Weddings

I have two weddings to attend this summer. The first one is a week from Saturday. The couple is around my age. The second one is in August and is that of a 25 year old coworker and the guy she's already actually married to ("We got married in November, but we're being wedded in August"). It's their story to tell. I'm not telling it here.

Weddings for me are not in the same category as birthday parties or Bar Mitzvahs. They never have been. Although any type of event in which people experience and express emotions makes me do the same, weddings tend to go a step beyond that for me.

In 1979 my best friend Nancy got married. I was a silly, rock concert going little twerp when I was 19, who had no idea what responsibility was. Getting married was something grown ups did. I wasn't ready for my friends to be getting married.

I cried during her wedding. We're not talking dainty, sentimental little tears, we're talking burgundy faced, snot running down the front of my pale peach bridesmaid's dress sobbing. I did this on the stage, during the entire ceremony. Even the part where her dorky now-ex-husband vowed, in his southern drawl, "For sickness and in health". The entire ceremony, I kid you not. I don't think anyone was looking at the bride. They were too distracted by the freak show that was me.

I cheered up a bit at the reception, enough to go after the tossing of the bouqet with great vigor. In the wedding album shot that will exist for all posterity, I am about two feet off the ground, my back arched, arm outstretched, facial features set in a gruesome chariacture of over-eagerness. I think at the time we called it the "Wendy Abdul Jabar shot" I have made her swear that if I ever become famous she will not send that picture into People magazine.

About 13 years later my best friend from Denver, Barbara, got married. She had moved to New York six months earlier. Long story short: I spent the day before the wedding with my ex-boyfriend Stuart and his wife. And then I was literally the only person at the wedding who was single. Bad combination of circumstances. This led to my once again, although for different reasons, being a sobbing mess. I didn't realize this until I was writing this, but that was the first night that I was offically unhappy about being single.

I'm happy to report that I made it through bridesmaid duty at the above wedding ceremony tear free. I think the fact that I was wearing size 8 AA shoes when I'm an 8 B helped (they were really cute shoes, and on sale. I didn't think they would cause the mind-numbing pain that they did all through the 6 1/2 hour or however long it was ceremony). I saved my nervous breakdown for the reception.

"So Wendy" you're thinking "Have you ever been, er, normal at a wedding?" Why yes I have. I have a great time at most weddings. And that's my plan for the two weddings I'm attending this summer. Despite the fact that I am currently not at all happy being single and that a certain nordic someone had told me I'd be getting married around this time.... I will go to these weddings happy for the couples and happy to be part of fun celebrations. That's the plan. And although no one has reason to believe me at this point, I am pretty certain that I'll be getting married within the next few years. At least that too is the plan.

A Royal Mystery

A few weeks ago, my father posed a question which I myself had previously wondered: What does Queen Elizabeth carry in her purse? (or does a queen carry a handbag, pronounced of course with the emphasis on the first syllable, as in hahndbag...hmm, ok, whatever)

No one ever feels like working the last 15 minutes of the day, myself included, so I asked one of my coworkers that question. After a moment of intense concentration she suggested that certainly the queen carries a hanky- probably a lace-edged one. And perhaps a lipstick and a compact. Then she suggested that she might carry a spare tiara. I loved that one. I pointed out that Her Majesty's purses are not that big, so it would have to be a collapsable one. Don't you just love the thought of a dour-faced Q.E. snapping the thing together before plopping it on her head?

I like to think that the queen also carries a tube of Smarties (the British version of M&Ms). If I were the Queen of England, or just me in England, I would carry a tube of Smarties.

I just thought of another thing: She probably carries a spare pair of gloves.

Ok, your turn.

Ridiculously Tardy Last Day in Phoenix Photos

I suspected I would come in on my last day in Phoenix, April 18th, to a decorated cube but I didn't expect this kind of exuberance. It was awesome.
That's me, second to the end in the group of women. Yes, I have gained weight. Thanks for noticing. There's a really cute group shot of about twelve of us but it's a full length shot and I can't stand how I look in it. When I first moved to Phoenix I was relatively thin (the 'About Me' photo to the right on my blog is from that time) Hopefully I'll be there again soon. Anyway, I'm surrounded in this shot by Kendra, Nicole and Meghan, all super-nice women who I miss.
The happy woman in this photo is Kathy, the finance counselor on my team. Her cube was right behind mine, and we had to confer constantly about students,so we got to know each other well. We shared a lot of laughs. She was great; I miss her. The scowling guy in the hawaiian shirt is John. This is not a representative photo, since he is normally a smiling person. His cube was right in front of mine so we got to know each other really well too. He cared about students as much as I did and was a great coworker as well.

