Whitney's thoughts... Random as they may be

So my presents from Melissa have all been given to me. They were all great!!

Megan, Melissa, Lilly and I went to Forks last weekend. We drove over Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening. It was my first time on a ferry in years. I had forgotten how much I love them. The drive to Forks is long, but super pretty. We drove past Port Gamble. I had no idea towns looked like that.

Forks was so cute! Very misty, and green, and wet. I can see why Stephanie Meyer chose it for the books. I was all prepared for cold & rainy weather, but it was sunny all weekend. We saw all the book places in town then drove out to First Beach in La Push. It is one of the most beautiful places I've been too. There was so much drift wood!!! We saw a resort there with cabins on the beach... I know where I'm going to vacation this summer. We also went to a diner that had a Bella Burger. It had pineapple on it... YUMMY!!!! It came with vampire teeth =) Sunday we went to the Quileute Indian Cemetery. It was very interesting. There didn't seem to be any logic to how the graves were placed, and all of them had trinkets on them. After the cemetery we headed home. I had a great time there, and I am glad Melissa took me.

Saturday morning a whole bunch of us went adn saw Twilight. It was a good movie. I still like the book more... But Melissa and I are going to go see it again tomorrow so we will see if I like it any better then.

After the movie I went to Melissa's to watch the Apple Cup with her, her parents, Meg & kids, and Danielle & kids. It was a good game and I am SOOOOOO happy my team won!!!! GO COUGS!!!! Jackson made a bet with Megan that the Cougs would win... So she had to cough up $20 when they won in double OT.

Today I have been working on a reseach paper... I am almost done, I just can't figure out how to end it....

November has always been one of my favorite months for a few reasons.
1. My birthday (yay for presents)
2. Thanksgiving
3. Fall colors
4. The snow dust on the mountains

This November is looking great so far!! I have lots of plans and so much to look forward to. I've also had good things happen.

11/03: Watched TV & ate dinner with Melissa. My Monday ritual that I love so much.
11/04: ELECTION DAY!! I watched the results at Melissa's. I was so happy Obama won. What a great turning point in US history.
11:05: Happy Birthday to me! I got a email from Sean today.. what a great way to start my day. Sean is in Iraq & I worry about him I'm glad he's safe. Went to dinner with my parents, Kelly, my sister & her kids. I got lots of great presents. Seahawk tickets, a new hoodie, gift card to get my nais done, a door mat & a outdoor canopy. I got everything I wanted! After dinner I hung out with Melissa & watched Superbad (it was so funny).
11/06: Went to a casino night at a law firm. I ike playing with fake money.. I don't feel as bad when I lose.
11:07: Babysat Lilly. I took her to a football game my cousin was in. They lost but it was stil fun.
11/08: Tonight is my birthday party... YAY!!

Then there is that one thing that is making my whole November amazing... It all centers around my favorite books. The one's I have read 3 times already & can't wait to read again... The Twilight series. And Megan found Midnight Sun.. & made me love Edward even more. Then there is my present from Melissa; I guess 27 years of friendship allowed her to see exactly what I wanted before I even knew. Here is what she is giving/gave me: Twilight Soundtrack, a ticket to the movie, and a trip to FORKS!! She even reserved the Edward & Bella suite. She is so wonderful! And the best part is.. She is spreading it out over the month so it is like my birthday every weekend =)

Me and Megan

The ladies again

Me and Carsten.. I look so short

Jamie and Carsten

Me and Jamie

**NOTE**
I wanted to do this post separate because Kelly is special and deserves his own post.

On June 4th Kelly turned 40. We celebrated that night with a nice dinner. Kelli & Shane came down from Custer and took us, and Jamie out to dinner at Bucca di Beppo. It was super good. I love Kelli & Shane, but we don't see them much because they live far away. It was nice to be able to spend a few hours with them and relax. It was a really good time filled with good food, good friends and lots of laughter.

