Follow Up on Time

Ok, so total coincidence that I wrote a post about feeling older and then one of my favorite Youtube personalities posts a video that sums up EXACTLY what I've been feeling. I cried I was laughing so hard because it was so spot on.

When You Realize Time Is Passing

Lately Jeff and I have been having lots of "how did we get this old?" moments,  which then everyone older than us laughs and says "you know nothing." And I totally agree. We aren't old at all. But still every once-in-awhile something happens and we stop and say "WHAT?!"

So a rephrase would be lately we've been having "time is moving faster than we realized" moments. These moments include, but aren't limited to:

• Songs that were top 40 songs during high school are now played during the "flashback" segment of the top 40 station
• The radio station I now listen to the most plays more songs from 5-10 years ago than songs from today. We had a serious epiphany when we realized that there is now a "2K" station (that's the cool way of saying 90s and first ten years of 2000) just like our parents have the 80's station.
• I recently got my first injury that wouldn't go away and actually have a physical therapy appointment for it on Friday. Now since I've never broken a bone, sprained anything, or banged myself up enough to need more than time to make it heal, I'm long overdue. But it was still weird to get hurt and it not get better in three days.
• Jeff just said to me "The actors in Harry Potter are starting to look young" as he watched the fifth movie
• I dont get carded. 
• This year is the first time we've used the AC and heat without worrying about the bill. We literally had a "is the heat a luxury or now just a normal thing" conversation a few weeks ago, where Jeff promptly told me to stop being silly and turned it up.
• Jeff discovered that SNICK now plays things like Friends and Full House, because in our minds SNICK is for shows like The Munsters and Addam's Family.

Costco's Samples

Here in WA, booze is now sold in stores. It was very exciting except for people like my mom and aunt Sue and anyone else who grew up in CA, who all just said "well it's about time." So anyway now the booze is in stores and it's glorious (although the other day I had to go to an actual liquor store to find something because the regular store doesn't have it).

So I was at Costco the other day and I realized how Costco could make sample day even better: booze samples. And before you say "But Heather, the logistics of that would be a nightmare!" I figured them all out:

1. The samples would only be in one area and you have to show your ID to get in (kinda like a beer garden)
2. When you go past the magical 21 rope, you get a punch card with two punches on it
3. You go in and sample two things and get your card punched.
4. Leave area and continue shopping

See? All worked out. And the benefit for Costco is the same as the benefit for all their other samples: impulse buys. I would totally impulse buy booze over frozen burritos any day.

And besides, everyone needs a drink by the time they get halfway through Costco on a busy Sunday after church anyway.

A Relaxing Weekend

Jeff just finished working on a big project. In our deadline driven industry, the last three weeks of a project means basically living at the office. So to relax and take a break, Jeff and I went on an "unplugged relaxation trip." It was really fun and low key.

We didn't go very far - just over the state line to Coeur d'Alene, but it was really nice. Jeff picked out a bed and breakfast to stay at called Abbotswood House which is run by a nice British lady. The house is basically a house built around a pool (she said it was designed by some rich CdA guy back in the 70s). We stayed in the Poldark Room. But the best part was her delicious breakfasts. The first morning she made apple pancakes and the second morning she made some sort of baked-bananas-granola thing that was to die for.

We spent the day doing really low key things. We went to the shooting range, which I've never been to before and it was really intense, but fun - and now I can say I've shot a machine gun. And then we went bowling at the CdA bowling alley for about three hours. That bowling alley was designed during the "hang out at the bowling alley and smoke a cigarette/step down into the bowling alley area" days (as opposed to the one our league is at which was built 15 years ago, so is very bright and open), but I actually really liked the atmosphere. The Dude would definitely approve (warning: language in the link). After that we went to the CdA Resort and had dinner at Beverly's, which is the fanciest restaurant in the place. We toured the wine cellar they have and then ate a yummy meal (the appetizer was the best part, which we came to the conclusion is usually the case in most restaurants). The restaurant is located on the seventh floor, so the view was spectacular and we got to watch the sun go down over the water.

We however remained very true to the unplugged nature of the trip and have no photographic evidence of the trip. We have decided though that we need to go on one of these trips every so often just to get away and not stare at a computer screen for a day or so.

Jeff's Dreams

Jeff has legendary dreams. So legendary for their craziness that his roommates in college would write them down. So it's always a good way to start the day by asking Jeff what he dreamed about. The other day was pretty good.

Me: What did you dream about?
Jeff: I dreamed I was doing heart surgery and i opened up the person *points to right side of chest*
Me: um...your heart is on the other side
Jeff: well it wasn't in this person
Me: ok...
Jeff: anyway, so i opened the guy up and to take his heart out I had to disconnect it like a motherboard
Me: like with the tiny wires and such?
Jeff: yes. It was really easy

How to be a Woman

I just finished reading How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran and it was AMAZING. This is book about being a 21st century feminist and how it fits into our daily lives here in our 1st world countries. She says early on "Traditional feminism would tell you that ... we should concentrate on the big stuff like pay inequality, female circumcision in the Third World, and domestic abuse. ...But all those little, stupider, more obvious day-to-day problems with being a woman are, in a way, just as deleterious to women's piece of mind" She is referring to wearing the right clothes, grooming properly, being a mother, drinking, talking (both to men and women), and who our role models should be and what to do with them.

