Fancy!

It's official---downtown, I mean "historic downtown Longview" has new fancy signs. The signs are nice, but really? As one reader commented on The Daily News website, "Great, now people know the places to avoid." My thoughts exactly! There's nothing downtown except for trashy clubs (Club Wet? Really?), pawn shops and thrift stores. Oh, and a new restaurant: Ganash Indian Restaurant. We tried it last Friday. Three words: won't go back. Although I loved the naan, the atmosphere made everything taste not-so-good. It was like going back in time, springs visible in the booth bench seats (is that what they're called?) and all. That's besides the point though...

I love the picture they used for the article. Not to judge, but the dude on the bike is exactly the type of people that hang out downtown! Ok, enough Longview bashing. I really don't mind Longview that much, I just think it's funny to see what types of things the city is spending money on. If only these new fancy signs would attract some new (cool) stores and fun restaurants...

Oh, and P.S. Happy REALLY last day of March. Thought that was yesterday, whoops...

I wish...

...I could have slept like this last night:

Sophie on our way back from Puyallup

Instead I was awake from 1 until Joe's alarm started going off at 5am. It was horrible! Nothing I did, including reading, could put me to sleep. Not fun. I finally fell asleep at 5 something and definitely wasn't ready to get up when my alarm started going off. Another morning without working out. And a really long, boring day ahead of me....

This past weekend was great! Saturday we went to Puyallup to visit Baby E. She's two weeks old----so tiny! Sophie didn't like Kim holding her very much, she started crying actually. Proves to me that there needs to be a good 3+ years between kids. She's still a baby herself!

Countdown to Amsterdam is on! 15 days. So excited!

Happy last day of March!

TGIF

Speaking of which, whatever happened to TGIF? You know, all the good TV shows that used to be on ABC from 8-10pm? I remember the 4 of us (mom, dad, kim, me) would always go out for dinner on Friday nights---usually with another family---and then we'd rush home to get ready for TGIF. Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World....I loved all of them. Seems like there isn't any good family-friendly shows on TV anymore. I know I wouldn't have been interested in Dateline when I was that age! Hmmmmm....

It's Friday! Joe and I went to Hillsboro last night to look at a Subaru. Our new plan: buy a really cheap one, pay cash for it and drive it till it dies. Probably like a 2000-2002. When I hear 2000, 2002 it doesn't seem that old. I guess it is, but I don't care. My number one goal is no car payments! I want to be freed of that and we both know that an older Subaru will be fine for what we want to accomplish. Plus, no car payment=more money for vacations. More important to me. :) We didn't end up buying the one we drove last night. We both agreed that part of it is because we aren't ready for the hunt to be over yet. We're both addicted to searching for the perfect used car. Even me! Joe has really rubbed off on me. We found a few more we're going to look at on Sunday. Pretty exciting! If we buy one before our lease is up in October we're going to do a big road trip. It will feel SO good to drive as far as we want without watching the odometer. I will NEVER lease again!

Going to Puyallup tomorrow to see Baby E! So excited for a little adventure with my mom, sister and Sophie. Will get to see my in-laws probably too. They have our Girl Scout Cookies! We ordered them from Joe's cousin in Cle Elum and they finally made it across the state.

Have a great weekend!

I admit...

I'm addicted to a TV show! I NEVER let this happen. Not by choice, but just because I either can't stay up late enough for all of the good shows, can't sit still long enough to pay attention or just forget to watch them. When the show Parenthood was advertised during the Olympics I kept telling Joe I was going to make it a goal to watch it, I was intrigued by the previews for it. Sure enough, I'm hooked. Granted I can't stay up to watch it on Tuesdays---it's on at 10---but I always watch it Wednesday after work. I look forward to Wednesday because of this reason. It makes me laugh, it makes me tear up---I just love it! Be sure to watch it so the ratings stay high and it lasts more than one season, it's my one and only show. :)

Sassy, classy.....and still kickin' assy!

That's from the birthday card we gave to my grandma. Love it! We celebrated her 79th birthday at the Rhinelander on Saturday. Fondue, lentil soup, chicken schnitzel. YUM. There were 14 of us there, grandma loved it. I would post pictures but the thought of it sounds exhausting because they're on the camera, not my iPhone. Pathetic!

