Room with a view

The view of the Willamette River from our hotel room in Corvallis, Oregon.

The Witch Test

You Are 70% Witch

You've got some pretty witchy stuff going on. Even if you're not a witch, you've got to admit that you're a little freaky. You have a strong independent streak - social norms be damned. More power to you. Luckily, the time when you would have been burned at the stake has passed!

Are You a Witch?

Happy Halloween!

This made me chuckle! Hope you have a safe and happy celebration!

Why I'll be voting on Tuesday

I usually don't talk politics on this blog, but I just have to share this video that was sent to me by my boss. It's my worst nightmare coming true, that somehow the election would down to one vote and I hadn't voted. It's like Halloween a day early. Enjoy! :-) And don't forget to vote next Tuesday, November 4th!

The Classis Halloween Costume Test

You Should Be a Pumpkin

You are seen as cute and adorable. People can't help but love you. You see Halloween as the day you can really go all out and get noticed. You're definitely likely to get a little scared on Halloween. You are easily spooked, but you love feeling scared. It's all part of the fun.

What Classic Halloween Costume Should You Wear?

Past, Present or Future Test

You Live in the Present

You take things one day at a time. And it turns out, that's a pretty great way to live. You aren't consumed by the past, and you're aren't obsessed with the future. You live in the now, and you enjoy each moment. While most people don't live in the present enough, make sure you don't live in it too much. It would be a mistake to forget your past or neglect to plan for the future.

Do You Live in the Past, Present, or Future?

The Tarot Card Test

Seen on Kathleen's site, I thought I would give it a try.

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm actually posting this on time, that never happens! It was a productive and busy weekend, here are the highlights:

• Took Barney to the vet for his second distemper vaccine.
• Relaxed at home and caught up on the backlog on my TiVo.
• Waiting anxiously for my new cell phone to arrive.
• Played with my new phone for hours. It's so different, but I love it.
• Ran to the grocery store to pick up a few needed items.
• Organized my contacts and synced them to the phone.
• Spent 30 minutes on the phone with Verizon to see why my short code messages aren't coming through and in the end they couldn't figure it out.
• Set the new phone down long enough to get some sleep.
• Deep cleaned the dining room and living room.
• Watered, fertilized and shined the leaves on all my plants.
• Finally watched the second and third Presidential debates. Now I finally understand why everyone was so annoyed by the "Joe the Plumber" references.
• Ran to the grocery store, again.
• Baked a carrot cake from scratch and made Chicken Enchiladas.
• Hosted a birthday party for my friend Christy.
• Stayed up past midnight which is a very rare occurrence for me, man am I getting old.
• Took Barney on a long walk around the Seattle Center and enjoyed the sunshine and fall leaves.
• Deep cleaned my bedroom.
• Organized the magazine holder, I still had magazines from 2005.
• Cleaned the fans (which I have to say is a truly disgusting job) and put them away for the season.
• Got ready for the week ahead.
• Relaxed on the couch and watched Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy before heading to bed.

How was your weekend?

Seattle Center Color

Fall leaves at their peak on a walk outside Key Arena.

Sunday Morning Rainbow

Taken at the Seattle Center Fountain on a beautiful sunny fall morning.

Post Bath Barney

Recovering from his bath by sleeping the day away in his bed.

Tis the season?

Safeway is fully stocked with Egg Nog and its not even Halloween yet.

The Bagel Test

You Are a Plain Bagel

You are hardworking, honest, and down to earth. You don't like surprises, and you need security to feel happy. Of all the types, you're the most likely to eat for comfort. You tend to have the same thing for breakfast every day. Why change what works?

What Kind of Bagel Are You?

Time of Day Test

Weekend Wrap-Up

I usually start my weekend posts with news from Thursday night. I'm going to do that this time although I had to work on Friday this past week and therefore my weekend was shorter than usual but still good, here are the highlights:

• Enjoyed some yummy food and beer at Ray's Brewmaster's Dinner with Kat and Don on Thursday evening.
• Was at work at 7:30 on Friday morning, it was painful.
• Assisted as best I could and actually enjoyed my interview with the ISO auditor, a bi-annual requirement for the company I work for.
• Celebrated the successful conclusion of the audit with my colleagues and Tequila!
• Saturday morning was all about the Laundry, I think it was 13 loads in all.
• Visited the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection at the Weyerhaeuser headquarters in Federal Way with Kat.
• Met friends (and UW alums) at Rock Bottom in Seattle to watch the game. The Husky's successful maintained their win less season. Go BEAVS!
• Dropped some food off at a party that Kipp was having.
• Had dinner with Kat at Outback Steakhouse.
• With the exception of walking the dog, I stayed home all day Sunday.
• Cleaned the kitchen, bathroom and my office.
• Got everything ready for the week and decided as I was falling into bed on Sunday night that 2-day weekends suck, I prefer the 3-day ones!

