Chrome Molly at Baxter's

Aaron's gig this week was clear up in Mill Creek, which is quite a drive for us (the better part of an hour). That, in and of itself, isn't too bad - ya go where the money is - but I honestly didn't think it was all that. 

The bar was clean and nice, but the staff was cold and uninviting. The didn't give you free soda, or even free refills: it was $2.50 a glass! They had a long list of "rules" the band had to follow and the clientele was.... shall we say, interesting. There were a couple of girls that jumped up on one of the speaker cabs and started dirty dancing up there: all they needed to complete the routine was a pole, and yes, it was that bad.

The dance floor was nice and big though, which is more than I can say for a lot of places. I usually love to dance, but this particular night there was a guy sitting on the side oogling all of the girls and I wasn't about to become one of them: like I said, interesting clientele. 

I guess they can't all be wonderful places, but at least we had to dive 50 minutes to get there and finally got into bed around 3:30 a.m. Wonder how many years we can keep that up?

Black Friday

Jess and I really look forward to our Black Friday morning. It has become something we look forward to almost as much as Thanksgiving itself. Not so much for all the "shopping deals" that are out there, but just as some girl time. Shopping, breakfast and pictures with Santa - who could ask for a better day with a better friend?!

 

Jess Is 19

I got Jess home safe and sound for her birthday, but it was so late that I was really glad we decided to have her party for her the following day! All of her best friends were there and it was great to see her surrounded by them again. We ate a lot, played games and had a great time visiting.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!

Getting Jess

Jess called me worried that she was not going to be able to get home for the Thanksgiving holiday. The pass was a mess, and all she has is the little Sentra to drive - that definitely would never make it over the pass with all of the restrictions. Well, I needed to get new tires and chains for the Pathfinder anyway, in preparation for our drive this Christmas, so now is as good as time as any.

I spent all morning getting the car ready. I always go to the Big O' Tires next to our house for all of our tire needs. They were SO good to me on this day. I explained what was going on and he got me in right away, had new tires on my car in less than an hour, and sold me a set of chains he had sitting in the back for $20! Can you  believe it?! They definitely have won my ultimate loyalty.

Then off I went. It took me three hours to get to Jess: normally this drive takes just under two hours. It was quite a mess up there, but I made it unscathed.

Here's what the pass looked like - not too horrible, and very doable with my wonderful 4WD. (I LOVE my car!) It was Jess's birthday, and this was my birthday present to her.

We took off right away to try to get over the pass again before it closed. We didn't take off quite fast enough. We got stuck in Cle Elum for an hour due to avalanche control closures. I got a little bite to eat and then we just sat, and sat and sat. UGH!! Once the pass did reopen, it was SO slow going. It took me 5 HOURS to get the girls home - and the roads really weren't even that bad. I never even had to put my car into 4WD the entire time, there are just a lot of really stupid people out there I guess.

But 10 hours later, with new tires on the car and chains in the back for this Christmas, I had the girls safe and sound at home.

Happy Birthday to you Jess!

The Museum of Rip Off

I'm trying to spend some more time with my mom and have decided to go on an adventure with her once a month - outside of shopping and regular activities. For November we decided to check out the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Mom loves glass so I thought it would be perfect, so we got together, had some lunch and headed out.

$12 - that's how  much it costs to get into the museum - per person.... plus $5 for parking. Okay, no big deal. That's about how much museums cost so it's cool. We payed and immediately headed right to the first exhibit.

We first came to a room with really large glasses (this one was my favorite). They were all about 5-7 feet tall and probably around a dozen of them. Interesting. Next, a room full of paper weights. Pretty, but I made something similar in shop class in Jr. High.  

The room took a turn and there was a wall with..... wait for it..... glass punctuation marks on it. You heard correctly! A wall with just punctuations marks. Um, okay?

The next room was actually pretty amazing, and the best thing we had seen so far. An entire winter scene made out of etched glass hanging from the ceiling. We looked at this for a while. It was very beautiful, extremely artful and very peaceful. I loved it!

Then back out on the other side. Well, that was fun! It took us about 20 minutes at best to look at all of the pieces. Cool, lets see what else there is.... looking around..... I looked at mom, "Do you see where we go from here"?...couldn't figure it out, so I finally just went up to the front desk and asked for a map and where else we were suppose to go..... "That's it. There is some pieces outside, and a glass blowing demonstration in 20 minutes, but that's the whole exhibit", said with a smile on his face. I think his smile was coming from the look of shock and dismay on my face..... Really?! I just paid $30 for my mom and I to get in there and that was it!!! Were you really being serious with me?! Glass punctuation marks and paper weights?! That's what you got for me?

Well, at least the company was good I guess. We are gonna do something way more cool than that next month. I think we'll go to the bakery to watch the buns rise - at least then it will smell good.

Poker Night

We are just party animals this weekend! It was really fun, however, being able to actually go to parties with a husband instead of having to be by myself while he is the entertainment.

Dave and Michelle (Dave is the band drummer) had a poker/wine night. All of the guys played Texas Hold-Um while the girls sat and drank wine. Well, Jess and I don't drink so we brought a case of diet Pepsi and knocked down a few of those each ;o)

Aaron was totally kicking trash and taking home the bootie until the game just got too long for him. At that point he just started making crazy bets to get out of the game. As it turned out he came in third, so he won the $10 back he put in. At least he broke even.

Jensen's Anniversary

 

The Jensen's had their 22nd wedding anniversary on 11-11-11. What better excuse to have a party?! Since they got married in 1989 they decided to have an 80's party. Everyone was to "Come as your 80's selves".... or at least your interpretation of the 80's, so Jess came as an 80's me ;o) lol!

We had a lot of fun going back in time, visiting with friends, and making new ones.

I Love Fall

Since I have moved my office into a much roomier area, I now have a huge window to look out every day. It's so amazing to sit here, while working, and enjoy the beautiful world. I just love all of the different seasons: fall is so beautiful, and though I am sad to have cold weather (especially since we really didn't even get a summer) I can't help be completely mesmerized by the beautiful colors!

This is the view from my desk at the moment, and it is distracting me from working: I can't quit staring out the window at how beautiful it is out there!

Hunter's Moon

 

We had the most beautiful moon tonight. I was sitting here in my office looking at it when I thought.... hmm, I'm gonna play with my camera and see what I can get. The cool part? I kid you not! While I was out taking some shots a coyote howled in the background. How cool is that?!!