belatedly . . .

. . . I'll offer my Christmas greeting and best wishes for the new year.

This was my house, all decked out for Christmas:
Last weekend I finally got rid of my little friendly tree. He managed to fill up my apartment and make it very cozy! Unfortunately, the time I spent in Oregon kinda dried him out so he left behind a big mess of needles.
Now I'm left contemplating the collection of things I need to commit to hanging on the wall. I think this is an instance of designer's curse --the "shoemaker's children going unshod," if you will. I make design decisions all day and I can't figure out how to decorate my own apartment!
That's one of the things I'm mulling over my coffee this morning . . .
My plan was to spend some time cozily reading in bed, which didn't quite turn out the way I hoped. I settled in with some reading and my mug of coffee but managed to spill some. Maybe I should be more awake when I handle beverages. I guess if I wasn't awake then, I am now.
Which brings to mind all kinds of other things I should do. So I'll be on my merry way. (I just wanted to say something to acknowledge the new year and a wonderful christmastime.)

you open your hand

The week before Thanksgiving found me tired, busy, and feeling just a tad overwhelmed (I think I just made one of those impossible statements, like trying to top a superlative --"very perfect" things are really, quite simply, "perfect" things. The fact is you're either overwhelmed or you're not!). I was very busy at work, completing a mountain of work only I could do, I was busy with church events that kept me out till at least 11 three out of five days a week . . . and I just needed a break. I tried to get myself to be thankful, collecting so many blessings: a degree finished, a new job, a new city, independence, health, all obvious things when you're trying to stir up some painfully slow and necessary feelings of gratitude.

I sat down and read the psalms. I turned to the later ones, knowing that those seemed to be overflowing with all the thanksgiving that I somehow lacked. Could I borrow just a little of that enthusiasm?

psalm 145.
"the Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made . . . the eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. you open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. the Lord is righteous in all his works and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him . . . he fulfills the desire of those who fear him."

Suddenly I could be thankful. To a God who cared about me. Who answered my prayers.
With a resounding "YES!"
(I told my Bible study group this: I am not used to the yes answers. I'm used to the kind redirection of a father who is so much wiser than his child. The Father does know best.)
I had spent months praying that I would find work, a new job in a place where I could use my gifts for him in the office and in the city and in the church. Where I could pour myself out for all of these things like never before and grow! grow! grow!

And there it was staring me in the face. He gave me those things! What I asked for! Happier than a little kid at Christmas (still tired because of waking up too early to unwrap presents, but there's no time for sleeping.)

And now I could sing, because it wasn't about stuff anymore.

"they shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness . . .
"my mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever."

Forever and ever.

Now that's a superlatively long time.

maravelous, darling.

It's November already?!

Life has been busy, that's for sure. Still working hard at work. I've been been spending my days working on CAD drawings and everything else --getting portfolios up to speed and preparing presentations. I still love it. That fact has taken me by surprise, a little bit. I thought that by now the novelty would have completely worn off and I'd be resentful of going to work all the time. I'm so glad to have found something I love to do!

Life at Grace is also keeping me occupied. Along with the usual Community Group every week, I'm taking an intro/membership class AND another class on Sunday mornings before church.
It's a good kind of busy, but thankfully my weekends are slowing down. Until last weekend, I'd had visitors or some big plan every single weekend. No time to feel homesick! Although, it's obviously been a while since I was home because last week I actually got an email (*gasp!) from my brother telling me that it wouldn't look good on my review if I didn't make it home to Oregon more often. I hope Thanksgiving comes quickly enough and my ratings don't plummet terribly.

So, . . . since I've written last:
One major portfolio restructure and deadline, met.
One weekend retreat with Grace Seattle, spent at Fort Flagler --an old base. Met people, listened to people, and played sardines in dark, scary bunkers. Took the ferry! (beautiful)
One visit from parents. Novel idea, to host your parents. When they came to see me at school it was never for very long, and I didn't really act as a tour guide in any sense. But now hopefully my mom is satisfied that I am not living out of boxes and that I eat food, and meat, occasionally. We toured through downtown Seattle ( I marched them up and down the hills, like the taskmaster I am) to show them the market, the library, and my place of work --that last one especially is in all the latest tour guides. :)
One flat tire, not complete disaster because it involved
One rescue, tire change by friendly church people.
One visit from dear Molly. This entailed the drinking of local pumpkin beer and the cooking and consumption of some lovely pumpkin soup among other things.
One pair of heels, RIP. I pound the pavement pretty aggressively, apparently.
One cookie frosting and decorating session.
One baking semi-disaster (this does not involve the aforementioned cookies). I tried to make my mom's "koek" --spice cake- recipe. First, I tried to soften the butter and then managed to over-melt it AND slosh it all over my cute and clean kitchen. I'm not ALWAYS that klutzy. And then I kinda messed the baking soda up by not letting the batter cool enough before I added it. So it came out a little flat, but edible. Not just like mom's, in other words.
One meeting in Bellevue. I got lost on the way. Thankfully, it was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day and I was just along to check things out. (In this case, I was glad to feel inessential!)
One more design awards event. Cocktails!
One trip to the symphony, my second visit since I've been here. A friend in my CG who is also taking the membership class had tickets for Thursday night so we played hooky. Ravel and Debussy. (The first visit was with the British invasion. A science fiction themed something-or-other. The tickets were bought while I was dress shopping for that last dress-up event. They mumbled something about John Williams on the phone, but the combination of my distraction and their accents made me wonder if I heard correctly. But I did. They didn't tell me all about it on purpose! There were Darth Vader sightings at that event. I think that those were the only tunes I recognized, actually . . .)