How was your weekend?

An end to the email forwards??

While eating lunch at my desk today, I received an email message from my Mom. This isn't unusual, I receive at least 5 emails from her each and every day and not one of them is written by her, every one is something she has forwarded.

I handle all of these emails in the same manner. I scroll through the multiple headers (deleting this crap is apparently a foreign concept to the serial forwarder) from the previous senders until I get to the beginning of the message and begin reading. If it doesn't captivate my attention immediately, it gets deleted. If it is pertaining to golf, menopause, growing up in the 50's, or any other like minded subjects, it gets deleted and I momentarily ponder, "Why would she send me that?" If it is clearly an urban legend or something offering false information then I reply with a link that points out the problems/inaccuracies in the message. If the email requires you to forward to 10 people or more if you REALLY want your wish to come true then I delete it IMMEDIATELY! I had trouble with this last one for a while thinking that I have had my share of bad luck and am generally the kind of person that likes it when good things happen but I decided that I would likely bring myself better karma simply by not filling others email boxes with a bunch of crap.

So you can imagine how excited I was to see the following email today:

To: Darling Daughter, many others
From: Mom
Subject: FW: I'M STILL WAITING...

I'M STILL WAITING....

I did what you told me, I sent the email to 10 people like you said and I'm still waiting for that miracle to happen.



To all my friends who in the last year sent me best 'wishes', chain letters, 'angel' letters or other promises of good luck if I forwarded something, NONE OF THAT SHIT WORKED!

For 2009, could you please just send money, VODKA chocolate, movie tickets or petrol vouchers instead?

Thank you!

Immediately after reading it I dialed my mother's office phone and with great excitement asked if she was serious about not sending any more forwards. She laughed in a very maniacal way and said, "No!"

Damn! I was so hopeful!

The Autumn Test

Your Autumn Test Results

You are a energetic, warm, optimistic person. You approach everything with a lot of enthusiasm. When you are happiest, you are calm. You appreciate tradition and family. You enjoy feeling cozy. You prefer change to come slowly. You need a long transition period when your life changes. You find hard work to be the most comforting thing in the world. You like the feeling of accomplishing something. Your ideal day is chill and uneventful. You prefer to kick back and take it easy. You tend to live in the moment. You enjoy whatever is going on, and you don't obsess over the past or future.

The Autumn Test

Register!

Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.

--George Jean Nathan (1882-1958)

Today is the last day to register to vote in King County (Seattle), Washington and a few other places around the country. If you aren't registered PLEASE take the time to do it today. If you live in King County you can find information here, if you don't live in King County you can find information here.

iPod random ten

Idea stolen from Don. As usual my iPod is playing away on my desk and making the fact that I'm working today nearly bearable. I shuffled the songs and the first 10 to play (listed by song, artist and album):

1. Jezebel -- 10.000 Maniacs, Our Time in Eden
2. I Need You -- America, History: Greatest Hits
3. All I Need Is Everything -- Over the Rhine, Hear Music Volume 2, Songs for Long Narrow Stretches
4. Do You Wanna Dance? -- The Beach Boys, 20 Good Vibrations, The Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
5. Glasgow (KSER) -- Travis Harnett, KSER solo acoustic guitar
6. Shepherd Moons -- Enya, Pain The Sky with Stars, The Best of Enya
7. Together Forever -- Rick Astley, Whenever You Need Somebody
8. Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing -- Diana Ross & The Supremes, Joined Together: The Complete Studio Duets
9. One More Night -- Phil Collins, No Jacket Required
10. So Why? -- Carbon Leaf, 5 Alive! (Disc 1)

Believe it or not I'm more embarrassed by the Phil Collins than I am the Rick Astley. :-)

How did you get here?

I always wonder how random visitors find my site and am always amazed when I look at some of the Google searches that have landed people here. This week seems to have brought more than the usual number of random hits so I decided to post some of the searches here:

• what is my princess name
• quiz on five senses
• personalities with lots of hand gestures
• julieanne seattle blog
• personality based on fridge
• personal camp barges
• my halloween name
• five senses personality test
• beer truck pictures on flickr
• diet spice cake
• how to test the five senses
• coke spice cake
• best paella
• eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you may be in utah
• sushi thumb drive
• gesture quizzes
• ikea bulla bag
• julia ann in the bathroom
• maltby latte cup drive thru

And my favorite... bathroom liquor cabinet.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Escaped from Seattle to Lake Wenatchee for a long weekend with Barney and Don. Here are the highlights:

