The last Kentucky trip EVER

Making me a drink for the first and last time in their garage bar.

So I think I didn't make a big enough deal about it yet, but John is moving to California!! He got a great job and he's moving to California! We're going to be on the same coast!! Every visit to see him is going to be a vacation!!!! Honestly, I was anxious about it at first that it was not Washington, but it's grown on me so much more and now I can honestly say that I can't wait!! He accepted the offer earlier this month and will be in California within a month from now. I had already booked this past trip to Kentucky, so John stayed an extra week at his old work to accommodate this trip, but that meant this was my last trip to Kentucky ever!!! Woohoo!!  I have nothing against Kentucky. It's really a beautiful state, but it's become a symbol of $400 plane tickets and nothing to do... Really, I was never going to move there and John wasn't really planning on staying there permanently, so there was no future for us there, so this move has been a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

Anyway, here are pictures from my last trip to Kentucky. EVER! That feels so good to say. Actually, John asked me if I'd come back in May for a wedding... but I'm thinking no.

This is at John's coworker's apartment's pool. He actually brought John the pool key when he heard I was coming to town.

John and I at a scenic viewpoint on the way to Virginia.

Picking John up from work. He didn't take any time off  while I was there, so I had a lot of time to pass by myself. I was planning to just study for the NCLEX, but then John was so thoughtful, he bought me Sims 4 so I wouldn't get bored. [insert heart eyes emoji here]

We drove to Cincinnati one day to go to the Gap Clearance Store (uhhhh omg we spent so much money. I love gap, but I don't like gap outlet, but this store is the most beautiful thing that was ever birthed from the 2) and then waited 40 minutes for Eli's BBQ. It was BOMB. We ate until we got so sleepy that it was dangerous to drive home.

We ate at Ramsey's for the last time for a quadruple celebration- my last meal in KY, John leaving Lexington, Seahawks win in overtime and the 49ers loss this week. I think people usually get their own plates, but we made it family style, and it was so much better that way. We actually weren't sure if we should go out to eat or make dinner, but one of John's roommates got really angry and was slamming doors after the girl he was watching the game with left before the game ended and the Seahawks won. It was scary at the time, but now it's funny. 

Anyway, that's all. It's over. No more Kentucky! It's not even bittersweet, it's just exciting :)

Summer Kickoff Adventure!

One of our meals, NAAN PIZZA! Not very the healthiest, but made at home.

Once again, I find myself in the middle of horse country! I'm pretty much doing the usual (only we're trying to eat out less and healthier- I even got John to try cauliflower the other day. What!), but it's June now, so it's a bagillion degrees and the air is humid and thick. I tried to go to the park yesterday to read outside while John went to work, but I gave up on my walk from the house to the car. The air is hot and thick which makes breathing just a chore. Every time I go to the east coast during the summer, I always pack shorts and tank tops, but I forget how truly awful it is to be outside, so I end up being cold because everyone spends all their time indoors where it's air conditioned.

I'm not naked.

We did actually go outside this weekend though: we pool-crashed one of John's friend's apartments! One thing they have a lot of here are pools. It's probably a combination of a lack of natural bodies of water and that it gets reliably hot enough every day during the summer, that nearly every apartment complex has a pool and probably a good number of single family homes. John just got a water proof case for his phone so we tested it and his phone still works so that's good. Our fingers got too cold from the water after a while that we couldn't use the touch screen, and the case got foggy over the lens because the inside of the case was warmer than the pool. We snapped a couple of memorable ones still. John didn't wear sunblock against my advice so he looks like a lobster now (on his shoulders and back). It's sad because he is in pain, but funny because his biggest worry is having his friends realize he is not invincible.

There's a couple things here that they don't have here that I am already missing. The first is little coffee shops. I've totally been spoiled rotten in Seattle with a coffee shop on every other street corner! Yes, I realized this before, but I didn't realize the magnitude of how much Starbucks is taking over the world. I searched for "coffee shops near me" on my phone today, and I got 3 Starbucks and a Jamba Juice! Starbucks is convenient and you know exactly what you're getting, but I try to go to mom and pop coffee places as much as I can. But I had no other option so I'm sitting in a Starbucks right now after buying a lemonade and getting a refill of water, using their wifi for 3 hours. Was it worth the $3? I'm still not sure...

