Shit's about to get realz

I haven't written in a journal in over a year. This is the first time this has happened since I started writing in one freshman year of high school when Nani gave me my first journal. I love my journals. They are an amazing piece of of my life and have stupid stories in them that I would have otherwise forgotten. They usually don't have a lot of mushy deep thinking about things but still full of awesome things.

For the past month or so Jeff has been telling em I should take over this and start writing again. My hesitation has been that this is a public forum and I'm not always going to have nice things to say - about myself or others - but I've ran the idea past a few people and they've all said "fuck it. if people don't like it they can stop reading." So I'm doing it. As of right now this is now my "journal" - which it always has been in a way, but the filter is coming off a little bit more.

You've been warned.

Rekindled hobby

So now that I don't have school in my life, Jeff told me I needed to get some hobbies. So I decided to start actively sewing again. And to start this, I had to call my mother and her ask her the likelihood that I would get my sewing machine back. It was small. So I got to go buy a new one. Now I've had the same sewing machine my entire life. It's the one my mom got me for my birthday way back in the day and it was your basic $100 beginning sewing machine. So imagine my surprise when I walk into the local sewing machine shop and get introduced to all the new things that machines do now. (funny sidenote: Jeff didn't know there were sewing machine stores before I told him I was going to one). And since I didn't want a quilting sewing machine, I was directed to a completely different area of the store than Nani and Sue hang out in. So the really nice gay guy showed me this machine that did crazy awesome things. It threads your needle for you, does the back and forth at the end of the seam itself, and cuts the threads so you dont have trailing threads everywhere. I was in love. It also didnt have a peddle which I thought was weird, but thats how it works now so I went with it. But then he informed me it was a Babylock and it $1200. I asked what else they had.

But then he totally hooked me up. He told me that Babylock and Brother are actually sister companies, and like Ford and Mercury, are the same machines just one has leather seats. So he found the same machine (minus some things I would never use) for $500. So I took that one. It's a Brother Simplicity and I love it. I feel very grownup.

So for my first project I did a basic shirt to just reaffirm my sewing skills. And then I went crazy. I took Jeff to the fabric store and he pointed out some pinky orange sparkly zebra print knit and said "what about curtains for the living room?" Backstory: we bought these tables at Ikea in "high gloss turquoise" and are doing a crazy living room. We're looking at this apartment as the place to have fun. Since we'll only be here a short time we don't have to buy investment pieces and can pick sparkly zebra fabric for curtains. So thats what we're doing. Lots of color! So I made curtains today. Fully lined with grommet curtains. Out of knit fabric. I'm pretty sure the knit fabric part made it about 100 times harder than it should have been, but I used an actual curtain lining fabric for the back so I was able to stabilize it a bit.

Up-close of the fabric 

the finished product

A sad feeling

I took my last final this morning. Now I know that it's not official yet and I'm still actually quite nervous about it since I have to have a certain GPA to graduate (even though I have a lot of wiggle room and really have no need to be stressed about it), but I took it and I'm very excited. I'm excited to have accomplished this thing that I never thought I would do. I'm excited to have grown and learned things I never would have learned in the flow of my career at the time that I started. I'm excited about the knowledge that I now have that has opened doors to new conversations and new career opportunities.

I'm also very sad. The likelihood of me going back to school after this is very small. From now on I'm going to have learn and grow through different outlets that aren't the structure of school. Books that I choose to read, conferences I choose to go to, jobs I choose to go after. These are the ways I will continue to grow. I am now fully responsible for continuing my growth and education.

But sitting in a classroom or reading a textbook is behind me. I have no desire to get my Phd (the idea of writing a thesis is the worst thing ever). And it's a weird feeling. When I graduated undergrad, I was so excited to be done (rightfully so since it took me forever) and so focused on my new grown up job I had lined up that I didn't stop and really reflect on the lack of school in my life at that point. And when we decided that I was going to go back for my Master's, I was focused on the excitement of jump starting my career when I was done. Yet now that I'm here, the main thing I'm thinking is "what am I going to do with all this free time?" I've been working, going to school, and up until we moved, had a full social life. And now school is no longer there. It's a weird feeling.

Going through a manly right of passage while sewing curtains

I have gone through a manly-right-of-passage. I officially killed a drill and had to buy a new one. In my defense, the drill that I killed was only a 4 volt and I was asking it to do things that 4 volts really shouldn't be doing. But anyway, I got a new drill! And thus started my own collection of grown-up tools since I moved away from all the people that I would just borrow tools from.

Manly-right-of-passage gone through.

I had to go get a drill because I was trying to put up curtains in Jeff's office and the drill stopped working. I was trying to put up the curtains that we bought at IKEA this past weekend when we went to IKEA with Sue, Holly, Rachael, and Sean. It was their first time and was fun to watch the overwhelmed looks on all of their faces. Holly and Sean did the entire place twice and had some food in the cafeteria in the amount of time it took the rest of us to go through once, which we felt was making good time.

Anyway, I got some curtains but they were too long. And since my sewing machine is still at my mom's house (there are about 5 things still strewn about Spokane that we will be collecting at Christmas), I pulled out the 1970s sewing machine I bought for $10 at an estate sale strictly because it looked cool. I had no idea if it worked but I knew it had bobbins, which is always the magical question in our family. But it worked! So then I had to figure out to thread it/make a bobbin but the internet helped with that. Then I hemmed the curtains and was pretty proud of myself since they are only about 2 cm different in length.

I felt like this activity from start to finish shows a lot about me. I was just as happy about buying a power tool as I was that my 1970s sewing machine worked.

The week of delicious food

Today Jeff and I should have been in London. At the Destination Star Trek convention. In the front row of the TNG cast reunion talk moderated by William Shatner. And at the Brent Spinner session. And the Patrick Stewart session.

But we aren't. And that is very sad. This was definitely something we were looking forward to for quite some time. But the good news is that it's the last thing we had planned on for our adventures so my Google calendar will stop reminding me about all the cool things I have missing.

Instead we went a cool happening here in Seattle last night. Reeds band was playing and we joined the groupie ranks by showing up during soundcheck because the party doesnt start in Seattle until the time the party is ending in Spokane, and then going and having dinner with the band while waiting for said party to start. And it was so much fun. Jeff and I have been feeling really stuck in the friend category and by nights end had discussed many potential hangouts, which made me feel more at home here so fast.

Jeff is continuing to sleep all day and work all night so I've basically been doing my own thing all day. Oh and I've also decided that I'm telling my boss next week that he either needs to utilize my skills as a designer or as a PM because doing both takes two very different brain sets and they don't mesh well and I'm tired of it.

In other other news, we made delicious enchiladas last night with secret sauce that I can't say the name of because this-is-the-internet-and-SEO-things-might-happen-and-I-was-given-this-recipe-when-we-left-Spokane-under-serious-promise-to-not-talk-about-it. And in other cooking news, I made Alton Brown pizza dough a few days ago and have now ruined this household's tastebuds for anything but amazing pizza. We used to get Safeway's deli pizza dough but now that's ruined. This stuff was so worth the 24 hour forethought time period.