• Enjoyed the fall colors and a beautiful drive over Steven's Pass.
• Unpacked and settled in to Kamp K, my friend Kipp's cabin.
• Took a walk along the waterfront and back through the woods.
• Worked REALLY hard to get a fire started.
• Relaxed on the deck and enjoyed the lake while snacking and sippin a glass of wine.
• Made and enjoyed a yummy dinner of steaks, baked potatoes and green beans.
• Got beat over and over again in repetitive games of Shanghai Rummy.
• Drank too much wine.
• Sipped coffee and stared out at the morning fog on the lake.
• Made oatmeal for breakfast and can't believe I've lived 35 years and never put cinnamon on my oatmeal!
• Snapped some great pics on the way to Leavenworth, I love fall!
• Saw the Oktoberfest parade and the traditional taping of the first keg.
• Tried a few "new to me" beers.
• Enjoyed walking through Leavenworth on a sunny beautiful afternoon.
• Got back to the cabin in time to enjoy the sunset and some snacking in front of the fire.
• Lost some more card games, it was not my weekend for winning.
• Enjoyed coffee in front of the fire again trying to get the fire going again.
• Made my famous (at least in my little world they are famous) Eggs Benedict.
• Cleaned up and packed up.
• Stopped at Smallwood's Harvest in Peshastin, WA to buy fresh apples.
• Got home in time to unpack and prepare for the week ahead.

Hopefully I'll get the pictures downloaded from my camera soon so that I can share some with all of you. How was your weekend?

The Feng Shui Test

Your Feng Shui is Amazing

Your home is the perfect place to work, play, and unwind. Beautiful and streamlined - you understand the importance of design and flow. Your home is not weighted down by clutter, but it's not austere or sterile. You treat your home as well, and as a result, it treats you well!

How's Your Feng Shui?

Typing Test

63 words

Typing Test

Wish List

Things that are currently on my *wish list*:

• A manicure that would last longer than 3 days.
• An end to the political ads for the 8th congressional district race since I don't even live in the 8th district.
• A magic cure for Barney's separation anxiety.
• A new toaster at the office. One that would actually toast things.
• An end to the budget creation process at work. Ugh!

Barney is all a twitter

I got a request from Anandi yesterday that Spike (her beagle) would like more updates on Barney. I thought about the request while Barney and I were on our walk last night and decided that since Barney is already in a social network that he should have his own Twitter account. You can see Barney's updates here, or on the side bar of my homepage. And if you are a Twitter user make sure you follow BarneyBeagle so you can see his updates as they happen.

Am I a Wimp?

You Are Occasionally a Wimp

You're pretty tough in every day life. You don't back down easily. However, you can be a wimp at times, especially in stressful situations. You can be overwhelmed or intimidated or just plain scared when life gets rough. While these are natural reactions, you may want to face your fears a little more.

Are You a Wimp?

Lost Dog

Don, Barney and I headed up to my friend Kipp's for dinner last night. Kipp has a dog named Kayla who gets along well with Barney so an invite to dinner is bonus time for Barney because he gets lots of free-time in the yard to sniff everything he wants. When we arrived last night Barney wanted nothing to do with sniffing or being outside, instead he insisted on being underfoot while we all worked together to pull off dinner. Once the chaos of dishing up began I insisted that it was time to go outside and we coaxed him outside with the promise of treats only to trap him outside the sliding glass door.

We, along with Kipp's friend, Katy, enjoyed a wonderful dinner of grilled halibut, grilled vegetables, squash and ravioli with Kipp's homemade spaghetti sauce. Following dinner we cleaned up and then went outside to enjoy the cool night around fire in the outdoor chimenea. Upon arriving outside Kayla was curled up on her bed on the patio and Barney was NOT in the yard. The gate was partially open and Barney was gone. My brain immediately flashed to the article I read prior to adopting Barney when I was trying to acquaint myself with Beagles. It warned that Beagles when let loose will follow their noses and when they are finished they can't remember where they have been or how to get back. Barney is always on a leash except when he is in a confined/fenced in space. I had no way of knowing how far he may have gone but kept myself calm knowing the he was wearing identification, is micro chipped and licensed.

The four of us immediately set out to search for Barney. We headed out from the driveway in four different directions and within a minute Katy spotted movement in the front yard directly across the street. Sure enough it was Barney who was so busy sniffin' that he didn't respond when called and wouldn't come. Don ran down and dragged him away from whatever it was that he was sniffing and we walked back across the street. I was so relieved.

