Lots and lots of layouts! I am slowly but surely making progress on my Australia album. I bought some 2.5 inch rings to replace the 3/4 inch rings the album came with. Lots more room for chunky pages! I still may need to go up in size...but it will look kinda funny if I get much bigger! Ethan says he knows where to get 6 inch rings (he uses them at times at work)...but that is RIDICULOUS, so I may end up making this a two-album album. But I would have to figure out another cool cover for the second one, because the burnt out image of Australia on this one is just so cool! I found a website for the company I bought the scrapbook from at the Rocks market, but it is MUCH more expensive to buy one online than it was to buy in person!

Anyway.....these layouts are from my second day in Sydney--I got up early and took sunrise pictures of the Opera House from atop the Harbour Bridge. There are a billion different shots, presented in my album in chronological order, so the first pages are the beginning of the sunrise and the latter pages are the more developed sunrise. After the sunrise, I headed to the airport to meet up with mom (and didn't), then finally caught up with her in The Rocks and went to our hotel together. There are a few layouts from my third day in Sydney (Tuesday), taken in the Chinese garden of friendship. I have LOTS more pictures from that garden coming....so be prepared for more of the frantic-ness that you see here with the Opera house.....just greener. And with an Asian flair.

I came up with this quote all on my own...and it really fits. I liked how the pink was starting to come out in the sky, so I stuck with pink shaded accents.

I attached two of the pictures to the page with pretty brads, so I could rotate them out and see some hidden journaling. I love journaling, but don't so much like my handwriting...so I hide it. I am now printeraliscious, so I am using a handwriting font to type a lot of my journaling up, but I still like to find ways to hide it.

More of my hidden journaling

This layout has the distinction of having the most sunrise pictures on it....and no journaling. But I was seriously running out of things to say about the sunrise. Really, it was so cool you SHOULD be speechless, so this is kind of fitting

See how the colors get prettier and prettier as the sun rises??

Yes, I DID include all my sunrise pictures in this album. I love them all equally....well....maybe the last one is my favorite

last sunrise picture (I swear)

Meeting up with mom on Monday

journaling about my second day in Sydney (first day with mom)

the Chinese Garden of Friendship--an awesome oasis within the city of Sydney. I had a wonderful few hours here!

journaling about my visit to the garden

some details of some of the pagodas within the garden

It is official!

So, after much discussion, Ethan and I have finalized our travel plans. Sort of. We did book a hotel for a week in April, so assuming we purchase plane tickets in the near future (buy one, get one for $50), we are headed there. CHHEAAPP hotel deal--works out to about $50 per night.

In either early June or late July, we are heading to Vegas. Because of my vociferous complaints, Alaskan Airlines has given us a multitude of discounts that we must use before they expire, so we are taking two $150 off coupons and flying to Vegas for about $40 a piece. I am the queen of discount lodging, so I will figure out a hotel deal and off we go!

Sept. 3 we will fly to Honolulu (assuming we buy the tickets--buy one, get one for $50), staying in a hotel there for 2 nights (probably from Priceline), then flying to Maui (tickets from Hawaiianair.com) and staying in our timeshare swap for 7 nights. We will need to rent a car (priceline.com or cheaprentals.com) since Kaanapali beach is about 30 miles from the airport. Then on the 12th we fly back to Honolulu then straight home.

Still lots of little details to work out, but the main plans are in place. We are tripaliscious again!!!

Mt Rainier as we flew overhead on our way home from the Dominican Republic. Must be the most beautiful mountain there is.

With Justin and Kim on Justin's birthday. (right after Thanksgiving). We went to Centralia and stayed in a McMenamins hotel/restaurant/bar. Lots of fun!!

Justin, Kim, Ethan and I on the Spirit of Seattle, an Argosy cruising boat that we toured on during the Christmas ship festival. It went through the locks and back, stopping for scheduled caroling and choir listening. It is becoming an annual thing for us.

The language wall I make every year at work. I have finally learned my lesson and I am laminating the words with fancy scrap-paper so I don't have to go around year after year getting people to give me their languages. My only rules are that the language must be spoken by someone who works at Harborview, or by a patient we have that gives us their language--no looking things up on Google. I am told that the arabic I have is misspelled, but still need to get ahold of the arabic speaking nurse who gave me the original so I can figure out what I need to change. Pretty cool? I put it up at Thanksgiving and take it down after the New year. In years past, I had more than 20 languages, but writing them on paper with a sharpie is much easier than cutting them out of scrap paper, so it was a little lean this year.

Travels

Our Mexico trip with Justin and Kim fell through, so Ethan and I are going to take a cheapie trip to Mazatlan on our own, instead. We have never been, and found a great hotel deal through our timeshare membership with Interval International, so off we go. Likely to be in late April, but the details are still being worked out.