And she touches on all of these. Using the story of her life, mixed with true feministic literature references thrown in (most of which I actually have read since I took three women's literature classes during my undergrad days), she gives her view on why you need to find the proper word for your breasts (I am partial to boobies), discusses why we all have a heel collection that we can't get rid of yet never wear (I have about 5 pairs that I love...yet always leave the house in Converse), and when to know when enough is enough in the kid department.

This was the section that intrigued me the most. Not to give too many spoilers away, she and her husband get pregnant with their third child and both decide together to have an abortion because they know it's not right for them. And this was an amazing thing for me to encounter. Before this point in the book, I'd been feeling pretty confident in my 27 year-old feminism powers, but this one was new to me. The only people I've known so far in life who have had an abortion made the decision because they were "young and not ready." She made the decision from a completely different point of view. She talks about how it wasn't even a hard decision and she felt no guilt - that was an amazing thought to me. Having children, loving them, and then deciding to be done. Deciding to focus on loving the ones you have and having time to love yourself as well. That sounds amazing to me. I love the empowerment from a different perspective. From a place of love for the child you are giving up.

This book was amazing and I'm now going to give it to every woman I know.

Seeing My New Name Up in Lights

So at work, when we finally got around to ordering my business cards, I told the designer to just put Heather Brown on them since I knew by the time they got here, it would be so close to the wedding that it would be silly to do anything else. So they came and are awesome!!

But the real kicker is that the other day I gave one to a kid who came in looking for an internship and he emailed me today and when I opened the email my first thought was "who is Mrs Brown?"

And then I was suddenly struck by it. Not by the changing my name thing, but by the "Mrs" part. I haven't thought about that part. And it's weird...

I told him it wasn't worth it....

So Jeff got the idea that he wanted to make risotto. Now risotto clearly violates my long-standing (and rarely broken) rule that if it take me longer to cook it than to eat it, it's not worth it (this does not include the crockpot, marinating, etc because I'm not actually doing anything, just waiting). But Jeff was determined. He became this way because of his cooking girlfriend and her recipe for risotto primavera.

So I come home Monday night and instantly jump on the computer to do a quiz for class as Jeff starts making the risotto. An hour later I finish the quiz and he's still at it. And he's just about hitting the "why the hell am I stirring for 20 minutes straight?" phase, so I take over to stir.

Now you should know that stirring is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. Nani used to have to literally take the spoon away from me as she would say "Let it cook!" So when I only last 2 minutes on stirring duty for the risotto, it has firmly landing in my "not worth it" food category.

So Jeff comes back, declares it done enough and we eat. And it's pretty good. BUT STILL NOT WORTH IT. So that was our first and probably our last time making risotto...until Jeff forgets that it was agony and decides it's a good idea again.

Also, as a sidenote, the chicken I marinated to go with it was delicious. I marinated it in one of the six different kinds of sauce we got when we went to the Craft Fair a couple weekends ago, which we considered a great victory.

Full Time!!

My job turned full time! I am so excited.

Story:

I started working at Rainmaker back in mid December. I got hired as Billie's (the owner) executive assistant. And it was awesome because it was only three hours a day and I could do that and take two classes at once so I could get my Masters faster; the Masters program is actually set up for working full time adults, so "full time" is taking one class at a time every seven weeks, so I figured if I was only working three hours a day I could easily manage two classes at a time.

But then Billie offered me the full time position of Operations Coordinator and I said yes! It is an amazing opportunity to learn and have fun. I love being at the office all day and I love bossing people around (which is basically what I do since I write the schedules and manage the clients). And I'm learning a ton about the industry. At ZL, we did 99% websites and 1% other design. But at Rainmaker it's a completely rounded marketing firm. We do business planning, design, logos, websites, promotional products, everything!

School starts at the beginning of March, so we'll see how it goes. I'm not really all that worried because I when I was an undergrad and taking 21 credits I was working 30 hours a week and wasn't phased. I know grad school is going to be harder, but I also was never really phased by upper level 300/400 classes like a lot of people were.

We will see how it goes!

Our First Piece of Art...Which Has Now Made Us Notice How Bare Our Walls Are

Last week Jeff and I went to Fred Meyers because our plunger broke mid-plung (who knew the rubber of a plunger could actually dry out so much that it cracks), and I walked past the clearance table and saw it. And I instantly thought "that would make a good girly accent to our very masculine bedroom plan. Our plan for the bedroom is blue and brown with lots of stripes (I just haven't found the bedding that I love yet). So I called Jeff over and showed it to him and he made a face. But once I convinced him that it was good idea he gave in.

So I brought it home and hung it up. And as we stepped back and looked at it and then looked around, it suddenly became very apparent that we have no art. So now we're on the lookout for some art that we love.

I GOT IN!!!!

