A General Update

It seems to me that fall is already flying by and we're going right along with it!  Evidently, busy weekends and crazy schedules have become our trademark as of late.  What's been going on?

This past weekend was the final showings of "The Mouse that Roared" at BCT.  I had a fabulous time and it's always great meeting new people.  As a newcomer to this area, I really feel like this has been a blessing for me.  Plus, I get to live out my childhood dreams of stardom!  :-)
Actually, I'm even more excited because I was asked by the Head Costumer to walk in a vintage fashion show next weekend at a theatre fundraiser!  Last night I got to try on some amazing (and some not so amazing) pieces.  I'm wearing a vintage, and very delicate, dress from the 20s and a vintage day dress from the 40s.  I absolutely love the 40s dress, so hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of my full outfit...fox fur stole and everything.

Last weekend was also the KCFC annual Fall Fair.  I had to work the whole time at the membership and information tables, and I managed to convince Tim and my father-in-law to help out at parking.  The day was quite a success for the co-op, we raised around $4000 and recruited 31 new members.  We're now just 34 away from meeting our goal for 2010!  The food was fantastic, we had some great craft vendors, pumpkins carvings and we seemed to get all positive reviews.  It was a good jumping off point for me in my new position.

Tim has been exhausted lately from switching his work shift yet again, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to play in the shipyard basketball league again.  They managed to win their game, but just barely.  In the last minute it was tied, Tim's team scored a jump shot, and in the last second the other team threw the ball from across the court and got it in!  Luckily, for Tim, the guy shot it after the buzzer, so it didn't count!  We were all in awe despite that fact.  And in case you can't tell, he's #50 in the picture.

HAPPY 100!

I guess the only other exciting news, is that this is my 100th post!  Yay!!  Thanks for sticking around and reading about all our crazy adventures, mishaps, and general happenings.  We've got some great things coming up, including a trip to North Carolina, a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, some more condo updates, and a variety of other weekend trips and visitors.  I hope you're as excited about the next 100 as I am!

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Good News, Great News

Good News...

We're about ONE week from Opening Night! Get your tickets today! 

Great News...

I GOT A JOB! I am the brand-spanking new Membership Coordinator/Board Administrator for the Kitsap Community Food Co-op!  

Interested in becoming a member??  Let me know and I'll fill you in on all the details!

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Happy Days!

YAY!!! TIMMY'S DONE! AFTER TWO YEARS, HE'S FINALLY DONE!! HALLELUJAH!!

Ok, now that I've got that off my chest, I'll show tell ya how we celebrated! Golfing! Tim's been subtly guilting me into playing golf with him forever, so what better way to celebrate his big day. We have two amazing courses about ten minutes from our house, run by the city. We opted to play the less well-known course, since I haven't played in probably two years.

Tim's Victory Pose/Waiting to start

Self-Portrait - had to get myself in these pictures somehow, because I am SO not posting pictures of me trying to hit the ball!

He drove the green on a par 4 - very impressive!

Tallying the final score (and waiting for the party behind us, who carried Tim's lost head cover for five holes...)

Tim: 94
Arianna: 90+four smiley faces :-)

Timmy wins! An all day sweep!!

What happens now?
Tim is going to be "in the office" for some time working in some sort of quality assessment. He will eventually go down to the USS Abr.aha.m Lin.coln to join the other new STEs, but for now he gets to learn some new skills and explore a part of his job he hasn't gotten to see much of since joining the shipyard. As for Japan, he will be officially volunteering to go soon (since he just became an official STE) and it's more than likely that it will only be for around two months, rather than the original four. That is all that we know right now and when we find out more, you will find out more.

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Hot, Hot, Hot!

Wow. I am really horrible at updating this...I apologize.

We have been somewhat busy with life recently. T is working really hard and trying to finish all this oral board stuff, but there is a certain large boat that keeps getting in the way. He did come home today more excited than usual about going to Japan. He was able to chat with someone who went this past January and he found out that we could spend some time in Beijing. Now that excites me, because I have always wanted to go to China.