We DO have our Hawaii trip sorta sorted out. We are going to head out Wednesday morning (in September), get there around noon and spend a couple days in Honolulu. Do Pearl Harbor and the PCC. Friday, we will hop a flight to Maui and check in to our hotel there on Kanapaali beach for a week, then fly home the following Friday. Lots-o-fun. Still need to book everything but the Kanapaali hotel, but we will get there...

Lets see.....I am going to the scrap convention in Portland at the end of this month. I am taking 5 classes and saving all my spare cash to spend on tax-free goodies. I am making a list of things I actually NEED for scrapping, so hopefully I don't buy a bunch of flashy crap I won't actually use. My list so far is cardstock in all colors, lots of alphas in every form, and flowers galore. I also need more neutral colored brads in different sizes, and I am sure I will be adding to this list daily...

In March, Ethan and I are heading down to McMenamins' Edgefield property--a hotel with a restaurant, pools, spa, mini golf course, theater, etc all together on one property. You can roam around and have everything end up on a single bill. We are going with Justin and Kim for Kim's birthday. Should be a fun weekend.


In May, I am hoping to head to San Jose for an orthopedics nursing conference. I have an orthopedics certification, and it lasts 5 years unless I get enough education hours in to renew it--I get an extra $1 an hour for having the certification, which really adds up. And I am one of only 2 staff nurses at Harborview with this certification (4 total-on ARNP and one MSN-CNS). Pretty cool to have, definitely a must to keep. If we are a nationally recognized ortho unit (which we are), we need to have nurses with specialty knowledge. ANyway. I am trying to get some assistance with paying for it--continuing education funds will give me $500, but that is how much the conference alone costs. I may apply for a scholarship that can give me another $500, and pay the rest on my own. Even if I only get the first $500, when you think about $1 an hour over 5 years, it is TOTALLY worth my paying for this trip. Plus, it is a tax writeoff.

Speaking of tax writeoffs, we got our refund today. Woohoo! We are planning to use the money to remodel our kitchen--new floors (tile or laminate), new cabinets (darker, more red-toned wood to match the rest of the house), tear out the 5 foot wide dividing walll and make an L-shaped island, new gas stove with a microwave mounted above it, granite countertops......we shall see how far our money will spread. I am trying to talk Ethan into going to the Seattle Home show this weekend--lots of contracters there and lots of ideas for what we can do.

So there we are. Not much excitement lately in the Amerson household. Lots of same old, same old stuff......

New computer

We finally broke down and got a new computer. Well, the computer finally broke down and refused to work. We got a cheapie model with excellent antivirus and anti-spyware. Got stuck with Vista, but so far, so good on that front.

So.


I am back in the computing world! I have a functioning keyboard!! I have high speed internet that is actually high speed!

Because so many people feel ambivalent about Valentine's Day, the P-I decided to turn away from the world of couples and instead looking outward toward the city. Herewith, some of the many reasons to love this place, even in the gloom of February.


Bonfires at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard great place to hang out with some friends on a summer evening


The shocking red meeting room floor at Seattle Central Library the whole library is an experience in itself. Lots of bright colors, interesting angles and natural light


Driving across state Route 520 with Mount Baker to the north and Mount Rainier to the south only both visible about 50 days a year.....but so worth it!


Citywide panic when it snows sadly enough, this is true. The news reports on cold days are hilarious as everyone prepares for the tragedy of a sprinkle of snow.


Awesome, ever-changing clouds gotta enjoy the pretty parts of the rain!


Annual Space Needle passes wish I had one!!


The Fun Forest (R.I.P.) cheesy carnival games and rides


Whitecaps on Elliott Bay where else do you get such a cool mix of mountains and water??


Direct flights to London gonna take one of these next year!!



The Ballard Locks cool free entertainment to watch boats go through...even more fun when you are on one!


Assisted-living facilities for drunks (hooray for harm reduction!) actually, these save millions of dollars in ER visits.....so......good thing!



The views from all the hills, for that matter Seattle is a view mecca


The Space Needle as a sci-fi beacon of hope It sits right over the Sci Fiction museum


Beer and garlic fries at a Mariners game even though I am anti baseball, gotta try this out. I know the view is amazing, and the stadium is world class


Seeing the latest costumes on "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture in Fremont same thing for "walking on logs" in West Seattle. Don't know who dresses them, but there is always a theme!


The clouds part and Mount Rainier is revealed reason enough to live in Seattle


Pro women's basketball team Seattle Storm, now owned by local women can I get a woo hoo?!?


Dick's Drive-In: in particular Dick's Deluxe at 1 a.m. after one cocktail too many A Seattle legend


Amazon.com read inside before you buy!


