13.1- 4th of July

Hi Friends!

So two weeks ago I ran my first ever half-marathon! I ran the Seattle Rock and Roll half-marathon with my mom and a couple of thousand other people. It was a beautiful sunny June day in Seattle which was pretty lucky since June in Washington is also called Junuary- because it rains... a lot. I'm not going to lie and say the race was a cake walk since it was pretty long and a little hilly. The race went all around Seattle, we started out at the Seattle Center headed through downtown curved around south of the 90 bridge and then back up around. Some parts of the run were super beautiful, like Seward Park- that place is gorgeous. My mom and I stuck together till about the 10th mile and then parted, we both finished and enjoyed some tasty post-run comfort food.

Giant Brooks blow-up man rocking out during the race

Pre-race selfie:

Post-race selfie with our medals:

I liked running a half-marathon, I thought the distance was challenging and it felt really rewarding to finish, I will definitely be running another one in September (more details on that later)

This weekend was also the 4th of July! Since it fell on a Friday I decided to make a super long weekend out of it and take off Thursday and Monday, and head back out to the Midwest. Jake and I flew out to Chicago on Thursday to meet up with my friends from high school and drive up to my family's lake house in Michigan. The drive was cozy and long since everyone leaves the city to go to the beach during the weekend. But Michigan as always was beautiful, the weather was nice and the water was surprisingly not freezing. My friends and I had a wonderful time celebrating America's birthday on the beach with some daiquiris, good magazines and gossip! I even managed to get a little less white :)

After we left, Jake and I spent some quality time in Chicago and enjoyed the beautiful weather, architecture and deep dish pizza.

Le beach:

The whole gang enjoying some dinner:

 Celebrating America's birthday with daiquiris:

Millennium Park:

Goofin around:

On a slightly more serious note, there were 89 shootings in Chicago this past weekend. Chicago is where I grew up and where I'll always consider my home; it really hurts my heart to think that such violence occurs. My hope is that some actions are taken to make the city more peaceful and that this kind of violence ends.

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From Washington to Washington

Hola!

So starting a new job, is surprisingly really hectic. I make about an hour commute there and back every day and by the time I get home I usually just pass out. But so far I really love my job! My client team is pretty much all women (girl power!) its definitely a  first! People are also fairly friendly and I get invited to lunch/coffee occasionally, and tons of Loft9 events! We're a company that likes to always be involved with each other. But now that I've finally gotten a routine down I think I can get the ball rolling on other things.

I've been trying to do yoga at least twice a week, since I sit all day, I think its good to stretch it out after a long day. It also gets things flowing, if you get what I mean ;) My half-marathon is also quickly approaching, its May 11th (Happy Mother's Day). And I'm chugging along with my training, I'm running a 10k next weekend, along with acting as a running buddy for Girls on the Run which is a nonprofit that works with girls in 3rd-8th grade to get them out and exercising and promote empowerment through physical activity. On the philanthropy note, I also recently was accepted into the Seattle Junior League. I'm really excited to meet new people and get involved in all the leadership and philanthropic opportunities they have to offer.

This past weekend I went to the other Washington, I headed down to Washington DC to see my boyfriend and meet his family. It was a great trip! We went to dinner with my cousin who lives in DC, and we explored Georgetown. On Saturday we went around and saw all the monuments and caught a Nationals game with his parents. We had home plate seats and it was great! It was the perfect amount of baseball and being social! I loved being with my boyfriend and meeting his parents. He's back next week and I couldn't be more excited!

Here are some choice photos from this weekend:

 I'm looking forward to spring time and summer! And more fun trips!

Here's a funny video to cheer up your day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBkWhkAZ9ds

Blogger Love!

