08.28.09
San Francisco
I left my heart in San Francisco. 
I loved it down there and can’t wait to visit again. We flew in Thursday evening (after a flight delay because of thunder/lightening at Sea-Tac). Friday morning we headed out to Alcatraz. I’ve always wanted to go for some reason (I think it was after my Gangester Tour in Chicago). It’s a lot smaller than I was expecting for some reason. You have to visit “The Rock” if you ever go to San Francisco I will say that much.
When we got back, we had lunch and walked around Pier 39 and then to Ghirardelli Square. That night we had dinner reservations at Kokkari which has some amazing Greek food.
Saturday morning we headed out to Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael (about 1/2 an hour north of San Francisco) for Puppy Fun Day (next post). 
After that, we headed down to Mountain View which is where Mr. Charming grew up to see his old elementary school and house. We ended up playing mini-golf and a little Skee Ball at an arcade before heading back.
Sunday morning we woke up and rented bikes to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful bike ride and not too busy. We then headed to ride the cable car (another must do in San Francisco). As we were going up and over the hills I keep thinking, “Rice-A-Roni, The San Francisco Treat” *Ding* *Ding* We then to drive down Lombard Street (we had walked down it earlier that weekend). I can’t image living on that hill, but it was fun to drive down! We then headed to the park where the opening from Full House was filmed. We then had to head to the airport for our flight home.
Random side note, but while we were down there we had a Nissan Altima Hybrid. It was the first time either of us had been in one or drove it and I have to say we were rather impressed. I think that might have to go on our short list next time we are looking for cars (though it’s currently not available in WA state).
Here is the slide show from Francisco: Click Here
08.23.09
Alaska
The middle of July, we headed up to Anchorage, Alaska to visit some good friends of ours. We had a wonderful time hanging out with them and their three adorable girls. Mr. Charming and I had been to the southern part of Alaska on our honeymoon (we took a cruise), but had never been as far north as Anchorage. Here are some pictures from our trip. First up we have the one and only moose we saw: 
On top of Flattop Mountain over looking Anchorage:
Along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail looking toward Anchorage: 
It’s a beautiful mostly flat (except the last huge hill to Kincaid Park) bike ride along the coast. My butt hurt the next day after biking 22 miles!
This picture was taken at a small lake near their house: 
One of the days we headed down to Seward. This picture was taken going about 60 mph from inside the car: 
Now you know what to do in case of a bear attack!
The next two pictures are of Exit Glacier. It was a beautiful blue color which was hard to capture on camera. 
One of the days, we decided to head down to Seward. By the time we got there, the weather was pretty cold and rainy. Apparently it’s beautiful when the weather is nice, but this is all I saw in Seward: 
I have to admit, it was kind of weird that it never got completely dark while we were there. Alaska is a beautiful state and if you ever have the chance to visit, do it!
Viva Las Vegas
Over the 4th of July weekend, Mr. Charming and I decided to head down to Las Vegas for an extended weekend getaway. He hadn’t been back since his 2 year traveling stint for work. The first two nights we stayed out in Henderson at the Homewood Suites where he had stayed. It was funny because he requested the same room! Most of the same people work there so it was nice for him to catch up and say hi to everyone.
Thursday we got up and went to Ambiance Relaxation Spa to get massages as an early anniversary gift. We had been there before and well, it was wonderful! After that, we headed out to the other side of Las Vegas to see a bunch of his old co-workers and their new building.
Friday we headed to the strip for 2 nights at the MGM Grand (part of our Michael Buble package). The night before I had been flipping through a magazine on the coffee table at the hotel and saw that Jeff Dunham was at Caesar’s Palace. We ended up getting some of the last tickets to Friday nights show! If you don’t know who Jeff Dunham is, he’s a ventriloquist and stand-up comedian. Some of his characters include Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Walter, and Peanut. Needless to say I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. Here is a clip of Achmed:
After the show we headed out to Hank’s. We of course got a martini (what they are known for) and Banana Fosters (the best dessert EVER). Come to find out, they had taken it off their menu! After talking with the waitress, she went and talked to the Chef to see if he could make us one and he did! He then came out and talked to us which was really fun.
Saturday we headed out to some friend’s house for a 4th of July BBQ. That night was the Michael Buble Concert. I just have one word: AMAZING! His band was wonderful and the way he sounds on his CD’s is exactly how he sounds in concert. He puts on a wonderful concert and our seats were the first row up from the floor. I didn’t bring my camera because I thought it wouldn’t be allowed so the only videos/pictures are from my phone which are okay.
I actually took no pictures the whole weekend. :/ I guess I have been there too much! It was a great weekend get away!
06.27.09
The Vet & Vegas
Donata left Tuesday evening. It was kind of weird not having her at work with me on Wednesday. On Monday, I had to meet our leader at the Vet. Donata had “taken a turn for the worse” early Sunday morning. Poor Puppy. She was up every 2-3 hours starting at 2:30 am. I had put about 10 pieces of kibble in with her cottage cheese and rice and apparently her system wasn’t ready for it. We didn’t feed her Sunday morning though Sunday evening, we did 1/2 of the normal cottage cheese and rice as not to starve her and prayed she would make it through the night (which she did).
I want to know why all vet’s smell the same? I don’t remember the last time I went to one, but they all have a distinct smell. Our leader met us there (since it was her dog) and the vet did a full exam. I was so happy to have the sheet of when she had poop/pee with me so I could give the vet when she had “done her business” and what and when she had ate. He thought she might have a bacterial infection, but couldn’t confirm it without a poop sample (which after pooping that much, well good luck getting a sample). He put her on some medicine and Monday evening, she seemed to be doing better. He said to keep her on the cottage cheese and rice diet till everything looked good again.
