Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue

Day Bajillion minus a trillion equals about right about now. 

Christmas season has finally come; I wait for it all year. This year it seemed late to come despite American Thanksgiving having a Christmassy feel to it, despite getting a tree, despite lights all along the lane to my aunt's house. I've turned on the radio in the car and have only been disappointed by the "Christmas" songs playing and quickly pushed the button of silence instead. It was only this morning, when it really started to feel like Christmas. 

Yesterday they talked of snow. The optimists in the office were sure it would happen; snow is in the forecast! Oh yeah, I know northwest snow...it's called rain...cold rain. So sure was I that it wouldn't be a snow day, I didn't thoroughly read Kinderings "Inclement Weather Policy" nor bring the "To do on Friday" sticky note home from my desk with it's cute little boxes for me to check off. I also didn't bring the attendance sheet that I knew I would measure carefully with my billing statement before turning it in. 

I woke up early, into the freezing house, threw on a hoodie and two blankets and sat down for God time. When I opened my Mars Hill app to see the prayer of the day (40 days of prayer), I realized that my weather icon showed that it was snowing in Kirkland. Only then did i think to look out the window...and there it was, snow...about 1/2 and inch. It looked like more on the car roof but that's always deceiving now isn't it? 

Ooh ooh, getting mildly excited. Check the school board website....late start woot!! I only have to be at work at 11am. Gonna go right back to that cozy bed with my morning-hater hubby and get warm again. 

Excitement won over snuggles...a little while later I was up to read more emails, particularly the one that read "They just changed it, schools are closed, snow day!!". I love Seattle...Bellevue in particular. Whatever official guy decided that 1/2 an inch of melting snow was a safety hazard, I applaud your common sense. 

Yay!

So here I am, late in the day on the snow day. I did work most of the day. But it started to feel Christmassy. Pair that with a harp concert tonight and my parents and bro stopping by on their way south, I'm a happy camper. 

So, here's a list of things that have happened in the last eternity since i took any time to write on this blog:

1. Got a job as an SLP in Early Intervention (0-3) at Kindering

2. Celebrated American Thanksgiving by going to Suncadia (a resort 1.5 hours east of Kirkland) with Bryan and April (Sis-in-law)

3. Delivered gifts every day of December to Bryan's mom Gloria up until her 60th birthday on the 13th

4. Celebrated St. Nick's day in Vancouver with the relatives and came away with cookies and a cool spoon ring from my cousin Leah.

5. Donated blood for the first time

6. Watched lighted carol ships at Meydenbauer bay

7. Joined Mars Hill and started volunteering in kids ministry and community group

8. Got treated to a 9 course local ingredient dinner at the Herb Farm for Gloria's birthday that truly was the most expensive meal I will ever eat...and it was delicious. We fed their potbellied pigs inbetween courses and were serenaded by the Old Dickens Carolers (4 part harmony carols, beautiful!)

As well as cookies, lots of thrift store shopping, tons of Christmas gift shopping, and a few get togethers with new and old friends. 

It's been a great December so far. Love!

Day...oh dear...who is counting anymore?

I should be counting, but I'm afraid with the public-ness of a blog and my job search over the past couple weeks, I didn't really want to be writing much. So I believe today, November 22nd, is Day 77 but really the story of the past two weeks spans about Day 59 til now. 

The Job Search:
Well, I sent my resume off to various staffing agencies listed on Indeed in order to work in the schools. Various places contacted me with this or that part time position in Bellevue or nearby but none came up with much. 
Then I saw a position at a private clinic just south of Redmond that looked perfect. I was called in for an interview the next week. Then, at about the same time as the interview, I applied to an Early Intervention agency in Bellevue as well. Well after a week and a half, I was offered Job 1, praise the Lord! But it was a new type of job for me, new age group, new setting, new everything, and a very small clinic where I would be the primary therapist delivering intervention along with the boss who handled some therapy and all the insurance billing and everything else.  Then Job 2 called me up for a phone interview while I was debating about Job 1. After a phone interview, in-person interview and observation in the preschool, they offered me the position as well. 
The crazy thing was, I was just super anxious about the whole situation; for some reason I was just stressing out the wazoo about Job 1. 
Job 1: More money, later workdays (til 6:30pm), different population, largely independent intervention, small clinic
Job 2: Less money, more vacation, Early Intervention in a setting similar to CFA, lots of colleagues, team-based approach. 

