time travel

I was thinking this morning, as I was walking to work, how my perceptions of a "long time" for a commute is.

Growing up in Tallahassee, everything was basically 10 minutes away. If it took 15-20+ minutes to get somewhere that meant that it was either all the way across town or out of town (Thomasville, GA is not very far from us, and I had friends that lived between Tallahassee and there who went to school in town because their parents lived in town.) I was fortunate enough to live within about a mile of my elementary and middle school, and 2.5 miles of my high school, about 2 miles from my Theatre and my Dad's store (aka work) and about a mile from my best friend's house. When I went to college there, I only moved about 4 miles down the road (at the furthest -- I moved several times during college,) which was about equidistant from work and school -- it took me about 5 minutes to get to both.

A: Furthest Off-Campus Housing for College

B: On-Campus Housing for College

C: Work (Dad's Store)

D: Family Home (4yrs to 11yrs)

E: High School

F: Family Home (11yrs to college)

G: Theatre

H: Best Friend's House

I: Elementary School

J: Middle School

(distance from A to H is 4.5mi)

I never really realized how awesome this is until I moved to Boston, where it became the norm to have at least a 20 minute commute on public transit from outside the city into the city. My first apartment there was a 10 minute walk (or a 2 minute bus-ride, if you could catch the bus, which never ran when it was supposed to) to the T station (blue line - what up!) and then, at the fastest, a 20 minute ride from there to the closer location of my work, which was on the Mass Ave. end of Newbury St. -- the end not near the commons. You had to switch blue to green in the middle, which was part of the reason it took 20 minutes. It was a fairly fast ride.

(yup, that was the closer location. We had to go in a tunnel under the water. It's about 7 miles by car.)

Here's the further one (30 miles away by car - GAH!)

This ride took about an hour. Super fun when you have to be there at 8AM on a SATURDAY and your roommate has decided to have a party the night before and people are DOING IT on YOUR air mattress (that you so kindly lent them) at 6:30AM when you are trying to get ready for work and your bathroom isn't connected to your room. I'm not bitter.

When I moved in with Nate -- who had a car and drove it to work, so he was not worried about being close to a T stop -- my commute became about an hour to the closer location (I wasn't splitting shifts between the closer and further location anymore. For this, I am grateful.) 

If I could catch the bus at the right time, it was about a 10 minute ride to the T station and a 45 minute ride on the T. If I didn't catch the bus (which I often didn't because they were timed very strangely -- and by strangely I mean not when I needed them; they either got me to work very early or too late,) it was a 30 minute walk to the T. This is NO FUN in the snow and/or rain and/or when it's below 30 degrees outside. Which it often is in the winter in Boston. 

(the 8 miles by car that took me an hour by public transit. Super lame.)

So that became the norm. It took at least 20 minutes to get anywhere in Boston, even by car, even if it was only 5 miles away. It was usually more like 30 to 45 minutes, and that was if it was close. So you get used to it. And you only complained when the T stopped (usually underground) for more than about 10 minutes. Then you were allowed to complain. Bostonians complain loudly and often, so feel free.

Now that I live in Seattle, it's kind of a combination of the two. Seattle hasn't really got the goings-on for the public transportation. They're working on it, but it's hard to get anywhere outside the city. Thankfully, I live less than a mile from work. So I walk.

And it's about a 15-20 minute walk (or a 5 minutes bus ride) to downtown, which includes Pike Place Market, shopping and restaurants. It's then another 15-20 minutes (or another short bus ride) to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle, EMP and Museum of Science are.

However, trying to get anywhere outside of the Seattle downtown area takes FOR-EV-ER. It was a 45 minute bus ride to where my sister was staying in Greenlake, which is about 8 miles away from my house. It's a 20 minute drive. And that now seems like a long time!

But really, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that long. It's nothing compared to Boston.

Though, the fact that the gym is a 10-minute walk from the house sometimes seems entirely too far away to bother going ;)

How far do you go for work or play? 

i am a junkie

Of the Food Network. And HGTV. And sometimes TLC. I just can't help it. This is the second time I've watched this rerun of Next Food Network Star today...and I'm still kind of watching it. Why? Who knows. I'm a glutton for rerun punishment.

Happy Father's Day! I sent my Dad a card, but he didn't get it yet. Super lame.

My computer at work on Friday got a virus from somewhere or another (sad. face.) around 11:30 in the morning. It's something nasty, and doesn't allow me to even see my desktop background (even though it's there and working fine) and gives me false alerts about memory execution failing and such. Our IT dude called it tenacious, because at around 4:00PM, after having the computer repair itself and running a freakin' three hour virus scan and deletion, it still wasn't gone. I don't know where it came from, because I didn't open anything that I hadn't already opened on the computer before, so who knows where it came from. But it was running another virus scan when I left on Friday, so hopefully that wiped it out? Of course, Brian (our accountant) was out, so I was only one there who actually knew how to do the stuff that was supposed to happen to the purchase orders -- way to make me feel necessary -- and I couldn't check my emails. It was el stupido.

