Week in Photos: Weeks 28-31

Hello friends! It's been a while since I've done one of these! August is a special month for me, it's the month of the year that I got sober. My sobriety birthday is almost more exciting to me than my real birthday (my belly button birthday) is now. For that reason, I think I'm going to (try to) do a blog post a day for the month of August, starting with this one! I consider August a gratitude month, so in gratitude for you all I will be gifting you with lots of posts, I shall call it BEDA (Blog Every Day in August). Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 9th: These little things have been a long time coming. I swear I have been working on ordering these cards and our new KLEAN brochures for about two months now. From picking the right company to the card texture, colors and card weight, it has been crazy. It's finally a project I can put into the finished bin though. The end result is beautiful, and I have nothing but good things to say about the company we worked hand in hand with, Polk Riley based out of Astoria, OR. This was an entirely new experience for me, but next time I'll step right up to the plate when it comes to designing anything, it was great collaborating with another creative minded individual!

Wednesday, July 10th: In keeping up with the work themed pictures, I was really proud of myself when I cobbled these images together on my office wall (the reason you can only see this little bit of my office is because the rest of the place looks like it was hit by a tornado, serious). It all started with the wooden pelican picture that my dad gave the facility a while back, then I added the lighthouse pictures. I love the way it looks, all of the frames are old knotty weathered wood that give a very good texture to the room! Plus, I always smile when I look at it, and that's what counts, right?

Thursday, July 11th: Before work one day, Ryan and I had to go down to Pier 39 to meet with an internet guy to give him a check for the facility. I hadn't ever done much exploring down in that area other than going to the Rouge Ale House, so I had a few spare minutes to do some poking around while Ryan BS'ed with the dude. Little did I know, it was the old Bumble Bee Tuna factory! There is a museum there and everything, as well as some of the old machinery. They have turned the factory into office space that it filled with a bunch of fun funky businesses, including a coffee shop that sells Key Lime bread. Which I bought. And then devoured. In five minutes.

Friday, July 12th: I think I definitely took for granted before the fact that I had health insurance. After working at Enterprise I was able to get on my mom's policy until I turned 26, but after that I got the boot. I've been without insurance for about 9 months and even that short amount of time is scary. Thankfully, I got my own policy at the beginning of June, and I started taking advantage of it right away. My new dentist's office has the best view of any office out there, I swear it! I challenge anyone else to prove me wrong!!

Friday, July 12th: I swear one of the best things to come home to is a box from Amazon. Even better would be if I didn't know what was in it, but alas, I ordered all this myself. It all started when Ryan and I were having a conversation that he had never seen The Sopranos. No man of mine will not be a Sopranos fan, so of course I had to go out and purchase the first season. Well of course when you buy anything from Amazon, if you spend $25 or more, shipping is free. So since the season was only $13, that left plenty of money to spend on... BOOKS! Best day ever.

Monday, July 15th: On Saturday the 13th, my dad came down to Astoria to clean the carpets of our rental and to take our outdoor kitty up to Olympia for a brief period of time while we were moving. We have taken in a cat that was a neighborhood cat I think someone had left when they moved. I have been feeding it (note the "it" since I still haven't been adventurous enough to find out its gender) for about 6 months now and don't have the heart to leave her behind or take her to the pound (I don't think anyone would take her). So this is the message I got from my father on the Monday following her visit to Olympia. I'm not sure the process of committing the elderly, but I'm seriously considering looking in to that.

Saturday, July 20th: In the post previous to this one, you will see that Ryan and I had fallen in love with a house. It had so many things we loved, including this faceplate for the light switch. Ryan's Aunt Lady's spirit animal was an elephant so we took this as a sign that we had to get this house (she was also very into signs). I still haven't given up hope on this house, the elephant is still speaking to me.

Sunday, July 21st: During a Sunday Soprano's marathon, Marley just couldn't be bothered to sleep in the light. He dug his little kitty head deep into the blankets and napped like that for a long time.

Saturday, August 27th: Ryan and I were supposed to be packing our life's possessions on Saturday, but he wanted to take the morning to go golfing. So I slept in a little and boy cat and I read this entire book. It was a delightful way to start the weekend.