A day of love

Valentine's day was this past weekend, the magical day of love. People get all worked up over who got who a present and how they're going to make the best of the "big" day. This year since my boyfriend is in a different country I celebrated Galentine's day instead of Valentine's day. Some gals and I got together for a fancy dinner at Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle. Wild Ginger is kind of a nuance Thai restaurant where they go a little fancier then the traditional Thai menu. We started off the night right with some champagne which was my Valentine's day gift from my housemate and then we got some pot stickers for the appetizer. We split everything family style we tasted some: chicken pad thai, seven season beef, green curry and a veggie dish called ram ju. Everything was delicious! Although its a close tie for me if I liked the beef or curry better. For dessert we split some ginger ice cream, blackberry sorbet and chocolate torte. Personally I thought if you put the blackberry sorbet on top of the torte, it'd be the best dessert :)

Here are some photos:

Now those are some fine looking ladies :)

On Saturday I went on a beer tour with two of my guy friends. For those of you who don't know me well, I hate beer in all shapes and forms. They are determined to make me like it and as a result I accompanied them to Fat Boy Brewery and we sampled a lot of beer. I found 2 that I can tolerate, one is a stout, it tastes like black coffee. And Hefenwisen, it tastes sweeter- they called it a girly beer. Our afternoon can be summed up w/ this isnta:

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

On Valentine's day I also got some great news! I got a job offer! I started work today at Loft9. Loft9 is a small consulting firm based in Bellevue, so I'll be working on the East side. I'm really excited to start working there! So far its super hectic and I have a TON to learn but I'm gonna do by absolute best!

Today in keeping with my half-marathon training I went for a 3 mile run around green lake, it was a little windy and a little chilly but it was great being outside.
Here's a snapshot:

Tomorrow I'm going to my first company dinner and later this week I'm volunteering at a charity event and cooking dinner with friends.
Also before I forget here's an update from my 30 days of love:

Day 8: my smile, when I smile my natural smile I know the I'm at my happiest

Day 9: Openness, I love meeting new people and doing new things, I'm proud of myself for not closing my mind about things

Day 10: My determination, I work hard to get what I want and I don't tend to give up

Day 11: my hands, I like how they're small and dexterous

Day 12: my tatas, they're firm and perky- and they bring all the boys to the yard ;)

Day 13: my wit, I'm a smart cookie and I pick up on things fairly fast

Day 14: my determination, I don't tend to give up easily even if something is hard

Day 15: my bellybutton, its an innie and not an outie and I've always liked it

Day 16: my skin, I was blessed with great skin, it usually looks nice and I rarely get acne

Day 17: my ability to be compassionate, I care a lot about my friends and family and tend to put them first

Day 18: my toes, I hate feet but I think my toes are cute

Day 19: my kindness, I've always found it to be easier to be nice instead of mean, and I take pride in my efforts to not be nasty

Peace and blogger love!

Chia-rific

Lately my housemate and I have gotten into chia seeds, they're great! In case you don't know what chia seeds are they're these seeds that are packed with fiber, protein and the good omegas. I've been throwing them in my coffee but there are a plethora of ways to enjoy them. So if you have any tips on how to use chia seeds, I'm all ears!

This week has become very active, last night I went to a book reading of a friends mom's book. The book seems fairly interesting and like it could be a good potential read. Tomorrow I'm going to my very first spin class with a new friend. The last time I rode a bike was probably when I was 15 and I rarely use the bikes at the gym so this will be a really interesting new experience. And on Saturday I'm going skiing with some friends. I haven't skied in almost 2 years so I'm really excited and really nervous. Hopefully skiing is just like riding a bicycle and you truly never forget. I'll let you know if I hit any trees…

I've also recently taken up doing digestive yoga some nights after I eat, you know to just get everything flowin…
Here's the link if you want to try, the breathing exercises are kind of funny:
http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/yoga-digestion-quickie

So far my 30 days of self-love have been going fairly well, here's day 2-7:

Day 2: my ears, because they're tiny and small and I can rock both big earrings or small

Day 3: My adventurous personality, I love how I'm always open to new and different things

Day 4: My laugh, I love the way it changes based on what I'm laughing about and who with

Day 5: my legs, I've run for years and as a result I have strong legs that can take me anywhere

Day 6: My eyebrows, I love that I thick full ones, with great shape. I feel that they really define my face.

Day 7: My ability laugh at myself, I don't take myself super seriously, which makes it easier for me to bounce back after a downturn 

Blogger love!