In any case, our trip to New England was awesome. The wedding was beautiful, even if the weather wasn't, and visiting with friends and family just made me even more homesick. The feeling has been appeased a bit, however, because my sister is here! And to escape her bible-study offering housemates, she came and hung out with us Friday night (for sloppy joes -- nom!) and then on Saturday, Nate and I rented our first Zipcar, picked up Liz and went shopping. We had Five Guys for lunch, then proceeded to drive back and forth between Target, QFC and Northgate Mall as many times as possible in a 5 hour period. I'm only slightly kidding -- we retraced our steps multiple times because we kept forgetting things. And as it stands, we still forgot grocery items (after hitting up Safeway, also,) and somehow we misplaced a bag from Target containing two packs of hangers which is part of the reason we were going to Target in the first place. We are winners.

I'm looking forward to summertime, when the weather is supposed to be gorgeous here, I get to hang out with my sister more and Nate is working a desk job very close to my desk job, so we can meet for lunch and walk together in the morning. Yay!

-Caitlin

TGIF and all the goodness

I'm so glad this was a short week because I. Am. Beat.

I had my first two free personal training sessions at the gym. The girl was very cute and nice and I hurt all over. We did arms for 45 minutes on Tuesday and legs for an hour on Thursday. I'MSOTIRED. Working out is hard and stuff. But now at least I know how to use the machines and don't feel as awkward about it. Holla. My trainer is also trying to get classes for the evening to happen at this gym location, which I am all for. Some people live downtown and only have one gym membership. Hmph.

I'm also crazy excited about the fact that next week this time I will be in BOSTON! Granted, I don't get to spend much of my time in the New England actually in Boston -- I'll be in Maine Friday night/Saturday and in New Hampshire on Sunday -- but that doesn't make it any less exciting. I am returning to the land of Dunkin Donuts and Chik-fil-a. It's a dream come true.

You guys, I'm looking forward to fast food chains. This is my sad, sad reality.

Not that I don't love Seattle, especially right now. It's beautiful here, being able to live right on the water without paying exhorbitant prices is pretty freakin' cool (cooler if we could see the water from our apartment,) and the whole Pike Place/Space Needle area of downtown is really, really nifty. But I am affected by sunshine, or lack thereof, and I just can't handle it being 45 and drizzly most of the year. If it's going to rain, I'd rather have crazy thunderstorms that last for an hour or two than constantly being spit upon by the overcast sky. Personally.

Did you know Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks and UPS? Nathan discovered UPS's Waterfall Garden right downtown near my work today.

It's also the birthplace of grunge.

You know what Boston is the birthplace of? Awesome.

But seriously, I'm glad to be here for the time being. I am embracing the newness of it all, even 8 months later.

(also, I got a new follower! Helllloooo, new follower! =)

just wait until the shine wears off

I'm having a little bit of a hard time today -- I don't have a lot of work to do, so I've been trying to keep myself busy other ways. This means a lot of looking at back-logged Google Reader, which means a lot of Royal Wedding photos on Wedinator. Hah.

A man who was basically my uncle, who I've known since I can remember being aware of other people, passed away last weekend. My mom called me around 10AM on Sunday to let me know. He had a heart attack and it was a huge shock. He was fine one minute and gone the next. And what makes it even harder is the person who is affected most by this is the Aunt with which I'm the closest. She lives in Tallahassee, so she was always there for everything when I was growing up -- birthdays, Christmases, Thanksgivings. She's seen basically every show and concert that I've ever done. And in the past few years, she has lost a woman who was like a Mother to her, that woman's husband and her partner (as a sidenote: I hate that word, partner, but they weren't married and Florida doesn't have Commow Law marriages, so I'm not actually sure what word is appropriate.)

It's hard, getting news like this. I only sort of understood why a lot of people don't move far from their families, if they can help it, until now. I love my family, and I wish I were closer to them, but I don't talk to them terribly often, and didn't visit that often when I was still on the same coast. But if I was on the East Coast now, it would have been more feasible to go to Tallahassee for the memorial service today. Even driving from Boston you can do in less than 24 hours. But not from Seattle.

I'm trying not to think about it so that I'm not sitting here at the desk crying. Because I can't cry and answer the phone.

just listen for the lark

Hi there!

I'm so tired, my eyeballs feel all scratchy and I think I'm that guy at work because I'm having problems keeping my eyes focused on anything. Especially tiny, 10-point font. Gah. But this weekend was fabulous, so I'll sit here and sketch out for a while and not complain too too much.

Friday night, walking home from work, I ran into a lot of things having to do with the Sounders that was happening later. I got a free energy drink and saw a giant soccer ball!

I also found some pretty cool graffiti along the way.



I don't really remember what I did Friday night, but it must not have been too terribly exciting.