That's some sexy sauce right there

Funny story my mom told me the other day:
*conversation between her and Cody*
mom - we're having pea soup tomorrow for dinner
Cody - we should invite Heather
mom - Heather can't come. She lives in Seattle.
Cody - she has an apartment there. she still lives here.

Tuesday Sept 30 - Breathing

Today is only half over and I've spent a lot of it killing time. All of my meetings have been spaced out perfectly today so that I've gotten nothing done. So I've watched a lot of youtube. And the amazing Hannah Hart reminded me once again to take a deep breathe.

And I seriously need to do this. I have been seriously stressed about finding a new job. I want one SO badly that I'm pretty sure I'm sending out bad vibes into the universe. I need to just relax. I'm still technically in school (even though this last class is a complete joke and giving m senior-itis a really big time). I need to acknowledge in the last 24 hours I've made meatballs and mashed potatoes, guacamole, and pizza dough from scratch (go me and my kitchen skillzzz). I need to stop thinking about sending out resumes and start thinking about what I can change about my resume (since it's obviously not working). I need to stop and be excited that I found a place that makes amazing biscuit sandwiches and some weird and delicious concoction called a "Chai Cider" - seriously, I need to stockpile that shit.

Mon Sept 29th

So we finally figured out what's wrong with Jeff. After a week of him not sleeping well, sleeping all day, back hurting, etc, we finally put it together that Jeff is having a mini crisis. So now Jeff is getting full care-giver treatment.

For dinner I made something amazing. Turkey Apple Swedish Meatballs with Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes. It was so good. And totally worth the two hours it took to make it. And we have a bunch of leftovers so lunch time tomorrow will be extra good.

My first Seattle dance class

This weekend I went to my first Seattle dance class. I chose a tap only studio because a) I found one and b) I thought it would be better because tap is the red headed step child at most dance studios. And it was a totally different experience.

• It was a one room studio
• Everyone in the class was an adult
• I paid a drop-in class fee (I'm in love with this structure and can't wait to try out other places)
• The guy who owns the studio and teaches was very theatre oriented rather than competition oriented like the studio in Spokane
• We danced for the entire hour

All in all I like it and I'm going to go back and try it again. This afternoon I spent time looking for places to go for some modern dance and found a few options for that too so I'm hoping to have either two or three nights with a class for some good workout sessions.

Bed update

Jeff and I have now had our sleep number bed for two weeks. And we really weren't loving it. But we had a feeling it was because we, after spending 45 minutes deliberating over the pillow top or the foam top, impulsively decided to go with the memory foam. So today, after spending an hour on the side of a soccer field with Sue and Miles as Sean's team kicked some butt, we drove back to the mall to lay on the foam one. And instantly agreed that was the problem. So we are calling in tomorrow to swap it out. And the good news is the foam one is way cheaper than the memory foam, so we'll also get some money back. 

Making Seattle home update

We still haven't made any friends. But I have started venturing out everyday to a different coffee shop or cafe to work for a few hours to get the lay of the land. I love taking the bus. Leah and Reed came over for dinner the other day and that was fun. And we have a few outings planned in the upcoming weeks. The real obstacle in our way the fact that neither of us go out to work. We aren't forced to interact with other people through a daily activity. Jeff is trying to find us a new bowling league (and the cool thing is the bowling alleys here do short 1-2 month long leagues rather than a full year sanctioned league) so hopefully we can make friends that way. We know we haven't been here that long but it's still dragging on the happy to only have each other to stare at day after day.

The worst combo evar

I am sick. And on my period.

But the good news is we finally got internet yesterday, so I've spent the last two days watching tv just because I could. Also, first world problem: because we didn't have cable in Spokane, I'm not at all caught up on any new shows which means I can't use my fancy new DVR to watch them.

Tableau week!!!

Sunday

After moving furniture and eating burgers, Ken, Jeff, and I went down to the convention center to check in. We thought since we got there pretty early in the registration time we wouldn't have to stand in line for long. We were wrong. We were so wrong that I sent Jeff to Macy's to look at pots and pans (because we still didn't have any).

So Ken and I stood in line and talked to someone who works for Pepsi about Tableau and talked to a Tableau employee who was schmoozing the line about the game in the app. We finally got to the front of the line and got our badges and our fancy backpack (seriously, it's a really nice backpack) and water bottle. And then I stood in another line to see if I could get into the 8 hour beginner class on Monday, which was all filled up. As much as I know I would have learned a ton in the class, I was ok with not getting in because I knew I would be able to do a ton of work and school so I could just enjoy Tableau on Tuesday, Wed, and Thursday.

Monday

After a day of working, I headed down to the convention center for the evening "mixer," which every time I said that made me giggle like I was back in 8th grade bc that's what it reminded me of. I met a bunch of people (fun fact: Wells Fargo sent about 100 people to the conference), ate some really good food, and met some Tableau people, who told me to email them about jobs :]

Tuesday

*sidenote - I actually took notes at all of the sessions I went to and learned a bunch of boring things

Breakfast - yummy

Keynote - learned a ton about Tableau and new features

allrecipes.com - learned about how they first established and then built up their BI department and then they showed us a case study from last holiday season when they teamed up with Ghiradelli chocolates and bumped sales up 20% using a marketing campaign that they were able to track using Tableau. Sidenote: did you know that allrecipes.com is one of the top ten social sites on the internet, but no one knows that bc they dont consider it a "social" site.

Drive - a session about how Tableau is learning from their clients. They have taken multiple case studies of how clients have moved Tableau into an enterprise wide tool and created a template for implementing it. A side awesome part of this was that it was led by one of the keynote speakers (the only woman to speak) and I was able to chat with her at Data Night Out later about it. This was also the first time I got a card from someone telling me to email them if I wanted to discuss jobs. I learned very quickly that by just being at something like the Tableau conference moved you from the robots who read resumes to humans who read resumes instantly.

Lunch - really yummy (pretty much at every meal I ran out of plate before I ran out of line)

Scott Simon - the only session besides the keynotes that Ken and I went together. Really interesting to hear him talk about telling stories and how he thinks to tell a good one. I would tell you what they are, but he made us put all our electronics away and just listen.

Ancestry.com - this was my only bust session. They've only been using Tableau for a year and so they didn't have really anything awesome to talk about.

Break time - I quickly went home, dropped off my bag, and immediately headed to the City Center.

Data Night Out - this was insane! I have no idea how much it cost, but they literally roped off the EMP, Space Needle, the Chihuly Glass Garden, and all the space in between. There was food (I figured out after I was full that there was different food in different places), booze (they were pouring them very strong so I only had about 1.5 drinks the entire time), and music (Sir Mix-a-Lot anyone?) everywhere. I spent a lot of the evening with two ladies who work in sales at Tableau but was super stupid and didn't get anything other their last names bc I didnt write them down. I talked to the Ellie, the keynote and Drive lady, about her talks and being a woman at Tableau and told her how much I wanted to work there. I met up with Ken as it was winding down and we wandered around a little together and then left right as everything was breaking up. Also it was interesting talking to people about Seattle who don't live in Seattle.

