Millenium park

Casey and I spent the day in chicago going to the art Institute. We
had dinner with my old roomate from Seattle, sara. It was a good day!

Chicago

Ashlee is on her way downtown.

My beautiful sleeping babie

House hunting.

This was the driveway at a house we looked at in Alabama this weekend.
I don't don't understand why its been on the market so long.

Classy baby gear

Would ashlee let our babie wear this?

Birthday surprise

My baby surprised me on my birthday with tickets to see liz phair. She
was playing her entire album "exile in guyville" which is my favorite
record. It was a great concert. I love my baby for being so thoughtful.

Tootsies

I was up in nashville this week working on regionalizing the 87
manual. I stopped by tootsies bar for a beverage after work and saw
some live music. Every bar I past on the way had an amazing band
playing.

Basement babies

This is the basement babie that was in the ceiling at my parents house!

Moving On

For those of you who haven't heard we are moving to Birmingham, Alabama, and we leave Seattle in two days to drive across country. I am sitting here in our empty apartment and reflecting on leaving Seattle and what it will be like to be back in the city that I spent 4 years during college. Casey and I started our married life off in Seattle so I think it will always have a special place in my heart because of that. Most of you know that I moved out here for my job for a year in 2005 and that's when I met Casey. At that point I knew that I would only be here for a year and I tried to take advantage of living in a new place, but I never really felt like I had to commit to Seattle. Even after we found out that we were moving back here for a new job for him after our wedding, I never really thought about what it would be like to live here permanatly. I was so focused on the wedding and getting married, I never really thought that about how life would be once we moved back. 

First, here are my top 5 reasons why I have enjoyed living in Seattle. 

5.  Mountains! Mountains! Mountains! On a clear day on our drive into work, Mt. Rainier seems to tower over the city and it truly takes my breath away every day that I see it. It never seems commonplace to see such majesty!  On that same day, I might be able to look to my right and see the Olympic Mountain range and then glance to my left to see the Cascades. Awesome!

4. Seattle Casual Cool. It's nice to live in a place where you don't really  have to get dressed up a lot. Coming from the South and Samford, where we dressed up to go to class, it is nice to not worry as much about what you look like. Don't worry, I still wear make up and dress nicely. This can also be a negative as well, b/c there are always people who take it too far and look like slobs. 

3. Coffee. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but if I was, I think I would appreciate all of the coffee mecca that Seattle is I do like to go to coffee shops, but I just get Chai Tea. No matter how you feel about Starbucks, you can't deny that it has made this city what it is today. 

2. Public Transportation: Although there are days that I have cursed riding the bus, it has been a blessing for us to be able to live in a place with one car to save money. Public transportation is also on my negatives as well! Stay tuned.

1 Mars Hill Church. The  saddest thing about us leaving is having to leave our church. The teaching, worship and people have really helped us grow these past 2 years. Mark Driscoll is truly one of the best teachers that I have ever heard and while people listen to his sermons all around the world it has been wonderful to hear him live so many Sundays. More importantly, we were able to serve in the hospitality ministry of the church and it has been awesome to think that we have had a small part in what Jesus is doing in Seattle. Let me tell you, it is a lot! Check out the website at www.marshillchurch.org and listen.

Ok the Top 5 reasons why I will not miss Seattle on most days. 

5. Extreme cost of living. While Seattle is not quite up to California prices for real estate, it's not far behind. The average cost of a house in King County is $420,000 and that will only get you a little cottage. Condos and townhouses are cheaper, but the cheapest Condos start about $250,000. It will be nice to live in a place where we can afford a house. 

4. Constant talk of politics and ideologies. Maybe it was just because it was an election year, but people always want to engage in political conversations. I was brought up that you just don't talk about those things, unless you are with close friends and family or you know someone agrees with your position. It didn't help that most of my opinions where the opposite of what people where saying. I am so glad the election will be over soon and that I can talk with people about much more important things than politics. 

