Monday, June 29, 2009

The ABCs of Me (following Sabrina's lead)

A Agnostic. Strongly. If there is a god, I seriously doubt he/she will be deciding my fate based on what specific things I think happened thousands of years ago. If Jesus appeared on a Tuesday and I say Thursday....do I really go to hell?? All religions teach basically the same thing--be good, do good things, act kindly. I follow that. I don't need to be scared into acting a certain way by organized religion which inevitably becomes a place people use to justify being an ass 6 days a week because they are in church every Sunday. I will take my chances in the event that there IS an afterlife. Going to churche doesn't make you a good person. BEING a good person makes you a good person. Raised Mormon, but lost my soft spot for that religion when they funded Prop 8 in California.

B Babies. Maybe we will have them, maybe we won't.....but that is between Ethan and I and I really wish the rest of the world would butt out!! What we choose to do or not do is of no concern to anyone but the two of us. Unless you are offering to bear, pay for, and babysit our child, quit nosing in!!

C Cats. We have two of them--Shadow (aka the Shadow Man, aka the Shadowy Man of Shadows) and Boo (aka the Boo-Kitty, aka Boo Kitty Boo), who have somehow endeared themselves to me despite the fact that they spend their days vomiting on my carpet, eating my houseplants and dispersing fur evenly throughout the house.

D Driving. I always drive. I don't like being in the car when I am not the driver. I prefer to be in control.

E Ethan. Of course. My first, my last, my everything. The reason I strive to do well, the example I hold myself up to.

F Football. Ethan and I are season ticket holders for the Seattle Seahawks, and are fairly dedicated fans. We also do fantasy football, and will be resuming our own league this year (after a 1 year hiatus because of stress/work overload)

G Gigabytes. I need more of them to keep up with the (literally) tens of thousands of pictures I have taken with my Canon 10D since I got it in 2004.

H Harborview. Where both Ethan and I work. We will both retire from here in about 27-28 years. I believe in their mission, and I LOVE being involved with trauma (even though that is no longer the primary focus of my floor)

I Iceburgs. I literally started squealing and dragged Ethan out of the shower when we were on our Alaskan cruise in 2004 so he could see what ended up being the first of THOUSANDS of small iceburgs on our cruise up the Tracy Arm Fjord. I could not get over the sheer size of some of them, and the electric blue color and crazy shapes.

J July. As in the Fourth of July. Something I have not celebrated for quite some time. Now I feel like my country and I have something in common, that people out there feel the way I do. And I can listen to the patriotic music and the national anthem and be proud once again of this country and the way we conduct ourselves.

K Karma. What goes around, comes around. At least, I hope so!

L Lord of the Rings. The one book, growing up, that I was not able to read. You may know that I am a reader?? I read all kinds of books. My childhood shyness was coped with through books--who needs to learn social skills when you can hole up with a good book instead?? Anyway....this one has a section about 150 pages in, that lasts about 30 pages....that BORES me to the point where I tried twice to read it, and had to put it down. After seeing the first two movies by Peter Jackson, I was inspired and had to head back and try again. Now I have read it cover to cover 5 times (still slogging through that boring section....), and am obsessed with everything Lord of the Rings. I have seen the movies HUNDREDS of times. I play then in the background on my laptop while I scrapbook. And I listen to the special features, and I listen to the director and actor commentaries.....obsessed.

M Mountain. As in Rainier. I look for it every day. Sometimes it is visible, sometimes not....but I always look. And ooh and ahhh. And make Ethan look, because he takes it for granted, having lived here all his life. I want to hike there and camp there and I just LOVE that mountain!!

N Nicknames. None. Alyca. My name. No nicknames--never had them, never will. Just Alyca. And I extend this to my inability to call others by nicknames, as well. If you are introduced to me as Toby, then Toby you are...even if you do become a lawyer and all grown up and want to be called Tobias. Just like Ethan will always be Ethan and not 'E' or 'honey' or 'sweetie'. Too goofy. I cannot make myself do it.

O Outlet. As in creative outlet. Mine are photography and scrapbooking. I scrapbook as a way to showcase the bazillion photos I take (mostly while on vacation). I finally finished the album for our Hawai'ian trip in Sept. '08. I have a simple, photo-centric scrappy style.

P Plane. What I hope to be taking to Australia this February. Still working out the funding details, but we are hoping to do a 2 week trip. I went back in 2007 with Mom and was blown away by the beauty and vastness, and the REEF. I must take Ethan there to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef with me. An experience unlike any other I have had.

Q Quilt. I have been working on a quilt for Ethan for about 4 years now. I blame the terribly crappy sewing machine for making it take this long. I just inherited the sewing machine Mom had throughout my formative years, the one that made the garters and armbands for prom, the one that made countless clothes and costumes for us. Anyway....this one actually works and I am endeavoring to finish the quilt before it gets cold outside again this fall. I am about 75% done with the top, just need to finish it off, add a border and sew the whole shebang together.

