Adventures of Jessica and Johnny

first renovations

2009-09-08T10:32:00.005-06:00

We've already dived headfirst into renovations! Well, first we cleaned up a bit - the house has been unlived in since last December and is a bit dusty and musky. Then we took out the carpet in downstairs floor. In the day parlor and living room we found hardwoods. In the bedroom, we found hardwoods covered by a linoleum "rug" in the center of the room. It's probably very old. In the dining room and entryway we found newer but still old linoleum tiles over hardwoods. Unfortunately the tiles and the linoleum probably all have varying concentrations of asbestos, which we're going to have tested to be sure, and then figure out what to do. We'll probably end up having it professionally removed - you don't want that stuff floating around in the spaces you'll be living and breathing in for years and years.

At the same time, we're setting up appointments to have contractors come out to begin work on installing the new electrical system, a couple of beams beneath the house, and a new furnace and HVACC system. It should be a busy couple of weeks, but hopefully not longer than a month or two.

While those projects are taking shape we'll be doing projects of our own with the help of family and friends! Next weekend we're planning on our first work party which will hopefully include a lot of what I wrote about in the last post. We also made a list of things to do in every single room so that we can stay organized. I've decided that beyond tearing out all the carpet like we did, we're going to tackle the house room by room in order to keep the sanity and reduce the likelihood of unfinished projects. I think first we'll start with the front living room, but we'll see!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment: (I'll have to get better at taking exact "before" and "after" pictures so the changes are really noticeable)

BEFORE:

this is looking at the living room from the day parlor

AFTER:
you can see where there used to be a linoleum "rug" in this room as well as where the fireplace used to be. The hardwoods span from the back of the day parlor all the way to nearly the front of the living room - I'm not sure of the measurement but they are very long boards!

another view:
BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:
I feel like we might have to call this house the Pink House because of all the pink: carpet, moulding (in a variety of shades!) and wallpaper. The previous homeowner really loved her pink!

AFTER:
A very old linoleum "rug" over painted hardwoods in the rear downstairs bedroom

BEFORE:
The smoker's porch door (on the right) was painted over, I assume for privacy concerns.

AFTER:
the view to the outside and the smoker's porch has been revealed! Until we get some weatherstripping and a doorknob, the door will remain closed (the gaps are currently stuffed with old pantyhose, which you can see peeking out beneath the door lock and missing handle)

I'll be sure to keep the blog updated with construction, projects of our own, and the results of the asbestos testing! And stay tuned for information about an upcoming work party!

big news!

2009-08-31T18:56:00.003-06:00

well, the big day is nearly upon us! We've made our appointment to close on the house! It's Wednesday at 9am. I'm pretty much excited beyond belief - and immensely relieved that this is finally over with. We have been on the biggest and longest rollercoaster ever, from first getting pre-approved last September, to putting our first offer on a house in December, walking away from that (they countered our offer very weakly and wouldn't budge), and putting an offer on another house in January. We waited for that one until July, when we gave up and found another. That one has been a rollercoaster as well. It's a rehab loan that has required numerous meetings with contractors and inspectors, delays and requirements by the bank, a nerve-wracking process to get an extension from the sellers (there was a full-price backup offer on the table and they didn't have to give us the extension), but we are finally closing! HORRAY! On September 2nd, we'll be homeowners! woo!!!!

And in that spirit, we're already making plans for what to tear out. I'm sure now that this blog will become entirely devoted to house remodeling, but I'm okay with that. :) The remodel starts with the requirements by the bank: structural supports to replace rotten and bowed beams, installation of brand new electrical and tearing out the knob and tube wiring, and tear out the old furnace and ducts and install new to the downstairs and brand-new to the upstairs. Other things we have to do ourselves include putting a moisture barrier in the crawlspace, tear out and install new porch rails, and replace the roof. There's more, but those are the big ones.

Big decisions come in hand with those big remodels - for example, where to put plug-ins and light switches, what height, what should the switches look like and where/what should we do for ceiling light fixtures? Or, where on the walls and floors is the heat going to come in from, and where can we get the "right" kind of heating registers (I'm thinking cast-iron). Where can we get really cool balusters made?

Right now our list for the first "work party" includes:

Take off this ugly back porch roof thing that blocks all light into the kitchen.
Re-roof the garage.
Take town a lean-to shed.
Paint the kitchen, and we're going to paint the 70s paneling in the bathroom (as quick fixes).
Get an oven that isn't vintage avacado green.
Paint the walls (haven't decided if we are going to take off the wallpaper yet) and then take up the carpet.
Replace all the locks.
Trim the fruit trees and trim the trees to the side of the house.
Talk to the business next door about trimming their trees and what they will do to limit damage to a new fence we plan on installing (it faces their parking lot, and cars have hit the existing fence).
Replace front porch balusters and posts and upstairs balcony porch.
Replace some outdoor trim & paint the remainder.

I want the front porch to look just like this:

Cash for Clunkers

2009-08-11T19:24:00.004-06:00

My new chair makes working at the computer so much more enjoyable! I don't whack my knees into the table every time I sit down or get up! And, I might be getting the hang of this blog thing, too. At least until school gets started up again. Today I found myself thinking, as I often do on my solitary drive to and from Seattle, and after one particular thought went through my mind, the next thing was, "that could be a blog idea!" ha! This is probably bad that I think of the blog when I'm not really thinking about it, but I'll just go with it for now. At least it's keeping me motivated to update!

At any rate, onto the blog idea. On my way to work this morning, I drove by the Roy Robinson dealership and oogled at the brand new Subaru Foresters. LOVE. My thoughts morphed into thinking about Cash for Clunkers and I smugly reminded myself about how I was immensely surprised yesterday that my 1999 Subaru Forester gets around 28mpg. According to various sources online, my car should get 21 mpg on the streets and 24 mpg on the highway. yeah, that's right, my car is 10 years old and gets better gas mileage than some brand new "fuel efficient" cars. My little car might scream 1999 with its awesome green color, but you can't beat the fact that it's a $7,000 car that is perfect for hauling things from dogs to camping gear to moving boxes to people, shopping bags (lots of those!) and more AND gets great fuel efficiency.

AND, I tend to drive about 70mph on the freeway, which is supposed to be worse for fuel efficiency. Imagine what it would be if I went 60mph. Except that will never happen because I can't bear to go 60. It feels soooooo slooooow.

The quest to discover what my car's mpg average is began when Johnny announced that after months of keeping track of his mpg, his 1995 Honda Accord is consistently getting 32 mpg! Amazing! That car is 14 years old and has 163,760 miles! Knowing that my car would get worse gas mileage, I nonetheless decided to try it out for myself and see what it was getting. I feared it would be 21 or less, but after a couple tests 28 mpg is the magic number! I'm so impressed with my little car all over again. And I bet it would get better gas mileage if I changed the oil, which is quite overdue! So, considering that I don't think either of our cars qualify for Cash for Clunkers, I don't think we could really ask for a pair of better cars!

