Oldyweds

Tonight, I could count up about fifteen times Dustin made me laugh OUT LOUD. LOUDLY. And the best part is that our morning got off to a rocky start, and it went something like this...

1. Dustin pulls out onto Alaskan Way in front of a large Dodge Charger. They don't call it a Charger for nothin' because I nearly died. We nearly died.
2. After returning safely to our humble abode, Dustin offers to make us breakfast burritos. And then he proceeds to scramble eggs in the most ABSURD fashion (with hardly any gusto, none), I can't contain myself! I scream, loudly, BE A MAN WHEN YOU SCRAMBLE THOSE EGGS! USE THE WHISK! He looks at me, cracks up laughing, and says, I love it when I get to do things my way, and it makes you CRAZY! Muahahaha! Then I put him in a virtual headlock, I calm down, and I eat the eggs the way he made them.
3. The rest of the day was full of very entertaining activities, including cleaning a vacant apartment together, eating Wheat Thins with cream cheese and salsa verde, a walk to the Fremont Market, a visit from Kryland and a walk home with a bookshelf in hand. And rainbow chard and chiogga beets.
4. This post should have been more organized, but let's be honest, my college education is officially wearing off, and I may be unemployed, but IN BLOGGING THERE IS FREEDOM!

Daring to Dream

Because I am feeling a little sorry for myself tonight about a little job search rejection (yeah, it's a bummer) and because that also means I still have free time to spare, I am going to indulge in something I admit to be remarkably shallow and self-absorbed. I am going to SHOP FOR A WHOLE NEW WARDROBE. Not in real life, no, that would require having landed the job. I am going to pick out a new wardrobe and will spare no detail.

First, a cashmere sweater from J.Crew.


A new pair of Citizens from Nordstrom.


Tory Burch tunic-extraordinaire.


The Ultimate Wrap Dress, Diane VF, The Real Deal.


A sassy paisley sweater and pencil skirt from Banana.


ORANGE. RUFFLED. BRAVE. BANANA.


Yellow is my new favorite, and this one could be my first official purchase from Bluefly!


Toms' Boots? I think I can, I think I can.


Burberry Jacket for the coldest Seattle days.


That is all. I have virtually shopped til I have virtually dropped.

ALSO

I have all but abandoned my wedding blog. It's pathetic. I feel like I ran a marathon and peetered out in the last half-block of Boston.

If You Could See Me Now

There are about five zillion things swirling around my brain tonight, not the least of which are the following:

*Leaky ceilings, unintentionally whitewashed parking lots, and the countdown to residential freedom
*Juggling job search drama (when to accept, when to wait, when to say BASTA and accept my fate as a perma-nanny)
*Trips to the Country Home Buffet for family functions
*Remembering to send well-wishes/myself to every wedding in the tri-county region
*Sharing the darn car with the patient husband
*Paying the darn bills even though our bank accounts have yet to connect
*Rain in Seattle, as if the Northwest has just GIVEN UP on sunshine and the prospect of a decently long summer
*Renting apartments by the truckload and dealing with some surprisingly catty contractors
*Wishing I had access to a television/the DNC.

That is all. Pray for peace in my brain.

There's No Easy Way to Say This

But I need to write a post that is completely random--meaning, all parts of it will be random, and should probably be separate posts, and may or may not be of interest to you, my loyal readership of three.

Nonetheless, I must blog on, organized or not.

Item 1. I have had several awesome opportunities to practice my Spanish skills lately, and boy do I love it. This summer I started volunteering with Family Services (that's another Item on this list), and there are so many Spanish-speaking parents and kids who let me practice with them. They like that I'm trying. :) I'm also buddies with Jorge, the man in charge of landscaping here at our apartment building, and whenever he calls to inform me of the latest knoxious weed issues, he speaks in Spanish until I can't follow him anymore. It's a great system. He leaves me messages and calls me amiga, and I bring him water when he and his team work outside all day. And ANOTHER Spanish party happened at the wading pool last week!!! Even as I continue to nanny mindlessly (I promise I'm paying attention to the children), I'm lucky enough to improve my language skills mid-splash. I LOVE IT. I love knowing that I'm going to mix up my conjugations, verb tenses, and worst of all, gender (grammatically speaking), but there is nothing like the smile on someone's face when she hears her own language. Priceless! Warm fuzzies all around!