R Room. My scrapbook room. It is 4.5 feet by 5.5 feet, with custom shelving (thanks, Mom!) floor to ceiling on one wall, a custom desk with custom shelves to the ceiling on a second wall, and more nooks and crannies to store things than you could believe. I can *just* fit inside, close the door, sit in my comfortable chair (thanks, Mom!) and enter my own private world. I put the Lord of the Rings movies on my laptop and scrap away.

S Seafood. Can't do it. I have a serious mental block that prevents me from eating seafood of any kind. If it is not dead when kept underwater, I don't eat it. No shrimp, no crap, no fish. Occasionally, on our wedding anniversary, I will eat a few bites of seafood as an anniversary gift to Ethan, who is still appalled that I have such a seafood aversion. I will cook it for him, but I am not eating it myself!! The very thought makes me want to gag.

T Travel agent. What I would be if there was any money in it. I love to browse and look and think about travel, even when it is not for me. I am currently working on a trip for Mom for when she goes to Prague at the end of August. Right now, I am looking at a 3-4 day kayaking adventure in Venice with a meet-up with the local dragonboat team. Or sea kayaking in Croatia or Turkey. Maybe a tandem bike tour through the Czech Republic and into Slovakia and Hungary.

U Umbrella. I have never purchased one. We do have two freebie giveaway Sonics umbrellas...but they were last used at the Rose Festival in Portland a few years ago. Seattleites don't use umbrellas. We just put our heads down and keep walking. Only a handful of times have I truly been dumped on while walking home.

V Volcano. I'd love to go back to Hawai'i and do a helicopter tour over Mauna Loa to see the lava flowing.

W Web. As in the internet. I like to browse. My current favorite website is www.everything-everywhere.com I have spent the past month or so going from the beginning of this guy's journey, trying to catch up to today. He is travelling the world solo. Going....well, everywhere. And seeing....everything. Very cool. Lots of pictures of amazing sights and sites. I am inspired. Right now, I want to go see the Twelve Apostles in Australia (too bad they are nowhere near where I will be when I go there....)

X xe.com Where I go to figure out how much foreign tours cost in USD

Y Year. Our yearly new years resolution remains the same: To watch every episode of star trek. We are waiting for blockbuster to send us more Deep Spacer Nine (they are on serious backorder right now), but we are halfway through Voyager, with only Enterprise (and DS9) remaining. Maybe we will finish this year??

Z Ziplining. Ethan and I have done this five times now, and each time is more fun than the last! We are now making it a point to go Ziplining on every vacation we take (if there is any available nearby). So much fun!!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Alas, the record was tied but not broken

Twenty nine straight days without measurable rainfall. Only 11 minutes before midnight last night, it started to rain. Just short of the record!!

The longest Seatte stretch ever was 55 days, but 29 days is the longest not in July or August. I have to say........I kinda like the rain. Not every day, mind you...but it smells so nice when it has been dry and warm and it starts to rain in a summer evening!


Today is a very special day. My special someone turns twenty-thirteen today. We are celebrating by going to a Storm game tonight, and I have made a scrapbook mural that I am going to secretly put up over his desk today while he is in a meeting. It is a lovely scrappy photo collage with pictures of Ethan and I all over the place. We only have pictures of the two of us together on vacation. Almost none at all of us on a regular day or even in the city of Seattle. Anyway. That is his gift. I am sure he will like it. It is just a matter of getting into his locked office with him out....I am hoping one of his coworkers is there during Ethan's meeting to let me in. Worst case....I meet him for lunch as usual and bring it with me. No fun 'surprise' moment, but I know he will appreciate it anyway. His desk is a little boring at the moment. And I stuck with masculine colors/patterns and kept the flowers and bling to a minimum....

Sunday, June 14, 2009




Mr. and Mrs Ethan Amerson
June 14, 2003

Hanging out before the ceremony

Papa at the reception

Grandjack and the pastor who married us relaxing after the ceremony.

Sabrina helping Ethan with his bouttonniere

Sorry......computer crashed earlier.....pictures resume


A painting of Ethan's grandma and great aunt Alice that I had made for Ethan's 25th birthday. We wanted them to be present at the wedding.

Wedding pictures: Reminiscing

Here are some wedding pictures that I actually have on a CD. These are all the digital pics my photographer (well, his wife...) took. I bought the negatives for my wedding pictures years ago....and learned that since they were taken with a Hasselblad camera and are large format, it would cost me upwards of $5 per picture to get them scanned and usable online or for editing. I have well over 200 pictures. Do the math. So.....we are going to get a very fancy large format negative scanner. Eventually. They are spendy, but much cheaper than sending the negatives to a lab to have them scanned, plus...then we will have a scanner!!

