Somewhere, lost in the 'Quah

We're working on rekindling the ole blog, it's been a LONG time! Something about having a house and fixing stuff and planning stuff and summertime and Facebook. Trying to come up with a new title - we're no longer geographically "left" of Seattle on the map, but we're certainly still more "left" of Issaquah (Not talking maps here, people) though maybe less so than when we were in West Seattle...

So "Right of Seattle" is out for sure...I guess "Left of the Quah" would still work...thoughts?

Slighty Right of Seattle?

4 years ago today

Four years ago today we got married in a beautiful location with all our family and friends around us. It was one of the greatest days of my life and I wouldn't change a thing.

I am so blessed to have the best husband and friend a person could ever want.

I can't believe time has gone so quickly, but I'm glad we've made the time to do everything we have done together. Its been a great four years and I'm looking forward to the rest to come.

-wifey

One more quick personal update

For those of you who we haven't spoken with recently, I want to let you know that you don't have to hate children's hospital on my behalf anymore.

They opened up another position, in the same group with the same title, and offered me the position. So I start working at Childrens and the Therapeutics Development Network of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on June 14th!

I am really excited about the job. Plus now I don't have an unfounded grudge against an amazing non-profit institution.

Also, we moved into our house this weekend, which is AWESOME! But I know Geoff will give a better update about that soon so I will leave it to him.

Way to go, BP! (That's sarcasm, btw)

Granted, there are MANY people to blame for this disaster (including oil hungry Americans)

Holy Crap, May!

So, at the start of the month, Geoff and Jaime headed off on a little European vacation. Two weeks in London/Paris...



It was rad! Brother in law Ryan and Peyton were waiting to pick us up from Heathrow, and it was a short car ride (on the wrong side of the road!) out to Pinner and my sister's LOVELY house! After a short nap Sunday afternoon (we arrived at 10am, having left Seattle around noon the previous day with a stopover in Chicago) we were adjusted and ready to enjoy the time we got to spend with niece Isabel and nephew Peyton, and our travels! Monday we got a late start to the morning and headed into London proper for our first experiences. Since we missed both Isabel and Peyton's birthdays, we took them to Hamleys, a large toy store in downtown London. Afterward Jaime, Tina, and Isabel headed to Harrods for tea, and Ryan, Peyton and I walked around Hyde Park.


The following day Jaime and I departed for Paris via the Eurostar. Ok, ok, I'm a train guy - but the Eurostar is amazing! It's fast (almost 200mph), smooth, and QUIET. Seriously, Jaime and I were whispering with each other because the cars are so quiet...It's also incredibly easy! I HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you're in London or Paris (it also goes to Belgium).

Video of Geoff and Jaime on Eurostar

Paris was RAD! Paris is also HUGE! We arrived Tuesday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and thought we'd take a nice short stroll along the river Seine - I guess because it's nearly all flat, the city just seems to go on and on. Highlights of Paris - yeah, the Louvre is cool, and we spent a LONG time inside, but Cathedral Notre Dame, in my opinion, is better! Seriously, it's beautiful. Sunset atop the Eiffel tower - again, spectacular. Incredibly windy, but spectacular. After nightfall, every hour on the hour, they have a series of flash bulbs that go off all over it. We caught an elevator down just in time to catch it. Our final indulgence in Paris was a dinner cruise along the Seine. Nice views, great food, spectacular wine, and my absolute most favorite person to share it with. Once in a lifetime...

We ended Paris with a walk around the Montmarte district, using the Rick Steves Paris guide. There are travel books, and there are Rick Steves guides. Don't bother with anything else, seriously. Caught the evening Eurostar back to London. Loved every minute of the journey.

(shout out to the Paris Metro system - I don't speak ANY French, and it took me two rides to figure out how it works - all other subways should be designed this way)

The next day we spent relaxing with Isabel and Peyton in Pinner (Uncle Geoff needs his rest when he travels). The following days were spent exploring London - Discovered a great chain restaurant called "Wagamama," toured Westminster Abbey (no pictures?) saw Big Ben, the Tower of London (held a crossbow), the Crown Jewels (again, no pictures? They're BEAUTIFUL!) , took a bus tour (great way to get acquainted with the city, but no good for deep insight) "Which way's North?"

saw the Rosetta stone at the British Museum (history, awesome!) drank lots of English beer, ate fish and chips (no skin, please!) and had a generally great time.

On our last full day, Tina, Isabel, and Peyton joined us to check out the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. The ceremony is cool and all, but the highlight for me was actually getting to see the Queen. Granted, she was cruising out in her Rolls Royce limo, but still, she waived at the crowd. Otherwise, I'd say Buckingham Palace was a bit of a yawn. Afterward we grabbed some lunch, and then took the kids on a boat cruise down the Thames to Greenwich. We spent some time in the very cool National Maritime museum, then headed uphill to the Royal Observatory to "see" the Prime Meridian. It was unfortunate that we were all a little weary, and there was a GIANT group of French school kids there. If I make it back to London, I'll have to go check it out again. In fact, by the end of the trip, I was TOTALLY over groups of French schoolkids...




It seemed like we had just gotten comfortable when it was time to head home again. We spent one VERY long day (including a 5 hour layover in Chicago) getting home, and rolled in around midnight. We cannot thank Tina and Ryan enough for hosting us - they provided us their house and made it possible for us to be able to stay for 10 days, otherwise it never would have happened. Everyone asks me what my favorite part of the trip was...and sappy as it may be, it was getting to spend so much time with my niece and nephew.

