Must love dogs...

It has almost been 10 yrs since the U.S was attacked on September 11th. I honestly can not believe it has been that long. I, as I'm sure most of you, can remember exactly where I was and how I found out about what was happening that morning. It is something that is ingrained in my mind and I am sure will never fade. Because of the looming anniversary date it has been on TV and in the media again and for some reason I have found myself more drawn to the TV specials and articles and books about different peoples stories. I just finished reading: "Thunder Dog: the true story of a blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at ground zero" by Michael Hingson. I won't go into great detail because well the title says its all. The author was on the 78th floor of the world trade center when it was hit. The book is his accounts of what happened...well his accounts and his guide dog's, Roselle. Yep Michael is blind and his dog saved his life that day. The thing is its not just a great story about the journey Michael took on September 11th; but the journey he has faced every day since he was born without sight.

I wanted to share Michael's Guide Dog Wisdom with you. It's the top 10 things Michael learned from his dog Roselle that day; and definitely something we could all learn from:

1. There's a time to work and a time to play. Know the difference. When the harness goes on, it's time to work. Work hard; others are depending on you.


2. focus in and use all of your senses. Learn to tell the difference between a harmless thuderstorm and a true emergency. Don't let your sight get in the way of your vision.


3. Sometimes the way is hard, but if you work together, someone will pass along a water bottle just when you need it.


4. Always, but always, kiss firefighters.


5. Ignore distractions. there's more to life than playing fetch or chasing tennis balls.


6. Listen carefully to those who are wiser and more experienced than you. They'll help you find the way.


7. Don't stop until work is over. Sometimes being a hero is just doing your job.


8. The dust cloud wont last forever. keep going and look for the way out. It will come.


9. Shake off the dust and move on. Remember the first guide dog command? "Forward."


10. When work is over play hard with your friends. And don't forget to share your Booda Bone.
    

Obviously some of these will make better sense once you read the book (and you should read the book!) but it just goes to show dogs are much smarter than we ever give them credit for :)

blink and you missed it...

August was a whirlwind of a month for us. I think I was gone more than I was home. BUT I loved every second of it and really wouldn't have it any other way.

It started with an evening up at arbor crest winery celebrating Megan's birthday. If you have never been up there you should check it out. They had a live band (Sammy Eubanks!) and you just bring your own snacks and seats and hang out and drink there amazing wine. We had quite the crew this year...I am already looking forward to it again next year!

2 days after the winery we set out for our 4th annual camping trip up at priest. This is by far my favorite summer tradition and I believe it deserves its own blog post so look for that soon!

The day after camping Megs and I headed to Seattle for a 4 day all girls fest. Our friend Landis's boyfriend flew her in for a visit, THANKS MATT! We were able to be together for the first time in a loooong time! These girls mean the world to me and I don't know what I would do without them. We all communicate a ridiculous amount via email, but its so much better in person! There is really nothing I wouldn't do for any one of them, seriously these girls are my rock. I am truly blessed every single day by each and every one of them!!!!

Our time together pretty much consisted of eating, drinking, and talking...with a few excursions thrown in for good measure. Here we are the first night toasting to what else...US (and fuller and jax who couldn't be there)

here we are again that same night at Kings hardware discussing our million dollar idea. Shhh I cant talk about it yet but just you wait its BRILLIANT :)

The 2nd day we decided to be tourists and hit up the Space needle. I have never been up to the top before and it was a gorgeous day for it. I did not fare so well on the elevator up (i had to close my eyes and squeeze dawn's hand) but I was able to make it out to the deck and take in the sights.

beautiful days like this remind me why its called emerald city...it really does sparkle, doesn't it?

Our last night in town we hit up a sounders game. I have been before but a couple of the girls hadn't. it wasn't a regular season game so it wasn't as packed and intense as usual but we still managed to have a good time!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip-us celebrating the win and each other :)

This sign kinda epitomizes a girl trip. If you have a group of girlfriends you know what I mean. We don't do it maliciously, its just one of those things that happens. if you cant read it it says: "don't talk about yourself, we'll do that after you leave" HA! I love it :)

been a little busy...

Its been quite a while since my last real update so here is a quick run down of what we have been up to the past few months.

We went to a six de mayo party with a donkey:

I broke my foot:

Simpson, Katie and I went to a Boyz II Men concert and met the Boyz!!!

PJ and Amber got married, on a boat, in Seattle:

they had karaoke at the wedding:

I got kidney stones :(

I went to Beth Lamanna's Bachelorette Party in CDA, it was also on a boat :)

Jim and I went to an Indians game: its the summertime thing to do!

Matt and Jenah got Married...FINALLY!

And Beth and Nick got married last night:

So that brings us to today. I am finishing my last shift before our 4th annual mclasnyd camping trip commences on Tuesday... Seriously can.not wait!

Welp...