Wednesday

Breakfast - yummy and I sat with a bunch of people I didnt know. Go me!

Neil deGrasse Tyson - SO GOOD!! He was hilarious and exceptionally talented at talking about really complex concepts at normal people level. My favorite line: "We didn't lose a planet when Pluto was demoted, we gained an entire new area of space" (I will continue to wear my collection of Poor Pluto shirts anyway). His main theme of his talk was about how science is changing all the time and the amount of data we're collecting helps that.


Wired guy - Cliff Kuang works at Wired as a creative director/design writer and his talk was super interesting. His theme - how is our interaction with technology going to continue to change. Super deep and thinking about things I didnt even know to think about. And at the end, I stood up and asked a question.

Zillow - this session was packed. The lady who gave the talk works in the Marketing department side of the BI unit and creates all the graphs and maps and interactions about all the data on their website that they supply to the public on their website. The most interesting thing about this was she said that before Tableau, she made one very rudimentary graph for certain areas, but now with Tableau she's able to create very interesting and interactive maps that not only drives up user numbers but their info gets used in all sorts of things.

Lunch - not as good as the day before. Again, sat with new people.

Michael Lewis keynote - at this point everyone was tired. You could feel it in the audience. I knew that what Michael was saying would have been interesting and engaging any other day, but at that moment in time, all I was doing was trying to keep my eyes open. But I ended up buying The Blind Side and have since read it and found it very interesting. Also funny story: at both keynotes on Wed, Ken and I found each other in the crowd by sheer magic and so were able to sit together.

Agile Tableau - This talk was super interesting. It was all about how the BI department at Intuit (Quickbooks, TurboTax) figured out it was better if they integrated themselves into teams rather than just process requests, so they turned their entire department Agile. I asked about which pieces of Agile they threw out immediately because I always think that's interesting. Also these guys are hiring and I would love to apply to work for them, but they're in San Fran :[

Social Media - this one was half a bust. The first half was a sales pitch for an aggregation system that aggregates a ton of social media into actual info that you can then put into Tableau. But then he showed us what you can do with that data in Tableau and it was super fascinating. Anyone not leveraging their social media, especially in the retail business, is dumb.

Then I went home and went to bed pretty much immediately. By the way, this entire time I was off learning until my head was about to explode, Jeff was at home sitting amongst boxes without internet trying to work with no real food in the house.

Thursday

Breakfast - yummy (they were getting breakfast really right)

John Medina - this guy was awesome. I really wasn't excited about this one, but he got me excited about it in about 30 seconds. He talked about a mile a minute (I could never be a student in one of his classes at UW bc he was literally talking too fast to take notes) and his talk was all about sleep and how we sleep and why sleep is important. I basically learned why Jeff has horrible sleep patterns and how it's effecting every aspect of his life. Lessons learned: take a nap, don't pull all-nighters, and being overtired is just as bad as being drunk (he's got the studies to prove it).

Tableau for the first time - so I took the plunge. I sacrificed two session times for a hands on training session. And boy am I glad I did. Because he showed me tips and tricks at just the beginning level that I never would have figured out myself. I build my first dashboard (which I showed off very proudly to Ken, who was a good sport and smiled and told me I did awesome even though I was doing such basic stuff it was laughable)

Tableau store - Ken and I stopped by the store to pick up some souvenirs. I told Ken I wanted to buy him a shirt as a thank you. But he decided he didnt want a tshirt and so we bought other stuff. I of course got a funky mug and a tshirt.

Hans Rosling - this was the final keynote and he did awesome. This guy owns a non-profit that analyzes data from all over the world and finds patterns. His theme for the talk: how data can show people that what society thinks about the world is actually not true in regard to things like health care and poverty and industrialization. He was also a hilarious old man. Notice in the picture his "analog mouse."

Final Thoughts

This was an amazing experience. I now want to go to many more conferences and continue to learn and grow and meet people. On Monday I was super freaked out. I was crazy nervous and had no idea how I was going to do good networking (which in all honesty was the main reason I was there). And it ended up being so easy. I was just myself and started conversations with people about the food, sessions, and what ever else was on hand to chat about. I ended up with way more cards than I thought was ever possible.

Also Ken warned me that this conference was going to spoil all other conferences and he was right. The venue was awesome, the food really good, the speaker list crazy awesome, and the atmosphere one of excitement, camaraderie, and fun. And the "bar chart" opened at noon everyday.

I have to give a huge mushy thank you to Ken, who not only got me into the conference at literally the last possible second (we found out once we got there that I really shouldn't have been allowed in but Ken's account manager had signed up so many people that the conference people were giving her whatever she wanted), but for seriously taking me under his wing. He introduced me to people, talked me up, and kept calling me his "2nd generation Tableau user." He guided me in the beginning but I was soon running on my own. And I hope he was getting a kick out me being a total newbie (I had the sticker to prove it!) and getting excited about all the little stuff. I couldn't have asked for a better conference guide.

Schedule link: http://tcc14.tableauconference.com/schedule

Officially moving

Ok, it's been so long because I've literally going a million miles an hour for the past three weeks. Last I left off, I was still doing a serious happy dance every twenty minutes when my brain would remind me that I was going to the Tableau conference. But I couldn't really focus on that because that was four days away and I had a lot to do between now and then.

So Thursday Jeff and I flew back Spokane. We were not excited to be back at an airport. Not only were we back in an airport, but we were starting to feel the effects of being slightly homeless (even though we had had the keys to our place since Sunday, we didn't have anything except our suitcases and a new tv we got a Costco a few days before, so we weren't staying in it). So we fly to Spokane really late at night. We stay at Ken and Julie's - in the actual guest room, which was weird. It was very strange flying into Spokane knowing we didn't live there anymore. We will most likely always need someone to lend us a bed when we're in Spokane.

Friday Jeff works and I run around collecting the random things that were being stored at Nani's, my mom's, and Sue's. Jeff and I were very clear when we told everyone we were coming back only to get our stuff. A week ago we had said goodbye to everyone expecting it to be a year until we saw them all, so we weren't doing big family time. The only exception to this was having dinner with Larry and Richelle that evening and that was nice. Larry gave us a lecture of love and told us to be more adventurous and move to New York or somewhere far far away. We told him our brains were still reeling.

So bright and early Saturday morning, we got the truck, loaded it up with the help of Ken and Kenny, and hit the road at 1pm. Jeff got a head start in the truck while I went and picked up the inevitably forgotten thing at Kenny and Andrea's. And I literally didn't catch up with him until North Bend, when he stopped and waited for me. This is due to a few things: I wasn't actually driving at normal Heather speed, I had to stop in Ritzville and fill up the tires because the gauge started freaking out, and I didn't just power through and stopped in Ellensburg and got Taco Bell.