Now I am going to play frisbee with Harley. And by "playing frisbee with Harley" I mean that I throw the frisbee while encouraging him to chase it, he watches it sail away, and I go get it, and the process repeats. He thinks it's really fun.

want to figure out your car's mpg? This is what you do:

Fill your tank.
Reset the trip odometer.
Drive until it is time to refill again.
Look on the fuel pump or on your receipt to see how many gallons it took to fill up your car. Write this number down.
Look at your trip odometer to see how many miles you drove.
Take the miles driven and divide it by the gallons used. This number will by your MPG for that tank.
Make sure to reset the trip odometer again to calculate the next tank and compare.

breathing new life into an old chair

2009-08-10T19:44:00.003-06:00

I spent the weekend working at the Burke Museum's Coffee exhibit, but Johnny and I found time to browse Earthwise, go to Target & Best Buy and a few other places, including Goodwill. Inspired by a magazine before & after, I decided to try my hand at turning an old, dark chair into something fun and usable - and for hardly any money, too!

to-do list

2009-08-07T19:48:00.004-06:00

I noticed that my to-do list is not looking so good. School and life really caught up with me. I barely had time to do anything, including reading for school (which I did almost none of...), let alone anything on my list. I mean, I did get some stuff done. But that was inadvertently. And there's a lot of big stuff left to accomplish. And a lot of things I started but didn't keep up with. I mean, I'm not beating myself up. Grad school is a big task in itself, not to mention we moved twice in the last year and don't really have a home right now and we both commute quite a ways to school and work.

But, I'm obviously going to have to extend it, maybe an extra year? I don't anticipate getting much done in the next school year, at least, considering I'll be working on my thesis and be flying around the country for conferences. hmm.

Honestly, I think as long as I keep a list of things I want to do, I can take as long as I want to complete them. The list just enables me to store them somewhere and mark them off when they're accomplished. There are more things I want to add: start a vegetable garden. try my hand at woodworking like my grandpa does. learn to design a webpage. wake up at 8am or before every day for a month (I love sleeping, which is a problem because I hate wasting time). I think a good solution is to continue working at it, but while I'm in school, I'm not going to hold myself to any timelines.

Free First Thursdays

2009-08-07T19:37:00.003-06:00

One day later, and I'm already going to post another blog! Look at me go!

Well it's Friday, meaning that yesterday was "First Thursday". That's the day when most museums are free for at least some portion of their day, if not all of it. The Burke, for example, is open extended hours until 8pm and is free all day. We had over 1,000 people visit, and it was a total nuthouse. Free days bring out a different sort of people, I'm not sure what it is. The people seem to expect more - despite the fact that they are getting in for nothing. They want your attention right away, expect tours or demonstrations to be going on, and are relatively short tempered. It's frustrating!

At the conference I recently attended, someone spoke about how people seem to value museum or other arts & entertainment experiences more when they pay for it rather than get in for free. I guess in our minds, free = cheap & low quality? and when you pay, your expectations are higher and you are more satisfied and fulfilled by your experience? I don't know - it's a mystery to me! But I definitely see it every First Thursday.

If I don't work First Thursdays during the school year, I am going to try to hit up the EMP, which features free admission and live music 5-8pm, or SAM, which includes access to all exhibits.

summer happenings

2009-08-06T11:30:00.002-06:00

oh dear. Last post was December 21, 2008. Not good!

I am going to make a huge attempt to update this regularly. HUGE, I tell you!

So, I guess I should do a quick recap of what's been going on.

Right now I'm about to go into my 2nd year of graduate school. I'm loving it, and I think I've found my niche in designing and conducting evaluations - these can be done on exhibits, programs or organizations in general and help identify what's working and what's not. I'm really interested in how people learn as well as how the whole museum can get involved with evaluations. I did an internship at Pacific Science Center and a practicum at the Burke Museum & the Woodland Park Zoo. This summer I've been given the task of developing a curriculum and kits that can be checked out by teachers for the Snohomish County Museum of History. I'm also going to do a behavior evaluation at the Zoo. I'm not sure what's in store for the Fall Quarter yet! I just got back from a conference (Visitor Studies Association) and have at least two more coming up this fall - Association of Zoos & Aquariums and the Western Museums Association. I'm considering going to the Association of Science and Technology Centers conference, too. We'll see!

This photo is from the conference - the opening night at the St. Louis Science Museum

Johnny is working full time restoring cars. Their shop is moving from Auburn to a great new shop in Burlington this summer. It's HUGE and bright and clean and wonderful and has two paintbooths. Plus it is a much easier commute for Johnny!

here is Johnny working on a car

We're closing on a house on August 20th that we are totally in love with. It's a Victorian built in 1890 in Snohomish, WA and is part of the Snohomish Historic District. I wish I could say when we're going to have a housewarming party, but it needs so much work that the party is going to be put off for a while! I'm sure we'll have a few demolition parties, though! In the next few months we'll be getting new wiring, HVAC, and structural beams. After that we are going to tackle the plumbing and remodel the kitchen and bathrooms and hardwoods.

here's the house!!

Other things we've been up to include going to Las Vegas in May to see Dave Matthews, which was a total blast. I highly recommend Vegas. I just got back from a conference in Visitor Studies and a vacation to Iowa to see family. Before I left for my trip, I nearly cut my thumb off. It's healing nicely, although I don't have much feeling from the cut to the end of my thumb and my range of motion is very poor. On July 28, Johnny and I reached our 2nd anniversary. Unfortunately I was away at the conference, so I think we are planning a camping trip or something fun (I really want to go to Victoria to see the Royal British Columbia Museum) in the next few weeks.

well - until next time - which hopefully won't be TOO far in the future!

Seattle Snowstorm 2008

2008-12-21T20:45:00.004-07:00

Seattle is having some crazy weather this week! I guess Johnny and I brought with us Wyoming's winter weather or something! :D

first, though, here's our Christmas tree.
Originally we planned to go out into the forest and chop our own down (we had the permit and everything!) but the snow came and hasn't left, so we ended up getting a tree at a farm instead. Hopefully next year we can go out into the forest! (the permits are only $10!)

Harley enjoys rolling around in the snow.

Looking up the street near where we live.

We walked to the beach. It was REALLY windy and snowy!

Harley liked the snow, though!

We were bundled up, too, so we had fun

Back home, we had a snowball fight and then built a snowman.
We had limited supplies on hand, but at least he has a carrot nose!!
Here's Harley posing with him. :)

awww, Harley is giving the snowman a kiss!
(actually, he's going for the carrot!!)

It's been snowing nonstop all day and is supposed to continue until tomorrow morning. I'm not sure Johnny is going to be able to get to work tomorrow! We'll see!

winter vacation

2008-12-09T14:07:00.003-07:00

December 6 was our 7th anniversary of being together, and I had just completed the Fall quarter the previous Thursday, so we decided to go away for the weekend. We booked a cottage in Long Beach, Wa, right on the beach and spent the weekend in the area, going to Cape Disappointment, Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (highly recommended), Fort Columbia, a few lighthouses, Astoria, Seaside, and Canon Beach. I highly recommend going in the winter. There were no crowds, the weather was really nice, and we felt like we had the whole beach to ourselves! Very neat. :D Oh yes, we took Harley, and are pretty sure that it was his first trip to the ocean. He loved it! So, here are a few pictures from the trip!

you can see more pictures here: 7th anniversary weekend

Also, today is Johnny's 24th birthday! Last night we made a chocolate cake from scratch and tonight we're going to The Ram tonight for dinner with friends. I got him an espresso machine, coffee bean grinder and a mug from the Burke Museum's upcoming exhibit on coffee, and family got him a UW travel mug and a bag of Tully's coffee beans. :)

2008-11-27T15:52:00.003-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Election Day!