and finally
One lovely, unplanned, completely relaxed and uneventful Saturday.

fancy schmantzy

On Thursday I got to go to a black tie event for work: the Northwest Design Awards --where my boss won an award for her house. One of the gals at the office took pictures so you finally get to see some evidence of my life here!So this is the office and some of my coworkers. And if you analyse this photograph very closely, you can understand where I sit. That lamp just behind my shoulder there? Well, I sit across from the woman who sits there. :) So, off the photo to your right.
Here's our pretty table. I was pretty tired all week though! So busy. Robert and Ben visited last weekend, so we went to the Space Needle for dinner the night before they left. Also fancy, but very cool. The city looks very nice at night. Unfortunately, they were asking me what we were looking at and a lot of the time I had no idea! I think I might have to invest in a map and do some exploring.

Meanwhile, I still love my apartment and my neighborhood. Last night I walked to the grocery store and it was such a pretty night out. It was just getting dark and the air was so crisp. People were walking up and down Queen Anne, making for fun people watching and --I'll admit it-- eavesdropping. {Here I will insert a side rant. This is amusing when you're walking down the street and only hear snippets of conversations. However, I DO NOT want to hear the travails of your relationship on the bus on my way home in the evening. Why o why do girls do this? I refuse to have phone conversations on the bus. Texts are fine . . . but I've promised myself I won't be the loud-talker narrating my "dramatic" experiences to a best friend over the phone --along with the rest of the Route 2 Express riders in Seattle. Okay, I'm done. }
I love walking by the Metropolitan Market with all the flowers out on the street (organized by color. Pretty!) and by the old-ish churches, and the restaurants with people eating. I'm hoping to make it out to see the view from Nob Hill one of these nights. The other weekend when I got a ride home from hanging out with my old dorm-mates we were driving up there and the view was amazing.

Last week I signed up to go on a retreat with the church here. Should be fun! Have been going to a community group with some great people here in Queen Anne and I got roped in. The next day I had three different emails in my inbox with different things I could get involved with. They're quick!

I should get going though. I have a few things do do around the apartment and then I'm supposed to meet up with Ayda for some park exploring/sushi.

learning curves

My blog has been suffering form a pathetic lack of updates, despite the fact that new and exciting things are happing in my life. My apologies. And I'll add to that by quickly adding a hasty apology for the lack of pictures. When I got my internet hooked up on Wednesday I brought my camera to work and everything, but when I whipped it out at the bus stop to take a picture, the camera was already blinking for lack of battery and somehow I haven't managed to get any new ones yet. But I'll try to entertain you with my settling in stories.

The move up here went very smoothly. Mom and Dad were the stars of the show: we got the truck and the Civic up here full of my stuff (sans furniture) and then promptly made a quickie trip to Ikea for the staples: a bed, some chairs, a table, and a bookshelf. I had to make rapid-fire decisions (QUICK! white or birch or whatever-other-color-under-the-sun. I like to second guess) and prioritize --steering away from those pretty dishes, your five-dollar Wal*Mart bargain set from college will do for now.
Dad very nicely began putting everything all together before he and mom drove back to Salem that evening, so Mom could be satisfied that I had a bed to sleep on and food in the fridge before she left. The bookcase set was short three dowels, so I had to wait to be able to put my books away until I could make a run to the hardware store up the street the following Saturday. I had to make sure I put my kitchen in order that evening, though. I couldn't let myself go to bed until I had!