We arrived at the apartment around 5 and Jeff was on a mission. He wanted to unload the entire thing right then and there. I however did not. First we said "ok, only the boxes" and then we got all the boxes in and Jeff said "ok. lets do all the little furniture" and I said *sigh* "fine." Then the only things left were the big pieces. And Jeff really wanted to do it. He wanted everything out of there. And I was DONE. I was exhausted and in serious bitch mode and basically walked off the truck.

The next morning we drove to IKEA and picked up a couch. We had a serious furniture moment when we went into a going-out-of-business nice furniture store and after seeing that the going-out-of-business prices were still $2500 for a couch, we agreed that if we didn't absolutely love something, we weren't spending that kind of money. I was also having a problem because I was looking at this couch as a moment to be crazy. Now that we no longer had the big sectional and knowing we would end up with a very similar sectional when we got a house and kids, I really wanted to go out on a crazy limb with this couch. If I saw a purple couch that I loved, I was going to talk Jeff into it.

But we didn't see anything like that. And so we ended up at IKEA. And since we had the truck, we wanted to get it then. We had gone on a scope-out trip to IKEA before so we knew which one we wanted - and then changed our mind at the last minute and bought a different one. We ended up with this one and now that we've had it for a little while I like it. It's a definite change from having a huge sectional made for multiple people to take naps on it simultaneously, and Jeff and I have our eyes very open for a nice side chair with ottoman.

A few hours later, we went and picked Ken up from the airport in exchange for helping us unload the last few pieces of furniture out of the truck. And then we ate burgers. And then Tableau week started, which will be a totally different post. And no, I didn't even have time to think about the fact that we officially lived in Seattle. I had to focus on Tableau.

The Universe is Speaking Loud and Clear

I'M GOING TO THE TABLEAU CONFERENCE!!! *happy dance*

So Tableau is a company is that takes databases of information and makes gorgeous infographics with them. Ever since Jeff's dad showed me their software, I have wanted to work there.

They do an annual conference, which because I was suppose to be in London, I didn't register for and was just planning on going next year. But bc of the change of plans I was able to go. Only to be bummed 20 minutes later when I checked the website and saw that is was sold out. So Jeff was talking to his dad about it and Ken said he would check.

So yesterday I'm sitting waiting for the plane to take us to Spokane, when Ken calls me. "Do you still want to go to the conference?" Happy dance ensued. Like serious happy dancing. For multiple minutes.

I'm super excited to not only learn a ton but also to hopefully meet a bunch of people (note to self - get a tiny pad of paper to write peoples names down since I suck at remembering just someone's name. Tell me a funny anecdote about yourself and I'll remember you forever) that will come in handy later. I really hate networking but it's a necessary evil.

The real kicker will be doing this while I'm still working and going to school. I might not sleep a lot next week....

Tableau conference link

Not Wasting Any Time

Subtitle: And Labor Day makes it so everyone has mega deals on things

We have an apartment. Which still seems crazy that all this is happening in such a short period of time, but after the universe told us we weren't suppose to be in England, the universe is now pointing us in the Seattle direction hardcore.

So after sleeping for 12 hours straight, Jeff and I cracked our computers and started looking at apartments. And craigslist had a perfect one, so I made Jeff get up and we went and looked at it and it was disgustingly perfect.

Our checklist for an apartment is usually pretty short (and doesn't revolve around paint or counters or things like that), and this time was no exception:

Wants

• Ballard area - check
• flexible renting time - check (Jeff really wanted six months - we ended up with ten bc ten was cheaper than six for unknown reasons)
• 2 bedrooms (we really needed this since we both work from home) - check
• can see the tv from the kitchen (Jeff and I firmly believe in open concept because it sucks to be the one cooking or cleaning and not be a part of the group) - check
• dishwasher - check
• off street parking - check (and because of Labor Day, running a deal on it)
• close to bus lines - check (there are four running past here)

Perks

• washer/dryer - check (so freaking excited about this!)
• see-through drawers in the fridge (this doesn't seem like a big deal, but after living multiple places, I hate non-see-through drawers and I get overly excited if they are see-through and it's usually the first thing I notice about someone else's fridge) - check
• fancy kitchen faucet  - check (built-in sprayer!!)

Perks this place comes with that we didnt even know we wanted until this place had it

• ceiling fan - check (and it's not butt ugly)
• Basic Comcast package included - check (and we can easily bundle stuff on top of it)
• because of Labor Day, only a $99 deposit - check

Now we aren't going to lie, our Spokane brains had a little bit of heart attack when we signed papers for an apartment that costs 4 times as much as our last one, but the part of our brain that is moving towards being Seattle brains understands that's what it costs for what we want. We especially knew it was going to be spendy because of the need for a second bedroom, but we know that Jeff needs his work space and without it he'll never get anything done. We've also discovered that both of us trying to have two different meetings in the same room is horrible.

Check out that sexy faucet

So now we also have plane tickets home for this weekend and a rental truck all lined up. But here's the big kicker. We are missing key pieces of furniture (Sidenote: it was really funny looking at an apartment trying to decide if it'll fit our stuff when we don't have a couch or a bed). So Jeff and I are hitting the stores today for some last minute Labor Day sales to see if we can get something awesome.

Sidenote: Go the Fed! (i.e. Roger Federer)

Our European Adventure from Start to Finish

How it went down

Thursday and Friday morning went relatively smooth. We traveled uneventfully, watched many movies in-flight, and discussed how the clouds made it impossible to see anything. When we landed in Iceland, we were excited to discover we didn't have to go through customs there since it was a short layover, and grew more and more excited.

When we landed in Gatwick, we got in line for a stamp and filled out our "Landing card" which asked questions like "where are you staying?", "how long are you staying?", "why are you here?". Which was stupid because when we got up to the front of the line, we heard everyone being asked these questions. So we get up to the counter and the lady starts seriously interrogating us.

her: "How long are you staying?"
us: "3 months"
her? "That's a long time, how are you managing that? Don't you have to work?"
us: "We own our own business"
her: "Well you can't just take money out of the business, can you? That's not how it works" [this is where the serious breakdown happened and she started not trusting anything we said]
us: "Well that's how it works for us because the business is for tax purposes"
her: "That doesn't make any sense"

So after this, she confiscated our passports and told us to go sit in the "there's something wrong with you" area. At this point we were still feeling pretty confident. We figured they would realize we had enough money to support ourselves and let us move on.

Then we got our luggage examined.

Then they took us to the holding room, where we spent the next 20 hours of our lives. The questioned us separately, each for an hour in more detail about our financial situation and about how long we were staying and the big one "how can we know that you'll leave since you don't have return ticket?" At this point they were very stuck on this (making me think they had satisfactorily proved that we had enough money to support ourselves). My answer: we don't want to be banned from the country, and we did a lot of research on how long we're allowed to be here, etc. Jeff's answer: we're law abiding citizens who don't want to cause trouble. They also were very suspicious of our answer that after the UK, we were heading to the continent so that's why we didn't have a leaving ticket. (At this point I really wanted to ask "what if we were independently wealthy and had no obligations. What would you be saying to us then?" but I wasn't going to push it)

So they took our answers away and left us to stew for about 3 hours. At this point our bodies had been up for about 24 straight hours and we were exhausted, so we were trying to nap while being super stressed out. This wasn't really working.