I Love...

This week I've been doing a fair amount of thinking about the kind of thoughts I've been having and the positive to negative ratio. Unfortunately there has been a lot more negative thoughts then positive ones, which I believe has a lot to do with my frustration at being in my current situation. I feel angry all the time, and I'm not necessarily at anything in particular, I'm just generally frustrated at my situation because I know I can only do so much to change it.

In order to change this I've decided that for the next 30 days I'm going to think of 1 thing that I love about myself, whether its physical or non-physical, I'm going to write each thing down in document and post it at the end of 30 days, and if you want to do it too and send it to me that'd be really cool.

People have an easy time saying they "love" something, like "I love chocolate" or "I love skiing", but rarely does someone use it to describe themselves. I've almost never heard anyone say that they love or even like the way they look. And its not just women, I've had guy friends question how they look, and say they need to gain more muscle or lose weight. Not to sound cliche but I think that everyone is beautiful just the way they are, and with all of my friends and family I wouldn't change a single thing.

I'm also hoping that the self-love I'm giving myself will help me see people differently and in a more positive way, I know that we all cave into secretly judging others and comparing ourselves to others. So during my 30 day challenge I'm going to spread the love, and luckily for me I'm just in time for Valentine's day ;)

To get this started here are some things that I generally love:
I love chocolate covered strawberries, and most chocolate in general.
I love goofing off with my housemates and friends.
I love my parent's cooking, I don't need a 5 star restaurant.
I love both of my doggies, both Wrigley who's with me now and Pepper who is in a better place.

Wrigley

Pepper

I love the view from my lake house, and I can't wait to spend time there this summer:

Last of all I love all of my friends, family and boyfriend who've been super supportive of me during this transition.

And for day 1 of the challenge: I love my eyes, I've always loved the color of my eyes I think that they're beautiful and unique and I think they are one my best and defining features.

Get out there and spread the love! :*

A new zone

This weekend I realized that I've entered a new zone of friendship that I wasn't quite sure existed. Since my boyfriend is abroad at graduate school, I've been hanging out with his friends while he is away. Its been a fun experience but I seem to be in this weird new zone that I've never experienced before. With my boyfriend's friends I feel strangely comfortable because everything is purely platonic and I feel like I can relax around them. This weekend we went out to a snazzy bar/club in Bellevue. I thought we were bowling but it turned out we were going to a bowling alley/club. It was for a friend of a friend's birthday, and there was bottle service which I had never had before and there was a weird club atmosphere. While at the bar it occurred to me that I had crossed into a new zone of friendship. My one friend asked me about potential girls and which ones I thought he should go for. With my other friend I was his "girlfriend". It was an odd zone to be in and I learned more about what guys think of girls, it was quite the eye-opener.

While I'm still on the job-hunt I'm spending my time exercising, reading and spending time with the family. I have a few leads and I'm hoping that I'll be employed by Valentine's day.

Things I'm reading: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Listening to: Bangerz by Miley Cyrus
Still obsessed with: Gossip Girl
Craving: The Kirk Park Medium Maise by Kate Spade


Blogger love!
xoxo

Time flies

So things got crazy after Thanksgiving, all the holidays seemed to come right after another, it seemed like just yesterday I was celebrating my birthday.


I had a fairly uneventful Thanksgiving and Christmas, my family always spends Thanksgiving with my dad's family down in Saint Louis and my mom's parents came up here for Christmas. It was great seeing so much family so closely together. The highlight of my holidays was going down to Chicago to see my boyfriend and my friends from high school. Over my 7 day adventure I ate like a princess, I'm still surprised that my stomach hasn't expanded to the size of an elephants. I enjoyed everything from squid ink noodles to lamb to escargot to scallops. I have a deep love for seafood and fortunately my boyfriend treated me to all the seafood that I could eat. We also got to see some real live seafood, we met up with a college friend of mine and went to the Shedd Aquarium. The Shedd is hands down one of my favorite places in the city of Chicago. Although I'm terrified of deep water I've always had a deep love of sea life. We checked out the jellies and the sharks and the dolphin show. However after watching Blackfish the other night I felt bad about watching the dolphin show. The documentary really causes you to question what you saw in your childhood and what to do with big marine animals.