3.Protesters. Seattle is a town with all kinds of people and many of them seem to not have jobs and always want to be protesting or marching in honor of some stupid cause. Well, I guess it's not stupid to them, but whatever. There were these old hippies that lived in a really wealthy area of the city and every Tuesday and Thursday they would  be out on a pedestrian bridge over a well traveled highway with signs against the war, Bush and anything else they felt was wrong with the world. They totally have the right to do that, but it just irritated me that they didn't have to work and can spend their time making signs similar to the ones I made for football games in high school!

2. The bus. Most of you know that we sold Casey's truck shortly after we got married to pay off bills and become a one car couple. In retrospect, it was a very smart move as we watched gas prices soar over the past year. On most days Casey would drop me off from work and pick me up, but I spent a good amount of time riding the bus. I never seemed to mind public transportation in Europe, it was actually thrilling and fun at times and it was the only option to get around, so I had to use it. There was something about being in America and not having the freedom of my car that really got to me sometimes. This feeling became stronger when I would have to deal with smelly or mentally disturbed people on the bus. It didn't happen often, b/c most of the riders where professionals, but there were days when I just wanted to scream and run off the bus. Our carbon footprint was definitely lower for 2 years, but I can't say that I would trade that for the freedom of having MY OWN CAR!!!

1. Rain rain go away. You never get used to it. People that say they do are lying. For me it wasn't even the rain so much as the gray, day after day. January and February were the worst. Most people are surprised to know that Seattle doesn't get that cold. Usually the coldest it gets is in the 40s, but I would rather have it 20 and sunny. I always tell people that when it's beautiful outside, Seattle is a sight to behold, but when it's gray and rainy for 2 weeks in a row, it loses it's magic real fast. 

Seattle will always be special to both Casey and I because it's where we met and spent our first years as husband and wife, but I am hopeful about the future and moving on. 

 

CT goes to the hospital

CT has been sick. Last week her eyes started to look red. But this morning her right eye was completely popped out of her head and bright red. It looked like a maraschino cherry, the kind you get on an ice cream sunday, where the cherry skin is all wrinkled. She was scratching her eye with her little claws and could not close her eye when she slept. It was the saddest thing i've ever seen. I rushed her to the vet this afternoon, and the prognosis was not good. She might have a brain tumor, or blunt force head trauma. The vet gave her some eye drops and some medicine. And just a few hours later, the swelling went down and she is looking like she is going to make a full recovery. Ashlee and I were completely amazed that she got better so fast. It just goes to show you that this little hamster (all 23 grams) has a whole lot of moxie.

Victoria

Ashlee and I went on the Clipper to Victoria last weekend. Here is our hotel, the Fairmont Empress.

Here we are in front of the Parliament building. Canada is a constitutional monarchy. Just ask Ashlee, she has a history minor.

We decieded to dine at a Irish pub that was located in a historic building designed by the same guy who built the Empress Fairmont hotel. While you can't tell from this picture, we had some of the best halibut fish and chips ever!

Later I was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Here ashlee is pictured bailing me out.

We had high tea at our hotel. High tea is just an excuse to have a mid-afternoon snack.

Ready for Game Day!

We have had Jonah now for almost two months and have had so much fun getting to know him. He is really a sweet little dog and he just loves to cuddle and be loved on. So far I've resisted the urge to dress him up. I just didn't want him to be to be too prissy.  We were at Target the other day and I just couldn't pass up this $1 football jersey. As you can tell from this picture, Jonah wasn't very happy! I have since tried to put it back on it him, but he just freezes up and looks miserable. Oh well! 

D.C. Trip

This is the Treasurey Department.

1600 Pennslyvania Ave. will soon have a new occupant. There is no telling what will happen on Nov. 4!

I was so excited to see the new WWII monument. These pictures don't do it justice. There are hanging wreaths dedicated to every state along the outside of the monument and in the middle there is a huge pool and fountain. It's beautiful! I would suggest seeing it at night for the full effect.

No matter where I live I will always be a TN girl!

Julie is from the great state of Kansas!

Me and Jules walking toward the Lincoln Memorial

Honest Abe

Apparently, the new way to see D.C. is by Segway?

