2009...Bring it On!

Cool photo, eh? This is a pic of the Times Square ball drop 1907! When I saw it, it reminded me that this has been happening for decades - over 100 years in fact... Which means everything that is going on today - globally, nationally, locally, even within my own family and friends - is temporary. Upset about something? This too shall pass. Life goes on. C'est la vie, Carpe diem...etc., etc. It is comforting in many ways...

The truth is, we have the power to determine our tomorrows. With our thoughts, our intention, and our faith. One of my favorite quotes is: Thoughts become things - choose the good ones! So rather than make any "resolutions" per se this year, I am going to choose positive thoughts and positive outcomes, and stick with them, regardless of outside influences and other people's input. We don't always know how our dreams will become a reality. Many times, the harder we try to "control" a situation - either by acting, or simply worrying about it - the more negative energy we actually send out into the universe around us - therefore deterring what we actually WANT as an outcome.

Four years ago I could not have guessed Steve and Killer would bring such amazing joy to my family and my everyday life, or that I would be waiting for the referral of my child from China. One year ago, I could only hope that that we would be welcoming our first African American President into office, and I couldn't have imagined that I would be living in Spokane, or working for an adoption agency, or living in such a lovely house on a park (in 60 inches of snow!) Some parts of my life now are things I dreamed about for many years...others I could not have foreseen in my wildest dreams - and that, my friends...is life.

Here's to more dreams coming true in 2009. Cheers to everyone!

Holiday Rewind

Steve and I had a wonderful, quiet, snowy Christmas. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday as well! Christmas Eve we went to dinner at Anthony's on Spokane Falls. It was so beautiful. It was snowing hard and by the time we made it home, there was another four inches on the ground!

Christmas Day we headed over to Lake Coeur d'Alene to enjoy a Christmas buffet at the resort. It was AMAZING and so beautiful over there. Of course the family seated next to of us was an older couple with their Chinese daughter...about six years old. She was adorable, all dressed up for Christmas and in her new snowboots. On the way back to Spokane - yes - it started snowing - AGAIN. Apparently yesterday's snowfall officially broke the record for the most snowfall in the month of December...ever. We've rec'd over 46 inches of snow in the last two weeks. THAT is crazy, and is definitely a record for me - even having lived in Iowa and Colorado...I've never seen this much snow!

Anyway, here are some pix from our holiday - enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Some more pictures...

Yesterday we got about 5 more inches of snow. Just enough to high-center the Subaru again as Steve backed out of the driveway. Thankfully, our neighbors Bob and Linda were out with their snowblower, and offered to let Steve borrow it to clear our driveway a bit. Hooray for nice neighbors! I watched from the sunroom as Steve had a little bit too much fun with the snowblower:

The neighbors also said we could borrow it anytime we need it - YAY! Because it looks like we may be needing it quite a bit this winter if this past week has been any indication...

So we were happily out of our driveway and on our way about town. Once we are out of our driveway and our alley, we are good to go. The city has done an AMAZING job of clearing the streets (even the side streets) very quickly and thoroughly each time it snows. The 21 inches we got in Denver a couple years ago made some side streets impassable for weeks...and boy were people upset with the Mayor and the city. So I was very pleased to see that Spokane was really on top of it...especially when they are not used to this type of heavy snowfall all at once like this!

All bundled up and ready to get out of the house!

Beauty and the Beast

Aaaaah - 30 inches of snow...first, the beauty...

...and then the BEAST... (...wish us luck digging out Steve's car!)

Finally!

The snow has stopped (for now - we are expecting another six inches or so on Sunday!) The view out of my home office to the backyard is striking to say the least:

I would like to take a photo out the front of the house, but unfortunately, our front door is frozen shut! LOL. Slight exaggeration...we CAN open it...it just takes a lot of muscle and is difficult to get shut again. So we are leaving it shut. Our outdoor holiday lights are also on 24/7 as they (and the electrical outlet) are buried. Good times. It is very pretty, and I am thankful I don't have to commute. Someone semi-cleared our alley at some point yesterday, and while the snow tracks are still deep, we are able to get the Subaru in and out of our driveway now. No doubt about a "white Christmas" around here. With temps in the single digits and teens expected for the next week (along with additional snow showers), this snow isn't going anywhere for awhile!

Weather Update...

Yes, it is still snowing. It's been snowing for about 36 hours straight now, and we have somewhere around 30 inches on the ground where we live. This afternoon Steve had to climb out the window of our second floor and knock the snow off the flat roof above our sunroom:

I dug a small path in the backyard for the dogs, so they could have somewhere to potty...it's really annoying because everytime we shovel, it gets covered back up again within an hour or so. For a better perspective on what we are up against, here is a photo of Luna walking the path:

In this photo there is about 2 inches of fresh snow on the path, and about 18 inches on either side of her...Killer darts in and out of the house so quick it is impossible to catch a photo of him! Luna actually seems to enjoy it for about 5 minutes or so - then she wants back in.

Cancel that last post...it can stop now...

Okay, it's officially reached "ridiculous" snow amounts now. Two feet in my backyard. This reminds me of December 2006 in Colorado. Ugh. Apparently, this is a new record for snowfall in a 24 hour period in Spokane. Of course. Lovely.

Don't get me wrong, it's very pretty. I can appreciate that. But when I was trying to help Steve dig out the Subaru at 5 am this morning, (to no avail - his boss had to come get him) - it was pretty ugly. Also, both of our little dogs need a "plot" shoveled for them to do their business. Two feet of snow is horrifying for them. Luna only stands about 18 inches tall, and poor little Killer is only 10 or 12 inches tall. To them, this is an avalanche!