So.. Enjoy a few pictures of the new Amersons.

Sabrina giving Alexsandra some last minute instructions for her flowergirl duties. Check out the beautiful arch that Davinie decorated for us!

Eric and Mike being goofballs. They were officially our ushers, and the earpieces they have are just that--earpieces. Not connected to anything, just a wire that ran under their collars. Very high tech and all

Friday, June 12, 2009

Happy Loving day!!

On June 12th, 1967, Richard and Mildred Loving won their nine year
legal battle and the Supreme Court granted them the right to be married
in the state of Virginia. This victory also legalized interracial
relationships nationwide, overturning hundreds of years of racist
laws.

We've made progress this year. Interracial marriage was illegal in 22
states when Barack Obama's parents got married, and now he's the
President of the United States. The option to identify yourself as
multiracial finally appeared on the U.S. Census in 2000, and now
multiracial people are the fastest growing demographic in the U.S.

However, racism is not dead. There is still racial prejudice in our
daily lives. Loving Day is a great way to fight this prejudice through
education, and to build multicultural community. Join thousands of
others all over the world in celebrating Loving Day.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Probably going to cause someone cardiac arrest by *actually* posting something on here, but so be it.

Absolutely nothing going on with the Amersons. You can tell by the way I haven't posted anything. Nothing at all.

We are not going to go to Australia this fall. We are looking at February, right after the Superbowl ('cause we are NOT going to be out of the country missing that!...unless we plan it out in advance and figure out where we will go to watch it, etc....but probably not). Hopefully the airfare remains cheap as it is now--about half the price I paid back in 2007.

We are thinking about using our timeshare for the week of Thanksgiving this year. We also have a buy one, get one for $50 airline ticket that expires at the end of November, so that would work out nicely, and get us a cheapie vacation in.

Other than some far off travel plans, we are same old, same old. We live fairly boring lives. It is massively hot up here, or at least it was the past few days. A bit cooler today, but still sunny and beautiful. Of course it is supposed to rain tomorrow in Portland, where I will be for the Rose festival. It ALWAYS rains on me at the Rose Festival. Every single year. Whatever.

Someday I will start uploading pictures again. My adapter for my big camera for some reason makes my desktop computer freeze up, so I can't use it. And the camera card port won't recognize the camera card anymore. So my only option for getting pictures from my laptop or big camera to the desktop is to burn them onto a CD, and that is annoying and takes time and I don't like wasting CDs, so I haven't been doing it. I will break down and start, though. We have a million blank CDs from a sale after Thanksgiving a few years ago. They are not spendy, so I suppose I can waste them. I cannot burn over top of a CD that already has things on it, so they become one-use items.

I would like to put up some pictures from the Cooper Kids Coast Christmas last year. Specifically those of the marvellously wrapped gifts the Amersons brought; just to remind others in the family of what the plan is for this year.....I have a great one of Steve turning Matt on.....

The big excitement in our life lately is the neighbor from across the street who keeps coming over to our house and unscrewing the light bulbs from our garage lights (exterior) and the porch light. Apparently they are too bright. Regular, energy saver bulbs. And if you know the topography of our street, you will recall that the house across the street is probably 40 or 50 horizontal feet away, and the BOTTOM of their house is above the ROOF of my house, since there is such a steep hill there. But my lightbulbs are too bright, and he decided we weren't doing a good enough job remembering to turn the lights off at night (he asked us to, and we were trying to remember to, despite the fact that it is safer having little lights on at night to prevent the rifraff from stealing things from darkened corners, and we WANT to leave them on--as we have for the three and a half years we have lived in this house). So anyway, he has done it a few times, TOLD me after the second time. I yelled at him for like 10 minutes and told him we would call the police if it happened again. I also suggested he purchase a curtain, if these lights are so terribly bright that they disturb his sleep. Mind you, there is a STREETLIGHT about 15 or so vertical feet right above our lights, but he is insistent that our lights are the culprit. I suggested he get a second curtain if he truly needs more light reduction. I have considered giving him the mailer I always get from Bed, Bath and Beyond that is good for $10 off a $50 purchase. Pretty sure they sell curtains. And those eye cover things for spas and foofie ladies. Anyway. You will have to see our lights to truly appreciate it, but drunken college boy had seriously better not come back over to mess with my lights again!!! AND...they are RENTERS. I seriously consider calling the owner (I am sure I can look him up online...we met several times a few years ago when he was living in this house, before he moved. Seemed like a nice, reasonable guy), and letting him know what his renters are up to. If it happens again. Which it probably won't, since our little talk cleared things up.

Anyway. Woohoo, excitement...