Saturday was a lazy day for me. Nate had to work from 10-4:30, and then they wound up keeping him until 5 after telling him he could go at 2 and it wound up being a huge 'I don't know when you're coming home so I'm hungry but I can't make dinner yet' fiasco. FIASCO!

Actually, it wasn't that bad. But it was kind of touch and go there for a little while.

Saturday night we went to Kells, which is in an alley way in between the stores on 1st and Pike Place Market that we didn't even know existed, to meet Nate's friend from college, Meghan, and her husband, Matt. We drank, ate, talked and listened to some fantastic live Irish music. After about a bottle of wine each (for the ladies) and a couple pints of Guiness (for the men-folk,) we decided that it sounded like a good idea to go over to Meghan and Matt's apartment to play Monopoly. Until, you know...2AM. Which is fine. Except that it's way past my bedtime, and we were all, uhm, slap-happy, to say the least. It became increasingly harder to do math, as it got later and later. So Nate and I finally called it quits, took leave of our gracious hosts via a cab. Once we got home, we promptly passed out as soon as our heads hit our respective pillows.

Sunday morning was a little rough, but we managed to be up and out of the house by 12:30PM, which is decent if you take into account that we didn't get out of bed until 11:15 or so. We found some coffee and some Jimmy Johns (and some ibuprofen -- hah) before I sent Nate off to Molly Moon's for his website meeting. I, of course, went shopping. What else do you do with a tax return? I got a couple pieces from H&M, but I also had a giftcard from my Aunt for Victoria's Secret, so I got some new undies while I was out, as well, since they are having a 7 for $25.50 sale right now, and my wardrobe from American Eagle boyshorts is getting kind of old and well-loved. So I picked up a couple different kinds, including their hipsters and boyshorts, to see what I like best so I can use the rest of my giftcard. They were running this promotion where you get a giftcard with your purchse worth between $10 and $500, so I'll have to go back in April and see what I get! Knowing my luck, it will be $10, but you never know.

We also went grocery shopping Sunday afternoon/early-evening. We spent more than we meant to, but we got everything from Safeway, instead of splitting it up between there and Uwajimaya, and most of what we bought we stocked up on, and bought more of than we normally would, because it was on sale! Like Crystal Light and Veggie Ritz. Plus we needed things like spices and household items, which are always makes things more expensive.

Sunday night we had homemade pizza for dinner, with an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms.

I love stuffed mushrooms because they're so super easy to make. The filling is basically whatever you have hanging out in your fridge! This time, it consisted of cream cheese, ranch dressing, parmesan cheese and an Italian spice blend, whith a Veggie Ritz cracker crushed and sprinkled on top. Pop them in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and they are golden brown and delicious! I love mushrooms, can you tell?

We also bought our tickets and hotel room for my friend Catherine's wedding in Atlanta this weekend! We're leaving at 8:20PM on Thursday night and taking the red eye, so we have Friday to be there and sleep (and hopefully get me an appointment at the eye doctor -- I haven't found one in Seattle yet, and I am in desperate need of new contacts,) Saturday for Wedding-ness and Love, Sunday to hang out in Atlanta and Monday to get back to Seattle in one piece. And it's nice flying out this way, because even though we don't leave until 5PM, it's eight hours of flying, we get in at 10PM (which will feel like 1AM -- blech,) we can still get a regular night's sleepy-times. I'm so excited!

-C

one more night

Recently here it's looked like this:

And it's been 60 and just lovely. It does rain off and on, but for the most part, it's sunny and beautiful and warm enough that you really just want to go hang out on a blanket in a park somewhere.

Nate and I went to Fado, and Irish Bar, last night for dinner. We had Bruchsetta and Harp Battered Onion Rings, which were ok, but not great. I'm a fan of my Bruschetta being not soggy, and having a little more cheese with it. Nate loved the onion rings, but they weren't my cup of tea, because the batter was so pepper-y. Although, I did enjoy the Guinesss mayo. We had the 'Gourmet Burger' for dinner, which was excellent, except that it was -- like the Onion Rings -- too spicy for me. Nate was in burger heaven, however.

For dessert we had a delectable concoction -- a Brownie with Guiness Ice Cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

6 minutes later, it looked like this:

All gone!

 It was also supposed to come with pecans, but we asked for it without, since Nate doesn't like them in his dessert. Our waiter came back out to ask if he had a nut allergy, at which point we struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he's from GA, and just moved here recently. So we talked about that for a while, because we're going to Atlanta next weekend!

This will be the first trip we've taken since the end of our big trip. I can't say I'm excited to be on planes for almost 12 hours, but I am excited to see some familiar faces. Unfortunately, we won't quite be close enough to Tallahassee to visit back there (since it's a 5-ish hour drive -- eww,) but I'm excited to see friends.

We haven't been up to too much else. None of the sites or programs I need to work at work are actually working on my computer, so I'm stuck checking every ten minutes to see if they've fixed themselves. Shakey fist!

-C