This is Gas Works Park, and I fell in love with it the moment I laid eyes on it. Right on Lake Union, old coal gasification plants (which reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle, or some sort of foreign land found in Hayao Miyazaki's films), beautiful landscaping designed by architect Richard Haag, the view of downtown Seattle across the water is amazing. I love the zigzag pathways, green grass, and the benches. I could probably spend all day here, taking photos. So glad my mom and I decided to make a pit stop here. If I had a car, I'd be visiting here weekly (probably after the Fremont Flea Market). Just beware of the dog poop, it seemed to be everywhere! Seriously dog owners, don't be lazy.

On another note, only 11 days til Christmas! It's my favorite holiday, I wish I could last all year round. I just watched the Glee Christmas episode, and it hit me as I watched Rory and Sam talk about being away from their families, that this will be my first Christmas away from home. SURE I've pretty much worked EVERY Christmas since 2003 (thank you Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, Honolulu Advertiser and Billabong Waikiki), but I always came home to a hot meal and my family, and I'd at least used to be able to spend the morning opening presents with them. Except one year I remember working Christmas Eve night (probably at the newspaper) and then opening Christmas morning at the Bong, opening presents at the Citron house with Priya. Last year I came home to lobster and steak cooked by my sister, and was watching Return of the Jedi. What will I do this year with Wayne? We have been invited to spend it with my cousin Chiemi, Odessa, and Oveena and their families in Bremerton. But after watching glee, I thought it would be nice volunteering at a food bank or somewhere where they provide meals for the homeless or less fortunate. I've googled a few places, but I can't seem to find any open on Christmas. I'm gonna keep searching... wish me luck.

On Mom's last Sunday here, we visited the Fremont Sunday Market. It was filled with a ton of vintage finds, great street food, and locally made products. I found a great mirrored tray for my jewelry for only $5. There was a lot of old furniture there, real antiquey pieces that I wished I had found before I buying my entire room from iKea. If you do go, I highly recommend eating the naan bread. It is made fresh to order, and it is amazing. You can order it with Indian food, but since I don't Indian, I just wanted the naan.

Ala Moana Center, Christmas 2010, with my favorite ladies

Saw this on Tiera's blog and being a Christmas lover, I decided to give it a whirl.

1, Egg nog or hot chocolate? Apple Cider! I do love that Starbs start selling the salted caramel hot chocolate tho.

2, Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped, and sometimes you can tell when he got lazy and just put in a gift bag.

3, Colored or white lights on the tree/house? My family does colored, and sometimes my dad uses the moving kind, oh we fancy, huh.  Our little tree has white, we went with a red and silver theme.

4, Do you hang mistletoe? I ALWAYS hang mistletoe, and I keep it up ALL year long, you never know when it comes in handy. I find it quite charming. 

5, When do you put up your decorations? Right after Thanksgiving. Currently missing the Citron house decorations (our stockings lined over the bar, the wreath the Anna stole from somewhere, the singing snowman, the homemade ornaments, Priya's tinsel).

6, What is your favorite holiday dish? My grandma's candied yams! Then all of our traditional New Years decorations.

7, Favorite holiday memory as a child? We used to always do the same thing for years... wake up, wash up (my parents make us get ready before opening presents, lame right), present opening, go to grammsy's house for breakfast and have her and gramps open their gifts (while listening to either Na Leo or Yanni Christmas Albums), come back home watch Star Wars (it usually was on during the holidays), then head over to my Aunty Dee-Dee's house for Christmas dinner. We haven't done this in a good 8 years sadly.

8, When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I'm a smart girl, I kinda figured it out, especially when my parents suggest we leave out beef jerky, instead of cookies.

9, Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? NO WAY, my family is totally against opening gifts early.

10, How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My mom is a Hallmark ornament collector, we put our favorites and new ones that we bought this season (we're putting up an awesome Harry Potter one this year, I have my The Office ornaments too!). The Citron tree was always covered with an assortment of handmade and store bought ornaments Priya and my mom would donate, I also would buy Hello Kitty or Sanrio ornaments. Here in Seattle, I bought cute little ornaments from iKea and Target, our centerpiece ornament is a glee ornament I found at Target. 

11, Snow! Love it or dread it? I have mixed feelings, I'm sure I'll hate it the day it screws me over as I try to get to work ON TIME.