Memorial Day Weekend

I took the train from Tacoma to Bellingham right after work on Friday. The train travels so close to the Sound it almost seems like you can reach out and put your hand in the water. This sunset was somewhere around Edmonds.
On Saturday my mom and I took the Plover ferry, which is about 100 years old. It's a 20 minute ride that goes to the other side of Blaine. It circles the harbor on the way to take in the sights.
They kind of look like a bunch of duffel bags just lying there, but these are actually adorable harbor seals. You do know that if you click on any of these pictures, you can enlarge them, right? I suggest you do that with this one so you can see the totally cute puppy-like faces.
I think these birds get paid to pose on this sign.

More Views from my Apartment

When I first saw my apartment, as a prospective renter, it was on an overcast day. After living here a few days the sun came out and I saw that management had thrown in Mt. Rainier at no additional charge.
This is the view from my desk. Having this view brightens my outlook about sitting down to do schoolwork after a long day.
I like this vaugely corny mixed metaphor

Busy

I dearly wish I could take a week off to get fully settled into my new apartment, but no such luxury is forthcoming. I've also, more than a few times in the last two weeks, wished I didn't work in a high-walled, dressing room-like cubicle but there's not much I can do about that either.

The good news is I am indeed happy to be back in the Northwest. It's mid May and still cool and overcast. Love it. I love working in downtown Tacoma. One of my biggest complaints about where I worked in Phoenix was that we were in the middle of an ugly and bad part of town with only a McDonald's and Mobil station store within walking distance. On Thursday, two blocks from my office, there was the first farmers' market of the season. There was not only fresh produce and flowers but all kinds of art , jewelry, and other cool stuff. I'm also surrounded by lots of funky coffee shops, Thai restaurants, art galleries, and several wonderful fountains including quite possibly the coolest one ever which takes up almost an entire block and has all kinds of waterfalls and different effects. As mentioned in a previous post, flowing water has a profoundly beneficial effect on me. So...working in downtown Tacoma is good. The job? Um, well, time will tell. I had my first appointment on Friday (meaning I managed to elbow aside a prospective student's "I'm too busy to go to school now" and persuaded her to come in) and it looks like she is going to sign up, so after much what-else-is-new anxiety I seem to be off to an ok start.

Views from my Tacoma Apartment

I've been in my apartment for a week now. It's on the 14th floor of a 16 story highrise, about a mile from where I'm working in downtown Tacoma.

Take me out to the Lexus Club

I'm not exactly what you'd call a rabid sports fan. Nor am I a loyal one. Perhaps because I've lived in so many places, I have a hard time relating to the concept of a city's team being "my" team. Furthermore, I've always harbored the type B, sappy wish for the winning team to be the one who needs the win the most. All that said, I do enjoy venturing out to the occassional sporting event. I like the festive energy of the crowd, and being Wendy Sue, yes, I like the food. When Dave took me to a Diamondbacks game a couple of Saturdays ago, I got very lucky in that department as he had VIP passes and we had lunch on the patio of the private Lexus Club. We stayed there from before the game started through several innings. It was the perfect way to watch the game.

Afterwards I felt the need to burn off some calories by climbing stairs. I'd love to say I'd climbed all the way from the bottom, but we only climbed from about halfway. The reason there are so many seats is this was a pre-season game (against the Padres).

I don't remember the name of the stadium (some corporate name of course) but it's a beautiful one. It's the only stadium I've ever seen that has a swimming pool.

Photos from Portland / Semiahmoo

I spent the night at my good friend Tracy's condo in Vancouver, WA. After the interview Tracy took me to lunch at McMenamins. This made me deliriously happy, as McMenamins pubs are one of my favorite things about the Portland area. Some of my fondest Portland memories are of being at various McMenamins locations, at windowside tables watching the rain pouring down. This McMenamins on the Columbia river always feels like being on vacation.
McMenamins french fries are the best on the planet- I won't waste calories on fast food fries, but McMenamins fries w/ malt vinegar? Gotta have them.
I walked the mile and an half or so from the interview (the interviewer was nice enough to drive the 20 minutes from Portland to meet me at a Starbuck's in downtown Vancouver, WA) back to Tracy's. I passed these purple flowers, which of course made me happy.
After Portland / Vancouver I took the train to Bellingham (closest stop to my parents' house). Here's my precious puppy in her special TV room chair.



























My parents like to sleep in on Sunday mornings. Brandy Joy does not care for sleeping in. I told my mom the night before to open her and my dad's bedroom door at 8 am and that I'd feed and walk Brandy so they could sleep in a little longer. The plan went fine except by 8:30 Brandy was bored and wanted them to get up. Here she is bascially saying 'C' mon, open the door dammit.' and "Ok, fine, don't open the door. I'll just lie here and pout." She cracks me up.