2008-11-04T17:25:00.003-07:00

oh it's been a while since the last update. We are settled into our new place and new routines in Seattle. Johnny's loving his job and I'm really liking school and working at the Burke Museum and the Pacific Science Center. We are a bit overwhelmed but things are going great. At some point we'll get around to putting a real update on here but today's an important day, and I hope you all went out to vote!

oh dear.

2008-09-04T12:23:00.005-06:00

oh my. It has been a while. I'll try to get around to updating about our summer someday and getting some pictures up on the site.

Basically, it went like this:

My parents came to visit in June. We showed them around the area and went to a Rockies baseball game.
At the end of June, Johnny and I drove to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park to meet up with friends Kaylynn, Hannah and Chris, and go camping, hiking and nearly eaten by bears and other wild animals for a week (true story).
In July I enrolled in a weekly pottery wheel class and spontaneously cut my hair to my collar bone.
On the 28th, we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary with cheesecake and a weekend long camping trip near Laramie, at Deep Creek.
At the very end of July, Jason and I traveled to Washington to attend a wedding and tie up some loose ends for our move back to Washington.
My bell pepper plant that I bought in May started sprouting peppers out of nowhere! They are about 3 inches long right now.
In mid-August, Harley was diagnosed with Central Diabetes Insipidus after several visits and tests at CSU Animal Hospital in Fort Collins, CO. He was drinking 21 cups+ of water per day prior to medication!

and now we're to today. The next week will be hectic. I'll be wrapping up my time at work, dropping Jason off at the airport while at the same time picking Meghan up, and then Meghan and I will begin our roadtrip (U-haul and dog in tow) to Seattle! I'll get settled in and prepare for graduate school and my new job (at the Pacific Science Center as a Science Teacher on Wheels! (look at the awesome van I might drive! heh!). In late September, Johnny will arrive with his dad (who is flying to Laramie to drive back with Johnny) and with our cat, Atari.

Both Johnny and I are going through a lot of changes on Sept 25: I start graduate school at the University of Washington in Museum Studies and he'll begin his first day of work at Vintage Customs in Auburn! Shortly after that day, we'll be able to move into our new apartment!

Things are a'changin' and are going to be busy so I'm not sure how often this blog will get updated. My goal is at least monthly. Or at least to be less wordy and post pictures instead. We'll see. :P

Give us a call if you want to get together, we both have 3 day weekends!

and check out my 101 Things to Do list! *points to the right of the screen* I've gotten quite a bit done this summer, although I've definitely failed on the repetitive tasks. :P

lunch!

2008-06-09T14:54:00.004-06:00

While I could get depressed about coming to Wyoming because I love big cities like home in Seattle, I've tried to keep a positive outlook. Johnny and I have gone on lots of adventures in the area and have more to look forward to before we leave. I have met some really wonderful people here, and it's fun to experience living in a small town where everyone knows each other.

One thing that I suddenly appreciated today occurred to me while I was home making lunch this afternoon. If I hadn't come out to Wyoming and met Lauren, I might never have been exposed to, much less thought of making, one of my current favorite dishes: Chana Masala

So toady I bring you Lauren's Chana Masala recipe (I've sort of fine-tuned it to my tastes, so it's not her original):

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil (veggie, canola, whatever)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp curry (to start)
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp tomato paste or ketchup
1 15 oz. can of chick peas, drained Reserve 3 tbsp liquid
1 tbsp coconut milk or 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 red bell pepper
salt to taste
pepper to taste
crushed red peppers to taste

rice or noodles

1. Heat oil in skillet over med-high. Saute onions until they are slightly brown
2. Add in garlic, curry, ginger and paste. Stir for 2 minutes. Add more curry for more kick if you so desire.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add peas, liquid, coconut milk, salt and black pepper. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add red pepper in to taste.
5. Simmer for another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Serve over rice or noodles

makes about 2-3 servings

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I frequently make this because the ingredients are always on hand. When I quickly make it, I just use lemon (or lime) juice instead of coconut milk because so little coconut milk is used that it seems like a huge waste when it comes in such a big can. (same goes for the tomato paste/ketchup option). The lemon or lime juice does leave a bit of a tangy aftertaste, so I recommend trying coconut milk first so you get the real taste. :) Jason and Johnny don't like this dish (their complaints range include "I don't like chickpeas!" to "It's too spicy!") so I usually make it for lunch and have lunch for the next day, too!

In other food-related news, I picked up two types of Thai peanut sauce while visiting The Cupboard in Fort Collins this past weekend that I am just dying to try:

I should have a large post of pictures from this past weekend coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Mt. Rushmore pics - finally!

2008-06-09T12:07:00.003-06:00

Here are a few photos from our Memorial Day weekend trip.

leaving Laramie

Johnny in the Oregon Trail ruts

Yours truly in the Oregon Trail ruts

next we went to Register Cliff

an example of the hundreds of inscriptions

onward to Hot Springs, SD!

We went to The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. VERY cool!
The arrows here show where the weight of Mammoths compressed the mud and left their mark!

one area of the excavation

at that point, we headed towards Custer, SD

the next day we went to see the Crazy Horse Memorial. It's huge!

next we went to Mt. Rushmore

then to the Cathedral Spires

we thought this was a huge rock and had to pose by it

Afterwards, we went on a tour of the Jewel Cave National Monument.
I haven't sorted through those pictures yet, sorry!

swim, bike, run = triathlon

2008-05-29T10:44:00.004-06:00

Still working on that Mt. Rushmore post...

In case you didn't notice, to the right of the main blog is my list of 101 things I want to accomplish by the end of 2009. One of them is to run a triathlon next summer (and possibly more if I'm really feeling good!) I want to get in shape, but just exercising for the heck of it doesn't work for me, instead I need a goal to strive towards, so a triathlon is perfect! Plus I love competition, so this fits the bill, too.

I did some research on triathlons and picked a training program I can live with, and of course went and bought a workout outfit. :P Johnny has decided to join me in this endeavor, and so for the past two weeks we've been doing a combination of walking and running just about every other night. If you look at the chart, we're sort of in between Phase 1 and 2 since we were already walking 30+ minutes before we started the program.

After four months, we'll work up to running a 5k (about 3 miles) comfortably. At that point, we'll switch to a program that includes bicycling and swimming as well as running. There are a couple of triathlons we're looking into for next summer, but it's too early to commit just yet. We do know that we're going to do a Sprint Triathlon, which is swimming 1/2 mile, bicycling 13 miles and running 3.2 miles.
Wish us luck!

I'm excited for this!

Flower Power

2008-05-28T14:48:00.005-06:00

You'll all have to forgive me because I'm still sorting through pictures from our trip, but I wanted to share photos of flowers Johnny surprised me with yesterday. I had gotten home from work and was in the kitchen eating triple chocolate cake (maybe quadruple is the right word since it also had chocolate frosting...) and reading my Runner's World magazine (how appropriate, I know), waiting for Johnny get back from getting his hair cut, when he snuck up behind me with a huge bouquet of flowers!