By the time the guy came back and told us the answer, I didn't give a shit anymore. I just wanted something to happen. So he came back and told us we had been denied entry because "we couldn't prove that you are going to leave when you say you are." And when we asked "well what if we go to the counter and buy a ticket out of here right now for 3 months from now?" that was a no go. They had already decided and gotten us a flight back to Seattle. We couldn't even change where we were flying too (for 10 seconds Jeff really wanted to change it to New York and go watch some US Open). We had to go back to Seattle. But the flight wasn't for the next day and he said they would find us a place to stay that night.

We learned about 6 hours later that because of Jeff's disease and because we were considered a "family unit" we were ineligible for the house they have at the airport for people like us, so we stayed in the holding room for the night. We both tried to sleep but I think we only got about three hours each. At some point, I spent £5 and called and left a message with Jeff's dad telling him what happened so he knew we hadn't died and to let my mom know too.

So in the morning, they packed us into a van and drove us to Heathrow. We had to change vans three times and saw lots of the back side of airports. We even got to drive under the tarmac at Heathrow, which was kind of cool. But at this point I wanted to go home. I was tired and wanted to be alone to cry. This is also the point where I saw what we would miss out on. If we had just stayed in the airport, it wouldn't have seemed as real of a place, but driving down the M-whatever or A-whatever and just seeing in person how different their cars were (SUVs - nada. Hatchbacks - everywhere!) made it hit home just how over the trip was.

So we get to the Heathrow (you'll notice that we changed airports for seriously no apparent reason) and sat in their holding room for a couple hours and then were taken to our plane. Our passports were given to the stewardesses on the plane with the instructions that we could get them back in Iceland.

So we fly back to Iceland. At this point Jeff's body was not doing awesome. I was running on pure adrenaline and stress at this point, but Jeff was just shutting down due to the lack of both of those things. So I forced him to sleep on the plane and he got a few more hours.

So we get to Iceland, get our passports back, and figure all is fine. But as we get off the plane, we're stopped and told to come with another person. And we're really confused. We were out of the UK, what did the Iceland people care? So we walk with this lady and go over to customer services (by the way, the Iceland airport is the tiniest-most-busy airport EVAR), where we're told we owe £2500 for the return flight. Now were really confused because back in London, they told us we didn't have to pay. Luckily Jeff knows how to haggle, because where I would have just sighed and paid, he asked why and he and the lady started talking and I honestly think she took serious pity on us because she called someone, had a thirty second conversation with them, hung up, and told us to get on the plane no charge. We both broke down at this point, hugging the bewildered customer service lady in turn. It was the only good thing that had happened to us in the last 24 hours and we were incredibly grateful.

While waiting for the next flight, we quickly got on the internet (no matter what Icelandair says, they don't have wifi in all of their planes, just the brand new ones and in the 4 Icelandair flights we were on, we only had one fancy new plane) and booked a hotel in Seattle. We knew we didn't want to mess around with finding another flight to Spokane (they only got us flights back to Seattle) and we were tired. And in all honesty, we wanted to be alone to grief for what had happened.

So we get on the plane, fly, and land in Seattle. We navigate public transportation and a taxi to our hotel in Everett and the first thing we do is take a shower and brush our teeth. Next thing we do is call and check in with everyone. Then we fall asleep for 12 hours in a horizontal position, which was glorious.

Commentary on the whole thing 

What I have witnessed in this whole experience is the difference between bureaucracy and common sense. While in London we dealt with two kinds of people: the border patrol people and the security company people who are hired to do the security for this kind of thing at the airports. And each one was either super nice and knew we were getting screwed and told us that (the common sense people), or had decided we were somehow devious and were treating us with slight distain (the bureaucratic people). Most of the distain came from the first lady we talked to. Everyone with the security company that we spent long periods of time with were really nice and got us whatever we wanted and were really concerned about Jeff getting his meds. They got us many sandwiches (I ate a lot of "egg mayonnaise" sandwiches, ie egg salad) and talked and joked with us throughout the day.

That was the other area of the bureaucracy vs common sense. Like I said before, the reason we stayed in the holding room all night was because of Jeff's "disease," which all the people who interacted with us could tell was not something that Jeff was going to flop on the floor and die from at any point, but no matter how many times they told that to the people who ran the house, they wouldn't take him because of the "liability." The border patrol guy who was checking on us throughout the night had some awesome British swear words to say about the guy running the house. We also decided that if that border patrol guy had been the one running the counter when we got there, we would have been let through because he was one of the most vocal about us getting shafted.

Another area was the fact that we couldn't buy a ticket flying out of the country and be fine. Once they made the decision, we had no choice but to be put back on the plane to where we came from. There was literally no way for us to stay in the country.

What next

So that is the question of the hour. We are for sure not going back anytime soon. European Grand Adventure is pretty much canceled. Luckily the only thing we're out serious money from is the Star Trek convention tickets (this is actually a really big bummer because we were both really looking forward to it).

So we're spending a few days in Seattle to just chill and decompress and we'll move on from there. We know that we really don't want to move back to Spokane because to us that feels like going backwards, so we will probably start apartment searching soon. But for now we're going to grief and put it behind us.

Sean Connerys Accent Farewell

So if you follow me on facebook, you know every Tuesday night I post something about "Sean Connerys Accent." What a lot of people don't know is that is the name of a trivia team. We go to trivia at The Fieldhouse, a local sports bar, which we long decided was a silly idea because we're all nerds and know nothing about sports and at least four questions are about sports every week, but continue to go there because we love the trivia guy.

So this summer Sean Connerys Accent has taken a beating in the way to teammates. Three of us regulars (out of five) left this summer, me being the last one. And every time someone has left we give them a grand farewell, which usually involved more shots than usual. Now when Andrew left, we did it up right. I might have had to sit on the bathroom floor with Andrew for a few hours after driving him home. But since Andrew is 23, eight hours after puking his guts out, he was up and raring to go with not residual side effects.

Now since I am no longer 23, I knew that I would not have this similar experience. In fact I know that now that I'm 27, if I drink so much that I puke, I have a hangover for the next two days. And since trivia is Tuesday night and we're leaving Thursday morning, I decided that I should stick to my usual two beers and one shot for the evening.

So we did the goodbye night up right by winning, which is always glorious. And ate many many cupcakes. But it will be sad to not head up to trivia next Tuesday and we already determined Trivia Guy (aka Alex) won't let us skype people in (we asked because we're nerds).

I'm ready now

How I felt yesterday at this time and how I feel at this time today are two totally different things. Yesterday I was still super stressed about the apartment and the cleaning involved and getting the last of everything out. Today I am excited to get going on our grand adventure. So excited to the point where I did a lot of goodbyes today and only cried once.

