Alaska!

We got back from our Alaskan cruise on Sunday morning and I think I need an after-vacation-vacation!! It was exhausting having to go back to work the Monday after getting back, especially when I have a whole closet full of laundry that I still need to get to! :/

As for our cruise...it was beautiful and very relaxing! We had very good weather except for one rain-soaked day in Juneau, so that was a big blessing. And when I say "good" weather, I really mean 52 degrees and at least semi-sunny as that is very nice weather for this time of year up there!

Our boat, the Holland America Noordam was very nice...definitely not one of the party ships, but very nice in a more traditional, classy sense. David had a good time laughing at all the tacky orange decor though...and I told him "if you think this is bad, you need to take a look at some of the ships that are 10 years older"...because our boat is only about 1 year old and isn't even 1/10 as garish as some ships I've seen pictures of, lol. I've come to the conclusion that being on a cruise ship is kind of like being on a mini-floating Las Vegas....you have the shows, the buffets, the fruity cocktails, and the crazy decor! We were definitely one of the youngest couples on board though, which was fine as we're totally not crazy part animals by any stretch of the imagination!

We spent our days walking around the ship, getting coffee drinks in the Explorations cafe and reading books from their library (they had a great travel section), taking naps, sitting in the lounge chairs on the Promenade deck watching the magnificent scenery go by, eating good food (gotta love that you can get ice cream cones about 12 hours out of the day!), seeing all sorts of cool wildlife, going on one lame excursion and one awesome excursion, watching movies and shows, drinking yummy mojitos, and mainly just relaxing!

I will admit though, as much as I enjoyed our trip...on our way back to Seattle when we hit some bigger waves I was kind of a bundle of nerves! I think I've seen Poseidon too many times and anyone who says you can't feel the waves in a boat that big is dead wrong! You can feel them even when they are only a few feet high, much less when you're in 8 foot waves! If I ever cruise again I want it to be somewhere nice and calm like the Caribbean!

Anyway, here are pictures of some of the highlights from our trip...

Adios Seattle!


First night at sea.


Our room, which was very nice and actually a pretty good size!


Cruising into Glacier Bay National Park.


The Margerie glacier in Glaciery Bay...it looks tiny, but it is actually about 250+ feet high, much bigger than our boat!



Cruising out of Glacier Bay.



Rainy Juneau.


Mendenhall Glacier...part of our excursion in Juneau (pretty, but the other half of the excursion was a salmon bake with yummy food, but a horrible location next to a wharehouse and smack in the middle of a very industrialized area...we left this excursion feeling rather ripped off!)




Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill...this was the ships fancy restaurant that you have to pay a surcharge for...but oh my goodness, it was one of the best meals I've had in my life. I had hors deurves (mom, you'd be proud, I actually ate a mushroom tart and it was good ;), clam chowder, filet mignon, scalloped potatoes, fresh baked bread and butter, after dinner chocolates, and chocolate volcano cake with fresh whip cream. Along with a guava mojito. It was fabulous! Thank goodness we didn't eat there every night though or I would have gained like 10 lbs.!


The cute little town of Sitka.


Our awesome Sea Otter & Wildlife Quest excursion in Sitka. The weather was beautiful (a day like this happens about 10 days a year all the locals said) and we had very few people on our trip so we had lots of room to roam around the boat and got to go out into the open ocean to a place called Jacob's Rock where we saw tons of Stellar Sea Lions (which are huge, like 1,200 lbs., not the small ones you'd see in CA). We also saw about 4 humpback whales even though it was early in the season for them to be there, as well as sea otters and bald eagles.





A picture of our cruise ship taken from inside our excursion boat.


Ketchikan...a town that gets about 200 inches of rain a year, but was magically sunny on the day we were there. :)


The view from our stateroom window as we left Ketchikan.


David and I on the 2nd formal night of the week.


And lastly...Theo after we brought him home from grandma and grandpas! He was tuckered out from all the adventures and mischief he had while on his vacation! :)

Bon Voyage!

Tomorrow we are leaving on our cruise to Alaska! David and I are very excited for it...and quite frankly, just glad to get a much needed break from our jobs!

We still haven't even started packing, but I already know I'm probably going to pack way to much. But really, how can one not pack a lot when they're going to Alaska? I mean, we need fair weather clothes, cold weather clothes, semi nice clothes, dressy clothes, etc. I feel like I'm going to have to pack my whole stinkin' closet! But this cruise thing has given me an excuse to shop for some new clothes, which is kinda fun. David bought his first suit for the cruise as well...he's like an actual grown-up now, lol. But my favorite thing is that I got to get new shoes! I looove shoes, it's genetic, so it's really not my fault! ;)

These are my newest shoe purchases. Cute, but still practical for walking around a big rocking boat!