I emailed our leader on Wednesday and she seemed to be doing much better. It’s no fun having a sick puppy. You want to make them feel better, but there isn’t much you can do. I’m just thankful it wasn’t anything worse.
Oh and while I’m thinking of it, we are FOR SURE going to the California Puppy Fun Days! We booked our tickets this week and are super excited.
This Wednesday we leave for Las Vegas for the 4th of July weekend. I’m SUPER excited because we are going to see Michael Buble in concert!! (Screams like a girl at a ‘N Sync Concert) For those of you who don’t know who he is, here are two of his songs (Everything) :
and Home (thanks to YouTube):
I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. I’ll post an update when we get back!
10.01.08
Hawaii
I’m back. Hawaii was wonderful. I am unable to post a slideshow from flickr (if someone knows how to in wordpress, please let me know) but I am able to link them. Here is the slideshow from Kauai: Click here and from Maui: Click here We were able to see some beautiful sunsets in Maui and the whole time we were there the weather was perfect. Mr. Charming and I didn’t want to leave and can’t wait to get back. It was one of those vacations you don’t realized how much you needed until you are there.
I’ll be posting more often now that things have slowed down. My next update will be about another Guide Dog puppy we had (Loyola).
09.08.08
Hawaii :)
Well ya’ll I was going to post an update, but I’m headed to Hawaii tomorrow for 2 weeks (Kauai for a week then over to Maui for a week). I have been so unbelievably busy this vacation is much needed. We have been gone/busy every weekend since the beginning of August. I’m tired just thinking about it.
Anyways, I’ll be back in 2 weeks.
08.01.08
Lopez Island
Every year my family tries to go on a local get away. Last year we went to Pt. Townsend and this year we went up to the San Juan Islands and stayed on Lopez Island. The only other time I had been to the Suan Juans was for running camp at Camp Casey during High School on Whidbey Island. Lopez Island is pretty small, but great for a weekend get away (if you don’t mind lots of waiting in line for the ferries). There is some beautiful wild life and scenery on the Island. Here are some pictures:
The last night we were there for dinner, my sister and her boyfriend (along with some old guy who was a neighbor at the place we were staying) had caught fresh dungeness crab. Can we say delicious? We also had checked out a local winery and bought a bottle of wine.
I’ll leave you with two reasons (in pictures) that I love living in the Northwest. The summers are so beautiful.
Picture Update
My sister was at Best Buy one night and picked this up for me. I did pay her back, but that reminds me, she still owes me money. Anyways, it’s a lot of fun and is really accurate. My balance sucks.
Over the 4th of July weekend, Mr. Charming and I decided we would head over to Leavenworth. We did some hiking and tubed the Icicle River (there is a reason they call it the Icicle River). This is a picture of the ski jump on the hike we went on. I think Mr. Charming was trying to kill me The hill was like this: | instead of \.
Picture of Leavenworth from our hike:
The entrance to our Bed and Breakfast. We have been there 3 times and love it.
The garden my Dad planted for me is finally in season. We have been enjoying the raspberries and blueberries so far (especially since they are so expensive in the stores). The corn is almost ready and the carrots and onions are getting bigger.
We also had our annual BBQ and went to a wedding down in Vancouver. It was SO hot the weekend of the wedding and every place we went either had no A/C or it was broken. I don’t remember the last time I sweated that much. My next update in pictures will be about our weekend to Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands with my family.
07.01.08
Life Stages
Awkward: That pretty much explains my current life stage. I feel like I have been reflecting on it WAY too much lately and am finding myself in a rut because of it. I’m 25, married, with no kids who loves to sleep. Mr. Charming and I one day will love to have a family, but when we got married, wanted to travel and just spend time together before having kids. His whole 2 years of traveling kind of threw a wrench in the last part of the previous sentence. We have had the chance to travel to Europe and FINALLY booked our vacation to Kauai and Maui for the end of this year. Before we have kids, I have my list of places I want to go because my philosophy is you never know when you might get back (if ever). Here is my list (random tanget I know) in no particular order: San Francisco (Mainly to see Alcatraz), Phoenix (Grand Canyon), Caribbean Cruise/Disneyworld, Europe again (Back to Germany & Italy), and Maui (which is soon to be crossed off). Anyways, back to the topic.
I would say that 98% of my friends have kids. It’s like being 25 and having no kids is something not typical. I feel like I don’t relate to them because mainly what they talk about is their kids. Granted it’s not like I have a lot to talk about so talking about their kids doesn’t bug me. Just being at a different life stage is akward.
Maybe I should start popping out kids to fit in….Just Kidding.
04.30.08
Time for a little updating
1) I love the new shredder at work. It’s quiet and with the micro-shredding feature, if you accidentally shred something, I’ll be the first to tell you there is no way that you are EVER getting it back.
2) The garage sales were actually a lot of fun. Mr. Charming found Careers which I am convinced is the original from 1955. We also found some dog bowls which leads me to #3 on the updates.
3) This past weekend we had a 3-1/2 month old black lab named Simmons. Oh my gosh, he was a cutie. I thought he was actually easier than Robert. Here a some pictures of him:
In other news, Mr. Charming leaves for South Africa on Tuesday till the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Hmm…what to do with myself for the month of May. I’m open for suggestions.