(click to make the photos bigger)

ps: There's Harley for those of you who haven't seen a picture of him yet. :)

and, the culprit. He was mighty proud of himself. :P

2008-05-27T12:32:00.003-06:00

This Memorial Day weekend, Johnny and I journeyed to Mt. Rushmore. I will make an update filled with pictures within the next day or two, but first I have to sort through the 700+ pictures we took! In the meantime, I'll leave you with proof that we really did go on this trip:

(click the picture to make it bigger and not fuzzy.)

global warming = crazy weather

2008-05-23T11:41:00.006-06:00

Deadly Tornadoes Slam Colo., Wyo.

(Charlie Riedel/AP Photo)

Yesterday, Colorado and Wyoming experienced some crazy weather.

The sky was black all day and anyone could has mistaken the time of day to be late evening. Around 1, it began raining very hard, and the tornado warnings were popping up on weather.com. Not long after that, the tornado sirens began sounding, and I called Jason to run to where I work since our apartment is on the 2nd floor of a house and has no basement access. He came, soaking wet upon arrival. Just minutes after he arrived, the wind really began howling and hail the size of golf balls began falling so thick that it felt as though you were staring at a solid wall.

I suppose that is when the tornado touched down in Laramie and wreaked most of its havoc, hitting East Laramie hardest. It tore of roofs, trees, fences, and damaged houses, schools, WalMart and some businesses. Power was out to about half the town, too.

Johnny called me from his school to tell me that their parking lot had flooded and the water was about to reach the doors to his car. He was able to move his car to higher ground, although some of his classmates with lowered cars weren't so lucky and the floors of their cars were filled with water. He said they stayed in their building with the power off for quite some time and that the hail pounding the steel roof of the building was pretty deafening.

After the worst of it passed, we stayed in the building I work in through a few more tornado warnings and finally went home at 3:30 (the University of Wyoming, where I work, was cancelled for the day at that point but open for shelter) when the warnings were reduced to tornado watch. After that, it rained and stormed some more (Harley really does not like thunder but kitty could care less) and it even snowed last night!

that was our crazy day! Today it's sunny with blue sky and puffy white clouds, although I hear that we're in for some more severe thunderstorms this afternoon and tonight.

You can read an article about the storms and see some pictures HERE and HERE. Also, CNN.com has some crazy footage of the massive tornado that touched down in Colorado.

---------------------------------

In better news, this long weekend Johnny and I are going on a road trip! Our primary goal is to go to Mt. Rushmore, but we're making several stops along the way, some of them being: Carhenge in Nebraska, The Mammoth Site, Wind Caves, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Bear Country USA, Big Thunder Gold Mine, Jewel Cave, and the Oregon Trail (we haven't yet decided where to stop).

stay tuned for a wrap-up of our trip!

2008-05-19T19:59:00.000-06:00

ahhh, wow, it's been a while.

Meghan and I have decided to embark on a project in which we each make lists of 101 things to do, and we have set a goal of completing them in 1 years' time. (I've extended mine to a year and a half, though). One of my goals is to start up this blog again, and so here we are. Nothing like making a list with a little empty check-box next to it to give you some motivation!

So, let's see...my last post was at Thanksgiving! whoops!

It's been a VERY hectic time since then. Here's a short rundown:

On December 9, Johnny celebrated his 23rd birthday. He got a Wii and some games! yay, Wii!

We had to move out of our last apartment because of not very healthy living conditions, and on Christmas day, we moved into our new place! The first thing we brought over was the cat and the Christmas tree. :) Oh, and cinnamon rolls that we'd gotten ready the night before.

In January, I started taking a class at the University of Wyoming. University employees can take one class per semester for free, and I wanted to take advantage of that. I enrolled in a class called Public Archaeology. It was primarily focused on Wyoming Archaeology and was really interesting even though I felt quite of the loop not knowing anything about Wyoming, and with archaeology being fairly new to me, too.

Also in January, Jason (my baby bro) flew out to live with us. He wasn't going to school and was wanting to try living on his own and being someplace different, so we gave him that opportunity. Right away he enrolled in school and got 3 (THREE) jobs. yay!

On February 14 I went to the animal shelter with a friend as she looked for a companion for her dog, and I fell in love with a cute, excitable black dog named Bear. I couldn't stop thinking about him and his fun personality, and then I found out that he might be nearing the end of his stay at the shelter - and this is not a no-kill shelter, so we all know what that means. I convinced Johnny that if he had a good temperment and got along with the cat, that we needed him, and he agreed. I went and picked him up the next day! We renamed him Harley and he's been SUCH a joy ever since! Kitty doesn't like him all that much, but he loves her. He's very smart and quick to please, and we started teaching him flyball.

At the end of February I flew to San Francisco and met my mom. I interviewed at two graduate schools and we went sightseeing in the area. It was REALLY fun. I highly suggest taking a vacation to San Francisco. We went to a farmer's market, walked along the beach, stayed in a funky motel, rode a trolley, saw Alcatraz (from afar) and Fisherman's Wharf, went to Ghiradelli's for coffee and dessert, rode the subway, attempted to see seals (it was too windy), saw the Golden Gate Bridge, wandered through Golden Gate Park, and oh, gosh, I forget what else! It was a great vacation.

During Spring Break, Josh came to visit, and he stayed for a week. While he was here, we drove to Colorado Springs to visit our Aunt Sherry and Connor for the day. They took us to the Garden of Gods and to lunch, and we hung out at her awesomely remodeled house.

Also, at the end of the month I found out I got accepted to two awesome graduate schools, one in San Francisco and one in Seattle.

In April Johnny and I went to Cheyenne to stay at a historic mansion-turned-bed and breakfast and to see the Cheyenne Symphony play Eagles hits! It was a really fun getaway.

In April I also finally decided on going to school in Seattle after a very long and stressful debate. We decided that Seattle would be better because all our friends and close family are there, we like the city, and Johnny can start getting noticed in his field. The cost of living between the two cities certainly played into our decision, too.

Now it's May. Jason finished his courses this semester and took on a full time job at Safeway. He's got a few friends and he keeps really busy. Johnny's usually either at school or work, but now that it's nice out we can get out and about more. I haven't been up to too much, working a lot at work, sewing some projects and creating my list of 101 things to do in the next year and a half. I've also been actively planning Johnny's and my upcoming road trips: Mt. Rushmore (and more) over Memorial Day weekend, and camping in Yellowstone for a week at the end of June.

That's the update, I guess. I'll leave you all with the rest of my list of 101 things to do over the next year and a half:

101 project: you can see my list of 101 things to do on the right of this journal

well that's all!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Ah, once again, long time no post! :)

My new job is great! I just started at the Office of General Counsel at the University of Wyoming last week. I've been learning a lot about the legal process and my coworkers are all really fun and good at teaching me all sorts of things. In fact, I'm not really sure I can talk much about it! Lawyer-client privileges and all. :)

here's the building I work in, Old Main.

the entrance to my office

my desk! come visit!