I started the day with having coffee with Alexis, who is just as excited to be starting her own adventure on Thursday. She is also leaving Spokane and heading to Cali to move back with her family and stretch her career chops in the Valley. But Alexis will be joining us at some point in Europe for a quick tour of Spain and wherever else we decide to go, so we got to talk about that and get all excited for that.

Then I went and did the apartment walk-through and let me tell you, if I had known the walk-through was going to be that easy, I wouldn't have worked so hard cleaning the place. She literally glanced around and said everything was good. And I think the golden moment was when I mentioned I had swapped out the burner trays on the stove. Also I canceled Avista and closed my account and got a "utility letter of credit" for my next utility company. I had no idea that was thing, but apparently it is and "it's important!"

After that it was time for my last Slickrock burrito. Slickrock has become an integral part of my South Hill living and I have no idea what I'm going to do with not only awesome burritos but the company of "Slickrock Jeff" (I know too many Jeffs) while we each work away at our own tasks. I have been going to Slickrock on a weekly basis for many years now and since I started working and schooling from home, bumped it up to twice a week and I'm usually there all afternoon just working away while Jeff works away at burrito tasks, and gossiping about life and the universe. I knew this was going to be a big "Goodbye Spokane" moment and it was. I cried. A lot.

I spent the evening hanging out with Thomas and Morah drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers, chatting about everything under the sun since I don't see Thomas and Morah that often but they are definitely close friends and I couldn't leave town without seeing them one last time.

So now I'm ready. So ready to the point that all the last minute crap in the back of my car from cleaning the apartment in the back seat of the car still could all be chucked in the trash and I wouldn't care because it would mean there was room for the suitcases. So ready that I want to fast forward time.

Sidenote: in true "that's how the world works" fashion, Jeff has a major deadline for work this week and I'm starting a new project the day before we get on the plane...so nice non-stressful times on that front :]

Bowling farewell

Saturday night we did our last bowling tournament with all of our bowling buddies. It was one of the milestones that I knew I was going to cry and be sad about. And after a round of tequila shots dedicated to me and Jeff having an amazing time, I did just that. I also lost very badly at darts.

But Richelle said an amazing thing to me as we were all leaving. I had started to really cry (Larry hugs will do that to a person) and Richelle said "Heather, you're going to have so much fun and when you come back and you'll have all these great stories and memories and we'll all still be here." Now her saying these specific words is nothing new because a ton of people have said them to me, but in that moment when I was so sad to be leaving our friends that we'd seen every week for two years now she was making me remember the awesomeness that will happen. It was great way to end the evening and I am completely grateful that she said it.

Apartment = clean

So I spent six hours cleaning the apartment today for our walk-through. And here are few things I learned:

• the top 40 radio station really does play the same 20 songs every hour
• there is a special level of hell for the man who created bumpy linoleum
• a man had to have created said bumpy linoleum because no woman would be that impractical
• buying a tube of clorox wipes makes things go a whole lot faster
• I prefer getting down on my hands and knees to wash a floor Cinderella style rather than using a mop

I'm not going to lie. It was an exhausting task, both physically and emotionally and I'm glad it's over.

I'm an Emotional Wreck

I've hit the point where everything makes me cry. I'm an emotional wreck. At any moment this is what I'm feeling:

• Stress - getting everything done while still working and doing the last week of the school term (I literally took my final today in the middle of our crazy apartment. This is the biggest one at the moment.
• Sadness - things are changing. People who I see on a regular basis are no longer going to be in my life on that level. It will be a lot harder to just pick up the phone/drive across town to see family.
• Loved - everyone wants to spend time with us before we go and there just isn't enough time to properly say goodbye.
• Freak out - we are headed into a serious unknown, with no support system other than each other. This is especially scary for me because my family has always been a 20 minute drive away.
• Excitement - we are going to see and do so much stuff that we would never otherwise see or do. At this moment in time, this the smallest emotion being felt right now, but I know in 3 weeks it'll be the biggest one

Jeff is at the point where he's not even that phased anymore when I walk in a room and burst into tears. He's being awesome and holding my hand until it passes, but I have a feeling he's going to be doing it a lot in the coming weeks.

The Story of Packing While Not Packing at the Same Time

So our road of packing has been interesting. Most people when they move pack up everything, room to room. It takes awhile, but it's methodical. We, on the other hand, like to live a little bit more dangerously. This is the list of piles our stuff was being divided into:

• stuff to take with us (mostly consisting of clothes, jackets, shoes, and electronic devices)
• stuff to store (our bedroom furniture, sentimental stuff, the little bookshelf (only little relative to the big bookshelf and in fact quite a large piece of furniture in its own right), all of my books!)
• stuff my mom is "storing" for us while we're gone (cookbooks, leftover booze)
• stuff Jeff's dad is "storing" for us while we're gone (the tv, the PS3, the piano keyboard, Jeff's hot sauce collection)
• stuff Kenny and Andrea are using (basically our entire kitchen except a few choice items, the couch, the desk, the big bookshelf, all of our food)
• stuff going to Sue's house (the bed)

This division of things led to pure chaos. Packing up the books and sentimental stuff was easy, but after that it became a pure shit show. Our apartment looked like a bomb went off in it for a solid three weeks. The main thing that was slowing us down was that Kenny and Andrea weren't moving into their new place until the Monday after we got back from Oregon, so the big stuff couldn't be moved until then. 

But to get the show on the road, and because we knew that trying to do everything after we got back from Oregon was insane, the weekend before Oregon we rented a UHaul and did most of our moving then. Good wrench in the plan: that was the weekend of the first of three windstorms that went through Spokane in the past few weeks, so on the second day we couldn't get into the storage unit due to a large chunk of the Wandermere area and north of it being without power, and had to put a bunch of stuff in Ken and Julie's garage for a few days). This left us with an apartment that had just a bed, tv, desk (still doing school stuff), kitchen stuff, random, and clothes. 

Then on Monday, I spent the day helping Kenny and Andrea move into their new place, and took a car loaded down with stuff for them. So now our apartment only had a bed, tv, desk, random, and clothes. 

So yesterday morning I woke up with a plan. There was still all this stuff laying around and I needed a system. So I moved everything into the middle of the living room and put post-its on the wall 3 feet apart, each labeled differently: trash, Goodwill, Mom, Ken, Store, Kenny/Andrea. And slowly but surely I made piles and was able to go through the rest of the stuff methodically and quickly. So now there are piles to distributed.

Today Jeff and I "move out" of our apartment and "move in" with Nani and Poppy for a week. I'm borrowing Ken's truck on Friday and coming back here and by the end of the day there will be nothing left in the apartment (that's my goal anyway). The piles will be dispersed. That'll give me two days to clean for our walk through on Monday.

Seven days.

Oregon Coast

Prepare yourself and get a cookie: this post should be about four different post but since we leave in 8 days, it's one big jumble.

So in true "we're moving far far away and instead of packing, we'll go on a vaca" fashion that my family is known for (we went to Disneyland the day before the movers came to pick up our stuff from CA to WA - and we weren't ready at all), Jeff and I spent last week in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast with Jeff's family.