I just felt so much more peace about Job 2. And I realized, I'm living in a new country, a new city, going to a new church, living in a new place, trying to make new friends, looking for a new job...and I just want as little 'new' about my job as possible until I settle in and feel confident enough to branch out. Although Job 1 may be a dream job, for me it's a dream job for in a few more years. 

Plus, in Vancouver, my colleagues at CFA became some really good friends of mine. I think my 'social butterfly' side, needs to have more people in the workplace and the opportunity to build friendships while I'm still "Friendless in Seattle" :P (Well not quite, there's a few). Plus, this new job isn't exactly like CFA. We do get the 'just speech and language' kids, as opposed to just the complicated kiddos. And there seems to be opportunity to move around and learn new things in various teams as opportunities arise. 

In the end, God showed me which one to pick just by giving me peace in one direction over the other. He knows that I don't like change and I'm adjusting to everything here and that I'm just nicer to be around when I'm not stressed out. 

So there you have it; I'll be starting a new job soon! 

Day 56 & 57: Vantage, WA

(1, 2 skip a few)

Saturday November 9th dawned bright and early, and we beat Mr. Sun to it. Bryan's highschool track buddy Jacob, his girlfriend and her coworker, met up at our house and we zipped off in the Subaru to Vantage WA. Just over the mountains, 2 hours each, the rainy wet coast turns into a desert. Near where Creation Fest is held at The Gorge, is an awesome area called Frenchman's Coulee which is an incredible climbing area. 

I was debating going because I'd been coughing and sick for almost a week but I was feeling a bit better and decided to go. 

We got there around 9am and started off at The Feathers with a warmup 5'4 and 5'6. I haven't climbed in ages so I thought I'd be super nervous, but a 5'6 is so easy that I even cleaned up at the top and remembered pretty well how to clip in, untie myself, reset the anchor into the chains and lower down. It was so fun in fact, that I then tried at 5'8. With a few rest breaks, I made it to the top of that one too, so that was fun. 

The rest of the day I belayed Bryan on the sunshine wall and watched Anna's coworker Karin float up the basalt pillars. Bryan and Jacob did well too. 

All in all a beautiful day and powered by Top Pot doughnuts (thanks Anna) so what could be better? 

Day 52: Lost all over Kirkland/Redmond

Today was not my favorite day. 

Woke up still sick, coughy coughy, ick. Went to work with Bry so I could have the car. Then visited 5 stores in an attempt to find bean sprouts for a Vietnamese dish I was attempting to make tonight (Lemongrass pork bowls). Finally found them. In the process I followed my GPS to Costco's office, not Costco, and accidentally got onto I-405 South at about 10:30am. You'd think rush hour would be over...not so much. At least I was getting off at the next exit, but still! It's 1030 people, aren't you at work yet?! I eventually did make it to Costco where a plethora of delightful goods met my eye: Hunter boots, Frye boots (!!), soft and cozy thermals, gaiters, driving gloves, balaclavas, snowshoes, kids toys, kids books...ah!! 

But have no fear! My Dutch sensibilities did not allow me the ability to actually buy any of these wares.

3 hours after dropping off Bry, I made it back, and collapsed on the couch. You know when you're sick, any exertion results in achey tiredness? Even though you've basically done nothing?  Yup. To the couch for me. Jordy slept nearby...he's not cuddly these days though. 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but guess what happened at dinner?
Bryan bbqed the pork, I cut veggies nice and thin, rice vermicelli cooked to perfection, salad looking pretty with starfruit slices...we ate, we enjoyed, and then I realized,

AFTER ALL THAT DRIVING AT 5 GROCERY STORES I FORGOT TO SERVE IT WITH BEAN SPROUTS!!!!  

Sigh.

Days 43-51: Mostly Kirkland, WA

As you can tell by my lack of posting, the past week has been, well...uneventful pretty much. I think I left you in Langley but who wants to read about me driving back to Kirkland and doing the various things that make up a day such as 

Getting up after Bryan's done his shower
Making a fire, making his lunch, eating breaky, reading the Bible
Bye to Bryan, Hi to God-time and prayer
Diddle around, clean up
Go for a run (ugh, why does 2.5 miles seem so long even though it's so gorgeous out?!
Apply for jobs, figure out EI, think about dinner, eat lunch 
Waste time on the computer, skype with people, play with Jordy, etc. 