The other thing they don't have is Asians. Not that it matters- it's just an observation. Yesterday, I was sitting in the cafe at Barnes and Noble using their free wifi when I saw 2 twenty-something-year-old Asian girls. I even did a double take because they stuck out so much, which made me realize that I stick out that much. It's probably because I don't actually see my physically body and face walking around here in this environment. I haven't felt discriminated against, but I have gotten long stares from elementary-school-aged children on 3 separate occasions in the past 2 days. I really don't mind as long as no one is being mean to me!

Can't wait to go outside again.

Memorial day weekend part 2

Growing out of John's ear at Kerry Park

As with most weekends John is in town for, I had the most relaxing eventful weekend. Honestly, it felt like a vacation, where you're really busy because you're trying to soak everything up, but at the same time so relaxed. We did so much in 5 days that I am fighting off the resulting fatigue that is telling me to just close my eyes and drift off to sleep. When John comes, we're usually shuttling from his friends to his family and back to his friends so that he gets a chance to see everyone. It's fun, but exhausting!! We had to take turns driving because we'd be out all day, and it would be super tiring for one person to do all that driving. We also ate lots of Asian food because Kentucky lacks good Asian food and we had sushi for 4 meals this weekend! Ahh, what a tasty weekend. One thing we did not do this weekend was work. I don't know how I got away with it, but I'm sure it will bite me in the butt this week.

On Sunday, we attended John's friend's wedding reception at China Harbor, a big Chinese restaurant that sits on Lake Union. Too bad it was rainy all day- no one got to enjoy the giant porch that hangs over the lake! I got to see all of John's temple friends again although I really have trouble remembering all their names. Most of them have Vietnamese names that John pronounces in English, so all the names just sound foreign to me being that they're not quite English names, yet not quite Vietnamese. Also, I see them maybe 4 times a year, and I met 30 of them all at the same time, whereas they're meeting just me! I usually just smile and ask John to remind me everyone's name as we run into them. Anyway, this time, I was surprised how many names I could match to faces (I should make note cards with their faces on one side and their name on the back). Part of the reason was that John kept leaving me to go talk to other people, so I just ended up talking to whoever was sitting next to me which was always someone different, because no one was in their seat.

Ellen inspired selfie, though not as many famous people...

Whenever one of us has to fly back and away from each other, we try to plan something fun to do so that we're not moping around the house and letting goodbyes loom over our heads. Today we went to Discovery Park in Magnolia. It was a beautiful 65 degrees and sunny, perfect for a little city hike. I can't even believe this park is in Seattle city limits. There is so much green space and, I mean, that view. You can even see West Seattle from that place! 

Overlooking Puget Sound

A tiny little wildflower bouquet I made

P.S. John, thanks for coming to hang out! Can't wait to see you again!

About Kentucky

Kentucky!

Someday long from now, I will look back on all the time I spent in Kentucky fondly, sigh and think, "Wow, what a lovely chapter of my life". For now, my feelings on Kentucky are very different. Who wants to to spend all her supposed-to-be wild college breaks going to Kentucky!! Maybe someone who rides horses or really likes bourbon. When I first started visiting, we did touristy stuff, but now that John is not a tourist and he actually lives here, our schedule here has gotten pretty routine. I think the time I am spending in Lexington is slowly winding down (fingers crossed!) so I wanted to summarize what I do here when I come visit.

1) Eat. John and I eat so much when I come visit. I think it's either because there's nothing to do here or because there's so many places we want to try. I find my self thinking "What I do I get to eat next?" immediately after a meal, and planning what I am going to eat the next couple of days for dinner. I'm pretty sure we've tried most of the Lexington cheap eats on Urban Spoon. A few of our favorites are Bourbon n' Toulouse (a creole joint with spice, rice and giant portions), Sahara Mediterranean Cuisine (see image in this post), and Pho BC when we're missing our Vietnamese food. They're all hole-in-the-wall type places, but that's how we like it, informal and quick! The first time we went to Pho BC, we noticed 2 things: 1) no one there was Vietnamese, and 2) they had set the table with metal soup spoons. Like metal spoons that people eat chicken noodle soup with. *John shakes his head disappointingly*

Every Tuesday, John goes to Penn Station with Lucas and Company (this is how John refers to his friend, Lucas, and Lucas' friends) for BOGO subs. When I come visit, I'm invited to this super exclusive boy's club and enjoy witty conversations about nerdy things over subs. They are really nice funny people who have been best friends forever and the subs are better than Jimmy Johns.

