My fellow Americans; citizens of the world. We stand today on the brink of a new era. In two short days, the United States will choose a new president to lead this great nation for the next four years. This president will be considered one of the leaders of the free world, and his decisions will have an impact that lasts our lifetime.

History books will someday talk of these days, when this country was so divided and turbulent, and we really didn't know which way our nation was heading. When economic troubles were so dire, we heard daily stories of suicides related to people losing their homes, their livelihoods or their financial standing.

How will history remember us? As the generation who complained and blogged and discussed all that was wrong with our country, or as the generation who stepped up, cast our votes and DID something about it?? Will this be another year of apathy, with only one third of eligible voters actually casting their vote??

Regardless of the outcome of this presidential election, this country is heading into an epic era. Will this be the next Great Depression?? Will we lose our place as the most powerful nation on earth, as the leaders of the free world? Only time will tell. But you can take YOUR place in those history books. See yourself in the descriptions of these days. Know that YOU were one of those many millions who stepped up and voted. The only real way to see who the PEOPLE of this country want to lead us is to have us ALL vote. Not just the rich or the educated or the politically savy---EVERYONE.

So, regardless of your candidate, regardless of your preferences--make yourself known. Make your voice heard. Voting is your right and your duty as an American citizen. Go out and do it!

Google "{your state} voting guide" to learn more about the candidates and initiatives and measures you will be voting for. Know what you are choosing--an uneducated vote is not a true reflection of who you are and what you believe in.

Updated wish list from 2006

1. go to New Zealand Did go to Australia...kinda close...
2.visit Athens and Rome going to at least ONE of these in 2010
3. go Scuba diving umm...watched mom scuba dive??
4. ride in a hot-air balloon
5. become a good IV-putter-inner
6. take pictures that people want to pay for
7. become a charge nurse
8. give Ethan a gift that is so perfect, it makes him speechless
9. have babies (only 2)
10. watch the Seahawks win the Superbowl well, watched them GO to the Superbowl11. buy a house with a big yard and plenty of space got the house and the space...not so sure I want the big yard anymore
12. cook dinner * every * night, and take leftovers to work for lunch
13. buy a teeny tiny SUV for more car room
14. keep a clean house
15. take more diversity classes at UW
16. catch something BIG at work, and help save a limb or life Well....our secretary had an anaphylactic reaction to a medication and I am the one who noticed she couldn't breathe, got her oxygen and called the rapid response team who came up to whisk her to the ER and intubate her.. Sorta counts
17. have a photography studio set up in my garage
18. get another kitty for Shadow and Boo to play with
19. go to Hawaii DID IT!
20. teach my kids to accept people for who they are
21. learn to sew clothes for my kids
22. finish my quilt!!!
23. get back a body I can be proud of
24. watch every episode of Little House on the Prairie
25. scrapbook *all * of my old pictures
26. Watch the Sonics win the NBA championship sadly enough, this one is no longer a possibility
27. take a Caribbean cruise
28. take some geography classes
29. win a photo contest
30. visit the Smithsonian with mom
31. learn to like seafood, at least SOME of it!!
32. figure out how to not be scared of people
33. inspire someone to be a nurse
34. make up a recipe so good, people pester me for it I have a couple now...
35. raise polite, respectful kids
36. go back to Alaska to see more glaciers and icebergs
37. go on an overnight hike on Mt. Rainier
38. be a wonderful wife
39. go parasailing
40. take some history classes
41. get my annual holiday language wall made into a permanent ‘welcome’ display
42. watch all the Star Wars movies back to back
43. take a vacation somewhere warm with the entire family
44. hike all the trails in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness
45. get professionally fitted for a bra (hey—Oprah says to!)
46. buy a boat
47. go camping on Orcas Island
48. stop at an accident scene and help someone
49. be part of another study that saves lives
50. learn how to pick a lock

Our new favorite place on the web

Ethan found this website, and we are now quite hooked. It is a secure website that you can get to access your online accounts and show you exactly where you stand. We have our retirement, bank accounts, credit cards and mortgage tied in. One place to go to see all our financial info at once.

