A Month (+) in Photos

I'm not sure of the dates on most of these photos, but I can guarantee these are from the last month. I'll work on getting back to my glory days of knowing dates and being more timely about updating soon. Anti-anxiety medication, here I come!!

July: In the days before we moved, the cats were getting real freaked out. All of their play toys had disappeared as well as the furniture. I think they thought they were getting left. In the whirlwind move (3 days total), we had given our cat carrier to my dad to take our outdoor kitty to Olympia with him, not thinking about how we were going to get our two feisty felines over to the new house. It involved me and Ryan trying to shove them both into a moving box (I swear we are against animal cruelty) and it ended up with both of us wearing some ferocious scratches. Now that we're all settled into our new place, I think the cats are a lot happier, the setting is much more peaceful and there are many deer for them to lust after.

August: A couple weeks after the move, my mom had some time off from work and she decided to come down to Astoria for a weekend! My brother, Ryan and I collaborated on getting my mom a birthday gift of pottery classes, and she has been gracing us with new bowls ever since. She saw an example of a bowl that was selling for $75 in the magazine Real Simple and she decided to replicate it (I tried finding the article, no such luck). It's an adorable little bowl with a white bird perched on the side, we haven't decided what to put in it yet, so it sits proudly displayed on a shelf in our kitchen.

August: As part of my mom's trip down, we decided to make a stop in Portland. It had been quite a while since I had done any major shopping and I had a few major things I needed to get. While we were there, I took my mom to Montage for the first time ever where we chomped down on some Spold (for those of you who don't know what that is, I'm sorry, you're really missing out. It's Spicy and Old fashioned style macaroni, thus Spold. It's to die for). It had been a long time since I had been there, they changed their handwritten menus! I was bummed, but it was wonderful none the less.

August: In a previous post, I talked about our little book nook. I'm not the only member of the family that has been enjoying it. Peanut gets to get acquainted with the neighborhood felines and Marley gets to act like he is the king of the castle on his throne. We finally go the light above it to work, so I am very much looking forward to using that this coming fall.

August: Ryan and I still haven't unpacked most of our belongings. I think this move was pretty taxing on both of us, I still haven't gotten back into the groove since. Also, I think we lack a lot of shelving (in our old house, it was all built in) and I haven't quite decided what I want to purchase yet (well I have, but they're $649 from Pottery Barn). I have been able to unpack just enough boxes to make this beautiful little corner in our bedroom though. I love everything about it, it looks like something straight out of Pinterest.

August: Now that I've lived in Astoria for two years, I know that there is no such thing as summer. You have sunny 62 degree days. It's nearly impossible for it to get any warmer than that (I'll save the rest of this rant for another day). This was one of those sunny cold days that Ryan and I ended up getting off a couple of hours early. I'm not much of a golfer but I can appreciate that Ryan loves it. For that reason, I will sometimes go out golfing with him and either ride or walk along. There's a 9 hole course in Gearhart called Highlands that I actually really enjoy because I can day dream about the beach houses along the course that I hope to one day own. The course is very scenic, this dock extends all the way from the course to the beach.

August: While we were at the course, I wanted to get a picture of the two of us since it had been a while that we had one together. We had a really good time!

August: The whole family in the book nook (Ryan was taking the picture).

August: The beauty of working in a treatment center is that I get to help people through the same difficulties I had in early sobriety. For those like me, I looked at every single problem I had all at once and it became overwhelming really quick. There was a client we had that I have become close with and he is much like me, a worst case scenario-ist. What I have learned over time and through some personal growth is this: "How do you eat an elephant?" Answer: "One bite at a time." I would always have to remind the client this. That you can't handle large tasks all at once and that you have to take it little by little. To show his appreciation, he purchased me this keychain elephant, I loved it.

August: For a long time now I have been putting off going to the dentist, the doctor, everything, for fear what I might find out. I finally bit the bullet and scheduled myself for a teeth cleaning. I found out something I had been thinking for a really long time; I'm a teeth grinder and clencher. After seeing an episode of Sex in the City where Miranda finds out she has TMJ, I was convinced that's what I had. That's not the case though, it's more that when I sleep, I can't help but clamping my jaw together really, REALLY hard. To where it's really painful in the morning and I get headaches throughout the day from it. Finally I got myself this little baby, a night guard. I feel the epitome of cool, I'll tell you that much, but man, she helps so much.

