AKA Liz.... snuck from the nuthouse earlier this evening....

I know. There was this strange woman who overtook my body and told everyone that there would be pictures uploaded soon. You heard from her, did you? She was coming around here, just causing all sorts of trouble for the neighborhood. Yeah... they took her away to the crazy place with bars. And pills.

Honestly, I'd rather be at some mental institution. At least I wouldn't have all the stress that I have now. After Thursday, I will not be going anywhere other than work and yoga and shopping for food. I have absolutely no time left in order to write my paper, but I'm gonna try.

Add to that the stress of being Jen's best friend right now. Lordy lordy! That girl is reliving her high school days when all she did was swear up and down that she wasn't doing anything wrong, while the men in her life grew to hate and resent her because she was so damn sneaky and deceptive. This whole weekend I was in Portland rolling my eyes at her antics and her excuses for them. Luckily, Devin was there to keep me sane and well masseused. Thank you Dev Dev!

As per my previous post, I do promise some sort of picture motif. My camera's full now anyway, so I have to sooner or later.

Nine Days Later

You mean I've had a life and haven't posted anything on my blog?!

Quelle strange!

Or rather - Go Liz go!

I'm about to upload some photos of Victoria, which was extremely hot! Not kidding. At least 96 degrees on the cool side. And humid as all get out! But gorgeous and it was actually really great to spend time with my father. The ferry ride over, we saw some whales. Just their top fins, but it was tres cool and very inspiring. Whales are cool like that. Even if you're not interested in them as animals, you can't help but look at them. Not in a train wreck kind of way. More like that moment when you glance at someone and they actually look back at you to grin or nod their head in greeting.

Yeah, those moments are cool. And so are whales. I'm going on about it b/c I don't have a photo. Figures.

But we went out to eat once we got to Victoria. I drove! Everywhere! Dad said: Well, how old are you now? Old enough to drive in a foreign country? Yeah right, foreign. OK Dad, sure, whatever. And we had dinner and walked and people watched on Government St. on the Inner Harbor (which is spelled Harbour over there - darn those foreign Canadians). Very pretty downtown area. And then we went back to our hotel room, which did not have AC. Suck.

But I got a really good last minute deal - $90 and I booked it the day before checking in and it was a Saturday night. And it was pretty much downtown, where every other hotel is like at least 150. I'm so good.

Anyway, we went to the BC History Museum, which has an exhibit on the First Peoples of British Columbia and Vancouver Island in particular. Super cool totem poles, masks, artwork, clothing, canoes, baskets, tools, jewlery, and photos taken from the turn of the century. They divide it up into Pre-Westerners and Post-Westerners essentially. So, it makes an impact on how Europeans coming to BC truly effected these people and how selfish the government was in regards to land.

And they have an IMAX film to go along. Which was nice for Dad, to take a breather and sit down. And then we went shopping. Crazy amounts of money were spent. Dad went to this market by the water off in an alley - walking only. And got Mom and I camping soap, which smells a little like coconuts, but really like a super strong soap. Like take your everyday Dove soap bar and ratch it up ten notches. :) But it was a nice gesture.

I bought some LUSH facial moisturizer for myself. So yummy-smelling. Amulets for everyone at the office. So, they're little touchstones which give you "power" depending on what syumbol is carved on the front of the stone. A T-shirt and canvas bag for Mom and a T-shirt for myself. It's very subtle - bright red with a huge maple leaf on the front and block letters spelling CANADA on the back.

But tax there was like 13%!!!! Ouch!

But it was money well spent. And on the way back to the ferry, we stopped at Butchart Gardens, which is a beautiful place. And it was at peak hotness while we were there on Sunday, but worth it to walk through the Rose Garden. The heat just makes the fragrance even more intense. And in July, come on, roses are blooming and at their peak as well. It was absolutely beautiful. They also have a Japanese Garden and a Bog, where everything is peet moss and long grasses and I took a picture of some deer sculptures made from the moss. Cute. And just lots of other stuff, but we were both sweating like crazy, so we left with plenty of time to make the ferry and go through customs.

And while we were waiting, they always have a little shop for food and souvenirs, etc. Well, they had a shelf with used books at half price. I bought two. Ten bucks very well spent. One is Mary Higgins Clark "Daddy's Little Girl" which is similar to the Martha Moxley case that involved a Kennedy relative who killed her. Interesting. And the other is Barbara Michaels "Stitches in Time", which I've started first. Excellent read. I'm nearly done and I only bought it on Sunday. It's about as close to knitting/sewing/whatever as I'll ever get.

So just wait for the pictures, which I'll post tomorrow maybe. I'm starting to get tired. I can't wake up in the mornings anymore. Makes me worry that I'm getting depressed or sick or something else.

Thomas (the tank engine)

My dad arrived today. He's in town until next Thursday. So, that's cool. I'll have a killer post to put up after this weekend. We're going up to Victoria on the ferry from Anacortes, so I'll have great pictures - evn if it's raining. But I don't think it will be.

But we went out to dinner tonight and I realized how much I miss him. I roll my eyes sometimes when he insists on calling everyday to see how I am. But I knew this was because of his recent hospital stay and his inability to do anything but hang out. And now that he's been to the LA convention and he's up here to do some business, he feels better. We're alike that way. I cannot sit around and do nothing. My mind is always going and it sucks to be unable to do the things you want to do. Or are thinking about doing.