It's been a blessing to know that God has my future job and timing and everything under control. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever, but I'm also at peace. 

In any case, TODAY, November 5th, is not only one of my best friend's anniversaries (Holla to Jenna Lee Falk!) but it is also a day where I had an interview at a private clinic in Redmond. I woke up with no voice (ack! not good for a speech path to be forcing her voice through an interview) but I babied it all day while prepping and it felt decent by 3pm. 

Note to self: when prepping for interviews, don't bother with facts, focus on answering case-based questions instead.

Well I didn't think of my note to self above until after the interview. 
It went pretty well I think; some of my answers were not very polished, especially to "What do you do when the mom bringing in the kid doesn't speak English and the child is a nonverbal 3 year old" ..."and we don't use interpreters"...ok, well there goes a case history for starters. 

In any case, it's in God's hands and we'll see what happens after this. I haven't really heard back from some of the staffing agencies I've applied to so right now this is my only lead. It also starts in January...soo that would be another 2 months of not working, yikes! I could then get a nanny job or something to fill the time. 

Love to the readers who care about my now-boring post-awesome-road-trip life!!

PS. Including my cheat on the last week, I'm past the halfway point of this blog! It's been fun.

Day 42: Vancouver, Langley, Abbotsford, BC

Saturday, Panther playoff day!
I used to play flag football for a cool team called the Panthers. 
It was super fun. 
So I watched them play in the finals today. What a great weekend to come up! All those girls and their respective men and coaches are so great. They played like champs and team 1.0 just lost the final. 2nd overall but 1st in coolness and overall awesomeness in my books. 

Post-playoffs, off to Langley to see my dear friends Jennifer Jacobson and Rika Nel plus others who happened to be up. We had dinner at the Fort Pub, headed off to a haunted corn maze in Abby, got chased by creepers with "chainsaws" (when I finally had been chased enough times to look at who was chasing me, I think they had leafblowers, but man those guys could sprint!!), won the acronym from letters hidden around the maze (Hog Handler...weirdest answer ever), ate our suckers that we got for winning, went to the petting zoo, slid down the crazy slides, went to Timmy Ho's, chatted with Jenny and Riks and Kraakmos and new friends, went back to Jen's in Walnut Grove and had a sleepover in her cozy big bed. 

(I've never really liked sleeping with people next to me or near me; I always gravitated away from everyone during sleepovers as a kid. Breathing people keep me up I guess and it took MONTHS (like 6) after we got married to get used to sleeping with Bryan in my bed (the little children pitter pattering and crying above our heads on the 5'6" ceilings/their floor also may have contributed). Jen, however, was my roommate (small rooms) at TWU for 3 years, and is thus an exception to the rule. Plus, she always has a really comfy mattress, pillows and blankets.)

Day 41: Burnaby, Vancouver, Richmond

Friday, woot woot. 
I managed to change my follow up eye appointment to this Friday for a number of reasons, the main one being that my mom was teaching a writing seminar in Chilliwack so I would see her!

I parked at my old free parking spot (the road near 29th Avenue skytrain station), took the skytrain and used up a FareSaver that had been begging to be used, went to my eye appt. at Coal Harbour Eye Center. The verdict is that my vision is not perfect, but is close (20/25 or 20/30). Come back in 3 months and it should be perfect they said. 
You've seen lots of people's eyes improve more from 3-6 months post surgery I asked?
Yes for sure they answered. 
Oh phewf. I want my 20/20 money's worth. (Actually, already worth it...PRK=the bomb diggety. Camping and hiking contact free was amaaazing!)

Mom and I planned to meet in Van for dinner so I diddled around Metrotown, had sushi lunch with Su, mmmm, and then realized there's no way my mom will feel comfortable driving into Vancouver at rush hour. So I left for Richmond, stuck in a little bit of tunnel traffic. Then realized, my poor mother will be stuck in CRAZY tunnel traffic trying to come North. 

So dinner was postponed. She sat there like a champ for 1.25 hours waiting to get through. I relaxed at the farm, picked Gem's hooves and brushed her, entreated everyone to please call the farrier and get her hooves done, and then Mom and I went to Old Spag Factory. I love my mom. She's the best. 

I won't really mention my sleep tonight because there really wasn't much...something about a terrible mattress...I really can't wait to sleep in my own bed once we take it out of Bryan's parent's garage. Someday.