In preparation for the trip, Andrea and I went out on a girls day on Saturday and went and got all the food at Costco and Fred Meyer and then packed it all in our car, since it was the one without any kids in it. I had a very stressful two days trying to keep everything cold because instead of picking out the brand new 5-day cooler from the pile of coolers in Ken's garage, we picked up the old ratty one which we didn't even bring back but threw away in Lincoln City.

Jeff and I headed down to Portland on Sunday and stayed the night just across the river in Vancouver. Funny story about Portland: we have accidentally started a tradition that Jeff gets a new pair of flip flops every time we go. Last time we went to Portland for our honeymoon, Jeff left them at the wedding venue so we didnt have them; and this time Jeff blew out one as we were loading the car. So accidental tradition started :]

When we got to Vancouver, I was pulling out my computer to do the one computer related thing I needed to do the entire week, only to discover I left my computer cord at home. This sent me into total panic. “What am I going to do with myself?!?!” panic.

In the midst of this panic, my brain kept saying to me “Dude, you have no obligations this week. You took the week off from work, you prepared and are far enough ahead in school work that you don’t absolutely need your computer until you get back, and one of your goals of this week was to be as unplugged as possible. Relax!” But even with this logic ringing in my ears I couldn’t stop the feeling of dread coming over me. Disregarding the fact that Jeff still had his computer and I still had my phone, the fact that I didn’t have my computer ready and available 24/7 was like someone had chopped off my foot. 

This made me feel totally pathetic. I in no way need it. I literally only brought for a “just in case,” yet it’s apparently become so integrated into who I am that being without it even for a week of vaca time is making me freak out. So I spent the week in total unplugged mode (helped along by the lack of wifi at the beach house), which ended being an awesome experience and I'm now looking forward to being as unplugged as possible when we go on our adventure. 

On Monday Jeff and I putzed around Portland for a few hours, getting delicious Pearl District sushi and going into what I've decided is my most favorite store ever, West Elm. I bought a "train blanket," which is the perfect size and not too bulky to keep in my carryon for when I inevitably get cold (and no, they didnt have Orange in the store so I didn't even know that was a thing and got Slate instead, which I actually think will hold up better for its purpose). Then we got in the car and drove the two more hours to Lincoln City. 

My shrimp tempura sushi and our favorite Salmon and Scallop roll from this place (theres a full scallop in each piece!)

You can't really tell in this picture, but this sushi is ON FIRE. Also, Jeff couldn't decide if he liked warm sushi or not after. I thought it was amazing.

The beach house that I rented was perfect. When I was looking I specifically wanted one with four bedrooms because Jeff and I are on the bottom of the adult-bed-totem-pole and I really didnt want to sleep in a pullout in the living room. So I found this place and it was a great place for all of us to hang out and still have our own space. But the best part of the place hands down was the table. We all could sit down and eat together which is something we've never done before because Ken and Julie's house can't accommodate that many people in one room. Jeff and I took the room on the main floor with the handicap bathroom and it reinforced my love for huge walk-in showers. Ken and Julie had the loft all to themselves; and Craig and Jess and Kenny and Andrea and the six kids took over the basement.

The beach was only a block away and we took many walks along edge of the water, playing the classic "can you run faster than the water?" game with the kids. It was Oregon, so it was foggy and and only about 64 degrees the entire time we were there, but we did manage to get in one epic sand castle, complete with stomping on it at the end like we were giants.

One day we all piled in the car and drove down to Newport to the aquarium (famous for being the home of Free Willy for a long time).  It's not a very big aquarium so we were able to explore at our own pace while still staying in a group.

Jeff and Ken checking out some jelly fish (and even though you can't see Jeff's face in this picture, he's making the same exact face as Ken. I guarantee it.

Me and Noah touching some things while Kenny makes sure Noah doesn't face plant into the pool (because if anyone would do that, it would be Noah)

Then Jeff and I had to pretend to be crabs (btw, that is a life-size painting of a Japanese spider crab, which there was a tank of "juvenile" ones just to the right of the painting)

Jeff's technique: focus on the pinchers

My technique: focus on the wingspan (the sign said 12 feet!)

Us surrounded by sharks!

The rest of the week was spent relaxing, reading, playing games, and spending time with each other. It was an excellent way for all of us to get together before Jeff and I head off on our grand adventure.

Oh and of course on the way home, we had to stop at Tillamook.

Let there be Storage!

As we were driving home from Seattle on Monday, it all started to hit us. We still don't have everything packed. We don't have any luggage. We don't have a storage unit. We don't have a place to land when we get to London. Our social calendar is quickly filling up and we're now feeling like we don't have time to do any of this stuff. Let freak out commence.

Being efficient people that we are, we did the only thing we could do from the car. We called about a storage unit. We knew which storage place we wanted to use and had already talked to them a couple of weeks ago. At that time they didn't have any 10x10 units available, so we left without doing anything. So while driving we decided to just call and get our name on their list. But when I called they said they had a 10x10 unit available but since it was the last one, they couldn't reserve it for us. At the time he told me this we were in Moses Lake and the storage place closed in 3 hours. So I told him we would be there as soon as possible and told Jeff to drive faster.

This was not what Jeff wanted to hear. He wanted to be home on the couch and not driving all the way up to the northside of town after we got home. But we did it anyway.

So we get to the storage place and take a look at the 10x10 and both look at each other and say "wow, a 10x10 is much smaller than we thought." So we looked at a 10x15, which was a better size, and we took that one. We also asked them if they had an pallets because Kenny and Andrea, who managed Auntie Denise's storage place for six years, told us the best way to protect our stuff was to put everything on pallets. They said they actually had a couple that someone had left behind and if we wanted them, they were ours. So the guy went and got them out of another unit and one of them was completely busted and no good, but the other one is super nice. So nice that instead of going and acquiring (either legally or illegally) more pallets, I decided I could just build them. Because I've got the skillz.

So the good news: we have a place to store our crap.
Bad news: I now have to find time to build pallets, which will most likely happen next week because the boxes in our apartments that are full of stuff are in the walkways and Jeff might throw one out the window because it's in the way.

The Seattle Leg of the Good-bye Tour

This past weekend Jeff and I went to Seattle to say farewell to all Jeff's family over there. It started at Jeff's cousin Mitchell's wedding Friday night. Which we had to buy all new outfits for because we somehow left without the pile of wedding stuff (including the proper sucker-inner underwear because the dress I was going to wear is darker and the dress I ended up wearing wasn't).

They put on a nice wedding and had some fun quirks, including piles of legos as centerpieces for the tables. So lots of lego building ensued.

Ken proving he's still got his dad-lego
skillz and can build anything
on demand, including an elephant

Then the elephant started flying

And you can't build something out of
legos without smashing it at the
end of the day

Jeff making lego magic

We spent a lot of time at the wedding talking about our upcoming trip because somehow the Mosmon side of the family hadn't heard we were leaving. 