For Thanksgiving Johnny and I drove down to Pueblo, CO to see Meghan and Nick and stay with Nick's family! OH gosh it was SO fun! We had a blast. We stayed Wednesday night, then Thanksgiving and Friday. Saturday we met up with Aunt Sherry and Connor for lunch! I have a few pictures from our Thanksgiving adventure. We decorated Nick's family's Christmas tree, too, which really reminded me of decorating our tree, with all sorts of 25+ year old ornaments, elementary school projects, etc. :) We played lots of Wii, watched lots of Project Runway, knit a lot, and ate a lot! And shopped a lot! haha. :) It was definitely a fun time, Nick's family is GREAT! And they even invited us back! :P

On the way there, about in Loveland, CO, literally THOUSANDS of birds flew across the sky. It was like a never ending stream of birds!

the sunset

Johnny, me, Becky, Meghan and Nick. Becky is Nick's younger sister. Missing are their parents, Becky's twin brother (twins are the best!) and their oldest sister.

Johnny and I.

On the way home, Pike's Peak (I think)

Castle Rock

when we were almost home, the moon came up over the mountains. It was HUGE and AMAZING!

almost home

my friend Lauren and one of her dogs, Tess. Lauren and her fiance Matt watched kitty while we were gone, so we bought them little matching sweaters for their doggies to say thanks. Cute huh?!?

Today I went shopping for Christmas ornaments and while we were planning on doing a multi-colored tree, I found all these great green and gold ornaments at the dollar store, so I decided to go with a new theme. I ended up finding a few finishing touches at WalMart and Kmart, but almost all of the ornaments are from the dollar store. I'm so proud, haha. :) I think it looks *really* great!

well, that's about it. We're watching a movie tonight, gotta go!

2007-11-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

Nothing too eventful has been going on around here. Calm weather and nothing crazy happening, I guess that's a good thing.

The gala at work is over, and now they are gearing up for their Festival of Trees event. I am helping to design and decorate the governor's tree, which is pretty exciting! I won't be working at the museum anymore when it comes time to actually decorate the trees and hold the event, but I'm going back to volunteer, so I'll post a picture of "my tree", as I'm calling it, later on! (it's not until November 29th!)

Yesterday Johnny had a day off work (his first weekend-day off work since we moved here!!! aka the first day we could hang out together!!!) and so we drove to Fort Collins and Loveland, CO. We met up with the guy who sold us the Honda Accord, and he gave us snow tires for the car, horray! We wandered around some outlet stores and I bought a few clothes for my new job. I got a pair of Nine West heels, retail $75, for $15! sweet!

I've been cracking down on studying for the GRE this past week, too. I've become more motivated since I have finally received confirmation from 3 people that they will write me letters of recommendation for graduate school. :) A lot of the studying for the GRE is brushing up on middle school math skills and memorizing some very abstract vocabulary, and but the bulk of the studying revolves around learning HOW to take the GRE, and what to look for in questions and in possible answers. I've bought a study book that is very enlightening in this area. I am a bit worried I'll be thrown off because it is a computer test, you only get scratch paper to work out problems, and once you have submitted an answer you cannot go back and change it. Also, you don't get to use a calculator! oh, the horrors!! At any rate, the test is Thursday so we'll see how it goes!

Meghan and Nick arrive in Denver this week, and we are going to see them, meet Nick's family, and see Aunt Sherry & co. (haha) for Thanksgiving!!! I'm so excited! It had BETTER not snow!!!

some photos from the past week.....

here's my little wild child

me yeseterday

a going-away present my boss at the art museum gave me (it's from the art museum's store!)

some fabrics that were used for the gala that the art museum gave me. Johnny, the expert of the two of us, says I have enough to make a quilt, so he is going to help me with that.

and........*drumroll* the inspiration for our Christmas tree. We figured, 1.) Christmas trees in Laramie are apparently very sad and defeated looking, and 2.) we have low ceilings with hot pipes running around = fire, so we've decided to do something sort of funky this year, and get a white tree and decorate it with some colorful balls. Should be fun....

well...until next time!

2007-11-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

Long time, no update! :)

This week has been very busy, as the Art Museum prepared for the annual fundraising gala. Friday night my friend Lauren and I worked at the VIP Reception selling raffle tickets for a diamond necklace, and then last night we worked the actual gala! It was really fun, and very hectic, with over 400 people attending. The theme was "Safari".

Here's Lauren and I before the craziness began. (we worked the check-in table and later worked the check-out table, which was even more hectic!!)

the ballroom

tables

Johnny and I (he stopped by for a bit after he got off work)

I bought a raffle ticket for the diamond necklace (but didn't win! :( ) but for each raffle ticket you get a wine glass. I bought one but someone at checkout didn't want his and gave them to me, so now I have four! They were each wrapped in animal print tissue paper, and Atari has claimed them as her hiding places.

I spy a little kitty!

Today I worked some more for the gala, as many people wanted to pick their items up today. There were extra favors, so I was given one! It's a little basket woven with telephone wire by Zulu weavers!

2007-10-28T23:08:00.001-06:00

Tonight Johnny and I carved pumpkins with our friends Lauren and Matt. Here are our creations!!!

mine is an owl on a tree branch. It was supposed to have a moon behind the owl's head but that fell off :( ah well it still looks neat, huh?

here's Johnny's, he printed it offline and then free-handed it onto his pumpkin. I think it looks really good!

This weekend is the UW Art Museum's gala! I bought a dress specifically for the gala, which is safari-themed:

Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures to post here. :)

oh, and the other night I went to take pictures of the full moon, after reading up a lot on how to do it (you use settings that you would use to take photos during the daylight!) I am thinking I might go to the thrift store and see if I can find a cheap telescope to take photos through. They are a bit blurry because my settings weren't quite right, the tripod was moving and the moon itself was moving!

2007-10-24T21:57:00.000-06:00

So, if you didn't know, I was offered a permanent position at the University of Wyoming. The position at the Art Museum is temporary through nearly the end of November (which is sad because I really like it there), and I will then move to the Office of General Counsel at the University of Wyoming. I'm going to be the Senior Office Assistant for the two attorneys and the office in general, occasionally helping with the VP and his assistant. I'm excited because the people are all very nice and welcoming and I'm going to be exposed to a very interesting work environment. I definitely think I'm going to be kept busy and enjoy the position. I hope I can still help out at the Art Museum still, as a volunteer maybe.

Yesterday I made this type of apple pie called Rustic Caramel Apple Tart.

here you go:

It was SO GOOD. I decided I am going to make them for Thanksgiving.

Prep: 20 min + 30+ min chilling
Bake: 25 min

DOUGH
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter
6 1/2 teaspoons cold water
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled tart applies (one large apple does the trick)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

TOPPING
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping, warmed

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water and vanilla, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10 inch circle. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. (I didn't do this, just put it on a non stick baking pan). Combine the filling ingredients;, spoon over pastry to within 2 inches of edges. Fold up edges of pastry over filling, leaving center uncovered. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. Using parchment paper, slide tart onto a wire rack (I just used a spatula since I didn't use the parchment paper). Drizzle with caramel topping. Serve warm.