I am so grateful that he isn't hurt or lost. And if he never escapes again it will be just fine with me.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a rainy and much cooler weekend, you can feel the fall chill in the air. Here are the highlights:

• Started the weekend off with the OSU vs. Utah game on Thursday night at Don's. We made minestrone soup and watched a great game, too bad it didn't end 2 seconds sooner.
• Took Barney to the vet for his distemper vaccine.
• Ran a few errands.
• Completed some household projects and cleaning.
• Enjoyed the cool, rainy evening at home catching up with all the new TV shows my TiVo picked up.
• Woke Saturday morning to NO hot water which left me stuck at home until repairs could be completed to my hot water heater.
• Finally showered. There are Saturdays when I gladly stay in my pj's til noon but its annoying to do so when all you want is to get dressed and start the day.
• Took Barney on a long walk in the rain. He is a *weather wimp* and starts shivering after only a few minutes in the cold.
• Stopped by the grocery store and picked up a few things and then picked up dinner at Teriyaki Bowl.
• Watched License to Wed and a couple horrible Lifetime movies.
• Picked up a cup of coffee at Firehouse Coffee and then walked to Golden Gardens (4 miles roundtrip). I thought Barney was going to give up when we were only halfway done but I gave him some water and he got his second wind.
• Ironed my clothes for the week.
• Baked up some lemon dill chicken for dinner.
• Watched the Amazing Race and went to bed.

How was your weekend?

Barney on Dogster

Barney now has his own profile on Dogster. You can check it out by clicking the box below. Barney says, "Come by and leave me a bone!"

Join the Dogster community

Thursday Randomness

I had a very detailed dream last night and woke up completely disturbed. It was my wedding day and the majority of the dream consisted of me preparing for the ceremony. I was in an old mansion on what looked to be a southern plantation, in a third floor bedroom where I tried on and walked around in at least 10 dresses finally settling on a off the shoulder 2-piece dress with a white top and black skirt (it's not a JA story unless you know what I was wearing). While this fashion show was going on my family and friends were continually wandering in and out of the room. In the dream I was marrying a very old Texas Oilman who was shorter than me. It was clear to me that NOBODY thought my impeding marriage was a good idea but still came into the room and shared their best wishes and rendered their opinions on my dress choices. The final and last person to come in the room was the only one to tell me that I was making a huge mistake, told me that I was only marrying "Tex" for money and that I deserved better and asked me if I was sure that I wanted to do this. I nodded, unable to speak and my friend left the room. Moments later I started crying which lead to sobbing and then the decision that I couldn't marry the Texan. So I locked the door, opened the window, removed my shoes and threw them to the ground below and began climbing down a trellis. When I'm outside the window and begin my descent my mother begins knocking on the bedroom door, telling me that it's time to go and demanding that I unlock the door. Upon reaching the ground I put my shoes on and run as fast as I can down the driveway.

I woke at that point and was so pleased to find myself dressed in a nightgown in my bed in Seattle.

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A few weeks ago during a trip to the Seattle Premium Outlets I purchased a purple and white striped cotton blouse (similar to this one). I don't wear a lot of purple and picked it because I'm trying to expand my horizons (mostly away from wearing black and/or red, everyday). I'm wearing the blouse for the first time today and in the past 2 hours two of my colleagues have commented on it followed by proclaiming "but you hate purple." See I shouldn't wear purple after all!

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The mud has been slinging between my family members all week thanks to this evenings football match-up between the University of Utah and Oregon State. My mother and youngest brother Jimmy are graduates of the "U" and die-hard Ute fans. Dave (middle brother) and I bleed orange and will be "Beaver Believers" till the very end. The teams played last year in Corvallis and the Beavers were triumphant. This year the Utes are ranked 15th and having a good season, but the Beavers just beat USC last week (previous ranked #1), so I think it's going to be a really great football game. But I really hope the Beav's win so I can remind my relatives of it over and over and over and over and over again for the next year!

GO BEAVS!

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Today is my Friday and I'm go glad as this week as dragged by and I'm ready for the weekend. Happy Thursday!

The Skeptic Test

You Are 63% Skeptic

While you aren't always skeptical, you generally approach life from a skeptical viewpoint. You're open to any outlandish claim, but you need proof before you'll believe it. That being said, you're occasionally willing to go out on a limb and put your faith in idea. There's a few beliefs you hold because you hope they're true - not because they've been established as true.

Are You a Skeptic?

Five Senses Test

You are the Sense of Sight

You are a very observant, detail oriented person. You are able to take in a lot of information at once. You often see things that other people never notice. You have a good eye for design and aesthetics. You love to be surrounded by beauty - natural or not. When you imagine how something should look, you see it clearly in your mind.

Which of the Five Senses Are You?

The Condiment Test

You Are Barbeque Sauce

You are a social person. You enjoy cooking for other people. You are both skillful and competitive. You enjoy mastering hard tasks. You appreciate complexity more than simplicity. Your taste in food tends to lean toward interesting flavors. You appreciate exotic spice combinations. You tend to like cutting edge, fusion cuisine. You get along with all personalities from a distance. Except salsa personalities, who always seem to annoy you.

What Condiment Are You?