Portland / Semiahmoo / Seattle Trip

I'm obviously behind in my blogging, as this trip was in March. The purpose of this trip, in addition to visiting my parents and beloved wonder hound, was to interview for a UOP job in Portland. The Portland manager had been kind of vague saying the position wasn't open at the moment, but probably would be soon. I figured it was worth a shot.

About an hour before I left for the Phoenix airport, I was at work scrolling through the new job postings. I was excited to see that an enrollment counselor job had just been posted for Seattle. I quickly sent off my resume and a cover letter saying I'd be in Seattle that Monday and would be available to interview. Again, kind of shaky circumstances but worth a shot. Long story short: I had my first of the three Seattle interviews on Amtrak from Portland to Bellingham. I think Amy the interviewer and I called each other back a total of six or seven times as the connection kept dropping as cell connections on a train are known to do. The 2nd interview that Monday (March 26th) was in Bellevue, where I was told the job was going to be. When I first arrived, I was ushered to a computer to do some sort of personality test I've never heard of (and I've heard of most of them). At the end of the test I was informed that I'm a 'Blue'. Who knew? The interview went fine and was followed several days later by a phone interview in which I was asked to role play several student / counselor scenarios. Now normally I love this kind of thing. I did a lot of these when I worked for Together of Oregon, always delighting in playing the most difficult prospective member possible, and making that character as colorful as possible ("Ok, I'm going to be a tattoo artist named Lacey. I just got out of jail...")
Role playing in an interview was significantly less fun, but I got through it ok.

I'm going to post the photos from the trip separately, as the new Blogger format is driving me crazy by not allowing me to move around text and photos in the manner in which I'm accustomed.

One More of Sedona

When I looked back through my Sedona photos I found this one. I think I like it the best. As mentioned, I'd love to spend some time there. There are places there to stay that are right on the stream that runs through the town. I think sitting out on the patio, overlooking the red rocks and the water would be heavenly. I'd also love to hike around and take a million photos.

Er, Make that "Next Stop: Tacoma"

I sent out an email saying I was going to be working for UOP in Bellevue. Turns out I'm going to be in the Tacoma office instead. I'm excited about this since I haven't spent much time in Tacoma. It's new territory for me to explore, which I love. Also, rents are cheaper in Tacoma, so I'll be able to get a nicer place.

Still leaving Phoenix on the 18th and starting the new job on the 23rd.

I haven't posted any pictures lately, because something happened where I'm not able to upload the photos from my camera. I'll get it resolved. I have some final Phoenix pictures I want to post, and am looking forward to posting lots of pics of Tacoma and surrounding areas.

I Don't Know Anyone Named Peter

I used to, but I don't now.

Sedona and Flagstaff

We were going to go just to Sedona, but Dave knew I wanted to see Flagstaff too- so on the way up we went directly to "Flag" as the locals like to call it. Flagstaff is the home of Northern Arizona University. It's about two hours north of Phoenix, and at an altitude of about 6,000 feet. It is significantly less disgusting than Phoenix (not only is it not disgusting, it is quite nice). Although it was a sunny day, the air was fresh and cool. Ahhhh.
I couldn't begin to capture the beauty of Sedona since we were only able to pull over in a few places. One of the best features of Sedona is that there is a creek that runs through the whole town. I wasn't able to get any pictures of it this time, but I have some from 23 years ago when my friend Karen and I stopped off in Sedona on our way back to Phoenix from the Grand Canyon. I have those pictures in storage, but I can still see the scene perfectly in my mind's eye: We had rented a bright orange car we named 'Orange Crush' and I can see it parked near the creek. We'd been tense on the drive back, but once we got to Sedona, and the creek, everything changed and we were totally relaxed and happy (yes, I do personally believe in vortices, which Sedona is said to have. I felt them again today). In those 23 year old pictures, my shadow is dancing by the creek, reflected on the rocks and shallow water. In the middle of that creek experience a white dog came out of nowhere, like a spirit guide, and bounded over to us. It was close to perfect. Today was definetly another great Sedona experience- I felt really relaxed and happy. Look at this thing. You couldn't make this up. It reminds me a little bit of the Potala Palace in Tibet, or some other dwelling place where people are highly-evolved and don't worry about things like whether it's ok to wear black shoes with navy.

I love these soft, pastel colors especially the taupe mountains in the background.

