Flirty Thirties, Sporty Forties

I went back to Pullman this past weekend to see some old friends from college, including some favorite restaurants. It was also fun seeing how much my friend's daughter has grown. I was shocked to see how many changes there had been in the two towns, but I was pleased to see that a lot of them were for the better. It's so much more fun there now that I have a job and am no longer a poor starving college student! Here are some pictures of the sights and the people.

Moni and Sharleen's wedding I went to the wedding of two pharmacy school classmates. I think we all sat in the same two rows for those three years in Pullman, so it was great to see everyone again. We looked a lot better than when we would drag ourselves into class, wearing sweats!! (Lam and her husband, Me, Sharleen and Moni, Nguyen, Sami, Nate and his wife Tashi) The wedding was at Newcastle Golf Club, which has an awesome view of Seattle, Lake Washington, Bellevue, and the Olympic mountains. It was a perfect, sunny day for a wedding, and we could see for miles. The ceremony was beautiful - I think it was Buddhist, as Moni is Cambodian and Sharleen is Japanese. During the reception, Sharleen, her sisters, a cousin, and her mom and aunt performed a traditional Japanese celebration dance, and her sister and cousin later performed a special hula dance for them (sorry, no photos of that). It was one of the coolest weddings I've been to and I just had to post some pictures...

I miss those boys! No new pictures at the moment - just looking at my earlier pictures and missing Bowdrie and Carson! I'm enjoying my weekend off, eating some good fruit! It was hard for me not to go to Seattle or Oregon for the Nordstrom sale, but so far I've resisted! Check back with me next week! In other news, I've been promoted to Lead Pharmacist for ICU, so that's kind of fun. All for today- the pool beckons

I'm hoping Bowdrie can answer the ages-old question - just how many frogs do you have to kiss before you meet your prince, or in his case, Princess! We had a fun day together at the Whitefish city park, going down slides. It seems to be a visual trick because I look puny in this picture but I don't remember it that way! Carson saying "psst, come here, I have a secret to tell you", and sleeping. Velva said he's asking for me, wondering where I went and who will hold him now! Jen's going to love me for that! haha

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - er, planes, automobiles, tow-trucks!! I just got back from meeting little Carson. What a darling little bundle! He loves being held so I made sure to indulge him with that! I love holding them when they're under 7 pounds!! On Friday we took Bowdrie to the park so he could play outside - his favorite thing was the wheel! Oh well! I flew up there, and then drove home with Mom and Dad. Well - most of the way home. It was 100 degrees out and despite all the coolant levels being perfect and the oil being perfect and the fan belt working - AND me turning off the air conditioning for all the hills, the little indicator went up to the red zone. Thankfully we'd cautiously pulled off to this rest area, so we sat there for a while and a nice towtruck driver came to drive us the 52 miles to my place in Yakima - in air conditioned comfort! All 4 of us, plus Lucy (the dog) crammed together -- this is the stuff memories are made of!!! But yeah- what...

My newest little reason to go shopping!! Carson Henry was born at 2:22 PM on June 23rd. 6 pounds, 13 ounces, 19.5 inches long. He's a big hulk compared to how Bowdrie started out, at 5 pounds 7 ounces! Anyhow, yay, he's finally here!! Bowdrie doesn't know quite what to think of him. I imagine he'll be disappointed that he doesn't have wheels, but Bowdrie likes those toys that make noise when poked, so this could spell trouble! haha

My new favorite drug! Lucky for me, I have access to wonderful drugs and my newest favorite is TLE, which stands for topical lidocaine and epinephrine. It completely numbed my owies so my very nice aunt, who came over to help me, could get them all cleaned up without me interfering by passing out or screaming!

I should stick with shopping, Reason #37 I've now had my first wipe-out on a bike, and quite honestly I'm also hoping it's my last one! The railroad tracks in Ballard got me and while the photos don't do it justice, I've got some pretty big "badges of honor", or as I like to think of them - "owies". I was out riding with a friend, and I didn't see the great big yellow sign saying to cross at a 90 degree angle and my bike went out from under me faster than I could prevent. It's a pretty sickening feeling. I managed to get rid of the pebble that was embedded in my elbow, but I've still got some souveniers in my outer arm. The pictures of my knee didn't tun out real well but I've got about an 8 inch section all scraped up there too. I'm just trying to remember to be glad that nothing is broken and my face didn't get screwed up! My drugs are kicking in -- goodnight!

Pharmacy Girls Night Out!! Just got back from our latest night out on the town. We've started to hang out and enjoy each other's company outside of work. This time was at Red Robin, celebrating Colleen's upcoming marraige and mourning Elizabeth, Debi, and Mary's leaving. The one photo is blurry but special -- Stacey and Elizabeth and I have been the ICU pharmacists, and now Elizabeth is moving on. Anyhow, these are some of the great gals I work with and the reason why life in Yakima isn't all that bad sometimes!!

Montana trip I just got back from the long drive up to Whitefish to see Bowdrie and make sure he was being well-indulged! :-) As you can see, he's still deciding if he's going to go the diet pop route or stick with the straight stuff! We got to introduce him to his first ice cream cone :-) He seemed to think you put your nose on it... He has lots of energy and is into EVERYTHING - it's so cute!! We shopped all day on Friday and he did really good -- he likes to point and touch things, especially if you say "pretty". One day we went out for a little walk to go see the horses and he fell asleep in my arms on the way back -- awwww! Such a little heart-stealer! I love being an aunt and can't wait to be one again -- apparently soon!

I just returned back from 5 days in San Diego with my aunt. We had a great time shopping and biking around Coronado Island on Electra cruiser bikes! We looked like real tourists! One lovely discovery was that right behind the Carlsbad Outlets was something called the Carlsbad Flower Ranch, and the entire hillside was FULL of flowers. Rows and rows of red, pink, yellow, and white ranunclulus were blooming. Laguna Beach was fun, and we especially loved walking on the bluffs above the ocean, just south of town. There were flowers everywhere and it was so nice to just sit on one of the benches and watch/listen to the ocean. Aaaah!

More on my brilliant nephew: Bowdrie has officially said his first word!! He said, "Tickle"! How advanced he is, to be starting off with the two-syllable words! He later said, "Yeah" :-) He also knows how to drive, as seen in this picture~ I miss that kid!

I just had a fun shopping trip to Phoenix. I have always wanted to go to the Nordstrom's Last Chance store, and that was fun (once I figured out streets vs avenues in that crazy town!). It was a successful shopping excursion, but I also had fun going to a Spring Training game (M's vs Milwaukee Brewers). I have a 2 inch wide sunburn strip -- guess I missed a spot with my sunscreen! Anyhow, it was 75 degrees with a slight breeze and I didn't ever want to leave! It was great to see old friends, even though we felt old when we figured out how long it had been since we'd been together!!