Yesterday Joe and I went and tried out Splitz in Kelso. We played putt-putt, air hockey and a game of skee-ball. He won all three. That was the FIRST time he's ever beat me at air hockey and I'm still bummed about it!

Thanks to Joanna, I had an obsession with finding and watching The Business of Being Born. Of course it was no where in town so Joe and I signed up for Netflix. I'm so excited, it will be in our mailbox waiting for me when I get off work tomorrow!

Other than that, nothing else exciting going on. As always, looking forward to the weekend and it's only Monday. At least the weeks go fast!

Spell-ebration!

Last night 5 of us girls went to the 2nd Annual Spell-ebration at the Kelso Theatre Pub. I had a blast! Good girl time, delicious pizza and some pretty good people watching. :) I even got to ride in my old Jeep! Can't wait for next years, hopefully Abe will last a little longer!

We had a St. Patrick's Day luncheon at work yesterday and I made homemade potato soup. I must say it was quite the hit. I've never made potato soup so I experimented and combined about three different recipes. I'll post my final creation soon. I'll definitely be making it again!

It's Thursday! As always, so excited for the weekend. Especially since it's supposed to be in the 70s!

Sophie got her first haircut yesterday at Sit Still Salon. It was the coolest little kids salon I've ever seen! Flat screen TVs at every station with cartoons, cool cars to sit in----she didn't even realize that someone had scissors and was cutting her hair! She didn't end up getting much of a haircut though---it looks the same. The stylist asked mentioned the words "baby mullet" and it scared Kim to do much. Don't blame her!

Breakfast at Mother's was amazing. Definitely a must-try when in Portland. And don't let the long line out the door scare you--it's so worth the wait!

TGIF

Friday is here! And all I want to do is go curl up in bed. I blame the weather. I don't think it has stopped raining since Wednesday. What happened to the nice weather we were having? It's amazing how energized sun can make you feel. When I was driving to work yesterday I was thinking about how much I dislike this time of the year. We usually always get a tease of really nice weather and then it's usually rainy and dreary until, well, July. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen this year!

Joe will be off work at 7:45 this morning and then he has a doctor appointment at 11:15. He hasn't been to the doctor since high school. Not even for a check-up! I'm sure that's the case with most people, but my theory is, if you're paying for health insurance you might as well go make sure you're healthy once a year. Tonight he's heading up to Tacoma so he can go skiing with his cousin tomorrow at Crystal. YAY! Oh whooops, did I just say that?! I'm just excited because my brother-in-law is going to be out of town too. Girl day tomorrow! I always feel guilty leaving him to do stuff if he doesn't have plans. Even though he doesn't care, I still feel bad. So on the agenda tomorrow is breakfast at Mother's at 10 and Sophie is getting her first haircut at 12. I'm so excited to watch! It seems like once the first haircut happens they go from being babies to little girls/boys though. She's growing up too fast!

Well, gotta scarf down my oatmeal and get going. Here's to hoping the day goes fast and the sun decides to shine all weekend!

Girl Scouts saved my day

I had been having major cravings for Girl Scout cookies on Tuesday and lucky me, two Girl Scouts stopped by work and were selling cookies later that afternoon! I was SO excited to see them! We ordered cookies from Joe's cousin in Cle Elum but I don't know when we'll ever end up getting them so I had to give in and buy two boxes. My favorite, lemon chalet cremes, and Joe's favorite, thin mints. I must say, I'm a little disappointed. Is it just me or have they gone down hill a little bit? I remember them being so much better when I was a Girl Scout and sold them! And the price! Goodness. $4 a box! I wish I could remember how much they were when I sold them. Oh well, it's for a good cause and I remember how much I loved selling them and I could tell these girls were loving it too. One guy said he was on a diet and the little girl said, "That's ok, you can just make a donation!" So cute.

It's THURSDAY! This week has gone so fast! But so slow at the same time. Can't wait for the weekend!

The best ice cream

Yesterday I made Cherry Cordial ice cream. I think it's my all-time favorite. It is so good! Or maybe it's just extra good because it's homemade. I also made a chocolate cherry cake to go with it. Perfect combo! Luckily it was my Uncle Roger's birthday so I invited them all out to help us eat it. :)

Saturday Joe and I watched Sophie for a couple of hours at our house. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast with her. We were outside pretty much the entire time. We went for walks, watched the kids next door play----she was a little angel.