So what's with the "hot, hot, hot?" We spent the fourth of July weekend in Arizona!! And it was definitely MUCH hotter than our little corner of the NW. We left Thursday after T came home from work and flew from Seat.tle to Phoe.nix. We had to drive 1.5 hours to the Wo.rl.dma.rk condos in Tucson and we didn't there until probably midnight or later. We did notice how the area is very dark at night. As in, there are no streetlamps and the houses have little to no outside lights. Evidently the area is surrounded by observatories and the city has put several restrictions in place to prevent light pollution. Needless to say that when you have NO IDEA where you're going and it looks like you're in the middle of a residential neighborhood, where you should be approaching a large condominium complex, you start to lose faith in the trusty Ga.rmin. :-)

The next morning we woke up BRIGHT and EARLY to go to the Son.ora Dese.rt Museum. Thankfully we were there early enough to avoid the blazing noon/afternoon sun, but we all got pretty sweaty anyway. The museum is split into different sections, so we saw the different landscapes of Ar.izona, as well as a variety of animals. Probably the only animal I had never seen before was the Javalina. It looks like a very hairy hog, but they are pretty popular in Ariz.ona.
T.W. with a cactus

A Javalina under the bridge - Can you spot it???

P & L at the visitor's area

Following our desert excursion, we headed down to Tu.bac with T's grandparents. There is a cute little shopping area and the town is literally next door to Me.xico. We even went through a border patrol barricade before going back to their house in Tuc.son. Evidently "ille.gal e.ntrants" are pretty common.

The Desert Landscape/Sunset

That night we had dinner in Tu.cson and finished the evening at a casino in the area. I managed to walk away with a $6.84 profit (as long as you disregard the first $20...that was practice)! Luckily, the casino had a VERY large fireworks display that night. We decided to leave before traffic got bad, thinking the finale was happening, when in actuality, we watched the real finale from the street in front of T's grandparent's house.
The craziest thing though was the show nature was putting on; neither T or I had seen so much lightning in our lives. It was amazing, especially with no thunder to be heard. On the way back to the condo that evening, we got stuck in a bit of a monsoon. We barely made it home and when we did get there, the weather channel let us know that there were severe flash flood warnings in the area.

Me and my winnings!

The next day was spent at the pool and BBQing at the condo. T and I had to leave in the mid-afternoon to drive back to Pho.enix and catch a flight home that evening. The flight was great! We had an exit row to ourselves and spent the last half-hour watching fireworks from the window.

Celebrating the 4th in style!

With T's grandpa

The entire group (minus T's grandma who couldn't come to the BBQ)

Overall a great trip!!

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So I apologize for the hiatus this blog has taken over the past few weeks. Frankly, while there have been things going on, pictures weren't involved or I simply didn't get around to writing about it. I'm here now though and I even have some pictures to go along with my stories. Yay!! :-)

To begin things, I am so proud of my hubby, who has PASSED all of his written exams! He is now focused on oral board preparation and should be taking that "exam" in about a month. The powers-that-be haven't confirmed a date yet, but when we know, you will know. Hopefully, he will be fully certified and on the waterfront in a month's time. I can't believe two years of intense training (especially the last 9 months) are almost done! Wasn't it, like, yesterday when this all started???

Next up, we took a little jaunt up to Bainb.rid.ge Is.land for Mem.oria.l Day. I didn't take any pictures, but we shopped a bit and drove around to explore the island. I have said it before, and I'll say it again...I love it up there. So cute and quaint. Plus, the little shops and boutiques are fun to look in, especially when you find things that you've never seen before. Case in point: Ban.anagrams and Wa.sgij.

Banana.grams is a scra.bble-like game, but each player creates their own puzzle independently. It's very fun and so far we've already got T's family addicted. :-) Was.gij is actually a puzzle in reverse. Get it? Wasgij = Jigsaw. You have to assemble the puzzle from the perspective of one of the characters on the box. We worked on it for a few evenings and just put the last piece in last night. This is the box cover and then the completed puzzle:



In general, we've started all of our regular late spring/summer traditions. This is really my favorite time of the year! We've been to a Mari.ner's game (which they won!), had a few picnics and have been to a couple drive-ins. The movies have been incredibly crowded and I couldn't be happier, because it means they're gaining popularity and won't disappear any time soon. Unfortunately, I usually end up watching the second movie by myself because T falls asleep. I guess that's what happens when you usually go to bed around the same time the first movie starts!