There is a really cool 'trends' section where you get a pie chart showing where every dollar you spend goes--transactions are put into different categories. You can go in and edit which category something goes into. For example, even though we went to Safeway in Maui, we wanted that charge to go in as vacation, rather than as groceries. You can really play with it.

You can also set up alerts so that you are emailed if a large transaction goes through, or if a bank account drops below a certain amount. Very cool

We are uber concerned about finances right now with the financial market as it is. That having been said, it is a great time to get IN to the stock market a bit--things really can't go down much further. We decided to double our retirement contributions (403b, similar to 401k but through the government) to 20% of our pretax income. Maybe a bit high, but we can always go back and bump it down if we need to.

Anyway. Check out mint.com! It has been all over the financial magazines as something that is going to put Quicken and the like out of business. So easy--it does all the work for you!

Moving right along.....

We watched the debate last night, as did pretty much everyone else in the country. Ethan and I played Palin Bingo with homemade cards I copied from a website. I totally won, with my final square being "Special Needs". I also got Maverick, Alaska, God, Al Qaeda, Hockey Mom, Terrorists and a bunch more that I can't remember right now. Oh, and Energy Independence--that one came up a BUNCH.

Overall, not impressed. She didn't answer the questions--just stuck with her talking points, whether they had anything to do with the questions or not. I especially liked how when she was asked what her Achilles heel might be, and she started talking about how much executive experience she has as a former business owner and mayor. Did not even remotely answer the question.

Anyway. People generally don't vote based on who the vice presidential candidate is, so this really doesn't count for much.

No plans for this weekend for the Amersons other than rest and relaxation and a full day of football on Sunday (away Seahawks game).

You will be pleased to know that the Amersons have decided that 2010 will be the year of Europe (as opposed to Australia). Ethan wants to see London again at a slower pace. Other than that, we are definitely going to spend a night in Paris (see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre), but the rest is open. I would love to see Rome, but Ethan was already there and I don't want him to do an EXACT repeat of his 2006 trip with Toby.



Maybe Athens...although I REALLY want to go to Croatia to see the Plitvice waterfalls. SOOOOO beautiful!! I am totally sure that we will plan an amazing vacation with oodles of sights and sounds and memories made.

Thoughts on shyness

I remain convinced that Ethan and I have a much deeper, much stronger love than anyone else. Sort of a desperate, intense love. I love him not only for who he is, but for *how* he is. He understands me in a way that no one else ever has, and I understand him in that very same way.

We are a support system for each other in ways that go beyond husband and wife.

We are both intensely shy and have very different ways of coping with it. I see Ethan succeeding greatly at times, and struggling others; he encourages me as well, and most importantly understands what the real meaning of 'painfully shy' is, and how sometimes it is just breathtakingly hard for me to interact with people. He 'gets' it.

Those of you who do not have an intense shyness (or lack of social skills, as I put it) will never understand the little nuances that take up so much of my brain at times. How I have to actually THINK about trying to make eye contact with someone when I am speaking with them, and then I worry that I am making too MUCH eye contact or that I am doing something else wrong. Or I walk down a hallway at work and see someone I know--do I say hello? Should I make eye contact, or will it seem like I am staring at them?? If I DON'T say something, am I being rude?? If I just keep looking where I am going, does it seem like I am pretending I don't see them??Seriously. I get all stressed out. Sounds dumb, but it really isn't. Aren't you glad your mind is not constantly full of little things like this??

Once I am comfortable somewhere, this is not so much of a problem. I remember at Crane, when in the 8th grade one of my classmates made a remark about how I had said I was shy before I moved there, but they didn't think I was shy at all. Yes, in 8th grade with only 9 students in my class who I had now known for a year, I was fine. Not so introverted. Doing well. But come 9th grade and a whopping 16 extra students in my class (as well as the 60 or so other students in the high school), I was back to being awkward and quiet and lost and terrified all at the same time. By my junior year I was better, at least during the school day, when things were structured. I had figured out that I was smart and 'good' at school, and that was enough to keep me going through the day. It all went out the window AFTER school, but whatever. I had cheerleading and books to read and plenty to keep me occupied.

