pretty little hand ever since.

And for those of you who care about the specifics of the ring, it's a beautiful 2.33 carat reddish/pinkish/orange sapphire surrounded by half a carat of diamonds. It's a color changing stone, so the colors are dependent of what light you view it in. It's very close to a Padparadscha sapphire, although it has a tiny bit more red to it.

And for those of you who care about the specifics of the plane, it was a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter. More info here.

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of that fateful afternoon.

Engaged

We're getting married!

Teaser time!

The game Val's been working on? It was announced today!!!

Happy Three Years!!!

Val and I celebrated our three year anniversary yesterday... YIKES! I love the guy, but seriously, has it been three years already?! It seems like yesterday when he would come over to visit me at UW, and we'd gorge ourselves with bubble tea, bento, and anime far into the wee hours of the night.

Here's to hoping that there will be many, many more years to come.

And yes... I did get more lovely jewelry from Tiffany & Co.

(I am so spoiled...)

Holy Sh*t

Today was crazy.

Thank goodness for alcohol!

And three cheers for the hot programmer boyfriend! Even though his work gave him the last week off, he still got up at 7am to drive me to work... just so I could have the benefits of the carpool lane.

How sweet is that?

He took an extra 1 1/2 out of his day, plus sacrificed his sacred sleep-in time, just to be my carpool companion.

I love this guy.

Life Update!

I haven't been feeling too verbose lately... so here's a summary:

Promotion. Check.
42" LCD tv courtesy of the hot programmer boyfriend. Check.
1000 days celebrated with said hot programmer boyfriend. Check.
Tickets to see Walking with Dinosaurs Live in Spokane. Check.

It feels like life has been going at 75 miles per hour. Weeks are speeding by, months feel like minutes, and before we know it we'll be in 2008. Insanity!

Birthday Bash!

When I went to work on Wednesday, I discovered that my desk was covered in sweet birthday loot. Balloons, flowers, cake, birthday cards... All from my lovely coworkers! They're my heroes for putting all of this together for me. It was so nice of them.

And if that wasn't enough, when I went home I was given a GIANT gift bag... Inside, a beautifully wrapped Coach box. Inside the box, a fantastic coach bag. Inside that coach, a Tiffany & Co. box..



It boggles my mind that Val even exists... I keep expecting to wake up alone one day, haunted by the dream of such an honest love.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! You guys are the best. :)

Happy Birthday, Val!

What would *you* do with $15,000,000?

I'm so, so excited right now! Val discovered something quite amazing... The Discovery Channel has a set of robotic, life-sized dinosaurs!!! With a budget of a cool $15mil, these guys are freaking awesome.


I was a bit bummed after Val told me it was in Australia... But it turns out they're going to be on tour in Tacoma in July... Interestingly enough, Val and I are celebrating our 1,000th day together on Friday the 13th in July- right when the show is going to be here. I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday.

Val + life-sized robotic dinosaurs = HOLY SHIT! This *is* awesome!

All you need is love, love... Love is all you need.

So Val took off today to go to his sister's graduation in Utah. It seems so weird to be home alone without him. I try to be fiercely independent (see China Trip #2) but end up failing big time.

Val is a lot of things to me- he's my sunshine, my happiness, my love, my teddy bear, and my best friend. He's also my cook, my chauffeur, and my entertainment. I guess that fiercely independent thing didn't work out so well after all, did it?

I don't even really believe in the whole soulmate thing, but I really think Val and I have found something unbelievably special. It's only been 810 minutes since I've seen him last and it's already wearing me down.

Contrary to Popular Belief...

I'm not dead!

In fact, Val and I are happily settling in to our brand new place. Our first mortgage payment came in a week ago (not due until May! Let's celebrate!) and we're busy getting everything decorated and sorta organized. To try and play catch up, here's the news:

Val has decided to cut back on school a bit and join Airtight Games as a full-time mid-level programmer.

I've applied to Charter Bank as a Operations Specialist. Thanks to Ashley, a past coworker at WaMu, I had an interview with the V.P. on Thursday. Cross your fingers for me!

Val and I got a U-Haul stuck in a random snow storm during our move. We pulled an all-nighter on February 28th-March 1st, once we were able to move our U-Haul out of the snow at 3am. Going to work right after moving everything out of our apartment was hell, considering we didn't get a drop of sleep. We got the $1000 bonus for moving out in one day though. Worth it? Hell yeah!

Finley the froglet died during the move. He burrowed under a pebble smaller than a quarter... when it shifted, the weight of it crushed him. I never thought I'd cry so hard over an amphibian. It's so hard to see something grow up only to see it crushed.

My remaining dart frogs, Petri and Adama, have started courting. I heard my first "Hey Baby" calls on Wednesday. Wish me luck! Maybe I'll have a few more tadpoles to murder. :(

Val and I have been daydreaming about adopting an Italian Greyhound. We've decided to name him Sparta. "This is for SPARTA!!!" Or... "This is SPARTA!" It's all very dramatic. Plus, the Burke Gilman trail is right at our doorstep. It'd be a great place for a pooch!