Item 2. Like I said, I recently stumbled into a volunteer position with Family Services at their SUPER COOL SHOP, the Baby Boutique. Most days I get to sort through huge bags of hand-me-down Gymboree overalls and miniature cowgirl boots. Then I play with toddlers while their parents shop (for FREE), and I translate when I'm needed, and I generally smile for the entire two hour period. I'm not sure if you've met me, but if you have even come within ten feet of me, you might guess this is basically my version of Nirvana. I would ask for my extraordinary sorting skills to be added to the list of scholarly skills needed to enter the Social Work program at UW, but I don't want to push my luck.

Item 3. There is a new neighborhood attraction on Queen Anne. It's been there for a week, keepin' the rent rates niiiiice and low.



Item 4. Applying for jobs is a HECK of a lot of work, especially when you actually apply. I think last summer mostly consisted of me "finding" cool jobs, and then only following through on occasion. I got lucky, because I don't think most people have the luxury of landing a job after a half-hearted job search. Then again, not everyone is as lucky as I was to have a boss that called herself the Evil Queen.

Item 5. Even though nannying is not really sending my resume to the top of any CEO's pile right now, I still have moments where I want nothing but stroller walks and baby-sized Crocs. This trip to the beach was one of those days (at least until the sand-eating contest began).

How to Get a J.O.B.

Me: I just aced these online office skills evaluations! Yesssss. I AM SO AHEAD OF THE PAR.

Dustin: Yes, yes, you are. (uncontrollable laughter/eye rolling)

Note: I do not play golf.

We're on the MAP!

Everyone! Read my favorite food writer's blog entry about Seattle--I'm just sooooo flattered he thought of us. :)

YUM.

Finally Legal

Since we already decided to cram some major life-changing events into this summer, I figured I would top things off by becoming a Washington resident. After five years, it was probably time. (Take note that four of those years were spent as a student, I was basically a Colorado expat).

So logic tells me that I best google the Washington DMV before I truck down there--mostly because I can only imagine "urban" DMV centers as glorified versions of a burning, torturous hell that require fourteen form of identification and seventeen copies of my latest light bill. Not fun. But let it be known that here in Washington, we are SO progressive it isn't even called the DMV, it's the DOL. DOL, what the hell. (Good one, eh?) But I found the website, eventually...and then the fun began.

After I waited in line for an hour in a completely confused mob of Seattle licensees (the numbers kept going from the seventies to the upper three hundreds, no rhyme, no reason), I was greeted happily by a woman named Penny. Now, seeing as Dustin and I just finished watching Season 3 of Lost on DVD in record time, I clearly imagined Penny as a wealthy heiress searching for her loser boyfriend in the South Pacific via helicopter at all costs. But this Penny, DOL Penny, proved to be quite a different character.

Penny was thrilled to know that I moved to Washington from Colorado, and she told me all about her travels to Denver, her children's travels to Denver. Then I made the mistake of asking about voter registration. Poor Penny, she has NO IDEA how painfully longwinded she is, has NO IDEA that while she yammered on and on (and on) about the mail-in ballot and the DOL's internet user fee for special order licenses (ETCETERA. ETCETERA. ETCETERA.), I had filled in two full pages of paperwork. In fact, by the time I finally started filling out the next set of paperwork, she had gone on to suggest an entire afternoon of activities I could incorporate into my excursion to the Department of Vital Statistics (among her ideas were: lunch with a friend, stroll along the waterfront, and finish the day by purchasing fresh flowers from Pike Place). Which apparently I'll need to visit if I actually want to change my name.

But I left the DOL with a certified temporary Washington license, and it's strange how much more at home I feel already. I live here now, it's official, and I can call this place home, even on paper. So I'm soaking up all that it means to be a Washingtonian, and in the mean time, Holly Wood will have to wait.

We're "Adjusting"

Here's the scene: Two newlyweds sharing their cramped bathroom as they ready themselves for a night of air-conditioned-less sleep. I am plucking my eyebrows, while Dustin is...well, read and see.

Dustin: Is that candle in there the smelly kind?
Me: What candle?
Dustin: The one that I just lit, the one in the closet.
Me: Do you mean you lit a candle in the closet? (all the while thinking OF COURSE HE TOOK IT OUT OF THE CLOSET! I AM THE APARTMENT MANAGER! WE ARE RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE!)
Dustin: Does a bear have HAIR?
Me: (opening closet to find said candle burning inside) Are you KIDDING ME? You are responsible for the education of small children!
Dustin: Oh wow! I guess I forgot that I shut the closet door!

FOOD SINS

Dustin and I have been talking a lot about this whole idea lately, so read up, dear ones!

The Accidental Hedonist's Supreme Opinion