This is the view of our backyard/alley area. Yikes.

The entire city is shut down. Even cities like Spokane and Denver have to shut down when there is THIS much snow. The plows can't keep up.

...oh, and by the way...it's still snowing!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

Well, the weather outside is frightful,

but Julie's mood is just delightful.

I've got no place to go...(except my home office!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!



Well doesn't show signs of stopping,

and Steve's taken the Subaru shopping,

the dogs hate going outside to "go"

Oh well - let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Cookie Time!

Yesterday I was craving some favorite Christmas cookies from my childhood. I tried describing them to Steve and he wasn't familiar with what I was talking about. So off to Google I went. You can always depend on good 'ole Betty Crocker online for these types of things...

Do these ring a bell with any of you?

I cheated a little bit and bought a huge lump of sugar cookie dough from the grocery store deli. Got home, divided it in half and added the color and flavoring...it still took about two hours to roll and twist them all out!

I made enough to take a few to our next door neighbors, and for Steve to take a big batch of them to work for his staff today - and still have quite a few for us the next couple of weeks. It truly was so domestic of me. I was proud of myself!

Brrrrrr...

Tonight
Dec 13

Snow Shower / Wind

5° F

20 months...

...since my log in date for Lia...

Decorating and Shopping

This weekend Steve and I started to get "our holiday on" around the house...

On Saturday we continued unpacking and organizing the house. Then we went out and got a Christmas tree - a 6 ft Noble Fir that looks and smells AMAZING:

We also got a wreath to hang on the (inside) of the front porch, and put up a few white lights out front. It looks very simple and cute I think:

I also cooked a turkey dinner on Saturday. Complete with greenbean casserole, cranberry jelly, and the rest of the fixins. Since we had Thanksgiving at my mom's the day before our move, we didn't get to partake in leftovers, and we were both craving it. So we did a smallish turkey, stovetop stuffing, etc. and it was still pretty darned good!

Today we went downtown and saw the movie, "Four Christmases". It's gotten mixed reviews, but I love Vince Vaughn, and I thought it was a cute, lighthearted holiday movie. It made us laugh out loud a few times. What else can you ask for? Afterwards, we walked around the Riverfront Mall. We ducked into Gymboree because this fall they've had a lot of "Scottie" themed girls clothes, so I was hoping for a sale...and I found one! I love the clothes with little black Scotties, because they look so much like my black mini schnauzer, Luna. So with Lia in mind, Steve picked out one outfit:

And then I picked out one too:

Steve also bought me a little Scottie watch they had on sale. Of course, it's meant for little girls, but it fit my wrist and is so cute:

So the most amazing part of this venture was when we went up to the checkout. The salesgirl asked if we realized we'd purchased items in several different sizes...and I said, yes, we are adopting and we're not sure what size she will be (so we are covering all bases!). The girl said, "I was adopted! 28 years ago...see? Adopted kids turn out OK!" and I laughed and agreed with her, telling her yes, in fact I work for an adoption agency and see great families made thru adoption all the time. So she asked which agency I worked for. When I told her, her eyes lit up! SHE WAS ADOPTED THRU THE AGENCY I WORK FOR - 28 YEARS AGO! How cool is that? So then she says she and her husband are anxious to adopt their next child, and are looking at Africa, so I told her about our Ethiopia program and how quickly it is moving right now, etc. She asked for my card and I told her I'd be happy to answer any questions... What a cool encounter. It just goes to prove, family recruitment can happy anywhere...even Gymboree!

In the Studio

Yesterday I had the chance to visit the studio where Steve works and check out his digs. It's weird to think he's been working there for over a month already, when I feel like this whole move is still so new. This pic is not the best since I took it with my phone. But it was fun to see where he's been getting his "deejay" on every morning. :)

We went to P.F. Chang's for dinner last night. I was SOOOOO happy to have my favorite Kung Pao Chicken! I guess there is a PF Chang's in Seattle (actually Bellevue) but we never got over there to visit. In Denver I used to eat at Pei Wei (PF Chang's fast food arm) all the time, and I LOVED their Kung Pao. So I was ecstatic to find a PF Chang's 10 minutes from our house here. YAY! Now if they'd only start putting Pei Wei's out here in the Northwest, I'd be happy...

Speaking of restaurants...Washington state is getting it's first Chik-Fil-A! WAAAAAHHOOOO. Sadly, it's going to be in Bellingham, up in the northwest corner of the state near the Canadian border. Bummer. Not exactly a quick commute from Spokane. I can only *hope* that this means more Chik-Fil-A's to come...and that they are starting in the smaller, college towns...Spokane would be great for a 2nd location (hint,hint...)

That's all the news for now...

Moved in...sort of...

Well, we made it to Spokane on Friday. A little bit later than planned, but all in one piece. Turns out the weather gods decided that Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to bless Spokane with it's first snowfall of the season...so surprise, surprise...we arrived to about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground Friday night. As you can imagine, this made for a somewhat sloppy, slushy move-in. The guys FINALLY had the truck unloaded around midnight on Friday. LONG DAY.

I've posted pix previously of the front of the house, but wanted to show you the back as well. As you can see, it is very cute, with a lovely sunroom (a.k.a. my new office!) off the back. So far, I absolutely LOVE this house. I've never felt so "at home" so soon after moving into a place. It just has a coziness about it that none of my other places have had.

The dogs are settling in to their new digs. Luna is busy sniffing every inch of the new house, top to bottom (as only a schnauzer can!). Killer is already determining which areas (once organized) will be the best for chasing his toys.

Tonight Steve and I will put together my new desk and hopefully get me a little more set up in my home office. Today, the home office consists of my laptop, and my lap! LOL.