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 :)

Hiding away...

I've been hiding away... in Kentucky... for the last time... because John got a job in southern California!! I am beyond excited. He's moving next month to start a DREAM job and I'm just out here bumming around until school starts next week.

Anyway, we spent last weekend in Virginia to see all my cousins and to visit my grandma who just had her second knee replacement surgery. We stayed at my cousin's apartment at the University of Virginia, and my cousins from Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth drove over to hang out. John wore his tank tops and pastel shorts which he got crap from all my cousins for because he fit in with the frat bros. His tank top with a pocket on the chest was apparently a 'frocket' and there were a lot of young gentlemens type clothing stores. The UVA students also use 1st years, 2nd years, 3rd years, 4th years instead of freshmen, sophomores, etc; and they call school campus instead of grounds. Apparently UVA has a reputation for being snooty because Thomas Jefferson used to live there, or as my older cousin put it, they all "have sticks up their *****".

We went to the farmers market in Charlottesville and I stepped toe-deep in a muddy puddle so I was really uncomfortable, but the food made up for it. We also went to a progressive.... I'd never heard of one before, but it's where you go from certain apartments to the next and get a different drink and at the end everyone is just plastered and at one place. The police came because of FOUR noise complaints. UVA has a weird little subculture. The best part of the trip was playing Bananagrams for hours. Seriously, I love Bananagrams. John and I have been playing words with friends so I was seriously kicking butt, but I realized how much John doesn't like it... because he is just getting his butt kicked all day long.

John learned what the term NoVa meant (north Virginia) which is where actual civilization is, so he started designating everywhere we went in terms of geographical location. SoVa (south VA), WoVa (west VA)... The trip was so fun. Seeing John at my uncle's house was so weird in a good way. I visited at house at least once every other summer growing up, so it's just an environment that is so ingrained in my childhood. I'm not used to seeing John there, but it was nice. I can't think of better adjectives to describe how I felt except weird and nice, but it is a mixture of both those feelings.

Anyway, here are some fun pictures from the weekend.

This is what happened when we told John to go outside and play...

We went to this really cool brewery that we had to drive 30 minutes into the mountains for. It was beautiful and they had games that we sucked at. Nam and John challenged these 2 blondes and got their butts kicked.

We visited my grandparents at my aunt and uncle's. My grandma seemed like she was doing really well for only a couple weeks post-surgery. My grandpa was really caring and got her ice for her leg. The only thing he needed her to do was to fold the laundry... because he literally did not know how. I don't think he's ever folder a shirt in his life!! My grandma, on the other hand, folds neater than a machine. I kid you not. 

But really, they are the cutest little grandparents ever. I know everyone says that about their grandparents, but no, mine are the cutest. My grandma has been sleeping on a hospital bed (which is a single) that is currently in the study, so my grandpa sleeps on a cot next to her instead of upstairs in their room. Seventy plus years, and still not a single night apart. Besides when my grandma was hospitalized for the surgery.

My grandpa waving bye. That is how you judge a good host- they see you out.

Also, I've joined a new family. And Chase says he wants to be a Seahawk.

Yoga Stand Up Paddleboarding

Kathie being a total diva adjusting her sunglasses during class

A couple months ago before summer, Kathie asked me if I wanted to do yoga SUP because there was an awesome deal on amazon local for 3 classes. Ambitious and naive enough to think that I was actually not going to be too lazy to go, I agreed. We were excited to go, but summer somehow slipped quickly past us and last week we realized our deal was about to expire! So, being too economical to just forget about the $39 we had already spent, we carved out some time in our schedules to go.

So far, we have gone twice with 2 different teachers. I liked the smaller class with the calming female teacher, but Kathie liked the bigger class with the male teacher who was into doing more extreme poses on the paddleboard (2 people fell off their boards during his class- 0 fell off in the other class). It was no surprise Kathie liked his class better because Kathie is extreme. My favorite part was paddling out to where we anchored ourselves and paddling back. The yoga part in between was ok, but I don't think yoga is really my thing in the first place. I don't think I'll ever feel the need to buy a deal and force myself to go again. We were pretty lazy before each class- complaining and saying how we didn't want to go, but the cheap Asian inside would not let us stay home and let that money go to waste. But we had fun each time! But for some reason, I feel like before our 3rd and final class, we will still be dreading going to still. Anyway, here are some pictures of Kathie on the water.

Tied up on our paddleboards like cattle

My favorite part- paddling

Kathie befriending the waterfowl

Virginians in Washington

Wedding Crashers

My sister got married the other weekend so I have been so busy hosting family and scurrying around to get things done, but it is all finally winding down. The wedding was beautiful (pictures to come later), and we all boozed and danced, and got through the day, even having fun while doing it! It was so nice to have family here and to have people around all the time to get together and eat. Why don't we just all move to one corner of the United States? And why not that one corner be the Pacific Northwest, because it's the best corner? Sigh... Honestly, I don't think I even had to do any convincing, the city did it for me! But anyway, now they're all gone and I miss the company. It's bittersweet really- on the one hand, I am so excited to get back to my summer nothing, but I'm also really sad all my family is gone! I think when we were younger, we didn't really appreciate each other enough, but now the age difference doesn't feel as significant and we can just all get along!

We piled up to 8 people at my apartment so we had people sleep essentially everywhere except the closets, but it was so fun! We ate and drank and played a lot of Taboo and Heads Up!. One night at dinner with all the parents, we actually got some of the parents to play and it was a hoot. We teamed together to act out a really good centipede, with everyone holding onto the waist of the person in front of them. I basically forgot all responsibilities for a week, until alas, they slowly started leaving and we were so tired from having fun that the remaining pulled out all our laptops and had nightly computer lab hour so we could actually get some work done.