August: Ever since we moved into our new house, Marley has become even more water snobby and will only now drink fresh shower water. It used to be the running sink water would suffice for his highness, but not anymore. At any given time, Marley will herd you into the bathroom and just expect that you are going to run the shower for him. He's also to the point now where he will pop his head in if you are in taking a shower. Ryan said when he first got him, Marley would come into shower with him and Ryan would sing this song:

"Mister Marley-kins McGillicutty lived down by the sea,
And every single day he would pick an apple tree, 
No he didn't know his name and he didn't know his way,
But every single day he would go down by the bay"

I don't know who is more insane, Marley or Ryan.

August 27th, 2013: Not only did I celebrate my 2 years of sobriety on this day, but Ryan also quit smoking. It was truly a day to revere. Ryan had quit smoking about a year and a half prior, but had a slow relapse when he started smoking cigars, then hooka and finally cigarettes when we first opened the facility. It took him about 7 months to come around to the idea of quitting again. Already he's seeing the benefits- both physically and to his wallet. I am one happy lady, not having to kiss an ashtray everyday is wonderful.

August 27th, 2013: I know I didn't upload this photo, but one of my best sober friends Allison put this up on my two years. She's one of the girls I went through the Rosebriar with, and I absolutely adore her. She lives down in LA so we don't get to see or talk to each other as often as I would like, but every time we talk, it's like no time has passed. Two years is a big accomplishment for me, considering in the past I could barely go a couple of days without wondering when I was drinking next. I owe a lot to the people I surround myself with and the changes I have made in my life to get here.

August: As an early birthday present to myself, I ordered the J. Crew necklace I have been eying FOREVER. I really liked the red version of this, but the white is a close second. I'm trying to slowly compile some nice statement necklaces, this is the first of my collection! I'm in love.

August: Ryan and I are Duck's season ticket holders now. It's still crazy trying to wrap my head around that. It was such a surreal experience being back in Autzen after three seasons of not seeing a game there. For the first game of the year against Nichols State, Ryan and I had the opportunity to sit with some friends in the second row, it was pretty damn sweet, especially when the plays were happening right in front of us. I can't lie, I may or may not have started tearing up a little when I first saw the players run out of the tunnel on to the field with the Duck and the guy that rides the motorcycle. It was AWESOME!!!

August: Ryan and I had to take the obligatory picture in front of Autzen. It's one of my favorite sights in the whole world and it's the first one I have been able to snag with my boy.

August: August: I think the goal here was to try to snap a pic with the stadium/field behind us, which obviously was a pretty epic fail, but none the less, here's another picture of me and my boy all ducked up!

September 10, 2013: I'm the first person to admit that I'm not a girly girl. I do love fashion and I try to make my hair and makeup as presentable as possible, but I'm not huge into nail polish, jewelry, so on and so forth. To my memory I have not purchased myself nail polish. In my entire life. So because I watch a lot of beauty gurus on YouTube and because I look at Pinterest a lot, I've been believing more and more that I want to get into painting at least my toes. For an early birthday to myself I picked up Essie's Peach Daiquiri. This first time turned out to be a total disaster, I'm still learning how much paint to load on the brush so it doesn't look totally gloppy and ick. I'm a work in lady progress.

September 12, 2013: One of my favorite gifts this year for my birthday is this delightful Oregon tote. From the minute I laid eyes on it, I knew I had to have it. It's now my daily computer tote to and from work, it's the best!

September 13, 2013: Sometimes, it's just one of those days. This Friday for Ryan could be classified under that category. The second we got home from work, this is how I found him. With our census (number of residents) growing, it's becoming increasingly busy for all of us, Ryan especially since he is Intake and he works with clients insurance companies for all of our facilities. He's one busy, busy man.

September 14, 2013: We woke up pretty early to get down to Eugene for the Tennessee game. Thankfully we stayed in Portland the night before so it wasn't a 6:00 AM drive, but still, 8:00 AM on a Saturday isn't great. The only thing that really helped us through is the wonderful decision we made to start drinking Redbull at that time. My sponsor saw this photo and his comment was, "I didn't know two people could make Redbull look so fun!"

September 14, 2013: Finally Ryan and I got the opportunity to watch the game from our seats. Autzen is a pretty small stadium, so even though we are basically up at the top, the view is wonderful. We actually really love our seats, we're thinking for next year, instead of paying the extra "donation fee" to move closer to the field, that we would purchase four tickets so that we could instead bring family and friends with us to the games!