12, Can you ice skate? Heck yes, Ice Palace whaaaat.

13, Do you remember your favorite gift? My iPod touch was pretty sweet, I'd been wanting one for a long long time. Also seeing my skateboard under the tree in high school. 

14, What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family and friends.

15, What is your favorite holiday dessert. Anything my sister makes, also lately my cousin Keola has been bringing Otto Cake to our family functions, how can you not love some Otto Cake.

16, What is your favorite holiday tradition? Driving up the street or through downtown to look at lights on houses.

17, What tops your tree? An Angel.

18, Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I love giving gifts!!!!!! I love love love shopping for people.

19, Cande canes: Yum or yuck? I love candy canes.

20, Favorite Christmas show? Hands down: A Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

21, Saddest Christmas song? Please Come Home for Christmas - The Eagles. Oh and Christmases When You Were Mine by Taylor Swift (song was on repeat last year hard core).

22, Favorite Christmas song? See list below:

1. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays - 'N Sync (ok really the whole 'N Sync Christmas album)
2. All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah
3. This Christmas - Chris Breezy
4. Merry Christmas Baby - Otis Redding
5. Last Christmas - Glee Version
6. Christmastime in Hollis - Run DMC
7. The Chipmunk Song - Alvin and the Chipmunks
8. And So This Is Christmas - John Lennon
9. Christmastime is Here - The Vince Guaraldi Trio
10. Mele Kalikimaka - Reel Big Fish
11. I Wont Be Home for Christmas - Blink-182
12. My Only Wish (This Year) - Britney Spears
13. Hey Santa - Wilson Phillips
14. It Must've Been Ol' Santa Claus - Harry Connick Jr.

Hair is finally long enough for a fishtail braid! I feel like I've been trying to grow out my hair for over a year!!!

Century Link Field

Brains vs. Muscle.

Some photos from last month's highlights... didn't realize I forgot to post these. Wayne's first soccer game and Halloween at Kona Kitchen. I was Hermione, Wayne was a kid pretending to be Superman. People don't dress as slutty up here, I think it has to do with the weather.

When my mom came to visit last week, we road tripped it down to Portland. We had one goal... shop, SHOP our little wallets out. With no sales tax (seriously EVERY state should have no sales tax), we headed to the Woodburn Outlets because they had a The North Face store! When I was in Hawaii I'd see all the mainland kids with North Face backpacks, and think, North Face, never heard of it, is it big or something?!? Moving here, I learned just how essential AND expensive North Face is. Everyday at work, I'd pass our sportswear department and longingly gaze at the down and weather proof North Face jackets. I just started working, there is no way I could afford one, even with discount! Unfortunately tho I left both of my debit cards and ID at home, thank goodness I had my credit card. We were able to find a nice North Face down jacket, an amazing Nike 6.0 raincoat, and a few pairs of roxy jeans. I also scored some good accessories too. We got both jackets for under $200! Amazing right? I was in shopping heaven, until we headed back into Portland and hit up Lloyd Center. Now I haven't been to Lloyd Center in 6+ years, and it wasn't how I remember it. I remember this great big mall, hustling and bustling with great stores, the ice rink in the middle. But when we went, it was kind of... well how do I put this politely... ghetto. It was worse than Pearlridge, and it was empty, lots of stores had closed down. and it seemed smaller. I told my mom I think it's because Ala Moana expanded, my mall standards are too high. So far my favorite malls/shopping areas I adore are (in order): 1, South Coast Plaza. 2, Fashion Show Mall. 3, Ala Moana. 4, Walnut Creek. 5, Soho. 6, Irvine Spectrum.

Thank goodness for facebook status updates, because my friend Kaliko commented on my Portland update and reminded me to hit up Voodoo Donut. I had seen the donut joint many, many, many times on The Food Network and Travel Channel, and me being a donut lover I had to try it out. I had the Maple Bacon Bar, and yes it did live up to the hype. There were so many interesting flavors, I'll have to go back soon for a visit!

A few photos from Sunday's field trip to Fremont and Gasworks Park. More to come later, as my mom visited for over a week :) and I was able to get some good field trips in with her. The holidays are coming up fast, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, soon it will be 2012. Where did 2011 go. I noticed I didn't blog much, too busy trying make the most out of every minute of life.
Weather has been sucky lately, but I've noticed if it rains it's not as cold as when it isn't raining. I've been contemplating taking a photography class in the spring. I wonder if UW has an outreach college like at UH. haha. The best thing about the weather is wearing all the nice fall clothes - boots, sweaters, tights, knee socks. I love it.
Work is busy busy busy. Who knew department store/mall working is more tiring than supervising a buncha monkeys at billabong.