Cheerleading. The thing I am most proud of myself in my entire life is that I tried out for cheerleading. Now, I do not tell people that I was a cheerleader. I would not want a daughter of mine to BE a cheerleader. I am not proud that I got to wear a skirt etc, etc, etc. I am proud that I tried out. And didn't make it my freshman year, even though others who DID try out didn't even know some of the special kicks you had to learn and demonstrate in front of the whole school. It is a popularity contest, and I lost. Okay. Came back my sophomore year, tried out again. Again, a popularity contest in front of the school. And I lost. My Junior year. Tried out AGAIN. And tied with a freshman who did not know the routines, had not shown up for practices before the tryout. Then the teachers decided that THEY would be the tiebreakers in a second tryout. I went to that tryout and made the team.

Sticking with it when I KNEW it was a popularity contest, and I KNEW I wasn't popular is something that still makes me cry. I am proud of myself for that.

I have been better with my awkwardness since high school. It helps to not be around the people who saw you being so awkward, and have a hard time seeing you any other way. I didn't go to my 10 year reunion because I KNEW I would be scared and quiet and hide and I HATE being that way, so I skipped it. I really wanted to go, but I wanted to go as ME, not as someone who would hide in a corner trying to look like I was happy to be there and unconcerned about anything.

I have a hard time around my family. I KNOW who I am. But being around all those personalities brings me right back and I am uncomfortable and unsure and I totally revert. I really hate that.

In social situations, I suck. I know that. At this point, I don't care so much. I figure that if I am in a conversation with someone and *I* run out of things to say or am not sure how much conversation to have or something stupid like that, it is just as much on the other person to keep a conversation going. So if it dies out, I am not going to let it be an uncomfortable silence. Screw it. I am comfortable. Don't want silence?? Say something to me. I will keep talking. Just can't think of what I should say to lead a conversation.

At work, I am comfortable. I know my job, I know I do it well. I have been there 8 years all together, and many of the nurses there have been there just as long, if not longer. Lots of familiar faces. I am known as someone who is sarcastic and humorous and opinionated and sometimes a bit too loud. I am the one who always has an answer, the one who knows the ins and outs of the computer system we use. The one everyone comes to when they have a question, since I am so resourceful and will know where to send them in the event that I DON'T have an answer. People there don't think I am shy. Not at all. I have a hard time with new staff there that I don't know, but I deal with it pretty well, and after a while, I am comfortable with them, too. No one has any idea.

At work, still the hardest thing I do is when I am working as a floor nurse once a week. The most painful, difficult thing for me in nursing is making myself walk through a patient's door and introduce myself. "Hi, my name is Alyca. I am going to be your nurse today". Absolutely excruciating every time. No easier now than it was 7 years ago. Once I am past that initial part, I am fine.

So. Feel my pain.

Ethan does.

There are lots of issues out there that people deal with. Mine doesn't have a pill for it, just lots and lots of practicing.

New header

I was inspsired both by Davinie's new header and by me coming across my old one as I moved all the .psd files from my old computer to my laptop (forgot to do that months ago when the other computer died and was replaced....just the other day realized that NONE of the digital layouts I did made it off the computer. SOOOO glad I was still able to get them!).

Anyway. New format, new colors. We will see how it goes. I am really hoping this post does not come out centered, because I cannot figure out how the heck the others became centered. I want them aligned left...not sure how they changed but I am sure I can figure it out...

Look Who is in the Seattle Times today!

With all the crap going on in the economy today, I am SOOOO glad I am in a stable position.

I am thankful that Ethan and I work for the state, in jobs where you can't get laid off, and only if we do something stupid can we get fired.

I am thankful we are not stupid.

I am thankful we have disability insurance, so if something DID happen to one of us, we would still receive our salaries and not lose our house.

I am thankful we bought and sold the condo before buying the house. The idea of still paying the two mortgages we originally had on this house is scary.

I am thankful that Ethan had knee surgery, which made us decide to delay remodeling our kitchen and sock our $10K into savings instead of spending it. It feels like a security blanket.