Since 40 is a big birthday I wanted to do some thing special. I decided (after months of begging him to let me) to throw Kelly a party. I like to go to parties, and I can plan a fun time (just ask Melissa... Her Bridal Shower rocked), but I decided to enlist some help with this one. Jamie is like Martha Stewart and her parties are always fun, so I asked her to help me. She was more than willing and went above and beyond what she needed to. She made this party awesome.

Anyone who has every been to a party with me (besides the Shower mentioned above) knows they are laid back. Basically we have drinks, finger foods, maybe pizza, and we have a blast. Thanks 100% to Jaime this party was full of GREAT food. Kelly made some BBQ pulled pork, Jamie made Jerk Chicken, potato-corn salad, baked beans, and chocolate covered strawberries. Plus we had 40 huge cupcakes from Costco. Everything was super tasty.

Kelly is a bug fan of Red Hook beer so I got a Pony Keg (60 pints) of ESB. We didn't finish it, but everyone had a lot of beer... Well someone did anyways. Meg and I stuck to Malibu (of course). We had these drink dispensers that look like Humming Bird feeders. They were a great idea.

Since Megan's is across the parking lot, everyone who had kids dropped them off at her house, and Talia babysat. The kids came over a few time but mostly hung out over there. We did have one special appearance from Jackson. He sang Happy Birthday to Kelly and accompanied himself with armpit farts. It was so funny.

The party started at 5pm and the last guest (Megan) left at midnight... Well unless you count Jamie, who left at 8 o'clock this morning. All-in-all it was a great time. It was nice to see everyone over having a good time. I think I am going to have more parties here. I was especially happy that Melissa and Jamie got along so well. They are the 2 ladies I spend the most time with and now I can hang out with them together because they like each other. I think they already have a party idea in mind.. Something about Pimps and Hoes I think. Melissa & I have tons of matching clothes, and Jamie and I have matching shirts and pants... I wonder if the 3 of us will start dressing a like.. hmmm.... I'll let you know.

FYI.. I didn't take too many pictures but I may post them once I feel like uploading them off my camera.

Just wanted to put it out there that I have the BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD!! Seriously, no one compares to Melissa.
Not only is she the second half of my soul, and my pseudo sister, she is just awesome. She won tickets to a concert... And does she take her husband? No, she takes me... YAY!!!
She won 2 tickets to an acoustic concert with Dierks Bentley (the best country singer). It was a small concert. Only 250 people. We got to meet Dierks before the show and were in the front row during the concert. After the show we got to see him again when he signed some more autographs. He is so HOT!!!
I will post some pictures later (she hasn't uploaded them yet). They are great shots.


Melissa... I LOVE YOU!!!! Thanks for today!

A few good things have happened since the last week of April.

Lets see.... After spending the weekend in Pullman with my friends (see previous post), I started thinking about my future and what I wanted to do with it. I know I need to go back to school. I have known this since I left school (which I shouldn't have done). But, I also want to go to Beauty School. It has been a dream of mine since I was about 15 or 16. My work will pay $8,000 a year for me to go to school to get a degree that is relevant to my job (communications, business, etc). And they pay up front... So I don't even have to come up with the money. So... I had a choice to make. Do I follow my dream, or get an education from an university? Well, I decided to go to university while it is still free... Besides, you are never to old to learn how to make other people look good so I can always go to beauty school later. So I applied to WSU. I am really hoping I get in. It has been a LONG time since I was in school, but I am hoping they accept most of my credits. I will keep you posted.

Last Monday, I bought a new car. I bought a 2008 Pontiac Vibe. It is SO CUTE!! It is silver (and for the record, I wasn't trying to be like Melissa, Kelly picked out the color). I took my dad shopping with me and we were able to get it about $6,000 below invoice (YAY DAD!!!). We took Buster in it yesterday. He really likes the extra room. I like that it can hold 4 adults and they all have leg room. Something my Focus did not have.

On Friday, I was again reminded that I have the best friend in the whole world. Melissa and I are HUGE Dierks Bentley fans. We have booth seen him in concert 3 times and have each met him once. She is a member of his fan club, and won 2 tickets to a private acoustic concert for 100 people. Being the wonderful person she is, she decided to take me (YAHHH WHOOO!!). I am so excited for it!! We went out shopping on Saturday and bought our outfits to wear. They are super cute.

