Yesterday, on our first morning home after the Thanksgiving trek home, I woke up sick.  Sick sick.  Not just “eh, I feel kind of crappy and I think some orange juice and a nap sounds good” sick, but “oh my freaking god my throat hurts so bad that i want to die and what is that stuff coming out of my lungs?” sick.  I don’t know what is was exactly (probably some combination of stress and plane travel and late nights and being around too many people during the holidays), but it was nasty.

True to my nature, I panicked.  It was Saturday- my doctor doesn’t work Saturdays.  I start my second week of work on Monday and I can’t call in sick already, but I really don’t want to be the new girl who comes in to the office and sends everybody else to their deathbed.  Bad timing.

Then I remembered that Mike’s ridiculously amazing health care plan offers housecalls- score!  Once I realized this, I was even a little bit excited to be sick on a Saturday morning because it meant that I had a reason to try out the housecall service- it was like the medical equivalent of trying out a new restaurant.

The doctor was at our house within an hour.  He looked inside my nasty, red throat, drippy nose and stuffed-up ears.  He tested me for strep throat with a gag test (surprisingly, this wasn’t as bad as I remembered from childhood) and then tested me for the flu by sticking another swab up my nose.  (This sucked.  He stuck the stupid swab up so far that I’m sure he nicked my brain.  THIS is when I gagged and actually through up a little in my mouth.  Sorry if that’s TMI.)

In the end, I didn’t have strep throat or the flu, just a nasty sinus infection and some swollen tonsils.  He called in a prescription for antibiotics, I spent the rest of the day on the couch, and today I feel slightly more human.  And I never had to leave the house or wait in an icky walk-in clinic.

There are times when I know Mike misses the casual startups he used to work in.  However, when I am lying on my death bed (slight exageration) on a weekend and a freaking doctor drives to my house like it’s 1952, I vote thumbs-up on Giant Monolothic All-Powerful Corporation, Inc.

A recap via some of my favorite pictures from the week.

Mary and I get Ce Fiore and aruge about whose yogurt is prettier.

Picking Derrick up on a street corner in the morning…

and then again at night.

The Ritz Carlton robes my dad bribed a maid to steal for him.

The fact that the boys have spent so much time playing Rock Band that they seem to be starting their own band.

The fact that my parents thought it was funny to hang this up in the guest house.

Some Diet Cokes are just TOO big.

Getting in LOTS of bonding time (too much?) with Mr. An Pham.

Thanksgiving meal #1 with Bachs, Trans, Wests and Phams.

In California, this is what happens after you eat turkey in November.

Mike, animated.

He really likes his gravy.

An’s post-turkey coma.

Post Thanksgiving Ping Pong tournament.

The audience.

What happens when you lose.

Visiting Grandma.

The Tran family Thanksgiving spread.  Eggrolls are awesome.

Time to go home.  Exhausted.

Thanksgiving can be stressful, but it’s important.  Here is a(n incomplete) list of what we’re thankful for in 2008:

• amazing jobs that we got in the middle of a really funky economy.
• each other- we bicker and mock, but we really do like each other.
• our families- even if they drive us crazy sometimes, there’s a reason we keep coming back.  you guys are amazing and you’re always there for us- we love all of you.
• the west inn- my parents seriously rock at providing a place for us to sleep in socal.
• our home in Seattle- come visit us to see how awesome it is.
• our home in Anaheim- we somehow bought a house in Southern California in 2008 that we don’t live in anymore but still aren’t upside down on.
• our ridiculously amazing friends- old ones, new ones, SoCal ones, Seattle ones, long-distance ones, knitting ones, car ones, biking ones, old work ones, new work ones, methodist ones- seriously, you guys are our rock.
• mint.com- it’s making us better and more responsible people.
• hobbies- whether it’s knitting, obsessing about cars, bikes, motorcycles or vaccuuming, our hobbies keep us sane.
• tivo- it’s our version of meditation.
• a late start to the rainy season in Seattle- somehow God has smiled on us and is easing us in to the grey.
• the chance to live in a new city and stretch our Orange County wings.
• Virgin Atlantic- we got to fly home for Thanksgiving for less than $300.
• our iPhones- otherwise we might have to talk to each other.
• our laptops- we love them like children.

There are obviously a hundred thousand more, but you’d get bored if I kept listing everything.  Basically, we have way more to be thankful for than we deserve.

Hi Orange County!!

We are here.  We are busy.  We are trying to get in face time with everybody we can.  Call me!

We got in at 6:30 on Saturday and were picked up by my awesome parents.  We ate dinner next to a bunch of cougars at Mahe in Seal Beach where I drowned in grilled halibut and au grautin potatoes.  Yum.  Then I begged them to stop at Pinkberry* where I indulged in yogurt goodness (I am SO happy they got rid of their nasty coffee flavor in favor of delicious Pomegranate.)  I also realized that I AM turning into my mom, as witnessed in this picture:

Pinkberry was just a warmup to the yogurt goodness that is Southern California- Yogurtland is what it’s really all about.  Oh yeah, and friends and family and Thanksgiving are good too.

* Note: I hope you clicked on the Pinkberry hyperlink and now have the “Pink-berry” song stuck in your head too.

Mike and I were talking tonight about how we are both starting to adjust to Seattle.  It’s been almost four months, and we are both getting into the swing of things- embracing public transportation. finding people to hang out with us, walking places even if they are more than 2 blocks from our house, actively recycling- we are slowly starting to appreciate what Seattle has to offer.