Saturday, August 27th: To recognize our last weekend together in our first place, I made Ryan do something we had never done before: Swing on the swings at the park in the back of our house. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling moving out of our house on Bond, it holds a lot of memories from the last year. The park is something we've always looked at out our back window, but have never gone to. Finally, I made us do it. I didn't tell Ryan where we were going, but we just went! We swung for about 10 minutes until Ryan declared his equilibrium was broken and we walked home, but not before snapping this winner.

Sunday, August 28th: We did most of our packing in waves so the cats didn't get very suspicious or freaked out about the whole process. On Sunday, Ryan promised he would pack the kitchen up and this was when boy cat started catching on. Obviously he wanted to help. This was what we were trying to avoid! Without opposable thumbs, it makes Marley very clumsy. Thankfully, we avoided major incident.

Week in Photos: Weeks 25-27

Monday, June 17th: In celebration of my good friend Vern heading out of KLEAN in search of greener pastures, a bunch of our co-workers got together for lunch at the quaint Shelburne Inn in Seaview, WA. This was a first for me, I had been hearing how delightful it was for a long time. This is the oldest continuous hotel in the State of Washington, it was built in the late 1800's. They have a delightful dining room which has a lot of old world charm which included this massive stained glass window.




Wednesday, June 19th: It was a very sad scene seeing a grown man cry. For some reason birthdays really hit Ryan in a weird way. Maybe it's the passing of his youth and realizing how misspent it was, or maybe it's the realization that he is now an adult in his "mid-twenties", I don't know, but this picture pretty accurately depicts how he was feeling on his 26th birthday!

Saturday, June 22nd: The best gift that I ever gave my mother is a canning set for Mother's Day. It was kind of a self serving gift. I knew that if I gave this to her, Ryan and I would reap the benefits of all the new concoctions she would be trying to create. Clearly my moral compass is still kind of wonky. A few months back I passed on a recipe for a habanero jelly I tried a while ago an absolutely loved. In her first batch of jellies, she also made a vanilla rhubarb jelly that is devine. I enjoyed the two samplings with cream cheese and ritz crackers, it was the perfect snack!

Sunday, June 23rd: Everyone knows that we will be moving soon, so the domestic goddess clean every weekend side of me has withered and died. There's no point really. The scene in our bedroom has been one of disorganization and clutter- piles everywhere, like this one that hobo Marley has taken up residence on top of. I'm glad I have come a long way with my OCD so that I can accept this rather than try to fight it- I'm so much happier this way!

Wednesday, June 26th: Unbeknownst to me, the Fort George Brewery was totally remodeling their upstairs and adding more seating and building a pizza oven! We got together with a group of AA buddies to check out their selection and see the new digs- it was fabulous as always. It was pretty neat, the owners used some historic Astoria artifacts in the remodel, the spiral stairs leading up are from the Astoria Column and some of the tables are made out of the wood from the bowling alley when they remodeled it. There are huge windows that overlook the river and ships, it was a wonderful experience!

Thursday, June 27th: We weren't able to be with my mom on Ryan's birthday, so she ended up making a trip down to Astoria to give him some really great Oregon Ducks themed gifts. The cats also got a gift- loads and loads of string to get tied up in. Boy cat is the funniest to watch when something is impeding his progress. I was able to snap this hilarious pic of him in the midst of the struggle.

Friday, June 28th: Periodically, we have some co-workers from our Hollywood KLEAN come up to see how things are running and to lend a hand where needed. Our favorite couple, Chris and Shawna were the lucky two on this go round. A word about them- they were both born and raised in LA, Shawna having never been to the PNW before. I took it on as my personal duty to tour them around Astoria and show them all of the natural beauty. We were able to capture this shot one evening when we were trying to go see the sea lions (THERE WAS ONLY A SINGLE SEA LION THERE! I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A THING!!!). I love the ships and the bridge in the distance, I really do live in a beautiful place.

Saturday, June 29th: Our cats like to eat Ritz crackers. There's not much more to say about that.

Sunday, June 30th: After spending the day with Chris and Shawna down in Cannon Beach, Ryan surprised me for a nice dinner out. Our first choice (The Supper Club) wasn't open on Sunday, so we settled on Baked Alaska. It's (surprisingly) one of the only restaurants on the river in Astoria, but one we don't often think about going to even though it's reasonably priced. We ordered entirely too much food, by the time the soup arrived, I was already stuffed from the appetizers, we basically rolled ourselves home that night.