September: Even before it was officially fall, fall was here in Astoria. I had an opportunity to wear my gorgeous new Hunter Boots (that Ryan got me for my birthday) and my Handsome Devil Boston Terrier sweatshirt (that my mom got me for my birthday). I have been wanting both of these items for as long as I can remember (well at least a year). I was so proud of my outfit that I had to have Ryan take a picture of me wearing it.

September: On our most recent trip to Eugene, we stopped in Portland at New Seasons (my second favorite grocery store of all time) and I acquired the most delicious licorice of all time. I found this stuff back in my Enterprise days (when a customer had left a bag in a returned car) and I have been in love ever since. I find though that when I start eating this stuff, I can't stop myself at just one piece. It's just so damn delicious!! For those of you who are licorice fans, I would highly recommend getting yourself some of this heavenly treat.

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.

Week in Photos: Week 24

What a great week Ryan and I have had! Between doing an early birthday celebration with his family in Chelan and Father's Day, I've got some fabulous photos to share!

Saturday, June 8th: I have been waiting to read the book Let the Right One In for a long time now. It's an adult horror/vampire novel written by a Swedish author. I've heard that it was the next best adult vampire book since Dracula. So far so good. The best thing that happened though was Peanut meeting this book. One night as I was doing some casual reading and YouTubing, I look over and Peanut is biting the vampire book. So ironic. I just had to snap a pic.

Tuesday, June 11th: A while back, I discovered a recipe for a pasta dish Ryan fondly refers to as "God Pasta". It doesn't have any meat in it, so I was totally blown away when Ryan absolutely loved it. He's the kind of guy that says if dinner doesn't have some kind of meat product, it's not worth eating. It's been a long time since I've cooked at home- Ryan and I now just eat at the treatment facility for every meal, so this was a special event. With it being a special event, I found occasion for busting out this little kitties when measuring out the olive oil. I got these as a stocking stuffer from Ryan's mom Dian and I think they are so adorable! Makes the whole dinner process so much happier!

Thursday, June 13th: We've been having some really glorious weather in the Long Beach/Astoria area lately. On Thursday, as a parting gift before a three day weekend for myself and Ryan, I took the ladies of KLEAN on a beach walk. I couldn't have asked for a sunnier day! On the way back, I even got to stop and pick some wild beach strawberries, so delicious!

Friday, June 14th: As one of Ryan's birthday week requests, he wanted me to come to Bear Mountain with him while he golfed. This is a fabulous course in Chelan that originally started as a private course (ranging from about $150-250 a round) which since has opened its doors to the public. He's golfed it a few times before and I have been absent on all of those occasions. So he made an 8:30 AM tee time, I got myself some coffee and off we went! It was a breathtaking course with views of the lake and entire city.

Friday, June 14th: I was clearly very engaged with what Ryan was doing on the course. The butterflies totally had my entire attention. There were a few occasions when Ryan hit some really amazing shots that I didn't see at all because I was otherwise engaged. Poor man.

Saturday, June 15th: It had been a number of years since I last ventured up to Blueberry Hills in Mason, WA. Ryan and I were here back in the summer of 2009, right after I graduated college. This time was an entirely different experience, the views and smells were stunning. The whole place is surrounded by lavender which for me is a favorite.

Saturday, June 15th: One of the best things about Blueberry Hills is that they have you-pick berries during the spring and summer months. Typically people only go there for blueberries, thus the name, but they weren't quite ready yet, so therefore, we got strawberries instead! Even though Ryan grew up in Chelan, he had never picked fresh berries before! It was a delightful treat for us to chomp on some fresh strawberries and get a chance to get out in the sunshine!

Saturday, June 15th: Every year, I try to top my birthday presents from the previous year. I love giving gifts. I love giving thoughtful gifts actually. Something I know the person is going to truly love. So for Ryan this year, I had my eye on some concert tickets, City and Colour to be exact. Ryan loves Dallas Green so I knew this would be the perfect gift. Only problem was that Dallas wasn't coming to Seattle or Portland. The closest venues to us were Oakland or Vegas. I threw both ideas around in my head and finally settled on asking Ryan's mom if she would pay for us to fly down to San Francisco and stay there with them on their annual California trip... and she went for it! So in October of this year, we will be having a wonderful time in the Bay Area all thanks to Ryan for having a birthday!

Sunday, June 16th: Not only did I get to see my dad on Father's Day, but my oldest kitty Gina. We've had her for almost as long as I can remember. She's this wonderful little six toed kitty that has somehow managed to defy all odds and become the last standing Briggs kitty. I wanted to take a snapshot of her to have just in case something were to happen to her- she is almost 17 after all! I'm a cat person through and through.