One Year Anniversary

Now I've been playing with the idea that some of our trip to Europe will be recorded vlog style rather than all just pictures and writing. So this weekend I tested the idea out. And I realize that this is very rough and I say "um" and "amazing" in a high pitched voice a lot (Jeff was making fun of me a lot for that). But I think it turned out ok and I'll get better at it.

Europe Here We Come!

Grand adventures are happening!! Jeff and I came up with the crazy idea of moving to Europe for a year about six months ago. We have nothing holding us back. We have no kids, telecommute for work and school, so why are we doing it in Spokane? Let's go see the world!

Preparation Process

Passports
So a few months ago we started to passport process. Question: why do they, for a photo you're going to have for ten years on a pretty important document, make you go to Costco or Walgreens or whatever other bad lighting place to take the photo? No one looks good.

Passport: check

Visas
Next step - visas. We decided that sticking with the English speaking countries as our home base would be the easiest. So our plan is UK for six months, Ireland for six months. Both of those places don't require us to have visas beforehand since we are from the US, however we plan on getting them anyway because it will make the weekend trips to the continent much easier and it'll allow us to easily extend the standard 3 month visa into 6 months. But we can't get that until three months before the trip. But I doubt it'll be a problem

Visas: pending

Boss cool with it
Anyway, the last piece of the puzzle was confirming with our boss that it was ok. So we met with our boss yesterday and he was totally cool with it as long as we make ourselves available for the team at the proper times. And that's not a problem at all since Jeff and I dont usually start working until noon anyway, which will put us in line with US 8-5 time.

Boss cool with it: check

Plane tickets
So I wouldn't let Jeff buy the plane tickets until we confirmed with the boss, so pretty much the instant we got off the phone with our boss, Jeff bought the plane tickets. He had already scoped out the day and the times for the right price so all he had to do was click the button.

Plane tickets: check

Remembering things
I've decided that this blog is going to become our memories from our year away. I have these grand plans that I'm going to post every other day about random things we learn about a culture that isn't ours (for instance, how to live with a tiny fridge?), but it'll probably end up being like twice a week.

Remembering things: check (with a dose of reality)

So this trip is officially happening! Jeff and I are super excited, however August is eons away and we have a million social and prep things to do before then so we got time...until we realize that August is only like three months away and we have a million things to do before then!!

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