So, tonight we had fantastic pasta at Mamma Melina's in the U-district. It's a small little place on Roosevelt Ave NE, underneath the Green Gables Theater, which is a super cool cinema - now showing "Who killed the electric car?" or something similarly titled. I could barely finish my Penne Siciliano, which was penne in tomato sauce with eggplants and melted mozzarella cheese. Crazy good.

And tomorrow night, we'll be going out with Kim, Vic and Kim's mother. Kim could be called notoriously talkative and lively, so I think it'll be a great evening. Especially if her mother is the same. It'll be good for Dad to meet some of the people I've met up here.

He had a great Dad moment when he saw the house I'm living in. It's not that it's in a bad neighborhood, but it's right off the freeway in the middle of university aged students, so it's not the prettiest looking community. But it is safe and the people are great. But he said, as we were walking to dinner, "You haven't had any problems with robbery?" "No, dad. No problems with robbery." "OK, good. I mean, there are six of you in the house. Safety in numbers." Honestly, it was the cutest thing my dad could have ever said to me at that point.

More to come....

A picture of me with my cute, new haircut.

Dish about more dad time and yummy dinners.

Pictures of Victoria.

And then there were....

Yes, as I promised: Pictures of Seattle.

This is the Space Needle! I took this pic while waiting for the bus. Yeah, I'm still being lazy. Sorry. Sue me. Except don't because I have no money to pay lawyers.










And this is a view of Mount Rainier from the driveway. As you can see, it was a very clear day. Hasn't looked like this since I took this picture, which was last week.

Lately, it's been overcast and it even rained today! I think I need to sue the weather gods because I have an inkling that somebody's paying off the rainmaker.....





And I did have a picture of a cute little frog sculpture from my cousin's garden, but I accidentally deleted it.

IN OTHER NEWS....

I took my first yoga class tonight. Amazing and I'm completely hooked. That's kinda all I have to say. Oh and I have a purple mat.

We've been making placements like crazy and work is good once again. :)

"..Dingelback Thumptyhorn, Slutbung Walla, Engelbert Humperdink, Groterback Fishtybuns.... wait, wait go back one"

We got a goodie bag in the office today. It was full of gumdrops, sweet apples, pears, these incredibly yummy lemon-butter cookie things, and mixed nuts. It was from headquarters. As a cheerleader move. Boost our spirits, etc. It was very well appreciated. And I forgot lunch, so nearly almost gone before the end of the day.

I wish I could get more goodie bags! Like from parents or friends! Didn't we used to do that when we were younger? Wasn't it called mail? I remember putting cute stickers all over the letters I would send my summer camp friends during the school year.

I've re-read that sentence. I'm officially a nerd. :)

Oh yeah.... Money

So, July 4th has come and gone. And I was down in Tenino to hang with the fam.

This is Christian. He is the son of my cousin's boyfriend. He's 14 and all those fireworks are his. He was very proud of them. And his hands and elbows were all black from shooting off bottle rockets. Then, he rolled around on the living room carpet with the dog and made a huge mess. And had to clean it up. HA!












Then there's the family I haven't seen in more than ten years. Yeah, try not seeing your cousin for thirteen years.

That's Brian, my cousin and his wife, Marisol and their sons, William and Alex. They were shooting off bottle rockets and flares from that metal box. Which happened to be the electric. Yeah, we're pretty smart people!







This is Sparky. A girl dog, lab and Aussie terrier mix. She was ok with individual firecrackers or bottle rockets, but once everyone went outside and it was really loud and continuous, she bolted inside. And then she would get anxious because she wasn't where everyone else was. So, then she'd come outside again and get scared again. She's only seven months old.

Cutest thing, but kinda dumb. And she digs up the garden, which pisses Tianne off to no end. Tianne's the cousin.

Anyway, I also shot off some bottle rockets and firecrackers and my hands also got black as night. Fun stuff. Jesse and Christian has this narrow plastic pipe thing, duct taped one end and would shoot bottle rockets out of it like a Bazooka. Kinda fun. Except that sometimes the sparks would fly back to you and burn your skin a bit. Not so fun.

But I overate, like any good American citizen. Hamburgers, pasta salad, green bean casserole, biscuits, hot dogs, soda, chips and salsa, cookies. I was literally contemplating being bulemic for a night just to not be doubled over with aches and pains, I was that full.

But I managed, without the bulemia. And drove home at midnight, got home at one a.m. and didn't want to wake up this morning for work.

I should have stayed home because work was hell on earth. It's complicated, but someone who thinks she's important was confusing all us little people with her "explicit" and "completely clear" emails regarding the new criminal background checks we have to do. Whatever. So, there was that and a host family in Southern California who needed student profiles, but I had to resend the email like three times because they can't open PDF or WORD attachments. Who can't open WORD attachments nowadays? At an AOL address too.... Roll of my eyes. But he was a nice guy and very patient with me. Oh yeah, and a Field Director wants me to do a mass mailing for him. 400 people. Like I haven't got enough of those to do this summer. I just did a 300 person mailing for him last week. I've got a mailing for all volunteers to finish by the end of next week, that's like 1000+ people. I hate paper.

My heart is literally beating super fast just from having that day at work. No coffee. Barely a salad and smoothie for lunch.

Why am I here?