Monday, July 1st: I don't know what happened on Monday, but I absolutely could not get out of bed to save my life. I had some sort of funky stomach thing going on, so Ryan had to forge ahead to work without me. I worked from home the best I could- with the distraction of Marley in great need of snuggling up (He likes to think he's very helpful).

 Saturday, July 6th: Ryan and I have a weekend breakfast tradition that is slowly starting to form. We have made a point to enjoy this perfect meal as much as we can on our days off. I turn into a Gremlin if I don't have breakfast before 10:00 AM (one of those things I've found out about myself in sobriety... yay!). So this week we hit up the Astoria Coffee House which has delightful Chai Lattes I might add (since I'm off the coffee). They just recently remodeled and added a huge bar which has these delightful heads hanging over it, I'm a fan (and they're wood)!

Saturday, July 6th: The boxes have arrived!! We are less than two weeks away from being homeless (we have yet to close on our house and we have a move out date from the rental as of the 19th... no stress), so we decided it would be a good idea to start packing up to put things in storage. Marley felt the need to be amongst the city of boxes, he made his own little cat castle. All day we were shooing him away from them, or throwing him in the few boxes we had with packing peanuts... that was funny.

A Week in Photo: Weeks 20-23

It's been a while for some photos. I think being so busy and having my mind be consumed by this whole house buying thing has put me in a strange state. I've been slowly compiling pictures over the past few weeks so here's what we've been up to!!

Saturday, May 18th: There are few books that I would spend my precious sleeping hours on. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is one of those books though. Marley and I stayed up late into the night trying to power through this high adrenaline quest! 

Monday, May 20th: Months and months ago, Ryan's mother gifted us this wonderful espresso maker... And we haven't used it once. It works perfectly and there's even a milk steamer! I finally gave in to using it when I was in a major caffeine withdrawal. Every morning now Ryan and I have been drinking espresso shots and saving money not going to our beloved coffee stand on the way to work. Buying a house changes your life folks.

Wednesday, May 22nd: I have been on a huge oatmeal kick lately. Usually I bring my own from home, but on this day, our head chef Vinessa made oatmeal bar!!! It literally was the best day of my life. Fresh strawberries, cranberries and dried coconut topped this bowl of joy, my mouth was happy for hours!

Saturday, May 25th: The Astoria Alano Club is a special place for me. The best way I can describe it is like going to church. For me is a sacred room where I can go and fully be myself without judgement or fear. With its stained yellow shag carpet and Goodwill couches, I can't help but to keep coming back. After 650 days of sobriety, this place still gets me.

Saturday, May 25th: After Ryan and I got our bank approval, we decided to start looking for houses. We sat down over indian food and talked about what our future home must have in order for us to consider putting an offer in. Typical to my first-born-perfectionist-listmaking-self, I made a check off sheet for every house we visited. This was a tip I picked up from the interwebs, because apparently if you see enough homes, they all start to blend together. I took detailed notes, and started crossing houses off the list as we went.

Sunday, May 26th: As I've said before, Sunday's are my days with Ryan. I think it's important as a hard working couple to take at least one day of the weekend (and a couple during the week) where you devote to your mate. We have busy free time schedules so some days it seems like we don't even see each other even though we work at the same place! Sunday's are also Ryan's day to sleep in, so I was able to snap this picture of him and our boy snuggling up for the perfect lazy Sunday day.

Thursday, May 30th: After we went on our house hunting expedition, we found the perfect house (well, it hit the most of our boxes and it was really inspirational). We hemmed and hawed for a few days until we couldn't stand it anymore, so we put in an offer. Our realtor was really great about explaining the huge packet we had to sign, and we felt good about the offer we were submitting. Only once durning the whole process did I have a moment where the voice in my head said, "oh f*ck, oh f*ck, oh f*ck. ABORT!!!" 

Friday, May 31st: This is a warning to all indoor cat owners who leave their kitties with little to no food over a 10 hour period. You will have a kitty tornado on your hands. We came home to this scene, cat food bags littered about the floor, mail strewn everywhere and mayhem ensuing. 

Tuesday, June 4th: The hipster scene has moved to Astoria. Evidence of this is seen outside of my favorite eatery, the Astoria Coffee House. Tuesday nights after my women's meeting, a big group of ladies go out to dinner and the coffee house is usually the spot. The trees obviously need to be wrapped in sweaters to be able to bare the crappy year round weather we endure, and they look so pretty while doing it!