Yield: 4 servings.

nutrition facts: 1 slice equals 286 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated fat), 31mg cholesterol, 226mg sodium, 44g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 3g protein.

SO GOOD

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we'll be going to visit Aunt Sherry! yay! AND, Meghan and Nick are flying in from Seattle and we're going to have another Thanksgiving with them! WOO!

The best thing about Wyoming: blue skies nearly everyday. LOVE IT!

2007-10-21T23:35:00.000-06:00

Tonight Johnny and I decided to study up on how to take pictures of the night sky and we went out and took a few shots. We just stayed on our street because it was so cold (11 degrees!!). Next weekend we are going to the local park and maybe to the only hill in town to take a few.

2007-10-21T12:27:00.000-06:00

SNOW! It started around 5ish yesterday I think and stopped for a bit overnight and started up again. It's supposed to snow another 5-8 inches tonight!! then clear M-W I believe and more snow???

We got up at 7 to go to the park and take a few pictures. I need to figure out what to do to keep my camera dry. I just put a plastic bag over it and ripped a hole for the lens. haha.

I bought myself some flowers last week for getting a job. haha. :P They sure are pretty though! And they've lasted the whole week, which is a record for me.

this is done by turning the lens while clicking the shutter (Katie (Johnny's cousin for those of you who don't know) taught me that wayyyyyy long ago.

Speaking of the job, it's going pretty well. I'm helping in the museum's administrative department but mostly with the development department with planning the Art Museum's fundraising gala. It's a black tie event and over 400 people are going to be coming! I'm pretty excited for it.

well, I think I'll go take some more pictures outside, stay tuned!

2007-10-15T16:57:00.000-06:00

well everyone, I got a job at the University of Wyoming Art Museum! I'm helping their development director and museum director coordinate their major fundraising gala, which is November 3rd. So the position only lasts until Thanksgiving (after the gala we have to write thank you cards) but it's something! I'm pretty excited for it!

check it out: http://www.uwyo.edu/ArtMuseum/

2007-10-14T21:47:00.000-06:00

Spicy Chicken Tenders

If you don't like hot/spicy/thai-like flavors, then this is not for you.

1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/2 pound chicken tenderloins

In a small bowl, combine water and seasonings; brush over both sides of chicken tenders. Place in a large resealable plastic bag; seal bag and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Place chicken on a broiler pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Broil 3-4 inches from the heat for 3 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. (ours took quite a bit longer to cook, more like 20 minutes. I dunno where the magazine got their time from!). Yield: 2 servings

We also made rice to go with it.

the spices, all mixed up. whew you can feel the heat!

prepping

2007-10-14T08:20:00.000-06:00

SNOW!!!

Johnny and I were watching the Denver news this morning and it's snowing there, so just before Johnny was about to leave for work, I decided to peek out the window and see if it was snowing, and it is!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!

I think Wyoming has the strangest weather, because Friday it was sunny and 70. lol!

Anyways, that's my update for the morning. I made Johnny take my car just in case...although it seems like it's going to melt as the day goes on.

Yesterday my friend Lauren and I went to Fort Collins. She got a tattoo so I was her support, haha. Then we went to Chipotle, YAY! I also picked up some fabrics to make another purse (well, or a few purses haha) and two GRE study prep books and a digital photography book. We endured thunder and lightning the whole time we were there and on the way back to Laramie, it really sucked and it was quite scary. A few times the lightning struck right above or in front of us! It was difficult to see the road at times and we had to slow down considerably. Also, the roads in Fort Collins quickly flooded along the sides of the roads, it was pretty amazing!

The digital photography book is awesome! I totally want to spend all day reading it and not studying for the GRE...but I need to study for the GRE....The recommended studying time is 4-12 weeks, and my test is in 4 weeks...haha.

fabrics...

that is all!

OH! I haven't figured out how to reply to your comments yet...does anyone know how?

2007-10-13T00:47:00.001-06:00

OH how could I forget? I was going to post this earlier, but...anyways I made my mom a purse for her birthday! I think it turned out really neat, here it is..

and while I'm remembering things I forgot in the last post, here is Atari enjoying some Alpaca fur gloves I bought here in Laramie from a local vendor

ummmmmmm yep. She's crazy. :P

2007-10-13T00:21:00.000-06:00

ah, my parents say it's time for an update. :P

OH! First, I changed the settings so that ANYONE can comment now. You don't need to be a member of this website. yay! (I'm expecting comments now...)

Not much has been going on, Johnny has been working and going to school full time, so he is pretty much a ghost around here. They finally got out of the classroom and into the shop to work on real cars, so he says it's easier to stay awake now (you'd be falling asleep after 8 hours of lecture, too! Especially from 4:30pm-2am!).

I've interviewed for several jobs and to my immense disappointment have not gotten one yet. Apparently possible employers "admire my education and enthusiasm but have hired someone with more experience". That's what most of my lovely rejection letters say. This was an especially good week, I got 3! oh wait, no I got 4! It's almost comical by this point. But I'm still hopeful. I had an interview today and I have another Monday. I submitted a few more applications so we'll see if anything turns up...

In other news, I have been working on my graduate school application. You all better go knock on wood for me RIGHT NOW. I'm really hoping to get into the University of Washington Museology Master's degree program...now cross your fingers now that you've knocked on wood! I want my application to stand out and really show why I want to be there, so it has been quite stressful. I am also signed up to take the GREs in mid-November...I'm not really looking forward to that.

OH and the other big news is that Johnny and I are going to be famous! Our photographers submitted some of our wedding photos to Seattle Bride Magazine, and one of our photos was chosen to be part of their "Commitments" section, with includes a photo and a short story about us and our wedding. It will be in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue (I'm not exactly sure when that comes out...) and it will be one of these two pictures:

(the magazine *really* wants to use this one)

or

so keep an eye out early next year!

Also, we had a really good dinner the other night, here is the recipe:

"Flavorful Chicken" (real original...but it really is flavorful!)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika

In a shallow bowl, combine butter and soy sauce; dip chicken on both sides. Place in shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic salt and paprika. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170. Yield: 2 servings

It is *really* good! And I thought of you when I bought that paprika, Hannah. :)

until next time...(with me hopefully bearing better news about a job...)

2007-10-01T22:32:00.000-06:00

Today, or should I say tonight, Johnny started school. We went to a family orientation and bbq on Saturday and saw some of the facilities at Wyotech, but today at 4:30 was Johnny's first day of classes. He doesn't get out of class until 1:45am. :( He is going to try to switch to the day classes soon, though. Originally we thought it would be a good idea for him to be able to work and go to school, but at this rate we'll literally never see each other. Literally.

Johnny in his school uniform. He had to get a haircut (sad tears!) because of very strict rules about appearance.

I made dinner tonight from a cookbook we bought that involve only 4 ingredients each.

Tonight I made cranberry and maple syrup (the real stuff!) chicken with fresh green beans. It's really, really good.

1 cup cranberries + 1/2 cup maple syrup. mix together and pour over grilled chicken. yum.

2007-09-26T22:17:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we made a trip to Fort Collins to do a little shopping. And I promised pictures from our next drive to Fort Collins, and here they are!