That being said, I am super stoked to be going back to Southern California for a week.

Seattle may have great food, interesting people and a ton of culture and interestin things to do, but there is one aspect where Southern California wins every time:

vs.

Anaheim wins!

(This would be a lot more visually interesting if I had clipped these images during the day and there was a big bright picture of a sun instead of a moon, but you get the idea.)

We can’t wait to see everybody at home!  We miss you guys like cray!

So this is my cubicle.  It’s not exactly… thrilling.  In fact, it’s blah.  I don’t do blah.  Any ideas on how to jazz it up a bit?  I don’t exactly have a ton of pictures of Mike and I (sad), so any other ideas are welcome.  Be creative.  Be colorful.  Bonus points for cheap and easy.  If anybody gives me an idea that really knocks my socks off, I’ll buy you a drink.

Today was my first day of work!  Of course, as with most first days, it involved a ton of paperwork and getting things set up.  Not super exciting, and I’m not completely clear as to what my everyday routine is going to be, but the people are really nice and everybody seems to know what they are doing.  So yay! for things looking good.

I normally would post pictures of my new work environment, but I could not find my camera anywhere in the house or car (more on that later).  iPhone camera + cubicle lighting = no bueno, so I’ll do that another day.  Let’s just say it’s very grey and boring at the moment- I definitely need some flair in there soon.

The REAL highlight of my day was the trip home- I met my friend Barrie when we both got off work, and we WALKED home.  Yeah, that’s right, we walked.  This is a major feat for this girl from Orange County who thought that her old 12 mile commute was the shortest she would ever see.  It took us 45 minutes to walk 2.4 miles (it would have been much quicker if we didn’t live on top of the Queen Anne Hill of Death, but it’s a good workout nonetheless).

Walking home from work is a total treat.  You get to see parts of the city that you never noticed before- like CounterBalance Park at night:

By day, CounterBalance Park is the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen- wood flooring, a few park benches, and not a piece of playground equipment or a hint of grass as far as the eye can see.  But at night these colored lights come on and it becomes something that is absolutely gorgeous.  I doubt I ever would have even known about it if I never got off my butt and walked.

To make the night even better, we had dinner at Barrie’s house.  Her boyfriend Dominic made us a fabulous dinner, and then we sat around and talked nerd.

Good times.  Gotta love the 1:1 person to MacBook ratio.  Makes me and my Sony Vaio feel like the uncool kids.

Tomorrow I have to go to work (yay!), which means today was my last real day to be an unemployed bum.  I didn’t get much bumming around done though- instead, I made a nice, late breakfast and cleaned the house like a mofo.

Oatmeal Brulee- Regular boring old oatmeal jazzed up with fruit on top (I have a ton of persimmons from my CSA that I needed to use before they got too soft, and they ended up being perfect in this application!) and some brown sugar, then broiled in their cup to get a crispy crust.  This was so good that I made some extras and froze them for weekday breakfasts on the run.

Mike eating the breakfast burrito I made for him.  Of everything I’ve ever made, this is probably his absolute favorite thing- I think it’s because I put bacon AND sausage in it, so he doesn’t have to choose between the two.  Mike is not a huge fan of making decisions.  I know you can’t tell this from the look on his face, but the burrito makes him happy.  Having his picture taken and then put on the blog does not, but I like to torture him.

Now we’re full, our house is clean, and I’m just waiting for my pants to finish in the dryer so that I can go grocery shopping.  Wish me luck tomorrow!

Hey-o!  Besides my recent job news, which is totally rocking my world on my last official day of freedom bumhood, I also wanted to share exciting news about my passion project- the Handicraft Cafe blog is up and running!

As many of you know, Handicraft Cafe is the online yarn store that I run with the most crafty person I know- my amazing friend Anne.  We have had our online store up for a few months now, and we’re getting a small following.  There are still glitches to work through, but all in all, we seem to be getting the hang of things.  And even though I’ll be working, Handicraft Cafe will keep chugging on- it’s easy to make time for things that you love.  (It’s much harder to make time to do things you don’t love so much, like cleaning the house.  Blech.)

I am THRILLED to have our blog being regularly updated now.  Of course we list special offers and information about our (incredibly awesome) yarns and exclusive patterns, but we also round up interesting articles about talented, inspirational crafters, trends in fiber arts, and other random, interesting things.  If you have any interest in crafts, knitting, etc, take a minute and check it out.  If you come across any cool ideas for entries or products, shoot me an email or leave a comment!  And of course, if you knit or crochet or spin, or know somebody who does, knock out some of your holiday shopping at Handicraft Cafe!  All proceeds go to a good cause- supporting our yarn habits!

I’ve been sitting on some exciting news, but now it looks like everything is officially official- I got myself a job!

Yay!  Looking for a job in this market has not been the most enjoyable activity, so I am extremely thankful to have finally gotten something.  And, because it always seems to work out this way, the job I ended up getting was the first thing I applied for- of course, there was a lot of looking, applying and interviewing elsewhere before this worked out.

I am extremely excited about this development.  The job is exactly what I want to be doing (writing stuff for people), exactly where I was hoping to end up working (in the heart of Downtown, right by the Convention Center and all the good shopping), and I really clicked with the team when I interviewed, so I’m feeling good about the whole situation.  Plus, they were flexible (and nice!) enough to not have a problem with our extended trip home during Thanksgiving, even though it means I’ll be taking 3 days off a week after I start.

So send me good vibes to match my high hopes.  I’ll need them!