The lines are because this picture was taken through the windshield. I just thought the round, green, tree thingies were cool.
Dave by his new, gigantic (and very comfortable) vehicle. There's also one of me and Dave that I like but I'm neurotic about posting pictures of myself. I'm hoping to maybe make it up to the Grand Canyon before I leave Phoenix. I don't have an overwhelming desire to go to Tucson and I have this weird 'I feel like I should see Mexico but I really don't want to' thing going on. That said, I doubt I'll go. I think today was the perfect time of year in Arizona for a road trip. In some February or March in the future, I'd love to spend at least a weekend in Sedona.

But Then Again This Country Voted For Bush

Sanjaya stays, Sundance goes? Haley over Sabrina?

Insane.

Where's My Cookie?

I've been working for the University of Phoenix for exactly one year.

Nope

I didn't get the job in Portland. I was told that after my phone interview the interviewer was ready to hire me but then came across someone who had "TES" experience (don't ask), a direction they are heading in.

Oh well.

No really, oh well.

I'm setting my sites on Seattle/Tacoma.

Trying to get a job transfer in another city with UOP is like trying to win American Idol. I'm clinging on tenaciously, but I'm prepared to look beyond my current employer.

I'm Mrs. Cactus Hand, Gimme Some Candy!

Remember how when I first moved here you couldn't shut me up about cacti? My blog featured picture after picture of the thorny little...um...there's probably a scientific word for them somewhere but I'm too lazy to look it up. What I'm getting at is I thought cacti were pretty darn swell. So unique! So...indigenous! So pure of line and form!

My opinion now? Let it suffice to say that I'm ready to rexplore the lush foliage of the Northwest. Why the change of heart (besides the fact that I hate hot, dry, polluted climates and never wanted to live here in the first place)? Two Sundays ago I was out for an early evening walk in the neighborhood. I decided to step up the pace to something resembling power walking- you know the whole swinging of the arms and stupid-looking-but-calorie-burning bit. My hand swung back into a neighbor's decorative multi-tiered cactus plant and took a half-a-cucumber-sized chunk with it. Yep, that's right. Embedded in my hand. Of course right then two little boys, somewhere between the ages of 6 and 8, appeared to serve as a baffled, silently appraising, and utterly worthless audience. I was tempted to say in my best Adam Sandler voice "I'm Mrs. Cactus Hand! Gimme some candy!" but decided to go with my second choice -waiting until they were safely inside and then bursting into tears (you try having somewhere around a dozen hypodermic-needle like thorns stuck in your hand and not being able to pull the thing out, even after wrapping your thick sweater into mulitiple layers then having the rest of the spines poke right through that- almost succeeding in embedding in your other hand thus looking like you are carrying a winter-like cactus muff to keep your hands warm. Ok you get the point).

I walked the remaining four blocks home and for the first time in the past year, was happy that I had a roommate. With one mighty tug of his meaty hands, Bob was able to disengage the spiny *ucker. He was kind enough to quickly pull out the remaining four or five quills while I turned my head.

I had a phone interview with the Hillsboro campus in Portland. I think I've got a good shot at it. If I get the job I'll be moving in about two weeks. I also had a phone interview with Sacramento. They want to interview me in person on Thursday, but I am about 95% certain I'm not going to go. I want to be back near family and friends and while I'll always love exploring new cities, I'm getting kind of tired.
I'm a little bit hesistant to live in the Portland area again since there are a few people there I deeply hate (yes, I know, I am way too intense about everything. I have a Scorpio stellium in my first house. That's not going to go away anytime soon). Those people are connected to the days of my singles business. I do, however, have some very close friends in Portland and it is my favorite city ever...

I'll keep you posted.

FAQs

Not an official return to blogging (that will happen when I'm happier), just answers to a few things you may be wondering:

Q: Are you still in Phoenix?
A: Yep. It will be one year on March 2nd.

Q: Are you still in school?
A: Yes. I started my fifth class in the Master's in Ed. program. I have a
4.0 GPA

Q: What's happening with you and Peter?
A: Nothing. He... well, nothing. In the last few minutes of 2006, in the midst of the revelry of the Tempe Block Party, I was so consumed with bitter and angry thoughts that I thought I was going to combust and burst into flames before a horrified crowd of onlookers. The man....well, ok. Nothing. Let's leave it at that.

Q: Is Brandy with you?
A: No, she's still with my parents who take very good care of her. She's the beagle equivilant of a sumo wrestler, but she's happy.

Q: Read any good books lately?
A: Running with Scissors, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Q: Are you still addicted to American Idol?
A: Yes

Thanksgiving

This blog is basically off the air for now, but below are some pictures from an unusually snowy Semiahmoo over Thanksgiving. All of these pictures were taken from my bedroom windows. I'll be posting family pics to Photobucket sometime in the next few weeks.