Wyoming and Colorado have some neat land formations. There is this really obvious and neat one where you can see where a piece of the land has been pushed up and it basically jutting out of the earth, with the layers of land exposed. It's really neat. It's a very steep incline, and it's just amazing.

This is going through it.

can you see it here??

this is looking at a break in the land

this is viewing the same formation, but on the way back to Laramie from Fort Collins

So....I was super, beyond belief excited to find a ceramics shop here in Laramie that teaches pottery wheel classes, only to find that they recently decided not to offer the classes anymore due to not having enough employees (it was a husband and wife business and the husband got a different job). Anyways, I decided I needed a new hobby. I stopped into a quilting shop to buy some fabric to cover this ugly photo album that I bought for our wedding photos. I had to wait some time while the employee (owner?) helped some other people, and I noticed some flyers about different classes. When it was my turn, I asked about taking a quilting class. She said I needed my own sewing machine and to buy my own supplies, but that the classes were about $8 each. So of course I got all excited, and I researched buying a sewing machine. I found one that I had read good reviews about at Target and on sale, so we got it. WOO! We already made curtains and I made a purse.

here's the sewing machine

and.... my purse!!!!!

In other news, I had a few job interviews. I am supposed to hear back from a hiring person at one job this week about an interview (I did some testing first. I learned I can type 95 words per minute!) and another job is making a decision this week. I'll keep you posted....

Johnny's good. He starts school next Monday!!!

2007-09-22T23:09:00.000-06:00

Wedding pictures are in!!!!

here's the slideshow. You have to download something to see it, but it only takes a second. I tried to upload it to YouTube but their limit is 100 MB and the slideshow is 114! darn! Plus I need to change the type of file it is and I don't know how to do that.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2875946&alb=0

here are the edited pictures on their website: http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=everymoment&gallery_id=843542

and here are 95 or so that I uploaded

2007-09-20T23:06:00.001-06:00

Today was sort of a lazy day. Johnny's stomach hurt pretty bad on account of throwing up all day yesterday, so he was pretty sore. Plus he was super worn out and tired. Poor Johnny. But he's better now. We can't quite figure out what was wrong with him, we have been eating all the same things and I never got sick.

Tonight we made an apple crisp, though! And we discovered that Atari has spots, so I am going to call her my little panther from now on, even though she's grey. (she lost some hair due to a food allergy and once her scabs cleared due to her scratching her skin, we noticed the spots.)

a peek at her spots, awwww my little panther. :P

oh, and Atari and Johnny being cute. :P

2007-09-19T20:34:00.000-06:00

ah, two updates in one day? But why, Jessica, aren't there things to do in Laramie???

well, if there were things to do, I would have rather been doing them today. Instead, I had to wake up at 5:30am to a sick Johnny, take him to work at 7 but then return to get him around 11 after his coworkers made him go home.

It's all been downhill since then. ick. He's pretty much sick to his stomach. I've pretty much been watching tv or going to the grocery store ever since then, while he slept or threw up. great fun. I've trying to force liquids and bread/crackers/jello down him but he's being pretty stubborn. A threat to go to the emergency room set him straight, though, and he suddenly became willing to give the jello another shot.

Here is a photo of him and Atari sleeping earlier. It was beyond cute.

then she turned away after a few photos, haha

Later, she curled up next to him again, but on her side, too, and it was SOOO CUTE. I didn't get it on camera, though. darn!

Anyway, here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day.

2007-09-19T13:35:00.000-06:00

Another update from yours truly.

Well there's two updates to give:

1. Atari has a secret admirer. Well, it's not really a secret considering he comes around to her window every day and pisses her off. And brings her very pretty yellow birds. (picture of said yellow bird - dead - below. You've been warned.)

2. Johnny now has a car. Mom, Dad, Josh, Jason, I think you'll recognize it... some serious deja vu, huh? :) No, we didn't steal the Honda. This one's an automatic. :P

So let's start with the car, since that happened yesterday. We have been looking on craigslist since we got here for a car that would do well out in the snow and get Johnny to and from work and school and the apartment. Johnny's coworkers said that a Honda Accord would do just fine, and when we happened upon this one yesterday, we made an appointment to see it. Where did we travel to, you ask? Denver! It was only a two hour and some odd minute drive, not too bad actually. We went to Chipotle (yum!), a fancy mall called Cherry Creek Shopping Center, where we were greeted by the mall's general manager, then to Target and finally we met the seller and the car. We drove it and talked to the seller a bunch before deciding to get it.

Here are some photos that Johnny took from the drive to Denver.

And second, kitty's admirer. We knew our neighbors had a boy cat named Angus, who is super cute, friendly and fluffy, but he wasn't a problem until we got Atari her cat tree. Now that she can see out the window, Angus has been stopping by and attempting to woo her. Today I ran to Safeway to get Johnny some juice and whatnot (he's sick) and when I returned I saw Angus run around from the front window to the side of the house. Later, I was walking outside to take some pictures of the new car when I saw Angus scurrying from the side of the house to the front yard with a bright yellow bird in his mouth. I'm pretty sure he was on his way to present it to Atari, who was sitting in her cat tree at the window. ha, anyways, he dropped it by a bush and wanted pets from me, which really set Atari off. poor kitty. Here's the birdie. It's really pretty. I didn't get a photo of Angus, he ran away, maybe to find another bird?

So we've decided we should keep Angus away from stressing out our kitty, and we've been researching some cat repellent methods. One is to put orange rinds around the area you want to keep the cat away from. So the orange rinds are currently out in front of the window and we'll see what happens soon. If that doesn't work, there are some organic and safe cat repellents made of fox and coyote urine. Interesting concept that I hadn't heard of before.

So you want a tour of the apartment??

ah yes, the entryway to our beloved basement. The window on the ground is Atari's window.

you see our dining room when you first walk in

our new dining set and vinyl (woo! Target) tablecloth.

looking to the left of the previous picture you see a desk that came with the place (from a previous renter) and sort of our crafts/work area. I was thinking of hanging one of those long mirrors horizontally along this wall to reflect the light in through kitty's window. You can see our living room and the entrance to the kitchen too.

to the left of the previous picture you can see the front doorway

living room! (don't mind Johnny, he's got a cold and is feeling blah)

wooo living room. This is supposed to be a second bedroom but we thought it would be more comfy as a living room.

so from the first room/dining room you enter into the kitchen. You like the curtain-door thing I created at the end of the kitchen? yeah, totally my idea, thanks.

so once you enter into the kichen, to the right is the fridge. It was turned with its back against the wall with the window but we flipped it. I think it opens up more room for the microwave and toaster area

the main part of the kitchen. Now I know you're thinking, "nice countertops!" don't be jealous

the bathroom is directly across from the kitchen sink (kinda weird but whatever)

so at the end of the kitchen and through my amazing curtain-door is a weird little storage room. We keep our shoes in there. Beyond the storage room is the bedroom

so once you enter the weird little storage room and look left you see what we're using as a little pantry area. It works because it's right next to the kitchen

from the entryway to the little storage room and looking right is kitty's area (like my use of curtains again?)

and to the right of that is a dresser filled with sweaters and winter clothes

here are few more pictures of the car and our street. I think it'll be a good little car. Here are the features listed in the craigslist ad:
1995 Honda Accord LX
origial owner
no accidents
138,000 miles
new tires
new windshield
new battery
regular oil changes
non smoker
automatic transmission
air conditioning
cd player
power windows
power locks
snow tires included

well, those are the major updates! It's insured and we have to figure out the title stuff tomorrow (it sounds pretty difficult to get it titled in Washington from here - but do-able - so I think we are just going to title it in Wyoming and then again in WA next year. We'll see. BUT the exciting part is that we have to have the State Patrol dispatch an officer to us to come check it out. rad. :P )

-Jessica

2007-09-16T13:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday marked one week in Wyoming. Things have been pretty good. Atari is thoroughly enjoying her new cat tree and Johnny has started work. I have yet to hear back from any jobs that I applied for, but I applied for most of them last Wednesday or so, so I'm not expecting anything quite yet.