For New Years Eve this year I went out with my bf and a good friend from high school and her boyfriend. We started the night off like champions by splitting a bottle of Andre and then headed out to a bar in Lincoln Park that for a mere $60 you could have all the alcohol you wanted and a champagne toast. Supposedly there was food as well but I didn't notice. The night was super fun and super snowy! The only downside of the evening was that I had accidentally worn my skirt inside out and the fact that I may have had one too many cran and vodkas.

Chicago was a great winter adventure, for the Midwest is truly a winter wonderland. In my time there it snowed about a foot as well as the temperature dropped down into the negatives. It was a good throwback to my childhood and spending many long winters in the snow. It was great to see both my boyfriend who I hadn't seen since early September and my high school friends who many I hadn't seen since last year. It was great how no matter how much time had passed that things never really changed and we could just pick up where we left off.

Since I've been back in the PNW I've started seriously training for my half-marathon, so far I'm on week 2 and doing a variant of the run-walk and getting above 2 miles. It gets a little boring running the same routes but I hope as I increase my distances I'll find better places to run. With my return to Seattle my contract ended so I've been enjoying a lot of me time as I look for a new job. So far I've been feeling fairly positive and haven't quite given into the unemployment despair quite yet.

As for now I'm going to keep reading and running and looking. Tomorrow I'm going down to help my sorority house practice for their upcoming recruitment.
Blogger and Theta love!

The Daily Gym Struggle

Recently I joined a gym near my house with the hope of obtaining some sort of adequate physical fitness. Today was my first day at the gym and its my first time being at new gym that I haven't automatically joined because of school or family. Its a scary thing walking into a new gym and its something I'm slowly learning to adjust to. Mostly the adjustment involves getting into the mindset of "no one cares what I'm doing"; which I'm slowly moving into. I have stayed away from free weights and most of the machines generally because I really have no clue what I'm supposed to do with them… I am however having my first personal training session (a perk of my membership) on Monday so hopefully I'll get some tips and tricks on how to more effectively use my gym time and feel less like a fool.

Other things, this past weekend was great! My friday started off fantastically by getting a surprise delivery of flowers and chocolates to my office from my special friend. My face stayed a slight tinge of red the rest of the day because everyone stares at you when you have flowers; but could they not stare because they were so pretty:

They were a fantastic way to end the week and kick off the weekend! :)

Some other great things about the weekend was I found a place that serves $4 mojitos; which is phenomenal!!! My housemates and I hit that up on Friday, also on Friday I tried to revive my beer pong skills…. I'm still abysmal, I gave up though before I trolled so maybe by default I trolled.

This weekend I also saw some college friends; and we went out and karaoked and I actually sang. It was a great night and great to see old friends!

Some things I'm looking forward to:

I'm going to a concert w/ a friend this Friday and I'm going to a friends-giving this Sunday; both which will be fun! I think I may have something going on, on Saturday but I can't quite remember. 

I'm going home to Chicago next month and I'm really really excited! 

And I'm going to St. Louis next week for Thanksgiving, we're having a catered dinner which will be a first, but it'll be good to see family.

Well that's it; here are some photos:

Weeks of Friends

So this past weekend was the first weekend in two weeks that I got to myself. The previous two weekends I had guests:

My first guest was a friend of mine who I went abroad with in Australia (See Thunder Down Under for more of those stories...) She is currently driving from the East coast around the US making her way west and eventually she'll settle down and pick a place to live. I'm hoping she moves here. The weekend she was here was also one of our first work events hosted by the Fun Committee (which I'm a member of) we had a great halloween party and played bowling. Unfortunately there were no bumpers so my performance was abysmal. After we went out on the town and had a grand old time.

The next day we hosted a taco lunch at our apartment; it went swell and everyone fit comfortably on our new furniture. I also like taco lunches better then brunch, tacos > breakfast.