Yesterday we worked around the house and ended up taking 400 pounds of stuff to Waste Control. We had a ton of recyclables but most of it was yard waste. Felt good to get rid of all of that---and it only cost $4.00. I found it really sad to see some of the stuff people were throwing away though. Swing sets, couches---I'm sure someone could use that stuff and yet it was just getting chucked onto the conveyor belt never to be seen again.

Have a great Monday!

Oh Friday, how I've missed you!

My favorite day of the week is here again. Yay! And what makes it even better is the fact it's supposed to be 61 and sunny! We've definitely been spoiled this spring. I mean winter...

My appointment went great yesterday! My blood work was perfect and the doctor said the chance of a lymphoma coming back after two years is highly unlikely. As always, I left the doctors office feeling incredibly lucky. I still feel nauseous every time I look back and see people sitting around getting injected with chemo. SO glad that tiny part of my life is over. Forever.

Dad is out of town so Joe and I took my mom out for dinner. Joe has been craving Ichi 12 Teriyaki so that's where we went. It was delicious as always. And then we topped it off with a stop by Dairy Queen. Mud Pie blizzard. Mmmmmm. That's the first one I've had in years and now I know why. They're dangerously good!

Joe also got our new entryway bench assembled! I'm so excited about this, it makes our entryway look a lot more complete and now I can really implement my NO SHOE rule in the house. So much grit gets tracked in, I hate it. And I really hate 20 pairs of shoes laying by the front door. The bench seat lifts up so that's where all of our shoes will now be housed. Love it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Two years ago today....

I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's B-Cell Lymphoma. I remember the day clearly. We all (mom, dad, Kim, George, Joe) loaded up in the Sequoia and headed up to see Dr. 'Chappie' Conrad at the University of Washington. We weren't quite sure what to expect. I was still in a tremendous amount of pain and unable to walk. All of us piled into the tiny exam room and waited for him to come in. I don't really remember how he said it but I don't think he came out and said I had cancer. I think he just said "non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." Never have heard of that before I didn't know what it really meant. But then he said we needed to meet with the oncologist and I would have to have chemo and radiation. So then I knew....I had cancer. I think when you're told something like this your body takes over and puts up a good defense. I didn't cry, I didn't feel anything. Totally numb. To this day, I still don't think it's really set in that I had cancer and am now a cancer survivor. It seems so surreal. I am SO thankful that I had such a good outcome. To me it was just like a fluke thing that happened. Like getting sick, it was just something I had to fight off and recover from. I think Dr. Nichols helped me be so positive about it. He has always said that the chances of it ever coming back are slim. Thank God!

When I was told I had cancer I didn't think I was going to die. The first thought that ran through my head was, "I'm not going to be able to have kids!" I've always wanted to be a mom and I couldn't imagine not being able to have children because of stupid cancer. Thankfully I found out about Fertile Hope. Because of Fertile Hope I was able to freeze eggs. It was the best insurance policy ever. I started treatment knowing that I had those in case I wasn't able to have kids.

Chances are you'll end up knowing someone in their child-bearing age that is diagnosed with cancer. If you do, please tell them about Fertile Hope. A lot of times doctors get rushed to start treating cancer without thinking about what could possibly happen to the persons fertility.

Two year check-up tomorrow!

I was shocked to hear on TV last night that President Obama smokes. This was news to me, I would've never guessed. I couldn't imagine him with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth so I had to Google image search it this morning. Looks so weird!

This past weekend was uneventful but very relaxing. We were glued to the news most of the day Saturday waiting for the Tsunami to hit Maui. Kim, George and Sophie were all there so it was very nerve wracking. Thankfully nothing came of it but it caused their flight to get cancelled. We surprised them at the airport on Sunday afternoon. It was so good to see them! Pretty sure Sophie didn't forget about us while she was gone. She's getting so big! I'm sure she'll be walking any day now.

Alright, time to go make Joe's breakfast. That's right, I make his breakfast. Only because I enjoy doing it. And it makes him say things like, "You're so wonderful..." Maybe he just says that because he knows it will get him breakfast?!