Our apartment has a gas stove, something neither of us have ever used before. I think we're using it correctly...there's really only a nob that says off and then you can adjust the flame higher or lower. Well, the food we have been cooking on it has turned out alright, so I think that's a good sign. :)

I met a friend online, her name is Lauren and she goes to the University of Wyoming. She's not originally from Wyoming and so we're both in the same sort of "what are we doing here??" predicament. We developed a friendship online and then met in person last week and we talked about the town while she taught me how to play cribbage. Yesterday she showed me around the downtown area and told me which restaurants are good and which to stay away from. We discovered a bakery, a bead store, a fabric store, a funky toy store and a ceramics shop. Then we got fruit smoothies at a popular bistro.

Today Johnny and I ran some errands and had planned on going to the park a block away from our apartment to read and hang out, but on our drive home we noticed lightning and thunder and not long after we walked in the door, the rain began pouring and we had a thunderstorm on our hands. And, this isn't even the first thunderstorm in our week here! amazing. It's a good thing we like thunderstorms.

Here are a few photos from today's storm. I'm going to try to figure out a way to take my camera outside so I can get some better pictures next time instead of hiding beneath our stairwell.

hope everyone is doing well.

-Jessica

2007-09-13T19:10:00.000-06:00

hey all -

Today we went to nearby (ok, so nearby out here means over an hour away...) Fort Collins, Colorado to do some shopping that we can't get done elsewhere, even in Cheyenne! We decided next time we go to Fort Collins we will take a camera with us because the country is really beautiful and breathtaking.

We went to Macy's to exchange a knife set we got as a wedding gift because it came with 4 steak knives missing! Luckily they had another in stock and we were able to get that one instead. Then we checked out Target (yayyyy!) and bought a kitchen cart so we have someplace to put our microwave and and other supplies.

And, best of all, we splurged on a cat tree at Petco after checking out a few pet stores and vetoing making our own. Since we moved in, we noticed Atari was looking longingly at the windows, which are near the ceiling because we have a basement apartment. We immediately knew we had to get her a cat tree, and that it had to be 5 ft tall so she could see out the window. So Petco had just what we were looking for (Johnny insisted on the cubby for her to hide in, which she loves) and the tree barely fit in the car. Once we got it home, Atari immediately took to it, wildly climbing all over it and attacking it. She loves it, horray! Money well spent.

Here is Atari enjoying her new perch:

Anyways, now Johnny and I are watching Law and Order and Flip That House while making chocolate peppermint cupcakes. Johnny starts work tomorrow and I am hoping for a callback on some jobs I applied for in the past week.

2007-09-10T21:22:00.000-06:00

well here we are in Wyoming! It took us 3 days of solid driving and enduring the pitiful meows of our kitty, but we made it. We are now unpacked and organizing our things. Yesterday we got our tv and internet package and today we had our living room measured for new carpet. Johnny finds out about his work schedule on Wednesday and I have been applying for jobs left and right. Hopefully something will pop up soon. It sure seems like everyone in town is hiring. I applied to work at the police department (not as an officer), at the city Utilities district office, at Alberstons in the baking department, at the University of Wyoming's Art Museum as an assistant to the director and curator, and at the local cable company's Laramie office. We'll see if anything pans out.

Speaking of the the town....We are at 7,100 feet above sea level, which is very different from sea level! It is actually difficult to get used to the altitude, but we're making do and hopefully will get used to it soon. Laramie has just 27,000 people, most of which I'd say are students at the University of Wyoming (the Cowboys aka the Cowpokes if you wanna know) or Wyotech. At any rate, the town is young. Also, apparently it's about time for it to start snowing out here, and when it snows really bad the freeways close down and Laramie is pretty much an island. greeeeeeeeeeeat.

So what's in Laramie? Let's see...we've got Safeway, Kmart, Albertsons, WalMart, ACE Hardware, quite a few hotels, a bunch of auto parts stores, a host of fast food places, 29 bars, a few thrift stores, and a few car lots. That's pretty much all we know about so far since we haven't really explored, but we have driven around the town and we're pretty sure that's it. haha. But there is for sure NO Target! :(

Yesterday we drove to Cheyenne (about 45 minutes away) and on the way there (through the mountains in the middle of nowhere) we saw a few real cowboys herding cattle with their dog. They were dressed just as you'd imagine cowboys, and it was so neat! I couldn't believe it. In fact, many people around here wear cowboy hats and the like, which is so totally different from Seattle.

Anyways, here are some pictures from the drive over. Once we get new carpet in the living room and a dining table and chairs, I'll take pictures of our apartment to show y'all. For some reason blogspot is cutting the pictures in half because they won't fit on the template I've chosen, I'll try to fix that soon, in the meantime, you can see the pictures here: http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x274/johnnyjessica/

entering the Cascade Mountains

still in the Cascades

leaving the Cascades

Vantage and the Columbia River

Eastern Washington

Idaho I think

Idaho again

Montana

Montana

Rocky Mountains

leaving the Rockies

more mountains in Montana

some intimidating mountains in Montana

still in Montana as it nears evening

Day 3, traveling through Montana still

more Montana

Wyoming tractor graveyard

neat cutout of a mountain in Wyoming

This is for mom. hahahah

ooooo Wheatland - I think we lived there when I was about 3?

apartment pictures to come soon!

- Jessica

welcome

2007-08-07T21:02:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our blog!

You know us, Johnny & Jessica. We are just beginning some of the most excellent adventures of our lives. Here's a short timeline of recent major events and upcoming ones, too!

July 28 - our wedding day!

August 15 - leave for European honeymoon!

August 30 - return from honeymoon

September 1ish (it's iffy) - leave for Laramie, Wyoming for a year!

This is our first major trip together, each of our first trip overseas and our first time living so far away from home, so we know that this next year is going to be packed with all sorts of adventures and new experiences, which we plan on documenting here.

As of right now we are preparing for the wedding of some friends, then trying to get everything ready for our move to Wyoming at the same time as pack for our awesome European honeymoon. We have no jobs in Wyoming as of yet (although Johnny is hoping for a transfer through Schucks) and no apartment, but we're heading out there anyways because Johnny starts school at Wyotech on October 1st!

The purpose of this blog is to record our adventures as well as inform family and friends across the country, but especially in Washington, that we're doing alright and having fun, too. Bookmark it!

-Jessica