It was great seeing my friend; we hadn't seen each other since our last great Australian adventure so it was great to catch up.

The weekend after my best friend from Chicago came to visit! It was so great to be reunited with my other half and it was fun showing her around Seattle. We tried to go hiking but it was soo windy that the waves were coming up over the 520 bridge; it was not ideal hiking conditions. We ate pho and sushi and went out on capitol hill. On Sunday we had a special date night, we went down to the water and rode the Ferris wheel which was much less scary in the dark. We enjoyed a fancy dinner down at the Pink Door which is excellent! We munched on seafood and watched trapeze artists twirl in the air; it was a great night. I'm hoping that Seattle made a great impression on her :)

Here are some highlights from our adventures:

After a couple weeks of friends its been nice to have a calm few weeks. Last weekend I attended a fundraising dinner and this week a panel for the same organization. I'm hoping that I can get more involved in the organization and organizations like it.

Well thats about it,
TLAM

Its Pumpkin Season

This week has been quite eventful, I was supposed to start my training for the half-marathon I'm running in April. I'm doing a couch to half-marathon program which is a 6 month program pretty much designed for the non-runner. I do run fairly frequently and I have been running since my sophomore year of high school so I could have gone with a more rigorous training program but I figured with all of my injuries from XC better to start slow. So tomorrow I'll start on my lazy kid adventure to half marathon greatness... I even got some sweet shoes:

They're supposed to be super stable so hopefully they'll provide all the support that I need! Apparently my feet turn in, or roll funny so I run funny; oh well no ones perfect.

This week was also great in that I got to skype two of my friends who are both currently "down under" I have my old Australian housemate who I have regular skype dates with and they're pretty fun; its always great to connect! I also skyped my friend who's currently studying abroad in NZ and after some technical issues it was great to see her face!!! On the same note one of the gals that I studied abroad with in Sydney will be in town this upcoming weekend and I'm super excited to see her!!!

In the spirit of fall my housemates and I plus some friends went to the pumpkin patch in search of the perfect pumpkin. It was quite an adventure since we got lost on the way there and then it took a long time to find the perfect pumpkin! We were slightly disappointed in how small the selection was, well maybe it was just me. I'm from the Midwest so I'm used to GIANT pumpkins but these were none too shabby. We shared a lot of laughs and dirty pumpkin jokes ( yes they're possible) and after finding our perfect pumpkins and taking our Christmas card photo (get ready) we headed out.

As you can see there was quite the fine selection :)

Today my mom came by to help me redecorate my apartment; she decided that it could use a "friendly" touch. We swung by Target and TJ Max HomeGoods which both have some sweet deals and gave my apartment a pretty good touch up.

It looks like real adults live here now :) We're hosting people on Saturday so we'll see what they say :) I think my next project will be the bathroom since I want to make our whole apartment cute.

Today I also talked to my best guy friend which was great! We talk about once every 5 weeks so it was great to catch up :) my other best friend from Chicago is going to be here in less then 2 weeks and I'm soooo excited!!!

Well that's about all!
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Ladies Retreat

This weekend I went on a women's retreat to Lake Chelan. Twenty of us made the journey from Western to Eastern Washington. The drive up was dreary as we wound our way through the mountains; however through the rain we could see the beautiful lakes and mountains that make up the Washington scenery. On our way up we saw signs warning us about both deer and big horned sheep. I personally have never seen a big horn sheep but I certainly would never want to run into one...

Unfortunately the misty weather followed us to Lake Chelan, we were going to take a sea plane to this isolated peninsula at the northern end of the lake; however due to the weather the plane trip was cancelled :( So instead a group of us went on a wine tasting; we hit 5 different wineries in a period of five hours. I have never been wine tasting before so this was a phenomenal experience. We tried many different reds and whites and our servings ranged from minuscule to overly generous. My favorite wines came from Benson winery; you should check out Curious, Rhythm and Sangiovese. They are all delicious and worth trying!

On that note I'm going to leave off with some pictures from this weekend and continue to enjoy my spicy hot chocolate and Beyonce's album 4

<3

Being a Real Adult...