 

There's also southern food, but I think we've eaten those things so much that I refuse to eat anymore fried chicken unless the alternative is death. However, if you are looking for one good Lexington meal, it's got to be at Ramsey's. They're a local Lexington restaurant with 3 chains throughout the city. If you have to have southern chicken and waffles like John's friends did when they visited last year, then Saul Good. They're a bit more chain-y and they have zebra print awnings with purple accents that make their restaurant look a bit like an adult store. Then Graeter's ice cream for dessert. They're based in Ohio and it is definitely worth the stomach ache. I actually realized they sold pint-size containers of Graeter's at QFC in Seattle so if I am ever really missing Lexington in the future, I'll go buy some, eat it and think fondly of all the stomach aches I got in Lexington after eating Graeter's (FYI: I don't think it is Graeter's specifically that gave me a stomach ache, just ice cream in general).

Since we have tried most of the restaurants that could be moderately healthy, we have extended our appetite to less than ideal restaurants. The other day, we were on the computer at 11 pm and looking at Taco Bell's new breakfast menu that launches tomorrow morning at 7 am and made plans to eat there Thursday morning. That same evening, we watched a documentary about McDonald's and then the next day went to McDonalds for lunch to get their Fillet-O-Fish which is on promotion 2 for $4. We have had 3 versions of Oreo and vanilla ice cream from Dairy Queen (Blizzard), McDonald's (McFlurry), and Sonic (Blast), and have deemed the Oreo Blast from Sonic the winner for it's abundant helpings of oreo crumbs and it's thick, non-melting vanilla ice cream. I hardly eat this much fast food at home, but fast food is so plentiful around here and there's something about John that just makes me want to eat fast food...

Red Mango recently opened in Lexington and it is a SELF-SERVE location!! I love Red Mango. It is possibly my favorite frozen yogurt joint, but in Seattle, it's not self serve and I like being in control of my yogurt. John doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so I felt bad dragging him to the store, but then he tried their Nutty Potion flavor (it's chocolate and hazelnut, so essentially, Nutella), and he fell in love. We've been there twice this trip and I've already planned that we're going after he gets off work today.

2) Shop. The other thing we do around here is shop. Again, I think this is a result of having nothing else to do here. Every time I fly home, I always fly home with more clothes, so I've learned since to under-pack. Sale clothes is really cheap here, as are bananas ($.59/lb) and gas (currently $3.54/gal). We usually go to Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and the Fayette Mall, the largest in Kentucky, which is sad because it is a pretty sad mall. All stores here are flooded with UK gear, which I considered sporting for a while, but I realized I have no allegiance to them.


3) Look at pets. John and I frequent pet shops like PetSmart and Pet Supermarket to look at adoptable cats and dogs. Even though there is not a chance John would adopt an animal in Lexington, he fulfills his need for furry loving on these excursions. I actually don't really enjoy these trips because I feel really sad after about 1 minute in the room with the dogs and 3 minutes in the room with the cats, but it is legitimately the highlight of John's day so I let him pet the animals in there as long as he wants while I walk around the rest of the store.

4) Wear Seattle stuff. The last thing we do is wear a ton of Seahawks and UW stuff. This isn't really an activity, just something we do because I think we'd both rather be in Seattle (for me it's consciously and for John it's subconsciously). The other day we were at the store and an employee saw us and did a double take. After asking us if we needed any help, she asked if we were from Seattle, and then told us that she was from Redmond. She got super excited and then went back to putting away clothes. John and I looked at each other, thinking 'how did she know' for half a second, then saw what each other were wearing. John had a Seahawks NFC championship shirt on and and Seahawks lanyard hanging from his neck, and I had on a Seahawks beanie.

So there is my summary of my trips to Lexington! Eat, shop, look at pets and wear Seattle stuff. As much as I am bored in Lexington, it is equal to how much I enjoy spending time with John, which is why I'd trade a hot party spring break trip for a week with John. I know he feels guilty sometimes because we are not in [insert hot vacation spot here], but I don't care! Who else can say they experienced a snow storm during spring break (see above selfie- there is SNOW on my coat)??!??! I win. I can't wait for him to get off work so we can eat some more.

Long distance

Great things about dating long distance:

• Being Miss Independent, doing by own thang and focusing on Queen Me
• Not eating like crap
• Not having to "keep track" of someone else
• Becoming a hairy monster
• That feeling that you get when you pick each other up at the airport
• Love letters via snail mail
• Not taking for granted the time you do have together
• Seeing each other = vacation for one of you!

Unfortunate things about dating long distance:

• Plane ticket$
• Friday night when you don't want to do anything, but you don't want to do nothing by yourself

It's the final stretch, people! Woo I can do it!