Fun Times in the CITY

Ok yes, I am aware that a new post is needed already, so here we go...

I am back in Seattle and it has been so much fun! But it has also been a very strange experience. I went to my old ward and I knew maybe 25% of the people there. I have realized more and more how much things have changed here in Seattle. Not that change is a bad thing; look at me and all that has changed in the last year. It's just weird. I don't like change. My life would suggest otherwise.

Spending my days with my old roomies, the Markland's, has been so wonderful! I have missed these girlies so much. When I flew in last weekend, we spent Sunday listening to General Conference at the Stake Center. They were all wonderfully inspiring talks and I look forward to reading them again in next month's Ensign.

Tuesday morning I got to see my massage therapist for a 90 minute massage and it was absolutely AMAZING!!! I love her and I wish I could take her with me to Rexburg. Also on Tuesday, I went to dinner with my cousin Amy. She picked me up after work and we drove to West Seattle to eat at my very favorite Mexican restaurant, Puerto Vallarta! And then we had ice cream at Husky Deli I think...I got a scoop of blackberry cheesecake and it was oh so delicious! On Wednesday evening I took a bus downtown to meet Amy again. It was a very interesting bus ride...I have never been through the bus tunnels downtown. In fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't know they existed. Whenever people referred to tunnels and buses, I always assumed they were talking about the viaduct...anyway...I met Amy downtown and then we took an express bus to Federal Way to spend the evening with our Grandma! And then Amy drove me back to Seattle...she's awesome like that.

Thursday was mostly a lazy morning, but the afternoon was packed full of fun: I was able to see my chiropractor and I have definitely decided that I need to find an amazing chiropractor in Rexburg. It is worth the money people. I am going back Monday morning and I cannot wait! I haven't had a good adjustment since I left Seattle 7 months ago, so there was some serious popping going on in my body and it felt wonderful. After my adjustment I was able to see the girls I nannied, Jia and Hannah! Their mom, Alison, came and picked me up for dinner at China Harbor and then we went to the lower area of that building for their swimming lessons. It was so good to see them all! The night finished with a visit from another dear friend of mine (and the Markland's): Whitney Thompson! She is an amazing woman and I really wish I could see her more often.

Friday afternoon was quite delightful. Jenessa and I walked around the U-District to Goodwill in an attempt to find dresses for a photo shoot we were hoping to do. Then we were unsuccessful in finding somewhere to eat lunch...sad story there. So we went home, looked up a bus route downtown and decided to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. So delicious and so bad. Then we walked across the street to see the movie "Beastly" which is based off a book of the same name by Alex Flinn. I was worried because the movie has received a lot of bad reviews...however I really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind seeing it again. Friday ended on a cold note. Jenessa and I took the bus back home and then decided that we needed to take a dip in the Ship Canal. This is a fun pastime of ours...we did not have such a fun time this night. We knew it would be cold. I did not think it would steal the breath from my lungs, but that is exactly what happened. We were hoping we'd be able to swim for a bit, but that was not possible. We pretty much stripped, got in, dunked, got right back out and had to walk back up the hill dripping and freezing. We were applauded by the pot-smoking and alcohol-drinking persons who were also hanging out at the park. My first week back in Seattle has been quite fun and I am excited for next week: more fun times with my Markland's!

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

I have nothing interesting to post about right now, so how about a yummy recipe. This is a recipe for baked macaroni and cheese, which I got from one of my wonderful nanny families back in Seattle. I love it because it's really simple and so delicious! You don't even have to pre-cook the noodles!! It's the perfect comfort food...

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter


• 1 cup cottage cheese


• 2 cups milk


• 1 tsp dry mustard


• pinch cayenne pepper


• pinch nutmeg


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/4 tsp pepper


• 1 lb grated cheddar cheese (or any other kind)


• 1/2 lb elbow pasta, uncooked

Procedure:

Heat oven to 375 F. Spread butter all over the insides of a 2-quart dish (do not melt butter in oven). Puree cottage cheese, milk and spices together. In large bowl combine cheese, milk mixture and uncooked pasta. Pour into prepared pan, cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover pan and stir gently. Bake uncovered 30 more minutes or until the top is browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

"If I should Have a Daughter..."

I saw this on a couple facebook pages and then I watched a bunch of her stuff on youtube. I have fallen in love with spoken word poetry! Check it out:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html

Cozy in the Closet

Today's packing consisted of cleaning out my closet and sorting through my clothes. So now my closet is completely empty, other than the shelf on top. My niece Aubrie had been helping me sort through everything, so when we finished I wanted to do something special with her. We picked a movie (Curious George), and then made a very cozy bed inside the closet out of all my pillows and blankets! We squished inside and closed the door and then spent the next hour before bedtime watching a movie together. It was a very fun way to end a lazy day!

The time I totalled the van.

Ok so I already missed posting for a day, but honestly, who really wants to hear from me EVERY day?? I had to work last night and the night before, so yesterday was a very tired day. I only slept for three hours during the day, which is typical when I'm sleeping during the day. I hate it...I am so excited to be done with this work schedule! Sleeping; eating; my whole schedule is really messed up. Annoying.

About a week ago I was driving to town at night and hit my first deer. It was awful. I was driving Jeff and Lisa's van down the highway near home and it was pitch black, so I didn't see the deer until they were right in front of me. They ran right onto the road and there was nothing I could do to avoid them; there were three, but I only hit the one in front. The van immediately shut down and I had to coast to the side of the road. Just looking at the outside, the damage didn't look too extensive. The driver's side headlight was hanging out, the front end was dented a bit, as well as the driver's door. My brother, Jeff, came and picked me up and they called the insurance to have it towed to a shop in town. We heard the next day that the van was totalled!!! The impact pushed the radiator into the computer system, and there were other problems too. The good news is that Jeff and Lisa don't mind so much because now they don't have a van payment. The bad news is that I am now terrified to drive at night.

Back to school

Here is the answer to the big question of what I am doing next: I am going back to school...again! In January I submitted an application to BYU-Idaho and was accepted to start for the Spring semester. In the meantime, I have been working in Missouri at a nursing home: Parkdale Manor Care Center. They pay for a CNA class and all testing while you work there and I finished the class and state test about a month ago. I work overnights and it has been such a difficult schedule to get used to; I hate sleeping during the day, especially now when the days are getting longer and warmer. My last day of work is the 29th! The plan is to fly to Seattle April 2nd and spend about two weeks there with my Seattle buddies, including the gorgeous Markland sisters! I am way excited to be back in Seattle for awhile and start another new and exciting path. Classes start at BYU on April 19th. I will be majoring in Elementary Education and minoring in Special Education. I think that's most of the big updates for now. I am working tonight, so I'm going to take a few hours hopefully to sleep...we'll see how that works out.

Setting Goals!

Lately I have started reading a lot of different blogs and really enjoy them. I love seeing life from other people's perspectives. You can learn so much. Today my sister-in-law (Lisa-she will be mentioned a lot in my blog, so remember her) challenged me to write a blog post every night. But there are a lot of days when I do nothing of importance...what would I do then?? Lisa suggested on those nights to google blog prompts. So I will try that. Along with blogging on a regular basis, I am setting a goal to be more consistent with prayer and scripture study, and I thought that this blog would be a great way to discuss new insights I receive from the scriptures. I am currently reading the Book of Mormon in the book of Jacob. I keep setting a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon, but it hasn't happened yet. I will do it this time! In other news, I am much too sleepy to catch up on everything that's happened since my last post THREE MONTHS ago, so I will get to that on tomorrow's post. Be excited, because I've answered "the big question" lol...well mostly!