The Seattle adventures continue! Last night I went to my first MLS match at CenturyLink Field, the San Jose Earthquakes vs. Seattle Sounders FC. It was the final home match of the season and I went with my old Bong friend Richie, we also met up with my cousin Grant, his wife Michelle, and their daughter Kaiea. It was also Kasey Keller's last regular season match, he's retiring. Truthfully he was the only guy I knew on the team, from watching US soccer, so I was pretty stoked.
I really didn't know what to expect, I've only been to UH Wahine matches in college to watch Natasha Kai and my classmate Joelle. And when I worked at the Honolulu Advertiser, we only used Major League Soccer standings and results when we needed a space filler upper for Record. And I've only been to MLB and NBA games. When I heard over 60,000+ tickets were sold, I thought, this is big, really big. First of all, these crazy fans they walk from Pioneer Square to the field. This flood of people, chanting, all marching. Inside the stadium, the whole bottom levels stand the entire game. They have all these crazy rituals and chants, like this one:



It was an intense match. And we were down for most of the game, the Earthquakes were up 1-0 until the 82nd minute, Sammy Ochoa scored on an assist from Mauro Rosales. Then in 87th minute Fredy Montero put the Saunders up 2-1, it was his 12th goal of the season. The stadium went NUTS!!! I am now a full fledged Seattle Sounders FC fan, totally going to look into getting season tickets. I never got why the rest of the world was so crazy over soccer, no I get it. It's ridiculously exciting and intense, and let's face soccer players are waaaaaaay hotter than baseball and basketball players combined. :)

Brrrr it's cold. I have been complaining for the last hour or so that it's cold, as I sit wearing a tank top and some gilly hicks shorts. Idiot I am, but I refuse to spend days in sweat pants. I refuse. We have heaters here in the apartment, but I'm scared to use them, I never used one ever, what if it gets too hot. Seriously I get how awesome Snuggies could be because I totally want one right now, my arms are getting cold while I type this blog.
This week has been interview week, so far 3 interviews, 1 job fair, 2 more interviews planned for Thursday and Friday. I did accept a part time position somewhere, which I start on Tuesday. Or Monday? Eek better double check that one. I still want something full time with better pay, so I'm gonna keep applying, and keep interviewing. But at least its a start.
The photos above are from our field trip to Port Angeles for their Dungeness Crab Fest. We had some amazing food: Scallops and rice pilaf, seafood pizza, roasted corn on the cob, crab cakes, crab bisque, crab quiche, and the most amazing pumpkin pie. So much good food!! On the way back I was able to get a shot of the Seattle skyline at night from the ferry.
Oh and can you smell it... it's one of my favorite times of the year.... it's post season baseball time! :) Unfortunately none of my teams has moved on to the division championships... Mariners (not even close),  Red Sox (robbed at the end of the season), and the Phillies (lost in the NLDS to King Al and his damn Cardinals). So I am currently routing for the Tigers, because 1) they defeated the Yankees in the ALDS and 2) I think they have the hottest pitching rotation in the league.... Seriously look at this:

On the left is Doug Fister, to the right Rick Porcello, and then add Justin Verlander... DAMN Tigers. Fister was actually just traded to Tigers in August, prior to that he was with the Mariners. How I missed him on the Mariners roster is beyond me? Probably too busy stalking Ichiro, that's why. And whats worse, he pitched for Fresno State, meaning, I've seen him pitch during college too. I was probably too busy checking out our own baseball team. hehe. 