Thursday, June 6th: Today marks the first day of the Goonies Celebration! This year is the 25th anniversary of this life changing movie, and people will be flooding the town to celebrate!! They are trying to get together enough people tonight to do the worlds largest Truffle Shuffle, there will be tours of the Goonies house on Sunday and an 80's music dance off tomorrow evening. Goonies never say die! I know what I'll be watching this weekend!!!

A Week in Photos: Weeks 18 & 19

Monday 4/29: A while back, in thanks for a framed photo we gave Ryan's stepmother Jenny, she sent me this wonderful handmade necklace. After meeting her in Florida and seeing her don a similar design, I thought I would give mine a go.

Wednesday 5/1: After getting back from Florida, before returning the huge suitcase our friend Jenn let us borrow, Marley decided to make a home out of it. I don't know what it is about our cat and suitcases, but they LOVE them! For about a week period, we had another suitcase on our dresser and Peanut would not leave it! But we finally got Marley's hideout back to it's owner, Ryan and I should probably think about getting our boy a kitty house.

Friday 5/3: One of our KLEAN Alum came by to say hello to us and bring in his most amazing dog. Maximus is a Boerboel, basically an African Mastiff. Ever since seeing the first Harry Potter, I have been in love with Mastiffs. I don't know that I would ever be able to have one, too much slobber, but Maximus is one amazing specimen. Such a handsome boy!!

Friday 5/3: My fabulous friend and sponsor Vern had his belly button birthday on the 3rd. For those who aren't in a 12-step program, it basically means he aged another year! Our friend Vinessa baked this fantastic cake which featured a Narwhalicorn. We celebrated with sushi in Seaside!

Friday 5/3: On our way back from sushi, it was pretty hard to miss the Coast Guard helicopter searching the coast line for something in the water. Living in Astoria has some downsides (as I have already mentioned on here numerous times), so it took about two hours for us to find out what was actually going on. Ryan was even trying to listen to the police scanner to no avail. Apparently someone had called in that a 13 year old boy had been skateboarding down by the river and had fallen in. In actuality, a drunk guy saw two kids skateboarding and heard something splash into the water and only one kid run away. He called it in, and thus, this situation ensued. Thankfully, no one actually fell in the water, it was a good display that if something were to actually happen, the Coast Guard would swiftly get into action!

Saturday 5/4: Nothing gets Ryan going more than me finding picture of his "awkward phase" and posting them on the interwebs. And nothing gets me laughing more than doing it. Ryan put on Facebook in response to this photo that he was breaking up with me, which his mother actually believed. Too good. I found this little gem buried deep in a pile of things that came out of the Acura Ryan sold to a buddy, this was a gleaming picture of him at the fine age of 18 when he was having his first college experience. So good.

Saturday 5/4: I have been eying these adirondack chairs for at least a year now. Ever since Ryan and I moved into our little house with a deck, I have been daydreaming about sunbathing on our porch. We acquired a set of ice cream parlor chairs and table about a year back, but the refurbishing process on that came to a halt when it started raining in the fall. Unfortunately I left them out all winter and ruined their new coat of paint and I can't bring myself to want to do it all over again. I'm thinking of just posting them on Craigslist now that I have these beauties. The red is just so happy and pops on our porch, and they are comfortable to boot!

Sunday 5/5: The problem with having indoor kitties is that they get so jealous when you're outside and they can't be! This last weekend in Astoria was probably one of the most beautiful I have seen since living here. It was in the 80's both days and we had the windows flung open throughout the whole house. This toys with our cats emotions though. I was sitting in the aforementioned adirondack chairs right near the window, only to have Peanut meowing and playing with my hair. Such is the life of a house cat. Time to get kitty leashes!

Sunday 5/5: Since it was so nice over the weekend, Ryan and I decided that on our Sunday date day, we would sit out on the porch and BBQ for the first time of the year! I know we probably could have BBQed through the winter under our covered patio, but we aren't that dedicated to the art. Ryan is a steak fanatic, so of course we picked some up at Fred Meyer. And this picture ensued.

Monday 5/6: Our boy cat doesn't like to be picked up. He actually starts making noises like "uuumph ummph" (because we think he has a deviated septum and can't meow like a normal cat). So sometimes, to torment him, we pretend like we're trying to catch a wild animal (which we are). On this fine day, Ryan was running around our room saying he was trying to capture a "kitty-tor". Like that show "To Catch a Predator". It was hilarious and Marley was having none of it.