Its official, today I am 30 . I cant believe I am out of my 20’s; overall I would say the past 10 yrs treated me very well: I met the most amazing girlfriends in college who support me, love me, make me laugh and enrich my life on a daily basis. I travelled Europe for 2 months after college, thanks to my amazing parents. When I returned, I met the most amazing man and have been lucky enough to call him my husband for the past 5 yrs (well almost 5 yrs). Since our wedding day we have travelled to Europe, moved to Vancouver WA, moved back to Spokane and bought a house. We bought two pups and named them after our Alma mater. We have attended numerous WSU sporting events, seen many friends and family get married themselves, and most recently travelled to Hawaii for a much needed vacation. We have made many many many memories and even more new friends. I have had numerous jobs and finally, FINALLY, found a career that fulfills me and challenges me on a daily basis. And those are just the milestones, I have done, and seen and enjoyed many other things, that are too numerous to even begin to list.
At work the other day I had to write down my goals and what I hope to accomplish and how I hope to accomplish them for the next year. So I figured If I have to do it in my professional life why not do it in my personal life too.

So without further ado here are some of my Hopes, goals, and dreams for my 30’s:

I would like to see all of my personal relationships grow, and possibly maybe mature over the next decade.

I would like to see my immediate family grow…hint, hint Jim ;)

I would love to travel more: to knock a few states off my list, and hopefully a few more countries

I would like to take more risks and learn to get outside my comfort zone, and try new things more often

I would like to continue to foster my relationship with myself, so I can be a better wife, daughter ,sister, friend and hopefully mother.

I would like to learn to be satisfied and content with what I have and who I am and not always looking for bigger and better things to find fulfillment in my life.

I would like to work on my relationship with god and my spirituality; and learn that it’s a personal one and no one Else's thoughts and beliefs need to define mine.

I hope to continue in my profession, and take on more of a leadership role and “climb the corporate ladder” if you will

I hope to stay healthy and trust my body that it will continue to do what its supposed to do and stop failing me :)

I hope to keep reading and writing and learning. Whether its for fun, or for work, or just to keep my mind alert

I hope to have both of my parents around to see the 1st, 2nd, and possibly even a 3rd grandchild of mine born

I hope to see my friends get married or stay married and have lots of babies of their own :)

I hope that if and when the day comes we do have children we can see them grow up in a safe, secure, and happy home filled with love and energy and fun!

Whew! That’s quite of few things I would like to accomplish. I guess 10 yrs is enough time, or at least it’s a jumping off point. The one other thing I would like to add is to start crossing items off my bucket list, that I wrote about in this post. I’m not trying to do them all but maybe a couple here or there every year. Nothing crazy but enough to keep things fun and exciting! But for now I should probably get back to work if I really want to accomplish that corporate ladder thing :)


***please note this is not a complete list and is subject to change, grow, or shrink without notification.

maui movie!!!

Thanks to my brilliant, technologically advanced bff's, the Snyders, they made the greatest video of our time in Maui! I still cant watch it without getting a little teary eyed because our trip was that amazing...I'm sure the rest of you wont have that problem, so sit back and enjoy and live vicariously through our island time!

Untitled from Chris Snyder on Vimeo.

thanks Megs and Chris, you guys are the BEST!!!!

An island state of mind...

I know I start pretty much every post with an apology on how long its been since my last post but still I am sorry for taking so long for these ones. At first I was too depressed about being back in the snow to think about all the sun and fun we had in Hawaii, and now well, come to think of it that excuse still works. But now instead of getting depressed about it I can look at the pictures and try to transport myself back to the beach, while in reality I am still wearing my winter boots, scarves a mittens. Brrr its cold out there! I am not going to upload all of them because well that would just be a bit of an overload for everyone; so we will start with the beach/chill days where we didn't do much besides lay out and relax and drink-Ha!

Bobby doing what Bobby does


Bobby getting in the ocean the right way, all or nothing. Jim is slowing working into it.

BTW, love the skin contrast of jim's coloring vs bobby's (or anyone else on the beach for that matter)


Bobby and Chris taking in the beach and bonding :)



The boys at the bar
Chris taking in the beauty and soaking up some sun

the whole beach crew

Jim and I were so happy to see, Annie Davis. She moved to Hawaii right after college so we don't get to see her often. However, now that she's offered an open invitation that may change :)

so that's it for the first Hawaii post...I know, suprisingly short and sweet. Don't worry there is more to come. Up next, the solo girls day out on the beach while the boys golfed ...just the girls and lots of alcohol. How's that for a tease :) TTFN!

A little chuckle for your day...

My mother-in-law informed me I hadn't posted in awhile so here is something to tide her over until I can get all my pics up from Hawaii. I received this as a forward a few months ago and was just re-reading it today and still find it humorous and so true, so why not post it here for all to see. I have no idea who originally wrote this, but wish I did, I think we would be best friends! I've highlighted my favorites.

• More often than not, when someone is telling me a story, all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.


• Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.


• I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?


• Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk. I


• totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.


• Do you remember when you were a kid playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no Internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.


• There is a great need for a sarcasm font.


• Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.


• How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?


• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.


• I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.


• The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.


• A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.


• Was learning cursive really necessary?


• Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".


• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.


• Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.


• Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".


• I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!


• Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.


• Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.


• Bad decisions make good stories.


• Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!


• Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?


• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.


• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.


• I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.


• "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this. Ever.


• While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.


• I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?


• Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.


• It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.


• Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...


• I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.


• I think the freezer deserves a light as well.


• The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fatso before dinner.

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I hope you are out enjoying the sunny weather today, I'm working but plan on getting out and enjoying the weather soon. I will try my best to get some Hawaii up soon...maybe this weekend since I have a feeling this sun wont stick around long. Happy Sunday :)