I got into grad school!!!! I hadn't talked about it because I hadn't actually gotten in. But anyway, story:

After I quit Zipline, Jeff gave me full permission to just sit and do nothing for a few weeks to unwind and de-stress (this is how bad that job was). So while I was at home watching tv and eating ice cream, I thought about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. And Jeff and I know we want to move to Seattle, so I was looking for jobs in Seattle and everyone that I wanted to apply for said "7 years experience or a Masters Degree." I was finding myself looking more and more at at Project Management in the IT world.

So I started looking into it and going back to school didn't sound that bad. And so Jeff and I started talking about it, and we both agreed that it would be the best thing for our future. This conversation definitely included who would stay home with the kids part time and such, and we both agreed that Jeff would be better to do that because he loves programming, but really doesn't enjoy doing it 40 hours a week. So we decided that I would be the 40-hour-a-week person and Jeff would be the stay-at-home/part-time-freelancing dad.

So I found a program that I was really interested in at Boston University. I looked at a lot of different programs that were accredited through PMI. But the reason I really liked this particular program because a lot of programs were mixing business class with project management classes and Boston mixes computer science classes with project management classes, which I felt was better for what I want to do.

So I applied and sat and waited for three weeks and just got the acceptance email yesterday.

The Wedding is as Planned as it can be at this moment

I feel like I'm in this weird limbo waiting place about the wedding. Everything that has to be booked a million years ahead of the actual event is done, and now we're just waiting to order the rest. I literally can't do anything for the next month except go beer tasting with Jeff for the keg, write vows, and start nagging parental units about embarrassing pictures of us growing up. And then in a month it all starts up again and really doesn't stop until the actual wedding.

Actually as I'm sitting here, I beginning to realize all the little things that still need to get done. And it's becoming a really long list....

The Past Mixing with the Future

A month ago I saw some cute engagement photos in a library and got the idea that it would be cute and ironic if Jeff and I did ours at Whitworth in one of the computer labs. So last Friday, Jeff and I met Rachael in the middle of the day at Whitworth's library and took photos. And it was a very strange feeling. I've been to Whitworth a few times since I left for various reasons, but never really inside. I would either just drive around the main drag loop and look at the changes, or go to the Print Shop on the outskirts of campus to visit them. So, as we tried to walk as naturally as possible down the stairs and into the library, it felt weird. It felt even weirder as we got inside and headed up the labs where I spent many hours working on everything from code to art projects. It was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. Everything was in the same place, yet time had obviously passed. 

We walked into labs that I used to feel so at home in, coming in loaded down with books and snacks ready to camp out for a few hours; and now as we wandered in I realized how foreign it felt, like we were trespassing on sacred "only students aged 18-21" ground (complete with new signs about proper coffee containers, when in our day it was soda cans). We took some pictures in the book stacks that I used to know so well, but now didn't. And then we took a walk inside the newly remodeled Student Union Building (or the HUB as Whitworth calls it) and even though things were different and new and shiny, I still took a New York Times, just like I did everyday I was a student there.

And then the present caught up to us. The Computer Science department is no longer housed in the low-slung brick building known as Lindaman, but instead now resides in the shiny new wall-of-windows Science building (and I will fully admit that I didn't even suggest going to see it for fear of running into old professors who would have loved to see me, yet I didn't want to fail them somehow with the story of my life). We went and visited Jeff's dad up in the IT department (he's the Director of IT, something that he wasn't when we were there at school) and as I sat in his office, one of Jeff and my old classmates walked by because he now works there.

As a new chapter in my life quickly draws closer, it was an interesting afternoon looking back at the past. Even as I get ready to go back to school for my Masters, I know it won't be the same. At some point between Whitworth and now, I became an adult. The things that I worried about at Whitworth don't even phase me anymore. I am now more confident in my abilities, in my place as I sit in the Director of IT's office discussing the runnings of the place rather than down in the labs a floor below studying. Going back to school now means going back to enhance my knowledge of my field, not to sit and argue rhetoric like it did before. It means going back with long-term goals firmly in place and reachable.

Guess What?

me: hey honey
guess what
Jeff:what?
me: i have something importatn to tell you that i CAN tell you right now
Jeff: ok but don't get me excited just to say what you always say
me: what do i always say??
Jeff: you say "guess what"
and i'm like "ooo? whats this ? something exciting that i've never heard before???"
"i love you"
"DAMN IT"
"I KNEW THAT ALREADY"
"I WANTED SOMETHING NEW"
me: well then i guess I have nothing important to tell you
Jeff: its important but when you say "guess what" i think it means you're gonna tell me something I did not previously know
honey, guess what
did you know that I like chrome?
the guess what gives you some kind of intrigue on what i'm gonna say only to tell you something you already knew
Jeff: does that not make sense to you?
me: you're no fun
fine. i'll think of something and it'll be important
Jeff: so you were going to say "i love you" just now?
me: duh
*five seconds later*
Jeff: honey
guess what
me: ooooo *intrigue what?!?!?
Jeff: SEE?
me: i was mocking you
Jeff: i had a dream last night that a plane full of nukes was about to crash into us. And we were running but there was no escape. and right before it blew up i was like "well if i'm gonna die i'm glad I get to be with you before the end."
how sweet huh
but then we didn't die because I am invincible in my dreams
so all was well
me: so sweet