Gates Foundation billions of dollars to cure the diseases of the world


Pike Place Market's flowers, cheeses, magazines and citizens who call it home no place cheaper for fresh flowers and seafood


The view of Elliott Bay from the top of the Alaskan Way Viaduct


The dream of taking down the viaduct to open up the waterfront but only if they give us the tunnel instead!!


Houseboats on Lake Union so eclectic, so uniquely seattle


The Cinerama Massive screen, limited showings.....movie theater at its best


The Lusty Lady and its witty marquees (best current example: "American Eye-Dolls") Women-owned 'strip' club where the performers are in glass booths and money paid opens up a curtain so you can watch from the privacy of your own booth


The new SAM my bus stops there every day (Seattle art museum)


The jeweled skyline mirrored in the water as the ferry glides out of Colman Dock largest ferry system in the US, and best views of all


Pioneer Square's pergola, the graceful 1910 landmark that even a sharp-cornering 18-wheeler couldn't kill it was missed after the truck took it out, but is back and more beautiful than ever


All cars still stop for the school bus, in both directions Seattle drivers are notoriously polite and rule abiding


Urban wildlife: raptors, coyotes, sea mammals, great blue herons, raccoons (and the volunteers who look out for them) we have racoons living behind our house!


75 to 80 degrees in the summer, at least until global warming kicks in nothing beats Seattle in August. Dry, sunny and amazingly beautiful


The Smith Tower: elegance in architecture once the tallest building west of the Mississippi, soon it will be mostly condos



Fremont Troll's ugly mug why there is a 30 foot tall troll living under an overpass with a VW bug in it's grip is beyond me


The lumbering comedy of "Adjacent, Against, Upon" in Myrtle Edwards Park modern art is odd


The SLUT going nowhere and you can get your "I rode the SLUT" T-shirts everywhere! (south lake union transit)


The Greenlake loop, full of people, dogs and ducks people watching at its best



EMP for being a sculpture, not a building ugly, ugly, ugly, but I will accept it as art


St. James Cathedral for gravity, air and light I can see it's twin steeples from the north rooms at Harborview


Safeco Field's upper west concourse awash in afternoon sun supposed to be the best view in baseball


Native son Jimi Hendrix, adopted son Kurt Cobain don't forget about Bruce Lee!


Fresh salmon don't eat it, but I certainly can appreciate it



Rat City Rollergirls rollerderby lives


Jumping into Lake Washington in early May more like July....but boating on the Lake is truly not to be missed


Archie McPhee's: where you can buy princess gear and fake severed fingers in the same shopping trip none like it.

A cool article in the Seattle PI today about why we love Seattle. Not all of these apply to me (razor clams?? Eeewwwww), but still cool.


A Valentine to Seattle ...
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Last updated 8:43 a.m. PT

P-I STAFF

Because so many people feel ambivalent about Valentine's Day, the P-I decided to turn away from the world of couples and instead looking outward toward the city. Herewith, some of the many reasons to love this place, even in the gloom of February.


Razor clams, Dungeness crab and black cod



Bonfires at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard


Power-tool racing in beautiful downtown Georgetown


Public staircases


Richard Hugo House when serious teenagers are reading serious poems


Top Pot doughnuts on Fifth Avenue as the Monorail glides by


The shocking red meeting room floor at Seattle Central Library


Madison Street's hilly traverse from Sound to lake


Outdoor movies


Running along Alki at sunset


Driving across state Route 520 with Mount Baker to the north and Mount Rainier to the south


Citywide panic when it snows


Panama Hotel for its ground floor tea room and respect for hidden histories


Awesome, ever-changing clouds


Hearing elephants trumpet when walking through Lower Woodland Park


The kiss of cold, wet wind


Uncontrolled intersections


Dogs on buses


Annual Space Needle passes


The community pot patch in Discovery Park


The Fun Forest (R.I.P.)


historylink.org


Whitecaps on Elliott Bay


Direct flights to London


Old grunge musicians all cleaned up


Vera Project


Kubota Gardens


Interlaken Avenue


The Ballard Locks


UW canoe rentals


Fantagraphics


Assisted-living facilities for drunks (hooray for harm reduction!)