I am thankful our fuel efficient car is paid for in full, and that we have a Metro VanPool to take us to work every day, and a metro bus to take us home, so we don't need to worry about gas prices.

I am thankful that JCAHO came to Harborview while my union was negotiating a new contract. The threat of us picketing while JCAHO was here made management cave in to our demands, and I have some great new perks and pay raises coming.

I am thankful that we have life insurance, so that if the worst happens, Ethan or I would not have to move out of the house.

I am thankful that we decided to refinance our mortgage last year into a 15 year, 5.65% loan that has no ARMs, no balloon payments, and a payment we CAN afford to pay.

I am thankful that Ethan is so diligent, we pay our mortgage a month in advance.

I am thankful that housing prices in Seattle have only dropped slightly, so we still have ~130K in equity in our house.

I am thankful that we have good insurance, where Ethan pays $0.91 a month for his medications, and his surgery cost us less than $1K.

I am thankful that we are in good health and live safe lifestyles and are not at risk of accummulating large medical bills.

I am thankful that we DID buy that timeshare (that we thought was a mistake), so we can travel and relax and get away, even in these turbulent times.




What are YOU thankful for?? I know we all have decisions we can look back on and be glad for.

I just signed up for the Seattle (well, Bellevue) CKC Scrapbook convention in November. I am in need of inspiration and ideas to expand my creativity. Still hard at work on my Australia album, although it has now been a full YEAR since I went there. Well, a year on Sunday. But almost a year. Oh, how I want to go back!!

I am talking Ethan into a 2-week trip in 2010. If we plan enough in advance, we can use our air miles to fly either to Europe or to Australia. I am letting Ethan pick where he wants to go. Well, if he picks Europe, I am totally taking over WHERE we go in Europe, but he can decide which continent he wants. See how I share???

Next year, we are probably doing a cruise with Kim and Justin (Kim just got hired onto Holland America and gets a free cruise a year, plus a 50% discount for friends and family). Probably do that in the spring. I am also hoping to schmooze into a Vegas trip with the Merritts in late spring, then maybe go to our timeshare in Puerto Vallarta in the fall. Ahh, travel.

But, I digress.

Scrapbooking.

I want to get started on a Hawai'i album. I just got back, so the memories are still new and I remember all the details. I am such a discombobulated scrapper, I have NO continuity in what has and has not been scrapped. I am deciding to forget all the pictures I have, and only scrap vacations. I have my pics organized into big folders by year, then broken down into subjects within that year (For example in 2008, I have a folder for Mazatlan in April, a folder for Victoria in July, and one for Hawaii in September). This way, I can easily find pics when I know what subject I want to scrap, and they are all together until I DO scrap them. Anyway.. Someday I will be...well....MORE caught up than I am now.

One for the wall

One of my goals for this (and every) vacation was to take a picture worth framing and putting up on our wall.....this is straight out of the camera and my #1 contender so far. I intend to populate this house with dozens of pictures of beautiful things. Ethan has taken some of them, and I have taken the rest. No storebought pictures for us!

This picture was taken while we were ziplining. It shows the island of Lana'i in the distance, over the town of Lahaina

Maui (Little camera pictures)

Okay, we arrived on Maui Friday, got upgraded to a 2008 Mustang convertible, then stocked up at Costco and headed to Ka'anapali. We stayed at the Westin Ka'anapala Ocean Resort Villas. We were quite impressed. Even discussed buying a timeshare there. Very nice, great location, and you can snorkel right off the beach!

Here is our room. We tried to get pictures as soon as we could (before we destroyed the room)..

Saturday

We spent Saturday exploring the resort, playing in the ocean and relaxing in the pool. Very low key. I think this was also the night of the Republican National Convention where we watched Sarah Palin speak. Talk about scary!!

Here is the view from our lanai. Lots of green space, very peaceful.

Sunday

Sunday, we hung out in our room watching football. First week of the season, and all of that. After the morning games (they started at 7am and 10am), we had lunch at a beachside restaurant on our resort, then returned for the late game (at 2pm Hawai'i time).

Footballed out, we headed to the Old Lahaina Luau, widely regarded as the most top notch luau available. Great food, nice drinks, wonderful entertainment.