 

It's been 3 weeks here in Seattle, still jobless. Currently praying for a position at Nordstrom, in their web fulfillment department. Seriously CROSSING MY FINGERS on this one!!! I also recently discovered the public library which is within walking distance. Super stoked because I left home not finishing Harry Potter. Seriously Order of the Phoenix was the worst in the series, I could not get past that book. So I skipped ahead and am currently in the middle of Half-Blood Prince (which Priya will probably shake her head at, she hates when I skip!). Anybody have any good book suggestions? Don't know what I'll read next after I get through Deathly Hallows.
Decided to give you a tour of my small room, I swear it's like half the size of my old room in the Citron house. I've finally graduated from a twin size bed to full.... whoa whoa talk about growing up. I decided to stick with the NYC theme I had from before, found a great map of the city at iKea, and my dad mailed over my Breakfast at Tiffany's poster. Actually my family has been great with mailing over some stuff from home that makes my room 10 times more homely. Blankets, my clock radio, a few of my favorite stuffed animals, my curtains from the Citron house, trinkets, etc. My bookshelf has a mini Star Wars theme, with some of my favorite toys on display (Obi-Wan nesting dolls, R2-D2 action figure, my toys of Goofy and Stitch as Chewy and Yoda), accented with framed pictures of family and friends. My laptop takes center stage, as it also serves as my "TV" so I can watch movies in bed. Sadly I've been downgraded to 1 small closet, which is only half full as most of my clothes are still back home. I found this great collage picture holder from Urban Outfitters for only $5! I filled it with photos of back home-beaches, surf, turtles, and friends. Even though my room is pretty small, like Tim Gunn says I made it work!

And so it begins.... Seattle life. Many people have asked why Seattle? I'm beginning to think that myself... First off...well let's be real here. If Wayne wasn't moving to Seattle, I probably wouldn't have moved either. Second, I have a few cousins and friends here (Richie and J-Lab call me up btw!). Third, I love Nordstrom and the Mariners, both of which Seattle is home to. The third seems like a silly reason but, it's so true.

Seattle life has been ... ok, so far. It's only been a week and I constantly have to remind myself this is not a vacation. I have to find an actual job, set up an actual bank account, and I actually have to pay rent for my 2 bedroom apartment. The apartment was a great find, just outside of the U-District, across the street from a Safeway, near a main road (which makes sleeping feel like I'm back at the Citron house because I used to be able to hear all the going ons on Kalakaua). The thing I'm most pleased about was my furniture choices, thank you ikea! But my walls are still bare, a constant reminder that I'm new here, and that the apartment and I are still getting to know each other.

I can't wait to find a job and start making new friends (as in new people to play beer pong/kings cup, watch football games on Sunday with). Haven't seen any potential bfs, honestly I haven't seen anyone remotely attractive looking. Also I hear Washington was voted one of the worst dressed states in America, I can totally see why. I get it's cold and dreary but do your clothes have to be the same? I decided to spruce up my cold weather attire with a cute bright red thrifted gap coat I picked up at the Buffalo Exchange, and some cute ivory and navy rainboots. Take that non-fashionable Washington!

I do miss home... a LOT! There are a lot of H people (attitude wise), people just aren't as friendly here, what is it about Hawaii that people are just happier. And don't say it's the aloha spirit... my guess is that the island is so small that everyone pretty much knows everyone and if you're not friendly to someone you could probably get couple slaps from your friend's-aunty's-second nephew's-yard man's-sister. I miss the sun, and I swear my tan is starting to fade, crap. I miss my family and friends, I miss Friday and Saturday nights with Priya and Leanne. 

I think once I get a job, I'll be much more at piece with this decision to move. I've been applying like crazy to Nordstrom and Starbucks (in-office jobs), trying real hard not to get back into retail. So wish me luck. And hopefully I'll be able to update this thing more often (I know, I know, totally slacked during the summer, I couldn't help it, there were dance floors to be danced on, and gladiator shots to be taken!).

Best summer EVER. You know those summers where you feel time is going by too fast and you wish it would just slow for a minute, the weekends are epic, the stories are hilarious, there are inside jokes and catchphrases, days are carefree and adventurous, finding yourself and realizing what amazing friends you have... I'm having one of those summers. Maybe it's because I'm moving, I've quit the Bong, but I just want to hold onto every good time I have with my friends and family just a little longer.

I leave in about 3 weeks, and I have so much I want to do. Fortunately for the sake of this blog, my Saturday night plans were cancelled (due to a tired Priya, a rare moment), now I have the time to update. Malia left about 2 weeks ago, I already miss her. I miss Anna also. I stay at the Citron house pretty much every weekend. And though I do love the Priya's new roomies, Kat and Amanda, coming here feels almost like going over to a strangers house. The Citron house isn't home to me unless I'm with Priya, Anna, and Malia (or SPAM as Malia has dubbed us). It took me and Anna a few years to find the right roommate chemistry, and we did I'm glad it lasted this long. We've been through so much together, life without these girls to come home to will be a big adjustment.

