oh dear.

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

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

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