Saturday we spent the morning hanging out with Gma and Gpa, talking about adventures (since Gma and Gpa are world travelers), and doing homework on the sly. We had dinner with one of my good friends from Whitworth and then headed up to Anacortes. 

Sidenote: when Jeff and I started dating, the first time we went to Anacortes Jeff told me that you could get from Seattle to Anacortes by ferry. So as we were driving up there, I looked it up to see if we could take the ferry on Monday on our way home. Only problem: there is no ferry! I've been excited about this for three years and now those dreams are dashed! It was a bit of a disappointment. 

We spent all of Sunday hanging out with the Aunties (Dana and Denise). Started the day off of course at Penguin coffee, the local coffee shop (a trip to Anacortes wouldn't be complete without it). We had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Brown and had some good laughs. Then the Aunties and Jeff and I dragged each other out and played "tennis without rules." And let me tell you, playing tennis with ocean breezes is really easy on one side of the court and really hard on the other. Later we made dinner for everyone which was yummy and just hung out of the rest of the evening. 

Monday included one last Penguin run and then it was back to Spokane. Driving home Jeff and I were both definitely feeling the sadness sinking in. We don't see everyone on the west side all that often, but it's enough during the year to stay involved and up-to-date with everyone, and realizing it wont be a simple 5 hour drive anymore was a little freaky. However I realize we'll probably be so busy seeing and experiencing everything over there that we won't even realize how fast time is going until it's over and we're coming home. 

Lady Washington

The Visa Catch-22

Jeff and I have done a lot of research on visas. More than I ever wanted to know about visas. Especially UK visas, since the UK is where Jeff and I - if given the choice - would use as home base for the entire year we are over there. However, since there isn't a visa for people who strictly want to live there and funnel money into the economy and not take a job or health care away from the citizens, we can't. We have to use visitor visas.

So in doing research, I discovered that we can stay up to six months in the UK in a year's period of time. I also learned that since we're from the US, we can just show up at the UK border and get a three month visa no problem. However you can stay for up to six months in one chunk if you want. So I looked into that. There are two ways to do it: (1) extend your three months to six after you're there, but pay a huge fee, or (2) apply before you get there.

So Jeff and I chose the 'apply before we get there' route and started filling out the visa application. Only to get halfway down the page and discover they wanted our address of where we would be staying while there. This is where the Catch-22 comes into play. Because in order to get a place for six months you need a visa.

So we were stuck. And at this point in the process of researching visas and places to live and so on, I was fed up with the whole thing. My Type-A-must-plan-everything brain said "Fuck it. We're getting on a plane and we'll see what happens."

So this changes our plans considerable. We were planning on doing six months in London and six months in Dublin (sticking to the English speaking countries because I refuse to be a dumb American who doesn't know the language) but now it looks like we'll be keeping it simple and doing three month stints everywhere. Jeff really wants to do Germany (he cant stop talking about donorkebabs) and I really want to do Italy (think of all the architecture) so we might be doing a marriage compromise and doing London, Germany, Italy, and then maybe London or somewhere else in the UK. This will of course mean learning at least the basics of a few languages, but it seems to be the only way.

Packing

In other news, I started the packing process the other day. Jeff and I are packing our stuff up with the mentality that we most likely wont be unpacking it after we get back to Spokane and instead moving it directly to a bigger city where I get a job. So we're doing a lot of culling of things we don't need. And two things have happened so far.

The first is that I felt very fat and unfashionable for about an hour. I was sorting clothes and getting rid of things that don't fit (I'm very anti "oh, I'll lose the weight and then be able to fit into it again" which consequently makes it so every girl ever has a box of clothes of every size she's ever been that she never actually wears again) and got rid of ton of stuff. Granted a lot of it was stuff from college (and there was even some high school stuff floating around), but it was still depressing. It was also depressing because I was also getting rid of my "office" clothes. When I graduated the first time I bought a bunch of nice business casual stuff because I had the mental image of me wearing cute outfits and heels every day to work. And let me tell you - I never did that. My style is strictly a jeans and trendy t-shirt with some Converse Chucks, and since most of industry also wears that, it's perfectly acceptable work attire. So much to the point that when I used to decide to dress up, all the guys in the office would ask me why I was so dressed up. And now it's even worse since I work and school from home. So I decided that I was going to let go of the fantasy that I would ever need really nice work clothes, kept a few of my favorites for the odd occasions, and got rid of the rest. My other thought behind this is even if I do end up a with a job that requires that kind of dress, I can always get new stuff. But carting it around right now seems silly.

The second thing that happened was Jeff had to force me to sort books. I started looking through them and suddenly realized that I could not live without them and Jeff was being crazy to think I could. He promptly turned me back to the book shelves and told me to try again. So I was a little more brutal (still probably not to Jeff's level of brutal, but it was step) and ended up with a large stack of giveaway books. I still have piles and piles of books though that will get boxed up and kept. Notice my total ruthlessness with the clothes and complete unwillingness to get rid of books.

So the process has started and our apartment looks like a mess but I'm figuring that's how it's going to look until we leave so I better get used to it. It's weird because when we were still in May, August seemed so far away, and now that it's June it's suddenly very close.

2014 Dance Recital

So this year I was in 4 numbers in the recital and they happened within 15 numbers...so I was pretty much exhausted at the end because I'm not used to dance that hard or that much. But Stacie gave me some great advice about show day. She said to stay positive! Even if you're dying back stage, stay positive. So that's what I did. And it worked actually really well. I didn't realize how tired I was until we got back to the car.

Dance #1:
Curbside Prophet
Choreography: Kathleen
Intermediate Tap

I loved this dance because it was fun and laid back and we could all just be ourselves on stage

Dance #2
Solid Ground
Choreography: Stacie
Modern

This was the most challenging of the night because it's a full three minutes and it's intense not only physically but emotionally as well. The piece is about going through a struggle and fighting through it with the support of others.

Dance #3
Boogie Back to Texas
Choreography: Kathleen
Ladies Line - competitions

This is our competition piece this year. We all really liked it because we did a lot of quick tapping.

Dance #4
Rumor Has It
Choreography: Stacie
Partnering

This piece was a lot of fun because we, as adults, were able to play up the love triangle aspect of the song. We also landed all the lifts, so that was awesome.

All in all recital was a complete success and a ton of fun. It is bittersweet though because it is the last time I will most likely dance in Spokane. One if the things I'm sad about is not continuing to dance with the kids. It's a weird feeling. I got to see them go from pre-teens to full on teenagers, and I feel like I'm going to miss out on them growing up even more. But I'll miss the Ladies the most. They have truly made me one of their own and I'm going to miss their advice, antics, and of course the wine. I have had a great support system from them as I moved into married life and have really turned to them as great examples of how to make a marriage last.

This recital has been a major "ok we're officially moving" hurdle for me and as sad as I am to be moving on, I can't wait to start taking dance classes in bigger cities. London dance classes are all drop-in style, where you can go and pay $5 and take a class with no obligation to return. This means I'll be able to move around from studio to studio learning everyone's different styles and techniques.