At the Mar.iner's game!



Finally, with the weather being so nice, T and I decided it was time to finally bite the bullet and buy patio furniture. We have been looking for a long time and we kept finding things we liked, but that were WAY too big. We have such a small space to work with that all we were looking for was a glider or loveseat. Well, after finding a style we liked at K.mart, we ordered the glider online last week! It FINALLY came yesterday and I had the pleasure of putting it together in the 90 degree heat. I'm including some pictures below so you can admire it as much as I do! :-)


Unassembled in the dining room area.


Halfway there!


All done and on the patio!

Sorry for the hiatus, I'll take more pictures and try and post more often!

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Flowers are abloomin'

Last week Tim had been studying like crazy for the past few months, so after he finished his final written test last Thursday, we decided to bust outta Brem.erton!

To reward Tim for all of his hard work, I decided to get him a new pair of shoes. Well...two pairs of shoes. :-) I think I can confidently say that he has one of the nicest collections of sneakers this side of the puget sound! (Remember, we're west of Seattle!) We followed our pretty much all day excursion at Ald.er.wood mall by having dinner at La Hac.ienda (my favorite!) and an NCCB concert. I thought my parents did a GREAT job!

On Saturday we met Tim's family for a day of Tulips in the Sk.agit Valley. We had heard that they hadn't bloomed yet, but decided to brave it anyway. Well, I don't know where those people got that idea, but there were PLENTY of tulips. Obviously, not every flower was out, but there were more than enough to fill an afternoon!


This was at the first field that we visited.


At Rooz.enga.ard farm


It matched my shirt!


At Tulip Town

Tim's parent accompanied us back to Brem.erton after our day in the fields so they could leave bright and early the next morning for Ho.quiam. This led to some fun on Sunday. I do love having a Realtor in the family. Remember the dream home...



Well, we got to tour it! And no, we did not put down an offer! :-) While we still LOVE the outside, the view, the colors, and the general lay-out, there are enough things we didn't love to still call it our dream home. Although, it has provided us with a lot inspiration for the future when we do build our DREAM home! :-)
Here's the link to the builder's website for the house. The gallery has some pictures of the master bathroom, which is my favorite room in the house.

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When the weather gets nice...

...we go outside!!

We have quickly watched our temperature gauge go from 40 degrees to 70 degrees and have definitely taken advantage of the beautiful weather!

On Saturday I got off work at 5:00 and thankfully Tim decided to come home around the same time. He surprised me though by picking up our favorite picnic food and whisking me off to Ill.ahee state park for dinner. Since picnics are one of my favorite things when the weather gets nice and warm, I was very happy! :-)




This is just the beach section of the park, we had to drive a while through the park to get down to it.

Following our picnic we decided to explore Bremerton a bit. We've kind of been doing that a lot lately, just getting lost discovering our new surroundings. We have found some really cute houses and neighborhoods, but nothing compared to finding our DREAM HOUSE. As we were heading home, we decided to check out this little area off the main drag of West Bre.merton and we found a house that closely fits (atleast on the outside) what Tim and I both dream of building for ourselves one day.


Too bad this little beauty runs for close to $1,000,000! But it does have 150' of waterfront and a STUNNING view of the olympic mountains, so I guess the price makes a little sense.

The next day, I finished working at 4:00 and had to almost force Tim to come home from studying because it was nearing 80 degrees! We've wanted to spice up our porch area for a while and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do some "gardening." I surprised Tim and drove him to Low.e's, where we picked out some planter boxes and flowers to decorate our outside living space.


I couldn't really take pictures while we were doing the planting because my hands were covered in dirt, but this is the final product of our hard work!


Tim did a great job of sweeping off our porch after we finished!

I sincerely hope that our weather continues to involve more SUN!

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