*On a side note, we had to drop Theo off at his grandma and grandpa's today (David's parents) and it was heartbreaking! I know they will take good care of him, but the minute we drove off I just felt sad, like someone was missing from our family. I got a little teary, but David told me I couldn't cry because if I did, then he might cry too. He said he was surprised at how hard it was to leave Theo. Clearly, we've become just a little attached! :)

Sunday picnic

David and I had a nice day yesterday! We packed up a picnic lunch and headed to a nice, deserted park with a huge lawn so that Theo could run around. He hasn't been off of his leash much, since we live in an apt. and don't have a fenced backyard or anything. But this lawn was so large that we figured David could outrun him before Theo could get anywhere unsafe.

And oh boy did Theo have fun!! David would run up ahead and then Theo would give chase as fast as he could...his hair flying back, ears flopping in the wind, and the cutest little puppy smile on his face! Then he would crash into David and promptly plop to the ground in exhaustion. About 20 seconds later this would start all over again! It was seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen, I just could not stop laughing at him. Makes up for all the times he tries to chew on my shoes, headband, blanket, etc. Here are a couple pictures to illustrate. :)




The only bad part of the picnic was when we went to eat our sandwiches and saw the bread was moldy...granted it was just a small amount, but we had only bought it 3 days beforehand! Isn't that annoying when it happens!?

We've created a monster!

This little guy sure looks innocent doesn't he? Well, let me tell you...it's an illusion!!

Theo is sooo much work and has so many little doggy neurosis it's amazing! He has serious separation anxiety (and he's only alone maybe 4 hours each day) and yelps whenever we leave. He also yelps in the most annoying, highest pitched, bark I've ever heard if we say, dare come inside and put away groceries before getting him out of his crate. Seriously, yesterday I thought I was going to lose my mind it was so loud!

He is also fairly terrified of all other humans and dogs. He will let others pet him if they come to him, but he sure as heck won't go to anybody. In fact, yesterday when David took him outside to go potty, Theo saw a little old lady in a wheelchair and promptly proceeded to hide behind David and would not budge! He's such a stinkin' pansy! Hopefully, we will start puppy classes soon and he will get less neurotic.

He also hates baths, the hair dryer, curbs, stairs, dog treats, human food (whaaaaat?) and pooing outside! This morning I took him out twice within a 1-hour time period to go to the bathroom and how many times did he poo outside - 0...how many times did he poo inside within that same 1 hour time period - 4...that's right 4! Including one pile right on top of David's shorts! Seriously, if I ever mention getting another puppy anytime soon, somebody slap me!

Phew, I'll stop with my whining rant now and add that he is very cute and bounces around like a little bunny rabbit, which is pretty darn adorable! He also loves his dad (David;) more than anything in the world and it just warms my heart to see them together!

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

I've always loved Jane Austen books and movies, and I also love quizzes, so it's only natural that I would take this quiz to find out which Jane Austen heroine I am!

Take the Quiz here!

You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a little to vocal in your honesty. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately.

*Most of that is true...with the serious exception of "your singing voice is captivating"...that could not be further from the truth, lol! Maybe Theo finds it captivating though, because he always looks at me strangely, like "what the heck is that?" Oh, and neither do I play the pianoforte beautifully, or at all in fact! The first description sentence ("You are implusive...") is definitely true though, fits me to a "T" in fact! ;)

Meet Theo!

The newest member of our family is.....Theodore "Theo", our little 14 week old Havanese puppy!

He was so good on his first night here. He didn't make a peep, seriously not a single peep, the entire time when we picked him up and took him with us....until we put him in his crate for the first time. Then he was not pleased and let us know in a very high pitched cry! Everything I've read said that you cannot take them out when they bark or cry when they're in the crate or they will think that that is what they need to do in order to get out and will continue the behavior. But it was soo hard and he looked so pitiful! It also made me scared about what he was going to do when we put him in his crate at night to sleep and when he is alone in it for the 3 hours a day that he will be by himself until one of us gets home. Well, he was very, very good last night. He gave a couple little whines and then seemed to accept that he needed to stay in his little den (though his crate was right next to our bed for comfort). How he does during the day remains to be seen! I just hope we don't become the hated neighbors!

Theo and his dad :)

First family photo!

Theo with his favorite toy...a pink hedgehog!

Tulip Time!

It's almost that time of year when the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival rolls around! I was going through my pictures looking for some stuff to digiscrap and I came across our Tulip Festival pictures from 2 years ago. Aren't the flowers just gorgeous? And we can actually walk to them from David's parent's house, which is extra nice! I've only ever seen the flowers that once, so I definitely think I'm going to have to drag the boy up to see them this year!

yet another layout

Credits: Template - Jennifer Woodbury; Paper and Elements - Rhonna Farrer/Two Peas

David and I babysat our adorable niece Angelina yesterday for a few hours and she was soo good! Agreeable and happy and such a little ham! So I decided to take a couple of cute pics of her while she was in such a good mood! Then I scrapped one of the pics along with a small list of some of her favorite sayings. I can only imagine how picture and digiscrap happy I'll get when we have our own kids!