Anyway, here is a haphazard collection of photos from the past 2 weeks! We did so much more than this, but no joke, I was having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures!

Enjoying Essential Baking Company sandwiches the morning after the wedding. Oh, didn't you know? It's tradition for the bride to sit outside on the cement and eat a sandwich on the ground the morning after her wedding.

Ballin' out at Din Tai Fung. When we asked for straws, the waitress said, "Curly or straight?". Ummm, is that a rhetorical question?

Out in Belltown at 2 am on a Monday night. WHO ARE WE.

John invited his friends to go paddleboarding with us and together we made a giant Asian paddleboard gang.

Siblings sharing a tiny slice of coconut cake.

Mid-summer crisis

The sunset, a metaphor for closing stages of my summer.

I should have realized summer was flying right past me when I started getting a bunch of emails from school regarding registration and paperwork we have to turn in for clinical placements last week. But no, it was 30 minutes ago when I went to the blog of a blogger on the East Coast, and her latest post was posted AUGUST 1ST, 2014. WHAT! It's August?! I haven't enjoyed even half of all the summer fun I planned on enjoying this season! Yes, I've done a whole lot, but I haven't nearly been to the lake as many times as I'd hoped I would have been by this time. And I certainly haven't binge watched enough Netflix, nor have I been downtown to walk around and play tourist. Arrrg, I have not been referring to my list.

I have been doing some things though. Don't get me wrong- I have been having a LOT of fun. I'm just not sure how a whole month flew by! Here are some snippets of the last month.

This is Kathie in a douche tank. She can totally pull it off! We had biked to Magnuson park that day and it was cloudy so we didn't think to bring swim suits, which I totally regretted because we got sweaty and sticky.

I went out on a lake float for the FIRST time this summer with my sister and one of her friends. I bought that amazing turtle float and we laughed ourselves silly because seriously, what is better than an adult woman riding a turtle out to sea? Possibly an adult woman riding out to sea on this.

I've been prepping a lot for the wedding, like cleaning the house for family to come, but also practicing our getting-beautiful skills. This is fabulous Bi, with her beautifying servants. Now to get that maid of honor speech down...

Linda turned 28..........?

Of everyone I see, I probably hang out the most with this girl. She is bossy, but we make it work. I don't think I actually do much- just literally watch her while she does her own thing.

Alison and I went to the pier to catch up and get some fried foods. The navy ship from San Diego happened to be there so there were men in white navy uniforms everywhere. One of them offered to take our picture for us in front of the ship when he saw us taking some pretty pathetic selfies. This picture was supposed to be the 'funny' one, but it turned out so good and natural!

This picture is such a good one, but I wish I was in there with her! We didn't want to ask a stranger to take a panorama for us though- I don't think society is ready for that.

Goodbye July 2014! You were a real treat. Can't wait to play with August!

Planting, paddling and pedaling

I just love summer- being able to go outside and feel warm, and eating peaches and berries- it all just makes me feel so healthy and alive. It's been sunny and HOT. Really, really HOT. I've been sleeping with just a flat sheet and I'm still sweating my butt off because all the heat gets trapped up in my room and I'm too scared to sleep with the windows open for fear someone will break in. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I sleep with an air soft gun that looks like a real gun, a tactical flashlight, and a pepper spray gun, all neatly tucked under the pillow next to me every night. So don't sneak into my room in the dark because you will either be shot with a pellet, be heavily disoriented or get pepper sprayed.

Anyway, I was reading something the other day about how there are 100 days of summer (I actually googled  it later- there are 93) and encouraging people not to waste them. I started thinking about all those days during winter where I just so wished that the weather was better so I could go outside and do something, so I am deciding not to waste a single day of summer. I've been busy having a bunch of fun this week which started with getting new house plants. Kathie and I went to Fred Meyer's and spent probably an hour going through their parking lot which had aisles and aisles of plants. We were super conflicted about which plant to take home and attempt to grow (and very possibly kill) because honestly, we wanted half of them! I ended up with a low growing succulent and some Cuban oregano, which is this furry little succulent that you can smell from a mile away. I'm not very confident in my ability to keep plants alive, but I was told recently that to get a green thumb, you have to kill a lot of things first.

Good luck little babies!

Another fun adventure I finally got to doing was going stand up paddle boarding! I've been meaning to go for years, but I just never got around to it or I kept making excuses or something... But I finally did it and I can't wait to go again! I went with Victoria, one of John's best friends, who had never done it before either, but we watched Surf Ballard's newbie video and threw ourselves in there. Standing wasn't too bad, and I eventually got pretty comfortable, although my toes were clenched so hard on the surface of the board that my toes all kept cramping. It was almost 90 degrees that day, so I thought were were going to fry, but with the water and the breeze and lots of sunblock, it was actually really relaxing. Plus, I woke up sore all over the next morning which is always a good feeling. 

Look at those trees! Absolutely beautiful.

Yesterday, I also caught up with my good friend Alison at her swanky apartment on South Lake Union. I picked up my previously abandoned bike from my parents' that morning and I debated biking to her place from mine in Seattle, but it was peak traffic time, and I thought maybe it was a bit too ambitious for my first bike ride in a year. So I drove my bike to her place and we biked around the lake on the paved paths where we'd be safe from cars. It was beautiful and wonderful and, again, I can't wait to do this again either. But next time, I'll bike to South Lake Union. As soon as Kathie gets her bike back from her friend, I'm gonna ask her to go on biking bakery dates. Oooo, that sounds like a fun blog venture.

Hella sail boats

Our blue twin bikes!

Looking like super nerds. You know what's not funny? Safety.