The view from the Aurora Bridge


The views from all the hills, for that matter


The Space Needle as a sci-fi beacon of hope


Beer and garlic fries at a Mariners game


The vaguely sick-yet-victorious feeling often produced by attending a stadium event


Seeing the latest costumes on "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture in Fremont


Native writer Charles D'Ambrosio, who referred to the "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture as "my nightmare"


The clouds part and Mount Rainier is revealed


Pro women's basketball team Seattle Storm, now owned by local women


The wild length of Burke Gilman Trail


Ezell's. In particular: Ezell's mashed potatoes drowned in gravy


Dick's Drive-In: in particular Dick's Deluxe at 1 a.m. after one cocktail too many


Amazon.com


Gates Foundation


Pike Place Market's flowers, cheeses, magazines and citizens who call it home


The view of Elliott Bay from the top of the Alaskan Way Viaduct


The dream of taking down the viaduct to open up the waterfront


Hot coffee and cookies at Magnolia Post Office at Christmas


Houseboats on Lake Union


Fantasizing about living on a houseboat on Lake Union


Lawrimore Project's pink-striped exterior


Safe and Sound Swimming's 90-degree pool


Northwest Film Forum


Seattle International Film Festival


The Cinerama


The Lusty Lady and its witty marquees (best current example: "American Eye-Dolls")


The strippers who work for the Lusty Lady


The janitors who clean up at the Lusty Lady


The museum guards at SAM across the street


The new SAM


The spunky Henry Art Gallery


The revitalized Frye Museum


Live theater: infinitely varied


The jeweled skyline mirrored in the water as the ferry glides out of Colman Dock


Pioneer Square's pergola, the graceful 1910 landmark that even a sharp-cornering 18-wheeler couldn't kill


The autograph wall at All for Kids Books & Music


Yesler Way school-day mornings: all ethnicities await the yellow bus


All cars still stop for the school bus, in both directions


Urban wildlife: raptors, coyotes, sea mammals, great blue herons, raccoons (and the volunteers who look out for them)


"Open Door Day" at the mayor's office


75 to 80 degrees in the summer, at least until global warming kicks in


The Smith Tower: elegance in architecture


Walks at Shilshole Bay Marina


Fran's Chocolates: There are pretenders to the throne, but Fran is still the queen


Urban Rest Stop


Olympic Sculpture Park


Fremont Troll's ugly mug


The lumbering comedy of "Adjacent, Against, Upon" in Myrtle Edwards Park


The SLUT going nowhere


The Greenlake loop, full of people, dogs and ducks


The hot ladies who jog around Green Lake


The hot guys who jog around Green Lake


The cold misanthropes who walk around Green Lake, or decide not to


Seattle Central Library for its sweeping blue diamond grid


EMP for being a sculpture, not a building


St. James Cathedral for gravity, air and light


Jazz Alley: great musicians up close


Safeco Field's upper west concourse awash in afternoon sun


The enthusiasms and ingenuity of chef Tom Douglas


Beacon Hill with its shining industrial views


"Louie, Louie" during the seventh inning stretch at Safeco Field


Native son Jimi Hendrix, adopted son Kurt Cobain


The rise of local hip-hop


Emerald City Soul Nights


Home Alive and the refusal to forget murdered singer Mia Zapata


Fresh salmon


Uwajimaya food court


Uwajimaya bookstore and its multicolored, pricey notebooks


Downtown temps on lunch break, writing down their thoughts in overpriced notebooks


Rat City Rollergirls


23rd Avenue and Union Street on Sundays, when church is getting out


Meredith Matthews East Madison YMCA


The way walking up Queen Anne makes your legs strong


Seattle Symphony's Tiny Tots weekends


Jumping into Lake Washington in early May


Rainier Avenue South and its fleet of nail salons


Archie McPhee's: where you can buy princess gear and fake severed fingers in the same shopping trip

All's quiet on the Breastern front.......or......Being a big Cyster

I have been spending an inordinant amount of time lately thinking about my breasts. Or at least the right one.

A couple weeks ago, as I ran up the stairs in my house, I put my hands over my boobs as I went up (to minimize floppage with no bra). I randomly felt a lump behind my right palm. After a quick check in the bathroom and a double check by Ethan, I confirmed that I had a decent sized lump in my right breast. Which was funny, because I play with my boobs ALL the time and you would think I would have noticed something like that earlier.

But I digress.

I called the Swedish breast care clinic and set up an appointment for February 11. It was really cool. The mammogram machine is no joke! Mom has long complained about the vice grips they attach you to, and she was not far from the truth! I had a mammogram followed by an ultrasound to give me a clear diagnosis. The verdict?? A large cyst. Thumb sized (about 2 inches long), and eggplant shaped (according to the doctor. Not the fruit/veggie I would have thought to use as a description, but it really does fit). Because of the moderately large size, he gave me the option of having it drained or waiting and seeing. I am waiting and seeing. If it doesn't bother me, it can stay there, but if it gets any bigger I will be lopsided, and we just can't have that.

So.

Now I am a big Cyster!!

Mom really wanted a calendar or list that showed everyone's birthdates and anniversaries, so I made her a calendar with pictures from our Australia trip.