sounders opening night

Last night was opening night for the Sounders. After having a blast at a game last year, we decided to get season tickets this year.


This is the cheer leading section. They're a group of fans who have taken it upon themselves to create chants and cheers. When they are all jumping in sync, it's mesmerizing.

Only part of the seats are under the roof (which is crazy considering this is Seattle.) Good work Nate picking covered seats because it rained for the entire game and we stayed warm and dry! It looked absolutely miserable for the people in the rain.

Sounders win 2-0!!

tired of being sick

The cold has gotten a bit worse. My voice is down to a pitiful whisper which means I can't work. I took Nyquil last night because that used to knock me out but I woke up at least 20 times during the night. Apparently the TemperPedic commercials are true, because my tossing and turning did not wake up Nate at all.
I was slightly amused at being so sick when health care reform was being passed. We're in the minority who actually likes their health insurance coverage so I'm not excited about our new tax liability. It will be really interesting to see what becomes of the states that are suing. I love watching checks and balances at work.
I had some really good conversations about the bill with coworkers and have concluded that both sides agree on about 75% of the issues. It is a shame that our lawmakers couldn't see past their party lines to craft a bill that encompassed those things that everyone agreed on. The only people who seem to be completely satisfied are the ones who will get a hand out from it. I feel like this doesn't do enough to fix the problems and is wasting money by throwing it at the symptoms. Kind of ironic, as I thought that was part of the problem with our health care philosophy to begin with.

first day of spring

Yesterday was the official first day of spring, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out with a high of 68. The tulips in the front yard look like they are ready to bloom any day now. I am really glad to finally get to experience seasons.
We went down town for a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl since it fell on a weekday this year. I really meant to take a picture of Pike Place Market while we were there because the entire roof is covered in daffodils right now. The windows on the bus are always too dirty and we didn't make it that far south in the crawl yesterday. I tried to find a picture online but wasn't able to. I always see other people on Facebook constantly posting pictures of the things they are doing and I wish I was better at remembering to do that! I love having pictures after the fact, but while I'm doing something I hate to be bothered taking out my camera.
In other news, I was feeling decent and worked a full week last week. Several coworkers who were clearly sick but did not want to use more sick time spread their filth and germs everywhere and now I have a cold. The point of sick time is not only for you to get better, but also for you to not get more people sick. I was just finally getting my appetite back to normal the past 2 days and now it's all out of whack again. My body is putting me on an involuntary diet.

spring forward

I didn't mean to go a whole month without updating, but we've been busy. My parents came for a visit which was a lot of fun. It was only for a weekend, but we did squeeze in some good food and some house projects. My dad and Nate put up a couple of light fixtures and my mom and I planted tulips in the front yard. I've haven't taken pictures of either, but both look really nice. Instead of the ugly brown light fixture in the living room (see previous post), we now have a pretty crystal chandelier. And instead of whatever random things the previous owner planted, we have a bed of tulips and hyacinths.
We've been really enjoying getting out in the garden when the weekends are sunny. We did a bit of planting last weekend try to spruce up the front of the house. Neither of us know much about plants so we still have all of the little tags sticking out of the ground to tell us the names of the plants. In the back yard my herbs are just starting to sprout.
We're definitely settling into a routine which I guess is both good and bad. It's nice to start to really feel comfortable in the house and the neighborhood. We know our way around Seattle, public transportation, our jobs. On the other hand, sometimes it feels like we're living in a foreign country. Like when we were buying plants, we didn't recognize half of them because they didn't grown in Florida. People's attitudes and mannerisms are different. People's values are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from ours. Even the road signs confuse us!
We love living here, especially in Ballard, but I wonder if there is always going to be a sense of not quite fitting in. Because no matter how long we live here we won't drive a Prius, give money to pan handlers, or understand wasting millions of dollars on public art when we can't fund schools. The beautiful views and mild weather will certainly keep us happy for while though.