We went to our friend's house today, Jamie and Carsten. They have been doing updates to their house and Kelly and I went out to help. I think Kelly may have helped, but Jamie and I mostly talked the whole time. But she did help me with a project. It was a lot of fun out there. Jamie and Carsten are awesome and I love hanging out with them.

After we left there, we picked up Kain, Talia and Jackson and went and saw Iron Man. I normally don't like super hero movies, but this one was really good. Jackson said it was better than Superman (GASP!). We are going to see it again on Friday at the drive-in with Team Wright, Sal & Danielle & kids, and Megan & kids. It should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it.

This next week should be pretty slow, but then Kelly and I have to start packing for our big move. Good thing Sal is going to help us.

So I am a slacker and it has taken me forever, but here is my Pullman story.

On Sunday, 4/20, Melissa, Sean, Brad and I went to the WSU campus in Pullman, WA. Why would we drive 5 hours on a Sunday to go to Pullman you ask? Because Dierks Bentley (the hottest country singer EVER) was doing a concert on Monday. And Sean and I had never been to WSU (Melissa went to college there) so we decided to go.

It was a great trip! I ride over was fun. I stayed awake the whole time. That never happens on road trips. I did it so Melissa wouldn't have to listen to Brad and Sean the whole time =) It snowed all weekend before we left, so we thought Snoqualmie Pass would be an issue, but I am happy to say it was all clear. We went into Ellensburg to eat and fill up the car. Sean went to Central so he showed as around town a little. We ate at a little burger joint that was pretty good. Turns out we had all been there before while on one of our band trips in high school.

Me, Melissa and Brad in Ellensberg at the burger place

We saw lots of interesting things on our drive. Going over the lake in Vantage was beautiful. It reminded me of Utah a little bit. We also drove by the "GO COUGS" barn. It is HUGE!!! People in Eastern Washington sure do love the Cougs.

If you look close you can see Melissa, Brad and I in front of the "GO COUGS" barn.

After getting to Pullman, Melissa drove us around and showed us the campus, The Coug (the bar on campus), her old sorority house, all the frat houses she hung out at, and some of the city. I thought Pullman was really pretty. I was expecting it to be a flat city, but there are a ton of hills. Our hotel was in Moscow, ID (about 5 miles away) so we went and checked in. They had a pool so Melissa, Sean and I went swimming for a while. It was so much fun! After that we went to dinner and decided to go out to The Coug. I was surprised how many people were there on a Sunday. The place was great. People signed there name on everything! I don't think there was one spot that didn't have writing besides the floors. People had even written on the toilets!!!! (not the seats, but the rest of it). The bar had card games, so we played Uno. Brad was an Uno speed Nazi and would yell at us if we weren't fast enough. After The Coug we made a much needed stop at Papa Johns (where the lady working told Brad he shouldn't reproduce, lol) and went back to the hotel.

Monday, we went shopping!! We went to ShopKo (a must) and to Crimson & Grey, an all WSU store! I bought a new hoodie, a shirt and some bar glasses. Melissa bought A LOT of stuff!!! Then we went to The Bookie (the campus bookstore) so I could get Talia a spoon and Jackson a postcard (that is what they collect). We also went to Ferdinand's, the WSU creamery. We all bought some cheese. Melissa tells me it is amazing, but I haven't had time to try mine yet. We drove around campus again and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. Melissa got a meet & greet pass to meet Dierks so she had to take extra time to look good (well she always looks good, but you know what I mean).

Me at Davis Hall on campus

Before heading out to the concert we went to Wingers Diner. I LOVE WINGERS!! I lived across the street from one in Utah and would go there all the time. They have these chicken strips called Sticky Fingers, and well, they are heaven! We headed out to the concert. Sean and Melissa had GA seats and Brad and I were in the lower bowl, but our tickets were great. Melissa was so happy she met Dierks. Read all about it http://melissaseanlilly.blogspot.com/ at her blog. The concert was a lot of fun. I have seen Dierks in concert twice before and I always love it. After the concert we went to a bar that used to be fun, but was really boring now (sad day). We left there and got more pizza from Papa Johns. During our trip to Pullman, Melissa and I found a few dollar bills, so naturally we took a picture.