Hope all is well with you and your own!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

I've been meaning to blog about this since Wednesday, but sometimes life has a habit of getting in the way.

Valentine's Day was too short but really sweet. Val was determined to spoil me (as if I'm not spoiled already) and took time off work to drag me off to my favorite Thai restaurant. He dropped me back home at the apartment and from there I started getting his gifts ready.

His loot: Coach wallet and Rootbeer keg
My Loot: Dozen roses, the sweetest love note ever, and a bottle of Vera Wang's newest perfume.

So 5 rolls around and he abducts me to take me to Sage's, a wonderful Italian restaurant. Salmon picatta and tiramisu later, life is fantastic.

Thanks, Val, for another wonderful day with the one I love!

Sleeping beauty? Not so much.

I hate that the little things will irritate me and prevent me from falling asleep. Even if they're minute, if something is on repeat for more than 3 minutes, my mind locks onto it. If I hear that sound throughout the period of time that I'm trying to sleep, I'll wake up and start getting severely pissy.

I moved out from my dorm in college because the girl sniffled too much. Yes, sniffled. Every morning she'd wake up and refuse to use a kleenex. I'd buy them for her, so she'd have them sitting right next to her while she was typing away on her laptop. Sniiiiiif. I'd roll over and mumble "kleenex!" but she was never bright enough to ever get it. I could handle her being a snotty bitch, but the sniffling was really what killed it for me.

So imagine poor Val. It's the season for cold and flu, and now he's been a victim. I always cuddle right behind him with my face buried in his back. Well, he's got a nasty sore throat with the sniffles. Every 30 seconds (yes, I counted), he'll swallow. After being up for a few hours because of it, I left the bedroom, grabbed some cough drops and tossed them onto his chest.

If little things bother me so much, imagine how I felt last night when Val has the swallows and my cat has the howls. ALL night the two traded off in their annoyance, a delicate balance of how-to-piss-julie-off. I grabbed my sleeping bag and stormed out to the recliner in the living room, where I got repeatedly whacked in the face by the cat.

So, the entire summary of this post: Julie hasn't slept in two days.
Today's mission: Try to be pleasant for V-day & buy earplugs.

Changes...

By beloved boyfriend, the one who always wears black shirts and khaki cargos, has changed. Today was the first time I've ever seen him wear brown. AND flip flops.

Daaaamn, he looks good.

New Year's Eve

In the mist of everything going on in the world, it seems incredibly trivial that I would even consider posting what I'm going to post tonight. However, I am on my third bottle of hard cider, and on my behalf it is nearly 1am.

I cried tonight. Not for political reasons, not for financial woe, not for lack of food or companionship.

I cried over my hair.

After debating about it for several months, I picked out a box hair dye in Herbal Essences "Chardonnay Shimmer." After the recommended 25 minutes, my hair was orange. No, not ALL the hair, just the roots. So bright orange-blonde roots with darker blonde tresses.

Not so hot.

I cried. I combed. Val played with my hair, kissed me, gave me a giant hug and ran to the grocery store to grab me some booze.

That boy has marriage potential!

And at any rate, after 3 drinks I'm thinking that my life isn't all that bad. Uneven hair aside, I have an amazing best friend, an incredible family, a great job, and an incredible budding handbag collection. My life is pretty damn sweet.

Besides, where's the harm in being just a little ginger?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So here's the scoop:

Val got a full-time job offer at his company. If he dropped out of school he'd make 2x what I'm pulling in. This is where I kick myself for focusing on biological anthropology, and where I pat myself on the back for landing a damn fine sugar daddy.

I'm still in the mist of condo/manufactured home hunting. The problem with most manufactured homes is that they don't come with land, and if they're not permanently fixed on a concrete base they're considered a vehicle. That's right, by the end of this year I might own a 60' car. I always wanted a stretch limo.

There are a couple of condos in the area that I'd love to get my hands on. One of which is just down the street from Microsoft. The good thing about investing in a condo in that location is in a couple of years I'd be able to sell it and get a nice $30-$50k in my bank account. I've already spent that money- Most of it gets kicked back to my family, another chunk goes into another downpayment for a nicer place, and the remaining into my investment portfolio. Damn it feels good to dream.

I ventured off to a fellow dart-frogger's house this evening to pick up a orphaned vent. While he was there he gave us two green legged lamasi tadpoles. That's right, he GAVE me two tadpoles of a species that was just introduced into the country in 2005. It blows my mind that I have seen species of frogs that are so rare, let alone own two tadpoles of such a species.



The tadpoles are so cute- they have bright yellow eyebrows and yellow lips on dark bodies. They're simply adorable! So here's to hoping that I don't kill the poor little guys...