So the other day I was out at the bar with a couple of girls from school and we were discussing our various epiphany moments where we realize that we're actual adults. We thought it was funny because we've all technically been "adults" since the age of 18 however I've always felt more like a child then an actual grown-up. If you were wondering I had my epiphany moment on the bus the other day; I was just sitting there trying to figure out where to look (if the bus is crowded its almost impossible to not look like you're staring at someone) and it just hit me that I'm an actual adult and this is my life and that I can choose to do whatever I want. The thought of never having to ask for parental permission again is actually really satisfying. So in the spirit of being a real adult here are some things that I've been struggling with:

1) Eating correctly: growing up I was fortunate enough to have a fairly decent meal on my plate (there were some touch and go periods where the babysitter couldn't cook); my meals always consisted of a main dish, a salad and a veggie. In college I would just eat whatever I really felt like in the cafeteria; eventually I learned to swerve certain stations and that eating chicken fingers daily does have its consequences... but still I never had to really put in effort to get a well-balance meal. Now that I'm alone I'm trying to learn the balance of eating enough of the right stuff. For instance; I probably don't eat near enough fruit and vegetables, I have no issue with either I love most types of fruit and veggies I just forget to buy them at the store. Or worse I do buy them and then forget about them and they go bad... yuck! I've been slowly working them into my diet and googling different ways to prep the veggies so I can them back into my belly and be a happier healthier person. On the same topic I also struggle with lunch at work; often when I get up for work I'm too lazy to make my lunch so I'll just buy food at work. While easier now, its not efficient or healthy in the long-term. I've started prepping my lunch the night before as well as I've stocked up on Trader Joe brand frozen foods, yummy! I've also limited myself to eating out at work once a week, we'll see how that goes...

2) Cleaning: Not that I'm a particularly dirty person but its been an adjustment realizing that if you don't clean no one else will...gross. I've gotten into cleaning my room and putting my stuff away. If my mom, grandma and nanny growing up read this they probably all just died of shock. Growing up I was always asked the name of the hurricane that hit my room; now you only rarely find my clothing on the floor. I haven't quite gotten into the whole vacuuming, sweeping and swiftering thing but I'm sure that'll come with time. 

3) Work: There is a lot more to working then you are ever taught how to deal with in school. Regardless of grades or major there is a learning curve going from being in school to working. I got hit hard with the learning curve earlier this week and I'm working on adjusting. The most important piece of wisdom I've learned so far is that its not personal its business; just because someone doesn't like your work its not because your bad; your work often isn't what they were looking for exactly. I'm trying to learn how to read minds but so far its been kinda hard. Also resisting the urge to nap is sometimes extremely hard; its ok to drink 4 coffees no one will judge you. Also I'm working from home for the first time today (only for part of the day) and its soo much better! I don't know why I waited so long...

A couple of other things; I know that Miley has gotten a little crazy but we all rebel sometimes. I actually really enjoy her song Wrecking Ball; so Miley you just keep being Miley.

That's all!

Life Updates

Hello Friends,


Sorry its been so long, I've been super busy with work and other shenanigans. Over the past few weeks I've had some milestones. I'm approaching my third month at work (Yikes!) and because its my third month I have a performance review next week (double yikes!) Some other milestones, about a month ago I turned 22, which I suppose makes me a real adult now because I'm officially done with college and I'm no longer in the carefree days of being a 21 year old college senior (wah :( ) But regardless of age I'll always be a child at heart :)

I've also been in my apartment for about a month now and without further to do here are some photos of it:

Sorry my room is a little messy, but lets get real who actually has time to make their bed? The apartment is a little tiny and with all of our stuff, its been looking a little cluttered so if anyone has any tips on how to improve our fung shaui (spelling?) feel free to hit me up :)

Some other fun things, I've recently opened a library card, since I'm a Seattle resident I finally can do it. In YP we're not allowed to use the library because we decided not to pay the taxes (way to fight literacy YP). I got a little overly excited about having a library card since I haven't had a library card in about 10 years ( I incurred too many fines at my library in Chicago...whoops) I placed 35 books on hold thinking that they'd take awhile to come in... I got an email notice saying I had 19 books on hold at the library; I looked like a fool making this trip:

Thank God for Lulu lemon shopping bags; they really do hold a lot. I'm currently trying to get through all 19 of them before I have to return them; so far I'm on my 3rd book so I think I'm making ok progress. I'm also open to book suggestions so if you have any feel free to comment! :)

Over Labor day weekend my friend from school was in visiting from DC; they're going to graduate school in London (what a show-off) this fall and they came to say good-bye to all of their college buddies. One of the adventures we went on was going on the Seattle Great Wheel.  I'm generally ok with heights and I enjoy roller coasters but for some reasons ferris wheels terrify me. I think it has to do with being stuck in a capsule and slowly moving in the air; I am not a fan. Anyway I made it through the 4 spins that come with your $15 ticket; it got a little easier as the rounds went on but I was definitely scared the entire time.

On a positive from where the wheel is located you get a great view of the city and the water; here's my super hip Instagram photo:

If your not as big of a wuss as me I definitely recommend it.

Anyways that's about it; thanks for reading!

Good ol' King County Transit

So as cost-efficient working gal I commute every day by the bus. Since I haven't moved out of my parents place yet, I take the bus from the Eastside to the Westside. And I must say that I'm pretty impressed with the bus, maybe its my location but there are always buses running past my house, so even if I'm running a few minutes late (which is often) I can still manage to hop on a bus and make it to work in the nick of time.

After growing up in Chicago (fun fact I lived in Chicago up until I was 20), I was used to well for lack of better word, scary public transit. The CTA was always slightly intimidating, the L always smelled slightly funny and there was always that one person who just kind of looked shady. I would almost never take the CTA by myself and if you do the rule is always head down and don't make eye contact.

Comparatively in Seattle, the public transit is fairly efficient and I feel that its fairly safe. There is still that one odd person but the majority of the time I'm surrounded by business people like myself. Although there is always a faint smell of a true granola, I guess it wouldn't be Seattle without it. Suffice to say I've been very impressed with the King County Transit Authority and I just wanted to give them a little praise.

On a different note, I skyped with a friend of mine who is studying abroad in New Zealand, it was FANTASTIC to see her smiling face, and I hope to see it many more times!! Hopefully with some better internet next time :)

Blogger Love

The Hunt is Over!

Remember how I mentioned that I was looking for a house? Well after several weeks of playing cat and mouse, I'm the cat and the house is the mouse. Every time we thought we were close the house would slip right past us. It was quite the emotional roller coaster...

But finally after weeks of looking we landed a little place of our own. We have a cute little 3 bed apartment in Ballard, and we're pretty close to downtown. We definitely felt like a winner. And after going the lease the place was ours. It's weird to think of how a couple of signatures can make something yours. We were in some weird sense of shock after we signed the lease, like we almost couldn't believe that it was really ours.

To be completely honest I'm still in that weird feeling of shock and excitement....

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Katie, I'm a recent graduate from the University of Puget Sound. I majored in Economics and minored in business and partying. I recently started a consulting job out here in Seattle; I get to spend my day working at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Not to sound corny but I feel really cool when I'm in there because I'm like this is where change happens. Before you graduate they try to sell you on perks of different companies, like we have a playground or homemade sushi bar. So far while at the Foundation I've discovered that it has pretty good coffee that comes out of a fancy machine. FREE CHOCOLATE! (definitely a bonus on sleepy days), a large cafeteria and endless amounts of bars. A note on the bars, you have to watch for the delivery people because if your slow you wind up with the gross chalky tasting bars... no one wants those...

In other news I'm currently house hunting with two of my gal pals from school, we are trying to make the big decision into real adult hood. So far I feel like I'm playing a giant game of cat and mouse because you always feel like your close and then it just slips away. I'm currently trying to think of a way give myself a competitive advantage, so if anyone has any house hunting tips feel free to share :)

That's about it for now!
Blogger love!