Me and Melissa are matching and doing "the pose" with our Pullman dollars at Papa Johns.

Melissa had to work at 9am on Tuesday morning, so we slept for a little bit and hit the road. Good thing Sean can drive when he is tired (I just fall asleep). We left at 415am (boo) and got Melissa to work right on time (yay).

It was a great trip. I am so glad I went. Melissa loved showing off her school and we were all having a great time. I think we will need to do it again sometime.

Oh... If you are wondering why Kelly didn't come, I'll tell you. 1. He HATES Country music 2. He hates any small town (and Pullman is small) 3. He hates rednecks, and (according to him) the only people who go to country concerts are rednecks 4. He had to house sit for our friends. I told them we would and then booked my trip, forgetting it was the same weekend.

Wow it has been a long time since I have posted anything... MY BAD
Let's see... Since Sept a few things have changed. I moved in with Kelly on 12/01... I was staying there all but 3 days a month anyways so it made sense to save on rent. 4 months later and it is still going great. I have adjusted to being a mommy to a cat & dog. I am SO lucky that Kelly likes to cook and is really good at remembering to do laundry. He is a wonderful man. We've been together 9 1/2 months now.
He is Irish so St Patrick's Day is a HUGE holiday for him. We went to the parade and then to the Irish festival. He bought me an Irish Claddagh ring. It is beautiful and I love it. We spent the rest of the weekend in the local Pubs and had a great time with family and friends. It was defiantly the best weekend of the year.
Today is my BFF, Melissa, 27Th birthday. That means only 7 months and 11 days until mine!! I took the day off and we went shopping with her daughter, Lilly. I saved up some money and spent about $400 today... We are trying to revitalize the economy =) After shopping Kelly and I went to dinner with her and her family. Sean couldn't be there cause he had to work =( But we all went out to Chopstix on Saturday to celebrate too. I love that place... It is a dueling piano bar and it is a blast.
I leave for Mexico in a week and a half and I am SUPER excited! We are going to Cancun for 7 days of sun, swimming and eating. I wish Kelly was coming with us, but he can't (no passport yet). But I am going with my mom, dad, sister and her 2 kids. It should be a fun time. I want to swim with dolphins. It is only like $130 US to do it.
Well it is WAY past my bed time so... PEACE OUT HOMES!

Yesterday I went to my first WSU football game with Melissa, Lilly, Tom and Marilyn. I had SOOOOOO much fun. I didn't have a ticket to go, but Sean got stuck working so instead of letting his ticket go to waste I went in his place. I had no idea how much fun live foot ball could be. It was held at Qwest field in Seattle and the whole place was a sea of crmison and grey. I wore a new WSU sweatshirt and had a pom-pom in my hair. Melissa, Lilly and I had matching WSU tattoos on our faces. We are so adorable :)
I met the family at home at 1pm and we headed to Bellevue to pick up some stuff from Sean then headed to the game. We parked about 0.4 miles from the field. Melissa just had gall bladder surgery on tuesday and wednesday so she was worn out and had to be in a wheel chair most of the day. I pushed her to the game and almost launched her from the chair once when the side walk got bad. We joked about going off roading in her chair. She must trust me a lot to let me poush her around... I am not the best at making sure people are out of our way and almost ran a few people down.
Once we got to the game we ate cheese filled kilbasas (also known as heaven in a bun) and then went shopping in the event center. Then we went to the game. I will leave out all of the details of the game except to say WSU won and I had a blast. Lilly was so cute. She was dressed up in a WSU cheer uniform and was dancing to the music. She is adorable. I love her.
After the game we walked back to the car and had no traffic getting out (always a happy rare day in Seattle). SO over all it was an amazing day and I had a great time. Made me think about going back to college. I should really do that.