What else is new... watched the glee 3D concert movie. It was amazeballs, wish I could've gone. I can't wait to move to Seattle so I can go to all these great concerts, almost everyone stops in Seattle. I've also started watching How I Met Your Mother (thank's in part to nothing new on TV to watch, so I've been watching reruns of the show on Lifetime). I finally see what Anna has been loving these past couple of years. Marshall Eriksen, totally wanna marry him (seriously PERFECT TV character guy I'd want to marry ever, sorry Jim Halpert, you've just been dropped to second place). Within two weeks I've bought all 5 seasons on DVD.

Roomie dinner at Hakone.

Summer's here, summer's here! Days are longer, and I feel like I can do like a gazillion things more. Which is so not true - proven today a work, I hate days where everything I do seems to go wrong. Which probably comes as a surprise to a lot of ppl. I'm very hard on myself when it comes to work and I absolutely hate when I'm not up to par. Enough of that no sense worrying about work. I haven't posted in weeks, probably because I've been ridiculously busy (as usual), here's a list of my summer to dos:

-HIKE MORE!!!

-Sell my crap at the swap meet.

-Finish reading Harry Potter before the July 15th premiere of Deathly Hallows pt. 2. (I know after reading the first two books I'm a total HP freak, I can't believe I wasn't into this earlier, I'm a sucker for dorky things like magical creatures, weird powers, etc.)

-Water park.

-See all the summer movies I want to see. (Super 8, Cars 2, HP, Green Lantern, Transformers 3, Winnie The Pooh, Friends with Benefits, Planet of the Apes, Glee Live, oh and Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez...hehe). I've already seen X-Men First Class... so epic, great way to start of the summer movie season. More about X-Men later.

-Mini Maui Vacay, I'm ready to visit again.

-BBQs.

-Beach time.

-Keep up with the blogs and photoging.

I'm pretty sure there is more but I can't think of any at the moment.

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Okay now back to X-Men, many people don't know this, but I am a huge X-Men fan. Fell in love with Cyclops and Gambit from the first time I watched it Saturday morning on Fox way back when. I actually named my car Professor X, because my license plate starts with PCX (Professor Charles Xavier!!). After watching X3: The Last Stand, I was a little salty because 1. Cyclops and Prof. X dies and 2. the story line sucked and 3. Bryan Singer wasn't directing. I was so disappointed with the direction the X-Men movies went that I didn't even bother watching X-Men origins: Wolverine. But I must say X-Men First Class totally makes up for X3, I hear they are going to make it into another 3-part movie series. The storyline was really good and the cast was pretty hot... that kid from About A Boy and the guy that played Hannah Montana's love interest is in it. They grow up so fast.

I also saw the previews for Captain America. I think it's a little weird that Chris Evans is playing the lead, I mean he played the Human Torch in both Fantastic Four movies. I think actors should only be allowed to play one superhero EVER. Like the fact that Ryan Reynolds is both The Green Lantern and Deadpool, give other actors a chance at being superheroes for crying out loud. I know what your saying one is a DC comics, the other is Marvel, I wanna bet half of the population doesn't know the difference between the two comic companies. I don't know it's just weird.

OH Disneyland. When I think about my happy places... this definitely ranks top 5. I honestly could go to Disneyland every other week. When you're there it feels like time has stopped, and you can be a kid again. I used to go to Disneyland EVERY other year, but I haven't been here since 2006, LONG over due. I am so grateful to my Auntie, Uncle, cousin Jami, and my favorite little man Dylan. Jami and Dylan have annual passes, I'm SO J. Over the years when I'd go it'd be with my sister, this is the first time I went with a little kid. And oh my goodness... the energy they have!!! "Let's go in this cave!" "We didn't go this way!" Even though Dylan is a pretty experienced Disneylander, he still would get excited about rides and seeing things. He's kind of a scaredy cat (just like his Auntie Sarah, lol), he absolutely refused to go on Pirates of the Caribbean (even though he likes the movies) and we renamed Haunted Mansion, The Funky House. We stayed there all day, it was perfect!!! Next year I'd love to take Dyland to The Wizardly World of Harry Potter in Orlando!