Here's a link to the Shutterfly album.

So, the other big news is that two days before we left for Europe, we put an offer in on a house in Issaquah. There was lots of emailing and signing and scanning while we were in London, but we got it done. We're in escrow this week - and planning on closing on Thursday or Friday. I'll just include a link to the Windermere listing - it's a GREAT house, in a nice neighborhood, and it HAS A GARAGE!!!! Yeah, we're moving to the suburbs - deal with it ;) We'll still come to West Seattle for Bakery Nouveau, Easy Street Records, Kokoras, and Beveridge Place. Plus, we have so many great friends here.


Nearly a year ago, when we turned in our airline miles to get our London tickets, we didn't plan for everything to come together at once. Who knew the week before we left we'd find our perfect house. Besides - if we got an offer in before April 30th (we left May 1st) we were still eligible for the first time Home Buyers tax credit. Score! Then - when the Sportwagen started leaking again in February, how were we supposed to know that it's replacement would show up while we were traveling (thanks, bro, for taking such good care of the Tiguan "Tigger" while we were gone). Did I mention someone who may or may not be my wife might be leaving her 20s behind on Saturday? Did I mention someone who may or may not be her Husband will be doing the same in two weeks? Holy Crap...seriously.

One more thing - I've been promoted at Nordstrom. My friend Deke is leaving for a different department - I'll be taking over his role as the Knowledge Base administrator, and separately from that, I've been promoted to our "Escalation" team. Things are starting to move in the right direction, and it feels nice to be acknowledged for it. I start all of that June 1st.

So, that's May...god only knows what's in store for the rest of the year. I hope everyone is doing well. If we haven't talked in a while, you can understand why?

If you're in Seattle, and free on June 5th...well, we might be moving that day ;) Free beer?

-Geoff

Hmmmm

Pretty sure Jaime hasn't been entirely forthcoming with me, based on what she received in the mail recently - (be sure to click on pics to see the full size!)







Now the fun part - how best to fill it out so that I can get them to read as much of the response as possible before I totally screw with them...


Check back later for my responses...
Best part is - it came with a pre paid envelope for return.

..........

Life
sometimes it feels like everything is happening all at once...
because it is.

To say that the past few months have been intense would be a mild understatement. We've had some highs, and some serious lows as of late. But closure, even when it isn't what you want, can at least help make life a little less hectic. If you want, please feel free to skip these first few paragraphs, it's all pretty downer stuff (I'll take no offense, I promise)

March and Early April - in mid March my uncle Chuck went to see the doctor because he hadn't been feeling well. The following week he found out that he had liver cancer. He met with doctors, and they recommended chemo. It was later revealed that it had actually started in his pancreas, but was a rarer form of cancer that may be better treated with chemo.

He had started chemo in late March.

We came together as a family, we planned meals, we got him a new recliner, we took care of his cat, we felt the love...

Sometimes love is not enough

Unfortunately his liver was too fare gone. He passed away 3 weeks later on April 6th.

About the same time, my boss at work left to fight his battle with Urothelial (bladder) cancer. Fortunately that's fairly treatable and everyone at the Help Desk looks forward to his speedy recovery.

Jaime didn't get the job at Childrens. It sucks that their study won't go as well, but whatever, that's their mistake and we're over it.

Begin more uplifting (and totally randomly spaced) blog post...

Jaime and I had dinner at Teatro Zinzanni back in March - good food, great wine, drag queens, and my awesome wife - loved it!

We had a great time at niece Kendal's Easter concert, and she's a great performer -


I've been promoted! When I return from our trip to England/France I'll start training for my position as a Help Desk Level 2/Escalation analyst. It's not huge, but it's a step in the right direction for me, and I'm starting to feel like the 2+ years that I've worked my tail off at the Help Desk are starting to pay off.

Went to Opening Day at Safeco field with Deke and Miranda, and despite an M's loss, had a lot of fun.

Earlier this month, we had to take the Sportwagen to the shop because the check engine light came on - but you know what? I didn't care, because our new Tiguan has reached port! I've been tracking its journey from Emden, Germany on the "Cygnus Leader". Nerdy, eh? The ship arrived in San Diego this morning and offloaded its cargo, including "Tigger" (Jaime has already named our car and we don't even have it yet!).

(Somewhere inside that boat is our new car)

Holy Crap! Barring continued volcanic activity, Jaime and I leave for London in a week and a half! We've been planning this trip for about a year, and it's finally almost here. That reminds me, I need to buy some power adapters! We've got our Eurostar tickets, a hotel reservation in Paris, a new prime lens for the camera, and all kinds of plans...But the most fun will be to spend two weeks with niece Isabel and nephew Peyton!!!! See you guys soon!

We had a wonderful visit with Jim and Judy two weeks ago! They came out because we've finally decided to actively look for our own house and they came to offer advice/guidance. Their visit was also a great excuse to hold a barbecue, and since Jim was here, the weather was spectacular. No solid leads on the house front yet, but we're not under a timeline, so we're taking it slow.

So, that pretty much sums up the past two months. As usual, I've just kind of dumped out my thoughts into one gigantic post (no one's forcing you to read the blog, mmmkay?) We're still working on plans for a "Summer of 30" party. Stay tuned. I hope everyone is doing well, and if you haven't heard from me lately, forgive me.