Friday 5/10: The most exciting thing happened. I was finally able to mooch a book for Ryan! For those of you who don't know, I am a Bookmooch addict. For those who don't know what Bookmooch is, I can do a post on it later, an updated one from this one. Ryan had been wanting the biography of Steve Jobs for a while now, so it was just meant to be when I saw this guy come up! When it arrived, it was in really good condition and a hardback! Boom.

Saturday 5/11: One thing I love to do when I go home to Olympia, is check out the Capitol Campus. I grew up going there while my dad was working and there's something about it that is still magical to me. I have taken Ryan there plenty of times before, but this time I wanted to take him to the heated bench. For those who didn't grow up in Olympia, the heated bench is basically like it sounds, a big wooden bench that has air ducts underneath it that shoot up hot air. Unfortunately, the "heated" part of this equation was no longer working. Still, we were able to walk around the campus seeing all of the war memorials and checking out the colored fountain. I showed Ryan all of the places I used to roller blade when I was younger, and all of the spots I used to play hide and seek. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane!

A Week in Photos: Weeks 15 & 16

I've been in a slump y'all. A picture taking slump and an emotional slump as of late, but I think I'm now on the other side of that. This is going to be an abbreviated two weeks, I think I only have about six photos total. No worries though, I have some big events happening this week, so hopefully I'll be able to step my game up!

Sunday 4/7: Sunday's are the days Ryan and I set aside for each other each week. One day where it's just us, which usually means Pig and Pancake and wandering around Astoria running errands. This Sunday, we made a little trip to Goodwill so I could look at books, and he managed to find these cute little buggers. It was quite the score, they were brand new from Urban Outfitters (the tags were even still on the bottom) and we snagged each for a dollar! I mustache you a question...

Monday 4/8: I introduce you all to the Jesus bus. This strange sight was at Fred Meyer when we were doing errands on Sunday and it was causing quite the scene. We saw it again when we were headed to work on Monday morning, parked on the Washington side of the Astoria bridge. Upon further investigation, I found out that the Jesus bus has been traveling all across the US for the last two years spreading the word of God. What ever floats your boat!

Thursday 4/11: My friend Jen had asked me a while back to help her and another lady of AA out doing some volunteer work at an event called The Lady Liberty Luncheon. It was the first time I have had the opportunity to check out the Liberty Theater. It was amazingly beautiful. This is a photo of the stage and chandelier in the main part of the house.

Thursday 4/11: Again, this is a picture of the Liberty Theater in Astoria, OR. This chandelier hangs from the ballroom where the event I was volunteering at was being held. The architecture and features of this building are amazing considering it's in the small town of Astoria. Color me impressed.

Friday 4/12: I don't know where the Instagram version of this photo went on my phone, but this is a picture of the event I was at. The Daily Astorian, the local paper in town, was also in attendance and snapped this picture that made the front page!! It was the first time I've ever made the front page of any newspaper, it was a pretty exciting day in the life of Erin!

Sunday 4/14: Ryan and I along with our good friends Vern and Jen went down for a night in Eugene. It's only the second time I've been back since moving away in 2010, and it's still as good as I remember it. Vern and I have been talking for a long time about doing something like this so we could do an eating tour of Eugene. For those who haven't been down in this part of the world, I swear this town has the most wonderful restaurants I've ever been to. Of course for breakfast we had to go to the campus classic, Glenwood. Usually there is a 20 minute wait or longer, but we were able to sneak right in! Best. Food. Ever.

Thursday 4/18: Luckily for us, we have a wonderful woman on staff who has her license to cut hair. About once every other week, she volunteers to cut the hair of our clients. Not only does it clean up their looks a little bit, but it makes them feel a lot more confident in their early sobriety. I've had Gina cut my hair before and this time it was Ryan's turn to get his locks lopped. Trying to look fresh for our trip to Florida!!

Saturday 4/20: After a short trip to Portland where I was looking for clothes to wear to Florida, the only thing I was able to find was this fedora. I have officially joined the ranks of "that girl", but after years of not having one, I thought it was about time. I need to shade my pretty little face from the sun anyway when I'm laying out poolside!

Sunday 4/21: In preparation for our upcoming trip to Orlando, I thought it was appropriate to have a Harry Potter marathon. One of my main goals while there is to get myself to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Ever since I first heard about this theme park opening, it's been on my bucket list to get myself there. Dreams do come true!!!!