The next day I checked out services at Grace and settled into my apartment a little more, wandered around the neighborhood on the very pretty day that it was.
It was very nice to have the Labor Day weekend to move in; it gave me an extra day to organize and clean up around the apartment. (My very generous closet was full of big brown boxes that I had to flatten and recycle!)
The first day of work I was prepared with the bus directions that I'd printed out beforehand . . . I've decided that rather than navigating through commuter traffic in Seattle I'll let someone else handle that and I take the bus in to work (paid for by work. Nice!). This gives me time to wake up in the morning, read a book, and brush shoulders with the locals. I ride down most of 3rd Ave in the morning; sitting on one side I can crane my neck and occasionally catch glimpses of the library and from the other side, views of Pike Place. I see the Space Needle all the time, no biggie. :) After work on Tuesday I went to buy my bus pass at the drugstore that's at the bottom of the hill. I figured I'd walk since it was so close, fully aware that the return trip up the hill wouldn't be as pleasant but figuring it was a rite of passage. So I did it! (This is one of the first things I tried to photograph for you . . . when you see it, you will find all the confirmation that you need to prove that I really am a little crazy!) It's really steep, and I was grinning most of the way up at the thought of most of the drivers who might be observing and shaking their heads.
I'm really liking work so far: the people are great, the office itself is so nice, and I feel productive again. Like a contributing member of society! My office is on the south side of downtown, so I pas a few missions on the way in as well as some designer showrooms. Makes for an interesting mix, I suppose. The days have been flying by, with very short lunch breaks, but I have managed to sneak into the bookstore in the corner and pick up some reading material for the bus (I don't have a library card yet, or a Washington driver's license, but those things will come). Most of all, it's good to be working and using my education --although, for all that time we spend in school there are so many things that you can only learn once you hit the ground running. In heels, no less. If you're wondering, I'm helping with a hotel project at the moment, and I've been pulling a few things together on presentations. This past week we had a photo shoot at the office (yes. Witness the panic on my face at the thought of having to pose for what feels like an eternity with a plastic smile on my face! I really don't like being photographed) that will serve to update the firm's website. So keep checking, and you may see my smiling/grimacing face up there along with my lovely coworkers' sometime soon!
Church has also been good . . . I'm looking forward to getting more involved here. It seems like there are a lot of other people in my age group there which is pretty cool. Although, apparently that's the thing with Seattle. People move to the 'burbs once they have kids because the schools aren't very good (and the expensive house prices). I got a call after the first time I visited from their pastoral intern --who apparently lives across the hall from me! Small world. I haven't actually bumped into him yet, but how crazy is that?!

Yesterday I spent most of my day in downtown Seattle meeting up with friends that I was in the dorms with my freshman year of university. Megumi was here for a visit and made a quick jaunt up here with Sachi when we realized how many of us were up in the Seattle area. I got to see Kin --my RA, whom I lived with my second year-- for the first time since she graduated. She's up here now, with her husband who works for Microsoft. Another friend is studying up here at UW and yet another is living in Tacoma. There was a lot of laughing going on! We roped strangers into taking our photos, and remembered all the crazy drama from living on campus. We made a requisite trip to the Mariners souvenir shop so the girls could look for Ichiro souvenirs to take back to Japan, as well as to the first Starbucks. And another Starbucks. And then Indian food. I don't think I've eaten so much in a long time!
(I promise, I really was going to pictures for you, and even carried around a battery-less camera all day but that mission got a little lost in all the fun we were having. )

And today it's raining. I love fall! But it was a little scary when I tried to drive up THE HILL this morning after church. I might have pealed out a little in the Civic. Ouch. I guess this is part of the growing pains of getting used to a new environment!

seattleite satellite

I'm here!
As of thirty minutes ago I have internet access at my apartment. I have to race off to work soon, so I don't have time for much, but I'll leave you with the quintessential view of Seattle as seen from Kerry Park --a hop skip and a jump (which translates to about two blocks) from my new home in Queen Anne.

sit back and . . .

So maybe I'm not worried about after I get to Seattle, but I still might have been a little stressed:
When setting my alarm for yesterday morning, I managed to set the actual time and not just the alarm time a whole hour ahead so I was awake and showered by 5:30am for my househunting trip to Seattle. I figured it out when no one else in the house was getting up and I ran to find my trusty cell phone, which told me the truth. I crawled back into bed and slept for another hour, and when I woke up I was in the middle of a very odd dream in which I was in some sort of meeting trying to explain interior design concepts to Steve Carell's character from the Office. It was funny at first . . . and then very very annoying.
Anyhoo, with all this rushing around to and from Seattle I was trying to find a place to live so that I could begin work on or around the 13th of this month. However, most of the places I was finding were only available on the first of September. I filled in applications anyways, but started wondering what I would do in the interim if my employers needed me earlier. But it's all worked out now, and I'm starting after the first.

*Phew. I can relax a little.