Oh, and yes, I do realize how completely and ridiculously pink my blog is getting! Hopefully I'll figure out something to do with it soon!

I'm ending with a couple more pics of Ang...just because her cheesy grin makes me smile! :)

My most recent digi scrapbook page...

This is only the second full page I've ever finished, lol. I've played around a lot trying to make digi pages but I am still very much a newbie! It's hard for me because I get all perfectionistic about it and very frustrated when I don't understand everything (which is quite often:). I actually made this one off of a template though which was pretty cool. Much easier than if I had to do it myself because all I had to do was copy and paste layers and decided what colors/papers I wanted in it.

Credits:
Template - Gina Miller Designs; Papers - Daniela Peuss/ScrapArtist

Wiiiiiiiii Madness!

What is it about men and video games? Seriously! It almost seems like a requirement that they are obsessed with them. Almost all of the guys I know are into them at least a little bit...so for you wives that have husbands that aren't...count yourself very lucky! David is going to be in for a rude awakening when we have kids and they become old enough to know what is going on, as I don't want them having too much "screen time" and that means their dad is going to have to set a good example! David definitely knows how I feel about this already and he kinds groans and says "I knoooow" whenever I mention it, but I'm not sure he realizes just how strict I'm going to be about it.

Now for my video game confession. While I could be very happy my entire life without ever playing a single round of WOW or game of Halo...I kinda want a Nintendo Wii. David has wanted one for a while now and he has been working really hard lately, so I decided to play the "I'm such a super-nice wife card" and told him if he can find one (as they are still sold-out many places) he can get it as an early birthday present. At first he was like "well, we should make sure we spend our money carefully." Yeah, that attitude lasted all of 4 days, and by the next weekend he was calling store after store to find someone who had a Wii instock. He even got up early on Sunday morning to go wait for an hour at a store that he had called and who told him they would have them instock only to have the store open and him rush in along with a bunch of other people and find out the person on the phone was a big nincompoop and didn't know what they were talking about. He was disappointed and surprisingly, so was I. I had been looking forward to my afternoon of virtual bowling!

So, if anyone sees David, don't tell him that I actually really do want him to get a Wii, it'll just give him way too much teasing potential! ;)

How does anyone afford a house AND children?

This is something I have been stressing about so much lately! David and I really want to have a house of our own and also have kids in the not-too-distant future. But houses in the area we live in are minimum $400,000 and they're appreciating at like 10% a year, which is insane! Where is this supposed housing bubble...because it's definitely not where we live! We can't afford that even on both our salaries...much less just David's salary.

Which brings me to another point. Growing up I never thought I would want to be a stay at home mom...I mean, I wanted kids, I just did not want to be around them all day long! But as I've gotten older it's all I think about. I know it's an incredibly hard job (and that's definitely what it is...a JOB...granted, a very rewarding one), but I also know that I don't want to work all day, commute back home and then only have a couple of hours with my children before I send them off to bed each weeknight. I don't want to miss out on their childhoods like that. But living off of just David's salary (which in my opinion is quite decent for a 25 yo) in this area is just unfathomable! Seriously, how do people do it? Even if I did work, full-time childcare around here is at the very least $10,000 per year, per child...so if you have 2 kids in daycare that winds up being $20,000+ a year! Not too mention the extra gas to get to and from a job. My piddly little social worker salary would barely cover that after taxes are taken away, so it really seems like there wouldn't even be a point to me working unless I found something too good to refuse. So, it would be hard to have a house and just one or two kids, much less the three or four that I actually want!

Even if we move (which is almost a certainty since we do actually want to own a home someday) and have a lower mortgage than if we bought around here, it still seems like it would be practically impossible to be a SAHM and own a home on anything less than 75k per year. It seems like you should be able to live on less, but when I get bored I run budget numbers (yes, I know, I'm a freak) and I've found it's pretty much impossible, expecially when you still have college loans to pay off!

Gee, can you tell I'm a worrier? I pray about this all the time and yet I still can't stop focusing on it!

So, I beg you, somebody please tell me to stop worrying and give me some magical tips on how to have a house and kids on a budget!

anticipating our first cruise!

A few weeks ago David and I booked our first big vacation together...a cruise to Alaska in mid-May! We are very excited...partially because we really need a break from the everyday stuff to just relax and recharge, but also because we're going to be able to explore an amazing part of our country that we've never seen before!

We're going on the Holland America Noordam, which is their newest and supposedly nicest ship. We're stopping in Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria...and we leave from Seattle which is extra nice as we don't have to fly anywhere! For those that don't know me well, I am terrified of flying...I've done it quite a few times and I used to love it but, after a couple of bad experiences, it seriously scares me to death! It's something I'm working on though as I don't want David to miss out on visiting places just because I won't fly there. But for now it's kinda nice that for our first big vacation together we can just not deal with that stress!

Anyway, that's our most exciting(to us) news for now! I am going to try and update more often as it's good to see one's thoughts written down and it's something I've been slacking on lately. :)