The final adventures in the land of rain and coffee...at least for this summer!

Gee thanks for the curve ball Tres...you messed up my game! ;) I like your cop-out line...everyone seemed to be telling me the same thing...thus the game of ping pong. :P

So the game of ping-pong ended, I put myself in both sides of the court, obviously, numerous times...enough to know all the pros and cons on each side, quite well. Yay for pro/con lists eh...uh huh...they never really seem to work. Yet being the Post-It Notes Pro that I am, it couldn't be helped as some of you closet Post-It Notes Pros well know.

The verdict was/is....I am going home to finish my last semester of college and earn that much coveted Bachelor's degree. Graduation will be a for-sure this way (as some of you know the dilemmas I faced trying to get classes to work out here in Seattle) ...so ASU here I come!

I will be very happy to see everyone in Phoenix again though I will miss my family and friends here in Seattle. :(

Okay...so quick recap with pics of the things I've done lately...

About 2 weeks ago I went to the highly discussed company picnic. It was talked about more often by my cousins than by my coworkers interestingly enough. :P

Well, the picnic was a giant one with tons of inflatable slides of all shapes and sizes (from pirates to race cars to roller coasters) as well as pony rides and live music and rock climbing. Ironically enough, they also had an 'arcade' section with foosball, ping pong, and DDR. And yes, I played several games of foosball with my cousin Karen, her friend Jenny, and other employees who we didn't know until then but were united by the same passion for foosball.

What was quite fun was that at one point, as Karen, Jenny, and I were walking about trying to see what to do next, we noticed a group of serious-looking grown adults staring at what seemed to be daises on too much Miracle-Grow...tall, I mean more than two people tall, daisies.

Since the daisies were facing them, we figured if we went around to look at the front of these daisies, we'd know what was going on and these adults wouldn't look so ridiculous anymore. Well we do, and all we see are letters and arrows on these daisies. Yeah...interesting.

Turns out these were one of many puzzles scattered throughout the picnic. Lol...

Oh...another thing I found quite amuzing yet useful was a the Kid Wash that was readily available at the picnic. Yeah no kidding...kids just go through this wash process that was amazingly close to real car washes, big spinning brushes and all, and they seemed to come out quite clean. Well, that is, until they'd step onto the dirt and get dirty again. :P I think we could use one of those at home. :D Right lovies? ;)

Ooo...okay, have you ever tried soccer control car racing? I actually scored a goal...after running about aimlessly for the first half of the game. (No, that's not us in the picture)

And last but not least, there was so much food and so many kinds (though I've been told that there were more kinds in the past!) that we spent probably about half of our total time there eating. :D Yes, I was quite happy. I had pot-stickers, corn dogs, popcorn, tortellini, gyros, and popsicles and brownies for dessert. So basically our day went like this:

11am - picnic opens, we all head to the food and eat brunch

12pm - wander about, play foosball, etc.

1pm - found another concession stand, eat more food

2pm - explore, play foosball, fail at DDR, etc.

3pm - remembered some food we didn't already try and head back to the food stands

4pm - explored some more...etc. You get the picture.

Alrighty, also I recently did an amazing hike in the Olympic Mountains. Yay for mountains and yay for weather that is conducive to being outdoorsy! Ever since I got here, I immediately connected with the inner outdoorswoman in me. :D

So last Saturday, a few of us took a hike up Mt. Townsend. Lovely drive, lovely ferry ride, not so lovely steepness in the hike. For those of you who know my uncle's driveway...it was pretty much that for about 5 miles. It took us a total of 3 hours to get to the top. Everyone who had arrived before (and after) us, passed us by...it was quite pitiful. We were so out of shape though few of us cared to admit it. One thing that's true: the hike was quite rewarding...it was beautiful going up (despite the shortness of breath) and it was beautiful at the summit where there mountains all around as far as the eye can see. Also, we could see the ocean far off and a little bit of Canada so it seems. Quite amazing.

Thankfully the hike down took us half the time...you can imagine we basically slid the whole way down. ;) And afterwards, once we got back to Seattle, we had the most delicious shakes and hamburgers at Red Robin. Glory on a bun, so we called it. Lovely food...and lovely way to end a good hard day's hike.

The following morning...

well, I forgot how often I have to go up and down the stairs at home. I think I looked like a weirdo most of the day yesterday and even a little today. Even when I'd get up after sitting around a while, I had to do it slowly. Sadness, the outdoorswoman in me is not so in shape for such outdoorsiness.

Ah, but today I took a stroll around the hilly neighborhood to keep it up. So yay for that! I actually went around a few times mind you.

Alrighty, I must get some shut eye now because Tio is going to beat me downstairs for breakfast for the umpteenth time and I will not be able to defend my pride if I cannot make it before him (or at least on time). ;) Hey, I'd been on time all these months, except for the last couple of weeks, I'd been getting just a few minutes late downstairs...and Tio would tell me we should just move the time a little...so we did and so I kept arriving just a little later than that. I've already told him, that if he just moves the time till later, I will just accomodate and arrive a little later than that. I was doing fine earlier...so I will do it again. So help me. ;)

Buenas noches if you're reading this late, buenos dias if it's morning! I will hopefully see you all soon!!!

Love,

Rosy