At the end of July I (Ashlee) went to D.C. for a fundraising conference with my work. Even though I've been several times before, this was the first time I was actually able to stay in D.C., rather than in Viriginia. My hotel was in the Georgetown area, which I love. A lot of the embassies are in and around this area. The old brownstone row houses are beautiful and it's fun to imagine all of the special meetings between dignataries and elected officials that might have taken place over the years behind their walls. The best part about the trip was getting to hang out with my dear friend Julie, who was one of my roommates in the Czech Republic in 2004-2005. She is in law school and was working for a human rights organization over the summer. We were able to hang out a lot over the 5 days I was there. It was so great to catch up and hear about the awesome work she is doing with refugees. She is going to be a great public interest lawyer!

I never get tired of visiting our nation's capital. I wish that every American would go there and just take in all of the monuments and history that is there. Especially for the majority of people in Seattle, I think it would be good for them to go there and experience how great our country is, despite it's flaws. No, things aren't perfect, but we have so much here to be proud of!

The Newseum

Before leaving for D.C. I had heard that there was a new museum dedicated to news and the media. Being a certified news junkie as well as a journalism major, I really wanted to try and make it to the Newseum! Pretty clever, huh?
It did not disappoint! Anything and everything you want to know about all types of media is on display there. Including a display of pulitzer prize winning photos, newspaper front pages that change daily from all 50 states, lots of interactive displays and a special exhibit about the media's role with the FBI in some of the biggest crimes of the past 100 years. They even had the Unabomber's shack that he lived in on display! There is so much to see so you definitely will need more than just a couple of hours to be able to take it all in.

Jules and I posed with gangsters before heading into the special exhibit on the Media and the FBI!

Great view of the Capitol from the Newseum

Tim Russert's famous whiteboard from the 2000 election. I miss watching him!

This is the radio/tv tower that was on top of one of the WTC Towers

You have to visit the Newseum if you to to D.C.

Lake Eleanor & Grand Park

We decided to take advantage of the fleeting days of summer and go for a hike at Mt. Rainier National Park. Little did we know that because the temperatures were in the 70s that the mesquitos would be out in full force! I had brought and sprayed some bug spray on before we started, but my husband said that he didn't need any. After we were on the hike for about 30 minutes it became evident that we weren't just going to encounter a few bugs here and there. We ended up being barraged by mesquitos for the next 2 hours. So much so that we ended up turning around half way through our hike. Poor Casey was being eaten alive! There were probably 50 bugs surrounding him at any given time. It was crazy! I even ended up with a few bites. I think we will wait for the temperature to drop before we head out on another hike.

Ashlee at Lake Eleanor

Ashlee at Grand Park

Us at Grand Park

Mt. Rainier

Another bear!

This one was on the beach of a geoduck farm was visiting for work. I
had to wait until he moved to get back to my car.

Bacon maple doughnut!

Yes, it was good. It also had a few cap'n crunch-es on it.

Baby beers!

Here are some hops growing in Oregon. Also, why can't you pump your
own gas?

Work

I'm at a soils class. Look its mucky lomey sand!

Also we got a dog.

Montana

This is the bear that we saw at Glacier. It was very big. We went to Whitefish for vacation over the 4th of July weekend. It was just a couple of hours.

We went on the Hidden Lake Hike. Ask Ashlee about what type of footwear to wear on a 3 mile hike over snow. I bet her answer will not be gym shoes.

Here is my bar.

Here is Ashlee coming up the trail.

Lastly, here is the squirrel that bit me.

Savannah and Tybee Island

A few weeks ago I (Ashlee) went home to Ooltewah and we left the next day to go to Tybee Island and Savannah. It was my first time to Savannah and I have always wanted to go to this great Southern city. It was so quaint and similar to what I had imagined. The city is very logically laid out, (unlike Seattle) with 31 squares that feature fountains, statues, and huge trees with moss hanging from the branches.  Tybee beach was very laid back and a lot less crowded than florida beaches. All of the restaurants had a local flavor and we enjoyed eating a lot of shrimp! 

This trip was special because it was the last time that we had time with Mom and Chris before they went to Germany. Our extended family joined us too and we had fun going to the beach and playing scrabble at night. One highlight of the trip was getting to eat at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons!